In his bestseller "The Art of the Deal", Donald Trump wrote the more or less famous sentence right at the beginning: "You can't be imaginative or entrepreneurial if you have too much structure." What is currently happening - or rather not happening - in the USA is amazingly similar to this principle.

The Republicans have shot down a bipartisan bill that was actually tailor-made for them. Over the past few months, the US Senate has been working on a bipartisan 118 billion dollar package to secure the US border and support Ukraine on behalf of President Biden. The linking of the issues was a basic condition of the Republicans.

At the beginning of the week, the draft was presented, which actually reveals everything the Democrats stand for in terms of migration policy. Even the conservative "Wall Street Journal" found that the Republicans will never be presented with "a better deal". The 370-page paragraph can be summarized in the following sentence: Republicans demanded an extreme border policy and got it. 

The Republican about-face
The proposal includes changes to federal law to discourage asylum seekers. If too many people arrive at once, the processing of asylum applications will stop altogether. The draft is intended to send a signal to potential immigrants: Rethink your plans, better turn back!

However, to the indignation of many, the Republicans in the US Senate, who helped draft the bill, performed a remarkable U-turn on Wednesday and rejected it. The package of measures did not achieve the required majority of 60 votes in the Senate. A further vote is now to be held to clarify the aid for Israel and Ukraine, but here too the prospects are not very promising. As the package is likely to fail in the House of Representatives at the latest. The question of why is quickly answered.

Former president warned of "trap"
In recent days, Trump has raised his index finger against the project, warning of a "cunning trap" set by the Democrats. The Putin admirer ("He's very intelligent") doesn't think much of aid payments to Ukraine anyway. Trump's disciples then torpedoed the joint effort in both chambers. 

New US aid to Ukraine has been stuck for months:

Republicans suddenly seem willing to maintain a status quo on US borders that they have repeatedly called an "invasion" and an "existential and national security threat". Political observers from both camps consider it unlikely that the deadlock can be broken before the election.

The Republicans' false game
What follows is a farce: on the border with Mexico, Republican governors are pulling together national guards on their own initiative to repel immigrants by force. To distract from their own U-turn, impeachment proceedings were also to be initiated in the House of Representatives against Democratic Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas because - no joke - he was doing nothing about the crisis.

It was supposed to be a spectacular PR stunt in an election year - and turned into an embarrassment. A narrow majority of MPs in the House of Representatives voted against a motion to initiate such proceedings on Tuesday evening, despite the Republicans having a slim majority of MPs in the House of Representatives. 

To put this in context: The last time a member of the US cabinet was impeached was around 150 years ago. Impeachment was considered unlikely anyway, as the Democrats hold a majority in the Senate. The Republican Chairman of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, has already announced his intention to make another attempt.

Migration as Trump's core issue
Because Trump needs ammunition in his election campaign against Biden. The Republicans are looking for chaos instead of cooperation. The bipartisan asylum-Ukraine deal would have robbed Trump of his core issue. Now the screamer can continue to rail against migrants, whom he has repeatedly branded "drug dealers, criminals and rapists".

It is doubtful that the Republicans are really concerned about the sometimes inhumane conditions on the US southern border. In fact, many prominent Republicans agree that workers should continue to stream across the border, reports the US magazine "The Atlantic".

Young people should work instead of learning
In Florida, 16- and 17-year-olds will be allowed to work eight hours a day during the school year. The Republican governor of Arkansas has signed a law that partially exempts the state from labor law obligations when it comes to 14 to 15-year-olds. In Ohio, a law may soon be passed allowing school-age children to work until 9 p.m. on school days.

These laws serve to exploit poorer income groups and price in the influx of migrants. Almost 40 percent of cross-border workers were recently under the age of 18, a five-fold increase since the late 1980s.

Biden is now stuck
President Biden is now caught in Trump's trap. Without the approval of his intimate enemy, he will probably not be able to implement any new billions in aid for Ukraine. No matter how much the 81-year-old and his Democrats bend in terms of content. Too many Republicans - some of them grudgingly - put their own retention of power above the suffering of the Ukrainians.

Any further concessions by Biden would minimize his chances of re-election. The left wing of his party is already outraged by the package presented, which the US president wanted to sign "as quickly as possible". There is concern within the party that a legal monster is being created that Trump could exploit during a possible second term in office.

Everything is going according to Trump's script
Republicans and Democrats are now so far apart that the legitimacy of any cooperation is in doubt. Trump is a master at selling his voters an illusion that democratic politics can be replaced by the will of one man. The tamer of the "Grand Old Party" has already announced his intention to contest his first day in office as a "dictator".

Trump is demanding gridlock and the Republicans are serving him gridlock. The greater the suffering, the better the chances of winning - in line with the essence of his book "The Art of the Deal". The insight: negotiation often leads to an agreement. Sometimes, however, it reveals the true motives of one party.