Good news: Republicans agreed to release their hostages. Funding has been passed for the entire government except Homeland Security.
Good news: This was at the insistence of Donald Trump, a sign that he really as soured on shutdowns and is unlikely to use them for a power grab at least in the near term.
Good news: This means Congress is finally getting serious about exercising its power of the purse. Better still -- the budget seems to be on terms generally acceptable to Democrats.
Good news: This is the fight we have really wanted for some time -- the fight to reign in La Migra. Also good news: Public opinion appears to back us on this one.
Final good news: Things could have gotten a lot worse in Minneapolis. There were plans to invoke the Insurrection Act and deploy 1500 winter-trained troops. Border Patrol forces had 35,000 munitions and were readying to use them. Team Trump appears to be tiptoeing away from such extreme measures -- at least for now.
Unfortunately, this good news is seriously outweighed by bad news.
Bad news: That means we don't have hostages either. Well, a few in the form of Homeland Security agencies such as the Coast Guard and FEMA, but not a lot.
Bad news: Republicans passing the budget at Trump's insistence means that his power over them is still intact, at least if he insists enough.
Worse news: Republicans seem dead set against any meaningful attempt to reign in La Migra.
Worst news of all: La Migra has a large enough war chest to keep going for years without any further funding.
That means a serious lack of leverage.
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