Congressional Democrats made a mistake to attack President Trump for his determined opposition to caravans of unauthorized immigrants at our Southern border. Automatic asylum will only encourage new thousands to make a dangerous, illegal trek.

But President Trump also makes a mistake by touting a pointless government shutdown, which might seem bold and decisive but raises the inevitable question, “what next?”  The Democrats, with their newly elected House majority, won’t simply surrender and a shutdown hurts the government, the public’s faith in democracy, and even our economy.

The only possible outcome is some form of compromise: no, the president won’t get all the money he wants for a wall, but he will get increased funding for enhanced border security. Since it’s obvious that both caravans and shutdowns are deeply unpopular, Congress and the president should drop the games and work out common sense reforms that can help all sides.