Mark Sanford: Donald Trump’s midterm tweet is ‘game over’ for compromise bill

Rep. Mark Sanford said Friday that President Trump’s morning tweet effectively killed any chance the compromise bill had of passing.

“Game over. It takes the wind out of the sails in what might have been a fairly productive week of looking for a compromise,” Mr. Sanford, South Carolina Republican, said on CNN’s “New Day.”

Mr. Trump tweeted Friday morning that Republicans should hold off on passing immigration reform until midterms.

Republicans should stop wasting their time on Immigration until after we elect more Senators and Congressmen/women in November. Dems are just playing games, have no intention of doing anything to solves this decades old problem. We can pass great legislation after the Red Wave!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2018

Mr. Sanford said this tweet signaled to Republican lawmakers that the president did not have their back. He warned that the momentum for immigration reform would likely be gone by the midterms.

“All we can hope for is maybe Congress coming back and going for single shots as opposed to comprehensive reform,” the congressman said.

Mr. Sanford said the family separation could be an example of smaller bills chipping away at immigration reform. Republicans Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina both have bills in their respective chambers to address the issue.