By: Jonah Goldberg – nationalreview.com – March 28, 2018

It’s not true that Trump was tricked or betrayed into signing the omnibus.
President Trump signed the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending deal on Friday, averting another government shutdown. Written largely in secret and passed without any time to read its 2,232 pages, the bill violated pretty much everything the GOP had promised about reforming the process of legislating.

But the sausage was even uglier than the sausage-making. For conservatives, with the exception of a large increase in defense spending, the bill is a hot mess. It raises discretionary spending 13 percent, advances almost no GOP domestic priorities while fulfilling many Democratic ones. There’s a pittance for border security and some new fencing, but nothing for the president’s coveted “big, beautiful wall.”

2,232 Page, $1.3 Trillion Omnibus Bill Becomes Law

It was reportedly this fact that prompted Trump to tweet a veto threat on Friday morning, sending White House and Hill staffers scrambling.

Then, in a shambolic press conference cum signing ceremony later that day, he grudgingly said he’d sign what he called “crazy” legislation. But, he added, he would “never” sign another bill like this again. The key message of the day: It’s not my fault!

So whose fault was it? Those backstabbing blackguards of the Beltway.

“Total betrayal by the Senate and House leadership,” said Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, one of Trump’s most reliable unofficial spokeswomen. “The president and the people who voted for him have been betrayed by Speaker Paul Ryan and Leader Mitch McConnell. And the people in Kentucky and Wisconsin need to make sure that these guys are defeated in the next election so this president can carry on the agenda that we elected him to do.”

Pirro went on: “Folks, I want to be real clear. This is not on Donald Trump. This is on the leadership of the Republican party, the very people this president should be able to count on. In truth, the president is surrounded by inept, incompetent warriors. And this bill is a reflection of just that.”

It’s interesting when people who insist that Trump is the greatest negotiator in history and the most farsighted three-dimensional chess player since Commander Spock also insist that he got rolled.

But that is the new party line, apparently, and it must be toed. “The president was really sold a bill of goods here,” Trump confidante Chris Ruddy told the Washington Post.

There’s just one problem: It’s a lie. Or, to be more charitable, it’s untrue, even if those saying it believe it (in some cases, no doubt, because that’s what Trump tells them).

A source who was involved in drafting the bill tells me that the White House was in the loop on the negotiations. Trump’s legislative-affairs director, Marc Short, signed off on the deal — and seemed to be as surprised as anyone by the veto threat. The president was briefed on the major pieces all along. And let’s not forget: Trump agreed to, lobbied for, and signed into law the budget framework for the legislation in February.

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Source: Omnibus Spending Bill — Donald Trump’s Creation