Hello, it's the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕

Donald Trump, with an assist from Mitch McConnell, made what could be a huge political blunder this week. And by far the most clarion voices laying bare the men's cynicism and greed have been those of Republicans. 

McConnell told Senate Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Wednesday that the "politics on this have changed," referring to the border bill his members, with some Democrats, had been close to finishing. The border deal was conceptually linked to aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, its anti-immigrant red meat meant to help drag the aid through the hostile Republican-controlled House. 

But then daddy called and said no. 

Trump ordered his congressional foot soldiers to drop the bill, despite their daily insistence that the border is in crisis and the greatest peril facing American society. Trump didn't want to lose such an effective cudgel with which to batter Joe Biden. 
 

"We don't want to do anything to undermine him," McConnell told his members. By all accounts, McConnell genuinely despises Trump; but he's willing to lick the boots if it means he might be a majority leader next term. 

This should be a golden opportunity for Democrats, a perfect retort the next time Republicans wail about "Joe Biden's border crisis." But it's Republicans, not Democrats, who have so effectively denounced this unseemly curtain lift into their own party's quest for power at all costs. 

"I didn't come here to have the president as a boss or a candidate as a boss. I came here to pass good, solid policy," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) said Thursday. "It is immoral for me to think you looked the other way because you think this is the linchpin for President Trump to win."

"I think the border is a very important issue for Donald Trump," Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) added. "And the fact that he would communicate to Republican senators and congresspeople that he doesn't want us to solve the border problem because he wants to blame Biden for it is really appalling."

I want to be clear in my criticism: Some Democrats, individually, have conveyed their disgust well.
 

"I think it's crap," Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) told NBC News. "We need to get that deal done to secure the border. If they want to keep it as a campaign issue, I think they need to resign from the damn Senate."
 

And Democrats, famously, face many more barriers to getting their message out than Republicans do. If Democrats had been caught so unapologetically shelving legislation for political gain, so transparently whipping up a racist fervor to help their electoral chances, Fox News might explode from sheer excitement. There's also the reality that intra-Republican criticism simply gets more play than Democrat-on-Republican rhetorical attacks. And to be extremely generous, there's still a chance (I guess?) that this package isn't entirely dead, so Democratic leadership could be reluctant to get Ramboed up before it's off life support.
 

But that's not good enough. Trump, and his Republican toadies, count on people forgetting about these scandals, moving on amid a constant and cluttered news cycle. It's the Democrats' job not to let them. Biden and his congressional allies should be talking about this nonstop, not least because it so obviously addresses one of the President's greatest liabilities. 
 

Romney and Tillis are displaying courage in laying bare their party's cynicism. But Democrats should not be relying on the few Republican vertebrates left to make the case for them. 

There's been a lot of overheated commentary about Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R)'s latest theatrics at the southern border. It's true: he's blocking federal border patrol agents from accessing a tiny stretch of the border, preventing them from reaching a boat ramp and staging area for undocumented migrants.

It's part of Operation Lone Star, Abbott's $10 billion attempt to use state law enforcement to conduct enforcement of the southern border. The program is a very expensive show about a political issue that Abbott and the right more broadly regard as a winner — immigration — and features much of what you'd expect: Texas National Guard members laying razor wire along the border, apprehensions of undocumented migrants for trespassing and, most recently, the standoff with the feds at Eagle Pass.

Trump waded into the conflict (essentially a gift for him as his election campaign kicks into gear) this week, telling GOP governors to send national guard contingents to help Abbott. It's authoritarian rhetoric for sure, and both sounds like — and is intended to sound like — a call for civil conflict. The problem is, it's not that at all.

Abbott is already fighting three lawsuits over his attempts to encroach on federal authority over the border. The Eagle Pass standoff may result in a fourth; or, it could result in a flurry of new filings in one of the existing cases, aimed at persuading a judge to order Texas to allow the feds to do their job. GOP governors joining the effort can help Trump's campaign — and their own conservative bona fides — by contributing. It's loud, it's rhetorically dangerous, it's a crescendoing conflict, but it's still politics.

As Democrats grapple with a punishing Senate map this cycle, Arizona is becoming an increasingly bright spot. 

Two pieces of data this week made the seat currently held by Democratic gadfly Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) seem like more comfortable t submitted her statement of intent, which would let her start collecting signatures that are due in a couple of months.

If Lake is running (unchecked) and Sinema isn't, things just got easier for Democrats. Read more here.

• Trump handled the E. Jean Carroll trial predictably well: Trump Gives Minutes-Long Testimony, Speaks Out Of Turn, Mutters 'This Is Not America'
• More: Jury Determines Trump Must Pay $83 Million In Damages For Defaming E. Jean Carroll
• Catch up on our New Hampshire coverage here: Trump Wins New Hampshire Within Minutes Of Polls Closing
• Biden gives renewed focus to abortion on the campaign trail: Biden Admin Pokes At Upcoming Supreme Court Abortion Fight On Roe Anniversary