Ousted GOP lawmaker: Trump can’t make an immigration deal because he’s ‘terrified’ of Fox News

Former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL), who was ousted this past fall by Democrats during the 2018 "blue wave" midterm election, has told the New York Times that he is very pessimistic about the chances that President Donald Trump will make a big immigration deal with Democrats.

According to Curbelo, the president was on board with a deal that would have funded his border wall in exchange for granting a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States by their parents as children.

However, Curbelo said that deal got squashed after Trump got blowback from Fox News and other right-wing media.

"He’s terrified of losing his base and the so-called conservative media," Curbelo explained.

Shortly before the start of the government shutdown last month, Trump indicated to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell that he would sign off on a bill that would fund the government that didn't include money for his border wall.

However, after the hosts of "Fox & Friends" and far-right pundit Ann Coulter both accused Trump of caving on the border wall, the president quickly scrambled to backtrack and refused to sign any government funding deal that didn't pay for his wall.