Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Thursday called on President Donald Trump to "dig in his heels" on border security after senators reached an agreement to continue funding the government without including the $5 billion he'd demanded to build a border wall.
"I'm grateful you have the Freedom Caucus members who are reminding the president, their fellow Republicans and America that they won because of the border wall and lost because it didn't get done," Huckabee told Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "Now, they need to be looking ahead and realize if you capitulate on this, because Americans, not just Republicans, Americans overall accept we ought to secure the border."
He added that it's time to tell Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi that he will agree on legislation protecting DACA, but "you have to give us the wall. If you don't, the government will shut down and tough rocks for everybody."
Huckabee said Trump should veto the stop gap measure and push to build the wall, rather than sign it.
"I think he should have made that very, very clear to Mitch McConnell and to Paul Ryan leading ont this week," said Huckabee. "For whatever reason, they tend to think they are on the right side of this by surrendering to the Democrats."
Also, he said he can guarantee that Pelosi, once she becomes House Speaker, will never schedule to vote for the wall on the House calendar.
"This was our chance and we have blown it, unless the president were to veto it," said Huckabee. "The big things, the things that really matter to most Americans day by day will be funded. The president has to look in the mirror and remind himself when he came down that escalator that he ran on securing the border."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.