See Pelosi’s “immorality” gaffe here.

It’s mortifying to watch Trump play the Democrats with the border wall gambit. It’s high stakes stuff, and Trump has significantly raised the game with tonight’s speech and the planned photo op border tour set for Thursday.

I really started to worry when I saw the “immorality” sound bite from a Nancy Pelosi Jan. 3 Capitol steps press conference. This bite led the news that day. And it represents a gaffe that will make great extra ammo for the Republican hordes (can hordes only be 40% of the population?) to use on the Dems and their geriatric House leader.

A concrete structure can’t really be “immoral.” It’s just a wall. The wall is a dumb idea and a waste of money, but it in itself is not immoral. And most people aren’t really going to think that it is immoral.

Here’s what she said: “A wall is an immorality. It’s not who we are as a nation. This is not a wall between Mexico and the United States that the President is creating here. It’s a wall between reality and his constituents.”

So on top of seeming self righteous by invoking morality, Pelosi takes a step in the direction of demeaning and insulting the deplorables who support Trump, implying that they are unable to comprehend reality.

Running against immigrants, running in favor of border security, is political red meat, even with many Democrats. The Dems aren’t going to outmaneuver the Republicans by pushing the Dreamer Act.

The fundamental mistake is to allow Trump to set the rules of the game. If the game is a fight about immigrants and a wall, Trump may win. If the game is a fight about Trump’s obvious attempt at executive overreach, his arrogance, his stupidity and his failure to respond to the political shift marked by the 2018 midterms, then the contest is taking place on playing field that can favor the Democrats. It’s not about a wall. It’s about taking back the government from a clown.

Yes, there is an immorality at stake, but it’s not the wall itself, it’s bigger than the wall. The immorality is American immigration policy itself, writ large. The hypocrisy of running an economy on undocumented labor, while at the same time stoking the nation with America First nativism. If this is what Pelosi meant, she’s right. But right now, she needs a win, and Trump may not give it to her.