Never underestimate the ability of some of President Trump’s most devoted supporters to delude themselves into thinking each one of his losses on immigrationis actually a win. Case in point, the right-leaningWashington Timesreported in earnestthat House Democrats “blinked” by agreeing to “grant at least part of President Trump’s emergency border funding” request.
Which “part” did Democrats agree to fund? No, not the part that involves building the long-promised “wall.” It’s the part where illegal immigrants flooding in to the country get more free stuff.
As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in asprightly statement, “This legislation provides urgently-needed humanitarian assistance for families, including funding for food, shelter, clothing, medical care and legal assistance …”
That fake “blink” by House Democrats came after Trump's real blink over the weekend when he called off the mass deportations he had been bragging about on Twitter and in front of thousands of supporters in Florida.
Last week, Trump announced on Twitter that the administration was set to “begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in.”
Millions, he said! The next day during a campaign rally in Orlando, he again said that “millions” of illegal immigrants would be rounded up and sent back where they came from.
TheWashington Poston Fridayreportedthat Trump had “directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct a mass roundup of migrant families that have received deportation orders, an operation that is likely to begin with predawn raids in major U.S. cities on Sunday…”
The buildup was impressive. Trump then proceeded with a belly-flop. He went on Twitter to say that “at the request of Democrats,” he was halting the deportations for two weeks (a time period heroutinely throwsout when he has no intention of following through on something).
Remember the great government shutdown that Trump was “proud” to own after he couldn’t get Democrats to give him money to build more wall? He caved on that.
Remember when his Justice Department took a “zero tolerance” position on illegal border crossings? He caved on that, too.
And now he’s caving on deportations, the least controversial part of immigration enforcement. Trumpwon the argumenton immigration. But when it comes to actually getting anything done he's a lot like a normal politician. All talk, no action.
Why don’t we just cut out the middleman and let the 2020 Democrats set the agenda on immigration? At this point, there would be very little difference if we did.