The Right Explodes Over Trump and DACA

Karl Rove was widely known as “Bush’s Brain,” because it was felt that Rove was the person who reinforced George W. Bush’s NeoCon philosophy. Now, Steve Bannon has been called “Trump’s Brain,”

by Ann Coulter and others, because he was a strong influence to reinforce Trump’s populism. In a separate article, we postulated that Trump’s total break with Bannon may make Trump vulnerable to the influence of the GOP establishment—and maybe even Democrats, if Trump gets praise from media commentators.

Some say Trump has already betrayed at least one of his core campaign promises—on immigration—because he says he will sign whatever they put in front of him regarding the DACA (“Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals”). The response has been intense and widespread. Perhaps the most vocal (as usual) is Ann Coulter, according to Fox News.

“When [Rep.] Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) is the hardliner on immigration in the room, I think we can call this the lowest day in the Trump presidency,” Coulter told FOX Business’ Lou Dobbs. . .

The ‘In Trump We Trust’ author said the push for an immigration deal with Democrats may potentially result in granting everyone amnesty.

“Any amnesty is a 100% amnesty because it goes to the courts and the courts will say, ‘Oh, you may have limited this to left-handed red heads who came here at age zero through no fault of their own,’” she said.

Perhaps more surprising, was the repudiation by Tucker Carlson, who has been so unswerving that he was even a strong, early supporter of Alabama’s Roy Moore. But Carlson is now adamant, according to The Daily Caller.

The Daily Caller co-founder said, “Congress is full of people from both parties who believe that the point of our immigration policy is to provide cheap labor to their donors and to atone for America’s imaginary sins against the world. They couldn’t care less about immigration’s effect on you or your family–these are the same people the president now says he trusts to write the immigration bill, the one he will sign no matter what it says. So what was the point of running for president?”. . .

Carlson continued, “The Democrats’ goal is to import more Democratic voters, and by any means necessary. Once they retake the Congress and the presidency, and if Trump betrays his base on immigration–that’ll definitely happen–it is over.

Then there’s Glenn Beck.

“Before that meeting, President Trump had been taking a hard line on the issue of the children of illegal immigrants or ‘Dreamers.’ The president had been insisting that unless the Democrats agreed to more funding for border security and the building of his famous ‘wall,’ there would be no deal on the Dreamers and the DACA policy that protects them from deportation.

But then in front of all those Democrats and the TV cameras, President Trump made the following statement: “I will say, when this group comes back — hopefully with an agreement — this group and others from the Senate, from the House, comes back with an agreement, I’m signing it.”

Breitbart notes that Laura Ingraham is also “extremely concerned.”

Populist conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham is warning President Trump against accepting a deal with the Republican establishment and Democrats that gives amnesty to the nearly 800,000 illegal aliens shielded from deportation by the President Obama-created Deferred Action from Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

On Wednesday, Ingraham took to her radio show, the Laura Ingraham Show, to say that she was “extremely concerned” at the site of former Florida Gov. and pro-amnesty advocate Jeb Bush, as well as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce — also fans of amnesty for illegal aliens — heaping “lavish praise” on Trump following a White House meeting that centered around DACA amnesty.

Breitbart reports that Mark Levin called it “total surrender.”

“That’s no ‘Art of the Deal,’” he said. “That’s complete surrender. Now, I suspect the president will realize that and try to walk some of that back, but that is very bad. And he did it in front of the media. He did it in front of the Democrats. The whole world heard it. Just give me something, and I’ll sign it. Are you kidding me? That’s what he said. I didn’t say it. That’s what the president said.”

The National Review calls it a “sellout.”

If he sells [his base] them out, what’s the Trump base going to do? Vote for Elizabeth Warren? Unlikely. Dates as cheap as the Trump base don’t even get a text the next day. What’s a self-respecting nationalist-populist to think? Steve Bannon is not only out but cast into the outer darkness, ridiculed by the president as a filthy hobo. Seb Gorka? Gone, along with much of the hardcore of Trumpism’s true believers. And Trump himself is saying — let’s repeat — “My positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with” — on immigration, his hallmark issue.

In fact, The Hill says the whole right is “exploding.”

President Trump’s supporters are apoplectic and lashing out at “Amnesty Don” for pursuing a deal with Democratic leaders to protect young immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. . .

Trump has backtracked on his campaign pledges before, but conservative immigration hawks like Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) warned that this deal with Democrats would do lasting damage.

So—is there anyone on the right who thinks Trump did the right thing? Would you believe, Rush Limbaugh, as reported in The Blaze.

“It was a brilliantly conceived and flawlessly executed rebuttal to this stupid Wolff book,” Limbaugh said. “The pictures tell the tale – Trump is in the room, dominating it, controlling it, he is cooperative, he is open, he’s tolerant, he’s understanding. He’s in total command of over 45 minutes of televised meeting on immigration. He is totally informed on the issues.”

The conservative Chicago Tribune disagrees.

Attempting to divine President Donald Trump’s decision-making process is like trying to untangle yarn with one sticky finger.

Many try, all fail, and the reason, I believe, is it’s near impossible for any human to fully fathom Trump’s absolute self-absorption. His mind seems to function solely and reflexively for the protection and elevation of Donald J. Trump. . .

I’d argue that presupposing that Trump is thinking at all, or that he has a plan, is a huge mistake.

Did he actually change his mind and feel sympathetic for the young people protected by DACA? Did he see the negative reaction to the decision to end the program and decide he doesn’t want the negative press?

As the Tribune article suggests, Trump is very vulnerable to flattery. Look at how NewsMax refers to Trump’s “bromance” with Vladimir Putin. And he referred to Democrats “Chuck and Nancy,” to get good press.

So the right may be signing their death warrant by criticizing Trump so violently. Trump wants praise, and he’ll do whatever he has to do to get it. If the right freaks out like this at any perceive slight, they’re going to make Trump uncomfortable, and one thing you don’t want is for Trump to feel uncomfortable with you. Just ask [partial list] Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus, Corey Lewandowski, Anthony Scaramucci, Robert and Rebekah Mercer, James Comey, Michael Flynn, Kim Jong Un, Sally Yates, Prete Bharara, UK Prime Minister Theresa May, the HIV/AIDS council, Frank Klotz and his deputy, Madelyn Creedon, Vivek Murthy, LaVar Ball, Omarosa, Jeff Flake, John McCain, Bob Corker, George Gigicos, Chris Masingill, Meryl Streep, Snoop Dog, Colin Kaepernick, a reviewer of Trump Grill, even the Pope.

All of these were people from whom Trump expected loyalty or submission. Meanwhile, he doesn’t expect anything from liberals, and they don’t expect anything from Trump, so any kind of agreement or cooperation will be seen as a major victory. Any bone he throws them will be met with lavish praise—and there’s nothing in the world Trump wants—needs—more than lavish praise.


Goethe Behr

Goethe Behr is a Contributing Editor and Moderator at Election Central. He started out posting during the 2008 election, became more active during 2012, and very active in 2016. He has been a political junkie since the 1950s and enjoys adding a historical perspective.

Email Updates

Want the latest Election Central news delivered to your inbox?

Leave a Comment