Immigration And The Midterms: Another God-Emperor Moment Needed
03/21/2018
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President Trump spoke at the National Republican Congressional Committee March Dinner last night (video here). He committed no gaffes a.k.a. there were no interesting God-Emperor sh*thole country moments, so it's not received much MSM attention, although—perhaps significantly—the fundraising reportedly went very well (Trump addresses record-setting GOP fundraiser, by Kathryn Watson, CBS News, March 20, 2018)

Our concern at VDARE.com: having apparently succeeded in blocking the Treason Lobby's drive for a stand-alone DACA Amnesty, is Trump going to force the GOP run on immigration patriotism in the 2018 mid-terms?

The answer: sort of. Trump's remarkable instincts clearly tell him that immigration is key. But he's still woefully far from a decisive articulation. From the transcript provided by the White House—emphases and links added:

They don’t want DACA.  They do not want DACA because they think it might be a good political issue, and we want DACA.  And DACA is very much tied to the wall, and we have to have the wall.  For the drugs that are pouring into our country, and for the people that we don’t want in our country, we’re going to have the wall.  (Applause.)

But they don’t want DACA.  They really don’t.  They want to use it as a political football.

And guess what?  I think it plays better for us than it does for them because we want to do something for the 800,000, and they don’t.  So it’s been a little bit of change of position, and we’re going to win that one every time.  But we’re also getting the wall.

(A mixed bag. Trump is too concerned about the DREAmers, an elite shibboleth, but at least he's succeeded in tying DACA to the Wall. Of course, he hasn't got the Wall, but he may be right that he's wrong-footed the Democrats on the issue).
…On issue after issue, House Democrats are way outside of the American mainstream.  Nowhere in the Democrats’ extremism — and nowhere can you see anything displayed more clearly than on immigration. [Right! A vote for House Democrats is truly a vote for open borders — people pouring into our country, pouring in.  We have no idea who they are.  They’re coming in — open borders.  You look at sanctuary cities, where criminals are protected.

If House Democrats control the committees and control the floor, they will block every single effort to secure our borders and to defend our communities.

Nearly every House Democrat voted in favor of sanctuary cities.  They voted to release criminal aliens to prey on innocent American lives.  Republicans believe our cities should be safe havens for law-abiding Americans, not for criminal aliens or illegal immigrants.  (Applause.)

It’s time for Congress to stop funding sanctuary cities so we can restore the rule of law.  (Applause.)

The American people are with us.  Let’s fight to save those incredible American lives.  And you see what’s happening.  You see the slaughter.  You see the kind of killing and hurt and pain.  And we are fighting very hard, and I think we’re doing one hell of a job.

And you look at our borders, and you see the difference in the numbers.(Er...maybe). But the laws are not helping us, because we have some laws that are very much against everything that we stand for in this room.

House Democrats also voted against Kate’s Law -– a commonsense bill authored by Chairman Bob Goodlatte.  Where’s Bob?  Bob.  (Applause.)  Bob.  Thank you, Bob.  And that bill has been sitting for a long time over there, Bob, hasn’t it?  It’s too bad.

They voted against legislation to keep gang members like MS-13 out of our country.  These are extreme and dangerous positions.  They make no sense.

So here is our message from the coming election to the American people: If the Democrats ever got back into power, they would vote to raise your taxes; release dangerous criminals; open your borders; shut down this great surge of American energy that is tremendous for jobs, tremendous for the economic wellbeing of our country, and, frankly, helping the world.  They would take over American healthcare; take away your Second Amendment; and ship away your jobs to other countries...

A vote for a House Democrat is a vote for higher taxes, open borders, and the destruction of American jobs and American wealth.

Missing from this catalog, of course: any (direct) mention of ending chain migration and reducing legal immigration, specifically e.g. the RAISE Act and the Goodlatte bill (scroll down). 

Maybe there's some calculation here, but from long and careful observation of Trump, I think it's quite possible he just forgot. Maybe Melania wanted him to come home and go to bed early.

Also missing: any sense that the Congressional GOP apparently intends to do absolutely nothing to advance this agenda in the current Omnibus negotiation.

Maybe that's why he's reportedly so angry tonight.[Trump Vents His Anger Over Border-Wall Funding, by Elaina Plott, The Atlantic, March 21, 2018]

 

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