This, it should be noted, is one of the most persuasive arguments for why it makes sense for Republicans to continue backing Trump despite the fact that he's a bigot and a buffoon. What would happen is that Republicans in Congress would draft a bill that reflects their preferences. So what would actually happen if he becomes president? So it seems clear that Trump's convictions on the topic of immigration are no more firm than on abortion or health care or guns or anything else. "But again, his message is America first. "I think it develops," Eric Trump said about his father's immigration stance. The only thing we know for sure is that he still wants to build that big beautiful wall along the southern border. The uncertainty Trump has displayed over the last few days on immigration looks like the product of this internal contradiction, as neither he nor any of his surrogates or spokespeople can seem to figure out whether he's "softening" his immigration stance or he's just as tough and punitive as he ever was.
In a bizarre bit of management chaos-making, Trump recently hired both Kellyanne Conway, an establishment Republican who plainly wants to broaden his appeal across the middle, and Steve Bannon, chief of the divisive Breitbart News, both of whom seem to be in charge of the Trump campaign. This appears to be the product of a tug-of-war within Trump's campaign, one that he created. So there may or may not be 11 million people deported by a "deportation force" that may or may not be created.
But as often happens with Trump, every time he talks about it he says something different, in ways that make it almost impossible to discern what he actually means. So how do we figure it out? In this case, the answer is to look at what the Republicans who would actually be deciding on immigration policy in a Trump presidency want.īut first, to catch you up: In the last few days, Trump has suggested that there might be a "softening" in his position on deportations while he has said for months that every undocumented immigrant will be deported if he's president, now he's saying that maybe it'll just be the criminal ones, and he has even gone so far as to admit that Barack Obama has deported many undocumented immigrants. He has flip-flopped on so many different things so many different times that it's pointless to use what comes out of his mouth as a guide to what a Trump presidency might entail. Surely there's no one left who thinks that Donald Trump has any genuine beliefs about anything related to government policies, not even on the issue that enabled him to channel the rage of the Republican base and grab his party's nomination. But that's the wrong way to answer the question. If you're trying to figure that out, it's tempting to look at what Trump is saying as he talks to journalists and gives speeches.