I agree with the 75 - 80% rationale, but I think Trump still deserves a higher grade than 75-80, despite the “softening” remarks.
Jeff Sessions explained it best, but it’s a subtle point and I wish some other Trump defenders would pick up on it.
Sessions’ point (paraphrased) was that the worst part about Reagan’s amnesty wasn’t that the illegals already here got cut a break. The worst art was that it was offered in exchange for real ‘from now on’ border enforcement that never materialized.
Like Charlie Brown, conservatives are not willing to go for the kick with Lucy holding the ball - they’ve been burned too many times by the offer of ‘if you grant amnesty to those already here, we will secure the border and enforce the law from now on.’
So as Sessions says, we should insist on securing the border FIRST unconditionally, and independent of any decisions of how to deal with illegals already here. No comprehensive reform that offers amnesty in exchange for reforms we want that will never materialize. No deals.
Trump and Sessions are still completely (100%) on track with this position.
All they are saying is that after we get 100% of what we want regarding border enforcement going forward (a great victory), it is wise to acknowledge that there are difficulties with affecting mass deportation of 20-30 million illegals - if not moral difficulties, at least political difficulties.
To force Trump to say the words “I will deport illegals immediately” is to corner him politically so that he can’t win. The left sees this as a perfect wedge issue and will keep asking him the question; “will you deport?”, hoping that his own core supporters will be such useful idiots that they will join in and say, yeah Trump - will you deport?.
What Sessions is trying to tell us is that Trump must not be forced by his own supporters to say something most Christians would have such a hard time swallowing, that tens of millions of poor brown people will be forced into box cars and dumped on the other side of the order.
Look it’s criminal what’s been going on for decades with the borders - terrible for the American worker, taxpayer and since they are all democrat voters, terrible for the future of the republic. You don’t have to tell me how bad it is.
I’ll be happy if we really fix the borders going forward - and Trump has not backed down on that at all. As for the illegals already here, I think Trump is exactly right- it’s a tough problem, let’s deal with it AFTER the borders are secured, let’s deal with it separately.
We have a chance to get Trump into the White House - why force him to say words that 90% of Republicans sitting in church on Sunday would have a hard time uttering?
I think the criminals finals should be deported ASAP along with the recent influx of illegals.The rest could take some time, but if someone has been here a long time and is actually productive they could be offered some papers as long as they pay taxes owed. That does not mean they can go back and collect child tax credits and earned income credits like the IRS said they would when it was proposed before. And anyone that gets legal should not be able to collect any kind of benefits for reversal years. If they want a better life for themselves as they say, citizen taxpayers should not have to pay for it!