For everyone who thinks this disastrous week in Donald Trump's presidency will do lasting damage, a question: Have you been in a coma since January 20, 2018?
This is a president who's been outed as having an affair with a porn star just after his super-model wife gave birth to his son, paid $130,000 to keep her quiet, lied about the whole thing and then had the porn actress reveal all (no pun intended) on "60 Minutes"…and his poll numbers have since gone up.
You think a round of pro-border-security stupidity is going to slow this guy down? He's the political equivalent of Mongo from the movie "Blazing Saddles":
"Don't shoot him. You'll just make him mad."
Not to underplay the damage he and his administration have done by enacting a border-enforcement policy every parent in America was certain to hate. The CBS News poll finding 67 percent of Americans oppose Trump's policy and its impact actually seems a bit low.
Trump wants to look tough on the borders, but he also wants to look good. Which is why Trump did something he hates to do and backed down. As our most TV-oriented president ever, he could see the damage being done to him politically by the video images of family separation at the border and decided this was not a hill he wanted to die on.
But in the end, the damage has been done to the cause of border security, not the cult of Donald Trump. The very night after he announced his Executive Order to undo his own policy (sort of—it's a long story that involves a judge), he was greeted by a pack house of cheering partisans in the blue state of Minnesota. The last Republican to carry the Gopher State was Richard Nixon in 1972, though Trump came within 1. 5 points.
In the latest polls tracked by Real Clear Politics, Trump is still around his 44 percent approval rating, no plunge in his numbers—at least not yet. And even if there is, does anybody really think that being (as Trump put it on Wednesday) "too strong" on the borders is what's going end Trump's run?
And once again, even if Trump's pays some short-term price, there's a long-term upside for the president and, eventually, Republicans. If you read through the coverage of Team Trump's border fiasco, the seeds of future success are there.
First there are the numbers. The Wall Street Journal reports that between October 1 of 2017 and June 17 of this year, the Border Patrol arrested 272,591 people crossing the border illegally. That works out to more than 300,000 illegal immigrants—the entire population of Cincinnati, OH—crossing into the US every year. And those are just the ones who've been caught.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates we catch about half of all illegal crossers, which means that if the people who are illegally crossing the U.S, border every year started their own town, it would be the 30th largest city in the entire country.
And again the next year, and the next year, and the next…
Most Americans don't like the fact that it's so easy for people to sneak into America and game the system. One thing the media coverage of Trump's border mess has made clear, perhaps inadvertently, is that the human traffickers and "coyotes" know how America processes illegal immigrants and uses children as part of a strategy to use our rules to their advantage.
That's all thrown aside when Americans see images of crying children fenced in at a government facility, of course. But eventually that story ends and the focus goes back to the basics: Do Americans really want anyone who can get to America, however illegally, to also get the right to stay here?
And that's the corner amnesty advocates are about to find themselves in. Decrying "kids in cages" is easy (and also the right thing to do), and it resulted in President Trump saying the administration is going to ask a judge to change the rules so parents and children awaiting a hearing at the border can stay together. But liberal groups like the ACLU have already announced they're going to sue over the new policy.
So what can you do? You can let them go. You can go back to "catch and release" policy where illegal immigrants were given a hearing date and allowed into the country. You'll know doubt be shocked to learn many people who are going to be deported don't bother to show up to the hearing. Instead, they just disappear in to the U.S.
When average Americans realize that the only policy alternative Democrats are offering to the ugly scenes at the border today is "everybody gets to stay," that will change the dynamics on this story. Bigly.
Today, Trump is losing on this issue. But as the Trump presidency has reminded us so many times, tomorrow is another day.
Michael Graham
CBSN contributor Michael Graham is a conservative columnist for the Boston Herald.
Commentary: How Trump can still win the immigration debate
By Michael Graham
/ CBS News
For everyone who thinks this disastrous week in Donald Trump's presidency will do lasting damage, a question: Have you been in a coma since January 20, 2018?
This is a president who's been outed as having an affair with a porn star just after his super-model wife gave birth to his son, paid $130,000 to keep her quiet, lied about the whole thing and then had the porn actress reveal all (no pun intended) on "60 Minutes"…and his poll numbers have since gone up.
You think a round of pro-border-security stupidity is going to slow this guy down? He's the political equivalent of Mongo from the movie "Blazing Saddles":
"Don't shoot him. You'll just make him mad."
Not to underplay the damage he and his administration have done by enacting a border-enforcement policy every parent in America was certain to hate. The CBS News poll finding 67 percent of Americans oppose Trump's policy and its impact actually seems a bit low.
Trump wants to look tough on the borders, but he also wants to look good. Which is why Trump did something he hates to do and backed down. As our most TV-oriented president ever, he could see the damage being done to him politically by the video images of family separation at the border and decided this was not a hill he wanted to die on.
But in the end, the damage has been done to the cause of border security, not the cult of Donald Trump. The very night after he announced his Executive Order to undo his own policy (sort of—it's a long story that involves a judge), he was greeted by a pack house of cheering partisans in the blue state of Minnesota. The last Republican to carry the Gopher State was Richard Nixon in 1972, though Trump came within 1. 5 points.
In the latest polls tracked by Real Clear Politics, Trump is still around his 44 percent approval rating, no plunge in his numbers—at least not yet. And even if there is, does anybody really think that being (as Trump put it on Wednesday) "too strong" on the borders is what's going end Trump's run?
And once again, even if Trump's pays some short-term price, there's a long-term upside for the president and, eventually, Republicans. If you read through the coverage of Team Trump's border fiasco, the seeds of future success are there.
First there are the numbers. The Wall Street Journal reports that between October 1 of 2017 and June 17 of this year, the Border Patrol arrested 272,591 people crossing the border illegally. That works out to more than 300,000 illegal immigrants—the entire population of Cincinnati, OH—crossing into the US every year. And those are just the ones who've been caught.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates we catch about half of all illegal crossers, which means that if the people who are illegally crossing the U.S, border every year started their own town, it would be the 30th largest city in the entire country.
And again the next year, and the next year, and the next…
Most Americans don't like the fact that it's so easy for people to sneak into America and game the system. One thing the media coverage of Trump's border mess has made clear, perhaps inadvertently, is that the human traffickers and "coyotes" know how America processes illegal immigrants and uses children as part of a strategy to use our rules to their advantage.
That's all thrown aside when Americans see images of crying children fenced in at a government facility, of course. But eventually that story ends and the focus goes back to the basics: Do Americans really want anyone who can get to America, however illegally, to also get the right to stay here?
And that's the corner amnesty advocates are about to find themselves in. Decrying "kids in cages" is easy (and also the right thing to do), and it resulted in President Trump saying the administration is going to ask a judge to change the rules so parents and children awaiting a hearing at the border can stay together. But liberal groups like the ACLU have already announced they're going to sue over the new policy.
So what can you do? You can let them go. You can go back to "catch and release" policy where illegal immigrants were given a hearing date and allowed into the country. You'll know doubt be shocked to learn many people who are going to be deported don't bother to show up to the hearing. Instead, they just disappear in to the U.S.
When average Americans realize that the only policy alternative Democrats are offering to the ugly scenes at the border today is "everybody gets to stay," that will change the dynamics on this story. Bigly.
Today, Trump is losing on this issue. But as the Trump presidency has reminded us so many times, tomorrow is another day.
In:- Immigration
- Democratic Party
- Donald Trump
CBSN contributor Michael Graham is a conservative columnist for the Boston Herald.
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