Tucker Carlson, Stephen Hayes Spar Over Trump: Why Can't Washington Republicans Move on Immigration?

Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Weekly Standard columnist Stephen Hayes and and Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson had a heated exchange over the Republican Party unifying in support of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his policies.

Tucker Carlson said, “I would say the Republican Party in Washington should not ignore Trump’s voters. And the one issue they could win a lot of voters back, he’s won the Republican nomination, beating 16 people, all of whom were backed in essence by Washington Republicans. There’s a statement being made by voters in D.C. I think they need to move on immigration. I think the details of economic policy, a subject that Ryan is interested in, Trump would move on those. They’ve got to demonstrate a good-faith effort to secure the borders and at least to rethink our current immigration scheme, which has been in place for 51 years. Nobody is even willing to talk about it. Trump’s voters want a public conversation on that. Why can’t they move on that? There was a series of polls in swing states done last week — how do you feel about a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants? Everyone in D.C. is horrified by that idea. It’s evidence of membership in the Nazi Party. But across the country, huge numbers of people, 65 percent of Wisconsin voters, favor that. Not all Republicans, a lot of Democrats. It doesn’t mean you should back it. It does mean you need to rethink your comfortable assumptions about immigration.”

Hayes said, “If you have principles and believe we shouldn’t ban a religion? Don’t ban a religion? A country founded on freedom of religion—it’s not  good idea to ban a religion. Republicans can’t just cast aside their principles, free trade, because Donald Trump comes around and this orange guy suggests that free trade is bad. We’re going to throw away 300 years of Adam Smith.”