President Donald Trump has insulted, berated, and fired hesitant aides as he tries to fulfill his 2016 campaign promise to block illegal migration, according to the New York Times.
The NYT article is couched in negative terms. But it gives the nation’s K-12 civics classes a textbook case of how optimistic Americans can use their democratic votes to shift a complacent Washington establishment.
The newspaper shows how Trump repeatedly and relentlessly fought his own cautious or oppositional appointees to deliver on his promise to block illegal immigration:
In the Oval Office that March [2019] afternoon, a 30-minute meeting extended to more than two hours as Mr. Trump’s team tried desperately to placate him.
“You are making me look like an idiot!” Mr. Trump shouted, adding in a profanity, as multiple officials in the room described it. “I ran on this. It’s my issue.”
…
The president’s advisers left the meeting in a near panic.
The President pressured his appointees, regardless of sex, the New York Times acknowledges:
Mr. Trump had routinely berated Ms. Nielsen as ineffective and, worse — at least in his mind — not tough-looking enough. “Lou Dobbs hates you, Ann Coulter hates you, you’re making me look bad,” Mr. Trump would tell her, referring to the Fox Business Network host and the conservative commentator.
…
That March day, he was furious at [Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo, too, for having cut a deal with Mexico to allow the United States to reject some asylum seekers — a plan Mr. Trump said was clearly failing.
Trump fended off the business lobbyists who were covertly targeted at him by his own deputies, the newspaper reported:
White House advisers encouraged a stream of corporate executives, Republican lawmakers and officials from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to tell Mr. Trump how damaging a border closure would be.
The article shows the former real estate investor and TV showman learning how to bypass the byzantine immigration laws which were designed by the D.C. establishment to foil the public’s demand for strong border protections:
“The problem you have with the laws the way they are, we can have 100,000 of our soldiers standing up there — they can’t do a thing,” Mr. Trump said ruefully.
The critical moment, the Times admits, came when Trump simply fired one of his pro-establishment deputies and replaced her with populist deputies who want to deliver on his campaign promises:
The dismissal was a turning point for Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda, the start of the purge that ushered in a team that embraced Mr. [Steve] Miller’s policies [of supporting Trump’s policies].
The New York Times article ends with Trump firing his top aide — and so it does not mention how Trump used the presidential power given to him by the voters to get around the Washington establishment.
In late May, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico, despite much opposition in Washington.
His threat prompted a massive policy shift by the Mexican government and a massive shift in public attitudes among Mexican voters.
Since then, the cross-border flow from Mexico has crashed from 133,000 in May down to 51,000 in September, according to federal data. Other actions — although fought by California judges — are expected to reduce the cross-border flow further.
Trump’s aggressive use of the power granted by Congress in prior decades is also allowing him to build more miles of the border wall he promised in 2o16. He aides now suggest he may refurbish or create 500 miles of new fences by November 2020.
Read the article here.
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