Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Trump Softens on Immigration, Coulter Follows Suit
My slight edit of Coulter’s book cover.
Talk about bad timing. Wednesday night at the Breitbart Embassy in DC, Ann Coulter held a book signing for In God We Trus… oops, I mean In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome. Earlier that day, Donald Trump told Sean Hannity that he was “softening” his position on immigration, the main issue that made Coulter and a plurality of primary voters select him as the GOP nominee. Oh, to be a fly on the wall at that confab.
Coulter’s book makes the argument that “[T]here’s nothing Trump can do that won’t be forgiven. Except change his immigration policies.” On MSNBC’s “Hardball” she said, “This could be the shortest book tour ever if he’s really softening his position on immigration.” So there’s absolutely no way the passionately anti-immigration author could support her candidate’s flip-flop, right? Sorry, but we’ve got books to move:
Conservative author and Donald Trump supporter Ann Coulter isn’t giving up on her candidate yet, even as he appears to be shifting on an issue most dear to her.
Trump is now open to possibly “softening” his hardline stance on illegal immigration, and the candidate said Wednesday night on Fox News that he would consider letting many illegal immigrants remain in the country, instead of deporting them all.
…In an interview earlier that same day with the Washington Examiner, Coulter, whose own stance on immigration inspired Trump’s controversial views on it, said it’s not worrying her.
“It mostly worries me rhetorically … I mean, what to do with the illegals already here was never really a big part of it,” she said. “We’re getting a wall. We’re definitely getting a wall. That’s the one thing we know about a Trump presidency.”
She said Trump still offers more than any of the other Republicans had.
“I don’t think it is a change in policy,” she said of Trump. “The policy is anyone who’s here illegally is here illegally, does not have the right to be here. We’ll decide whether it’s in our interest to let them stay or not. Perhaps it is in our interest to let some of them stay.“
Yep, “we’re definitely getting a wall.” Trump would never backtrack on a core campaign promise.
Published in General
Sheesh…
Jon,
I understand that you mean well. You feel that Ann should be held to the same standards as everyone else. However, it just won’t work with Ann. She is the “Goddess of Victory” and there is nothing that you or I can do about it.
Sorry, there are just some things that are beyond our ability to comprehend
Regards,
Jim
There are things vastly more important than sticking to one’s convictions and principles. For example:
Trump 2016: It’s not a cult.
My question is whether or not Trump’s moderation in policy will result in a reciprocal moderation of NeverTrump fervor, on margin. Logically, it should, since he is retracting the most extreme facet of his rhetoric, “mass deportations,” in favor of a more mainstream position.
Just to be clear, we’re getting Donne Wall for a player to be named later.
… on the other hand, I understand and appreciate the compulsion to respond childishly.
You completely misunderstand nevertrumpism.
We don’t think Trump is too conservative, we think he isn’t at all conservative and will betray us on every issue while making conservatives look like idiots and bigots.
This flip on his part further confirms our arguments. I assure you that I am and always have been a bigger border hawk than Trump.
I think most #NeverTrump opposition is based on the man, not the policies.
Given the fact that, in my experience, most of those vehemently against Trump mention that his promises can’t be trusted every time a good policy Trump’s espoused has come up I think this is more fuel for the fire.
And they’ve got a point.
Fairly certain you still don’t understand why we are NeverTrump.
Well, Trump started softening his immigration positions ages ago when he switched from “ban all Muslims” to “ban people from countries that are warring against the USA”.
For me personally, that was a sign that maybe he wasn’t a complete kook. He was moving from bigotry to common sense security concerns.
Of course, the media hasn’t changed how they report on that position. They still say he wants to ban all Muslims. (Also, it’s pretty difficult to back away from overt bigotry.)
I presume the same will hold true for this softening. He can soften all he wants. His earlier hard-line is all that will be reported by the MSM.
Let me jump on the bandwagon here. Most NeverTrump is not about the man’s stated policies it is that we don’t trust the man himself.
Conservative? He moved from a radical position to a more moderate position, one more closely aligned with a conservative position.
Weathervanes also move about a fair bit.
…and I should add that we are in agreement that Trump isn’t conservative enough. The fact that he is moving in the direction of a Krikorian is a positive occurrence. I assume that many NeverTrumpers are willing to consider Trump’s shift in that light, but that they won’t necessarily be first out of the gate to their keyboards.
I think this is probably the result of his new campaign structure, either Conway or Ailes: they’re trying to mitigate negatives and his unfavorability ratings amongst minorities.
Trump is starting to look an awful lot like he’ll govern like Bill did in ’92 and ’96 if elected: following the polls instead of principles.
It really says something about your readership when your book covers require a visual aid of you and your topic.
Exception to the rule being that rare issue of Old Man and The Sea featuring a picture of Hemingway punching a cresting wave.
I get that. That’s a problem.
Ann’s always sold herself as much as she’s sold her ideas. But to be fair it’s sort of a theme with a certain type of political writer:
AND, AND, we don’t believe anything he says. But I’m just repeating you.
That’s an important insight. You can add outreach to Blacks, appeals to national unity around American values, etc. He’s making himself more electable.
No surprises here. Trump will do whatever he needs to do to get elected. It’s not about principles or policies: it’s about Trump. Regarding Ann Coulter, I wouldn’t hold my breath. She has been beyond obsessive on immigration. She says now that she will settle for a wall. But when the wall “falls,” what then?
I will always think of Al Franken in his Trading Places visage.
Rico – Lo, these many months many of us were ridiculed by several fervent followers of Mr. Trump that Trump would not only deport 11 million in less than two years but also that other Republican candidates who couldn’t commit to the same plan or questioned Trump’s plan were actually promoting open borders and amnesty. Now it appears that Trump is adopting the same position as Rubio, Bush, Kasich, Perry, Jindal and others. So, either Trump was lying all along to con people into supporting him (like the steaming esteemed Ms. Coulter) or in the last few days he’s had an epiphany that a more coherent and reasonable immigration policy is a better way to go…and perhaps win over millions of hispanic votes. As Frank Soto noted above, many of us were far more hawkish on controlling the borders and dealing with visa overstays than Trump pretended to be and may still be pretending to be.
To the degree that Coulter now gets angry and lambasts Trump, perhaps she could be seen by the Trump faithful as helping Hillary (h/t a Rico Contributor for that speculation).
Is Trump’s new position more acceptable? Well, sure. I guess one could go so far to say that those other “traitorous” Republicans who advocated for more reasonable immigration control measures have been redeemed…even those accused of lying to the electorate…something that Donald Trump clearly <cough> has never done.
Krikorian’s position is that Obama is more or less doing it right on immigration?
Well that’s what he’s trying to do. I still think this point falls more towards another data point for #NeverTrump than against however.
This is true. And given who his opponent is this an extremely positive development.
Ha! But you can accomplish double facepalm with the tenets of individualism.
No. Krikorian says border security: first, existing illegals: later.
The Obama thing was a Trumpian gaffe (and I think you realize that).