If Trump Upsets the White Nationalists, Who Will He Have Left?
Many people seem confused about the nature of the “deal” Donald Trump might be cutting with Democratic minority leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Trump himself appears to be one of them.
At a dinner on Wednesday, Trump reportedly canvassed a pathway to citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented “Dreamers” who were brought to the country by their parents. Perhaps the price exacted was congressional funding for Trump’s beloved wall; perhaps not. Accounts of the meeting diverged on Thursday, with Trump appearing to change his story more than once, and then trying to change the subject to the wall in tweets and supporter emails.
Either way, reports of a Daca deal were enough to set off the nationalist and alt-right, and other hardline immigration hawks, who labelled it an amnesty. Other, less hysterical, voices predicted that in any negotiation, Trump would be rolled.
It’s not the first time we have asked a version of this question, but if Trump upsets the white nationalists who form the most loyal part of his supporter base, who will he have left?
Author: James Kirkpatrick writes for Vdare, and a range of other forums for white supremacy including American Renaissance and Unz Review.
Why you should read: Normally I spare Guardian readers the ordeal of full-bore alt-right publications, but just this once it’s important to understand the extent to which Trump is alienating the racists who once saw him as their great white hope.
Kirkpatrick spends thousands of words screaming blue murder about Trump’s apparent conversion to establishment views, and his abandonment of explicitly exclusionary immigration policies, then calls for an alt-right revolt.
Extract: “Donald Trump won because of his policies, which overcame his many flaws and self-inflicted wounds. Donald Trump will continue to win if he stands by the policies which got him elected.
“But if Donald Trump tries to become just another Republican, he will lose. And he’ll lose more spectacularly than even Mitt Romney or John McCain did.
“Which is why, as I predicted long ago, it is time to rise against Trump, albeit in his name and in his own true interests. If President Trump follows the guidance of people like Paul Ryan and Marc Short, he will be out of office in 2020 (if not before). And he will have squandered the last, best chance for America to continue as an English-speaking first world country instead of just another diversity-ridden dystopia like Brazil.”
Author: Ann Coulter is a hardline anti-immigrationist, columnist, author, and notorious troll. With WND running her columns, she appears to have finally found her level.
Why you should read: Coulter presents, in her customary punchy style, the apocalyptic view of immigration that underpins so much conservative angst – essentially, they think, amnesty and “open borders” is a plot to import more Democrat voters. No matter that President Obama deported thousands, and that “the wall” already exists – columnists like Coulter are out to convince conservative white Americans that the other side are playing a demographic long game that ends with them being displaced. This column was published just before Trump’s meeting
Extract: “No matter how the law is written, as long as anyone is eligible for amnesty, everybody’s getting amnesty. President Trump is the last president who will ever have a chance to make the right decision on immigration. After this, it’s over. The boat will have sailed.
“If he succeeds, all the pussy-grabbing and Russia nonsense will burn off like a morning fog. He will be the president who saved the American nation, its character, its sovereignty, its core identity. But if he fails, Donald Trump will go down in history as the man who killed America.”
Publication: The American Conservative
Author: Daniel Larison is one of the most patient and persistent anti-war (and anti-Trump) voices in conservative media.
Why you should read: Larison sees Trump’s deal-making as perfectly in line with his long-held view of the president as a grifter, a political cypher, and a narcissist. He expects Trump to disappoint his diehard supporters further by going wherever his thirst for adulation takes him.
Extract: “He gave his opponents a little of what they wanted, and just like that Trump was getting credit for supposedly up-ending the two-party system. If he thinks that switching to a slightly different immigration policy position will get him better coverage, that is what he’ll do because what he needs more than anything is affirmation and having his ego stroked by others.
“There are a few things to take away from this episode: 1) Trump generally doesn’t understand or care about policy substance; 2) He doesn’t feel any obligation to honor commitments he has made; 3) He will get rolled in any negotiation he enters into because all that interests him is the appearance of successful deal-making.”
Analysis: Donald Trump is getting rolled on Daca
Publication: Breitbart
Author: Joel B Pollak was a Tea Party congressional candidate, and Breitbart’s chief counsel before the site’s founder, Andrew Breitbart, made him editor-in-chief in 2010. He was a major player in the site’s decision to hang its reporter, Michelle Fields, out to dry when she was manhandled by Corey Lewandowski. He now glories in the title of “editor at large.”
Why you should read: Immigration is core business for Breitbart, and if Trump persists in the direction of what they consider “amnesty”, expect shots over the bow like this article to develop into broadsides. Pollak’s tone, for now, is more sadness than anger - he argues that Trump is being played, and is vainly looking for credit from his sworn enemies.
Extract: “There is something Clintonesque about Trump’s approach. After losing Congress in 1994, Bill Clinton famously undercut his Republican opponents by adopting many of their policies. He revived his political fortunes and went on to be re-elected, easily, while the economy boomed.
“Trump may hope to use similar triangulation to improve his approval ratings and weaken opposition to his policies on tax reform and repealing and replacing Obamacare.”
Trump and the ‘pivot’ to Democrats
Publication: National Review
Author: Peer of the realm, author, former media tycoon, ex-convict. Conrad Black has done it all.
Why you should read: Black’s novel interpretation of Trump’s inconstancy and confusion is that he is playing eight-dimensional chess with us all. Trump is pivoting to cooperation with Democrats at precisely the right time, and doing so will give him the whip hand in Washington, and allow him to see out a successful term. Bartender, I’ll have whatever Lord Black’s having.
Extract: “Doesn’t anyone get it? McConnell and Ryan don’t hold the balance of power between the administration and the Democrats, and it isn’t a matter of a durable and late “pivot” by the president. His accusers have fallen on their faces and he is prepared to go easy on the Democrats if they will work with him in policy areas, especially tax reform, which he is bringing on now.
“He couldn’t have pivoted earlier, when the Democrats thought they could impeach him and were listening to the lunatics in Hollywood and the media. As the mood deescalates and the system finally starts to work, he will hold the balance of power between the congressional parties and factions, and he will use it.”
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