Trump repeated his call for mass deportations of people here illegally.
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The real estate mogul tried to rally by answering a question about Syria, Ukraine and Russian Federation with a boast that he could deal with President Vladimir Putin because they “were stablemates on “60 Minutes” and that went pretty well”. That has pushed candidates in places like Georgia, where Hispanics made up less than 2 percent of voters past year, further to the right on immigration issues.
If there was one theme, it was a sudden lack of fear among the Republican field to take on Trump, whose image has suffered in recent polls.
Most of the Republican presidential candidates concentrated their efforts Wednesday in Iowa, New Hampshire and SC, all states with early contests.
What Mr. Trump and other supporters of harsh enforcement actions like Operation Wetback won’t tell you is that increased enforcement was combined with an increase in legal migration opportunities. “No matter what business you are in, you are going to have people who do something stupid and cause a problem”. “I don’t even like to bring up his name”.
In response, Trump invoked historical precedent: “Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower”.
Trump said the nation has funding priorities above NASA.
He also spoke of the wall he has vowed to build along the border. They were using it like a highway, the wall was like a highway. He said those applying to remain in the country legally would have to pass a criminal background check, pay a fine and learn English, among other requirements.
Trump’s “deportation force” would presumably deport roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants regardless of family situations.
But he said on Wednesday it was cheap, “doable” and humane. “Because he had to do it”.
“But people died”, a reporter pushed back. “That’s really nice of you”. We either have a country or we don’t have a country….
Trump was accused of dooming the fledgling U.S. Football League in 1984 when he insisted it go head to head with the NFL with a fall game schedule. But there are only so many ways to search out, pick up, pack up, pen up and then ship out 20 million people in time for the next election.
“Any time we break records, we all like it”, he said. “And that’s all you’re going to have for at least a decade”, he said.
Cohen said, “I don’t think we have an exact number”.
After discussing NASA specifically, Trump said that he thought “space is terrific”. We got to fix our potholes.
“I want a piece of the profits”, he said. “It would take me about two seconds (to negotiate). I don’t have to hear from this man. Believe me”, he said.
“The Eisenhower mass deportation policy was tragic”, says Alfonso Aguilar of the American Principles Project, “Human rights were violated”.
He instead struck a conciliatory tone, saying he “didn’t think anybody did poorly”, and noting that the GOP candidates were “getting better” with each passing debate.
Another questioner lobbed a two-parter at Trump: one question about executive orders and another asking whether he could get “his damn book signed for his wife”.
As the crowd filed out of the ballroom, most had positive things to say about Trump.
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“It’s unbelievable, but he and the people who support his attitude are more and more comfortable expressing it in different ways – with impunity”, said Rouse.
