Like Trump, Perry came down on San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has refused to stand for the “Star Spangled Banner” to protest what he says is police oppression. “No. 2, we work with them”, he told the audience, because that’s how this works.
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Trump stirred the crowd into a frenzy as he described his vision of his “impenetrable, physical, tall, beautiful” wall along the US border with Mexico.
One minute he says he’s still aiming to deport undocumented immigrants and build that “big lovely wall” that Mexico’s going to pay for.
“You have a candidate who wants to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, spoke with disdain and contempt about the undocumented community, refused to provide drivers licenses to them and called to deport Central American children who are fleeing drug dealers and sex traders and gang violence just a year ago and voted to enhance the border wall – I’m talking about Hillary Clinton here”, he said. “It’s a very, very hard thing”.
Jeb Bush, meanwhile, called for providing undocumented immigrants a path to legal status provided they could pass a background check and pay fines and taxes.
“For years, politicians have been so afraid of immigration that they wouldn’t take any position”.
Attempts by allies to explain the complete reversal have been comic.
During last night’s Late Show, Stephen Colbert returned with a brand new “The Werd” segment to take a closer look at Donald Trump’s “softening”, “hardening”, and consistent flip-flopping with his stance on immigration.
The speech comes after Trump and his campaign manager Kellyanne Conway gave differing statements about his plans during several appearances last week. No, he was never going to be able to ban all foreign Muslims from entering the country.
The cantankerous candidate vowed to create a deportation force, block federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities that shelter immigrants, and, of course, build a wall between the US and Mexico.
“I think people like Palin and Ann Coulter, this will be a talking issue for them for a couple of weeks, then they’ll go to something else”, he said.
Some campaign surrogates have seemed to back away from the promise to build a wall along the Southern border.
“I had a great meeting with great people, great Hispanic leaders, and there could certainly be a softening because we’re not looking to hurt people”, Trump responded. But it is with a certain degree of genuine sympathy that I say what has to be said: Your candidate is a flake. A con man. A joke.
Trump spoke at Des Moines, Iowa during Republican Sen. This was good short-term politics, especially in the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections, but many voters became disillusioned with politics and politicians.
They saw Trump’s proposal for what it was – a cartoonish pipe dream.
Clinton, a former secretary of state, said on Wednesday that Trump could not paper over his previous harsh language against Mexico, which helped him defeat 16 rivals for the Republican presidential nomination.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Xfinity Arena of Everett, Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016, in Everett, Wash.
Trump can’t win on this one.
Trump again vowed that Mexico would pay for construction of a “great border wall” between the two countries. But mostly, where substance ought to be found, there is just arrogance and ego.
In a sense, spokeswoman Pierson was right: Trump doesn’t actually have positions.
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Eugene Robinson is a columnist for The Washington Post.
