SEE MORE: Could Republicans Still Dump Trump? He’s met a lot of “really great, great people” too, who have expressed their love for him and asked him to be nicer to illegal immigrants who have been here for a few decades. They realize Trump may have jettisoned one of the things giving Clinton a solid lead in the race for the White House. Taking Trump’s words last night at face value, though, there is no difference between the “pay back taxes … work with them” position and the Gang of Eight bill, except for the fact that Rubio tried working with Chuck Schumer to pass exactly that policy.
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With these statements, the scope and nature of Trump’s immigration policies become even more murky. Calling Trump’s views “ever-changing”, Bush said the GOP nominee is beginning to sound like a typical “politician”, a label that Trump vehemently loathes.
The only question now: Can Trump can stick to this new position and defend it? Hillary Clinton may be the most ethically compromised candidate ever to run for the presidency with her email scandal – not to mention the Clinton Foundation being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for possible influence-peddling while Hillary was secretary of state.
Brzezinski called the public applause poll a “Family Feud” method of determining a policy, and that Trump’s new position stands in contract with what he has said on multiple occasions, including on the “Morning Joe” program itself in November, when she asked him if he would have a “massive deportation force” to deport 12 million illegal immigrants. Earlier this week, appearing in a town hall hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump said that there could be a “softening”.
Also, why are undocumented immigrants being treated like the loser in a gladiator match? Trump wouldn’t say later in the week, in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Do we throw them out or do we work with them?”
For his part, King said he believes that an immigration policy change could indeed rattle Trump’s base.
“For me, the two phrases that were the last straws were, ‘It’s not amnesty, ‘ and ‘back taxes, ‘” said Mark Krikorian, of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies.
“Jeb Bush wasn’t building a wall, Jeb Bush wasn’t making strong borders”, Trump told CNN, pushing back on comparisons to his former primary rival.
“He did simplify it”. He vowed to make cities safer so that “when you walk down your street. you’re not going to be shot, your child is not going to be shot”.
Bottom line: Would undocumented immigrants have to leave the United States?
“It vindicates the speech, it vindicates what Ted Cruz warned would happen during the course of the campaign”, said Chris Wilson, the director of research, analytics and digital strategy on Cruz’s campaign and a top Cruz adviser who has always argued that the RNC speech would be remembered favorably.
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Unfortunately, many of those who voted for him during the primaries did so because he was one of the only candidates to have a get-tough immigration policy – pushing to deport those here illegally, advocating the building of a wall between the USA and Mexico, and calling on a halt to Muslim immigration “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on”.
