declaring that he was willing to “take the heat” politically
WHAT A GUY! Willing to stand behind his own comments. WOW !
2
He'll be for this until he isn't. No way to trust this guy in any way shape or form.
4
"Appeared". This is where we're at with advocacy "journalism". Appeared.
2
Trump's brain, what there is of it, doesn't know from one day to the next what it's going to do. Trump decided to open up the meeting to the Press for 55 minutes, and the Press cheers. They wonder out loud if Trump is turning over a new leaf? Are you kidding me? Not for one minute. All these politicos were very conscious that the cameras/smartphones were humming. Were we suppose this "candid" behind the scenes, fly on the wall was anything close to reality? Please, spare US. We the Trump Resisters have known for decades this idiot-in-chief can't hold an idea for very long in his short-attention span brain pan. In one ear, out the other for this airhead. As for promises? They mean nothing to Trump. They are meant to be broken. Trump averages five (5) lies per day. This has been just another one of them.
DD
Manhattan
2
Trump is a master of media manipulation, if nothing else. He plays media like a violin, even the NYT got caught up in this one...lead story everywhere, Trump finally opens up a single meeting to the press and some Democratics and without having to make a single commitment, you guys all dance to the tune...he's front page lead story news! One day he's throwing out 200,00 citizens from El Salvador, the next day he's a media darling. And we wonder how he's gotten where he is... Guess it sells and that's what its all about now.
5
What the hardliners fail to realize, or perhaps revel in, is that forced removal of upwards of 30 million people would literally take massive armies of armed deportation thugs going door to door. Only a sadist would want this. Amnesty, coupled with reduced programs / program availability, and a secured border from here on, is the only real solution for peacefully and realistically moving forward.
The part I wached had Kevin McCarthy try to put words in his mouth and I saw a snipit of Graham doing same. I personally don't think he knows what he signs therefore they try to cajole him and tell him its what he wants. Remember this is season 2 folks so we change it up little
1
Each morning I ask myself, "I wonder what the definition of 'wall' will be today?"
Today, as per the politicians, it's "border security." Why not just talk then about "border security"? Maybe they could get it done.
1
As someone that is considered more right wing than Rush, why wouldn't you leave all options the table?
It depends on the overall arrangements for border security going forward. Reagan accepted a two part approach and Congress forgot the second part. WE should learn from that. What matters most is knowing who is here, why they came, do they deserve to be here, and what is being put in place to have a reasonable immigration process and secure borders.
Right now political leaders have been deathly afraid of compromise. The fact of the matter is that our governing process is based on compromise, and meant to be run by reasonable men working for the good of our nation. Sadly, it's been about staying in office.
So this is the hill the Dems want to die on? Selling out the American public so as to pander to the Latino lobby? Forget net neutrality or anything else that makes life easier for actual Americans. Oh no. Let's worry that a Mexican might be sent home!
2
The president says he wants a bipartisan immigration bill. He speaks about being willing to take the heat and he speaks of provisions that are reasonable, indeed acceptable and acceptable to a likely majority of the country.
There are, 2 basic responses to this. First the president has proven himself to be a pathological liar, so not trusting his statements ought to be the country's default position. As a result, he needs to hit the road and successfully sell that which he ran against, namely comprehensive immigration reform not to Democrats, but instead to the alt-right.
Second, as a businessman, Trump proved himself to be an unrequited chiseler who didn't honor his agreements, but instead accepted full performance and then offered to pay less under the threat that he would tie the other party up in court for years with his legion of lawyers, thus compelling the fool who did business with him to settle for less.
I would urge Democrats and indeed the country to consider whether any deal can ever be made the President which he will honor. I believe Winston Churchill's view that no deal could ever be made with Hitler applies equally to President Trump.
1
blessings my Uncle Donald
1
Snorted in my corn flakes this morning watching Trump twist between Joe Arpaio running on an anti immigrant senate campaign, Trump realizing the large Latino voter block, NBC covering how many Russian women are coming to Trump properties in FL to deliver US citizen anchor babies, and well, hoping I wake up in black and white Kansas.
2
Let the 'path' include returning to their home country first, then apply for return and citizenship, just like all the responsible and law abiding folks do.
3
He lies, here not even 24 hours later; 45 has re.boarded the crazy train; and he wonders why Dumb Donnie is a thing.
2
Don't forget who the American people put in the majority Diane. (House, Senate, Presidency) You lost. You can't get exactly what you want and if Trump is anything like Obama, you will get nothing of what you want.
"Take heat" doesn't accurately describe what will happen with Trump's core supporters if he fails to deliver on his core promises on immigration. "Wanton abandonment" would be a better description. There can be some give and take negotiation that would be understandable and acceptable in regards to the DACA group, which is unique. However complete surrender to open borders Democrat's and Globalist Republican's will not be well tolerated. I hope the President understands that.
Here is what I think would be a good plan. Use a multi-phase approach as Congress has done in the past. Take whatever "phases" Congress has agreed to (phase 1, phase 2, etc) and completely reverse the order they were meant to be implemented in. The only reliable phase is the first and anything after that is a fantasy if not an outright lie. Security is always agreed to in a "later phase" and always abandoned. Fool us once shame on you. Fool us twice shame on us!
While the NYTimes and some (most?) Dems/Reps seem to want open borders and amnesty, the US citizens do NOT. Trump wouldn't have stood a prayer if he embraced the immigration policies espoused by Saunders and Clinton during the 2016 election. NO to giving illegal immigrants citizenship. I've no issue with green cards, work visas, and recognizing DACA as far as education and employment are concerned, but NO CITIZENSHIP TO ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.
3
He himself has no idea of what he said. He contradicted himself at every turn.
5
President T never had an anti immigration stance. He has an anti illegal stance.
1
I predict that the Dems will agree to the 'wall' if it means keeping DACA. They can't afford to lose the Hispanic vote.
1
After a thousand articles in the NYT & WaPo & on CNN describing this Presidnet as crazy or stupid, we got to SEE with our own eyes a great manager holding a meeting where he was the ultimate host and searcher for solutions. He stated hi case but didn't say No to any ideas from others.
The entire hate-war against Mr. Trump, as well as the books written to profit off of it are all blown away by the video tape of Trump meeting with both parties in the White House.
Did that meeting decide the 2018 elections?
3
Right. The Bill of Love will not happen. He doesn't care about Dreamers. He contradicted himself in the meeting. This was a PR event almost immediately denied through more crazy tweets. Look at his tweets across the past week alone, or the transcript of his interview with the New York Times which is pure word salad and incoherent. Look back also at what Trump has said about immigration at various times, and his views spin from one approach to a completely different one.
Maybe next he will praise some more white supremacists. Not many people will forget the 2000 or so lies he has been documented to have made since his inauguration. No one can believe anything he says (but gullible fools who want to exchange their life savings for a fraudulent Trump U degree).
1
The key word here is "appears" - until it actually happens or until tomorrow when he changes his mind, this is all kind of moot. One cannot have an intelligent conversation regarding policy when the person maiking the policy is as disingenuous as Don.
2
One and done. There is NO recovery from waffling on your #1 Campaign promise. I voted for him and am very sorry I did. Instead of the great Orange hope he is nothing more than a punkin head who believes he is royalty.
2
He did until he didn't all in the same one hour meeting. Need any more proof of his lack of ability?
1
He killed it yesterday. And by that I mean the respectability of the Executive branch. Killed it.
1
Every time a president talks amnesty, a flood of illegals come in. We're seeing that this week.
Our own government offices have put out numerous reports showing how illegal immigration and amnesty is bad for our country: depressed wages, stress on our hospitals, increase in crime, larger burden in our welfare system, failure to assimilate, etc. Yet, our elected ifficials want tgem. Why?
1) Dems want thw voting base
2) Repubs want to supply Big Business with cheao labour. Big Business makes a kot of campaign donations.
3) Unions have a high success rate with signing up illegals turned citizens. More memvers equal more money.
4) Big Business- cheap labour means larfer profits
5) Churches - with attendence declining, they want hispanics to remain. Many arw religious, and the churches want their 10% tithe.
In short, the American people are being sold out by greedy, corrupt entities and politicians. This isn't a "bill of love" - it's all about money and power.
Trump can kiss re-election goodbye. He *will* lose his base over this.
2
Breaking laws by crossing a border pales compared to what compels human beings to leave their circumstances for the unknown.
American journalists and soldiers and aid workers have died doing it.
The Trump Wall can only sheild eyes and hide the human misery on the other side for a short period of time.
2
Good news, if he wouldn't change his opinion like underwear.
1
if president Trump would give a fast amnesty deal to the 11+ million, making them citizens before 2020, kick out all the bad hombres televised on the news, make the legalized pay a fine used as a down payment for the wall, open medicare for all, force the Koreas to sign a peace treaty with acting like a moron, he would go down in history as one of the best presidents ever. It would devastate the democrats as it would kill all of their political leverage. His popularity would jump to 70%, true, his current base would abandon him, but everyone else in this country would suddenly fall in love with him and get him easily reelected, this time with a real landslide and majority of popular vote. Think about it.
I'd love to get excited but Trump will likely say the opposite in a few days.
First of all there are more than 20 million plus illegals in this country, if Trump goes along with Dems on citizenship , Republicans will never have enough votes to win a county dog catcher job. We will effectively have one party socialist rule, it won't be pleasant.
1
Sometimes if I hear about that wall one more time, I'm going to scream. We don't need a 'big beautiful wall.' There are various ways to protect the border which Trump is happy to dismiss to get his stupid wall.
1
We've tried them since 1986. ONLY a wall will work. It'll pay for itself within months.
Good grief stop falling for the okie doe.
1
If Trump wants to be replaced by Oprah, let him grant amnesty.
1
The stable genius confused "chain" migration with a chain-link fence. Sad.
1
Instead of a wall would the President settle for a curb?
One should never trust nor cooperate with a tyrant. Never.
Yep, and as long as a border wall - you know border security - is part of the final product, there's definitely a deal to be had. Now, if the Democrats will stop shooing away those pesky gift horses...
2
I would much prefer to see all immigration be ONLY merit-based, with no refugees or other immigrants at all. And I mean NONE - no matter what "color" they are. The US, like the world generally, is simply overcrowded, and that makes life a lot more unpleasant.
Why are the fossilized democratic congressional leaders allowing themselves to be played as props in trump's continuing nonsense? Resist.
Take the heat? That's very funny coming from someone who hemorrhages when someone looks at him sideways because his skin is so thin, and then whips out his twitter machine to make sure he gives them what for.
Deal. Protect the people, even if it does mean flushing $18 billion down the toilet.
As of this moment Trump is a one-term failure.
And I really did vote for him.
Evidence Trump does not understand policy. He is the placator-in-chief.
There are two things that stand out here.
1) Trump is not serious. He has built a career out of (a)"playing the room" (Meaning that his words are designed to please the people in the room) and (b) lying (meaning that he does not really mean the things he said yesterday). This is no different then when he met with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer a few months back.
2) Isn't Mexico paying for the wall? The central theme to Trump's campaign, even more central then MAGA, was that Mexico was paying for the wall. Not only that they were going to do it quickly. In fact, so quickly Mexican heads would be spinning.
I guess part 2 actually only bolsters part 1 but I admit even I'm astonished on how quickly Trump abandoned the whole Mexico paying for the wall thing.
2
For some reason, I am reminded of Ray Walston looking through the bars, near the end of "The Stand," and saying, "He lies...he lies."
"A Bill of Love."
I've seen everything now.
1
It's best to always preface 'appears to' when speaking of the imposter.
That;s a no-no. We must speed up deportations of these illegals. They must understand that they have broken the law and must be deported. ANy reward for their criminality will only encourage more of the same just as happened during Reagan. Illegals got their amnesty but the Dems blocked enforcement. NO MORE AMNESTY - DEPORTATION ONLY.
a no - no - what are we 8 years old? Do you even comprehend what you are saying and in what context? These are teachers, doctors , tech employees etc..,. that were brough here as children - whithut their consent. Now they are adults and when looking at the statistics- great, law abiding, tax pat=ying , cotributing to socviety adults. Can the same be said for you judy?
1
What else is new? Republicans "negotiate" by conceding to Democrat demands. Business as usual.
He will retract it tomorrow morning 3 am.
2
The credit for this unusual bipartisan meet should go to the author of the just-published book “Fire and Fury.” The book raised doubts about the mental state of Mr. Trump.
He first tried to put the controversy to rest by declaring that he is a “stable genius.” It didn't work. If anything, it fueled the controversy further.
Another incentive for this bipartisan meet came from Mr. Trump’s belated realization that the American political system works on the principle of checks and balance; that the president has to reach across the aisle to get things done. Americans are relieved that their president, at long last, decided to refresh his mind on this junior-high civics lesson.
Very cleverly, he decided to bring up before the bipartisan meet two issues, which he knew are of great concern for both parties: comprehensive immigration reforms and border security.
Here again, we are relieved to see a tamed Mr. Trump. He decided to relent on the hitherto adamant insistence on a 2,000-mile-long border wall as a primary requisite of his border security plan. And he wouldn’t insist, as an inevitable part of his immigration reforms plan, on deporting 11 million people who have been living and working in this country illegally for years. He is willing to consider a way to citizenship for them. He knew that, in doing so, he would be antagonizing his core supporters: the anti-immigration activists.
How sensible of him to say that he is prepared to take the heat from them.
At the meeting, 45 said he would be open to whatever the committee came up with. A few hours later, he sends a twitter stating that here HAS to be a wall. On a day to day basis, I think I would hate working for an inconsistent boss with no moral directions. And now America is. It stinks.
2
How can a single human being on the planet earth care what Trump says or thinks anymore? I'm about to plunge forks in my eyes so I can't read and knitting needles in my ears so I can't hear anymore. Trump based suicide can't become legalized soon enough.
I think DT has seen the writing on the wall re 2018, and a possible Democratic landslide, something he fears more than Mueller. If the dems win "hugely" in 2018, and DT continues to rail against the FBI and the DOJ, it will make it so much easier to start thinking seriously about impeachment. Senator Feinstein, in an interview last year, was asked about this same issue, and her answer was, basically, we'll see what happens with the investigation. Liberals, myself included, are suckers for the soft touch, the "love" factor, and we like to see ourselves as the champions of the downtrodden. DT is keen enough to realize that the winds are shifting to possible removal from office. The "bill of love"? Really? The only thing this man loves is his image and his money. DT does not love anybody. He is a racist, a misogynist, yadda yadda. As for the wall? Mexico can breathe easy, no out of pocket funds for that. As for NK? Rocket man is proving to be just another paper tiger (like his nemesis). Do not be fooled by this man. He is unstable, unpredictable, self-serving, and, if the Dems fail to make gains in 2018, DT will be back to his old self again. Fool me once....
1
Only Nixon could go to China. But if you want to kill the best shot at keeping dreamers because of a drop in the bucket 18 billion, or you just can’t stand to give a Trump a success, well ...
1
18 billion drop in the bucket? oh, sarcasm...i get it. And just FYI 18 billion is a low ball estimate. Try 30 billion.
Trump wants to steer attention away from the Wolff book. This is a PR stunt. Trump surrounded himself with quick talking leaders and tried to look normal. It looked greasy and fake to me.
1
Trump has already shown that he is willing to "SAY" anything... anything to get others to do what he wants and he sees that he is walking THE razor of impeachment. He has absolutely no sincerity in anything he says. Don't trust him.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Washington is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.
Written by Cicero, Roman statesman in 42BC
"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious, but it cannot survive treason from within. The traitor appears not a traitor and speaks of accents familiar to its victims and he appeals to the baseness which lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of the nation. He works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the nation and infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.”
2
This guy is a pinball and like string theory prediction eventually he's going to get something right.
THE Deal Maker! Party of Trump has COMPLETE confidence in Trump. He has kept his word regarding EVERYTHING he has promised & he’s not about to stop. U people that panic HAVE NEVER NEGOTIATED YUGE DEALS!
Whatever he said, he will forget it by morning.
1
The fact that much of this meeting was televised should tell us all we need to know. This was the reality tv president and like all of Trumps reality tv, an act of fiction. Thinking otherwise is just as delusional as believing anything else the liar in chief says or tweets. Sad
1
Democrats - just say no. We can't agree to spend $18 billion on this nonsense when the facts show that the border is a waste. The Republicans will kill the immigration part of it. Don't sign a thing.
1
Trump is only saying this to spite Bannon. Trump knows it will burn Bannon to see those he had pushed so hard against- the immigrants, might now gain little from Trump.
If Democrats are only interested in protecting DACA illegals, and not interested in actually addressing and fixing the broader immigration issues, they will not get a deal.
The Democrats, in their zeal to pretend they care so much about illegals, are being outmaneuvered.
1
Don't be fooled..."appears" is the operative word in the headline. Trump has a pattern of introducing tactical, and often theatrical diversions and sound bites, such as this stunt, whenever he loses control of the news cycle. The last few days have been filled with many negative news stories about Trump, the top two being Wolff's book and Sen. Feinstein's release of the dossier testimony. He is simply trying to create the reality he needs to regain control of the news cycle and return to his "fake news" mantra. It's a bit difficult to "fake news" a #1 best seller and Senate Judiciary Committee testimony given under oath that reveals new connections to the Russian connection.
Why do supposedly serious people keep getting duped by this scam artist? Tomorrow he will say something different. Haven't they learned anything?
2
Now, if he could just figure out what all those words actually mean and the outcome those words would dictate. #takesagenius
Can someone bring this man to a legit doctor for a medical evaluation?
Don't do it, Mr. President. You keep those illegal parasites in this country and I promise you there will be no second term and you will be losing quite a bit of support for the remainder of your first.
The best way to approach this is to reduce paper work, do a touch-back, and expedite immigration hearings. A blanket amnesty free-for-all will definitely not be helping your cause, or theirs.
1
The only sweeping deal of interest to Americans concerning Trump is sweeping both him and his corrupt Republican sycophants out of office as soon as possible. Tomorrow would not be too soon. Deal?
3
Of course a few hours later he tweets there will be no DACA protection without a "wall," something he lyingly claims was made clear. So much for the "love." Thankfully a federal judge has decided the protections will hold. I feel stupid for believing.if only for a short time, that Trump might have done the right thing.
2
If only one could believe anything out of Trump's mouth! The wall is now metaphysical? It's a fence in some parts? A computer program? More border agents? Does it still cost unnecessary billions better spent on housing on education? Comprehensive immigration reform after months of racist vitriol? Why was the press at the meeting at all? Oh, yeah, it was a show.
I don’t think he knew what he was talking about. I am not sure he know was comprehensive immigration reform means.
You are seeing a stark difference in sheer negotiating experience with this president. Mr. Trump has run a multi billion dollar business and has over fifty years of negotiating experience. The previous president had zero experience.
Finally, remember these quotes?:
“I'm going to be so presidential that you people will be so bored.”
“I can be more Presidential, if I want to be, I can be more Presidential than anybody.”
Don't be fooled. It's all about money with number 45. Oprah ruffled the feathers and he responded. Period. Thank you Oprah.
1
He usually does the opposite of what he says.
1
The open borders siege on the middle class must end.
Here we go again. A massive amnesty, followed by another wave of illegals, followed by another amnesty. Wouldn't it be simpler and more honest to just do away with the immigration laws we have now (which are mostly ignored anyway) and throw the doors open for any and everybody? When we are as poor and crowded as China and India, the only more populous countries on earth, perhaps then we can have borders and immigration laws like every other country on the planet currently has.
THere is no shot of this happening. The idea of any compromising just isn't in the cards. Both sides have to placate their base and the left will never accept a wall and the right will, never accept DACCA never mind citizenship in any all encompassing deal. .
1
The extended media spray was simply an attempt by Trump to show that he's not mentally incompetent. He was trying so hard to look like he was on top of the conversation, and failing so miserably.
If President Trump caves on DACA, this country is finished. Done.
And Trump’s “appears to endorse path to citizenship...” is believable because: a) we really want a path, b) Trump’s against the wall and vulnerable, c) Democrats have evidence on Trump’s crimes and are blackmailing him?
I thought it was good to see these "politicians" come together and actually talk. I know Trump is doing this to show the world he is not mentally deranged, but for all those politicians to get in front of the camera and try to do something constructive was good to see. Too bad it won't work, but I say do more of it. And, just another jab to say that Trump is just the worst negotiator I have ever seen....
If you listen closely to these politicians you will hear them say the idea is to lump all illegal immigrants into this plan of keeping them in this country and giving them a path to citizenship. I have paid fairly close attention to this issue for years and find the current plan to be horrible. The only possible actions I could swallow would have to do with the people who fit into Obama's dreamer act. That would be children 22 years old and younger. Seems like to rules have changed now and there is a move to include anyone ever brought here by their illegal parents. Typical political sham put upon American citizens. The high approval percentage currently quoted wouldn't be that high if people understood that our Government is now talking about over 11 million illegals getting a pass.
The dreamers aren't barganing chips or fodder. They're human beings who are American except on paper. For Trump to threaten their ability to stay in the US is heartless and immoral. To compromise with DACA is akin to the compromises on slavery prior to the Civil War. Like slave versus free states. Like slaves count for 3/5 of a person for determining Congressional representatives.
Trumps move to put the dreamers in such peril reflects someone without conscience or empathy or morals. We should compromise on certain things like budget or taxes or infrastructure. We should never compromise on the humanity of dreamers. There have been frivolous and stupid reasons used to shut down the government. But when it comes to the lives of dreamers, I support shutting down the government to keep them safe from deportation if Trump demands funding for a wall.
1
This is collapse much of Trump's base of support. I read Brietbart to know what the lunatics are saying and Trump supporters say he gives in on DACA they will abandon him in droves. Yeah.
Now that he has totally surrendered to the Republican "elite" and neocons, he has nothing to lose. He has already lost his base.
Congress should grant DACA enrollees citizenship as part of a legislative package that includes measures to prevent future illegal immigration. This legislation should (1) authorize state, county and city police to enforce federal immigration laws; (2) empower states, counties and cities to make it unlawful for unauthorized immigrants to reside within their jurisdictions; (3) make E-Verify mandatory nationwide; and (4) change asylum policy to automatically deny asylum to anyone who enters the country illegally. As a separate measure, Congress should start a process to reinterpret or, if necessary, amend the citizenship clause to grant birthright citizenship only to children born to U.S. parents.
With these measure in effect, we wouldn’t need a border wall. However, Congress could pacify President Trump by strengthening the existing border fence and naming it the “Donald Trump Border Wall.”
Trump would do well to remember how Dems PROMISED HW Bush they would cut spending AFTER he agreed to a tax increase. Then they attacked him for increasing taxes with no spending cuts (surprise!) and Bill Clinton beat him for the Presidency. Dems simply CANNOT be trusted!
Amazing. Congress has been beating heads against the wall on this and all they get is a headache. It’s time for a new strategy. If Trump can knock heads together and get Congress to write a bill on immigration he will have achieved something. It’s worth trying.
1
While we should normalize their status, we should not grant the so-called “dreamers” citizenship. They can wait their turn and follow the rules, like every other immigrant with a green card. It’s a simple compromise and benefits everyone.
Suddenly, the enraged, bullying, intimidating, threatening Trump has a lucid moment? I don't buy it. How long will it be before another raging tweet storm starts?
And, the bipartisan meeting with Trump was a joke. He had to be constantly kept on track and had to have certain points clarified. This is presidential material?
As for immigration, for over 2 decades, it was the Republican Party who put the kaboshes to immigration reform because back then they profited most from it with cheap immigrant labor.
Then, they found they could avoid US taxes, paying US wages and employee benefits by moving their jobs offshore. Ask Trump how many contracts in 2 decades he and Iskanka had in China for sweat shop labor.
Trump could do a Reagan immigration overhaul to give DACA legal status.
Democrats should at the very least give Trump a partial Wall funding right away, no strings attached as good faith Trump will himself push for DACA to pass.
Trump should shame anti 'amnesty' Republicans himself, saying he merely follow the Reagan model, giving 'amnesty' to DACA residents .
Trump can promote DACA as Reagan Plus model, with the Wall as part of package to ensure no repeat of illegal crossings in future.
By invoking Reagan's name And having a Wall built, courtesy of Democrat's cooperation, there will be much more chance for legalized DACA.
Democrats should not be foolish by denying at least partial funding for the Wall. There is no political advantage to be gained by not funding the Wall. See Trump as a Friend in DACA issue. Thanks to Ivanka for pushing this agenda!
Trump is open to anything that gives him a "win." However, he babbles so no one should take his babble seriously. It's time for the Dems to show some spine and draw a line in the sand -- no to $18 billion for a stupid wall that Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico; yes to permanent residency and citizenship for dreamers; no to deporting 200,000 Salvadorans or other TPS refugees; yes to rational immigration reform; no to Muslim or other white racist immigration bans; yes to a huge infrastructure program; no to offshore oil and gas drilling off both coasts; yes to major revisions in the tax bill to restore adquate funding for government programs like CHIP.
1
And they do...not...have...the...votes, so your Daffy Duck gallantry of standing there with his feathers blown off, spluttering, announcing that this means war, means...precisely...jack.
I'll bet you didn't vote, or voted for Stein, or wrote in St. Bernie, right? And I bet you have an alibi for not voting next November, all picked out.
Why anyone’s believes or even reports on what this guy says is beyond me. As a country can we really be this gullible.
The man is a compulsive liar. Why do we as rational beings believe anything he says?
It is time to seriously consider the impeachments options available
1
A great way to get Trump to change his mind about endorsing a path to citizenship for millions of immigrants is for the NYT to publish the headline "Trump Appears to Endorse Path to Citizenship for Millions of Immigrants."
His base will LOVE that.
1
Oh, please. Trump'll never follow through, and we can difure out whether he lied, forgot, or got distracted by a shiny gum wrapper.
Nonsense ! Great Leader tRump has no real policy about ANYTHING ! He does not know anything about "immigration" except the "temporary" ones he hires in his hotels and golf courses, cause hr can't get local employees . . . so he says. Anything else he says is pure campaign blah blah blah. He will forget everything he said in a couple days . . .
1
He wants something. From the Dems. This man never concedes anything unless he has an ulterior motive. He is desperately seeking support from anyone on “this Russiar thing”.
1
This meeting in which trump was so gracious, was totally an act> His arms folded in front of him, indicates he is removed from the scene. Another trump popularity program!
"Undocumented immigrants?" Criminals. Illegal aliens. What about the law-abiding people who are in line, paying attorneys to support their LEGAL IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION PROCESS??? This is NOT what this country is about; rewarding CRIMINALS and those WHO IGNORE THE RULE OF LAW.
1
First real thoughtout move by man incapable of any thinking. Real chess. Democrats, as usual, are incapacitated.
Ok, so I go away on long weekend and now Donald Trump is for amnesty? Wait, is the the Onion?
"The president has been known to make conflicting or contradictory statements on complex policy issues, only to walk them back or change his mind."
Oh, New York Times, you are the master of dry understatement. Trump can change his mind about the color of the sky twice in the same day.
People who are not supposed to be here are not supposed to be here - a principle beyond the understanding of northeastern liberals.
Please, please let me tell you what I would do if someone came uninvited into my house and plopped down on he sofa and demanded to be loved.
Please.
1
How much has Mexico paid for the wall so far?
2
tRump lies, he cheats, he tells you what he thinks you want to hear. He can not be trusted. Believe him at your peril.
1
“Trump Appears....” so right. Stop there. The story is told.
Trump is so insanely and blindly committed to his stupid wall he'll do or say ANYTHING to get it built. Just look at his life after all: for his entire adult life, his livelihood and, more importantly, his self-worth, have been predicated on BUILDING something. It is evidence, the only evidence, of his greatness. We can argue about the size of his fortune, or whether he's a genius or not, but a Trump Tower or Trump Hotel or Trump Golf Course doesn't lie. It's mere existence is the final word. And so it is with the infernal Wall. It's not about security or drugs (most of which come through border stations in truck or via boat or airplane)--it's all about him.
But in the end, who can trust anything out of his mouth anyway?
The Great Wall of Trump
Trumpian economics:
The estimated cost to build Trump's US/Mexico border wall is $15 billion ($15,000,000,000,000). The estimated total number of illegal immigrants entering the US from Mexico each year is 750,000. $15 billion divided by 750,000 is $20,000,000 to keep out one illegal Mexican immigrant each year. How many $20 million a year low information, poorly educated Trump supporter's jobs are being taken by Mexican illegal immigrants?
2
The Art of the Deal again. MEH.
I'll take the heat! How heroic. Too dumb to realize that he is the one who caused the heat. Trying to use THE WALL as blackmail for DACA issue. Not surprising. Chaos continues. The pure, complete and ultimate narcissist a human wrecking ball on a world stage. In the stock market they call it Pump and Dump. Our embarrassment continues. Barnum and Bailey - where are you?
1
Thanks for the first positive article on the President that I have seen from the New York Times.
Trump wants to protect dreamers? His Bill of Love?? He's the reason they're in jeopardy!! What a hypocrite.
We're going to pay for the wall?? I thought Mexico was paying for the wall. We're paying for the wall, while his 1% cronies get a massive tax break?? Where's the wall funding going to come from? My future Social Security? Since you failed (big fail, huge fail) to get Mexico to pay for the wall... repeal the tax cut for the 1% and use that to pay for your wall.
1
Actions, words and all that...
Forget that ridiculous campaign slogan and get to work on an effective solution! "Build the wall" = nonsense.
trust trump at your own peril....
Judging by NYT past performance, I'm more inclined to believe this is the real Trump
1
Senator Lindsey made s preposterous statement that “62%” Of Republicans favor citizenship for dreamers.” Where are the facts? Lindsey and the gang of 8 wrote the most liberal immigration policy imaginable, which basically provided amnesty for more than the purported 12 million x2 illegal aliens in this country. A complete farce. President Trump must be careful on promoting and promising what the majority of American people DONT want....unfair amnesty for illegal aliens and absolutely no path to citizenship. Lindsey is a traitor to the republican party.
2
What Trump and his hardcore, uneducated and totally racist supporters have to do is to open up our country's history books.
And once they do that they'll find out that once upon a time our settlers too came here illegally without asking for any permissions or applying for 'visa' before they entered this huge,sprawling unprotected land of hundreds and possibly thousands of indigenous people who used to call themselves Indians.
We call them native Americans even before our independence.
So this knowledge of the sacred land of the Indians where our settlers built this great nation after killing most of the native people, burnt their huts, stole their babies, should always stay in the minds of Trump and his thoroughly racist Republican Congress members before they open their mouth about what to do with the 'dreamers' who who came as children to this totally undisputed as the greatest nation on earth, called the United States of America.
With the Indian people in some states winning their cases in the courts of the federal judges separating them in different districts or cities than how they were crammed into same districts by the crooked Republicans in their states in extreme cases of 'gerrymandering',it'll not be too long before original owners of this land will send more Democratic representatives to the congress to upset Trump and the Republican plan of isolating them and shutting the voice of the people whose land our settlers stole illegally in the most violent ways.
1
Trump is lying. Ay time he holds out an olive branch or says something that isn't offensive or stupid, he is lying. When he has suckered a few people in he will turn his coat as usual and claim that his adversaries scuppered whatever deal he was never really going to agree to. This is one of the ways he pretends to plausibility and piles lies upon lies to try and obscure objectivity. He has no intention of "taking hits" and he certainly has no intention of helping anyone but himself.
2
And you believe him?
1
My Dems meeting with an admitted sexual abuser to shape immigration policy. They keep meeting with him notwithstanding his previous backstabbings expecting a different result. If they're not clinically insane they are carriers. Currently my party is too week and leaderless to assume the mantle which the fall election may bring. Who among them will represent the party in national opposition to the disgrace in the Casa Blanca.
This quiet opposition is failing We The People.
1
Ohhhhh The winning, so much big beautiful winning....
Are you tired yet?
1
This man is a political windsock. Get him out of office!
Jeez, you saying the meaning of them darn words like "comprehensive" and "wall" aren't variable?
It's unbelievable that this has been the lead story on the Times website all day. You're giving credence to an offhand comment from a guy who says whatever pops into his mind and will change positions on an issue three times in one sentence!
Your coverage of this is insane. It's as if you have not been paying attention to how Trump talks and acts over the past nearly three years. You just woke up today and are seeing him de novo.
Well, the rest of us have been awake and know what we're dealing with.
2
You guys just pipe down and wait for the next tweet. Shouldn't be much longer now...
1
A comprehensive immigration package should: send the DACA schemers packing; reduce legal immigration by half; eliminate birthright citizenship to children born to illegal aliens; end legal family unification (chain migration) and the green card lottery; call for immediate deportation of all illegal immigrants (12M is the popular estimate); seal the border with Mexico.
2
Your TPS ends in 2020, DJT.
Forget the Wall. Let's have mandatory E-verify for all new job hires in the US.
Dry up the jobs magnet and we will drastically decrease illegal immigration.
Half of all new hires in the US are already run through the federal E-verify system. It works, easily and quickly and with remarkably few mistakes. All employers should be required to use it.
4
Trump believes in nothing. He has no vital center which serves as his core of beliefs. This was evident when Kevin McCarthy interjected himself yesterday into the discussion with Diane Feinstein. If that was not enough, the Trump administratiin, as reported , changed the transcript of the meeting to reflect the more orthodox Republican position on immigration with its traditional emphasis on xenophobia and racial fear. If anyone expects "a deal" on DACA with Trump and the Republicans they must believe in leprichans.
2
Some people hate using the term "Amnesty" here... but it is exactly what these policies are. According to Webster definition, amnesty is "the act of an authority (such as a government) by which pardon is granted to a large group of individuals ". In case you don't know what pardon is, it is defined as "excuse or forgiveness for a fault, offense, or discourtesy". Illegal Immigrants, does not matter the age, is breaking the law. No funny business here. Plain and simple. Now you are telling me these law breakers can stand in front of the lines of thousands of hard working legal immigrants such as H1B workers who are waiting for their visa numbers, is simply not fair. It's not good for America, bad policy making! Wired immigration system which provide incentives for those people who don't care about the law, while punishing people who obey the law. Because, those who broke the law got to stay, become citizens, while law binding citizens who pays all their taxes, got frustrated, forced to leave the country, waiting 10+ years in line, even slightest change in job could endanger their status. Now you tell me to have heart for those law breakers! Sorry I cannot.
3
For those progressives who are determined to make Mike Pence president, can you imagine him even considering this. Trump is totally unpredictable and untrustworthy, but that is far better than the totally predictable awful policies we will get from the trustworthy Mike Pence. Ultimately, Trump is a deal maker. What we need to do is show him a path to deals we like. DACA and immigration reform from Donald Trump is hard to imagine, but if he can imagine it so should we. Building a wall is a stupid idea but if that is the price for freeing millions of American workers from the cloud over their head so be it.
2
We should be more scared of Pence than Trump.
The thing to remember about Trump is that he really doesn't have a set of beliefs. He supports whatever is convenient at the moment. If the Democrats take both the House and the Senate, he may turn liberal. This won't bother most of his secular followers who mostly support the man and not his policies. However, the Evangelicals could wet their pants if Trump (for instance) nominates a pro-choice, gay Supreme Court judge which he very well could do in that case.
Twitler didn't strangle Feinstein today, so I think we can all agree he's finally pivoted.
President Trump is having to bow before the American lawyer run judiciary which has already over ruled some of his policies on immigration. All braches of U.S. government are run and dominated by lawyers and this is known as the U.S. legal caste. Late American newspaper publisher Edward W. Scripps wrote If there is such a thing as true freedom then the road to that goal lies over and through the ruin and annihilation of the legal caste.
2
Trump, simply and concisely, does not know what he is talking about. Nothing will come of this meeting. He is like Professor Harold Hill selling vapor to a crowd that want's to believe him. All the while Charlie Cowell is out there shouting, "But he doesn't know the territory!"
Nothing. Th whole thing was a "Potemkin meeting" meant to demonstrate that Trump is, like, really smart. What we all saw on television (and now read in the NYT) was another Nancy and Chick moment. Just a few more players, that's all.
1
The poor fellow can't do anything right. He called a bipartisan meeting to to discuss immigration, and to show the world that he is mentally stable and in control, he called in the tv channels. After 5 minutes of blah-blah he showed to the world he doesn't understand anything. He contradicted himself several times accepting opposite views. He doesn't understand that comprehensive immigration policy includes the path to citizenship. From a cheap circus his premises have developed into a White Asylum. He has soiled the very concept of the White House.
Please, Mueller, speed up the process!
A modest proposal:
1. We are currently following a misinterpretation of an ancient Supreme Court ruling. There is actually no legal definition of "anchor baby".....Firstly, a baby cannot be a citizen!.....you must have attained the age of 18 to be a citizen...and even that age is questionable...as the Voting Act of 1972(?) may have established 18 in violation of the constitutionally established age of 21!!
2. This still doesnt change the reality of millions of young people smuggled into the USA with and without parents who were also smuggled into this country. And these youths are now demanding Federal support to continue their education in the USA, as for the most part they have been absorbed into our society and get treated like any other American.
3. DACA......provisions. any Federal aid to a DACA qualifier comes with a requirement that the recipient complete the educational program and RETURN to their country of origin for a minimum of five years. Five year maximum limit on the education.
Problem Solved..
1
"Dreamers", a nice term to soften the fact that they are ILLEGAL ALIENS, and have broken the US laws by staying, or by the means that they entered. They should not be rewarded with citizenship, or a path to citizenship for violating our laws.
3
Trump wants to reform immigration, BUT the establishment like it just the way it is Ironically, they both want the same thing, a ready made race card to pull out, and cheap labor for theri corporate overlord. The American people will now see there is very little difference between the Left and the Right they are both equally evil and anti American.
2
Judging by NYT past performance, I'm more inclined to believe this is the real level-headed Trump the press has been hiding from us.
2
Yes, which is why you must take any media coverage of Trump with a grain of salt. It is usually wrong.
Yes, it's a miracle! Trump will defy is base! He will be sensible!
Wake up already NYT.
On the day the Fusion GPS senate transcripts are released we get this "LOOK OVER HERE! LOOK, LOOK HERE. I'M PROMISING TO MAYBE DO SOMETHING!" from Trump.
Don't be fools...again.
We have already tried amnesty but have not seriously tried enforcement.
The foundation of public service is to take care of your citizens, not foreign nationals here illegally.
Additionally, the following specific enforcement items were already promised to the American people on a bipartisan basis:
We are owed mandatory e-verify from 1986 amnesty.
We are owed exit-entry visa tracking from the 1996 law, never implemented.
We are owed interior enforcement and jurisdiction-stripping from leftist-activist courts, as promised in statute in 1996.
We are owed a border wall, as passed with bipartisan support in 2006.
We are owed refugee and asylum reform because we cannot become like Europe.
We are owed an end to sanctuary cities because no community should be under siege from another country’s criminals when we have enough of our own.
We are owed a fix to counting illegals in the Census because every country has the right to self-determination.
Delivering on these promises should be the starting point for any immigration negotiations.
https://www.conservativereview.com/articles/president-trump-dont-give-sp...
3
The look on Kevin McCarthy's face as Trump agreed with Senator Feinstein's ask for a "clean DACA bill" ... PRICELESS!
2
To make a deal with DJT is to make a deal with the devil. Whatever he agrees on today, he will change his mind and disagree with tomorrow. Democrats should stand firm, and not give in so he can build his rediculas wall.
This is just an unsubtle attempt to get a wall for free.
1
Senators Obama, Schumer and Clinton voted for a border fence from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean in 2006. It is already a fact of US law the structural integrity/cost of the this fence/wall is the only issue still up in the air.
If you don't want a wall nominate candidates that don't disparage the white working class voter, take control of the house and senate and pass another law. Until then deal with REALITY instead of being petulant.
2
What fascinated me yesterday in watching this dog and pony show to demonstrate that DJT is not completely unhinged was his closed body language. Most of the time, he sat there with his arms folded across his chest. At other times he had his hands clenched together in front of him on the conference table. Both of these gestures indicate his high level of anxiety and frustration along with an underlying attitude of hostility and defense.
Despite the back-and-forth banter by the participants, nothing was truly accomplished at this meeting. DJT vacillated constantly in his responses, and it became apparent that he did not have a firm grip on the complexity of the issues. His initially positive response to Sen. Feinstein's proposal for passing quick DACA legislation had to be immediately contradicted by Rep. McCarthy.
What amazes me is that this overtly strategic form of "reality TV" has dominated the airwaves as though it were a bipartisan breakthrough of some sort. Statements from the WH afterward indeed demonstrated that the basic proposition of trading off DACA legislation for funding "The Wall," and eliminating chain and lottery migration.
Nothing new here - just a lot of meaningless "blah-blah" and defensiveness that provides no solace for the young people whose legal status is on the line right now!
1
Whatever Trump did today, he'll do the opposite tomorrow morning and deny today ever happened. Whether he can appear presidential isn't the issue. He's a spoiled brat who only works when he feels like it, which is very seldom. Whoever thinks this guy is actually going to behave like a president for more than a few hours is delusional.
What will happen to the many people who have waited in line legally for many years to become American citizens. Will they be put to the back of the line and made to feel insignificant. I had a friend from Belgium who became a citizen but it was not easy and took her years to complete citizenship. She has a doctorate in chemistry and is now a valuable member of the workforce. Through determination and patience she came here legally. It seems unjust to those who follow our laws to have to wait years while those who are here illegally are given preferential treatment.
1
Words from presidents used to mean something. Today they mean something, until he says something else.
This is not a ploy to show his leadership. This is not a change on his immigration views. This is Trump putting on a show for the cameras. Period.
His words mean nothing, until the chaos of war ensues.
The problem is that tomorrow, Trump may change his mind. How can anyone be sure he will not? So, Trump needs to produce a written proposal with details. Then the congress can analyse this and amend, and vote on the proposal. Before that, nothing should done.
1
This unique performance by the president clarified nothing but left viewers with another cliffhanger. In this lost episode of cancelled show “The Apprentice”, Trump flattered those in the meeting, agreeing to sign anything they sent him, saying he wanted an immigration bill of love, he, with arms crossed, hoping he could be loved, winning their vote for the role of president. But the writers convinced him demanding his wall would improve his chances. This left so many possibilities open, but the question remains, is he up for the up for the job?
The republicans jumping in after Trump appeared amenable to a clean DACA Bill and Trump's back pedal reminded me of Don Regan telling Reagan to "speed it up."
First show in 2nd season of The Trump Show. In episode 1 "The Bill of Love" Trump agrees then disagrees then moves the goalpost. Players spend most of the game repeating the components of the 2013 Gang of Eight Comprehensive Immigration Bill which had the votes to pass but..... John Boehner would not bring to the floor because The Republican Party had signed the pledge of Mitch to oppose anything and everything President Obama was for. For that reason alone and for upcoming elections The Republican Party of Trump will pass the Obama Comprehensive Immigration Bill and call it Trump's Bill of Love. Looks like season 2 will be much like season 1.
I love these "Trump appears..." articles. How many times are we going to be fooled into thinking that this president really has any good intentions for those who are in desperate need. The only chance at real change is to do exactly what the GOP did to Obama.
Many of you still don't 'get' Trump just like half of you didn't understand those who voted for him. First, it isn't the man himself who people voted for the most part, but against an unacceptable agenda in hopes of a better one or at least something not much worse. Second, he was the only viable alternative. Third, don't listen to what he says. He's a 'actions speak louder than words' type of guy, and you can't trust anything he says publicly because that is simply his negotiating style. He is the opposite of 'do what I say, not what I do', the boisterous brother in law no one really wants around, but tolerates anyway because every now in then he comes up with something worthwhile. Fourth, and most important, he has historically been a moderate with more of a Blue Dog Democrat point of view than Republican. He isn't making a lot of headway because the liberal press and its allies simply doesn't want him to do so. There are some obvious solutions here. We should at least have that part.
2
It was all about show and tell for this "so-called". he was agreeable to anything someone else said, until someone from his own party spoke and brought up the wall. if this were truly out of love, as he put it, there would be no conditions to cause any hold backs from either side. It would just get done, and these young people would be able to sleep at night feeling safe. #45 knew when he canceled the order, the dreamers would be his bargaining tool for funding towards his wall. Not the American way as I see it.
Stop calling it “border security”. That’s just a trumpian rebranding of The Wall. Call it The Wall, please. That’s what it is.
McConnell has said that no legislation will move forward without Trump’s approval first. He knows Trump is a sinking ship and looking for political cover. Don’t give it to him!
No art of the deal. Renew DACA. Period.
Trump is lying. He wont take any heat. The moment his enablers in congress sit him down this ‘offer’ will disappear. Theres no point in following his constant lies.
Every American needs to stay focused on removing this clown, and his enablers, as soon as possible. Don’t miss a single chance to vote.
He wants his wall and he can't be trusted. He's proven that his entire adult life. Only a fool would play.
1
If the president abandons his base on this issue, he’s cooked. Done. Deport, deport, deport. Put American citizens first—not illegal invaders.
Well, that's over with!
Thanks to Judge Alsup, all this peacocking and preening around the conference room is now officially what it always was: Trump using Democrats to put on a show, because doing it with Republicans doesn't work any more.
Anyhoo: moot, moot, moot.
Oh yeah, only if he can get the money to build his stupid wall and fulfill the even stupider campaign promise (and by the way, wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for it? Where has that promise gone?)
Trump is a liar and a poseur. He makes promises he doesn't keep, practices bait-and-switch and is an utterly unreliable partner. He throws anyone dealing with hum under the bus eventually.
Like Charlie Brown, Democrats shouldn't try to kick this football. Trump, like Lucy, will pull it out every time.
1
Easy negotiation: Trump allows dreamers to stay if Democrats allow in the law that states they can never vote. Hmmmmmm......How fast will democrats run away from supporting illegals.
1
Don’t do deals with the devil
1
he is a liar and not to be trusted.
1
Do not believe him. He is a liar and he will never change.
1
Let us take this off the table. A bigoted racist, nazi, KKK supporting Trump should be the last person tasked with immigration reform. America's founding was based on better foundation. Trump represent too many of those horrors that everybody had tried to heal, but he has now unearthed in the last two years of being in the public eye.
What would you do since you are a expert?
Imagine this.....you are a 3 month old baby and your parents illegally immigrate to a county and stay. Now you grow up in that country. You find that you are not allowed to apply for citizenship because you are illegal. Furthermore you can not get a legal job. What you gonna do? Go to the country your parents came from - a country you don't know - or stay in the "new" country and do your best to get by?
1
Democrats are fools. They will fall for anything just to be humiliated again.
2
The Amnesty Don demonstrates his superior stamina to his legions of forgotten white man.
Israel has built a wall to separate itself from the West Bank. Undoubtedly, the USA has directly or indirectly helped pay for this. Why would we support such a structure for Israel, while not enhancing our own physical barriers to unwanted entry? Trump has already conceded that it would not be a continuous wall, and natural barriers, such as mountains and broad rivers, would suffice where they exist.
It seems a small portion of the overall cost of comprehensive immigration reform. Compromise involves accepting some things that, on their own, you would not accept. Keep an eye on the big picture.
And merit based immigration makes sense. I had some grandparents, who probably never should have been allowed into this country. They refused to learn proper English, never became citizens, and, in the case of one grandfather, always kept open the option of going back. To Belarus, in the 1960s!!! I am sure there was someone else who would have become an American, not just a long term resident.
2
If you believe anything he said yesterday then you have been in a comma for the past year. He gives a different answer to the same question and gets people to cherry pick what they want to hear. In the end he will do exactly the opposite of reasonable and compassionate.
4
I disagree. I think you’ve been in a semicolon...
How does compassion for the BILLIONS and BILLIONS of earth's inhabitants fit into the equation of doing the hard job of protecting this country and the citizens? Foolish and unrealistic.
Trump's transparent ploy on immigration is driven by his desperate need to appear like a "stable genius" following the escalating criticism about his temperament. But Trump's olive branch to tolerance and sanity will be short-lived.
Read the comments on Breitbart and Fox News about DACA. His base is angry and feels betrayed. Once Trump realizes the extent of that furor, he will backpedal so fast on immigration, his comb-over will look like the flailing tail on a Palomino headed for a bag of oats.
For now, Trump is playing Lucy to the Democrats Charlie Brown over immigration. "Trust me, Charlie Brown. I won't move the football this time." When the Democrats land on their backs, Trump will gloat. And any Democrat foolish enough to trust Trump will deserve it.
4
But he still wants HIS Wall - no matter what. Do you suppose that he even remembers that he told us many times that Mexico would pay for the wall? A perfect example of the old term "two-faced". And we elected him president.......
3
Had Obama actually addressed immigration reform during his first 2 years in office, when Democrats held the majority, Trump would not be proposing the terms and conditions of immigration reform now! Inaction comes with a price! The wave of recent deportations fall squarely on the Democrats for doing nothing. They couldn't govern there way out of a wet paper bag! They've abandoned their constituents and wonder why they lost the White House. The DNC is owned by George Soros. Trump is cleaning the slate of the entitlement programs Obama enacted.
HIs next tweets will be about the deficit, and how he'll reduce it. In the end, Obama's legacy will be shredded with the DNC to thank for it.
ISIS is all but dead, NK is back at the negotiating table, immigration reform will occur, and something meaningless may actually come out of relocation our embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, all in Trump"s first year in office!
5
No E-verify, no wall, no end to chain migration, no end to sanctuary cities? No DACA. Period.
4
Follow the money. See who gets it. Look at who's getting attention and reaching for his halo... see I am not only a "stable genius" I am also saintly.
1
If Trump keeps this up, it will be the Republicans who will want to impeach him.
3
When was the last time anyone attended a meeting of 20-25 or more people (and even more cameras) headed by a loon that accomplished anything but a lot of head-nodding? This was nothing more then prime time, made-for-TV nonsense. The real work is being done elsewhere.
2
DACA and the WALL have nothing to do with each other. To use those two in negotiations in a tit-for-tat is preposterous.
2
The Times and other media dignify Trump’s insanity by merely repeating just one of many statements he made. How can you say for certain that he is open to immigration reform when he flipped and flopped all over the map during that crazy meeting? That so many were fooled—the media, Democrats, and Republicans alike—by a one hour display of behavior that bordered on complete uselessness, by a man who was probably propped up by several diet Cokes just beforehand, is worrisome, to say the least. Trump knew nothing about anything that was talked about and threw around words like “comprehensive” and “chain migration” that, if asked to define them, he would never be able to do. Seriously...are a few multisyllable words all it takes to be fooled? If so, we are in bigger trouble than we previously thought.
3
Someone who comes in illegally should NEVER get full citizenship, only, if we want, an amnesty that comes with a life-long work permit like the green-card, called the blue card or some other color-card. This will prevent chain migration on behalf of the people amnestied. It would also encourage people in the future to go through the proper channels when coming to the US. If the outcome is, in the end, the same, whether you come in legally or not, then there is no incentive to abide the law.
And what is all this hypocritical opposition against the wall? Any law-abiding citizen should support it, but I guess all the drug users and dealers oppose it, and dress their interest with humanitarian speech.
In 2013 the Democratic Congres voted for 700 miles of the fence along the border. Wall or Fence it's the same thing. The wall prototypes I've seen are all but a slightly taller fence.
Dems want everything, without giving ANYTHING in return for the majority of people who want clear border controls.
6
I don't trust Trump period. He was only appearing amenable for the cameras and for the fact that his mental stability has been called into qustion by the release of the book Fire and Fury. When he gets enough heat from his extremist supporters, including those in Congress, he'll back down in a moment.
2
Not wrong to want our laws obeyed and enforced
Has anyone thought to inform the President what a " clean bill" actually is? As ludicrous as this may seem, after watching whatever the hour long webinar was today, I came out wondering if he understood what 25% of what was being discussed actually entailed. Just my 2 cents. -CN
2
It's this simple; have a clean vote and move on. Otherwise, just spew hate and move on to the end of our democracy.
1
Trump is "willing to take the heat". How very big of him for suggesting he is willing to go out on a limb for thousands of human beings who were born here.
These thousands of human beings that have made a life for themselves due to their parents seeking a live for their children void of the strife and danger they faced from whence they came.
Wait a minute, silly me. Once again he tried to sell me that there is an element of empathy inside that brain. As I scrolled down the article I read this;
“My whole life has been heat,” he shrugged. “I like heat, in a certain way.”
Once again the authentic Donald John Trump shined through, it is all about Him. The man is a soulless, empty vessel.
My only hope is that his dire thirst for any crumb of acclamation will result in these thousands of human beings waking up one day with the security of knowing that can call America their home.
You can never depend on assurances from Republican pols. Even among themselves, for example, the assurances on CHIP that Slow Susan bought into.
And Trump just lost '20 re-election.
We've seen this before. Congress promises to overhaul immigration in exchange for amnesty. But, it never happens.
Obama's executive order for DACA was unconstitutional, plain and simple. Presidents can not make law, only Congress has the authority to do that.
Add in our own government's assessment that amnesty will strain Medicaid, add more anchor babies and encourage more illegal immigration, and you essentially have our goverment throwing its citizens under the bus.
I guess my family and I shouldn't have bothered becoming citizens legally. We could have saved our money, come here illegally and demanded citizenship...or does that only work for those who aren't of Caucasian descent?
1
In the comments, Trumpists have sworn up and down tha no President ever did this before, that DACA covers 12 million people, that a border wall can't possibly cost $25 million a mile, and (funniest of all) that this proves Trump's not nuts.
It goes a long way to 'splaining how Trump got the votes to squeak out a win. You just have to be gullible enough to believe this guff you got from Hannity, or bizarre enough to think that this Big Thinks Meet has anything to do woth the good of the country.
If you have children in school, trying to get into college, just entering the work world or hope they have the same chances as you had in America, legalizing these people will destroy any chance of that happening.
Facts prove wages are lowered, starting jobs are gone and college seats are taken away from American citizens the more we allow illegal and legal immigrants to flood our nation. We have been too generous and been taken advantage of as a nation.
It will also make this nation a one party nation. Just ask the Dem think tank that said they need the votes.
It has nothing to do with race and everything to do with being able to keep the core values and laws that have made this nation great. Just look immigrants that came following the rules, the majority don’t support amnesty.
Our school system is failing. Billions go to simply teaching English while the citizen child gets music, gym and a true education taken away. That makes any parent that supports amnesty and bad parent and bad neighbor.
Wages have been lowered, 76% of immigrant households with children use entitlements, crime is up. Please share some positives.
Trump, if he doesn’t uphold what he ran on will be removed from office faster than the fake Russian story. There will be a war and this nation will Balkanize.
Once again, this is not about race, it is about being American. If you can’t tell the difference and importance review my education point. Saying whites are scared is foolish.
5
Ah, just another Donald Trump moment. Too hard to sort them out....
2
My memory may be failing here, but wasn't Mexico supposed to be paying for that Wall?
Remember, this is Trump we are talking about. Whatever he states today can and will change today and/or tomorrow and/or whenever, and/or he can forget whatever he stated, then later, call it all fake news, then find someone to blame regardless (perhaps Sloppy Steve and/or the Tooth Fairy) and you are right back at square one in Trumpland.
As for what passes for a negotiation Trump style, perhaps our representatives have not watched enough episodes of Celebrity Apprentice. There was just no Omarosa and he just forgot to yell “you’re fired”.
On a more serious note, the game he is playing is not only heartbreaking, but cold and antithetical to the American ideal.
To watch this dog and pony show just reminds me how low our political machine has sunk and what you saw today is not reflective of what you will see tomorrow.
This is how bad things have gotten and maybe this is a wake up call. Doubtful, but one can hope.
2
You just witnessed a con man at work. He has no principles whatsoever. He will discard you like a gum wrapper when it suits him. Yesterday was staged for greater reasons than transparency. All this talk about his stability prompted this display. He will incrementally push for his beloved wall. This is what China did before technology centuries ago. His has no intrinsic knowledge. He's a well known hip shooter and dilettante.
When someone like this becomes POTUS we open the door to central casting
where every actor, race car driver and the like might fancy themselves as president. I can see a younger Clint Eastwood type running against an Oprah Winfrey.
1
Immigration in large notable numbers is due to famine (loss of the means to survive), conflict, and/or persecution. Immigration due to new opportunities, invitation or criminal activity are not large numbers the latter most likely being the least of motivations. We need to be looking at immigrants first as people with needs just like everyone else. Someone who came to the US to leave difficulties and horrors behind hoping to find a better life are not criminals anymore than anyone who is in the US other than the first peoples who inhabited this land before the first colonists arrived. The great majority of immigrants today who crossed our borders with legal papers or not should be given a path to be citizens here if they desire to do so and we should be able to celebrate the fact that they have turned to a welcoming nation rather than continued to suffer where they were. This is what our representatives should be working on rather than wasting time and money discussing walls and punitive actions against hardworking men and women and children.
2
Those are not immigrants
They are illegal aliens
1
Trump seemed confused yesterday, contradicted himself several times and his behavior confirms that he’s lost in policy discussions.
Trump just needs a couple of hours of Fox and Friends to help him sort out his new positions on DACA and immigration.
4
Republican White House. Republican Senate. Republican House.
Mr. Tough Negotiator Trump offers the democrats everything they want for DACA, in return for, nothing. LOL. The Swamp is Winning, so sad. The only question that will remain is which democrat will win in 2020, because if you want democrat policies, may as well vote for them.
"Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it."
The United States had a "one-time only" amnesty in 1986 and legalized approximately 3 million law violators. Rewarding illegal activity begets more illegal activity and now there are some who wish to repeat that mistake. No country can continue to reward illegal behavior and expect anything less than more illegal behavior.
1
Trump is trying to appear sane and rational after mounting evidence to the contrary. He has been coached. It’s a trick.
1
I thought he did his best yesterday in his strange substantive meeting. It showed that he is completely out of his depth, although he was likely the only one in the room that could not follow what was happening. My guess is that he is truly unusual in that respect, a forceful and compelling speaker who has no clue what is coming out of his mouth. I would put him at the very bottom tail of the cognitive ability distribution of his base, I think that only about 1% of that group is less competent cognitively than he is.
The idea of the wall may be cemented in Trump and his supporters mind but it's a total waste of taxpayer dollar. If he wants it so badly take it out of the ever growing military budget. Unfortunately, if an agreement is reach I'm certain it will result in a excuse for further cuts to social security, medicare, medicaid, and education to name a few.
It's basically an act of terrorism. He can easily continue the DACA program while it works it's way through Congress rather than holding 800,000 people hostage for $18 billion to pay for a purely symbolic wall. Nothing's changed.
4
LOL
Think about it. Trump may pull off a historic deal on immigration that eluded the feckless Obama and Bush -- and get his wall!
Thanks to his saber-rattling and threats of fire and fury, he (just) might bring an honorable and safe end to the 50-year crisis over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
He has already achieved a historic reduction in the preposterously high US corporate income tax rate that eluded Obama -- and maybe W. as well. Not to mention the most radical overhaul of the tax code maybe ever.
We may soon be seeing lots of red faces.
5
Yes, maybe he's done all that. And he won the WH against the Clinton machine and 16 Repub challengers. But according to the left and anti-Trumpers, he's mentally incompetent (certainly looked that way on TV yesterday), colluded with Russia to win, didn't really win because HRC won CA and NY, likes women, eats hamburgers, etc....
1
Build the wall!
I'm perfectly happy to waste $18 billion to keep Trump and his base happy, so long as it produces some real progress on immigration, which has been stuck for these last 20 years.
2
This is 2018, an election year. Suddenly the hard-right president and members of the republican caucus want to display how reasonable they are to the American people. Might it have something to do with reelection? If they win, they can go back to their scorch and burn policies which were demonstrated time and again in 2017. I, for one, will not be fooled by their cynical tactics to keep their seats.
2
Maybe. What I saw was not an attempt to be reasonable. Trump spoke as a genial but befuddled uncle, whereas the Republicans he seated next to himself reacted with horror to his contradictory ramblings.
I’m not buying this “If Trump protects Dreamers he’s a liar, and if he cuts them off he’s a racist.” narrative. I think it’s overstated how much of his base sees kicking Dreamers out much less reducing immigration a dealbreaker for a re-election vote. This also goes to show that Trump is not this far-right wing caricature or an extreme ideologue. His personality and mindset are what’s extreme. I think what Obama said on Nov. 10, 2017 was true. Trump’s a “pragmatist” who can be pragmatic if he can just focus, contain himself and not eat the proverbial marshmallow sitting in front of him.
I think he was right to defer Dreamer protection to Congress. Painstakingly, that belongs in Congress’ court unequivocally. Though I doubt Trump had the intellectual foresight to defer this to Congress because of how seized he was like I am by the consolidation of executive power, nevertheless Congress needs to act. They make laws. Congress, pass reform. I also support a pathway to citizenship but we really need to ask the question what specific problem amnesty solves, and how we will prevent this problem again for a third time.
I support a merit-prioritized system. As beautiful as the poetry at the base of Statue of Liberty was, this isn’t the 1880s when America was killing it on the economic stage and had no welfare state to fund. It's 2017, competition is fierce and we have $2.5 trillion welfare state.
If Trump signs immigration reform, it will be welcomed and delightfully ironic.
4
The 2013 bipartisan Senate immigration bill was widely supported by Americans. Except for a clean Dreamers act, it might be better to wait for the blue wave to sweep out Republicans and re-introduce it.
David Perdue, my senator who is quoted here, with Tom Cotton developed the RAISE act that would slash all immigration in half, cut 4.6 million jobs and damage the economy but was supported by Trump. Perdue is well known for his outsourcing to Asia and Mexico that cost thousands of Americans their jobs. He is a mini Trump, including bankruptcies that he walks away from with great wealth while the companies die.
Trump can never be trusted and always lies. His instinct is bigotry. If he cared about the Dreamers, he would not have ended DACA. His 'love' for these young people whom Republicans want to punish for the crimes of their parents is as real as his love for women. Ask his wives and women working at his companies and those he assaulted how that turned out.
Let Trump help the Dreamers but put all else involving immigrants to the side until he fulfills his campaign promise to make Mexico pay for his stupid wall.
Meanwhile vote every Republican out.
2
I do wish that it becomes the Nixon goes to China but not alienating so many of his voters may prove to be more relevant for the president. Trump has talked about issues in the past and then he drops them because he forgets or because the last person he talked with convinced him of something else.
This time around, it will be more difficult with that public policy session. Now all are on the record but no matter how strong I wish the Nixon goes to China scenario, I think the Trump goes to Davos will prevail. Family business as usual.
As someone who happily and without regrets voted for Obama twice, and who happily and without regret voted for Trump, maybe I can help the commenters and journalists who are skeptical better understand what’s going on here.
Many of us swing voters are moderate and pragmatic types, and far less doctrinaire and extreme than the party line partisans, journalists, and politicians who tend to dominate these debates and dictate policy.
Trump was able to take over the GOP in the primaries with votes from folks like me because he ran as a moderate. He promised to do more on immigration (which none of the radical open borders Chamber of Commerce GOP candidates wanted to touch before he ran), he promised to keep social security and Medicare stable, and he promised to end nation building foreign policy. He basically deposed the Bush dynasty and legacy.
What he did yesterday is a good sign to people like me. I get that doctrinaire Democrats want open borders. But like most moderate Americans, I think we have to draw the line somewhere. Trump is in the process of doing this. There will be some give and take.
Yesterday was a big success, and I think immigration and infrastructure are going to be the big issues of 2018. Tax reform and deregulation were the big issues of 2017. This is a good and successful President.
I hope this helps people in partisan, doctrinaire bubbles see how a swing voter sees things.
5
Trump has never taken responsibility for anything. Hearing him say “I’ll take the heat” would take quite a leap of faith to think he would actually place culpability at his feet. It has always been some thing or someone who is to blame for Trump’s perception of failure.
2
I wouldn't trust Trump's words on anything. He knows how to manipulate words, or add layers of meaning into a simple sentence. And in the end his words would be so transformed or watered down as to be totally meaningless. He is a born liar and I am shocked people in Congress believe him. As for his base he will twist his words so they sound as if he's on their side. He's con artist.
1
Damage limitation job, pure and simple with the televised session conveying dealmaker to kingpin. Oh, why am I so sceptical? His character. This does not change and a photo op devised on an away break at Camp David, does not make a president out of a man called Trump.
2
This televised meeting just further demonstrates the chaotic nature of both Donald Trump and Republican leadership. Although to the Republican leadership's credit, McCarthy did have to explain to the President what Diane Feinstein was suggesting with the term "clean DACA bill" as not including any border wall or funding for border security. Mexico was supposed to pay for the wall regardless how it is defined and "comprehensive reform" at that meeting clearly meant different things to different people.
I think the real purpose of having the press present in the room was set up as a distraction to the recent references to Mr. Trump's mental health and it may have worked if the President even understood the nature of what either party was suggesting and he hadn't changed his position and contradicted himself several times during that interaction.
At the end of the day, nothing was accomplished and even the words used in the encounter weren't actually defined. Without an understanding of the language used, this will remain an unresolved issue especially since the Republicans now need the Democrats to get to the 60 votes needed for anything to pass.
Hard line Republicans really need to understand that DACA youngsters didn't have a say when their parents brought them into the US and this is a FACT that matters. Yesterday's decision by a Federal Judge on Trump's DACA reversal addresses this situation.
I don't see this going anywhere anytime soon.
3
Donald, do NOT trust these people. They dont care about the same things as you. They care only for thing : expand their political base.
2
Surprise is the mightiest weapon in warfare. All that we have said Trump's mental capacity was proven wrong. That is slickest move no "trained" politician could have conjured. If the democrats still don't get who they are up against then they are hopeless.
1
Trump has zero credibility. His remarks regarding DACA are nothing more than posturing that he can actually govern like a "real" president.
All Democrats want comprehensive immigration reform. All establishment Republicans want comprehensive immigration reform. That is at least 2/3 of congress. The only people who don't want comprehensive immigration reform are the radical right wing extremists. Trump will make himself more popular if he passes comprehensive immigration reform and for whom else are the extremists going to vote? A small down payment on some fencing and we can solve a problem that has held America back for over 30 years.
Democrats' Immigration Reform means Amnesty with no strings attached.
Trump holds it together for one meeting, and suddenly everyone is remarking on what a great president he is after all. Quickest turnaround in political history. So, all the "resistance" ever really wanted was for Trump to act normal for an hour?
I'm not versed in those political issues. However, we know that Trump ordered the Salvadorans to go back to their country, and then the president appears to endorse the citizenship of millions of immigrants. Those two attempts are ideologically contradictory.
President Trump knows how to do deals. It looks to me that if he gets that wall on the southern border, he will suggest that Congress legislates a path to citizenship for all the illegal immigrants who are already here.
Throwing ideas at Trump is a fool's task. Congress people and political advisers can come up with a thousand adequate solutions, but Trump will do what he will on a whim. His actions are based on nothing but instinct and timing. Look at the tax bill and tell me that it was well thought out, and that it will help the people Trump trumpets as his constituency. This man has no substance. No philosophy. No ethic. He is baseless; a vacuum. All he reveres is money and glitter. Give him that and he is happy.
1
"Joseph Barnett Sacramento 9 hours ago
We don't need an expensive wall, we need housing for the homeless, bridges, roads, dams, schools, and health care facilities, built and repaired. We do need to grant citizenship to people like the DACA participants who have demonstrated a desire to participate and contribute to our society. Let us see what exact legislation he proposes.
FlagReply 238Recommend "
You can't have it based on the money he needs to wage the war with Iran he is under pressure to get going.
What has Trump wrought? Reporters like Davis and Stolberg are reduced to writing about A moment as The moment in some sort of all that matters is what is said most recently. Senators and Representatives of both parties are reduced to be Dylanesque "pawns" in Trump's reality show game, praising him for statements on camera that "appear" to give the image of principle and leadership, despite the fact that the night before, in a different episode, in front of a different crowd he made statements that "appeared to endorse" a completely different message on immigration and immigrants. This President's need for approval may lead him to support significant and progressive legislation if the "moment" is right. Meaning the voices of his lesser angels have been muted. Let's wait to see where this goes before elevating the existential Trump's "Bill of Love" in the absence of context, consistency of message, and the clear comprehension of the issues involved with a comprehensive policy on immigration.
Anyone who watched the meeting in full would see that Donald Trump does not listen, or perhaps comprehend, what the assembled Senators and Congresspeople said, and that he fails to understand anyone’s policy positions, including his own.
The idea that he is a genius, or even well-informed or a master negotiator is belied by the very things he says.
2
Trump’s handlers shouted him down after he made the agreement.
Remember he isn’t not done talking next he will demand the Wall and then blame the Democrats for being intransigent.
He is starting his sophomore year as President.
I'm doing well, the economy seems to be getting better.
Trump can't keep most of his campaign promises , his base knows that.
The media is losing their grip on the day to day Trump 24/7 stories.
Other than his haters , the stories are getting boring .
There is no upside for ANY Democrat “negotiating” with Trump on immigration. Trump has no principles and has gone back on SO many promises (healthcare better and cheaper than Obamacare; tax CUTS for middle class Americans while taxes go up for the very rich - but my middle class taxes will go up by thousands of $ due to loss of deductions; etc). Democrats need to just say NO on any bill, including immigration, that the republicans propose!!!
If Paris was worth a Mass, certainly the Dreamers are worth a piece of a Wall, even though whatever new section is built wastes money.
Democrats need to be smart. Top priority: Dreamers, at imminent risk of having their lives destroyed, without having done anything to deserve it, the crazy talk of bigots notwithstanding. The moral horror -- ethnic cleansing on a larger scale than Andrew Jackson's "Trail of Tears" -- requires Democrats to risk a government shutdown and to agree to measures to restrict Legal Immigration, which most Americans want.
What measures? Eliminate the nutty Visa lottery. "Chain migration" is only a slogan but Democrats could confine family unification to children, parents and grandparents of documented, legal immigrants. Maybe you think brothers or sisters should get visas but compromise is essential. Even if it means a piece of a useless Wall.
Only on January 20, after saving Dreamers, take Trump at his word; negotiate Comprehensive Immigration Reform before he recants. Provide a path to citizenship for law abiding, tax paying undocumented aliens, among them the half documented 200,000 Salvadorans admitted as much as 20 years ago under"Temporary" status.
Trolls falsely claiming Comprehensive means rapists and felons can sink reform if supporters fail to vigorously defend immigration reform against phony charges.
1
I am happy and hopeful that immigration reform will move forward, granting Dreamers legal status is the most logical thing to do . I am on H1b visa from India, there are 500,000 estimated Indians like me who are waiting in line for green cards for more than a decade. We all got here through legally established pathway and applied for green card on based on education and job qualifications . Many of us have spent years making USA our home. Yet I see no importance or coverage given to our plight. While I fully support Dreamers I have my disappointment at this step motherly treatment given out to people who came here legally and yet cannot be a permanent resident for decades. People like me continue to live in an uncertain future. I wish those who got here legally are also valued as much as other class of immigrants.
2
He needs to keep his promise and uphold our immigration laws that does not mean giving millions a free pass.
1
We can’t believe a thing he says - the looks on the faces of the Graham and onlookers says it all. They folded their tents and came indoors - and now are betrayed. Senator Flake voted for the tax bill - now faded from the news - believing that DACA would be spared Trump’s hatchet. Trump wants his wall - the wall that probably won’t be stable since most of it would be built on sand - ask the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bible. Republicans are pandering to his ego in exchange for a round of golf and we and the rest of the world are paying the price. Immigrants were once offered a safe haven - now they are left to freeze, starve, and die in refugee camps around the world. These stories have given way to the drama kings and queens of Trumpdom.
1
Democrats need to be more cunning and strategic. They need to drive a wedge between this "president" and his party. Trump's only protection from impeachment and possible criminal indictment is his party, which will do anything--apparently even sell out their country to a hostile foreign power--to serve their masters--money, power, the oligarchy. Trump has only one master: his perverted ego. It should be easy, and if the shoe were on the other foot, the Republicans would find no struggle in being devious. Perhaps Diane Feinstein's moves yesterday--getting him to verbally agree to a DACA deal in front of cameras, and the release of the GPS testimony--are first steps in that direction.
1
He wants a deal? He should start by leaving DACA alone.
Does it have to be sweeping deal?
Do we need a sweeping deal?
Execution of a well-thought strategy might be all that's needed.
Whatever DT says now is of less consequence then what he actually does in the coming months and years. I am reminded of a famous, (or infamous) expression by politicians of various sorts. "Don't listen to what we say, watch what we do!"
As every English speaking politician knows who lives or works in the USA or Britain, among certain other Europeans as well,
It is a common if depressing and dishonest practice among all the tribal and minor linguistic or nationalist groups of the Mediterannean basin to all say nice, acceptably peaceful sounding, time-filler blather and then, when they speak "among their own" in Arabic, Hebrew, Egyptian or any of the dozens of local languages spoken there, to say-to reveal what they really plan, what they really wish to do. No one any longer trusts the statements of such local politicians made in English, as all know their real meaning can only be found when they speak the tribe's language.
Mr.Trump may be leading every Democrat, every Republican and all media, by the nose until he is ready to show the world what his actual plans are.
It has been a year-we know DJT much better, now. In this case, it is all but impossible for a leopard to lose it's spots, or a tiger, it's stripes.
Just wait some more. Watch-there is a deeper game here then is being discussed and promised by a newly constructive sounding executive.
Keep your eye on the ball and listen for the next iteration of DJT's advertisements for himself.
2
No immigrants who have relationship to violence AND are not educated to contribute to the economy can be provided indirect citizenship. It is unfortunate that these individuals have to go back to violence, but, they can build the society that they have seen in the US - there are 200000 of them - they can build their own city.
For the US companies, removing these individuals will provide the impetus to increase automaton (create robots that do construction - all tech pieces are in place for a cambrian explosion of automation in all different fields to get started - limit is the cheaply availablelabor). Then, one can have robots do the jobs that no one wants. There has to be a limit to who can be freeloaders in this new world with few jobs.
1
As a European I am shocked by all the comments on Trump and his tweets whilst at the same time everyone praises the presidents before him.
The election of Trump is related to path dependency. Presidents before Trump created a society and atmosphere that provided space for Trump to fill. He is in the White House because of the way the American Society has been influenced and treated over the past decades. The same is true for Brexit, the rise of Alternative fur Deutschland, Front National and the freedom party of Wilders. Instead of blaming Trump for all he is doing wrong, take some time to consider how he got there. How your own voting over the past few years has influenced creating an atmosphere that ultimately resulted in Trump being elected as the US president.
6
Are we to believe a person who consistently lies and makes fun of people and changes his mind when the the wind changes direction?
Who "trusts" his word?
2
He did not do the homework. He does not comprehend the discussion he just held with high level members of the legislative branch.
It seems contradicting to want a wall and also still suggest a possible move toward comprehensive immigration reform. The entire ideology of the wall is rooted in a xenophobic and anti-immigrant stand. Given that it is nothing more than a physical manifestation of anti-immigration. It has no actual effect in decreasing the flow of undocumented immigration (as most people arrive via planes).
He has no desire to alleviate the legal ailment that troubles those who have been working, tax-paying, undocumented citizens that have well integrated socioeconomically into the American fabric. He has increased the amount of deportations of non-violent, non-criminal undocumented citizens. His bureaucracy has tried to forbid the option of abortion for undocumented teens.
Actions speak louder than words.
If he could, he would deport every single last undocumented person from the United States at once. . He does not care about separating American born children from their family members. If anyone falls for these false statements of potential shift in immigration, look no further then what his administration has done to people of Salvadorian descent. He has waived the temporary status, and given 200,000 people an 18 months eviction notice. He does not care about the plight of immigrants, documented or otherwise. He only cares about his image.
1
"undocumented citizens that have well integrated socioeconomically into the American fabric."
Firstly, these people are not citizens of the US. They are citizens of the country they came from. Those who have been here for decades and still cannot speak English have not integrated socially into the American fabric.
"He has waived the temporary status, and given 200,000 people an 18 months eviction notice."
What part of temporary do you not understand? It is long past time for these people to pack up and head for home. I don't even care if they thank us for not deporting them at the time of the earthquakes when they'd come here illegally. We had every right to do so. I was angered when I read the story the other day about the Salvadoreans when some said they didn't care about the law, they'd just quit their jobs, lose their medical insurance and go into hiding. Except of course when they used the emergency room for care and didn't pay.
let's see what Wed. tweets say. He says one thing and tweets another. I'm not sure which to believe.
true immigration reform would entail addressing the causes, not the symptoms, of the problem... we'll need to support democratic institutions, economic growth, educational and healthcare facilities, law enforcement, weed out corruption, etc. etc. etc. of Mexico and the Central American countries that supply the people so desperate to escape their circumstances... this will take decades - if not a century - but is the only effective, permanent way out of this debacle
2
He was all over the map. He was agreeing with the Democrats in one sentence and then a GOP member spoke up and he agreed with them and then back and forth and back and forth. He had no plan, he just wants something on his desk so he can sign, whatever it is, although he says he loves the Dreamers he would still toss them aside if the last word he heard was to get rid of them. That wasn't leadership. That wasn't having a clear vision. That wasn't having a plan to solve the issues concerning DACA which by the way he started by ending DACA. The deal making today consisted of "bring me something to sign and I will sign it". A few hours later he changed his tune again, tying in the wall again with any DACA deal.
1
Isn’t there an annual immigration cap in this country at about one million, all categories included? Yet if you look at each category:
TPS, DACA, H4B work authorization, H1B expansion, L1/B1 visa abuse, immigration lottery, chain migration, Illegal immigration, refugees, abandoned minors at the borders, visa over stayers, medical exceptions
what is the cap in each category? If any. I doubt we will ever know.
Add to that birthright citizenship for any child born on U.S. soil to parents in any of the above categories, legal or not. Moreover, some of the new arrivals breed at levels unseen in this country for many decades.
Does anyone have a holistic view into the impact on US citizens? Some things will have to change.
5
I read in the Indian press the Administration has indicated to H1-B visa holders their spouses will no longer be allowed to be employed in the United States, so this story makes little sense.
2
Labor market concerns are real because of the outsourcing/off-shoring trends. A country that runs 500 Billion plus trade deficits and suffers from low wages, cannot be in need of more labor. The theory of rising tides lift all boats has not worked. Our corporations have created middle classes all over the world, at the cost of American middle class.
Legal and Illegal immigration should be curbed till we figure out how to care for the existing population in terms of jobs/health etc.
NYT ran a chart a few years back with a Robert Reich op-ed. What started in late 80s that changed the trends was offshoring of jobs.
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/09/04/opinion/04reich-graphic.htm...®ion=EndOfArticle&pgtype=article
And here's another chart.
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xNuz1Oryink/TxjF28GtGVI/AAAAAAAAAvA/sqBL84v9Pu...
2
Nothing Trump says at one moment can be counted on to actually happen even 10 minutes later. His mind is like a feather blowing in the wind, you never know where it may be next. He's not a deep thinker either. He doesn't sit down and tackle a problem taking into account all the issues surrounding it. He doesn't get a group of advisors together to create a solution or hear various ideas that other people have in mind. Because, he just wants to command, "this shall be done, now go do it, then stamp my name on it". He's not a "details guy, I recall. I don't believe or rely on one word from his mouth. Why would anyone?
1
The President's rationale for killing the Obama order for dreamers was that only Congress could do that. He even said that he expected Congress to come and replace the order with Congressional action. Now, instead of holding Congressional Republicans to their duty as he expressed it, he seeks to make the doing of that duty a bargaining chip, and effectively makes the dreamers hostages of a political horse-trading. We might have respected yesterday's public display of chairing a meeting had the Chair used authority and principle to push in the direction he held out back then, or indeed in any direction. Instead, the Chair said simply he would sign anything.
I support merit-based immigration. I support border control. I support legalizing most DACA recipients. I support giving work visas to seasonal workers and citizenship to people who have lived here for decades, own businesses and pay taxes, while deporting drug dealers, criminals and welfare smooches (The US has enough of our own; too bad no other country will take them). I support changing the refugee system by giving preference to victims, rather than perpetrators, of atrocities: religious minorities, women, freethinkers, dissidents should come before Sunni men whose side in the civil war we are forbidden to question. I oppose Trump. But if he does everything on my list, I will support his policies. I don’t care whether he does it out of desire for publicity, posturing or just because he has drunk too many diet Cokes. Who cares? In politics, actions matter, not intentions.
1
Even though I was totally opposed to trump on almost every issue, but I must congratulate Trump for his stance on immigration. I fully support taking actions against illegal immigrants and morally corrupt people from abroad, including from India (e.g.- Indian-Origin Man Becomes First American To Lose Naturalised Citizenship Under Trump. Source- NDTV, India).
Ideally, anyone, who obtained American visa (including H1B type work visa), permanent residency (green card) or citizenship via corrupt practice and fake documents (that include fake degrees and fraudulent/purchased experience certificates) should be punished and deported.
2
His “stance”!?! A stance requires analysis, thought and credibility.
This is how government business should be done, in full view of voters. As Trump plays to the center to win a second term we could be in for years of fantastic political disccussion Broadcast ok tv.
NYT "Passage of a comprehensive immigration law would give Mr. Trump success where Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush failed."
What happens IF Trump makes a deal on such unyielding question?
One interesting point related to immigration is being discussed in the ongoing NAFTA's renegotiation talks.
American negotiators are demanding changes in Mexico's labor laws that will increase wages and benefits to workers.
In other words, Mexico's manufacturing wages will be raised incrementally so that, over time, the pay gap with their American counterparts is scaled down.
As far as NAFTA and immigration, Trump is thinking out of the box. Who knows? he may close another deal in Congress.
2
Trump is taking an unpopular stance on encouraging an open and broader view on immigration and the Country's policy of Citizenship. Not easy for him to go against the mainstream, however, this is the America I recognize. It is what America is about, from a New Yorker born in Manhattan, an expatriate who returned at 19 to take up financial and economic independence.
The securing of a Social Security card was easy. In possession of an American passport from the age of seven, I never have left this document unattended. Colleagues, hard working and long-term in the global humanitarian community, would ask as their right for a Green Card, and we would set about placing a long list of documents. Plenty of rules and regulations needed to be fine-combed, and it is still a wry source of diversion between a friend and I, of how we secured one of the above for her.
The office of a fine American immigration lawyer informed me in 2012 that applications were being turned down, without an explanation. To make a short story short, an international water engineer was deemed by the Government 'Extraordinary', and she is becoming more American by the day.
But what about those of us who have no voice, nor the necessary funds to seek Citizenship in the Land of the Free? Trump has taken a large step to help the above, and in so doing, the Lone Eagle is soaring once again.
Here is to the President and to the success of DACA! Early in The New Year.
What he says only matters for the moment. He may reverse it tomorrow, he may forget about it. How many times do we have to go through this before everyone realizes he is incapable of integrating any moment with the past or future. It’s just something he says for now. He feels no obligation to be consistent.
What are Democrats thinking? 8 years and not a single compromise from the Republicans in Congress and now the Democrats want to compromise after one year of a Republican presidency? Let the Republicans solve the Dreamers issue, if they can't or won't solve the problem, the blame will squarely fall on them and no one else.
Spending more money on border security will not appreciably improve the security of our borders. I know that statement begs for supporting statements, but anyone remotely familiar with border security (or lack thereof) knows the reality.
The Democrats should also allow the government to shutdown with their votes. They should ask for nothing less than a full repeal of the "Tax Reform" law passed last December.
No businessman in general and a real estate developer in particular would accept a deal which gives a gaggle of politicians everything they want (a clean DACA bill) in return for a vague promise to "DISCUSS BORDER SECURITY LATER". Some of these Democrats may not be around after 2018 and the Democrats concept of border security may be "WELCOME TO THE USA" rest stops. Congress has had decades to beef up border security and they've done what they do well, kick it down the road. They want DACA, we want border security NOW'S THE TIME.
1
Why is it that these days I am always beset by a sense of a deluge about to begin? I have done an inventory and find that most things in my personal life are fine, but something compels me first thing every morning to open my BBC App to see if some major catastrophe hasn't broken out . . . . that will be the doom of many people; that will lead to a major upheaval; and, that will be bad for all of us, if we survive.
So let's see. After the book came out over the weekend Trump suddenly seems presidential? That old saying "a leopard can't change it's spots" is still true.
The televising of the meeting was to bolster the argument that Trump is rational.
The discussion during the meeting was to bolster the argument that Trump is rational.
The anti-immigration crowd will soon engender a Trump tweet that will contradict the well-planned out White House television production!
So, this is what the president is saying today. What will he say tomorrow? He is like a fish out of water - flopping around and out of control. I will believe him when I see a concrete proposal enacted into law.
Path to Citizenship for DACA makes perfect sense, but not for the others (I'm not too sure).
Why the apparent sudden turn on immigration? Perhaps Trump’s business friends have conveyed to him how much more expensive it would be to employ citizens versus illegal immigrants.
It should be abundantly clear by now that he is incapable of telling the truth, and should under no circumstances be trusted to honor any agreement he makes. There are decades of evidence to support this.
Why does anyone, including The NY Times believe anything the Trump administration and Trump says? The meeting was obviously a show. Trump agreed to everything anyone said. He agreed that DACA bill should be clean. Then the Republicans frantically reminded him that no the bill wouldn’t be so easy. And he agreed. What exactly does the Times think was agreed to?
Reagan's 1986 amnesty for two million illegal immigrants was the invitation that brought us the next 12 million. Today deportation is a remote possibility and deportees can simply turn around and pay another coyote to bring them in again. Mass illegal immigration will continue until the consequences for both employers and those who sneak into the country are sufficient to serve as disincentives. There are none yet.
Who can know what Trump means when his managers had to "explain" his words within hours of the "bipartisan" meeting at the White House, Tue Jan 9? Trump still acts as if he's the CEO of the government, with little sense of the separation of powers. And what kind of person really imagines that the visa lotteries he criticizes are actually run by foreign powers who are free to cheat on the results and send us anything but their best? Of course the visa programs are run by US authorities, and applicants are screened before they are permitted to enter.
Thanks for the auto-playing video. It's good to know that literacy isn't a requirement here, so I can leave.
If instead of reading allot of hyperbole and partisan comments, it would be great if outlets such as the NYT, WSJ, CNN, or others can lay out a rational deal/plan that can be done that is acceptable to both sides.
Civility and compromise seems to be lacking in this debate. With approximately half the electorate supporting the Dems and half supporting the Republicans, it would seem feasible that both sides can get some of what they want.
Instead with out dysfunctional climate, it is a shame that this will most likely not occur.
Trump had to undo Obama's DACA because it was not legal. Mr. Obama said 22 times that he didn't have the authority to do DACA and he was right but then went ahead and did it anyway. Mr. Trump was not being mean to undo the unlawful act as he wants to take these kids out of limbo and make them permanent residents of the US. Mr. Trump is making congress actually do their jobs and make it law that the DACA kids can stay legally instead of doing what Obama constantly did which was to kick the can down the road.
I do not like all of President Trump's tweets but I approve everything else he did so far.I never cared if he build a wall or not as long as he is tough on securing the border. Tax reform is great,the economy is good. He acted like a real leader ,a wise leader in today meeting.I am impressed !
Facts are immigration depends a lot on the economy, here and in the home country. No jobs then no immigration. We see this now with decrease every year in number of illegals. However, the exception is the danger of a country. If you see your chances of being killed are very high, then that is your motivation.
Other considerations , what are the real crime figures involved and how much is due to organized crime gangs in Mexico versus immigrant families? Do immigrants help the economy? Do they overuse our social services? Do they really take a significant number of jobs from US citizens? What is our responsibility to the many middle east immigrants since we started the fires that lead to war throughout. It was our invasions that triggered off a lot of the unrest. How do we resolve our so called basic belief in sheltering immigrants , "give me your poor. hungry etc" with the refusal to allow them safety? There are actual answers to these questions and we need to make sure that the real facts are exposed rather then the myths and beliefs spread.
I agree with this particular thing he said today, but that means nothing. The loose-cannon-in-chief is just as likely to say the exact opposite first thing tomorrow. He has zero ability to implement his policies and zero impulse control. Neither we nor the President have any way of knowing what will happen with DACA or what he will do in the long run - if he has a long run.
President Trump appear in limelight while he did remark during an extended meeting with congressional Republicans and Democrats who are weighing a shorter-term agreement that would extend legal status for undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children. He is has no issues for negotiating a sweeping immigration deal that entails to grant millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship! He expressed consent to “take the heat” politically for an approach that may purportedly seems to be contradictory to his stance of anti-immigration while becoming the President. He became so broadminded to say that the said legislation around an immigration overhaul should come from love, while also pushing for stronger security measures!!!! Great indeed....
But what happens after the caffeine crash?
A good meeting. A different president. Clearly not a politician. Gets things done. Meanwhile, the complaining continues.
If there's a great wall built, migrants will just come by boats as they do in the Mediterranean, and we all know how that is working out. So what's the point? A colossal waste of resources and an environmental and p.r disaster, and the end of an era when America was a great nation, the light of the world, a home for all who yearned for freedom and a brighter future for their families. How terribly sad!
So basically no borders, no laws, let everybody in?
Can we tell other parents or potential parents around the world, mainly in places with much worse problem than Mexico or such Latin American countries (like Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia etc) to enter USA- illegally- so that thier kids or coming-soon kids can also be "dreamers" and become American citizens?
What should we tell other potential immigrants whose American visa were rejected and their children could not have "American dreams"?
The parents, who actually broke American laws, must be punished and deported. and the so-called 'dreamers', mainly those who are above 18 years, can go back and come back to USA legally. They should not have much problem to get jobs and work visa due to their American education and exposure.
The political football exploiting illegal immigrants and minority politics should end. We need to find a bipartisan solution to protect our borders and enforce immigration laws. Otherwise, it's totally unjust to deny visa, residency, citizenship for many other prospective 'dreamers' around the world and mockery of our immigration laws.
Once Trump starts taking the "heat" from conservatives of all stripes he will change his tune. This was all a show for TV...nothing more.
Amnesty was a bad populist idea when Reagan did it; it's still a bad, populist idea. Unfortunately, "our" Democratic party has betrayed and run off so much of the working class that it appears to be the only path to maintaining political power.
Don’t trust anything this president says. He cannot be trusted. He has lied too many times.
8
Unlike his earlier failed deal if Trump sticks to the now promised bipartisan deal on immigration that paves way to the citizenship for the millions of the undocumented immigrants contributing hugely to the US economy and society, his earlier policy flip-flops would be forgotten by the public. It would be a win-win to all if the same spirit prevails during efforts to find the long-term solution to the immigration policy that is not only messy but become a highly partisan and divisive issue now.
5
"Trump Says He Is Open to Sweeping Deal on Immigration" declares the headline.
The only words that count here are "Trump Says", which cast doubt on everything that follows.
38
All of a sudden, Trump is President Reasonable Compromiser. What a fraud.
30
Excuse me if I remain skeptical of Trump's intentions and follow through here. To paraphrase a former presidential candidate's description of one of his opponents in an election decades ago, "The versatility of his views is breathtaking."
26
You obviously have never watched any such meetings of Trump OR other presidents. This man carries himself professionally in a long meeting asking people what they need. I then challenge you to find Mr. Obama or either Clinton doing anything remotely like this.
All Obama said was basically, ''Hey, I won the election and you didn't.''
Had the TV cameras NOT been there, you know that probably BOTH aides would have come out of the meeting saying how mean or crazy or stupid Trump was. But now you know better.
He completely disarmed these people with - sunlight.
meeting with legislators today was an attempt to appear like a leader in the wake of fire and fury, it will quickly pass.
59
Yes, the book is already fading fast after not one person - even the author - vouched for any of its findings. The man actually thinks he will end the Trump presidency with this book - that any liberal coming here to comment could have written on their own in a weekend.
Most of Trump's platform dealt with the most expedient ways to get rid of immigrants and nothing about what Trump said in that room Tuesday was a reversal of everything he's promised. So, he will actually "take the heat," is that it? This man can't turn his cheek to even the smallest of imagined slights, can't forget the presidential rival he beat, can't watch TV news without tweeting every displeasure. Little was more central to Trump's platform and base then his anti-immigration pledge. He touted immigrants' disposal as a way to help solve crime, save American cities, restore jobs to voters and stop drug trafficking. It ignited his white supporters' racism, xenophobia and nationalist passions. The only pathway he's willing to consider is whether to drive all 11 million usurpers out by plane, train or bus, and where to find the nearest spot to drop them.
38
With the possible exception of maids, cooks and gardeners to staff Mar-a-Lago.
Another headline beginning "Trump says..."?
Haven't we seem way more than ample evidence that what Trump says is utterly meaningless?
He'll say the opposite tomorrow, claim he never said it, or otherwise lie and deceive! THAT'S his mode of operation!
After a year, we shouldn't fall for the same thing yet again...
47
He is the President! You are nobody!
If Obama hadn't created DACA for the 11 million who came here illegally, we would not be reading about President Trump trying to come up with an equitable solution. What did the Democrats do to solve this problem? Absolutely nothing.
26
DACA covers about 800,000 young people who were brought here as children. To remove them from this country, the only one they've really ever known, would be extremely cruel.
Republicans have controlled the House since 2011 and all of Congress since 2015. Why don't you ask them why they haven't done anything about DACA?
Actually, the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill several years ago. It's been gathering dust then to the House flat out refusal to consider it. Fact checking is easy - try it; you might like it.
President Obama created DACA not only because America is a Nation of Immigrants, built by immigrants and is continuously being rejuvenated by immigrants but also because he was a just and compassionate President.
I think T offered Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) a bridge to purchase today too.
9
Do your best President Trump. You where elected to office. None of us are perfect. Good Luck.
14
He was elected to do something, anything about our out of control immigration problems. Caving to yet another sweeping amnesty is not part of that solution.
He's called the Democrats' bluff. Do they want to work with him to solve the nation's problems or not? The Democrats' stunned reaction was almost palpable. All this nonsense about impeachment and the twenth-fifth amendment suddenly flew out the window. It's put up or shut up time. Now well see what the Democrats are really made of.
21
You watch only Fox news, right? I think you need to learn a bit more about politics and people.
So, ed, this is what counts for 'calling their bluff' in Paradise?
"Give me what I want and then I'll promise to give you what you want, unless things change?"
You're dang right its time for Democrats to show what they're made of.
They need to ignore this fake offer, they need to refuse these Potemkin meetings, these heavily staged shows of competence (that only happen when the world seems to be catching up to Trumps fairly obvious deficiencies) and stand firm for common decency and the longer term good of the nation.
Fortunately the court obviously agrees and, with DACA off the table, it would be a crime for Dems to make any bargain at all.
You listening, Sherrod Brown?
ed, it doesn't trouble you that in spite of the momentous nature of these "negotiations" all you boys can do is bubble over with faint praise for your man's clearly staged and strained performance?
When you start to talk about the issues? In some unTrump-parting-the-arena-before-the-bloodthirsty-masses kind of way, I mean.
1
Bait and switch is not calling anyone's bluff. Trump has zero credibility - he couldn't stand on 5th Ave and give away $20 bills at this point. Keep drinking the Kool Aid.
Trump's performance at the immigration meeting just confirmed he's an attention seeker who knows nothing about anything
23
It was way too easy to see that his "playing to the cameras" far exceeded his knowledge of the subjects at hand. The only thing bigger than his mouth is his ego......
This open meeting - unlike ANYTHING Mr. Obama ever did - totally blows away everything the media haters are saying about him. A man in total control of the situation begs the opposition in BOTH parties to come up with a bill.
''Whatever you come up, I'll sign.'' Tell me ANY time a post-World War Two President said that publicly to both parties on a specific issue.
Of course, the Democrat progressives want a DACA giveaway WITHOUT a border provision - the 1986 giveaway all over again. But with the openness here, the politicians hating him cannot go out and describe him as ANY kind of monster.
The Wolf book - completely destroyed.
Trump as ignorant or crazy - totally destroyed. No independent thinker can ever buy the media narrative about Trump ever again.
I daresay billionaire Slim's investment just lost half its value in this meeting because all the NY Times has had for a year is Trump as crazy or stupid.
Today changed EVERYTHING.
22
L'ossevatore - Trump is probably starting to feel the heat from the Mueller investigation, possibly an interview with Mueller, thus he decided to lessen his bluster, appease Democrats and do something beneficial for at least the DACA immigrants. He doesn't appear to have a solution for the undocumented immigrants himself, just a willingness to sign whatever legislation the senators manage to come up with. We'll see if he changes his mind as he usually does.
You wish.
Yeah, sure. Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
I support President Trump...
However...
If he pushes amnesty for those 800,000...
What he's therefore done to MAGA BECOMES CRUMBS...
He's just ensured Dems get those recipients votes and we're doomed...
And no wall can undo the consequences of such...
15
The dems are the party of illegals. The first thing they do in any situation is work to protect them. The only part of trumps agenda that most Americans agree with him on is that the citizens of this country should come first and our borders need to be secured and illegals need to go home. If he agrees to yet another massive amnesty he will lose what little support he has now.
1
Absolutely.
This was the issue -- perhaps the sole issue -- that won him the primaries and got him elected, despite all the dirt that the opposition dug up on him.
His faithful followers have hung tough for over a year now, believing he would deport all illegal aliens AS HE PROMISED.
If he caves on this....he has no support left, none at all.
1
Who's kidding whom? Trump "appears" to endorse? Please, spare me. What has change? Trump? Really? Trump is today the same congenital liar he was yesterday. Trump himself doesn't know what he said from day to day. As we have seen before too many times to count, Trump can turn on a dime, do a complete one-eighty, and poof, it's gone.
The analysis here in The Times as well as other commentators in the media who are putting out some ridiculous narrative that Trump somehow has seen the light and is about to get serious about being president has me wrenching. Trump is not changing, ever. He can't. He's spent 71 years being a complete jerk. He will take that albatross to his grave.
DD
Manhattan
36
Wasn't Mexico supposed to pay for the wall?
39
Can we just start with the fact that we are dealing with a pathological liar who has nobody's interest in mind except his own?
43
Okay - Apparently you all believe it costs $25 million a mile to build a security fence. Who’re the uneducated ones here?
3
An electronic 'wall' can be built for a small fraction of that, and will produce none of the environmental damage of a physical wall.
Tucson, a wall might deter some migrants from coming directly from Mexico into your state, but it will not stop migrants from illegally moving to our country. More of them will pay to be smuggled in by boat. Please read the Daily Beast’s 8/27/17 article titled "What Will Billions for The Wall Get Us? ‘Boat People’ on America’s Coasts. The vast majority of illegal drugs entering the United States come by sea. A growing number of people could start arriving the same way."
I thought we were talking Great Wall of China type stuff here, bro. Big, tall, beautiful and see-through is what daddy don said. With a big gold door. With a big gold door bell. Who knew that daddy don confused "chain" migration with a chain link fence. Sad. Make America Meek Again
1
He says something one day and another the next. The wind blows and like a child he dances with it. He has no idea what kindness or love or compassion is. I understand that the NYT has to run a beat. I understand that you have to have access but you really give him too many chances at redemption.
16
Dems befuddled, outplayed. outmatched and hopeless. What about stabilizing health care markets and premiums... and ensuring no reductions in Social Security and Medicare? Dems again back peddling playing Defense and an unwinnable card-- immigration. My goodness . Hopeless. The intellectually challenged Trump outflanking Dems yet again. Speaks volumes.
16
If Trump trades DACA for anything other than an end to the visa lottery, merit based entry, an end to chain migration, drastic reductions in legal immigration as well as a border wall his supporters will abandon him and the left will still eat him alive anyway.
Conservative Americans are sick of illegal immigration and he was voted in to end it. All of these people will be newly minted Democrats so it is political suicide to grant them amnesty. Both for him, the Republican party and more importantly the conservative movement in the U.S.
11
"chain migration" is a figment of the alt.white's fevered imagination, just like "anchor babies" are.
How was the invasion of North America by Europeans legal immigration?
This liberal American agrees with you 100%. We simply cannot survive as a nation if the entire world comes here, as the Dems appear to desire.
Stop calling them "dreamers." That's an Obama creation. I have plenty of dreamers in my family. Why should we continue to pay for law breakers?
21
Because the dreamers are not lawbreakers. They had no say about being here, and know no other home.
That’s why.
1
Amen!
...because you live in a state that is a net recipient of federal subsidies contributed by taxpayers in blue states?
My question is did anyone tell the Democrats in advance that cameras would be rolling during the conference? They should have walked out rather than to be props for Trump's desire to appear a "stable genius." My guess is they were not told and were sandbagged by Trump. Democrats should refuse even to meet with Trump and should negotiate only with their Republican counterparts in the Senate and House and let Trump veto anything on which they might agree.
3
Early on in the campaign for president I created a button concerning Donald J. Trump. It said, in letters that hugged the circumference of the round button:
DONALD J. TRUMP I DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SAY.
I never actually produced the button, and that's my fault; I think it would have been a really BIG seller, HUGH!
In the last year I have steadfastly held to that belief, but now I have had to change some of the copy based on circumstances. I've had to increase the diameter of the round button to encompass the new information. It now reads as follows:
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP I DO NOT BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU SAY.
Pres. Trump is a highly successful con artist, and has conned a lot of intelligent people, and some or many, not so intelligent people.
His genius is not a good genius; his infrastructure of stability needs major repair, with not enough funds to do a proper job.
He swore an oath to the Constitution of United States. Being a 'business man,' he should have read the 'contract' before 'signing' it. I don't think he did. He is therefore in breach of contract in so many ways, and has to pay the consequences.
He feels the pressure of not being careful of what one wishes for, and talk around the camp fire is that he never really wished for it in the first place.
The walls are closing in on him.
While he talks, he has been setting explosive charges at the underpinnings of our democracy, and many have already gone off.
I still do not believe anything he says!
10
People argue about Trump's 'view' on these policies.
To me, it's worthless. He's a man with an opinion. That's it. He does not have any background, does no research, and has no realistic understanding of policy. He basically just decides what's going to make him look good/bad and signs the appropriate.
So for his 'proposal' to build a wall in exchange for DACA, it's as good as hamburger helper in szeschuan shrimp.
9
Does this put to rest Trump's reputation as a "great negotiator"? Quite a show to try and dispel the notion, Trump hasn't got a clue. Check out the body language, with Trump's arms folded tightly against his chest. It was readily apparent he has no idea what a "clean bill" is. Oops, he almost gave something to the Democrats. Hilarious watching Kevin McCarthy steering Trump back to the Republican position.
6
This is all bait and switch. He will promise the moon and deliver nothing. As in his personal and business life, and now in politics, he can not be trusted. His word is less than useless.
16
Every time DJT says he's going to build something cheaper than the estimate i think of all the people in the past who did the work for him and he refused to pay.
7
When I see how this meeting went, I couldn't believe what I was seeing--intelligent people having a serious discussion on how to solve a problem and doing the people's business instead of engaging in continued rancor and partisan politics. Now lets see if both sides will follow through or will once again revert to form.
7
Trump took many positions during that meeting. Does he not remember what he said in a sentence before or is he just trying to appease whoever he is talking to at the time? I realize the opening up of the meeting to the press was to show the country he is in charge and is fit for office but I saw a man who waffled at every turn. Although he looked like he was listening, I'm not sure he heard what the elected officials said. He also repeated his Oprah story twice (verbatim each time) within a short span of time. The jury is still out for me about his mental fitness for office.
5
they're looking for anyway to look reasonable come November. I wouldn't give this guy or his party an inch. But it's the Democrat were talking about here.
1
The onion keeps peeling away. What it will reveal next only he knows, but he has certainly taken a different tone which he apparently now believes is necessary to make America truly great again. To make that promise come true there must be compromise on both sides and a desire to get the job done and not continued partisanship and bitter opposition.
Probably a transaction pawn that costs Trump nothing to him in the quest for a 'Wall' win.
1
Remember a feminist advice to women: It's not what they say, it's what they do with their hands. Trump follows the announcement that 200,000 Salvadorian immigrants, some of whom have been here for decades, will be deported by voicing support for immigration reform. Of course, he says he'll sign this bill, knowing the Congressional Republicans will never alienate right-wing primary voters, by putting anything like "amnesty" on his desk.
This is just another of Trump's dishonest and dishonorable manipulative ploys. He knows the Democrats are in a fix- they need to get DACA addressed- and he needs the wall. All this bipartisanship lets him appear non-racist and reasonable. He even said protecting the dreamers would be the "loving" thing to do. He must have seen Oprah's speech (and the positive reaction on social media) & gotten a great idea: "Hey, maybe love sells! Let me organize this bipartisan show, open it up to the media, & follow my instincts on this! You know "love" is a really great bargaining chip."
Trump Pence Ryan McConnell... Graham...
All smiles while The Devil runs the show.
6
Trump had a deal with Pelosi and Schumer. And then he didn't. There's no reason to think he'll remember what he said today by tomorrow.
6
I honestly felt embarrassed watching and listening to Trump in the meeting with the senators today. Also, just heard the homeland secretary was ill informed about DACA when she spoke.
The president should be doing something else with his life and the years left. He is out of place and that's sad for him, very bad for us.
Let's have people with expertise and a willingness to improve in important positions.
I'll be at my dentist tomorrow.
He studied, has practiced, and he knows what he's doing.
Does the job really well with no fanfare or bragging.
He's a dentist.
2
I can’t believe the many naysayers questioning the vision of President Trump. In one year, Trump has delivered campaign promises by appointing strict constructionist jurists, affordable health insurance in a free market, tax reform benefiting the middle class and incentivizing business to invest in America, common sense regulations, jobs, jobs, jobs, war on terrorism including the demise of ISIS, a brilliant Cabinet, an active and participating Vice President, and the list goes on and on. Now Mr. Trump is undertaking something that no previous Presidents had the courage to do – and that is to sign a comprehensive immigration reform package, including pathway to citizenship AND a secure border. Makes sense for without a secure border, America in 7 years will face another 7 million undocumented souls welcomed by the previous administration. Trump, an avid student of Santayana, believes that “"those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
So wake up America! We are witnessing the shaping of the greatest American President since Washington and Lincoln. A visionary not beholden to the hundreds of millions, nay billions, of dollars in campaign contributions with special interest paybacks a la Solyndra.
Trump has vision and the MAGA pathway is to do what is just for all Americans and not the favored elites. For 2018, the enactment of comprehensive immigration reform coupled with a secure border is common sense and just.
6
Affordable health care? What planet are you living on
Buddy123-
You're really Andy Borowitz, am I right?
And FDR was a piker, right?
And when America wakes up this would have all been a food related nightmare, right?
Wait for that call from the New Yorker for when Andy goes on vacation.
1
There’s no love here.
He’s got an earful from the agribusiness and other industries that use this source of cheaper labor.
2
The president says he’ll take the heat related to “comprehensive” immigration reform, which no president has achieved, and the vitriol is still high from NYT readers.
I’m hoping for a “China breakthrough” kind of opportunity here.
It seems many commenters would prefer that Trump fail and we don’t get a comprehensive solution. Too bad for illegal immigrants, 3% of our population, that people want to hope for reform failure because it would happen under Trump.
1
What a great news!
He could have announced this a bout a year earlier. He would then have so much support. Why not let the El Salvadoreans stay who have been in this country for so long?
Now if he also says he would try repeal the passthrough provision & and also raise the top rate back to 39.6%, he would be in business. That would help to keep one House at least in the Republican hand later this year.
He did crush ISIS or at least that's how it looks.
3
I am suffering emotional whiplash at the hands of this president.
1
If Trump said the sun is shining I’d carry a raincoat. Seriously, Dems, get it in writing, and vetted by your best lawyers before you celebrate.
3
And then Tweets the exact opposite. The King of Bait & Switch Vacillation.
2
Ever been to a circus? Or a magic show? We’re being asked to suspend belief—don’t get fooled!
4
Reminder: the last deal broke down because Obama would not commit in the bill to border security implementation before amnesty took effect i.e. this was the reason the house would not agree with the deal and trust remains the elephant in the room
2
If he does that he won't get my vote in 2020.
3
He`ll he in prison by then.
He won, because he was THE ONLY CANDIDATE against illegal immigration and willing to deport all illegals.
If he betrays us, he's toast.
1
"I'm open to a sweeping deal," said Trump, "as long as we sweep the immigrants out the door."
1
I simply cannot believe that anyone trusts anything this man says.
5
Trump will change his mind tomorrow after he gets instructions from Fox.
10
To use the Dreamers as pawns to get his wall, is totally disgusting.
Trump knows the wall will not restore lost mining jobs or lost manufacturing jobs but he wants his wall and if that means deporting Dreamers [who broke no laws] he is willing to do that.
7
Possibly I do not understand, but I was struck by the moderate way in which the president conducted the meeting and think that moderate way should be encouraged. After all, the matter is so important. I prefer to be hopeful.
10
He may have been moderate, but he was still a dolt. He has a complete lack of policy understanding, he's shockingly inarticulate, and the only time he was in his comfort zone was when he started talking about the price of the wall. "Oh, you know, I like bringing things in under budget." Like he was negotiating to build one of his tacky hotels.
At this point all he has to do is show up and not scream something crazy. It saddens me to think that the bar has been set so low.
7
Nancy, yes it would be great if his moderate tone were to be sustained and let's hope for it, but how realistic is that? Let's not get to excited that the man was able to finally keep his composure one time.
3
Kicking out young people who were legitimately raised here in the USA as Americans, sharing our American experience from early childhood isn't the real issue. CHAIN IMMIGRATION is the issue.
Cheating millions of legitimate immigrants who go through the proper channels to become US Citizens by leapfrogging off of Illegal Aliens is the most insulting and immoral immigration practice ever lent legitimacy by any administration.
My family spent a decade working and saving to come to this country legally and those that couldn't make it here before WW2 perished in the Holocaust. Similar conditions exist today for minorities in other nations yet these people take advantage of the system to "cut in line" while others suffer and even die waiting for a chance to come to America.
10
Which is precisely why so many Americans voted for a moronic degenerate: Trump won the election as soon as he spoke up against illegal immigration. By international standards, we are a rather law abiding society, and people are absolutely fed up with law breakers being supported and 'celebrated' by Democrats. Last month in San Francisco, a multiply-deported illegal was acquitted of murdering a young woman, in an open and shut case which would have seen a white citizen imprisoned for years. That is today's California, the only state in which 'celebrating' illegal immigration gets a politician elected. Elsewhere, it is a political death sentence, and most Americans do not share California's enthusiasm for becoming another state of Mexico.
Yesterday that, today this, tomorrow who knows? He'll say anything for attention.
8
Paul Ryan already said he wanted the DACA's to stay. McConnell said he wanted the DACAs to stay. Shumer said the same and so did Pelosi, so unless he wanted a veto overridden, he had to sign.
4
Dear Friend,
It is always a joy to receive word that all is well with you and your family. A decade ago you asked why I didn't read the News, and I told you that I learned more from your perspective.
'The World is moving much faster', you added more recently, and addressed 'Our Lot in Life'. We have long established an understanding that one can not believe all that is printed in The Press, and for this reason I am glad that you will visit again in due course this Country, one which you have contributed to make better, not only for our Children, but by setting an example of strength and true valor. You are missed but we will meet again when you feel the time is right at your leisure.
The weather has been freezing, but the sun at early dawn remains bright and this Sunday last, my warmest thoughts were of your shores where horses are bathed on the beach. Please send prayers for serenity this way. There is a photograph that I am forwarding to you, one of two friends who have been separated by the brutality of nations. They are holding on tight to each other on safe land, and it gives one a feeling of joy to behold. Fare Forward, We Go.
2
He is the epitome of fake news.
11
But what will Trump say about immigration tomorrow?
19
Obama and democrats had 2 years to do something about it but dangled the issue for the mid-terms. Trump while playing the devils advocate on one hand is probably using his negotiation skills to bring a balance. Border security should be a no-brainer for anyone who believes that a nation should protect itself first.
Let there be light!!
20
I didn't see any negotiating skills today. I'd be interested to know what they are. Because so far I don't think he's demonstrated any.
2
And what exactly would that "something" have been, with an obstructionist Congressional majority and intense criticism of "overreach" for any exercise of executive power?
1
His narcissism is so rampant, his need for approval so huge, he was actually affected by this recent publicity. So he's playing for the cameras again. This time the Savior of those in need.
12
By the way, isn't this the same man who mocked Jeb Bush for his statement about the undocumented coming here as an "act of love"? Now he's talking about a "Bill of Love"? It all sounds a little snow-flakey.
15
Don't believe a word this serial liar says!!
19
the miscreant is willing to anything whatsoever that will distract from its criminal activities.
11
If you believe what he said today I've got a bridge for you, or in his case, a wall.
4
I watched this extended session on CSpan.
Anyone watching it must have been impressed as I was about our "open" government.
Contrary to recent media reports about POTUS mental acuity - he came across as a man engaged in issues.
He displayed eagerness to engage with his political opposites. He appeared to defer when required - and stay on the subject.
I hope this "open government" gets more and more televised to learn how our leaders negotiate with each other on important issues.
Now, I am no psychologist - but at times, the POTUS did appear to confirm reports that he agrees with the last person he talks to.
For instance, Sen. Feinstein laid a trap for him on a DACA stand alone bill - which the Republicans will not and should not support.
He immediately agreed with her - only to change when the House Majority Leader told him that there are no votes.
All in all, quite an impressive performance for a man whose lack of intelligence was - in Mark Twain's words - greatly exaggerated.
As a Republican - I agree with our leaders that any DACA bill must include other immigration issues.
This is a golden opportunity or an opportunity that should not be lost to alter immigration debate.
6
Well, here is another Trump lie exposed. He is not against immigration, Trumpies. You have been had, again. He isn't going to bring coal back, either.
New Yorkers told you he was a liar. They know him from way back. But noooo, you wouldn't listen to "coastal elites". Oh, well. Experience is a harsh teacher.
This time, learn.
4
@Juanista:
Exactly right
I wonder: perhaps one of his underlings pointed out that ridding the nation of all those "undesirables" would almost certainly decimate the staffs at his various hotels, golf courses, etc.etc.
Hmmmm . . . a little to close to home, Donald?
At one stage, Teump was having difficulty following the discussion.
Feinstein proposed dealing with the DACA issue alone as a first stage in the process. A Republican, spotting the danger, moved quickly to counter the threat by arguing that this should be coupled with border security.
Trump then countered with, 'but that's what she said', which was followed by 'No, Mr President, that's NOT what she said'.
Mind you, he was able later to reassert his authority with an assertion he could build the wall for much less than $18b and in one year, not seven. That certainly put his DHS Secretary firmly in her place.
2
Reagan also promised that border security would follow the 1986 amnesty. It never did, and at least 11 million more illegal immigrants accepted the invitation (that is the number admitted by the proponents of illegal immigration - who knows what the real number might be). Let's see the border secured and a rational immigration policy enacted, without chain migration and based upon merit rather than family connections. Then let's talk about the fate of the DACA kids.
To split an object, it is easier to first insert the thin edge of the wedge, and then, as the thin edge begins to split the object, to pound in the rest. DACA recipients are akin to the thin edge of the wedge of undocumented migrants. DACA recipients arrived here as young children and have graduated form high school unlike most undocumented migrants who grew up where large families matter more than education. The vast majority of them have no more than an elementary education. Their lack of education would hold them back from obtaining decent paying work, even if we had such jobs waiting for them. (We have tens of thousands of citizens who, despite being in their prime working years, have been unemployed for so long that they are no longer counted in the unemployment figure so such jobs are not available.) The undocumented are heavily dependent on all kinds of government services, and would be eligible for even more services if they were to be given legal status.
As soon as Obama put the DACA program into place, the potential recipients started demanding that he also give legal status to their families. He acquiesced, by starting DAPA. The same thing would happen this time. Once they received a path to citizenship, the DACA recipients would again agitate until their families were also legalized.
Giving amnesty to any small group of demanding migrants is akin to letting the thin edge of a wedge be pounded in until the rest of the wedge follows.
15
A false analogy is a logical fallacy; it's worth nothing as proof at all.
2
who cares what 'trumps says...' ????
please stop giving him attention... He's a liar! Nufsed....
3
Why do I not trust what he says? I think he only has himself to blame for that and I'm guessing I'm not the only one who feels this way.
3
All right don, we're all in , show us what you got.
2
Once again, Trump has oversimplified a complex issue. Now that he's on board with "comprehensive immigration" reform, he thinks all that's left is for his lackey GOP Congress to ink it for his signing. Good God, the tangled matter has taken very smart people years to tackle and neither party has found a way to reach umbrella agreement. I don't think Trump means to weigh down a DACA bill; he seems to truly want to solve it. Of course, in big part, that's because he knows the prevailing public sentiment is to do just that. But he overestimates his influence and brain power. He believes that one hour-long talk session was all that was needed to resolved any remaining knots and partisan differences -- which are vast. And he thinks it'll be a matter of days before he's sitting at his desk with an array of pens and spray of reporters to sign the law. This simpleton is in love with himself and truly seems to think everyone else a fool for not having thought of this before.
3
Although I'm no fan of this president, this meeting with its face to face discussions and live cameras was a rare opportunity to move the ball forward. Messy as it was, and ultimately inconclusive, it forced these hermits out of their caves and encouraged them to actually debate in real time, saving months and perhaps millions of dollars of wasted backroom gamesmanship. I propose doing one of these public discussions frequently, perhaps every two weeks, to break through logjams and get these so-called representatives working for us again, instead of the lobbyists and donors.
8
I do not understand the framing of this article. If someone did not watch this incredible meeting and just read this article, they might come away with the idea that it was a fairly normal negotiating session. In reality this meeting was a complete s***show wherein our president demonstrated he knows absolutely nothing about policy. He didn't "support a two-phase approach" in the meeting - he didn't understand the difference between a clean bill and a compromise bill! "[G]iving a rare public glimpse" and "take the heat" make Trump sound magnanimous when he really was just befuddled. The entire article gives a false impression of normalcy.
Why does the Times do this?
12
The article has been updated extensively since this afternoon, when I made my comment. It is more representative of the actual events of the day.
I don't believe a millisecond of this-- tonight the far-right will bombard Twitter; tomorrow, he'll sing along with them and denounce DACA. Quote: "Trump ... would sign whatever he was presented with. 'I think my positions are going to be what the people in this room come up with,' Trump said. 'If they come to me with things I'm not in love with, I'm going to do it. Because I respect them.'" - CNN
2
trump will demand a wall d that's where the story goes. He'll try and blame the Deems and tweet his displeasure with their lack of cooperation. This will not end well...
3
So, in the wake of a book that provides the public with the inside discontents of and nuttiness of the Repetitiousk President, today we get a dog and pony show of Senators and how they talk about what they want to include in immigration law. The President contributes his assent to whatever the Senators put on his desk.
And oh my, didn’t the Prez look calm? And “in control?” Whoop-de-doo. Just remember that even a broken clock can be right twice a day. Perhaps he didn’t need his meds because Bannon was out at Breitbart and Trump felt vindicated and “the winner.”
4
This is what the Democrats needs to say to the President every time the Wall issue comes up:
"Why are we talking about the Wall? Shouldn't this be taken up with Mexico? After all, they're the ones you promised would pay for it. What does this have to do with Congress, let alone us, the Democrats? Talk to Mexico."
For 18 months this man bellowed that he was going to build a great, big, beautiful wall along the entire border with Mexico and that Mexico was going to pay for it. "And nobody knows how to build walls like I do! Believe me."
Okay, they believed you, Mr. President. They cheered raucously and stomped their feet and shook their fists and chanted, "U.S.A!, U.S.A.!" So now what? You want the people to cough up 18 billion dollars (for starters)? This has got nothing to do with us. Go talk to Mexico.
Good, so that's one problem off the table. Let's move on.
20
a cleverly staged performance by the wh to show trump is sane and rational to counter the wolff book narrative that trump is a loon in need of adult supervision.
the only problem is that trump did in fact look wildly unrealistic in what can be accomplished and completely unaware of immigration politics in the gop house.
at best he appears very naive.
6
Did the NYT actually listen to the meeting? No wall, no DACA. Put the dogs in a pin until they work it out. It was clear. Slam the door.
5
He suddenly sheds the veil of insanity? Because of the book? He's open to all ideas now? Check back tomorrow. In the meantime he's sending 200,000 Salvadorans back to the hell that Reagan created in El Salvador.
19
Wait a minute, I thought you all thought Trump was crazy, mentally unfit, stupid. Did you watch the 55 minute meeting today that was televised with the Dems and Republicans? Trump was engaged, knowledgeable, working to get a DACA/border security deal. Sure doesn’t play into liberal’s latest plan to claim Trump is mentally unfit.
What’s next folks, he is an alien from another planet? The economy is cooking, job numbers are great, you all need to get your arms around the fact that he IS POTUS and is going to stay that way.
13
His babysitters probably doubled up on his meds so he could appear to be paying attention and have a clue about what was being discussed. Trust me, he doesn't have a clue, never has, never will. He will never be my POUTUS; get YOUR arms around that fact.
More bait and switch in the hope the US taxpayer will pony up for the promised Mexican contribution to the border wall.
1
Sorry, reading the comments and journalists telling us that Trump is FINALLY presidential, leads me to suggest that I offer each and everyone of you a bridge in Brooklyn, Cheap!
Cheers,
SSG
3
NYTimes: Why all the reactionary nativism for NYT Picks?
1
By that you mean having immigration laws at all?
I say a big fat no to money for this silly porous boarder wall. The American people should not be blackmailed into another Whitefish Energy contract.
2
Why are we having a debate about funding the wall. Trump promised Mexico would pay for it. Well, Mexico so us the money.
3
Trump is not to be trusted.
4
Since Trump both lies chronically and forgets what he says from day to day, I wouldn't get excited about this. He'll soon decide that this isn't what he wants.
3
We don't need a wall, we need mandatory E-verify for all new hires in the US. Dry up the jobs magnet and illegal immigration can be cut substantially.
5
"Appeared" is the key word. It was a bipartisan get together, ergo he wqs looking for attention from all of his audience. He wanted Democrats to like him. He thought their ideas were good, and offered to "take the heat". Tomorrow he'll be in front of a crowd of seething, gun totin' rednecks and suggest hanging Hillary Clinton by the toes and shooting Robert Mueller down in the middle of a DC street to prove that people like. Really, really like him.
Nothing the man says can be taken seriously.
5
Today the subject is immigration.
But I ask: How is it to have a President of the United States none of whose words you can trust, on any subject?
3
Trump wants 200,000 Salvadorans gone but today illegals may have a path to citizenship? Sounds fishy to me.
2
Trump's border wall with Mexico is a non-starter. The Democrats should have no part of fulfilling Demented Don's fantasy.
2
How would the open borders crowd stem the flow of immigrants?
6
There is a bill to fix an issues of decades long backlog to get Green Cards for law abiding, tax paying people with 'approved' immigration petitions (they also received approvals from Labor Department for the job positions). Many of these people are in the country for 10 or more years and would wait for 10-20-30 and probably 100 more years. They have US Citizen children or foreign born Legal 'Dreamers' who face proapects of self deportation when they turn 21 as they cannnot claim to be dependent on their parents' petitions. They are paying all the taxes that the citizens pay and regularly seek approvala from USCIS, State Department, Customs and Border Protection and DMVs for DLs.
The bill has over 300 cosponsors but is still stuck in the House for many months now.
As per Rep Kevin Yoder (R-KS), who is the main sponsor, there is a pregnant woman in Greenland (or for that matter say Saudi Arabaia, Vietnam, Armenia, Pakistan, El Salvador or Iraq) whose yet unborn child may get a green card before an Indian or a Chinese who is already here working and contributing to the economy.
Bill is called HR392.
I hope this also gets similar attention.
2
Whenever he throws out a line, you better look for the hook. He cares about no one beyond himself.
2
Trump lies. Trump also has zero clue. Ultimately, Trump does not care one way or the other.
2
Uh oh! Looks like Lindsey Grahamnesty got to Trump.
3
Trump's comments already being backtracked by his White House cohorts. Tomorrow, he'll deny he ever said any of this and claim that the videotape is FAKE!
2
Donald Trump, like all serial liars, needs to be viewed not by what he says he is going to do, but by what he has demonstrated he has done in the past. So far, he has been uncompromisingly anti-immigration. It's unlikely he is telling the truth now.
I think this is just another dog and pony show to distract from the last dog and pony show, the latest in a whole slew of dog and pony shows which have defined Donald Trump's presidency.
2
Save the 18 billion dollars for a wall on the southern border and just make E-Verify mandatory for all private and public employers. Call it a virtual wall.
5
No dem or independents should work with this administration on anything (nothing!) until
DJT releases his tax returns for the previous 10 years
And funding/ individual mandate portion is restored to the ACA that was removed as part of the recent tax bill.
Until then- I support zero bipartisan work with this WH.
DJT it is your move......
3
Just talking off the top of his head again. Testing the water, sees what sticks. By Friday it will be forgotten.
3
are you telling me that a republican congress and senate will approve a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants? And santa claus is real too.
Trump said Mexico would pay for his wall.
The Democrats should remind him of that and refuse to negotiate.
2
This is what happens when a lame brained fraud posing as a deal maker is voted into arguably the single most globally consequential position of power by a base predominantly of sixty-something’s (or even thirty-something’s) with nothing better to do than vent their views that can’t reach beyond their own driveways. If it looks like and smells like something you need to step over or around, then it probably has nothing to do with anything but midterms.
1
"Mr. Trump has said such a deal must be accompanied by new money"
What new money? Mexico is supposed to pay for the wall. Is that not a inviolate campaign promise?
and even if built remember
The Great Walls of History
Great Wall of China --- Qin Shi Huang (221-206 BC) Empire
Hadrian's Wall - Roman Emperor Hadrian 122 AD Empire
Berlin Wall -- East Germany as part of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev 1961 -- Dictatorship
Aside from the fact that each failed in its purpose
Does it make America Great to act in the same manner as these dictatorial states?
2
Fooled me twice, shame on me.
1
He finally noticed who's cleaning his hotels ....
5
Yeah, so long as they're white, have large bank accounts and speak English. This from the king of "What's Next" tweets. I'm not from Missouri, but you'll have to "show me".
1
GOP Congress has to write the new immigration laws. What are the chances of that since very few immigrants are billionaires, and that’s all the GOP cares about?
1
The time has come! Let's all be loving towards the world, and share our wonderful country with anybody and everybody who'd like to live here. Enough of this "documentation" business! How selfish we are to think that we (who are here now) have the right to keep "them" out of this country. Open the gates to everybody. By everybody, I include Sharia-loving Muslims, so long as they swear on their Koran to be nice when they get here. No more bombs and trucks and that kind of stuff. And let our entire country be a safe place for multi-culturalim. Who exactly are we to request that they change their cultural habits with respect to their young daughters?
Also, this idea that they should be forced to work is somewhat akin to slavery. Really, with so many robots around now, it's somewhat unrealistic to expect people to work.
Some people wonder about the so-called gangs that seem to depend on young people from Honduras and El Salvador. These people who worry about such matters are really selfish (they complain when they are robbed, even though they have much more money than the youngsters who belong to the gangs) and they are mean -- the gangs are places where the young children who belong to them find themselves, and also gain a sense of belonging. Why would anyone but a mean-spirited person be against a child's gaining a sense of belonging?
Sometimes it shames me to be an American, because we want to keep all the goodies for ourselves. I say, let's be nice. Let everybody in!
6
Hillary believed W.'s lies of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and voted for a useless and endless war. What make us think the Dems won't fall for another even bigger liar? The Dems wear their cowardliness on their sleeves, the Republicans hide it in their souls.
3
No, he's not doing any such thing.
Show 45 a picture of a wall. Any wall. Tell him that the job was completed over the weekend. Then it’s time for ice cream, singing and clapping in the Day Room.
6
Dems are 51% of the electorate. Trumpecistas are 35%. Repos are 14%. Do the math.
If experience is a guide, Donald Trump has no idea what he is talking about on the subject of immigration. If I'm wrong, then let's see him sit down for a lengthy interview with journalists where he can explain the particulars of his plan. He talks about a "Bill of Love." Since when has he had any love for immigrants, especially for immigrants from south of the border? Or is he talking about his great love for Muslims? What a loser he is!
2
he agreed with all sides. today we managed to see a person with the attention span, memory and attributes of a katydid bounce off all walls for an hour. i would have said some one with ADD but since katydids kill their mate after mating it seemed more appropriate.
1
He promised that Wall. He promised Mexico would pay for it and Mexico said NO!! He promised to prohibit the chain reaction to Dreamers being approved. He promised Immigration Reform!! Why is it taking so long?
1
Since Trump gave all his wealthy donors a huge gift in the form of lower taxes, he can capitalize on that by asking them to pony up up for his ridiculous wall.
2
Comprehensive Immigration Reform: Build the wall, go after the hundreds of thousands who overstay their visas every year, end chain migration and the visa lottery, deport as many of the 11-15 million illegals as possible. Mandate e-verify now.
6
Can you volunteer Olivia?
1
Democrats should demand the moon and the stars to play ball, and then utterly refuse to support the watered down product in the end.
That's the playbook nowadays. Anything less and absolutely nothing has been learned from the Obama era.
4
watched the whole press conference. this is fake news.
trump stated it is up to congress. he trusts them and will sign what they come up with. No where did he ever state legal status for millions of undocumented aliens.
He absolutely did, Tom. What do you think a clean DACA bill means? Comprehensive immigration reform? It means legal status for undocumented immigrants. You are parroting the term "fake news" without understanding what you are talking about.
1
I find it encouraging that Trump appears to be open to workable and humane solutions to the problems of the dreamers and the many illegal but productive immigrants currently here.
I find his solutions for strengthening our borders less encouraging.
Certainly we need strong borders, but building an $18 billion dollar wall is a waste of money. Estimates I have read indicate that some 40% of the people in this country illegally did not swim over the Rio Grande. The flew in on student or tourist or work visas, and simply never went home. This includes the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks. How difficult can it be to implement a system that tracks people who come here legally but don't leave when they are supposed to? Why is there no discussion of that?
Similarly, the reason people come here illegally in the first place is because they can find work. There has been a lot of talk in the past about mandatory use of the eVerify system to prevent people who are not authorized to work in the US from getting jobs. Why is there no discussion of that now?
Trump wants to end family based immigration policies and also the visa lottery. He wants to award legal status based on "merit". But over the centuries tens of millions of poor and uneducated people have come to this county and have become an essential part this nation, armed with nothing more than their intelligence, resourcefulness, and willingness to work hard. Where will they go if Trump's view prevails?
3
This is mere distraction from the Russia Scandal and Michael Woolf's book. He knows his Repub congressmen aren't going to go for it, but he gets brownie points for saying it. He'll likely flip on the issue again very soon too.
7
Neither Republicans nor Democrats have the courage to mention "illegal employers". But no policy is grounded in reality without addressing that issue. When it is accepted that the bottom 5% or wage earners have no legal and no voting rights, Democracy is threatened, and the results are here. This is also a means to undermine the wages and rights of the next 20% of bottom wage earners who are US citizens - many of whom are voting for ?????.
The implicit support of illegal employers is the Republicans morally weakest point on immigration. There will never be a complete solution while illegal employers are ignored. By ending illegal employment, all incoming workers will be either on temporary visas or on a path to citizenship. In either case, their rights (health care, transportation, wages) can be protected, and their employers will have to cover that, which helps hold up the bottom on US wages on general.
There will be higher costs of course: food prices up, construction costs up, home maintenance costs up, etc. But it will just be paying up front instead of spending billions on walls and special police forces to randomly deport people who came here because Americans pay them to work.
3
As long as the path starts at the back of the line behind those that have applied legally.
3
I feel like it is too late for a desperate move towards center.
No one I know will trust the man now.
He has just shown himself to be too dirty.
The mere idea of him offering amnesty reeks of Brand Rehabilitation.
1
I watched the entire public portion of the meeting. It is not at all clear that Trump agreed to any one thing to the exclusion of any other thing. At one point he seemed to support a "clean" DACA law. At another point he supported a DACA and security bill first, the rest later, with "security" left undefined. At some times in the discussion the "security" portion clearly included the wall. At another point in the rather rambling discussion he expressed the view that the NYTimes emphasizes, that he would support a path to citizenship for most or all the people who are now in the country illegally. He made lots of statements, some of them appeared contradictory. He seemed swayed by arguments of Democrats but then reminded by Republicans of what the GOP wants to do. He wanted to be liked by everyone. Throughout, he seemed unaware of how difficult it would be the negotiate a truly comprehensive deal. He obviously has no idea of the complexity of the immigration policy issues. I came away feeling that it was all just words designed to show how reasonable and how good a dealmaker he is, especially in light of the current discussion of his fitness for office. Who knows what tomorrow brings?
4
Thank you Darlene. This article is irritating in its desire to make Trump appear more presidential than he is. He was a different person in this meeting than the article portrays.
2
Darlene,
Well stated.
And remember his earlier, much earlier remarks when it came to his first order of business a little over a year ago.
He said,and I paraphrase a bit: "Who knew that health care was so complicated?"
Trump is always open to ideas. Trouble is he still doesn't grasp that a deal wont be on his desk this Friday before he heads out of town. That things like this take time, as they should, as the tax bill should have taken.
Plus, Trump has too many "advisors", outside the WH. And he spends too much time watching TV, he could swing in the opposite direction, and slam the Dems fingers in the revolving door that is his mind.
Its too bad a deal could not have been whipped out by a Dem in the room today. "Here ya go, Mr. President...a deal on DACA, TPS, etc...and because we care, there's some funding for more border security that the professionals doing the hard work say will be most effective."
But no one be surprised if there isnt a whiplash moment by happy hour on Friday.
1
Trump doesn't have the political capital to make a bipartisan deal on immigration. The nationalists on the right are too loud, and the left has more to win by waiting...
2
"end “chain migration,” a term used by immigration critics to refer to immigrants’ ability to bring members of their extended family to the United States after gaining their own legal status"
So much for the Republican Party being the party of family values. The pejorative term "chain immigration" plays to ugly stereotypes of large third-world families. In reality, on the whole, it's better to bring immigrants who already have their own support structure present in their new country. With that support structure, they are more likely to succeed in establishing themselves as productive residents and less likely to need outside help and intervention in times of trouble.
1
Whatever else happened, I appreciated that it was televised. More transparency, please.
1
Trump appears to think, appears to say, seems to favor, changes his statement, says that he never made the statement, will work with democrats, will make unacceptable demands, will appear to seek agreement. And so on. There is really not much point in listening to what Trump says at all. He makes no sense, and in an unpredictable way from day to day. But what reason have we had to expect anything else? If he has his way, it will be whatever turn his fancy takes that day; he will favor those he thinks are like him and those whom he thinks like him, he will favor the cruel over the kind every time. Beyond that, there's no point in paying attention to him; he's mad as the wind in March.
3
Who can trust Trump on this? He's likely to reverse direction once or twice and deny that he did so.
1
There is sound logic in a program that allows legal immigrants sponsor their relatives as newer immigrants--the new immigrants come with an on-site support system. I came here that way. My uncle was sponsored here by his German employer. He sponsored his sister and her two children. I was one of them. None of us ended up on the dole
4
Why would anyone trust Donald Trump? This is a man who has left thousands of people holding the bag for him over the years. At long last, is anyone gullible enough to believe any deal won't be completely self-serving?
1
Yes, Warren. Trump has been sued 135 times since taking the office of POTUS. There are 3,500 lawsuits by and against Trump in federal and state courts over the last three decades.
Of _course_ he says he is open to a deal now.
The primary reason is that, as always, he needs a distraction from the inevitable RussiaGate details, getting worse by the day and with much more coming.
If there is one thing we've learned about this president, he is a master at distraction.
If there is a second thing, it is that his word cannot be trusted. No DACA detail should be presumed on the basis of anything he says now.
1
I thought a lesson had been learned after the Chuck and Nancy fiasco. Again you are counting chickens before they have been hatched. Until the bill is written and passed by Congress and signed by Trump, he hasn't endorsed anything. He may "appear" to endorse paths to citizenship for millions of illegal aliens but that view is open to reversal or significant change after he has spoken to Stephen Miller. Miller is not going to be silent about citizenship for people in this country illegally. Add John Kelly and Kirstjen Nielsen to make a group of naysayers.
1
Ms. Davis properly characterizes the term "chain migration" as a term invented by critics of the ancient and venerable system of favoring family connections in the priority of applicants seeking entry. The press must be careful not to adopt these handy loaded phrases, such as "entitlement reform," "tax reform," "chain migration," etc. Most of us who are the descendants of immigrants benefited from the family preference, and it was a powerful benefit to society in that it led first to family communities, then to larger communities -- which is essential to the successful integration of newcomers into our country. That is exactly why the xenophobes want to stop it -- we don't want the Somalis, the Sudanese, the Syrians, the Salvadorans, to establish communities. The attack on this ancient tradition is also a naked attempt to block poor people from coming here, since it is in poor families in foreign countries that an adventurous youth sets out for America, and when he or she is established, is in a position to help other members of the family escape poverty. The family preference was the only way that Chinese immigrants could come here during the decades of the Chinese Exclusion Act -- even that disgusting racist law made an exception for families. Are we really going to rub out the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, and substitute, "keep your tired, your poor, you huddled masses, keep the wretched refuse of your teeming shore -- we don't want them"?
3
Trump called the meeting with high-ranking Democrats to see what they wanted in the DACA deal on live media at the White House. Never done before. It prevents spin. Trump wants these DACA kids protected and will prove it.
1
I have believed all along that Trump would come around on immigration. Despite what I frequently read in these page he is not so ignorant as to ignore the need for a plethora of workers to keep the country running. Fairness is needed. At the same time I agree completely that we need a wall as protection from those who would do us wrong. The idea of open borders is bizarre.
Ultimately, Trump is the only president in recent times with the gumption to address the issue. Others only wring their hands. Hand wringing does not solve problems.
2
Trump wants 18 billion for his wall.
There are roughly 11 million undocumented people. Assuming the real number is more, say, 16 million, plus all other immigrants, foreign students etc who would like to immigrate legally, we have a total of at least 18 million people.
Decide 18 billion by 18 million, you get 1000. That's the fee to become legal.
Problem solved. Immigrants get legal, and pay for the wall!
Everybody is happy!
1
This story is going to be walked back within 24 hrs. Trump never wrote "the art of the deal" and he is actually only an artist of the bait and swittch, and he is not really very good at that either.
2
It would certainly be refreshing if he is now willing to personally take the heat from his "base" to solve an intractable problem that is tearing our country apart. And if he can get Mexico to pay for his wall, Democrats should be onboard. Show us their money first. We can't afford the wall otherwise..
1
I support his immigration policies, even as I don't support much of the Republican agenda and the man himself. Maybe for all his flamboyance he is not the lunatic most of the press presents himself as, aided by his ridiculous tweets etc. Perhaps all that divides us (Trump and me) are honest differences of opinion. I have long feared the agenda of the Christian Conservatives and he is advancing that and strongly, but hey they built a strong constituency, got a Republican elected and never forget, elections have consequences.
1
This is likely Trump's "Distraction for Today" hoping this story will delay his date with destiny in the form of Robert Mueller.
2
President Trump is using his business acumen in his compromise on the immigration issue. He will grant citizenship to the DACA recipients who came here as children in return for a border wall that will keep out future illegals from entering our country. This give and take might just work if the two are done together. Of course, the Trump haters will never like anything he does that is positive. They will never give him any credit for his accomplishments.
1
There is always a possibility that Trump is being honest. That he really cares about other people. That he is not just using this event to promote himself. That he is not just saying what he knows people want to hear. Maybe that has never happened in his entire life but you never know.
Here's an idea: Mr. Trump, put a plan on the table. Tell us exactly what you have in mind. IN detail.,
Build wall,end chain migration and lottery in exchange for dreamer and 11million here now deal. Everyone one has to swallow some unpalatable ideas...
No Wall, Never, Never, Never. Not a single peso, not a single bitcoin, not a plug nickel. Shut down our dysfunctional government if that's what it takes. At least it might give us a break from the daily destruction of our environment and humanity.
5
Canada has an immigration system that does more for its economy : Merit based.
7
Now we know what happens without Steve Bannon. It's Donald Trump who "loses his mind" (that is, his brain). But, who knows? Maybe there's a "better deal" for immigrants with the help of Chuck & Nancy.
1
Great headline, sort of like this one from September:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/13/us/politics/trump-dinner-schumer-pelo...
Trump is smarter than Obama, works harder than Obama, and has accomplished already more than Obama in regard to what benefits the middle of America that voted for him - of all races and creeds.
Face it, his two meetings with Xi yielded unanimous Security Counsel increased sanctions on the Norks, something the NYTimes would never give credit for or even acknowledge.
In fact, he has been great on the World stage, much better than the America-hating Obama.
Who would want to fundamentally transform a nation that progressives now chide "When was America not Great?"
He will get his wall voted for by Congress, there will be some DACA accommodation. Trump always wins.
4
"Trump is smarter than Obama."
Ha, thanks for the laugh! Trump's poorly written tweets and rambling speeches leave a very different impression.
1
How does the tax bill benefit middle America seeing as though the Benefits to us are temporary and our taxes will raise by 2025? Wouldn’t you think that if he was doing it for us that they would be permanent?
Also, he does a lot of losing for a winner.
Trump smarter than Obama? Seriously?
Trump works harder than Obama? Seriously?
Trump has accomplished more than Obama? Seriously?
Trump has been great on the world stage? Seriously?
Your missive is obviously satirical, but I'm waiting for the punchlines...
2
The fake news media narrative that POTUS is mentally ill appears to be contrary to the facts. The country is turning around after 8 years of inept socialist leadership under Obama. Build the Wall. No Wall no DACA.
6
Have a look at any chart showing the stock market under Obama from year one to year eight.
Socialist? Clearly that is now a meaningless word with no relation whatsoever to its actual meaning ...just like the word “fake”.
And how well did the Berlin wall work out, eh?
10
Kathryn, this is not a correct comparison. The Berlin Wall separated one country. Mexico is not a part of the United States. Two countries. One wall.
3
That is true, but my intent was this: A wall is intended to keep out others, regardless of merit, regardless of every possible qualifier. A wall is intended to be an absolute. The message a wall between the U.S. and Mexico sends is this: "We do not want you. No entry here. Turn back."
1
No Kathryn, the message is we don't want you coming illegally. I am sure there are Mexicans in this country legally, and they are very welcome. We need to know who is here and for what purpose. We cannot take in everyone who wants to come here. This is about deciding who gets to come. It is a reasonable and logical discussion.
Anyone still refusing to read Art of the Deal?
He wrote his only playbook down for you all.
5
One can only hope it is the heat of hell he'll be getting.
4
Any agreement on Dacca is amnesty; and the question will be revisited in 20 years. There is no deterrent from the illegal aliens path to citizenship. Cross illegally, stay illegal, obtain fraudulent documents, work illegally, have children who in turn will become an anchor to remain unlawfully in the US; and amnesty will follow! Many critics state current immigration laws encourages illegal crossings because it is too time consuming, too lengthy a process and the paper work too voluminous. But to millions of legal immigrants who endured years of waiting patiently, persevered and followed the laws of immigration will witness Dacca recipients will receive the same result; rewarded for their illegal status. Illegal crossings is followed by amnesty and the cycle will continue unless true overhaul will follow: immigration based on skill and merit; ending chain immigration and a curb to legal immigration. Everyone wishes to enter our great nation but if we do not check unbridled immigration( both legal and illegal), resources, infrastructure and the national safety net will be strained and saturated; and that which makes our nation great will be severely strained affecting the quality of life of all Americans.
15
The vast majority of undocumented immigrants do not come across the Mexican border. They FLY to the US on visitor visas or student visas or H1B visas and they stay after their visas expire.
"The Wall" is a dumb idea floated by a lame brained ignoramus for the benefit of ignorant people who want to believe in simple solutions to simplistically framed "problems".
Trump clearly was confused and not following the conversation or the terminology in this demonstration of his "amazing" deal making capabilities. Maybe he should have demonstrated how he gets the Republican Party to buy his shtick.
Thank you for acknowledging that illegal immigration is a pervasive problem that needs to be addressed on multiple levels!
1
Let's read it before we decide what to do with it. The whole $13 billion isn't reasonable, but a couple of b's as a bargaining chip is probably justified. We need workers in this country who will work for low wages as they begin their life here. We can't do without them so see to it we can have them and a reasonable immigration system.
Trump has zero credibility on this or any other issue that doesn't directly benefit the wealthiest Americans. Today's statements are a diversionary tactic that will be used only to distract us from his true objective or provide political cover when the mass deportations begin. "I'm a reasonable man," he will argue, I tried to get it done." No Donald, your grandiose wall isn't worth the compromise of principle.
11
Reagan
n's 1986 immigration reform was supposed to stop illegal immigration. It obviously didn't. I have not read deeply about this, but it is necessary to find out why it failed. Wall? maybe; airports and ships - yes, and no one talks about this; employers of illegals - yes. Closing green card scams and creative lawyering -yes. No visas to countries with many illegals - yes. No more chain immigration - yes.
This is not just a question of passing a law; it's a test for functioning of our executive branch, can it govern? Every year note loop holes and close them.
And every person in this country should carry identity of some sort, even visitors. And really allowing our taxes to go to illegals in schools and hospitals is just too much. Let them pay for public schools and public medical care until their status is made legal. And then they should definitely have a job and continue to pay taxes to our towns and states and country.
Allow all immigrant military volunteers who have served honorably to automatically be citizens.
5
Immigration reform would also include aggressive prosecutions and deportations of those who overstay visas. Not all illegal immigrants cross over the borders. A lot of them, including the estimated 500,000 from Ireland (source Irish Times), overstayed visas and then blended in.
67
And let's stop people in the street and demand they show zare papers! That worked very effectively in Germany at one time, didn't it?
1
Lona,
Your figure of 500,000 Irish people overstaying their visa requirements is off by about 450,000 people. There are actually only 50,000 Irish who have overstayed. I do not know if this was an honest mistake or a jab at the Irish. As an Irish American, I was curious about your facts and checked the article from the Irish Times.
The Irish do not demand handouts like some other immigrant groups. This has been true of the Irish I know as they have a lot of pride and are hardworking folks. I know because my Irish ancestors who landed in Boston more than 150 years ago never accepted a dime from the government and were quite successful in life. Everyone should be so lucky.
1
Correction: Trump is open to ANY immigration deal. He said today that, if Congress passes a deal, he will sign. He'll sign whatever he gets.
Interesting: The 1st president in memory who cares NOT what is in critical bills.
Why even have a President if he's not going to have an input on legislation?
3
There is great hypocrisy in those outraged about the inhumanity of sending DACA to a country they barely know. When an illegal who does not speak English enters our country, there is no outcry about the inhumanity of letting that person come into a country they barely know.
Our compassion in giving the DACA the best education in the world that many dream of and the same benefits as out legal citizens are not appreciated. In fact we are accused of being cruel for not continuing them.
Finally, the DACA are in this country illegally, they are the citizens and responsibility of their Nation of origin. It is just as well that they take the skills we have compassionately given them and return to their Nation to improve their Nation while having some appreciation for what our Nation and Citizens have done for them.
19
If I were Chuck Schumer, I would take a deal granting DACA immigrants a path to citizenship in exchange for wall funding so fast that the President would not be able to count his fingers after the proverbial handshake. I don't understand the controversy over the wall. It probably will never be fully constructed and in any event will not be a monolithic massive 2,000 mile wall. It may deter illegal immigrants, but that goal is consistent with the wishes of most Americans and congruent with our statutes and national interest. At this point, Schumer is not serving the interests of DACA recipients or the nation for that matter.
4
It concerns me that this will be tied to the construction of a wall. Not that it is without merit, but as anything with Trump I always feel like we're waiting for the other shoe to drop.
1
I am completely against amnesty for illegal aliens and their children even though I am also an immigrant (legal) I am a senior citizen now and feel the USA has changed for the worse since I was in the country first (in the late 50's) when I fell in love with it. The respect for the law impressed me, the quality of the schools, the work ethic, the pride in their country, the tolerance , the level of social cohesion and, especially, the willingness to tackle new problems in creative ways. It seems much of it is now gone and partially is due to the uncontrolled immigration. Are we "importing" people who laugh at the laws (immigration), who do nothing to solve problems in their own countries but protest and parade with their own flags here even when their own children and communities are forever lagging behind the norm ?
21
Mr. Trump has been laughing at the law for 50 or more years. Wall Street Banks have been laughing at the law for longer than that. You seem to have fallen for the fake story that the people who came after you and now do the more "menial" work of harvesting the fields, cleaning our hotel and hospital rooms, take care of our elderly, etc. are all "undeserving, law dodging, crooks". That's what many of the immigrants who came before you said about you and I doubt if it was any truer then than it is now.
Trump is just putting more chips on the table to bluff the pro-immigration votes into giving him a deal and to waste 18 billion to build that useless Wall. The Democrats undoubtedly are thinking that they can craft a more favorable if not a better immigration reform bill after the Mid-term. The Democrats have the greatest bargaining power for now before the January 31st deadline. I hope they do not squander it.
2
Skill-based immigration sounds like a good idea. but apparently Trump doesn`t know that highly skilled people are overwhelmingly anti-Trump. Per Pew Research, among people with doctoral degrees, less than 4 percent are Republicans. This means that if everyone in the US had a PhD, the Republican Party would be a museum curiosity. Conversely, if the entire nation consisted of elementary-school dropouts, the US would be a staunchly conservative, highly Republican nation, with Trump as the official prophet. Ignorance is the GOP best friend, and insisting on a skill-based immigration policy is at odds with Republican values.
4
Your mistake is in conflating two distinct concepts: "skills" and PhDs.
I think that if Trump is willing to move seriously on other items then he can get a downpayment on "the Wall". Politics is about compromise. Anyone who know anything about border security is aware that the wall is a waste of money - and simply a symbolic act. So a certain small fraction of a percent of the federal budget will be spend on something that is like "digging holes and filling them up again". There is a lot more destructive waste going on in the military - maybe the funding could come from the military budget? Let the army core of engineers could build the wall.
1
No to any deal that forces families to choose between helping their own kin or preserving their own status. No to any deal that forces the country to spend trillions on Trump's vanity project.
2
Democrats can't be taken in by Trump's new, putative "bipartisan" approach. Trump's been singing that tune since the New Year. His pollsters must have told him he's lost Independent voters and some of his Republican base so he's doing what he's been told to do to prevail in the midterms, and to blame Democrats for a government shutdown, should it occur, at the end of the month. Democrats need to stand up for a clean DACA bill and for the Salvadorans who are being thrown out of the country on account of his cruel termination of Temporary Protected Status for them. (Haitians and Nicaraguans too.) Like everything Trump does, this is a trick designed to bring back his "base" and not because he cares about or for immigrants, immigration reform, or for the broader questions involved with respect to having a good immigration policy. Trump only wants the money for his wall --
nothing else, and he sees this as a way to put pressure on Democrats to get that funding. Trump never shows leadership on any issue -- and he never appears to have a deep understanding of the issues before him. Today's "negotiating" session was nothing more than playacting to tamp down speculation about his mental state and to pretend for the cameras he is actually fit to be president of the United States. The last year has shown nothing but his unfitness for office. He can do as many playacting sessions as he wants. His Twitter feed proves the essential point about him -- he is not competent to serve.
2
Trump is as bipartisan as they come. He is willing to say nasty things about anybody whom he thinks has attacked him or disappointed him or whom he thinks he can blame for his own failures - Jeff Sessions, Steve Bannon, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Roy Moore, Marco Rubio, Elizabeth Warren, The New York Times, and on and on.
Now we know why The Apprentice was so popular. The guy knows how to put on a show. If only he had a clue about how to run a government.
5
That looked like he knows how to lead.
You can trust Trump to be sincere. You can also trust him to immediately change his mind to another sincere position. He does not have the depth to deceive - it only looks that way.
His constant changeability is a defining personality trait, which confuses everyone. The upside for him is that no one can pin him down. He does not allow himself to be caught on the horns of a dilemma (either/or does not apply to Trump).
He's like a Zen Master: "Don't let your mind rest anywhere."
Each of his fleeting thoughts, one after the other, is sincere, which is why he feels put upon. That's why he tells us he's a misunderstood genius.
He's our first MTV President.
2
And what's the price for this? He's already pushed through this reverse Robin Hood tax bill, so now, he wants to add insult to injury under the guise of pretending he's doing something for immigrants. Capitalism 101, the more people you have, the less his corporate friend have to pay any of us.
2
I think Trump took a look at the staff of his hotels and realized he would be without many of his employees if he did not change things
4
"Trump Says He Is Open to Sweeping Deal on Immigration" What he meant is that he needs more immigrants at Mar-A-Lago to do the sweeping.
6
Too bad there were no immigration laws in place when trump's grandfather migrated to the USA!
2
Now, if Con Man Don were a stable genius, I might be inclined to take this serious.
But since he's more of an equine posterior, I think I'll pass.
4
If he’s sincere about a grand immigration reform, why just the day before did he announce the cruel expulsion of the Salvadorans, and the Haitians before that? Nothing the man says is to be taken seriously-he is simply insane.
3
Insane like a fox. He knows that by announcing shocking measures, anything else halfway reasonable he recommends after that looks like compromise. He know exactly how to make everyone sweat over his threats and then feel relieved when he does something heinous, but less heinous than originally promised. Pay attention to the wheeler-dealer businessman in the white house and stop looking for the pundit-politican who polishes his prose ( and BTW still gets away with murder).
Careful! This snake is starting to coil.
9
Honestly, with Trump's befuddled mind, I think the Dems and Pubs can pass a bi-partisan deal and still convince Trump that he got his wall, ended chain migration and the lottery program. All both sides have to do is give him some flattery and political cover for his idiots.
6
FOR you despicable race baiters/race card players...here's just a small dose of reality....sure compassion is great until you find out blue collar taxpayers are getting ran over:
" according to a CBS Los Angeles report.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich has revealed the most recent Department of Public Works figures showing that through July $376 million in CalWORKS benefits and food stamps have been paid out to illegal immigrant parents, the CBS affiliate reports.
According to the report, about 100,000 children of 60,000 illegal immigrant parents receive about $54 million in welfare payments a month — $20 million in CalWORKs benefits and $34 million in food stamps — up from $53 million in July 2012.
“When you add the $550 million for public safety and nearly $500 million for healthcare, the total cost for illegal immigrants to county taxpayers exceeds $1.6 billion dollars a year,” CBS Los Angeles quoted Antonovich.
“These costs do not even include the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually for education,” he added."
11
Are you claiming that these immigrants are not paying taxes? If so, please support your claim with data.
3
Your facts are meaningless. That's just half the real picture.
This is what Fox news and the alt-reality sites do - they give you one-sided information and you assume that's all there is to it. Then you go off half-cocked.
Actually, illegal immigrants pay much more into the government (billions of dollars more in taxes) than they receive back. Illegal immigration is a big net plus! If illegals were all sent back, your taxes would go up. New Mexico's push against illegal immigration depressed real estate prices by a lot.
They also are much more law abiding that American citizens. They can't afford to make a wrong step because their families depend on their income.
They work harder for lower pay and don't complain when taken advantage of.
(Employers love them)
The Net flow of illegal immigrants over the southern border has been negative since 2009. (More leaving than arriving!) Do you still think a Wall is a good idea?
The do not take jobs from Americans (unless you want to clean motel rooms, or roof houses, or wash dishes, or pick lettuce).
Illegal immigration is what the country needs more of - it supports our economy -
and every small business owner will tell you that.
3
Newbie, you are 100 percent correct. And the 'contributioons' that illegals make don't come close to that number. Thank you for those numbers and your comments.
2
But Mexico's gonna pay for the wall, right Trump voters?
12
You can keep your plan if you like your plan
You can keep your doctor if you like your doctor
Benghazi was an anti muslim youtube video
right Obama voters?
3
@Senate - Obama's statements weren't campaign promises. He was already President.
Bit of a difference when pandering for votes.
1
Gee, you mean they are finally realizing that sending all those hardworking immigrants from Central and South America back home means a shortage of maids, yard workers, golf course maintenance people and country club waitstaff? Or that their recreation might cost a lot more if they actually had to pay decent wages?
9
yup. and unfortunately it is mostly about Hispanics, not Black immigrants and refugees who are being sent back in record numbers to Haiti, Somalia, etc.
Why listen to or report anything that man says? If he doesn't tweet it, it means nothing to him. The bigoted, insecure, narcissistic, dangerously destructive tweets convey the only themes to which he reliably returns. The tweets he gets off when he is alone with himself and his Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, the media talking about, you guessed it, Donald Trump. Put another person in the room, any other person, and he is lying: sometimes this way, sometimes that way, but always lying.
6
Flip meets flop. - Coming soon to a tweet near you.
11
Who was that man sitting in the president's chair today?
3
Trump is using a useless wall as an excuse to push for amnesty. The influx of illegal immigrants would double once amnesty is given.
2
Grant millions of undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Grant millions of illegal immigrants a pathway to citizenship.
Not buying the term "undocumented" for immigrants any more than I would buy it for drug dealers, pimps, etc. They are here illegally and we need to be able to look at exactly what that means. Anything less is distortion. Accepting the legality of the situation does not prevent compassion. It just does justice to the long road taken by so many legal immigrants, and it also does justice to American citizens currently accused of whatever crime. The law applies to all, or it doesn't work.
15
Can you explain why you didn't mention the fact that the laws about illegal employment have so many loopholes that US employers suffer no consequences? At some level we are all responsible for making these laws and are hypocrites for enjoying the cheap prices and good service they bring. It's self deceit or just plain deceit at the lawmaker level.
Talk to me about legalizing and treating with respect the human beings who we decide to employ - taking responsibility for our actions.
What Lazee Boy Donnie Part-Time President meant:
DACA ==== $18,000,000,000.00 for the wall + ending Chain Chain Chain Immigration + Merit Immigration + No Lottery + Executive Time
E Z deal!!
2
If Democrats cave and agree to Trump's $18b wall folly w/o fully funding The Children's Health Insurance Program and w/o resolving his self made Immigration mess--I'll never vote for democrats again. Both CHIP and DACA are far more critical to long term health of USA than the crazy Wall. Resist!
5
Here's a comprehensive immigration reform bill. Appropriate the necessary funds and require every American to apply for a US Passport within the next 5 years. Make that the National ID and make it portable and tamper proof like a state issued Drivers License. Subsidize the poor and the elderly if necessary. Update the E-Verify system for the 21st century. Require every employer and landlord to check everyone in the system. Use the laws already on the books to Imprison and prosecute those who hire and house those who are here illegally. When the price of produce and services become exponentially more expensive pass a temporary work visa system to allow labor to pass over the border seasonally adjusted for demand. No wall required except for the four walls in the shape of a square to put the CEO's CFO's COO's and directors of HR in to who disobey the law. NOTE; reduce the demand and the supply will follow.
8
Sounds like a familiar theme...about 80 years ago in a little country called Germany.
Build the Wall, ASAP.
And beef up the Border Patrol.
Cost?
$15 billion spread over 10 years? $20 billion spread over 10 years?
Worth every penny.
And end chain migration.
No more brothers and sisters.
And then husbands and wives of the brothers and sisters.
And then brothers and sisters of the husbands and wives of the original set of brothers and sisters.
Merit-based and skill-based immigration only.
America needs much stronger immigration control.
America already grants over one million "green cards" every year.
That is plenty.
More than granted by any other country.
And more as a proportion of current population than any other country except Canada -- a very sparsely populated country.
America does not need more immigrants than one million annually now.
And better to have those based on merit and skills and not extended family.
Need for low cost labor?
Better by far to import cheap goods produced with cheap labor outside America
than to import the cheap labor to make the goods here.
Unlike imported cheap labor,
imported cheap goods made with cheap labor outside America
do not entail US taxpayer-funded health and education and welfare benefits for the cheap laborer and his/her family,
nor burdens on US streets, highways, water and sewer and parks and other US taxpayer-funded infrastructure.
After strong immigration control is established, then discussion can turn to Dreamers and other illegal aliens.
No need to deport them.
Just don't make it legal or easy for them to stay.
13
This president is unstable and unfit. We might refer to him as U2. This flip flop on immigration is one of the least disturbing manifestations of his instability and perhaps the Democrats can make something good come of it. More optimistically, it might be that his supporters will see that the got the tax cut he wanted for himself and his friends while do not get what he lead them to belief he would get for them.
2
The nutcase has contradicted himself numerous times during the meeting.
That is to be expected when a person is telling lies. Especially an imbecile like trump who cannot remember what he said an hour earlier. That is the sign of a liar.
8
Everyone, hold off commenting until later today or tomorrow, when Trump will have completely reversed himself.
6
He also said, Mexico would pay for the wall, and that he had a better health care plan that would serve more people with better coverage at a cheaper rate. Who knew he meant let them all die?
4
I agree that it's not good to deport dreamers for no fault of theirs but how is this justified for legal immigrants who are waiting in line for path to citizenship? Green card is a distant dream for someone who is working hard and equally contributing for the economy of this country. Legal immigrants undergo almost the same hardships and constraints when leading a normal life. We have to think twice when buying a house, buying a car making future plans. It's unfair to be patiently waiting in line, following every law and paying taxes and in the end, people here illegally get path to citizenship! He should also include clearing the backlogs for legal immigrants waiting in line, patiently. Then reform immigration laws based on needs.
10
It would be silly to trust Trump. I don't think the DFL any need to do as Trump wants. If they can stop the deportations and give the dreamers a path to citizenship then that a fine deal. What else is there? The wall? How about that money go to CHIP instead. That's an even better deal. Otherwise tell him to get lost.
1
Trump brings together Republican and Democratic legislators for a negotiation. Congress passes bipartisan legislation with compromises from both sides. President Trump signs it.
Some people are furious at the compromises. Others are merely unhappy.
Sausage is made. Democracy functions.
Thank you, President Trump for restoring power to the legislative branch, where it rightly belongs.
2
Don't do it President Trump
Media-Dems will still hate you and want to impeach you.
Playing footsie with the enemy has never worked.
3
What about the Salvadorans?
This random public musing is just chumming the water for the inevitable reversal. This lacks a shred of credibility and anyone who bites on it deserves the humiliation they will get when he pulls the rug out.
Who would ever do any deal with this cheat?
3
I don't believe it. Trump will say anything to get his ridiculous wall.
3
So use that fact. Trade the wall for a $25/hour minimum wage. He would do it. What better way to turn his presidency around? Give him something to tweet about and he will do anything you want.
$25/hour minimum wage! How disconnected from reality can you get? That would destroy half the businesses in US, even if it got out of Congress, which would never happen because it wouldn't even get Democrat votes.
1
You are too timid. Those dollars would be recycled right back into the economy. How else do you expect to reverse income equality?
Wondering about the emotional state of Americans, just knowing that they've this crook in office
1
@Wayne:
As well you should!
One of my brothers has a habit of saying he'll do all sorts of wonderful things, lots of promises, never happens. Ever. It'd be stupid of me to believe him unless I see him actually carrying out one of his many promises. And even then, I should wait until whatever-it-is is essentially done.
The D's would be fools to take Trump at his word about anything.
2
Right. Ask Chuck and Nancy about the previous deal with Trump on immigration.
Is this the first salvo in his extortion scheme--helpless immigrants for a wall and a budget?
1
Trump lies. Didn't anyone see his nose growing? This whole broadcast was planned to show Trump as a with it president who is one the ball and can keep a rational conversation going. I am a competent president, i can speak in complete sentences, keep my mind on the subject, etc., etc. This whole shebang was done to discredit Wollf's 'Fire and Fury" book. What medicine was injected into Trump's veins before this dog and pony show? Beaware.
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The only thing that would surprise me more than 45’s words today about immigrants would be for Democrats to believe a single one of them.
Lying is like breathing to him.
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perlease - this clown will always say what he thinks the audience wants to hear.
If anyone still cares or pays attention to what he says/tweets or w/e they should stop.
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Better headline: Trump Says Several Conflicting Things on Immigration.
He was all over the place in that meeting, half of his comments contradicted the other half of his comments.
3
Nothing matters unless and until we have the wall. No wall, no DACA. No wall, no exceptions, if you are illegal - you're out of here! Agree to fully fund the wall now, we reclaim these monies later through tariffs with Mexico. The benefits of a secure southern border outweigh any initial funding requirements.
[insert your own choice of benefits from having the wall here]
Get with the program and you can have DACA, heck! perhaps some level of chain migration for IMMEDIATE family members... but, the wall comes first, as does America. I hope you Trump haters understand this.
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@Rob Campbell:
You best prepare to dig DEEP into your pockets for the massive increases in food prices you're going to be paying, both at the grocery store and in restaurants/fast-food outlets.
On the other hand, if you need to augment your income, there will be plenty of job openings for picking fruit/veggies in the fields, and for kitchen/wait staff/maids/custodians -- quite appealing career paths for you, I'm sure.
There must be great comfort to being oblivious.
Rob, I was with you until you said ok to chain migration. That has to end. Build the wall!!