First, Trump never called Mexico to ask for the wall money.
Now, Trump never implemented the tariffs.
I cannot begin to imagine how his voters must feel with this daily display of cowardice.
As if bone spurs were not enough.
14
Who knows? Maybe this measure will help bring the migration levels back down to about where they were under Obama.
7
I have a feeling Trump created this "crisis" to deflect from criticism of taxpayers paying for his family to go on a vacation to the UK with a side trip to his failing Irish golf course, also paid by tax dollars.
5
Ho hum ... big tough guy trump was feeling his oats and while launching once again a bullying nit-fit with an ill-advised, mean-spirited weaponization of trade policy with Mexico (across the board tariffs on all goods). Recall, this ‘extremely stable genius’ assured us that he was closing in on a “big trade deal” with China. Hmmm ... just like he assured us he was closing in on: - a health care plan - infrastructure - North Korea de-nuclearization - peace in the ME - Space force (whatever that is) - lowering the budget deficit - the wall paid for by Mexico. Boy, all this winning is head-spinning!
6
What a deceptive title. Trump suspended Monday's plan to Tariff Mexico in order to obtain border cooperation. HE GOT IT. Just like he got the stoppage of the nerve gassing of children in Syria with a brilliant precision missile strike. Just like he exploded the growth of the economy with a series of precision maneuvers including, along with Congress, cutting taxes. As the first bona fide businessman to obtain the Presidency, despite Media and Democrat resistance he has helped to generate more jobs for the handicapped, the African-Americans, the Latinos, etc. etc. How about the NYT just giving him the appropriate thumbs up for a job well done with the Mexicans?
8
This guy should be celebrating his second anniversary in a Super Max prison. Why is he still disrupting our trade relations, alliances and the planet at-large? Let's go, Nancy.
8
His Majesty has yet another “win” under his ample belt. Hohum. This is much like Rand Paul’s fake resistance and capitulation on any number of issues. Truly fake news in so many ways.
1
This was never going to happen! It is all a part of Trump's lies!
2
Is it just me or does it seem Trump wants to outsource human rights abuses to Mexico?
1
Expect massive human rights abuses. Expect "good numbers' from DHS in the coming months.
1
and.. that's this episode's wrap. Strike the set..
How many more times will we fall for this? Robert Mueller said he could not exonerate Trump on obstruction. Trum needed a distraction, fast, so threw a stink bomb at Mexico. Topic changed. Mueller forgotten. America distracted.
The Times and other media outlets need to now go back and pick up where they left off on the Mueller story, otherwise you've fallen in the trap and taken us all with you.
4
It was all a political propaganda ploy..... make a big deal, Mexico concedes it will guard its southern border.... tariff cancelled..... Meat for a reelection rally speech all ready to go...
2
As pathetic as this pratfall presidency is, watching Trump’s rubes clap for him as he rolls them, like the marks they are, is kind of entertaining.
10
There is deep hypocrisy on both sides of the debate.
The illegal emigration could be controlled by installing stiff penalties for hiring illegal aliens, perhaps embellished by no possibility of obtaining immigration status if one crosses the US border illegally.
This would get rid of the problem almost overnight with no procedural costs to the taxpayer, including no costs of building the border wall, of sending troops to the border, of building more cages for the immigrants at the border, separating children, you name it.
But neither the Democrats nor the Republicans would like to have this simple solution implemented.
Democrats don’t want it because of their pro-immigration multiculturalistic ideologies, and the Republicans, because of their “availability of cheap labor” argument, (including at Maralago), and some other political reasons, of course.
There is also a possibility of a third perspective, that of rationally analyzing, planning and responding to the causes of illegal immigration, finding workable solutions, etc. that a rational president could come up with and try to implement - but this is clearly beyond the mental capacity of the current occupant of the Oval Office.
This means that We the People are being poorly represented at least till 2020.
6
A lot of the family units that get caught coming in are actually just pretending to be families. They are often not related, which CBP agents prove by matching their fingerprints to a database. Something to be aware of as we read about family separation. They do this because they are coached that coming in, a family will get more favorable treatment when they get caught.
8
What we don't need is another war, even if it's only a trade war. We already have enough wars. Besides at the moment Trump, as did Putin, is preparing a proxy war with Iran, with Saudi Arabia as the proxy combatant, armed with our military arsenal, which S.A. at the moment is assembling. Trump's meta-message is, "what's so wrong in initiating Armageddon, as long as we make sure that it's not in our own backyard. Let Iran and Saudi Arabia duke it out on their own."
1
What is real about the Mexican cooperation with U.S. about Central American immigrants?
1
So Trump backed down....with Mexico providing the fig leaf.
4
A lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth going on here.
1
This is what’s called WINNING.
3
@JoeBobFrank
That’s strange. It used to be referred to as either ham-handed governance or diplomatic incompetence.
7
You failed to mention the arrests in Mexico of human traffikers
who had their bank accounts frozen. Calling themselves Pueblo sin Fronteras they were orchestrating movement of thousands of people. 132,000 at the US border in May alone.
3
@dee cee
How is it that Fox News can accurately count people enering the country illegally, but law enforcement officers can’t easily apprehend them?
Maybe Fox pundits invent information.
2
the absolute worst employees create a crisis so they can "solve" them and crow about success.
this employee needs to be fired.
pink slip Nov 2029
3
It's sad that the Mexican government caved to the bully -in-chief . More economic threats against Mexico are certain to follow.
4
And, in breaking news, as part of this fantastic Trump 'deal', Mexico put a check in the mail for The Wall!
2
Trump - arsonist and fireman in one package.
6
Mexican leaders need to go to jail giving in to our bully unchristian Republican president. Any deal with them is a fake deal because they can’t be trusted because of their long term corrupt behavior. Trump does not know how to negotiate. Look at NK still sending missiles up and being defiant.
1
We are being manipulated by Trump whose threat to Mexico would end up doing great harm to the US economy and US workers, consumers. Once he created that crisis, he now announces that he's solved it and, of course, that he's won. His voters, especially the low information voters, will be amazed again by his magic while his polling numbers rise. His solution to the crisis isn't remarkable and could have been achieved with much less sense of crisis. Strangely, he was out of the country while this agreement was negotiated. That, too, must be part of his magic. Who knows how long it will be before, dissatisfied with Mexico, the crisis returns, especially if there's more for him to gain from it.
5
It really doesn't matter. Donnie supporters support him no matter what he does. These types of acts are for his own benefit, makes him feel like he is really doing something that history will remember. Anyone with any sense knows the real deal.
7
The agreement will of course fail to solve the problem, inhumane abuse of children at the border will continue and more threats, tariff and otherwise, will follow . The driver will be the instant to instant perception of the virtual presidency star of how the 2020 election, the impeachment inquiries and the future risk of prosecution for obstruction of justice are shaping up. Volatility is everything.
2
I hope the US has offered some tangible assistance to Sr. Obrador, as Mexico seeks to solve a problem which is essentially one between the US and Central Ameican countries such as El Salvador.
Meanwhile we should hope that the measures, when enacted, reduce the level of border crossings to the same as when Obama was President.
4
The Mexican National Guard, which at the moment exists primarily on paper, will do their very best to slow the immigrant "caravans" and Trump is now satisfied that he "won" again. Yes we need to control our borders but is there no one with a drop of rationality that might suggest working to improve living and working conditions in Central America would do a better job than the Mexican military (which hasn't stop their own drug gangs) or multi-billion dollar walls that the "coyotes" will just tunnel under.
5
So, exactly how much did the hedge funds make this week out of the churn and panic and uncertainty?
We need the last bit of the story.
5
He called off his plan to impose tariffs?
Did Mexico agree to build a wall, as Trump claimed?
This too is as contrived as professional wrestling on TV – which he has done before.
3
Another win for American workers.
Which will result in a Trump re-election.
2
Very surprised this was settled. Fully expected Trump to take the $17 billion in tariffs and use this newly found revenue to fund his wall.
Nothing is settled. Nothing is ever settled with Donald Trump. He'll impose tariffs again or call on National security concerns to settle scores with whoever he dislikes or just to change the subject on the front pages when he dislikes them. He has no goal, no strategy of National purpose. It's only about him. Always. The next crisis is just around the corner and whatever it is about, the GOP will spinelessly accommodate him. Again.
9
Mission accomplished, media distraction from Mueller announcement complete. Back to normal chaos at the border with Mexico agreeing to essentially nothing. They will monitor their border. Meanwhile nothing is being done to help the people of Central America.
8
The deal reached between the United States and Mexico concerning immigration to avoid the proposed tariffs on Mexican goods sounds good in principle.
But how is Mexico gong to stop the flow of undocumented migrants from Central America remains to be seen.
Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador comes from the Revolutionary Democratic Party, or PRD, who was elected under the Morena flag and, in reality, Mexico's police and army forces are not going to repress these people seeking a better life as millions of Mexican citizens have been doing historically .
3
Citizens of other countries Do not have a right to live in the US. Who gave them this notion? Analogy: Just because the alleyway is dangerous doesn't mean the Sax Fifth Avenue across the street has to let those living in the alley in.
2
“‘Everyone very excited about the new deal with Mexico!’ Trump wrote in one of seven related tweets he sent before 10 a.m.
[from Washington Post news article]
To which “everyone” is the president referring?
Mr. Trump’s penchant for creating crises and then pretending to resolve them is a far cry from excellence in international diplomacy. It is certainly not a reason for excitement.
Trump’s version of diplomacy is not unlike a schoolyard bully who threatens to poke another student in the eye with a sharp stick, and then expects his class to throw him a party when he retracts the threat and drops the stick.
How long must we put up with this dustinctly unpresidential nonsense?
4
Merely moving the feather to the other side of the cap.
4
Next month, 5% tariff unless Mexico build the border wall. Giving in to bullying demands just encourages bullies to do more bullying.
3
I enjoy watching the administration’s policy come via Twitter and change every week. It’s entertaining in a pathetic way.
Anyone who thinks corporate America can plan effectively a decade ahead under these conditions is fooling themselves. We will grind to a halt because of excessive instability in the White House. That won’t create manufacturing jobs in the Midwest and the tariffs are sure to impact the consumer this coming Christmas. Thanks, Republicans, for starting another war that will go on for decades.
3
Don't buy this. It's another trick to make up a crisis. People are getting really sick of these made-up crises. We are starting to see through Trumps worn out playbook:
1 He creates a new crisis.
2 He rushes in with threats.
3 He makes up phony deals that never really happened.
4 He claims he fixed the crisis with the made-up deals.
People are starting to see the tricks and lies being done everyday by this awful person. So don't buy this.
5
I'm sure the agreement with Mexico was totally thought through and vetted by Trump's best people, but I'd like to point out that Mexico doesn't have a national guard yet, so I'm not so sure there will be 4000 of them at the southern border of Mexico anytime soon. MAGA, bigly, sad.
3
Border crossers might have a right to claim "asylum".
But they do not have a right to have it granted.
They must prove their claim.
And, unless and until they prove their claim,
they can be -- and ought to be -- detained,
and do not have a right to run loose inside the USA.
And, when their claim is denied
(as most of them are),
they can be -- and ought to be -- deported.
No right to "asylum"
from "domestic violence",
nor from "gang violence",
nor from "poverty".
Half the world's 7-plus billion people
doubtless suffer from those financial and social maladies.
But they do not -- and ought not --
have a right to asylum to escape them.
And the USA cannot possibly take in even a tenth of them,
and has no obligation to do so.
Most of the so-called asylum seekers from Central America
are gaming the loose-goosey asylum system
which has gaping loopholes.
The asylum system needs to be tightened up drastically,
as much as possible administratively and with tighter enforcement,
and, if necessary, with changes to the law.
As for "root causes",
let's start with the elephant in the room --
overpopulation.
39
@sam finn
Let's start with the fact that we're over 2 years into the Trump administration and it still has not hired enough immigration judges to give border-crossers the asylum hearings they are entitled to, after which, if their claim is not proven, they can be speedily deported. By the way, claiming that most of them are gaming the system is deciding the validity of their claims before they are heard, isn't it?
4
@sam finn
hear, hear!
“Domestic violence“, “Gang violence”, “Poverty” in quotes. Why? Not real to you?
Also, do you have any gratitude that you are not living in one of those troubled countries? Do you have any empathy for those who do? As you say, many people around the world suffer similar fates but you do not. Does that fact give you any compassion for those who are suffering?
Finally, what in-depth research have you done that makes you so sure that most are “gaming” the system?
1
Any chance this is securities manipulation? Who’s buying in the dips and selling on the recovery??
23
@beth
Hannity, Limbaugh, Bannon, all the Trump family, Pompeo, Bolton, Putin, Sarah Sanders, and a bunch more of the best people that Trump surrounds himself with.
1
To all appearances, Trump got pretty much exactly what he may have wanted out of this deal.
It's amazing to see in the comments how many ways people can contrive to make this seem like a failure.
27
The operative word being "appearances." Trump declaring victory isn't the same thing as being victorious. "Trade wars are easy to win," "Mexico will pay for the wall," Now h Korea is denuclearized," ... who has time to count the lies anymore?
5
@frankly0 Yes, Trump gained the illusion of solving a problem which he inflated beyond his control.
The problems with immigration still remain and are yet to be adequately addressed by Trump or his people.
5
What exact did we get, a handshake from Mexico to monitor their border. Real tough. Could have gotten that without the drama.
3
If this agreement succeed in lowering significantly the number of migrants over the long term, then Trump has a winning card whether you like it or not. So far the Democrats didn't come out with any coherent strategy for tackling the south border migration problem (assuming they consider it a problem in the first place) and at the moment they look like a sorry, confused lot who justifiably attack the president on many fronts but do not come united on any piece of policy, wasting energy on dead horses like the Muller report and Trump impeachment which, at the present, hardly bother anyone who is not a die hard Democrat. And it shows in the ridiculous number of presidential candidates, each pushing a semi-cooked, often unrealistic agenda. For non-American liberals like myself who regard Trump as a disaster who opened the gate for a flood of illiberal policies everywhere, and who hope that a Democrat election win will turn the tide, there are many causes for deep concern.
18
@Not from the u.s.a. You, of course, are dead-on with most of what you say but one thing - the Mueller Report is not a dead issue. Mueller cited many campaign violations and acts of obstruction that he did not exonerate Trump of. Those are clear even in the redacted version. He simply subscribes to the (rediculous) DOJ stance that the ultimate head of their department, a sitting president, cannot be tried and convicted of crimes until he is no longer president. The recourse for that is spelled out clearly in the Constitution - it's the duty of the Congress to impeach him, then try him, then eject him, in Trump's case, I hope with a big boot and serious jail time. Then, the DOJ should go after his cohorts. But Congress will not stand up and do its job. Like you, I am liberal in most of my policies but I will not vote for a flawed candidate, I'll vote for a viable Independent as I did in 2016 who's on the ballot - not Sanders who lives in the ozone layer. Come on, Democrats, get your act together and give us a candidate and policies that will work and win.
5
Trump threatened to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, without any approval from Congress. In fact, Congressional Republicans were against it. Tariffs are taxes, paid for by companies importing goods, that cost passed on to consumers through higher prices.
Big Government raising taxes on the American people. Trump supporters voted for him because they were against that, but now they are cheering for it. Sure is a crazy world.
9
If Trump has "solved" the migrant problem with his tariff threat, he is doing his Republican colleagues a great disservice. Now they can't run for re-election with fear tactics about the "hordes" of brown people "invading" our country and "taking your jobs." They'll have to fun on those same kitchen table issues Democrats are. Healthcare, anyone?
7
Trump likes to make up a crisis and then claim to be the hero that solved it. Don't believe a word he says.
28
I hate it when I agree with Individual One, but he was right to confront Mexico about reducing unwanted immigration, though it is ham handed, too little too late, and a tad hypocritical, considering he's been hiring illegals for decades. In addition, he could have jammed the Mexican government for being extremely corrupt and allowing the murderous cartels to operate with impunity and for allowing tons of drugs--often with crooked government support--to make their way to our country. Now to show us he's sincere, he and Congress should demand that all employers use E Verify and heavily fine anybody who hire illegals.
23
@Hector Your suggestion, alone, would go far in discouraging illegal immigration. I wonder why the government has not vigorously pursued this course. It shows them as being either incompetent or corrupt.
2
@Hector
Just remember that the state with the most illegal workers has passed a law prohibiting mandatory E-Verify.
Trump will have to fight both the Koch Brothers lobby and states like California to implement it.
3
@Hector Thus far the only illegals that have been cited in the press as working for DT organizations admitted they presented fraudulent documents. The I-9 requirement does not require employers to be documents experts. The issue is if an employer "knowingly hires" an unauthorized individual.
1
Just another of many distractions. The only thing Trump's angry base sees is the President "putting it to Mexico." In their mind, he's winning for them. All of these little stunts are pulled off with one thing in mind - re-election.
15
Why not take a billion out of the $686B defense budget and aid Mexico so they can use it at their southern border? Or take some of the money being spent on security and travel to London (where Mr. Trump did nothing but covet the marble floors) or his back and forth back to Mar-a-lago golfing...or take back some of the "tax cut"money from corporations....the wasted spending of this administration shows no bounds.
12
This will not end well.
AMLO is now seen as weak and will have a harder time to prove to Mexicans that he will not knuckle under to "tariff terrorism" next time.
This may mean we will end up with a far more confrontational populist government on our Southern border.
4
Meanwhile, the crisis at the border created by Trump's incompetence continues to kill more children.
10
We should all be grateful that the Mexican government found a way to allow Trump to abandon an obviously misguided threat of tariffs without his having to admit the folly of it and therefore the saving of face for Trump.
7
Are we supposed to be surprised? I told you this was going to happen.
4
Donald Trump and his protectionist tariffs.
Donald Trump and his climate deniers.
Donald Trump and his obstruction of justice.
Donald Trump, in a sea of sybarites and sycophants.
With the aid of the Tea Party & Evangelical's GOP.
Trump is turning our USA into his Banana Republic.
11
@Joe Miksis I wonder who will pick the bananas in the Republic.
2
It's all wrong to start with to anybody's eyes or brains.
Total waste of time, really.
It's another episode of reality TV show "President" - This week: President Imposes tariffs on Mexico!"
3
So for now, Mexico is "saved". But remember, all it takes is Trump watching some late night movie about the Alamo or Poncho Villa and he'll decide to threaten Mexico again because they hurt John Wayne or something equally stupid.
It's time to look into Amendment 25 before Trump tries to start a war with the moon.
10
Trump sneezes. Trump wipes his own nose.
I think we are supposed to be impressed.
12
Hilarious, 1200 anti-Trump propaganda posts to extend a news story that is so tilted against anything Trump does it becomes satire. Oh, for the days of ethical journalism.
16
Seriously?Oh for the days of ethical government.
3
Another episode of the reality TV show presidency wherein conflict is created for the purposes of drama and a triumphal resolution is reached by the end for a satisfying conclusion. It has a sponsor just like all commercial television, namely Trump Inc., but we, the American Public, will ultimately foot the bill.
14
The art of the Bully and the Bluff, our POTUS doing cheap theater at best.
Trump created the Mexican tariff crisis out of whole cloth then rammed down the throat of Mexico at a time when they could not do anything but cave.
The abysmal conditions in Central America remain entirely unmitigated and the real crisis at the border regarding the abysmal conditions of US detention facilities and the plight of those detained continues in full force.
15
I have to fix that for you. The Abysmal conditions on OUR BORDER remain unmitigated.
Mexico is going to do what the United States wants in the long run. It simply doesn’t have a choice.
4
News media including the Times widely reported widespread extreme violence in Mexico before Trump made it his cause Celebre. Bourdin even did a show on it. When I traveled through Southern Arizona I was told not to go father south because of Mexican gangs. My Mexican gardener tells me that his in-laws had to move to the US recently because of rampant violence. I hate to say it but I think Trump is right on this issue and people in places like NY and DC have no clue about the reality of the Southwest.
18
@Paco: Hate Trump all you want but the pattern of the NYT in the immigration discussions has been: deny there is a problem, say that Trump is exaggerating the case, admit there is a problem and then blame Trump for doing something which is later decried as being nothing.
20
Good thing your “Mexican Gardner” and his in-laws were allowed to escape that violence. But as long as your yard currently gets mowed you support Trumps policy of leaving others to suffer? Think about it....
4
@Paco Uh, so how do tariffs solve any of the problems you just mentioned?
2
So I suppose there’s no need for a wall now.
4
@Greg
Sort of.
If Mexico follows through on the agreement, we'll be back to just the illegal immigrants, since the bogus asylum seekers will be in Mexico.
We therefore should just build the 280 miles border fence extension requested by Customs and Border Protection. If that proves insufficient, we can always expand it further.
2
@GregL: Don't be too angry.
Big mistake by Mexico. Watch, now Trump will use tariff threat to get them to pay for his wall.
6
@Aristotle -- Maybe not. Trump probably will claim that this is Mexico paying for his wall. He will say that Mexico's stepped up enforcement efforts result in savings on border enforcement for the U.S. that equals or exceeds the cost of the wall.
2
@Aristotle
good idea - please add that to trump's twitter feed
The phony Mexican tariff threat was never going to happen but it was a stock futures trader's dream come true if they were tipped off in advance.
12
I want to know how much money Trump and Family made on the stock market this week.
19
The stock market is open for you to use also. It isn't like this was a big, secret, insider's deal, it was blatant and out in the open. Why didn't you invest, I'm sure many people did. I suppose if you made money off the deal, you wouldn't have anything to gripe about.
12
Boris, diff is we don’t have the inside info on when the orange one is going to temporarily dip dip the market
1
@BorisRoberts
But for those who were short on Friday May 31, THEY made the fortune. And only those on Trump's inside knew he'd drop that tariff bomb that caused the market to tank.
1
I will vote any Democrat for President in 2020.. But I applaud Trump on this! Great Job! Seal the border and stop the flow of illegal immigrants! Repeal birthright citizenship!
15
Applying for asylum IS LEGAL. Just showing up at the border doesn’t make you illegal. But thanks for voting Dem in 2020.
8
@Garrick
They are not fleeing any repressive regime [liberal narrative]- if that were the case there would be hundreds of US missionary workers and volunteer groups returning in droves. They are exploiting a loophole in our broken immigration system. Just because Lolita was smacked by her Honduran husband should not qualify for political asylum. It's not fair to people who have legitimate asylum claims.
3
interestingly, there are few of the usual left winged nonsense bluster - troll comments for this article There are a relatively small number about trump creating an artificial crisis, then artificially solving it, but few about anything else that oppose this agreement. The usual social media trolls that comment here do not seem to understand what this agreement projects in the long run if it is enforced by mexico and becomes effective - the implication is fewer new democratic voters in the future. However, democratic politicians and left wing political groups probably understand this, and I am expecting them to file lawsuits in courts with Obama appointed judges next week aimed an injunctions to block implementation. The sleazy AGs of the blue states will lead the way toward these lawsuits with Calif or NY in charge
9
@sh
actually now there are usual posts, they just wake up later in the day after partying and getting intoxicated all night
What's this "signed agreement"? Isn't that called a treaty? Doesn't that have to be ratified by the Senate? Oh, these modern times.
5
Trump creates a crisis.
Trump solves his crisis.
Every day, ad nauseam.
12
We all know Trump rescinded his threat because Senate Republicans would not back him.
Tariffs would cause Mexico to suffer economically; thus, the prospect of immigration becoming a greater problem for the US becomes greater.
But of course, Trump wants us to believe he is the smartest guy in the room.
Time and again, Trump proves he is nothing but a bad wizard who has been exposed each time Toto pulls the curtain.
6
@Ben:"Tariffs would cause Mexico to suffer economically; "
That's the idea behind tariffs.
4
Within hours of reaching an agreement, Mnuchin is already warning that Trump may renege. Which is why no one from New York has been making deals with him for twenty years.
8
it was all a ruse to get a rise...
4
One needs to close their eyes to reconcile with any of Trump's decisions, actions or his unrelenting tweets. Subjugating anyone or countries to his will with his draconian afflictions is an elixir to his ego, destined to backfire. His baldness is largely a cover up for ineptitude if not a flagrant disregard of what's benefits the country.
2
Given America's increased attacks on Friend and Foe alike using sanctions as well as all the other means and methodologies it applies (all of which are meant to destabilise, destroy and terrorise the functioinality of entire countries across the World)
It is becoming increasingly clear that the real Terrorist is the U.S.A as since WW2 it has killed more people, innocents and populations as it holds others to ransom for decades upon decades and impoverishing entire Nations and their peoples to years of hardship, insecurity and desperation.
US Global Terrorism has become the Cudgel of it's choices and the actions to force so many nations and people into desperation, despair and death to ensure its will, desires and policy are met by the means and matters it imposes on any other via crippling sanctions, embargoes, war, invasion , bombings, drones , threats and illegalties...and by the sheer number of victims it has made, murdered and created across the Globe to so many , for so long.
No other nation, group, people or plotters come close to the sorrow and hurt the U.S deals out so much to so many ...every single day.
3
Trump said...... Wait. Hold on here. No need to go any further. This is Trump. Remember? The guy who is incapable of telling he truth. Coming from him we really have no idea whatsoever whether an agreement of any kind was reached and no way to check it. All my money is on there being no slow down of asylum seekers. You seek asylum when there is no food to eat in your country and your children are dying right before your eyes.
1
The real problem.
About 700,000 travelers to the United States overstayed their visas in fiscal 2017, the most recent year for which the Department of Homeland Security has published figures. DHS estimated that, as of Sept. 30, 2017, the end of that fiscal year, more than 600,000 of those travelers were still in the U.S.
During that same year, there were just 300,000 apprehensions along the Southern border, according to Customs and Border Protection — the lowest number since 1971.
And yes, border crossings have spiked since these statistics due to their home country conditions and this administration’s policies that exacerbated the situation, but you get the point.
@Wendy Holtzman
How many of the visa overstays were Mexicans (or others entering from Mexico) who said they would just be in the U.S., to shop or to visit friends, for a day or so?
2
@Wendy Holtzman:"During that same year, there were just 300,000 apprehensions"
OK. Lower the security on the southern border and concentrate on deporting those here illegally. Sounds like a plan to me.
1
@ann
Interesting research from Pew.
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/03/homeland-security-produces-first-estimate-of-foreign-visitors-to-u-s-who-overstay-deadline-to-leave/
The country with the most visa overstays is...Canada. Very surprising to me.
Mexico is second largest.
Mexico most assuredly agreed to something or other it will not in fact do so he could back down.
We are all in a horror movie titled "The Creature in the White House".
5
Mexico has a very small national guard that is brand new. They will have a small and mostly media type affect on their border.
As usual Trump is just a Humbug.
1
Trump could shoot someone on 5th Avenue, miss, call the police, declare himself a hero and get re-elected.
2
In Homo Ludens, Huizinga took an anthropological/historical look at the cultural game of scorched-earth play which has been present in humanity for centuries—of tribes that destroyed themselves as long as their adversaries also suffered.
So. Yeah. Why should he care. He's seventy-two. And he loves nothing better than bullying and gambling and carnival barking.
2
As predicted - Trump creates distrust and chaos with his threats... even his own trolls in the GOP say this is bad politics & foolish
Trump claims last minute victory over inferno he himself has fed & created - and another neighbor partner country gets further proof of what an unstable & unreliable friend the U.S. (Trump) is....
Rome burns & Trump loyalist stay tuned to FOX News (Trump News) and the rest if us shake our heads in disgust
Vote - vote - vote!
1
What is this deal exactly? Looks like hot air.
2
Why doesn't he just "call off" his election...and spend the rest of his life playing golf at Mar-a-Lago?
2
Another touchdown for Trump - putting working Americans first.
7
@Dr. John Is this how Trump puts American workers first?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/03/opinion/trump-worker-safety-osha.html?searchResultPosition=1
Number of jobs created in May - 75 000
Number of migrants, Mexican Border, in May - 140 000
7
When it comes to issues of immigration, Trump gets away with all his stuff primarily because neither Republicans nor Democrats have even floated, let alone formally adopted, a comprehensive plan for dealing with the subject in the present. Into that vacuum, Trump can claim to have a defined plan and goal, even if it makes little sense.
When people perceive a problem, they will grasp at straws and demagogues, if no one articulates the fundamental problem and offers a real solution. When there's a vacuum, anything tends to look more substantive and, thus, better than nothing.
Trump tweets only have meaning because people think they have meaning and act accordingly which, if you look at stock market fluctuations for example, demonstrates this phenomenon clearly. Of course Trump himself has a long history of tweeting and saying things and then reversing himself, usually denying he has done so or simply declaring victory. But life in the current political environment tends more and more to be one, big Rorschach blot to most people, so they will see either what they hope for or fear, regardless of the "objective" reality.
That said, one has to seriously consider the possibility that Trump's threat, whether real or phony, may in fact have worked to achieve his desired end, even if the desired end is merely the appearance of slowing immigration.
4
What happened to the saying "you break it you own it"???????
Not a word from this author about US meddling and supporting dictator over democratically elected President's? Creating drug kingpins and accelerating a never ending war on drugs. We just keep creating more unemployed people who become drug addicts. There is a cause and effect to our actions. We eliminated mental health under Reagan among many other things.
We used to export products now we send natural resources to China and Asia and have been produce products and we import them back into this country. What is the trade deficits? Reagan eliminated the law that it was illegal for companies to hire illegals and it was there responsibility to check. Why? Who brings in the illegals?
How secure can we be when we do not have our own supply chain and we have to depend on China/Asia and now Saudi Arabia will be building componets for our bombs we sell them. When do you think they will turn on us?
@Julie:"We used to export products now we send natural resources to China and Asia and have been produce products and we import them back into this country. "
It's called the Global Economy. The Democrats love it. Read Krugman sometime.
1
Break it, complain that it's broken, pretend to fix it. Standard Republican play book. And MSM buys in every time.
2
So the decades long immigration issues at our southern border were resolved -by Mexico - in a week?
Is that what we are saying here?
Think about it.
Vote 2020!
1
Currently, 1 peso is worth $0.05 cents of our dollar, last year it was $0.19-$0.20 cents of our dollar.
If Mexico's economy goes further south where do you believe the unemployed Mexican is going to go seeking employment? Guatemala? Belize? or maybe across the pond to Honduras? or Cuba?
Tariffs exacerbate the issues that create roaming bands of migrants leaving their country seeking jobs.
This threatening display of power, like many others before it, is a simple anger of a narcissistic insecure and impotent man abusing the 'emergency declaration' powers act to satisfy his frail ego.
One person should not have the authority or power to through an entire country's economy into chaos. That right should be reserved for Congress.
Oh, that's right. We have a Congress whom McConnell has cuckolded.
2
Told you so. My comment from May 30th:
Here comes President Shiny Object with another outrageous tax on Mexican goods intended to get us to stop taking about the Mulller statement and calls for impeachment.
News media, please stop falling for this act over and over, you're being played! These announcements are not serious proposals, and therefore not news (read the incoherent White House statement released late last night as exhibit 1).
Keep real news about the attack on our democracy (Muller, obstruction, oversight and lawsuits) on page 1, send fake shiny object news to page 26 - if there is really any news to report.
P.S.: Marking my calendar for June 10th to check if this tax actually goes into effect.
3
Donald Trump.
The "Art of the Deal" while everything he touches dies.
Bluff, bluster, narcissism and bad taste, combined with his nonstop lies and larceny.
The Trump presidency will be remembered by the historians as "Much Ado about Nothing".
2
Interesting how this inept man has developed an approach to foreign politics. His system of bullying others has undermined the trust in United States’s institutions. I wonder how he and his extremists white nationalists, come up with these type of non conventional form of governance. I don’t know how long these policies would work. He appears and his cronies appear to be invigorated by their approach to “corralled” China, and now they are using the same tactics with Mexico. Trump and his team of high school bullies appear running out of ideas. In the process the rest of the world increasingly see the USA as a temperamental dictatorship.
1
There is no agreement with Mexico.
trump lies whenever it's convenient, so why would we believe him? He loves to lie, so let him wear the cloak of liar, and let him have the results. His toadies convinced him that the tariff idea was going to be a disaster, even though it makes him look tough, so he reluctantly dropped his ignorant position and spun it into a victory for himself.
There was no diplomatic conversation with Mexico. When a sereal liar tells me anything, I don't give him the benefit of the doubt, and I certainly don't reflexively say lies are truth, just to defend that liar. How much does a republican's honesty cost? Now we know. In fact, I'd bet dollars to hamberders that Mexico never said anything he claims.
His cult followers will claim some kind of vicory for trump, like indulgent parents of a spoiled toddler. When he stands next to the feast table and threatens to topple all the food onto the floor because he wanted diet coke for dinner, they tell him how powerful his is; what a good negotiator and offer him all kinds of candy if he doesn't do it. After that, he giggles with his schoolmates about winning, and look at all the candy he got!
He lies with every new day, even about things we easily remember. He insults his base over and over by assuming they won't think, and they obey with the most jaw-dropping hypocrisy I have ever witnessed.
My point is, remember when conservatives conserved anything other than white power? Neither do they.
5
No deal here, Trump simply collapsed under overwhelming opposition from GOP, Dems, Americans and globe. He is a subhuman bully who does not understand the term trade deficit nor concept of global free trade. In short, he is a monstrous disaster.
3
I guess it’s all a game of chicken, after all. Or, maybe this is Mexico’s indirect financing of the “wall?” Maybe Trump can work out a deal with Big Food to stop trashing Latin American countries, thus reducing the flow of the “huddled masses yearning to be free?”
Has Trump been buying or selling Mexican pesos while he manufactured and manipulated this fake crisis?
2
Yet another shell game where Trump supporters are willing to spend $500 looking for that pea that will win them a $5 pocket knife. Wake up. Your dignity is as much at stake as your bucks.
4
The big thing here is that stemming the flow by strong arming will not solve the human immigration crisis, only make it look “solved” to his ignorant and racist constituents.
The globe is warming and farmers can no longer farm where they are and make a living. Gangs make people run. Building an isolationist country where the nativite of these real facts are ignored, will only leave problems to be addressed by the next administration.
There is such an inhumane and cruel way Trump puts bandaids on real issues. People (mothers, children!) are the victims of this inhumanity.
I consider him a war criminal, narcissism, detachment and sheer cruelty is his game.
Is he any different than the people who faced tribunals after genocides, corruption, cruel annihilation?
He is not protecting his country, he decimates and destroys.
It is unbelievable.
got it, Mexico's "concessions" are to treat traumatized migrants with humanity, like a nation of people influenced by the teachings of Jesus should, while the infantile tactics of our President are rewarded with the summer seasonal reductions from killing heat reflect migration rates; bravo! I am tired of "winning" like this. Look, look at the blithe child in the oh so White House giddy at the crashing tinkling sounds and sparkly colors as the glass menagerie we all depend on tumbles...
Are any NYT reporters investigating the possibility that Trump is using fickle tariff declarations to manipulate the stock market for personal gain? He’s done it before. Perhaps someone should take a look at what Eric Trump is doing with the family business.
2
Trump may have gotten his way yet again over the short haul, but this only exacerbates over the long time deeply complex problem that racist and condescending American policy towards Latin America (one that Hillary Clinton as SecState further worsened in the most disgustingly unfeeling and ignorant manner) exponentially worsened over the years.
1
We have an agreement with Canada which says that people who are seeking asylum must ask for it in the first country they enter. Thus, refugees who first enter the U.S. must request asylum here before entering Canada and requesting asylum there, and vice versa. This agreement has shielded Canada from having to process and potentially having to accept asylum claims from migrants who entered the U.S. from Mexico (which included Central Americans and others from around the world) if they tried to enter Canada through an official border crossing.
Then, a couple years ago, migrants realized that the agreement did not apply to anyone who crossed from the U.S. to Canada between official border crossings. Prime Minister Trudeau initially welcomed the migrants who did this, but much of the Canadian public did not. Out-of-fear that the migrants would not leave Canada, even if their asylum requests were denied, Trudeau instructed his government to quickly deport every denied applicant.
More recently, his party has introduced a bill which would allow Canada to automatically turn down a request for asylum from anyone who has been rejected for asylum in the U.S.
Mexico’s economy has become the 15th largest in the world thanks to its free trade agreement with Canada and our country.
Why should we have an agreement with Canada on those seeking asylum, if Mexico will not sign one with us?
12
If China, Russia or even Canada secure their borders by any means, the press will not even mention it. The fact is: It is never mentioned.
9
@Sebastian So are you saying that the US should do exactly the same things that China and Russia do? I thought we were better than that. And by the way, our journalists report on the human rights abuses of Russia and China, as well as Saudi Arabia, North Korea and Turkey all of the time.
Why not expand NAFTA to include the Central American countries whose families are evacuating? They are part of North America also. If you can't beat them, join them.
1
@Eric Thompson
We already have CAFTA - DR, a free trade agreement between the U.S. and Central American countries (including the Dominican Republic).
1
Quelle surprise ! I'm sure nobody saw this coming ! That’s why his demands were so vague, any result is declared a victory and the tariffs are called off.. This is Trumps usual technique to maintain control of the news cycle. The press falls for it every time. The difference here is that he conned his own party. How many times will the Republicans allow him to hornswoggle them before they ignore his manipulations?
6
Theater of the absurd.
Trump picks on Mexico using tariffs and gives Senate Republicans the sound bites they need for their upcoming elections so they can say that they opposed the injurious taxes. Then he calls off the tariffs temporarily so he can renew them when it suits him.
What's absurd about all of this is that the American press and some White House staffers appear to have taken this dance for the truth, when it was anything but the truth.
When will the press stop treating this man as if he's speaking honestly? Every time he opens his mouth, he's selling snake oil. Remember that and quit participating in the theater of the absurd. Remove yourselves from the stage. Better yet, leave the theater and report on who benefits from this show.
5
While I appreciate the sincere effort of the journalists who wrote this article, and have little doubt that Trump would have imposed those tariffs in a moment if he felt like it at that moment, never mind what the Mexican government and the US Congress do or say, this story reads like it was written for sixth graders, and merely restates what previous media articles have been saying, implying (or I'm asked to infer) that this president and his minions are employing a genuine strategy because they genuinely care about the immigration crisis at our southern border.
The president and his minions are playing a game, not seeking solutions to real national/international problems.
They do not care about people or the hard work of finding and developing solutions to major national issues--they care about staying in power, money, and being taken seriously by the media--even the great NYT, which I read daily, falls into the moat around their castle. Urgently Investigate and Impeach.
6
I'm tied of reading about this man who hurts America, doesn't help our country by working with Congress to provide solutions to our problems. No longer do I follow him in the press as he is an irresponsible president. The NYT should, after his being in office for over two years, take more initiative to being part of the solution, not the problem.
7
“do not have the expected results”
What are the "expected results"
Anyone know.
Moving goal posts?
Again the bully-boy threats masquerading as negotiation.
But, hey! what's new with this admin.
Whatever Mexico does this admin can always say "not enough" because they haven't stated what is enough.
The worst is, it has taken decades to build a healthy, thriving partnership with Mexico and Trump destroys it overnight to serve his need for attention and applause.
No one likes to be bullied, and everyone remembers their bully.
3
What are the metrics. If you change something you should expect a result. What was changed and what is the expected result. Who is measuring and reporting the measurements?
The article implies there is supposed to be something that can be measured “do not have the expected results,”. So is that a secret or something?
1
Interesting that Trump completes "deal" on day that employment report shows lowest job-creation numbers in months. Assuming those numbers continue down based on China trade war, we can probably expect another "deal" with China shortly. We're quickly learning the cost of such trade wars in employment; what is yet to come is the cost in trust in our relations with other countries. If you were running Mexico or China or UK, would you want to do a "deal" with this crackpot?
2
I'm not clear from this article how what Mexico has agreed to is supposed to help immigration problems as the US/Mexico border. What am I missing?
1
I'm disappointed Mexico took the bait.
But being picked on by a racist bully sometimes leaves no good choices.
What gauge will Trump use to measure Mexico's response?
How many kids are locked up in cages?
If not enough, Trump will threaten tariffs once again, because this will not solve the basic reasons people are desperate to flee violence and oppression.
4
If nothing else this reveals the cracks appearing in the republican wall.
2
@realDonaldTrump: "Mexico, in turn, has agreed to take strong measures to stem the tide of Migration through Mexico, and to our Southern Border. This is being done to greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Details of the agreement will be released shortly by the State Department. Thank you!"
Right!!! An the nuclear threat from North Korea is finally removed.
4
Trump Suspends Tax Increases on US Consumers
Last week President Trump threatened to impose a tax on US consumers in an attempt to pressure Mexico to decrease or eliminate Central American refugees from traveling through Mexico to ge to the US. Yesterday (June 6) Trump announced that the tax cuts had been suspended.
3
He used to try and manipulate prices of individual stocks by saying he was going to buy the companies. It worked a little until people caught on. But this seems like the best way of all - affect the entire market's upswings and downswings and buy or sell futures to leverage your investment. For those who have advance notice of the timing (and I'm sure there are a few swamp critters who have that knowledge) it would be hard to catch because it affects the whole market, not just one stock. The man knows his scams. And he's not afraid to try them out.
4
Last problem Trump "solved" was our trade deficit. Has anybody looked at the actual trade deficit numbers lately? With all his tariffs and arm twisting our trade deficit has actually become much worse. So much winning it hurts - please stop it. We will look at the asylum application numbers next year and see what happened. It turns out that to solve a problem you first have to understand what drives it.
4
We do not believe that statement, in a blink he could impose again tariffs, is not reliable person.
4
Maybe this will turn out to be a success for Trump. My problem with it is that I don't think migrants are a particularly big threat to the US compared to other issues. Sure, we need to deal with the issue in a humane way but it is not how I am judging the success of the Trump presidency. In particularly, Trump's rolling back of enviro regulations affecting air and water quality have me greatly concerned. I remember the smog before those regulations came. His lack of concern for climate change bothers me. And his appointing of hyper-conservative judges concerns me, because most are even more conservative than many Americans who call themselves conservative, and their interpretation of the constitution will reflect the interests an increasingly minority of Americans. Not sure that the founders intended that.
3
Let's check back in six months and see how the flow of Central American migrants is. My bet is it'll be at the same numbers as today.
Mexico didn't concede a thing. They played nice with Trump, but in the end they'll continue to do what they do. Believe it or not, they've already deployed their national guard to their southern border some time ago to try to stem the flow of caravans going through their country. They, however, neither have the resources nor the appetite to rip families apart and throw them in makeshift jails that the Americans do. How do you like that, USA? The notoriously corrupt Mexican security forces balk at committing the egregious human rights violations that ICE and CBP commit as a matter of course. That's the America of 2019.
This is all about Trump finally beginning to feel an inkling of heat from Congressional Republicans. They were firmly against any tariffs on Mexico, and could perhaps even muster veto proof numbers to back them up. Trump's White House - for all its chaos and short-sightedness - knows that Trump cannot afford to be seen as having been defied by a GOP that up until now has been compliant and supine. Not in the eve of election season.
5
Let me say it again, Trump never had plan to follow through the threat. It was distraction from Muller statement 2 weeks ago. Mexico’s promise about deploying national guard in their cities is just same as the existing wall in the border. It was already there and it won’t do a thing. Trump claim of victory is equivalent to claiming victory now for world war 2. But the important thing he has successfully distracted us from the Muller statement.
5
Typical Trump treat your vendors like they are a lessor species. "If you don't cut my bill in half, I will sue you and you will never work for me again.'
Here's what he gets from this particular transaction:
- He comes across as the great negotiator. Litigation lawyers love having a client like this.
- He claims to be a vanquishing hero for the country and of course for himself
- He moved the Fed to announce possible interest rate reductions because of the threat of tariffs
This last point is particularly noteworthy. As the economy cools - job growth, boost from tax cuts that cannot be sustained, overall global economy slowing down - he will probably get lower Fed rates and will claim "victory" for that. Never mind it's because his tax cuts and tariff wars are the causes for at least a significant portion.
You cannot run a government like a business, and even if you could, Trump's business skills and model should be avoided at all costs. And those costs will be around for a long while.
3
Next,maybe, there will be some investigative reporting into the way those Central American countries are governed and exactly what was done with the aid money dispensed by the US over the past 30 years.
Surely the US needs to know how this mess was started and what kept it from improving the lives of their people.
1
@Margo Aid money is given to Aid agencies, not to the Governments, which is why it is called AID.
1
It's about time we have someone who doesn't let other countries continue to take advantage of the US, whether it's China stealing IP , ignoring patents and trademarks and pumping out counterfeit goods to counties like Mexico allowing migrants into their country and not helping to stop the flow into the US.
Other countries realize our past leaders would eventually cave to a little bit of pressure on the home front while they would wait it out for their long term benefit. Now they aren't so sure what may happen with Trump - is he all bluster or is he serious - Mexico decided to not take a chance, and as China's economy start to slow and supplies shift to other Asian vendors, China will come to the table as well.
The US can't be the world's patsy like other administrations in the past have allowed it to be. If you don't like it - there's an election in a year and a half. Trump probably doesn't even want to win another term, but if the Dem's don't put out a center-left candidate that will be acceptable to the independents and republicans who can't stand Trump, he'll probably take home the title again.
1
Trump tweets only have meaning because people think they have meaning and act accordingly. Trump himself has a long history of tweeting and saying things and then reversing himself, usually denying he has done so or simply declaring victory.
Nonetheless, one has to seriously consider the possibility that Trump's threat, whether real or phony, may in fact have worked to achieve his desired end, even if the desired end is merely the appearance of slowing immigration.
When it comes to issues of immigration, Trump gets away with all his stuff primarily because neither Republicans nor Democrats have even floated a comprehensive plan for dealing with the subject. Into the vacuum, Trump can at least claim to have a defined plan and goal, even if it makes little sense. And when there's a vacuum, anything tends to look better than nothing. When people perceive a problem, they will grasp at straws and demagogues, if no one articulates the fundamental problem and offers a real solution.
1
What we need is comprehensive immigration reform. Until we reinforce the laws that we have including e-verify, change our amnesty laws and stop letting people stay in the US years while waiting for their hearing, the flow of illegal immigrants will continue. We also need to ensure that the aid we are giving these countries is solving the economic plight in these countries at the grass roots and is not being wasted or going into the pockets of the politicians.
3
@SRG Enforcement of universal E-verify and prosecution of producers of fake documents and ID theft alone would have stopped all illegal border crossings long ago. Asylum seekers is a different problem. They WANT to get arrested so their appeals for asylum will be processed and meanwhile they get to stay in the US, many with relatives. The very fact that neither Republicans nor Democrats will get behind universal, mandatory E-verify tells us all we need to know. Neither side wants to stop illegal immigration, but for different reasons.
Trump's "success" (yet to see) using tariff threats to get Mexico to fix our border crisis gives me an idea about how our next progressive Democratic president and lock-step Democratic congress can "get things done" for working Americans. Bring all the CEOs and chairmen of the Fortune 1000 into the Oval Office and make a "deal." Either they double the wages of the bottom third of their workforce and bring back the manufacturing operations they have offshored or outsourced to China, Mexico and Third World countries in the past four decades or they will be hit with HUGE corporate income tax increases, scaling up for every year they do not comply. Furthermore, if they do not comply on wages and job restoration after five years, any products they manufacture abroad and try to sell here, or manufacture here with a significant percentage of foreign-made components, will be hit with a tariff or additional domestic tax. Why use the trickle-down, tax-break, deregulation carrot approach when Trump has shown us how quickly effective the blunt instrument of tax threats can be?
1
What is amazing to me is that we finally have a president who is willing to stand up and say enough is enough. You may not like that he is rough around the edges and sometimes his ideas and efforts don’t go as planned, but had any of the prior administrations done anything to correct the problem we would not even being discussing it. All of government has failed us for the past 40 years.
Inaction by the government as a whole is irresponsible and reckless and all of us, including those who want to get in, suffer. No matter how you feel about Trump it is time for all (Democrats, Republicans and Independents) to move on and get back to legislating. All I hear is that “we got him this time”. Why not live with the hand you are dealt and come up with a plan to win. Every single minute wasted on trying to get him out of office is time wasted as nothing will ever come of it no matter how hard someone wants it to.
1
@JimH There will be no legislating as long as McConnell has a stranglehold on the process in the Senate.
"Trump administration officials demanded that Mexico support changes in asylum rules that would allow the United States to more readily reject asylum seekers from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Mexico has for years resisted such a demand out of concerns about the political and economic cost."
This vague paragraph implies some sort of evil plot on the part of the Trump administration. But what it really relates to is Mexico's refusal to sign a "Safe Third Country" agreement with the US.
This is exactly the arrangement that governs asylum requests at the US- Canadian border. Canada simply rejects (with rare exceptions) all asylum requests made at American border crossings because migrants are required by the agreement to claim asylum in the first safe country they get into.
An identical agreement exists between Turkey and the EU.
So, maybe a reasonable request being blocked by the Mexicans for their own reasons, not an evil plot? Because Canada and the EU are paragons of tolerance, right?
2
tariffs work. No inflation on aluminum/steel products or the myriad of Chinese made goods as the tariffs has been in effect for some time. + billions of dollars flowing into treasury while the supply chains are being revised to the benefit of the US.
The tone and tenor of this article is more fake 'sky will fall' narrative from the wall st and our economic adversaries backed US chamber of commerce actually having to concede that Trump is winning again.
Why does the economy and the American citizens keep making gains under Trump's presidency?
1
Let’s see how long do we give them and they say they never had the agreement with Trump? Same old same old.
1
Did Trump's lashing out at Mexico grow out of a deepening frustration of his inability to deliver the promised wall, or did it grow out of a need to distract form the Mueller investigation's fall-outs?
Do Trump's constant threats to weaker neighbors reflect policy or simply the temper tantrums of a bully? Or are they just efforts to distract form the mess he is making at home and abroad? It is difficult to say as rationality does not seem to be one of the factors that governs this man's mind and actions.
One thing he is successful at is keeping everyone off guard and keeping himself at the center of the whirlpools he creates.
Hmmm... Under the deal, migrants who arrive at the border will have to remain in Mexico until their court dates. The means they cannot get into the United States, cannot get U.S. wages, and cannot repay smuggling debts to the cartels.
A major win for Trump and the US. But you wouldn't learn this from the article.
5
Trump announced something that he couldn't do (massive tariffs on Mexico) to get the Mexican government to say it will do something it can't do short of massive detentions and cruelty, stop people from trying to get here to ask for asylum. Winning!
If Mexico had called Trump's bluff, they would have strengthened their country, increased national pride and taken Trump down many notches. They would have helped put the Bragger-in-Chief in his place and the Republicans in the Senate would have led the charge. For once. An opportunity has been missed.
All of this will be played as a great victory for Trump. Fox Noise in overdrive! While he was in the UK looking like a massive overstuffed penguin in white tie, Mexico handed him the appearance of a victory. If he pulls this stunt again, they should thumb their nose at him.
The national news media, even leaving out Fox, are being played like fools by Trump. The key question is this: what did he get by his bluff of high tariffs? What will the human impact be on desperate people from Central America trying to escape violence and extreme poverty?
Have no doubt, Trump, with his constant attacks on immigration, has made the current "crisis" at the border. Thousands want to come RIGHT NOW because they think things will be much more closed off in the future. Instead of dealing with legal and undocumented immigration calmly and directly, Trump has made it into a great big show which is encouraging more and more people to come every day.
2
When will Trump voters realize that he is a threat, not only to China and Mexico, but to them?
His continuous threats, whether serious or not, upsets markets and businesses.
Stable genius, indeed!
Question is whether the cartels or the U.S. has more leverage.
The government of Mexico is fraught with corruption driven by
a large number and amount of cartel bribes to allow drug and human trafficking.
The leaders are now caught between two powerful interests.
Which will it chose?
1
I told you so. It was all just another reality show episode. The show sould be called "While the Earth Heats."
2
Bottom line. Migrant problem got much worse. Seems simple. It's on Trump. Same as it would have been if this happened under Obama.
But .... Trump's supporters can justify anything!
Increasing number of migrants. Trump get's credit. Everyone wants a piece of the tax cut economy. Decrease the number of migrants? Trump gets credit. He's so tough - people are scared to come here and try to get a piece of those tax cuts, and have their children taken away from them.
I'll look at the numbers. Economy the same between Trump and Obama (ok - unemployment .5% less).
1
As metrics for Mexico compliance were never identified, probably intentionally, an "agreement"; i.e., a piece of paper satisfies Trump's need to back down from all the opposition he faced from Republicans and importers. Proof of the pudding will be the numbers crossing. If down, then no need for a wall??
Awesome. Now there's no need to build the wall.
Look for the 'emergency' at the border to come to an end now that Trump has 'solved' all immigration problems with his fantastic, beautiful deal with Mexico. Some people say it's the he best deal any American President has ever made, or so they tell him.
The tariff threat is real. Mexico responded. The migration threat is no threat since US workers don't do manual labor much. However, Trump should consider tariffs for one thing that would really help both sides. Automobiles and machinery are being built for the US market with 2 dollar per hour labor. Trump should demand that the UAW be allowed to organize the vehicle manufacturing industry in Mexico and that the labor laws be equilibrated between the two countries. These increased wages would cause the pressure for companies to relocate from the US to go down but also dramatically improve the Mexican economy since the labor agreements would be a prototype for other workers as well and there would be a dramatic increase in purchasing power in Mexico. It would be like the effect of Ford Motor raising its wages in the early part of the 20th century. Mexico is a rich country. We have now learned that the US has a weapon. We should use it to force the Mexican government to address these issues.
15
Coming up with that sort of strategy requires an understanding of economics. Not to mention the ability to see economic leverage as a complex tool best wielded with tact and discretion instead of like a blunt force weapon.
5
Alternatively: the UAW could disband and US workers could offer up labor at a competitive rate, as opposed to strong arming corporations into paying above market wages for a task that can be completed in Mexico for substantially less, and which should have wiped 2 / 3 US automakers last decade had the taxpayer not stepped in to pay for this nonsense.
@as As easy as health care.
I like the proposal of the Castro brother from Texas who is running for the Democratic nomination for president-- a Marshall Plan for Central America. Let US help make life good for the people living in these countries so they do not have to make the dangerous trip north.
36
@Valerie Elverton Dixon
Combine that with the bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that Obama already got through the Senate in 2013 (68 votes), and that includes ALL the border security strengthening measures that non partisan security experts advice (including an additional 40,000 of our OWN Border Patrol Agents sent to the southern border), AND his FCM Program, which increased the number of people caught and released at the border who show up in court from 60% to 90%, and then FINALLY this problem will have been taken seriously, and as a consequence solved!
@Valerie Elverton Dixon . I like the plan above your post by "as in NY" much better. It comes with no cost. Castro is just another give'em the farm Democrat.
1
How totally predictable. Bloviator blusters and threatens. Nothing really changes but Bloviator claims a “deal” and his rubes will buy it.
30
Yep. Create a problem, then congratulate yourself on how expertly you dealt with it. Classic Trump.
Reading the remarks of democrats about President Trumps victory can only produce sadness and hopelessness for our country. So many people so much hate.
23
Its not a democrat thing to be skeptical. Its too early to just willingly believe this deal is any different from his April 'Close the Border' threat to Mexico or his 'total victory' in NK.
Again in April Trump gave a week notice that he'd close the border but then backed off when intraparty fears got him to 'delay it for a year'. Then little more than two months later he gives another week long threat before 'getting a deal' just after a dismal job report and another intraparty rebellion against his threats.
Claiming victory now, before the results are in, is counting chickens before they hatch. Much like his NK negotiations which have now resulted more missile testing.
I do agree with your hopelessness though, for slightly different reasons.
So much hate. Trump, with his rhetoric, has failed to bring the country together. In fact, he’s pulled us further apart. And it’s not democrats vs republicans. It’s Trump supporters vs everyone else. The comments you are reading are from liberals, independents, former republicans, and libertarians.
That's because his victories are shams. Shall I start naming several??
interesting concept...leadership by threats.
12
The administration can't seem to get beyond putting bandaids on the problem of illegal immigration. It is not our border that causes people to immigrate, it is deplorable conditions in Central America.
16
True, but what's the solution? Redevelop all of Central America? America can't even take care of its own desperate citizens, let alone those in developing nations.
1
The Democrats will do nothing about illegal immigration, so Trump did something and Mexico responded. And it cost us nothing. It’s all about the money and Mexico realized it they do nothing, it will get expensive (demand will be less for their goods, employment will drop, Americans will have less money to travel on vacation to Mexico and Americans (legal and illegal) will have less money to send via money orders back home to Mexico).
26
@Mark..So they've responded? How long will it take you to realize that they just agreed to this statement (it's not really an agreement) in order to get Trump off their back? They now have figured this nut out to the tee. Give him a reason to say he's great and everything will be back to normal.
The Democrats have made proposals that Trump has ignored
@Zejee
Trump supporters prefer the narrative that the Democrats will do nothing about illegal immigration. It’s either a case of selective memory or utter ignorance.
"I would like to thank the President of Mexico, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, together with all of the many representatives of both the United States and Mexico, for working so long and hard to get our agreement on immigration completed!"
President Trump, 6/8/19
Nice touch. Well done.
Now build on it.
26
Another twitter stunt disaster averted! Thanks Mr President!
7
Plenty do and will do so again in 2020..
why doesn't anybody ever call his bluff?
14
Because he isn’t always bluffing. And that’s what makes a bluff valuable.
3
@lgg . I think they just did. There is no substance in the agreement.
1
In this foolish one-man escapade Trump has succeeded in accomplishing only a minor and temporary electro publicity stunt. The secondary consequences are far more significant however. Our long and convenient relationship with Mexico has come to an abrupt end. Our one time ally is now in earnest making plans to rid itself of its dependence on its neighbor to the north and is seeking economic markets in other parts of the world that have been equally awakened to the capriciousness of a foolish dependence on and trust of the US.
10
@Jerry Totes...Yeah, I'll bet Mexico is looking south of its border to develop new economic partnerships. Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are fertile fields for Mexican goods. Don't forget Venezuela - a sleeping giant. Then there's Myanmar, Syria, Africa. China has lots of Wal-Marts ready to send money orders back to the folks in the homeland. No doubt, Mexico has lots of opportunities to expand globally. It doesn't need US anymore.
We still have heard nothing significant about the great deal! Smoke and mirrors has infected the White House since Trump's election. No one knows what he does...it is all a reality show. Nothing significant or substantive, all threats and then a big collapse to nothing new...with Kim Jong un, Mexico and so on. All a play with Trump the hero, too bad he does not have a voice or he could be the protagonist in an Opera.
5
It’s entirely unclear what exactly Mexico will do; how is this a deal?
7
It isn’t. It’s designed to get his rubes babbling that Trump “won” even though he completely folded. His base always does whatever he wants them to do. This “agreement” is will change nothing.
@The House Dog, when it fails to stop the migrant flow as I’m sure it will, considering that blowing sand always finds even the slightest crack to enter, cosmetically the next step will be to demand that Mexico repaint our house, namely the wall. Like with climate change, kabuki is all we have to appear to be doing anything.
1
So Mexico will now be using armed guards to beat down the immigrants/migrants, etc. on their side just as the "emboldened" US citizens and US forces are doing on the US side.
2
Another connivance by Mr. Trump. Create a phony tariff crisis, watch everybody squirm (including Republican congresspersons this time), then claim a phony victory and walk away. You'll notice that he hasn't attached any specific qualifiers to his vague and idle threat. All he has to do to back away from it is claim some sort of self ordained victory based on whatever he decides to base it on. He tweets out a "victory" proclamation and the fans clamor for more completely oblivious to the fact that they've been manipulated yet again.
7
Finally. Finally. A US President prepared to enforce the law and stop the illegal immigration of economic migrants.
Shame on the Democrats for wanting open borders. Shame on the Republicans for wanting illegal migrant workers to guarantee slave wages for all.
Kudos to President Trump.
Kudos to President Lopez Obrador.
24
Democrats don’t want open borders. Their proposals would be more effective and more humane
1
A more lucid replay of the facts of this negotiation would have had the United States acting to defend its national sovereignty by holding Mexico accountable for its sheer arrogance in ignoring the migrant issues. Rather, this was simply a cheap replay of all the week's opinions that proved invalid, concocted to make our President look bad, and mislead the readership.
9
He does a fantastic job of making himself look bad. Nobody needs to help him.
Raise your hand if you believe that this agreement with Mexico is anything other than a gimmick, like renaming NAFTA and saying its a major change or improvement. As far as I can tell, Mexico will go on doing what it has already BEEN doing. Trump can stop the idiotic imposition of tariffs under pressure from Texas and other GOP flunkies (to prevent Texas from turning blue next year); and he can claim a major victory. The Emperor can continue strutting his new clothes. In Spanish, they say, "mucho ruido, pocos nueces".
13
I’ll have to do some reading up on the U.S. asylum laws, but wouldn’t returning asylum seekers to Mexico to await resolution of their cases be against the law? If so, what do we have here? Anybody?
4
@Ronald
We'll see what the Supreme Court says.
And any lower court decisions against the return plan
ought to be appealed immediately to the Supreme Court
and the Supreme Court ought to deal with it, pronto.
For far too long,
the Supreme Court has tolerated lower court decisions
that hamstring the federal government nationwide.
Also, of course,
the law itself can be changed by Congress.
More smoke and mirrors from Trump. Safe to ignore.
2
Does the pretend caravan end now or does FOX news need to keep that footage in case his gullible sheep need another scare tactic to get them to the polls?
6
What evidence is there that Mexico ceded anything to Donald Trump prior to his ending this manufactured crisi ?
5
why all the focus on Trump and none on how to stop the massive flow of immigrants from the South.
12
Threaten tariffs. Cancel tariffs. Tell America how great you are. Sound familiar?
2
Lets start with "yes, Trump is a narcissistic bully and a racist. We all agree. A man unfit to be President. A laughingstock."
But on the immigration issue, he is in the right.
All he is demanding at the Mexican border are the protocols already in place at the Canadian border.
Migrants claiming asylum at the Canadian border who have traveled through the US from Mexico are simply refused entry given the US is a "safe third country" by the terms of the Safe Third Country Agreement between the countries, and refugees have to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach. Mexico has simply refused to enter into a similar agreement with the USA because, well, it doesn't want the costs of all those migrants either.
So is Mexico "safe" for migrants? That is an issue and that should be the focus of American efforts. Its safer than Guatemala.
Keep in mind, this system works. Turkey has signed a Safe Third Country agreement with the EU. The EU funds Turkish costs related to refugees/migrants. Immigration into the EU from Turkey has slowed to a trickle. Turkish costs have also dropped, because once migrants know they can't get to the EU through Turkey, they don't bother entering Turkey.
Of course, Trump isn't smart enough to articulate (or maybe even understand) any of this, which is part of the problem.
But NYT writers do, even if they don't mention it due to ideological blinders.
16
@bobw Refugees are crossing the northern US/Canada border during all seasons, risking life and limb to seek asylum in Canada. Their attorneys argue they should not be deported to the US as the US is not a safe country based on Trump's rabid stance. It appears to be a viable legal argument.
@bobw...Are you saying that Canada would summarily deport all of those migrants storming the US border with Mexico if they somehow caravanned up I-5 or US 83 and stormed the US-Canadian border? If so, I'm shocked that Canada would be so callous. Why in the world would you deny sanctuary to those wretched souls trying to escape gangs, pestilence, rape and corruption? Canada is a large, wealthy country with more than enough treasure for its meager masses. For shame.
Live long enough and you will see that this is how politics works. It happens over and over again:
Find an issue. Whip up a frenzy. Heat it to the boiling point, then find a solution. Problem solved... politicians pat each other on the back for a job well done.
Think: Prof. Harold Hill and the Pool Table.
It happens over and over again because people always fall for it.
And remember, Boys and Girls: "This is the most important election of our lifetime." Really...
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
2
It’s laughable that the article characterizes this as Trump “preventing” a trade war. He started a fire, watched it burn, watched someone else put it out, then claimed he prevented it??
11
I will ask again..... if it was a crisis why didn't he act like it was a crisis when he had a Republican majority for 2 years?
10
Have you taken a look at the dramatic increase in people being apprehended or seeking asylum at the border. The situation has changed dramatically in the last year with no sign of letting up. What was a problem the last 6 years is now a crisis.
3
No country, including Canada, can trust any "deal" made with this President. NAFTA? Tariffs on steel and aluminum for "national security". CUSMA? Not yet passed but tariffs on Mexico unless .... (fill in the blanks as we're not done with welching on deals). Oy veh!
2
Shame on him for making a deal with them. Deals are terrible and will destroy this planet. We need a Beltway Insider back at the helm.
3
Honduras, Nicaragua , guatamala and dominican republic outlaw abortion with no exceptions. All evidence shows the inability to control family size is directly linked to a countrys poverty. Women go to prison for suspicious miscarriages . When we stop giving aid for contraception and family planning we make the problem worse. The republicans think if you are poor you should just stop having sex, which defies the science of biology. Trump supporters here should be ashamed, seeing this as a victory.
6
@Patricia shulman
Agreed.
But, also,
some inveterately anti-American Dems
also claim that American money and assistance
for birth control directed toward third world countries are "genocide".
That's utter nonsense.
This agreement is, as the story states, aimed solely at molifyig Trump.
Any serious student of Mexico's sothern border knows quite well that the migrant flow might slow but will not stop,
Smuglers wil now play a lager role and oufoxs Mexican and American cos, just as they've always done.
The agreement lacks any benchmarks, leaving to Trump to decide what constitutes compliance.
Mexici's best efforts wil prove indadequate. Mexico savvily bought itsef some tme.
1
Today's three headlining Trump articles deal with policy and are important for us to know. But it is also important for us to know what is happening at the town halls led by multiple Democratic candidates so that Americans can make responsible decisions during the primaries. Please include those in your headlines.
No reason for any coverage until the candidate group is pared down to 10 or so people what stand any chance of winning. Most of them are “running” to promote their own brand because no one knows who they are.
1
@JimH
And we need to learn who they are.
Not to worry, he will change his mind on Monday and call for the tariffs again and tank the stock market again.
2
Mr. Trump likes to take us on a roller coaster ride on major policy decisions. It is OK to drive policy - right or wrong. But tweeting every step of the policy making process is causing the market to swing while hurting the individual investor. As the CEO of the country he should exercise restraint similar to what is expected of CEOs of private enterprise. If CEOs of private enterprise tweeted their every move SEC would be all over them.
1
Trump pulled one on the American people with this one. Wonder what the Mexican president got paid for this. This deal would have been catastrophic for the U.S., not so much for Mexico. These "deals"will be common place for Trump and the GOP in the coming months leading up to the 2020 election. Democrats, what about that Social Security scam whereby no Medicare deductions were withheld for 250,000 people? No, that was not an error. That was a fast one because money is so tight in federal agencies that any scam is a good one under Trump. These 250,000 people are at the low income bracket and to pay this money back will be a heavy burden. But so what? They cant fight back and they dont contribute to campaigns.
1
Now how could he lose in the real analysis. Mexico has a population of 132,000,000.00 and is a relatively poor country. The same tariff attack on China will not work because China has a population of 1.420 Billion people and is a military and the second largest economic power in the World. This was just like beating up the smallest kid on the block. I look forward to hearing him claim victory. Mexico's ranking by GDP is 73. America's is 1 and China's is 2. Trump, who is rapidly destroying our reputation in the World ranks by many in the developed World as the number one leadership threat to the free world. Isn't he just that?
1
@Joel Friedlander
Unlike Mexico,
China has no land border with the USA.
Secondly,
however harsh,
Communism in China got rid of entrenched centuries-old corrupt and wealthy clans --
much more completely than Mexico's Revolution,
which has left in place plenty of centuries-old corrupt and wealthy families.
I actually support very strong immigration control.
But I also think that much of the third world
could use a good strong dose of Chinese-style (or Cuban-style) communist revolution to get rid of entrenched corruption and wealth.
Now that the USSR has broken up,
I think that the USA ought to ditch its Cold War era opposition to third world communist revolutions.
Just let events in those places take their course.
Why even report this as news? It was obvious from the beginning that the Majority Party Leader was not going along with these tariffs so we do a dance which includes a "deal" and a victory but nothing changed. Can we have a Trump free day once a week to catch our breath since very little comes from the daily Trump chase anyhow?
1
It is becoming increasingly evident that having a man who lost billions of dollars in business and declared bankruptcy multiple times should be allowed anywhere near making U.S. Economic policy.
5
@Miller...No kidding. If a career establishment politician like Clinton had won in 2016, the Dow would be pushing 50,000 or more, U-6 would be 0.03%, the national debt would be $0.00, the US infrastructure would be brand spanking rebuilt, the balance of trade would be balanced. Plus, we would all be college educated and healthy as horses - for FREE! Return America to two party rule in 2020!
Whether or not you think Trump created this crisis, this is a win for Trump (especially if it works to reduce the inflow). It makes him look like he is working to secure the border while democrats bicker and focus more on the well-being of the migrants.
While some of the migrants might be fearing for their lives, their lack of interest in getting asylum across the border in Mexico says otherwise. The smugglers are exacerbating the problem by callously profiting off people instead of drugs.
I honestly believe the democratic party can't be complacent and needs to present a more can do approach to immigration to avoid another upset in 2020. Let's not forget that 35% of Hispanics voted for Trump in 2016 and it was the main catalyst for his upset win.
18
I think terms are being interchanged too much. When someone wants to come into the United States in an emergency situation, they can seek refugee status, ask for asylum or try to enter illegally. When asking for asylum the person must come through a legal port of entry and ask for asylum based on the fear of harm or death if they return home. It's considered a humanitarian issue and is perfectly legal. No laws are being broken. A refugee has the same issues (humanitarian) but stays outside of the US and asks to be granted entry as a refugee. Again not illegal. These are processes that exist in current US law. From everything I have read about this current crisis, these are the terms we should be using. Also no wall will change any of this. The people at the border are seeking status legally and are not "illegal immigrants"! They are coming from Central American countries that are economically disintegrating. Some of this is the US's creation resulting in extreme corruption in Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. This current crisis has little to do with people that came here illegally from Mexico and have been here for many years. Different issue. Trump should be dealing with the governments of the countries that are not helping their people and partnering with Mexico to do it. What a waste of time and energy bullying our allies. VOTE HIM OUT.
2
@Laura
They have a right to claim "asylum".
But they do not have a right to shop for it whoever they choose.
And they do not have a right to have it granted.
They must prove their claim.
And, unless and until they prove their claim,
they can be -- and ought to be -- detained.
And, when their claim is denied
(as most of them are),
they can be -- and ought to be -- deported.
No right to "asylum"
from "domestic violence",
nor from "gang violence",
nor from "poverty".
He dances to the tune of what Texas Republicans want. Greg Abbott and some other rich and powerful Texas Republicans did not want tariffs with Mexico, so they forced him to back off. Trump can't survive politically without the support of Texas Republicans.
Why haven't the governments of Guatemala & Honduras used previous American aid money to finance mercenary assistance in combating the drug traffickers? This would be a capital opportunity for Eric Prince to deploy his forces & profit from a dire threat engulfing the entire western hemisphere.
On second thought, too many exculpatory bigwigs in government & finance, here & there, would scuttle the deal.
1
They agreed to let asylum applications wait in Mexico, after they applied in the US. Which they've been doing since mid-2017. They agreed to offer migrants "health, education and employment opportunities." Mexican work permits and asylum applications have been offered to migrants for over a year now. They agreed to deploy 6,000 of their National Guard throughout Mexico. Which is where they are now.
They refused to REQUIRE migrants to apply for asylum in the first country they enter - Mexico. They refused to close their southern border. They got the US to say we were going to speed up our asylum process.
Trump is now claiming that Mexico agreed to massive purchases of agricultural products from the US. There's nothing in the agreement about that. In 2017 Mexico signed a 7 year agreement with a couple of South American countries to replace 100% of the corn and wheat that they used to buy from the US.
Ask the Trump supporters you know: given the facts, did Trump get played, or is he playing you?
1
Just as I predicted in a comment several days ago. Mr. Trump is NOT a politician. He is a businessman. And a fairly transparent one at that.
2
The American public and media have to stop getting so worked up about all of Trump’s bizarre threats. They never come to fruition and the tizzy just fans the flame. As was said on Game of Thrones: “chaos is a ladder” and Trump certainly seems to know how to use chaos to his advantage.
This is EXACTLY like the “deal” he brokered with North Korea- when it comes time to really do serious diplomatic negotiations, he has no idea what to do. NK still testing their nukes and ICBMs, same Central American fiasco, Mexico doing nothing substantive, Trump declares capitulation. Not victory!
1
This agreement has great potential, but is not perfect.
A Safe Third Country Agreement would have been perfect, because asylum claims from illegal border crossers would have been made in Mexico.
Instead, we have a Protocol that allows claims to be made in the U.S., but the asylum seekers will remain in Mexico until their appeals are heard in about three years. The key to the agreement is that EVERY asylum seeker can be sent back, not just a small number. This will end the catch and release process/loophole being exploited by asylum scammers.
This is a 75% win.
In addition, Mexico has pledged and is already beginning to increase its security forces dedicated to stopping the entry and transit of illegal immigrants. The effectiveness of this remains to be seen. And even if it’s effective, Mexico can always redeploy these forces at any time.
This is maybe a 50% win.
The acceleration of U.S. aid to Central America may be meaningful. Or not. It depends on how it is used.
If it is used to provide migrant detention/processing centers and additional judges for Guatemala and even Mexico, it will be good. If it is used to promote birth control initiatives in Central America, it will be even better. If it is simply run-of-the-mill aid that is consumed by endemic corruption, it will be a complete waste.
Too soon to tell if this is a win or a waste.
In any case, however, the situation is better than just two weeks ago, and at no cost to the U.S.
14
Mr. Trumps' only activity as president is to threaten. He is unable to develop any program that will help most Americans. He is an "act" strongman. That's it, an actor grabbing the spotlight and giving a performance for the crowd. His crowd. He didn’t win the popular vote.
Behind the performance is nothing.
4
You have to realize that everything trump does from now until 2020 election day is part of his re-election campaign. This little episode with Mexico put a feather in his immigration war bonnet much to his supporters glee, I'm sure. And, possibly much to their relief, he finally has a deal of one sort or another. Expect more of the same grandstanding for the next year and a half.
1
The whole tariff thing was done to impress Trump's followers. Trump declares the tariffs, the Mexicans give some symbolic gesture and Trump declares victory and cancels the tariffs. Trump's followers all think he is a genius. Very predictable.
1
If you want to give the president credit for something, he has made global sourcing so insecure that some manufacturing is coming back to the US out of necessity. I do not like this approach because it is not respectful and does not create a double win which makes more sustainable and stable relationships. It also does nothing to take away from the president's extreme agenda on his zealous efforts to destroy the environment and eviscerate the rights of labor. Nor does it address his desire to be an authoritarian. But he is not stupid, nor are his policies as unintentional as they seem.
1
It's pretty clear he called it off because he finally got convinced by someone smarter than he is that new tariffs would be a disaster. No changes are made. It's all face saving bluster.
2
What is clear to me is that despite an attempt by Trump supporters to malign and diminish Mexicans, our economy is intertwined with our southern brothers to such an extent that it would hurt us (the US!) to distance ourselves. It affirms the American family -- from North America to South America -- and inspires to strengthen our ties. Venezuelans and Guatemalans are our brothers and sisters! And they are going through hard times and should be invited into our homes and cities.
There are real men, women, and children who are being tormented by gangs in their homelands. They are looking for a safe haven to raise their families and to work and live in peace. How does anyone take pride in keeping them from freedom. We are putting bars on the windows of a burning building trapping people in, and calling it a victory. This is not making America Great.
1
Why can't the Trump administration come up with an effective plan to deal with the surge of Central American migrants seeking asylum because of violence in their home countries. Ate a "big beautiful wall" and tariffs the best Trump can come up with? Surely there are more intelligent people in the Administration than Donald Trump. Surely there are intelligent ways of dealing with the problems in the countries from which these migrants emigrate. If Trump is the smartest person in his administration we are really in a sorry state in America today.
This would be a great time for President Trump to unveil his plan for making Mexico pay for the wall which was one of his major campaign promises. If he has not built the much promised wall because of a lack of funds, it is not the Democrats fault. It is his fault because he said Mexico was going to pay for the wall.
A "win" for the biggest and proudest American bully. A loss for the reputation of America as a responsible and humanitarian leader on the world stage. A loss, too, for Mexico that has allowed itself to be taken hostage by Trump's self-serving ego and that will undoubtedly be a victim again of his extortionist approach to foreign policy. Most of all, a tragic loss and cruel plight for those genuinely fleeing violence and repression.
2
A calamitous development for peace and international trade. Now tariffs have become a weapon for international relations generally, rather than a rules-bound corrective to remedy violations of trade rules by the other side.
1
Do Americans realise what #45 is costing the country in terms of credibility; respect and global leadership from the moral high ground?
1
This article is a dirge about the terrible hit the economy would take had the tariffs been implemented.
But they have not. Trump won a significant victory for the country. But this seems to be too much for the reporters to bear.
10
Another manipulation of the public, the press, the stock market, the farmers, the stability? of the country. In the meantime he is giving secret arms and info to the Saudis. A master manipulator to a uninformed nation.
2
As the bluster got more bellicose this week, it became more certain that nothing would happen. But, there was still a chance. Why not try something more productive than threats. Business hates uncertainty and this constant posturing is unfair to hard working Americans and Mexicans. It may be good for Trump’s ego where he controls the fate of so many people with just a tweet, but it is just plain wrong.
The whole thing is one preposterous game, day after weary day, designed to capture the media and suffocate any public discussion of Mr. Trump's debauchery of the office. Thomas Jefferson wasn't much of an orthodox Christian, but he had a sense that a nation and its leaders can't flout the rules with impunity. "I tremble for my country when I remember God is just," he said with alarm at the time of the Missouri crisis over slavery in 1820. Think of any leader you love or hate: Washington,Jefferson, Burr, the two Adams, Lincoln, even Andrew Jackson and James Buchanan. For all their weaknesses or failures, they were men of the world who would hold this absurd man-child in utter contempt.
1
The only reason that this country hasn't entirely melted down can be attributed to the fact that, behind the scenes, people have worked to prevent catastrophe. The problem is: Trump's supporters don't acknowledge these actions; they believe he is a master at negotiation. Don't know how much longer we can survive as a nation.
9
DJT's pattern of keeping his mug on the nightly newsreel is quite clear. Whether he was on TV shows or in the White House the pattern requires willing supplicants to play scripted roles. Mexico played its role well and no significant changes or concessions by Mexico to the immigration status quo were expected or required. Mexico needed to be in the shot only as a prop for DJT to stand next to in the series "DJT Tough Guy." As a role player China may prove far more troublesome.
40
This is one of the advantages of having a career businessman for a president rather then a career politician. President Trump knew how to broker a deal and it paid off. Another example of make America great again.
29
Let’s see how it actually plays out...
Your comment is a manifestation of the effectiveness this approach of “relief from chaos” Trump uses.
What actually happened here is Trump made a dramatic statement, a lesser foreign power scrambled as they usually do and then, a public display of “agreement” was made that has little substance or result different than when the situation started.
The Mexican National Guard doesn’t even exist.
Trump cut the funding at the behest of the controlling Republican Congress that was supporting safety in these countries that refugees are fleeing.
This is a bandaid on a problem created by his buffoonery.
“Mission Accomplished”.
3
Real business people know the end result - profit / loss - is what matters.
Remember the beta tapes that were better than VHS?
In Denmark the more liberal party just came to power by absorbing the People’s Party position on immigration. Were the Democrats to return to their previous position on controlling immigration, Trump would lose in a landslide.
18
Neither party is in favor of illegal immigration. Both parties, at least in the Senate, relatively recently were able to agree on a way forward on immigration.
Unfortunately it is not the Democrats reluctance to be all in on the tribal game of "us" versus "them" that is at fault with the political system right now. It is the decedent of Rovian tactics of splitting the electorate into malleable marketing segments that the Republican party has played and now embraces full heartedly. This approach has more sharply divided Americans.
We now live in an era where the tyranny of the minority weakens us. We are not together and the Republicans have made it so through winning by dividing, gerrymandering, and voter disenfranchisement.
If it weren't immigration it would be another issue where the Republicans are playing the divisive game. Do not buy into their, and their Fox mouthpiece, game of half-truths. The facts are that technology has caused most of the disruption to the middle class. Inevitably citizens like the illegal immigrants they know personally. Racism lies under the anti-immigration argument as a potent dog whistle for a country with changing demographics.
I hope the Democrats don't become a party like the current Republican party. I hope they find a way to break free of the divisive malignancy with fascist overtones where political power is divorced from moral authority (thanks to Moscow Don and Beijing Mitch).
@Buster Dee, pride is like the trench dug so deep that it can’t be climbed out of so it becomes instead a grave. I caught Charles Blow on Bill Maher’s last night and normally it should have been like a Trump poetry slam, but instead after the news of Trump cutting a deal with Mexico that no one can criticize they were left with nothing but to go at each other’s throats on everything else. Their bewilderment was stunning.
4
I feel for Denmark and other European countries who have been completely overrun with immigrants. Opening the floodgates has real consequences when a country is used to living in peaceful harmony.
1
Scant mention of the people who were and will be harmed the most by this reckless stunt - the asylum seekers themselves. I was there last weekend and met some of those 8000... including a family of four who fled Guatemala to escape extortion and death threats. They live in a 50 tent shelter and their one year old - a survivor of eye cancer - has already had chicken pox and stomach flu. They nearly missed the eye clinic appointment we arranged for them because it was their turn to wash the shelter’s 200 dishes. Didn’t even have time to eat breakfast. And yet they were cheerful, and gracious, and uncomplaining. They’ve been given a court date in November.
26
@Sarah Lechner What an interesting experience for you. Can you say explain your purpose?
1
Pump and dump diplomacy, it's all he's got.
When he tried this tactic with the stock market, he failed there, too, but it had a financial cost.
Now he just sells his spiel, and declares victory.
19
This current arrangement is just moving the chairs around the deck of the Titanic; shifting refugees to the interior of Mexico by extorting that country to do so will not stop people from trying to escape the deprivations of where they are coming from.
Besides, the Mexican "National Guard" doesn't yet even exist; it was recently announced to help stem the drug crime problem in the country. Nothing will actually get done.
This is nothing more than a scam to be able to declare victory while having accomplished nothing.
It would have been effective had the Trump administration declared a new version of the Marshall Plan, this time to rebuild the countries of Latin America - using our leverage to convince the governments there to attend to their peoples' needs. But, if Trump had done that, then this would have had to have been a different administration, and so all of its institutional bigotry, meanness and injustice wouldn't have happened in the first place.
21
Mexico has for decades, deliberately and as a matter of public policy, not dealt with the immigration flow to US. Finally a US President that actually tries to deal with it and everyone still bashes him. This, as well as finally challenging China’s illiberal and unfair policies, is a good for the US, and in regards to China, good for the world.
23
What is the basis of this comment? it sounds like a blame the victim if it is in regards to the recent increase in Central and South American immigrants. Before most immigrants crossing over from Mexico were Mexican. What is the solution for that? Better economic prospects in Mexico. Not a higher wall.
@Sam
So his solution is to enact tariffs that we not the Mexicans pay. His hardline tactics are not working immigrants from Central America are increasing making it a humanitarian crisis. Trump’s treatment of asylum seekers is immoral.
His tariffs on China will backfire leaving farmers unable to sell their soy to the largest markets. Those markets will not come back forcing those farmers into bankruptcy.
@Sam
Um, this is more America's fault than Mexico's if we had meaningful immigration policies in place, the system as a whole would function better. The Dems in congress have offered numerous plans over the yars; but the Republicans wouldn't consider any of them. And even when a bipartisan plan was offered to Trump, he rejected it.
It's not Mexico's job to protect us from our own mess.
Trump started his term by slashing the funding the Obama Administration was providing to organizations working to restore democracy and justice and relieve poverty in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, then demanding a hundred times more to stop the inevitable flow of refugees.
31
The resolution to a problem should start at the source, with the countries that are experiencing mass exodus. Cause and effect.
It is not America's way to ignore inhumane treatment of people, but to address it and in a way that doesn't threaten or cause more harm to innocent people. Of course we already know of Trump's personality disorder, lacking the emotion to treat others humanely.
Finally the republicans stand up when "Money" speaks. Now if we can just reach into their own personal pockets, perhaps something could get done. Voting all Republicans out of office would be a great first step.
Sad, sad, leadership for our USA.
Once again, Trump rants and then has to make a U-Turn when someone finally convinces him it isn't the right thing to do.
We should all be in the streets like the Brits demanding change before Trump damages every innocent American and our economy.
11
(start spreading the rumor that vast and previously unknown deposits of rare earth elements have been discovered in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador, those same raw materials so vital to the high tech industry that have so far been sourced mainly from China, complicating our trade war with Bejing. arrange for this news to get around subrosa at places like Mar-a-Lago, Houston, Palo Alto, and Davos where the richest opportunists desport themselves. it's all there for the taking and there will be a boom down there that will make the gold rush seem like chop suey. all we have to do is send down some troops to subdue the anarchy and criminality there, spread around some borrowed cash, and get ready to exploit! that'll stem the flood of refugees. you didn't hear this from me. pass it on.)
@Opie Taylor. Trump would only tweet, "Wow, look at all my supporters. They love me so much." Remember Britain's peotests this last week?
1
Democrats and Republicans should Thank Mexico for their help. Now the Dems can continue to play politics over immigration without actually doing their duty to compromise and come up with legislation on Immigration.
17
@Resident The Democrats have. The Republicans have. McConnell hasn't.
1
It was the GOP that derailed the 2013 reform act.
Because it was bipartisan.
3
@Resident
You're wrong. The Dems HAVE offered many proposals for immigration reform; the Republicans wouldn't consider them. And even when a bipartisan plan was offered to Trump, he rejected it.
Stop placing blame in the wrong place.
3
In this article, Martha B'arcena claimed that Mexico would provide health, education and employment opportunities to migrants waiting in Mexico while they seek asylum. That's going to cost money right? Where will that money come from? Can Mexico print money like we do? Or will we be paying for it at the grocery stores, auto parts stores, the mall et al.
I read David Brooks article speaking to the coming GOP Apocalypse. The Republicans I used to vote for would never have been part of these ridiculous stunts. Unless they find a way out of their head-down complicity with these adolescent antics, and outright indecencies, then as far as I'm concerned, it cannot come soon enough.
4
Mexico was forced into the "agreement" that they might well not be able, even if willing, to adhere to.
Trump can, temporarily , claim a victory and save face.
Let's check back in 3-6 months and see what happens. He has had many "victories" that were hollow. The only thing we can say for sure is that he faced untenable opposition from is Party. His credibility, in my opinion, is near zero!
12
Suggest everyone read Kristof's column based on interviews with a Guatemalan woman. Here's the summary: we have no food and no water, we can't prevent disease or violence, seeking work in the US is the only thing we can do and we'll risk everything to do so. Meanwhile, trump's base actually believes that his threats are known or are of consequence to these desperate people who flood the border, overwhelming both Mexican and US resources.
10
@Aging Hippie And don't forget to read the comments which provided insights which were not revealed in the article, too.
1
@Aging Hippie
Here is what common sense would do: tell the Guatemalan government to get its act together and stop the corruption. Why should we have to pay for their behavior?
6
@Aging Hippie
They've been pouring into our country since the fifties when I was in elementary school in Tucson. It never stops because the payment is so juicy.
1
"I am pleased to inform you that The United States of America has reached a signed agreement with Mexico. The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended. "
Refreshing style change. This sounds like the work of an autodidact prison inmate in a comedy sketch.
6
How many times can far too many of us be fooled by Trump before lessons are finally learned? Trump has perfected the "fake left, go right" political move. By Tuesday morning, at the latest, the tariffs will be re-enacted at even higher proposed levels after his Fox News buddies rub Trump's nose in his pile of "flip-flopping weakness and lack of commitment to his base."
6
@Stop and Think
Naaahhhhh...all his FOX news buddies made a bundle this week in the market because Trump made sure THEY knew about his "plans" well before they were announced.
I wish I knew what Trump was going to announce this week so I can short the market too.
Tweets don’t equal policy toward Central America; in fact, Trump’s approach is tantamount to a Fake News generator - bang out the tweet, hit send, and actual news organizations have to pick it up and analyze as if it were real news.
If only the time spent mulling the next tweets were applied to working with Congress on substantive policy initiatives...might actually yield long term solutions instead of bandaging each self-inflicted cut and declaring victory after putting on a band-aid.
5
Day after day, my admiration for Obama increases.
He has been able to achieve so much, including on southern border security and immigration, all while refusing to use massively lying and cheating as tools to try to keep his own voters fired up - just through patient, calm, focused analyses of reports written by experts, bringing together people with strongly diverging opinions, and engaging in real, respectful, multilateral negotiations (as only multilateral political agreements have been proven to be solid enough to last, over time).
If the GOP House would have allowed a vote on it, in 2013 already 40,000 additional Border Patrol agents would have been sent to the southern border, and e-verify would have made it impossible for employers to hire illegal aliens - whereas his FCM Program had already increased the number of illegals caught and released and who show up in courts (many of them to then be deported) from 60% to 99%.
It also allowed him to have record low immigration numbers.
THAT is what real action means.
Trump doesn't negotiate with anyone, not even his own Congress or Senate, and then just throws around some unilateral ideas through tweets. It creates a brief media storm, and that's it. Just much ado ... about nothing.
22
Mexico should have called his bluff. The tariffs (retrograde taxes on poor Americans) would have been much more devastating to the US.
3
@T. Rivers
I've noticed reactions like this by other people...they would rather have Americans suffer than give any credit to Trump for a job well done...
2
Thinking outside the box. Did Trump win? I guess we will see but give credit where credit is due.
12
He’s due applause for an entertaining absurdist comedy act.
1
Credit is given where credit is due, yet you want to give Trump credit without knowing if it's due? How is that not mindless partisanship? Obama was given zero credit by partisan Republicans like you for the good he actually did in office, and is still being attacked mindlessly for things he never did or said.
1
Dear Mr. Trump,
I hope you will go through with this idea the minute Mexico violates the agreement. That was a bold and wonderful move on your part.
8
Be hard for Mexico to violate an agreement in which they didn’t really agree to anything.
1
@Chris Anderson In typical Trump practice, he, the master of the bold and wonderful move, will violate the agreement.
It is a given.
@Chris Anderson
You're full of wishful thinking. Trump almost never carries through on any "bold and wonderful move" that he makes; they're usually just empty lies. And when he does try to do something, he does something illegal, and the courts nullify it.
But go ahead, and keep drinking the partisan KoolAid.
Disgusted at the assessment that President Trump was not successful in getting Mexico’s attention in stemming the immigrant flow. A similar result from President Obama would have been slathered with affection for “bold, decisive action and statesmanship.” Oh, right - he didn’t solve it while he was in office.
The President will never get any credit for his many accomplishments because the leftist choice was not elected. You encourage him to be this way because he has never been your darling. Oh, right - he was once a Democrat and you loved him.
14
Apparently you were asleep when Obama was President. McConnell blocked a 2013 $40 billion bipartisan immigration bill that had a majority and would have revamped the Border Patrol increasing agents and using new tech. Increased aid to Central America cut the flow of immigrants. But DJT cut that aid immediately in 2016 causing increased misery and despair and a flood of immigrants.
2
Trump's reputation is totally ruined. No credibility to his words at all. The world is watching this event unfolded as a joke. How could one change trade policy like a light switch?
4
@Usok His reputation is in such a "bad state" that he will be re-elected in an Electoral College windfall.
6
Somehow I get the feeling that Mexico has no intention of following through on any agreements made with Trump. If there was a “deal”, I suspect it was that Mexico gave lip service to a few changes, so Trump could back off without everybody seeing what a loser he was. And the deal was made by Republican senators worried about re-election, not Trump. Or maybe Ebrard, laughing behind his back, simply lied to Dealmaker Trump so he’d go away. The fact that there really is a possibility I’m right says a lot about this president. Well, bless his heart, he never wanted the job anyways, and now only re-election can keep him out of jail. It’s like America is one big sanctuary city, keeping Donald from getting deported to the Big House. Surely the rest of the world keeps this in mind when negotiating with him.
4
What's next for a political stunt to show what a great negotiator this POTUS is and how he is -- one by one -- bringing all those who oppress us to heel?
1
Let’s face it, like it or do not like it; agree or do not agree, but—
This is “the wall” promised and Mexico is paying for it.
Should this agreement continue to “hold water”, Trump can put a handsome feather in is cap come 2020.
9
@John Virgone,
I'm old enough to remember when Trump stunned us all by rebuilding the Wollman Skating Rink when the City of New York was befuddled on how to get it done; shocked, shocked.
1
@John Virgone
Um, your vivid imagination is making waaaay too much out of a metaphor.
This hardly looks like any of the prototypes of The Wall that Trump wasted our money on.
You're just trying to help Trump save face; but it's not working.
@John Virgone
What's the "agreement", no one has given out any details.
In another paper:
U.S., Mexico Reach Deal to Avoid Tariffs
President Trump says Mexico has agreed to take ‘strong measures’ to slow migration over border
By Rebecca Ballhaus, Josh Zumbrun and Robbie Whelan
Updated June 8, 2019 9:45 a.m. ET
President Trump on Friday night dropped his threat of tariffs on billions of dollars of Mexican imports after negotiators reached a deal on measures to stem the flow of migrants pouring into the U.S. from Mexico, averting a potentially devastating trade fight for both countries.
Looks like he got what was needed. Time will tell.
7
What did he accomplish? Trump tweeted that " Mexico will try very hard, and if they do that, this will be a very successful agreement for both the United States and Mexico!"
In other words nothing has changed and he has now put himself in a position to do nothing since Mexico only has to "try really, really hard". So when the undocumented refugees continue to come, unabated, to the US what will be his response? Will Trump acknowlege that a wall is no longer needed and refrain from talking about " caravans". Another threat that no one takes seriously. Very predictable behavior by Trump. The rest of the world is watching as Trump demonstrates that he cannot be trusted and simply bluffs. A complete sham that only Trump supporters believe.
10
Supposedly, Mexico now agrees to station National Guard in the country to prevent migrants from reaching the USA border. If that actually happens, to any degree, it's better than the decades of nothingness we have had from both parties.
There is a mass world wide migration of the poorest people everywhere towards the relatively richer westernized economies. I think we as Americans need to at least agree that is true, and there are hundreds of millions of people on the move, or wanting to move soon.
Obsessing on Trump's legion negative qualities is not helpful in addressing this problem. Some might say, it is in fact, a crisis.
8
See how it works. He accomplished exactly what he wanted without help from Democrats or Rhino’s. Trump is playing chess while everyone else is stuck playing checkers. There isn’t a person on either side of the aisle that can beat him.
23
@JOSEPH
FINALLY someone who admits that all that Trump wanted was a vague promise (with NO way for the US to check) by a corrupt neighbor to pay a little more of its own corrupt National Guards.
He never built his wall because he never wanted it in the first place.
He never signed Obama's bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill into law, which passed with a super-majority of 68 votes in the Senate and would have send 40,000 of our own Border Patrol agents so that WE secure our own borders ... because he never wanted it in the first place.
All that he wanted was a tweet storm and the outsourcing our national security to a poor and corrupt neighbor.
And why didn't he even maintain his tariff idea for more than a couple o days after having floated it? Because his own GOP Senate called him back.
I do have one question to you though: could you please explain how such utter weakness on national security could somehow be called "playing chess"?
Any ideas ... ?
12
@JOSEPH fyi: There is nothing in the rules of chess that say tipping the board over, shouting, and stamping on pieces is check-mate. Even a 5 year old understands that.
1
LOL @ chess. His party lackeys explained to him very slowly how tariffs work and that his MAGAmuppets and big Republican donor businesses would be hurt. Hence: fake resolution. Mexico is going to actually do anything, you realize that, right? Ever been?
1
I hope people should know by now that this was nothing but distraction. Not too long ago Trump declared that he would close the border between Texas and Mexico and he did not do it. This is nothing but bluff, Trump needed distraction from his own problems.
23
Any thing this man agrees to will always result in chaos. Watch for nothing that will really happen
23
The President is simply magnificent. He imposed the tariffs and then, in a stroke of genius, did a 180 and fooled all the pundits. I think he should employ the same strategy and declare nuclear war with our enemies. Let them 'stew for a few days, just to let them know who the Boss is. Trump/Bolton 2020.
4
@The Tedster
FYI: instead of having "imposed the tariffs" alraedy, he told the world that he would impose them on MONDAY June 10th, remember?
And before he could do so, his GOP Senate publicly threatened to immediately block them. So obviously, Mexico didn't take those threats seriously either.
Imho the only ones he once again fooled are his own supporters ...
1
While the real results of the tariff threat it still to be determined and brings skepticism to many Trump critics. This is a tangible result that came easily and quickly without much of the costly, complicated political wrangling typical of DC. Congress and the rest of DC has been so paralyzed by self serving political interests that they have accomplished "zero" on stopping illegal immigration. There is a brilliance to this simple, direct and blunt approach from Trump.
12
@Qcell
Without cost? The markets went wobbly for the week.
Without cost? Customs wasted a week's worth of work writing new regulations and training people for tariffs that never happened.
The only "brilliance" is that Trump dupes people like you into interpreting his "stunts" as "blunt."
Yes. Except, you know, we live in a representative democracy.
People know that Trump lies. And they also know he is easily duped by things that let him save face and appear like he is getting the best deal. His narcissism and shallow ego are easily gamed.
@Qcell I'd suggest you watch the immigration numbers for a few months before assuming this is a done deal. Words are cheap. Trump knows that (as when he spouted off about accomplishments in North Korea when absolutely nothing had been accomplished, or any of his other daily lies). Unfortunately, most of his supporters don't seem to know it.
Why is Mexico responsible for solving our immigration problems? Trump has been a spectacular failure in attempting to find a workable solution, so he's pawned his problem off on them. Now, when the "migrant crisis" isn't ended he can blame Mexico for the failure, and he gets to claim he's not responsible. He is an expert at slipping the net, I'll give him that.
17
Mexico is not responsible for solving all of our immigration problems. They are only responsible for helping solve the problems at the border with Mexico, not the border with Canada, not in Florida with Haitians, not with persons who overstay Visas.
3
For decades congress has cowardly ceded power to the executive branch. Past presidents have had respect for the rule of law so the public did not notice congress becoming increasingly ineffective. Now we have tRump who has no respect for anything except is own personal best interests. It may be too late but it is imperative that congress develop a spine and take back their constitutional authority. Republicans are a tRump cult so it is important that Democrats defy the odds and retake the Senate. Another tRump administration is likely to destroy the country.
20
In terms of historical timeliness, now maybe the optimum inflection point to put a Hispanic in the white house as president, to reinforce trade with Mexico and continue to develop trade and avenues of prosperity with Central and South America. Will it happen anytime soon? Probably not.
Otherwise the public will be force fed a political charade conjured up by manipulative Republicans for political window dressing.
1
@Zeek Vote based on the demographic qualities of a candidate? Nope.
1
"Mr. Trump views the increase in immigration as a direct assault on his political brand and the promises that he made while running for president."
That's certainly one way to look at it but two things can be true at the same time. Another is that its the "increase in {illegal} immigration" and abuse of asylum laws that Trump sees as a "direct assualt" on the integrity of the US border and as creating what even his ardent foes now "concede/admit"
( terms the NYT uses when characterizing politicians' comments) is a "crisis" in the south.
Is there any citizen not in Congress, the Executive or a lobby that isn't frustrated and angered by the cynical language and intellectual dishonesty that courses through the illegal immigration, asylum and trade debates?
How long has China been a known rogue trading partner and Mexico an enabler of illegal immigration?
I'm starting to wonder if anything short of a president's - any president's - blunderbuss, flailing and "Hail Mary"s will break the logjams.
What's become of our Article 1 and 2 branches of government is a shame, utterly.
7
Migrants will CONTINUE to arrive at our southern border in unprecedented numbers.
The United States can do NOTHING that will stop them. They are desperate.
Mexico cannot stop migrants from crossing their country enroute to The United States.
Walls, tariffs, threats, ranting, and raving will not stop them.
I fear that The United States and Mexico will ultimately result to acts of violence (including murder) to stop them.
That won't stop them either. They're desperate.
This is a humanitarian problem that must be dealt with in a humanitarian manner.
The problem is that Trump is not a humanitarian.
18
@S Butler
The migrants are as desperate to get here as Trump is to stay in the headlines every day.
Policy on Immigration is NOT made tweeting from the toilet at 3am thinking up "tariffs" to stop immigration.
1
@S Butler WRONG! All knowledgeable people know that it is an economic issue, thus not eligible for asylum.
1
So, rather than engage with Democrats and develop an immigration policy that can be effectively enforced, trump devolves the entire mess on to the Mexican government and its entirely reliable military and police bodies. Or, in other words, “denuclearization of the entire Korean Peninsula has been achieved”.
11
When Trump engaged with Democrats and offered a path to citizenship for Dreamers but also wanted better detention facilities and increased border security, Democrats turned it down.
3
@Robert Bosch
This is categorically untrue. The Dems offered Trump complete funding for his border wall in exchange for a path to citizenship for Dreamers. Trump, or rather President Miller, turned them down.
@Robert Bosch Really, what was the date of that bill?
Living in a false reality. The bluffer cracked. Watch him give in to China. Then claim victory. The Donald is a disaster. If the economies worsen in Mexico and Latin America, then more people will head north.
8
Once again Trump causes a crisis, does nothing, and pretends that he "solved" the problem. We can look forward to this kind of distraction as long as Congress investigates his malfeasance. A war on Iran is not out of the question should the economy lag.
11
I wonder how much inside trading went on as he drove the stock value of many corporations down, now only to have them rebound.
Every world leader knows to call his bluff, he is incapable of closing because his only negotiation tactic is to bully.
8
@Joe Barnett as other commentators have noted, the SEC needs to investigate all of Trump’s financial arrangements, to see how he’s profiting from creating a Bear market and short selling. I bet if you follow the money, you’ll find the root cause of so many of his policy tweets!
Another one of Trump's 'great deals'. Why do people still listen to this guy ? He's all hot air.
10
Isn't there a seasonal slow down in migrants making the trip during the hot summer months? Guaranteed successful outcome :-)
9
Dear NYT,
you cannot continue to practice journalism the way you always did now that 40% of the country is living in a fake news bubble and we have a president who during a press conference abroad lies about the most basic things (the local protests, his approval among GOP voters).
If you just write an article like this, for instance, as the comment section shows you simply reinforce the fake news that Trump tweets spread, in the minds of Trump supporters.
You HAVE to minimally add why Trump's idea that Democrats would be "open borders" or would have rejected bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform or his wall are FALSE.
If you leave out this crucial kind of context information, you allow Trump to use your page to reinforce, day after day, his lies about himself, his record, the GOP, Democrats and the entire country.
You don't have a democracy when 40% of the American people is being totally misled by a president and his propaganda machine, and normal, high-quality media like the NYT continue to report the news as if we're still in the pre-Fox News era.
Truth matters. Now more than ever. So PLEASE do something about this!
A thankful world community.
20
In other words, Trump creates a crisis, Mexico makes some unverifiable “promises”, and the man child declares victory. Par for the course.
15
Mexico should've held out longer to call Trump's bluff. It would've humiliated Trump and the Republicans.
5
So Trump is able to back off an empty threat again, and declare victory in the face of absolutely nothing really changing. And the folks watching Fox News can praise his prowess again. We are truly a nation of nincompoops.
15
Such a weak, weak president that the only way he can garner attention is to make phony threats, lie, court authoritarian dictators, alienate our allies,enact hurtful executive orders,thwart the rule of law, subvert the rights of women, minorities, the LGBTQ community, and leave destruction in his path.
So much winning has left a huge knot in my stomach and sent me to a psychiatrist to get past the ugliness that is happening around us. Unfortunately, he has been of little help as he, too, is suffering from the same malady.
8
Everything Trump does is threat based. When diplomacy is replaced by anger, the long term consequences will be random and unknowable. Trump obviously doesn't care about long term problems he creates.
By cutting off aid to Central America and continued fomenting of anger, Trump created most of the problems he claims to want to correct. The fix won't be as easy as threat of tariffs since his destructive forces are too pervasive. Let's see what happens in the next round.
13
"Mexico agreed to take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration"?
What a bunch hooey.
No mention of specifically what these "unprecedented steps" are other than having a few national guardsmen roam the country.
There is no agreement.
The Republicans just told Trump to stop threatening Mexico so he backed off and claims victory.
Why didn't Trump use his threat of "tariffs" to extort wall money from Mexico?
29
Congratulations are in order??, though I have my doubts that anything was actually agreed upon. Now if it was the Prez, I'd be working on a plan with representatives from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, etc to try to address the reasons for the flow of these people from Central America into Mexico. It seems the expedient thing to do would be to address the problem at the starting point rather than obsessing about building a wall at the end point.
15
I guess it takes a Republican President to do what Obama chose not to do.
1
@Robert Bosch
Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread.
Alexander Pope 1711
Translation: Rash and inexperienced fools rush into situations that experienced people think about for good reason.
btw: Some facts may be useful.
Under Trump deportations are down for the same time-frame as Obama. However, arrests, which cost the US tax-payer and enrich for profit private prisons are up.
Think on it!
Of course you’re correct. The flow of illegals has been going on for many years. We probably should be doing what Obama and the Democrats did. Oh that’s right. They did nothing at the sources of the problem. Even now, the only Democrat answer is that we should give up and open the borders. If you disagree, please tell us what Democrat Presidential candidate has been, for several years, advocating a liberal immigration policy that limits illegal entry, that may work better than threats. Then explain why Obama never embraced it.
A permanent damage to the US' reputation has been cemented for years to come. Mexico, an ally and largest trade partner sharing a common border, was threatened with devastating tariffs on its export to the US. Other allies and trading partners would surely mean nothing to the US. To the US under Trump, tariffs provide a linkage to any and all bilateral and multilateral issues. It's mercantilist, commercial transactional and nothing else. Given the deafening silence of both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, it turns out that the only value that matters is mercantilist advantage; all others are just fake.
7
It's only a matter of time before trump has another bad hair day and puts the tariffs back on.
28
@RNS
No he won't.
Ever since he entered the WH, he systematically does what the GOP establishment asks him to do, rather than engaging in tough negotiations with them on his signature campaign promises - which were all systematically opposed by the GOP and all other GOP primary candidates.
That's why contrary to Obama, he didn't manage to sign any of them into law.
Example: after the GOP had voted 50 times to repeal Obamacare, in Congress, candidate Trump promised to no just repeal it but to REPLACE it, and with a plan that would cover even more Americans, at even lower costs.
Of course, he never had such a plan nor hired experts to design it.
And as soon as he became president, he started to enthusiastically support Ryancare, even though that bill does the exact opposite of what he promised (it would definitively destroy the health insurance of a whopping 30 million Americans, and strongly accelerate cost increases once again).
This is a FAKE president. The GOP only needs him because he adores watching and then copy-pasting Fox News lines in tweets, and lies much better than any other Republican out there (after a decade-long training on The Apprentice, where he had to learn how to fire participants in a credible way, after the producers dictated to him who he had to fire), so he's absolutely perfect to keep the GOP fired up, and that's it.
7
Maybe, Trump arrived home and was confronted by numerous aides and facts that showed him his “deal” would have a bad outcome for him, for business and for American consumers. Or, just maybe, Mexican negotiators asked that the US stop the illegal flow of guns into Mexico in exchange for their help in stemming the flow of migrants. No way would Trump and the Republicans buck the NRA. Guess what, declare victory, problem solved!
11
I'll vote for Trump in 2020, at least he's willing to do something. My problem with this agreement is will the Mexican Government really do anything meaningful or just pay lip service. I'm sure they have the ability.
My opinion is the Dems are going to lose 2020. There`re out of touch with the common folks.
15
By a "common folk", I assume you include yourself. I don't disagree.
3
@Tom But in actual fact, he has done nothing. Wait, I take that back. The something he has done is posture and tweet (and whipsaw the stock market in the bargain, which is why the shorts love him too). You said it yourself, will Mexico do anything meaningful? Unlikely. Why would they?
8
@Tom
Obama managed to get a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill through the Senate in 2013, which would have tripled the number of our own Border Patrol Agents at the southern border (= raising them to 58,000, by adding 40,000), and you claim to prefer voting for Trump rather than the Democrats because ... a Trump tweet about tariffs resulted in an extremely vague "agreement" (with no way for the US to check whether and how it's enforced) where Mexico MIGHT send some 6,000 (by definition corrupt) National Guards to its own border ... ?
THIS is why the border is so porous, you see? It's because GOP voters aren't interested enough in national security to do some basic fact-checking.
6
So Trump overreached, gets mostly symbolic face saving gestures and backs off. This won’t alleviate the ongoing crisis in Central America or minimize the stream of refugees (yes refugees not migrants) from narco states run by criminals and overflowing with violence. It’ll likely destabilize Mexico and add to the violence epidemic there as well. You want to solve this problem here’s a few ideas. Stop sending guns south of the border and importing drugs north of the border. For these nations and people’s the elephant in the room is us, it has been for centuries. You can’t solve the problems of this region without dealing with their origins and they rest here in the good olde USA. End the war on drugs and treat it as the health crisis it truly is, stop the NRA / weapons manufacturers pipeline of weapons south of the border, stabilize the democratic institutions within these countries and provide economic assistance including freeing labor to move across borders just like capital does. Unless we deal with the destabilization cause the effect of massive refugee movements will continue to overwhelm everyone in its path. You can’t wall out the problems of the world when they start within, its a fools quest.
7
Best analysis I have seen on this issue!
Best analysis I’ve seen on this issue.
Commenters are accusing Trump of creating and then solving his own problems.
Trumps brings transparency to the W.H. He does not hide from us what is happening. Many here are upset because they see what others have been doing to us all these years, and they are misdirecting their anger at Trump.
Me? .. I'll wait for any evidence to show that illegal immigration has reduced .. and I won't be surprised if people here start attributing it to Obama once the graph trend starts improving.
14
@Bhaskar
Systematically lying about Democrats and his own "achievements" isn't exactly what I would call "transparency", you know.
In the meanwhile, immigration was peanuts under Obama, compared to what it is now. Apparently making Central American countries poorer, as Trump did, didn't exactly reduce the number of people fleeing extreme poverty. Who would have thought ... ?
6
@Ana Luisa
If, according to you, immigration -- both legal immigration and illegal immigration -- was "peanuts" under Obama, does it mean..
- Obama had more stringent anti-immigration policies?
- The economy was bad that immigrants did not see a reason to come here?
- Obama had stronger border and deportation that there were as many evicted as those breaking in?
- The asylum seekers saw more hope and change in their own country?
What is it? Whatever it is, it doesn't look good for the democrats.
"SEC Rule 10b-5: Employment of Manipulative and Deceptive Practices":
It shall be unlawful for any person, directly or indirectly, by the use of any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities exchange,
(a) To employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud,
(b) To make any untrue statement of a material fact or to omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, or
(c) To engage in any act, practice, or course of business which operates or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person, in connection with the purchase or sale of any security."
Did trump violate this rule? Look at market action over the last 10 days and watch for more volatility on Monday.
The outcome of the tariff threat was foreseeable.
Is this market manipulation a high crime or misdemeanor? Maybe trump can’t be indicted but it could be impeachment article 4.
8
@Steve Ell. Thank you Steve, your comment beautifully articulated my thoughts in a way I couldn’t.
1
It’s a good start. Next step is to require that migrants apply for asylum in Mexico when that’s the first country they come to. There is no pass thru asylum or picking and choosing asylum in a country other than the one you’ve fled to.
11
Trump didn't reach a deal. He backed down on his tariff threat due to criticism. Saying he reached a deal is giving him undeserved credit.
11
I'm glad the Republicans got enough of a backbone to publicly stand up to Trump before he destroyed a large part of American economy. He loves brinksmanship and declare 'victories' which are hollow. Not sure how cruelty toward the poor and oppressed solves the problem of immigration flow. If people keep coming or he is humiliated by some tweet, what next, more tariffs? I would rather have an immigration policy that works including funding programs in Guatemala and Honduras that helps people remain in their countries vs. much more expensive funding of immoral jails for refugees.
5
while I understand that Mexico's economy is fragile and a trade war could be hurtful, they also have a proud revolutionary tradition of defiance that seems to have been forgotten in their capitulation. They did have some leverage, not just in the tariffs hurting American consumers, they could have said they would do nothing to help enforce US immigration laws and ceased their current cooperation. That even a nominally left wing Mexican President gave into bullying only encourages more bullying. Sad!
This is what he does. Call him out on it, please. He creates a "crisis," holds other people responsible, says he's going to disrupt huge processes to solve it, does nothing, declares victory and swans around tweeting about all he's done.
Please stop acting like any of this is new. It's his lifetime behavior pattern, and now he's imposing it on the nation and the world. Write about that.
14
This is how politics is done in World Wrestling Federation fashion. A long tie, a terribly fitting suit, a big mouth, and it's all over before the commercial.
8
After a week's absence, the president announced that a deal has been reached! No details were available, and the announcement was tweeted after close of business on a Friday night, deadest hour of the news cycle. Does anybody believe any of this?
7
@Anne W. His base will believe and accept that he has actually accomplished something.
1
“The Tariffs scheduled to be implemented by the U.S. on Monday, against Mexico, are hereby indefinitely suspended,”.
Please stayed tuned for further announcements. We are now a government by fiat.
1
What? The GOP demonstrated some back-bone by threatening to over-ride his plans?
1
The only way middle-class, working Americans can achieve secure borders is to vote as many "open-border" Democrats out of office as they possibly can in 2020.
9
"Mr. Trump’s lashing out at Mexico last week grew out of his deepening frustration." No, it grew out of his deepening belief that rallying the GOPs xenophobic, racist core voters is his path to reelection. This quote from Charles Schumer was missing from the article to give this absurd mess perspective:
“This is an historic night! Donald Trump has announced that he has cut a deal to ‘greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States.”
He added: “Now that that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future.”
5
The Trump card, tarriffs, gives him the win and the headlines. He will play it again and again.
1
Go ahead, Mr Trump, fooling around with tariff and you will see jobs heading south a fast pace. He relented because yesterday was 75,000 and not the expected north of 150,000.
Between tariffs and SALT reduction, 2020 might not be that secure after all, even if you wave the xenophobic twice as hard.
Go ahead, I dare you
1
When the White House felt compelled to say that Trump was "deadly serious" about the tariffs, I knew he was getting ready to fold. That's his M.O.
7
Mexico's alleged promise to deploy 6,000 of its national guard to stem the flow of migrants from Central America has all the makings of a fig leaf. The guard, created to fight organized crime, is only a few months old and what members it has are mostly veterans of Mexico's notoriously corrupt army and police force. Get ready for appalling abuses of human rights and ineffectual security enforcement.
1
It sounds as if Thursday's 6,000 troops decision by Mexico magically became a marvellous breakthrough on Friday night.
I assume that dividing congressional Republicans in the face of the advancing impeachment enemy suddenly didn't seem like such a good idea anymore.
Or maybe it is the sudden, universal realization that Trump's signature issues -- fixing immigration, building The Wall, and resolving the current refugee crisis -- are all in worse shape than they have been in any living person's lifetime.
20
It is unbelievable to read these comments from people who believe that Trump actually averted a crises.
Folks, this was theater, a performance scripted by Trump in hopes many will cheer him when he declares victory. Apparently it worked.
Now many will say I am wrong. However, remember the tariffs placed on Canadian and Mexican aluminum and steel due to "national security" reasons?
Well, the tariffs are now history. National security preserved.
This was just another one of Trump's carnival tent performances that he, the carnival barker, produces.
42
Or, just maybe, the threat of tariffs worked. Time will tell.
14
Please bear in mind that investors who bought into the stock market two weeks ago when tariffs against Mexico were first announced and the market plunged, are now set to make the killing that they knew was inevitable.
19
@RHR If it was inevitable why didn't you also invest?
3
How do you know he didn’t?
Brilliant. Mexico agreed actions serves as a virtual wall. And they are paying for it. Trump can turn to his base and declare promises fulfilled. And Republican congress can stay in march step.
5
So once more they treat the symptom and not the disease. Much of Central America is troubled and in large part that is because of years of US interference in their internal affairs. That is something that many people don't know as Trump so often says, and I suspect that he is among them.
One of Trump's newer lies is that immigration reform has not happened because Democrats don't want it to. While in reality Democrats have tried for immigration reform for years while Republicans have stonewalled. It is McConnell who has bottled that debate up in the Senate, but perhaps that is another thing our brilliant leader does not know.
It must be so convenient to live in a world of your own imaging, free of the messy constraints of reality.
21
As a journalism fan, I'm finding it interesting this morning to see the varying takes on Trump's action among news and commentary outlets. Triumph for Trump or thinly veiled back-down? On cable TV, there's significant difference between Fox and CNBC!
This NYT account seems straightforward and provides good context. Look forward to more analysis.
5
What will not be called off are the plans of thousands of companies to not include US in their supply and production chain - because US is simply not reliable. If there is one thing a company doesn't want is a weak and unpredictable link in their supply chain. Much better to risk that a small part of their world market for end products get hit with a price increase, than that they lose competitiveness in their total world market (because a link in their supply chain suddenly is hit with erratic taxes). Yes in the long run we will lose manufacturing jobs because of this.
6
Any time Trump announces anything, it's either a lie, or it's something he'll change his mind on within 24 hours to a week, so I read this headline with a great amount of skepticism, and it turns out, Trump lied.
Mexico did not agree to deploy armed forces to block immigrants. They will let some asylum-seekers stay in Mexico while they await processing in the U.S. Mexico does not support cruelty to asylum seekers.
Neither do they support Trump's cancellation of NAFTA and its inferior replacement. Nor do they appreciate the bully from the North menacing them with tariffs.
Mexico, like all American long-term allies, and Americans themselves, cannot rely on the Trump administration to keep its word and honor its agreements. Trump's lying is accepted fact.
His creating fake national emergencies to use heretofore unknown executive powers, in order to avoid the letter of the law and the Constitution, are finally becoming unsupportable, even to Republican senators.
He is repugnant to all but a handful of dictators, and is respected not for his person, but only because he represents the U.S., a power he doesn't hesitate to abuse.
15
Stemming the tide of immigrants coming through Mexico was not a priority for them. Now it is. Using the threat of tariffs as a cudgel may make us cringe but I don't know what better answer there was since Mexico was not treating this issue as a priority. While all the Times "Picks" are Trump trashing comments it's important to realize Trump's supporters see what he did as a practical way to get Mexico's attention. And no one really believed this was going to end in the higher tariffs did they?
7
@Charlie. It seems a large number of congressional Republicans did, Charlie.
Bluster, bullying, bravado, and bragging sums up the Trump administration. Nothing much has changed except we are giving MX more huge sums of money to keep migrants there and to develop it's southern border. Trump will call this a "deal" and his base will fall for it. Meanwhile, we have no coherent immigration policy.
9
Fantastic Trump style. Invent a crisis, play the tough guy by shouting tariffs, your part shouts back, then solve your own crisis, the tariffs. Meanwhile the migrants are still fleeing Honduras because gangs are killing their families and NOTHING is being done. Where is the UN on this? People are fleeing their country, not because the US is so great, they are running for their lives. There is your crisis Mr. President.
14
Excellent! Yet another triumph for Donald J. Trump, the President of the United States of America. Masterfully, Trump forced Mexico to come to the bargaining table and make a deal to reduce the flow of "immigrants" from Central America. Former US ambassadors to Mexico, namely John Negroponte, argued that linking trade to immigration was a bad idea, but. boy, did Trump show them! There has never been a president like Trump, and there probably will never be another, so let's reelect him in 2020 to continue making America first and prevent it from returning to last under the Democrats. I support the President. I support Trump. MAGA! Thank you.
9
Why didn’t all of this greatness happen two years ago when republicans held all three branches of government?
13
Condolences.
3
Well most of us certainly hope there will never be another like him. Or him at all. Ugh.
If Democratic Party leaders were smart (and that's a huge if), they would stop trying to be bi-partisan and would tie Trump to the GOP. There will be consequences for Trump's spoiled-child tantrums. No country, except Russia and Saudi Arabia, trusts the U.S. And at some point, he will trigger a disaster that imperils the country, if not the world. He is a lifetime conman and loser who blew through his daddy's fortune and went bankrupt six times.
7
Welcome to the world of fake tariffs--or, Trump's new campaign strategy--fake a crisis then then declare a victory with a fake solution.
7
Ready. Fire! Aim.
Once again he takes us to the brink, backs down and declares victory. It’s reality TV foreign policy. I don’t see how this country can endure another year and a half of this.
15
Has the tally of lies reached 11,000 yet?
One way or the other, this litany of inconsistencies, gaffs and outright, short-teem antics has earned the President the dubious honour of being one of the most mistrusted persons occupying this office, certainly in living memory.
America deserves better, and the world would benefit from a healthy dose of trust and diplomacy rather than threats and self serving diatribe by its current leader.
7
How about incarcerating Republican-supporting business owners who violate the law and hire these exploited workers in the first place? Too close to home Mr. President?
9
I've been saying that for years. It's literally the elephant in the room.
@Vivien Hessel So have I. The employer doesn't pay minimum wage, overtime wages after 40 hours, medical benefits, have to recognize union membership, comply with OSHA safety regulations, etc., etc... We need a limited amnesty and a guest-worker program for future migrants, which affords temporary workers the full panoply of U.S. Labor Law protection while they are here. It is humane and also doesn't undercut labor wages and standards for people who are legally working in our country.
3
A concession without any substance...I do not blame Mexico for having to do something to prevent any new tariff. The reality is that it's all window dressing. Mexico can do very little to suppress immigration.
The USA is largely to blame for the chaos we see in Central and South America. We have propped up dictators for centuries in order to provide US businesses with protection and opportunities to extract vast natural resources from southern countries and cheap labor with no incentives for governments to use their new wealth to improve infrastructure and lives of the people there.
When malicious gangs and corrupt politicians steal all the cash, where do people go to make a living to support their families? They go North to the USA...
We owe them just as much as we owe average Americans an opportunity to have a life....
4
@Leslie Duval - so the people of Central and South America have no responsibility for the chaos in their countries? I thought that patriarchal condescension was the province of the right, not the left.
5
@Leslie Duval,
“We owe them just as much as we owe average Americans an opportunity to have a life....”. — In this one sentence you sum up all that is wrong with the left’s thinking on this issue. This is why I quit the Democratic Party.
We owe American citizens these opportunities. Extending them to an unlimited number of foreigners will destroy them for Americans.
As Chuck Schumer stated: Trump has been victorious! Mexico will solve the problem of migration on our southern border. Great! All done and now we will never have to hear about it.
Right?
So wrong. Trump created a crisis then "solved" it supposedly. What will he do now to rally his cult? No more problem, right? So who will he ask his followers to hate and fear? He could pivot to abortion and women but that issue only works for a portion of his base and does not have the guaranteed success rate of the immigration issue. Ask your rally crowd to hate and or fear women who demand reproductive health care?
Since Trump changes his mind depending on the needs of either his ego or for votes, this agreement is subject to change at any moment. Bets are Trump will need the immigration issue while campaigning and will manufacture a reason to go back to the tariff threat again.
6
So Mexico is sending 6000 Troops to their Southern Border to stem the flow of the so called Migrants. They froze the assets of 26 people they know of who are financing this artifical movement to the US Border to create this crisis. I suspect George Soros is on the list. This should have been done long ago. I applaud our President for making this happen.
10
If you think this is going to stop them, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.
The Times employs some curious language throughout this article:
WASHINGTON — President Trump backed off his plan to impose tariffs on all Mexican goods and announced via Twitter on Friday night that the United States had reached an agreement with Mexico to reduce the flow of migrants...
It's not "backing off" if you threaten someone during negotiations and the tactic works.
This time, Mexican authorities were under similar pressure to find something that would mollify Mr. Trump.
Why does Trump need to be mollified if a real problem exists? Maybe the Times still believes, as it did as recently as January, that there is no crisis at the border?
Mexico agreed to “take unprecedented steps to increase enforcement to curb irregular migration,” including the deployment of its national guard...
So maybe Trump "backed off" because he had been "mollified" in the sense that his threat worked?
Mr. Trump’s lashing out at Mexico last week grew out of his deepening frustration with the surge of migrants that have been arriving at the border...
So now we admit the problem halfway through the article?
For President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico, the standoff over the tariffs came at a very bad time — with risks for his nation’s economy and his own political standing at home.
So allow me to re-write the article thus: Trump successfully negotiated a new agreement with Mexico by threatening tariffs at a time when Mexico was economically vulnerable.
10
FABULOUS!
SUCH A TOUCHING HUMANITARIAN GESTURE!
Surely a wholly altruistic stroke magnanimously lavished upon Mexico by a brilliantly enlightened human.
NOT!
More likely had everything to do with Mar-a-Lago's supply of avocados and romaine for its $50 Cobb salads being endangered.
6
Once again, Liberals demonstrate what they fear most is not failure by President Trump, but his success for the American people that will propel him to re-election.
14
@Dr. John
Liberals Trump's reelection because of his failures and the fact that he doesn't represent ALL of the American people.
@Dr. John With trumps track record we know he will fail.
The King decrees: There will be no tariffs, because I, the most sublime King who ever lived, say there will now be no tariffs! But tomorrow I may decree there will be tariffs, so stay tuned to the King for further decrees!
Our country is being run by a despotic ruler, an authoritarian Daddy who likes to punish, who lives to punish.
Who will be his next target for punishment?
6
The next move is for President Trump is to be seen riding on a white horse as our savior. He saved us from not closing the southern border. Now he saved us again from not imposing tariffs on goods from Mexico. He created difficult issues that have businesses and Mexico begging him not to institute. He relented. Maybe he's President Bluff? A picture of him sitting saddled on a white horse is all the proof we need to reassure us that Trump is our savior.
5
Say what you will, Trump’s bullying got it done. As admitted yesterday on NPR, Mexico has a largely non-existent southern border, freely allowing illegal immigrants to make their way from Central America to the US, where our dysfunctional asylum system allows just about anyone who can reference violence in their home country entrance into the US while their nonsense asylum claim is processed. Our asylum system was designed for people under threat of death for their political beliefs, not people who happen to live in dangerous, crime ridden neighborhoods. FYI - there are many neighborhoods in the US that are also gang-ridden and dangerous.
10
Now we know for certain: when mitch withdraws support, the craven, blustering blowhard that defiles the Oval Office backs down. Imagine what it would be like if mitch showed leadership on issues that affect the well-being of our country, not just his corporate backers and big donors.
6
To use a word employed by trump associates, this is a nothingburger.
Just a way to claim a win essentially forced upon trump by member of his own party.
There’s no question that illegal immigration is a problem. Maybe this will lead congress to cooperate and enact some meaningful legislation and take measure to resolve the situation.
5
Will this quiet the news on the border? Don't think he will have a chance at making this a win for his talk track. Hopefully the D's will use this debacle to their advantage in MSM.
Meanwhile, during the past two weeks, when Trump created another tariff crisis, the stock market dropped about 5%. People sold off and got out. Now, the stock market has gained back all those losses, and come Monday, it will gain back even more. the few "dips" last year, and a couple this year, continue to point to manipulation of the markets.
So, Trump solves another crisis. It is easy to do so when one creates them. Eventually he will create a crisis that he will not be able to get out of, and declare victory from. And when that happens, the US, and maybe the world, will pay a deep price. China, Russia, North Korea and Iran are less likely to be less accommodating.
8
Trump threatened tariffs, Mexico acquiesced and sent 2,800 troops to deal with the Central Americans, Trump rescinded the tariff threat.
Australian news had no problem presenting this story without any spin and way more details about what actually happened. Why is it so difficult to tell the plain truth without any spin at NYT?
5
Had enough yet from this bully child acting as a president?
6
This was so predictable.
9
I'm no longer surprised by the blatant partisanship exhibited in every news story in the Times. Just look at the headline for this story - should read "Mexico agrees, under pressure from proposed tariffs, to stem flow of illegal immigration". And to think virtually all Dims think there is no media bias.
13
Nor are we surprised anymore by how 45’s supporters don’t care how many lies he tells, how many promises he breaks (Mexico will build a wall, coverage for pre-existing conditions, the swamp will be drained, to name just a few), or how he destroys relationships with allies while stroking dictators.
Looks like Mexico is paying for the “wall”.
5
Europeans in America make up a foreign species which should be rooted out.
1
NY Times commentators while negotiations with Mexico were ongoing: "Trump bad and stupid." NY Times commentators after the deal with Mexico announced: "Trump bad and stupid."
3
Until he changes his "mind" again.
2
Can we please have a leader of the free world who does not tweet and a press that does not notice if they do? Thank you God.
3
Wait till he applies tariffs to aliens who are illegally on the maga moon.
2
It will forever be known. How does one negotiate with Mexico? Threaten tarrifs and they cave.
1
I don't believe that a meaningful agreement was reached. I think it's just today's lie to whitewash yesterday's floundering. We live in a country that's not subject to the kind of unpredictable executive upheaval they see in parliamentary countries like England and Israel. That's a very good thing but the downside is that we're stuck with this contemptible, lying boob for way longer than we deserve.
5
Watching the tortured logic of Liberals try to explain how this is a bad thing is amusing.
Trump is on a roll.
Next we have the IG report.
Buckle up.
5
chalk another one up on the list of 'Trump usually folds' ...
5
I for one am happy a deal was reached with Mexico. We will see how far the Mexican government will go to keep their side of the bargain. But from the sound coming from the Trump haters who didn’t want the tariff , now it sounds as if they do!? Anything to have Trump fail the the only rallying cry the NYT is happy to print.
6
Insider trading on steroids.
3
this is a big win for trump, but terror for the democrats and the left, because it will future democratic voters. The democrats and the left will throw all trash possible at this. Expect lawsuits on Monday filed in selected Federal courts where there is good chance an Obama judge will attempt to obstruct this agreement with an injunction. The sleazy AG in California will lead the trash trail to these lawsuits
2
"But the trade war ended before it began..."
Vintage Trump : Manufacture "crisis". Furnish solution for artificial crisis. Take credit for "solution". Repeat.
It's a section of the classic conman's tool kit involving deflection and distraction. Make America Great Again!
7
These tarifs wordplays are starting to smell like insider trading at a all new level...
3
Create something newsworthy to deflect from current personal crisis, "solve" the problem and become the "hero" fixer.
This will be just like North Korea. Nothing actually accomplished and a big fat nothing burger.
It's getting so old.
5
Congratulations to the N.Y. Times for publishing this story. If you rely on CNN or MSNBC you are completely unaware of this major news.
4
Fireman Trump agrees to put out the fire that arsonist Trump started. Rinse. Repeat. How long will the GOP cower while their decades old core principles are unraveled thread by thread ? Is the useful idiot is beginning to outlive his usefulness or will they continue to cower in pursuit of new judges ? It’s a sad spectacle.
5
Sad day for Democrats. Their plans to win via undocumented voters lie in ruins.
7
That little Chris Kobach trope went down in flames long ago I’m afraid. Why on earth would an undocumented immigrant risk prison or being removed from the country to cast one vote out of what 150 million ? The logic has never added up but that doesn’t seem to stop people from parroting the line.
Trump is terrorizing the world. Mexico had no choice.
What is wrong with this man???? The world won't be right until he is voted out. Please everyone vote him out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
1
The NYT's headline says everything. You refuse to give this president any credit at all. Our southern border has been a crisis for at least the last 30 years. In fact it has been a political football all these years. Now the left cries foul. You folks on the left are a never ending source of humor
10
Another win for President Trump!
5
Even “win” emboldens this nutjob. When will somebody defy him and call his bluffs?
Read this same news story in the BBC, read the headlines in both papers and compare the story and the headline and tell me that the NY Times is not biased against President Trump.
9
What about the illegal aliens who were recently dispersed throughout the US while they await resolution of their (fake) asylum claims? Will they be rounded up, if they can be caught, and sent back to Mexico? Just stop letting the hordes in - enough already. There are plenty of US citizens in need of compassion and help.
8
Other day
Trump say
Migrants bad
Mexico
Must pay
Today
Trump say
My bad
Mexico
No pay
Migrants ok?
Trump say
Mexico
They stay
A few
May come
U.S.A.
But with
Delay
For rest
No way!
Still mad
We pray
One day
Trump go
Away
That day
We say
Hooray
7
Now that Mueller is out of the headlines again...
Where is there any substance in this article or announcement? Trump tweets ‘it’s over’ and the Times runs a passive rehash of the issue’s context with little information about the supposed resolution or whether it means anything.
1
So, this means no more problems at the border and no more need for a border wall, right?
11
Speak loudly and carry a big stick. Another win for our President. Btw, I missed the NYT's story today on the Democrat plan to bring civilized order to the immigration issue.
12
All laws are backed by the implicit or explicit threat of violence. Do you really want to shoot people trying to immigrate? If not, why not?
A primary difference I see in that policy and the one the president is attempting to implement is that my policy might make you or the the people charged with implementing it feel guilty. I do not see that as a meaningful cost.
@Mark Evans - "Democrat plan" ... which member of the Democratic party was is you were thinking of??
BTW, please describe the Republican party plan to bring civilized order to the immigration issue.
Surely you dont think that the president's policy is *civilized* - such as when he puts people/families with children in cages when they come across the border in attempts to legally ask for asylum. Democrats have proposed work visas various plans that work in other countries but stand no chance of being signed into law by this president with his Machiavellian advisors such as Steven Miller or Mick Mulvaney.
What next - mines along the border and machine guns on The Wall? The Germans had their Atlantic Wall in Normandy, Mr Trump will have his Mexican/Southern Wall. We know how things worked out with the one in Normandy. Time will tell regarding the Trump Fallacy.
1
The damage to the US would have been negligible compared to that to Mexico. Migrants will suffer the most at the hands of Mexican police and poor lodging conditions and healthcare. Who is promoting this migrant surge ? Who benefits? Mr Trump?
2
Okay, I got the facts, and I know I'm the one meant to piece it together.
But right now I would rather take someone else to tell me if bullying works, if it's more empty promises to appease the idiot or if it's the idiot just conning people as usual. I don't want to jump to any of those conclusions and it feels like a mix of all three.
(1) Was there an actual problem at the border, that Trump (and his policies) wouldn't have created and (2) could Mexico actually do something about it, that they were refusing to do?
Because, let's compare what's comparable: Mexico holding refugees on its side is like the EU asking Turkey and Libya, etc to hold refugees on theirs. If Mexico can do it (with US financial help), forgetting the bullying, that's a win policy-wise.
As far as I am concerned (1) is bogus, making (2) pointless to ask but was there actually something?
4
Just like N. Korea. Just like I predicted. Mexico makes a few vague promises and takes a few symbolic steps, Trump declares the problem solved and scores a YUUUGE political victory.
16
Of course if we prevented the NRA from selling guns to gangs in Central America and helped those country reorganize and stabilize, that might slow down migration. But I guess that ain't ever going to happen!!
7
Thank you, Mr. President!
10
Yes, Thank you Mr. President for creating this problem and conning your supporters into thinking he has helped things!
2
Mexico should have done nothing and let Republican senators take the heat. It would work out better for Mexico. Trump will be back to bash Mexico again and threaten again... just as sure as the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening.
8
Finally a sensible ‘solution’ to a non-existent crisis.
This is the 45th’s MO and the red states and the Republicans fall for it every time.
Keep playing ‘hard ball’ with your friends and you’ll only have enemies surrounding you and no friends left to back you up.
Great strategy, Mr. ‘stable genius’.
10
Wow! He pulled it off. Saved the day! He fixed the crisis.
Sounds like the crisis he “fixed” with North Korea, and they’ve only fired a couple of little rockets since then.
9
OK, come on Trump fans. No wall needed. All is well. Mexico (bless them) has solved the problemo. Trump has his red hat on again, and we in the UK, can go back to trying to tell Brexit fans, that the USA is not an honest broker.
No deal, but thanks for the offer. Now who can we sell our Whisky to?
3
Pretty much anything announced on twitter by this buffoon is likely incomplete and a lie. Sort of like relying on Facebook for news.
10
It’s amazing what you can get when you actually apply pressure, something out last President was utterly incapable of doing.
8
Question: How many millions and millions of dollars did this little stunt cost? And how many lives did it affect?
Congress: This is your problem to solve. You own it, and you own Trump! Let him mess up the world -- and WE pay the price for your lack of will!
8
Forgive my cynicism in response to this wonderful event created by our brave and brilliant president, but perhaps Señor Obrador read Kim Jung Un's 'playbook' ...
Maybe a nice chat on the phone ?
Or a conference call with the Saudi leader ?
"PLAYING TRUMP: IT'S QUICK, IT'S EASY" ... free shipping !
4
Trump is a magician, he pulled a hat out of his rabbit.
I thought he was supposed to be a genius
1
Our worthless, five-year old tantrum-throwing “squirrel!” of a President creates another crisis, revels in the publicity, and ultimately does nothing to benefit the nation. Again.
3
It's a PRANK. APRIL FOOL! The joke is on [all of us].
Where are the reminders that Mexicans said two weeks ago that the "tarrifs" would never be implemented? So U.S. businesses and politicians danced around for Trump's ego. How long will this satisfy it until some other threat/ boast/pique demands another dose?
2
All language with the strong possibility of minimal substance .
Another Trump special - worthless.
5
Donald Trump: the Boy Who Cries Wolf!
Anyone can call Trump's bluff. A-n-y-o-n-e.
5
Trump is all hat and no cattle.
4
See? You don't need a wall, just another empty threat.
4
Still waiting for Mexico to pay for that wall.
6
It sounds like he got nothing of real value from this fake crisis.
5
"stem the tide of Migration through Mexico" or stem the tide of impeachment?
Man knows how to play the crowd...
2
The arsonist who pretends to be a firefighter. Probably took one call from GM to the Senate to shut him up.
8
The President doesn't want to go into the weekend news cycle with the GOP's complete opposition to his latest con to get rid of articles about his tweet ' Russia, Russia, Russia' and 'I had nothing to do with Russia trying to help me win the election'.
Check your timelines people.
This is what that was all about.
2
Created and cancelled. Another example of a brilliant mind.
1
There seems little focus on the facts that there is an immigration crisis originating from the Mexican/US Border.
Today on the BBC News webpage it was reported that Africans wanting to immigrate to the US have temporarily migrated to Mexico in order to gain entrance in the US.
These facts have been reported in the side news, such as by organizations who interview law enforcement in Arizona.
They have reported that for decades, they apprehend individuals illegally entering the US from many varied countries.
Mexico is the gateway to the US, without the hassles of doing things lawfully for many immigrants.
While I never feared for the avocado/melon/tomato growers in Mexico (that's what we eat in Sacramento - not our own), this entire situation is a lesson in world economics - I had no real idea how deeply important Mexico's labor and manufacturing is to the US. Apparently some Republicans do possess economic knowledge which changed the President's path.
But we/the US do need a set of solutions. We cannot suffer persons of radically different cultures and means to demand entrance and citizenship merely based on need.
Tibet has produced nothing but refuges since 1959 seeking asylum from Red China and its genocidal agenda against its people. No one from Tibet comes to the US making demands to be allowed into the country, but each and every Tibetan deserves asylum anywhere out of China. They come to the country ragged and destitute. They make no demands.
15
Don’t depend on the NYT as your only source. Many publications are reporting Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans, and Congolese attempting to enter from Mexico. The crisis is real!
6
@RR What immigrants and asylum seekers from all countries are seeking is the right to work in safety. May ancestors came from a radically different culture -- which is why they fled to a Norwegian speaking Wisconsin. It's also why Cambodian immigrants cluster in Long Beach (and their children have spread out) and many Burmese cluster in Fort Wayne or Somalis cluster in Minneapolis. But none of those towns have been destroyed.
The US is a wonderful country. Some of my family are pre-revolution natives and others came here from Europe. I don't blame others for wanting the same relative peace and security that we enjoy.
With that said, our government needs a combination of financial, political, and physical security measures to control our borders. None of these solutions are fast-acting, so they need to be prepared thoughtfully in cooperation with our geographic neighbors. This preparation and patience is something that this administration seems to have no tolerance or appreciation for.
Like all valuable lessons, Trump is learning the hard way and I pray that he continues to learn to improve his governing. However, I am not holding my breath.
2
Trump wins again. We need border security; this is a no-brainer.
14
@LXK Of course Trump won. That was all part of the theater he scripted. And many fell for it.
Remember the "national security" tariffs on aluminum and steel from both Canada and Mexico? They are gone. Crisis solved again by the carnival barking showman.
3
What we need is a comprehensive immigration policy, and we have needed it for decades. It was a problem before Trump, and he has only worsened it with his divisive and toxic rhetoric.
3
While the Liberal world thought Trump had lost his mind with threats of anti-Mexico tariffs, Trump was increasing the pressure to get what we want from Mexico.
10
I didn’t think he had lost his mind (it was gone ages ago), as much as I thought he was full of something.
Looks like he wins again. Say what you want but his actions have proven to be effective in this case Mexico could care less about the migrants and had no reason to do anything but once their economy was threatened its time to act. Win for Trump
10
@EAH. Ugh. I promise I won't pull the football out this time, Charlie Brown. Promise. Trust me.
That's for today, if he decides to throw a temper tantrum to demagogue another issue he will put it back next week.
7
"Mexico had also agreed to accept an expansion of a Trump administration program that makes some migrants wait in Mexico while their asylum claims are heard in the United States."
Well done President Trump
7
Congrats to the President. We have a major issue with illegal immigration and he used the Power of the Presidency to work out a written agreement with our neighbor south of the border.
To the president's critics, sometimes you speak softly and have to use the big stick. Enough with debating and empty threats. I know that offends some, but it sure worked here.
10
Trump caved. Of course he did.
Whatever Mexico did, future negotiators learned that Trump will bluster, threaten and finally fold. I’m sure China and N Korea are watching.
6
If Trump didn't spare - be Trump - with the press would certainly deserve Time's Person of the Year on more than one occasion.
2
Cool, now we dont need that wall.
10
I think the Times is displaying its gullibility here by assuming that this is nothing more than Trump seeing yesterday's employment numbers and figuring out that perhaps this isn't the best time to play chicken with the economy.
I would be more than willing to bet there is no deal whatsoever.
10
"I would be more than willing to bet there is no deal whatsoever."
Gotta agree with you there. "serious talks" - "Deals" - "Negotiations" - what a laugh !
I applaud President Trump for at least trying to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants (which has topped 100,000 apprehensions/month source https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration). I wish he had gone ahead with the 5% tariff , just so everybody in DC - and in other countries - knows that he means business. The pathetic republicans and democrats in congress should be ashamed of themselves for not doing their jobs. Immigration will haunt democrats in 2020.
14
Don’t blame democrats and republicans in Congress for Trump folding like a tent in negotiations with Mexico.
It is too bad Trump has not been able to make any progress the last 2.5 years on the immigration problems facing the US. For the first 2 years it was a complete Republican government in the White House and Congress. Trump is a big talker but a weak leader and strategist.
Trump's ongoing "negotiations," whether with Mexico over avocados or N. Korea over nukes always remind those of us of a certain age of the Saturday night professional wrestling matches on TV in the 50's and early '60's. Ongoing loosely scripted encounters (with predictable outcomes) for a target audience of not-so-bright folks who think they are "real." At least no Mexican negotiator broke a weakened chair over Pence's head.
8
Performance Art 101. Several people in the White House said it probably wouldn’t happen. My question is: Did Trump short anything? Avocados?
4
Pathetic. Trump stirs up a bunch of noise gets his message out to his base and then pretends he actually did anything, while the stupid nonsense is amplified by Twitter and the 24 hour "news"/entertainment networks.
11
Just another phony crisis to divert attention from the important stuff of governing. See how that works?
6
Perfect - create chaos and then fix it.
7
Mexico is a gift that keeps on giving to Donald Trump. Mexicans and Central Americans criminals and workers are invading the USA bringing drugs and stealing American jobs. Mexico is also exploiting the USA in trade and we are losing billions! Thank goodness President Trump is standing up and making the Mexican government take responsibility! Trump's base loves it and he will take advantage of this gift as long as he can regardless of the impact on the plight of the Mexican and Central American people and the US and Mexican economies.
1
@JD
What job or jobs have you seen “stolen”? Please be specific.
Drugs are smuggled through the border hidden on trucks at legal points-of-entry, not by border-crossing migrants. This is widely reported information. But you probably know this.
The photo for this article is very telling. Here is Trump stepping off Marine One wearing a bright red MAGA campaign cap. He was ostensibly In Europe representing all Americans to honor the valor of American and Allied soldiers on the 75th commemoration of D-Day. While in Europe he embarrasses at least 60 % of us by doing vindictive FOX interviews in front of a cemetery for fallen soldiers. As soon as he arrives back at White House he dons his MAGA rally uniform for the other 35-40% of us. Trump doesn’t even pretend to be a president for the entire United States of America. Anyone else in 2020...PLEASE!
14
Why are we allowing such a psychologically unwell human-being run the country? We all know he is crazy, but we just ignore it, so we are more crazy than he is? Come on, wake up.
8
and Why didn't he get them to agree to pay for the wall?
5
I have no words. Nothing this man does surprises me anymore.
4
One more thing he can declare victory about, make his base happy and keep the lie of his pseudo-Presidency going.
What will be the next shiny thing that distracts him, like the dog in the movie Up?
4
I'll bet all you rich individuals and corporations didn't anticipate the years of chaos and threat to your bottom line when you paid for Trump to win. All this chaos darn well serves you right. I hope you learned your lessons from all this madness.
4
create crisis. "fix" crisis you created. boast that you have fixed said crisis. rinse & repeat.
6
I’ll defer judgement until I read the “signed” agreement.
10
Sorry. This just follows Trump’s MO. Create a problem, then “solve” it.
4
I am beginning to truly despise this president. So he has had his big guy bully moment- again- some people will happily fall for it- people will continue to suffer for his incompetence and stupidity.
7
It seems outwardly sadistic that Trump scared Mexico into complying with his demands. Trump extorted a nation, an old friend. No army of Russian spies could have ever done as much harm to our nation as Trump.
3
How much did his friends and cronies make in the stock market this time?
5
Of course, as they say proof is in eating.
A signed agreement that many below are celebrating might want to wait out results.
I applaud POTUS for doing everything in his power to stem the tide of illegals.
I wish he had gone ahead with the tariff and set aside these extra taxes specifically to strengthen the border.
Sure, there would be a lawsuit, sure the 9th circuit will attempt to make a policy and sure enough, SCOTUS will bat down the 9th circuit,
But any resulting slowdown in economy - he must lay it at the feet or in the hands of Democrats.
They are happy to demagogue the issue, but offer no real solution.
Perhaps, POTUS needs to get Democrats to pay attention to this problem as an economic issue.
His aides could even pick items, agriculture etc that would be most directly and adversely affected - and ensure most are in Democrat congressional districts.
May be, then the Democrats will realize talking time is over.
4
Neil, if anyone is demagoguing the issue, it's the Republicans. And would you really be willing to damage the economy simply to score off the Democrats? You're what's wrong with America - lose the truly pathetic obsession with winning and think instead about your fellow Americans!
1
@Neil
The proof is in the pudding.
Of course, as they say proof is in eating.
A signed agreement that many below are celebrating might want to wait out results.
I applaud POTUS for doing everything in his power to stem the tide of illegals.
I wish he had gone ahead with the tariff and set aside these extra taxes specifically to strengthen the border.
Sure, there would be a lawsuit, sure the 9th circuit will attempt to make a policy and sure enough, SCOTUS will bat down the 9th circuit,
But any resulting slowdown in economy - he must lay it at the feet or in the hands of Democrats.
They are happy to demagogue the issue, but offer no real solution.
Perhaps, POTUS needs to get Democrats to pay attention to this problem as an economic issue.
His aides could even pick items, agriculture etc that would be most directly and adversely affected - and ensure most are in Democrat congressional districts.
May be, then the Democrats will realize talking time is over.
2
Gee, wonder how much Trump's buddies (and Trump's family) made on this latest manufactured stock market downturn? It's great to be the King, eh?
5
Sounds like Trump caved. The statement is a big fat nothingburger that could have been resolved in a phone call. The Great Negotiator once again proves he knows nothing about the art of the political deal.
8
Trump got nothing except a sigh of relief when the Mexicans agreed to continue doing what they’ve already been doing. Now, he looks like he achieved something, a bit like with North Korea, without having to impose tariffs which would have pitted him against party. The big problem is his base who will heap adulation on him without understanding that their man has just been bluster, something the rest of us knew all along.
I wonder if Canada is next? Our geese keep illegally migrating your way.
4
This feels like a sham.
10
“Threats rattled companies across north america”........good, exactly what is needed; people need to wake up and resolve this issue. The only person in Washington committed to doing so is President Trump. He will be rewarded for his courageous rejection of the Democrat do nothing by his re-election.
5
@Truthbeknown
In the meanwhile, a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that already passed with 68 votes in the Senate and would send not 6,000 but 40,000 additional border patrol agents to the border, sits there, with the president tweeting.
3
Mexico needs to tighten their grip on their borders so this isn't such a bad thing. They shouldn't have caravans of people opening crossing their borders and making their way all the way to the US without any type of Mexican intervention.
This is only healthy for Mexico. Not only for their border security but for the future of their economics.
Trump 2020!
9
@RyZen
You do realize that by international standards, that Mexico is the "first safe" country, geographically, that asylum seekers encounter.
The border crises of three years are a diversion from the real Trump Wall st reality.
2
It seems to me that if these people are really fleeing persecution, they should be perfectly happy to stay in Mexico. The truth is that they are coming here for government-subsidized social programs and that has to stop.
8
Regardless of reality in this situation as well as others, Trump acts as though he has the unilateral power to force his way. Now he declares that he "hereby" will not impose the tariffs on Mexican imports and thus hereby decides not to shoot himself and the rest of us in the foot.
Oh well, this was a news cycle. Back to impeach.
3
What he meant to say was that the Republican Party, financed by oligarchs on the far right who have never risked or sacrificed anything for this country and its values, but who depend on free trade with our neighbors for much of their fortunes, pulled his leash. Trump is nothing more than a chihuahua in a Doberman suit.
11
Pay no attention to the man behind the wall, I mean curtain. Trump cons and caves. Pathetic.
4
Wow, who da thunk it.
Mexico is doing what it promised to do months ago. I guess Trump's threats and several billion dollars to house educate and care for the refugees was more than the runner up could offer Mexico.
3
The Democrats criticize. What have they done to correct the problem? Nada.
8
@Edward. Well, wrong. It's so weird the way you Trumpers just say stuff, having not bothered to actually look into things to get informed (ie: the Mueller report is another good example). anyway, you're wrong about that. Trump was threatened by McConnell/GOP/FOX, who for the first time went up against Trump on the Mexican tariffs, and my guess is he told them he and they would lose in 2020 if he didn't back down from the tariffs, and Trump told them to get him out of it. Mexico actually ceded very little here and what they did cede is a paper tiger. No, the goal here, as usual, was Trump's personal concerns. Still, you're all so concerned about poor people fleeing trauma...but have no concern at all about Russia having attacked our democracy, readying to do it again in 2020 with the blessings of the US President, and Trump instead turning his guns on the FBI for having investigated Russian's invasion into our email servers, voting databases, and election. Hard to take people like that seriously.
1
@Edward In the meanwhile, a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that already passed with 68 votes in the Senate and would send not 6,000 but 40,000 additional border patrol agents to the border, sits there, with the president tweeting.
1
@Edward
So tell me this. Just how are Democrats supposed to accomplish anything with Mitch McConnell and a Republican Senate in the driver's seat???
Stick with the facts -- and the whole picture.
My prediction from day one. Trump is so easy to read.
3
Guess trump just could not risk losing all those votes in texas. Mexico has given nothing and trump declares a win. How many maga suckers will fall for this bait and switch.
5
Mess with “America Inc”. and suddenly the Republicans get a spine.
5
So the USA will get aid from MX with an immigration problem the USA can't fix ob their own. What did MX get out of this (other than not facing unilateral imposed tariffs)? Nothing. This is obviously the sort of dealmaking to the palate of the apprentice POTUS.
What has the USA lost? I am sure, MX will not forget how hostile and miserably they have been treated by their northern neighbour. There will be payback time one day.
There he goes again creating a crisis so he can "solve" it.
3
Where is Congress? For all the moaning we hear on the left about suffering at the boarder why doesn’t Congress work together to pass legislation to fix the boarder problem? I’m convinced it’s because Democrats and Republicans would rather Weaponize the boarder than solve it. We have a gutless Congress on both sides of the aisle and not just republicans as the NYT’s suggests.
3
@Russell Hrdy
In the meanwhile, a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that already passed with 68 votes in the Senate and would send not 6,000 but 40,000 additional border patrol agents to the border, sits there, with the president tweeting.
This was nothing but a PR stunt. Trump threatens, something, anything that would disrupt the world order, everyone reports, discusses, yammers on...Trump backs off and claims his bullying worked. Success is his! He's the king of the world.
It's all so disgusting.
5
I don't buy it. Trump, for the first time, was actually under a lot of pressure from McConnell and Congressional Republicans. I think they told him they and he would lose in 2020 if he went forward with this tariff, and he told them to get him out of it.
3
This Times report contains one view of what just happened. Let me offer another:
The mercurial president tries to strong arm a weak neighbor because he can't get his own country to support his anti-immigrant fixation. His usually docile republican base erupts because he threatens actions against Mexico that will have worse impacts on the republican states along the border than they will on Mexico. He therefore capitulates and accepts an unenforceable vague commitment from Mexico to try to help him, and declares victory.
30
And, one may infer, feels vindicated in his strategy of holding our economy hostage to accomplish his foreign policy goals.
@Steve: Yup, that is much closer to reality. The Texas Tribune reported on the protest from Texas Republicans. They were not going to see the state's economy upended. Without cheap food and labor from Mexico, Texas would be as unaffordable as California.
It's all about the drama. Drama diplomacy. More families with children are coming. What does that reveal about conditions in the countries they are fleeing? Yet, the answer is to stop aid. Mexico's promise amounts to using more force with people. There is no real humanitarian plan for essentially a kind of disaster relief in the countries of origin, no real diplomacy among the U.S. and Mexico and Central American countries. How about a summit addressing these issues or aren't the families with children worth it?
Trump is described as idiosyncratic in his approach. Stop using euphemisms to describe stupidity and madness.
9
@Hypatia No, families with children are not worth it. Breeding is not a certificate of virtue or merit. I am so tired of the “families with children” obsession of American culture, the likes of which I have not seen anywhere in the world. Are you seriously saying that popping out a couple of babies should give you free entry to the US? Sure, the conditions in Central America should be addressed. But shouldn’t they first be addressed by the inhabitants of these dysfunctional countries? How about some old-fashioned patriotism? You have your own country: fix it. When China in the 1970s and 80s was crawling out from the train wreck of Maoism that left 40 million dead, you did not see millions of Chinese refugees knocking on the doors of Europe and the US. In half-a-century they have transformed their country into the second largest economy in the world. So if Guatemalans and Venezuelans love their children, they should fight for their future by taking on corruption, gangs and lawlessness instead of dragging them on a dangerous and illegal journey into the country where they are not wanted or needed.
3
Now that this crisis has been resolved, there is no need to build the beautiful wall. The money that was to be used for the wall can now be go towards infrastructure and sending men to the moon that circles Mars! Brilliant!
7
Chuck Schumer added some comic relief to Trump's tweet "This is an historic night!@realDonaldTrump has announced that he has cut a deal to “greatly reduce, or eliminate, Illegal Immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States.”
"Now that that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future."
I'm sure the Donald read that but surprisingly there was no retort. Did Chuck's sarcasm go over his head? Probably. Tune in later today.
6
So Trump has solved the border crisis now? Good. Get rid of the cages that children were held in. Then, return any military funds absconded for building a border wall to where they were rightfully designated by Congress to be used in the first place.
4
Something has to be done to address illegal immigration given a feckless Congress. Put aside your hate for Trump and let’s see if this has any success.
9
Bravo, well played Mexico;
You have promised to fix the immigration problem, just as Trump promised that you would pay for the wall;
Now he can brag to his supporters that he has fixed the problem, and Mexico can go back to businessas usual.
A “deal” that’s meaningless. The arsonist starts a fire and tries to play firefighter coming to the rescue. Read the fine print folks....like everything Trump, it’s a con.
6
To every thing
Churn! Churn! Churn!
There is a season
Churn! Churn! Churn!
A time for us to make free money under Donald
A time to sell short
A time to lie
Watch some stocks plummet
And we all know why
A time to laugh a time to launder profits...
5
You need to give the President credit. He gets a lot wrong but he keeps trying. Obama did absolutely nothing on the border.
8
@Julia
The border is not the most important issue facing the country. Climate change is and Trump totally ignores it calling it a "Chinese hoax". His racism is the reason the border situation is so dire to him. Don't be fooled.
1
I look at this agreement as follows:
1. Neither country wanted a Trade War, so they both avoided that outcome.
2. To me , it seems that both countries swept the immigration problem under the rug. I am sure Mexico will try to slow down the immigration from Central America. But the amount of resources they will spend to do this will not be that great. I also don't think the U.S. will monitor the situation on the border between Mexico and Guatemala very closely.
3. I think Trump is a you know what for making this Humanitarian issue into a so called "National Emergency." He is using racist ideology to score political points. No matter how you look at it, that is wrong.
2020 hurry up and get here !!!
2
he fabricates these crises, then he "fixes" them, then everybody pats him on the back. Does no one see this but me ?!?
3
This is what happens when Bubba rules the world. Playground politics, bullying, tantrums, and chaos.
3
Just another stunt. Throwing rancid, fatty, red meat to his base. Now he'll claim " Victory " and crow about his stable genius business acumen.
Deplorable.
4
I do not understand how Mexico’s National Guard at the southern border will stop immigrants when our own National Guard at our border did not achieve that.
1
LOL. Of course, its a great deal, the best deal!!
I thing the Republican in Congress scared him a bit with their opposition...
1
Another Trump stunt goes bust.
2
@John Actually, this one worked - Mexico is acting.
Set a fire. Watch it burn. Have others put it out. Declare Victory.
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
849
@Mark Soon to announced at a MAGA campaign rally. Mexico will pay for the wall.
44
@Mark Chaos is the game, rank corruption is the name.
Just another of Trump's rigged distractions, enabling him to claim a win for putting another opponent on their knees while accomplishing nothing except instability.
84
@Mark
... and systematically exaggerate your own "ratings", of course, because his voters also want THIS kind of lies before they accept to continue to support him.
Obama had a 71% approval rate among British citizens, whereas Trump only has a 21% approval rate. And yet, he's so weak that he doesn't dare to admit this massive rejection and declared the mass protests "fake news", to instead see "thousands of people cheering" ... all while claiming that his 85% approval rate among US GOP supporters is actually 94% (and then of course refusing to back up such claims, when asked for any evidence supporting them).
I never saw such a weak US president in my entire life.
No wonder he needs to work on his propaganda 24/7, in close collaboration with America's fake news machine Fox News. How could he ever survive, otherwise?
83
Tweetler's economic policy and diplomacy are like a combination of TV episode cliffhangers and a game of Simon Says.
How could a corporate manager plan for growth when one day Trump says punitive tariffs on Mexico will bring back manufacturing jobs and the next day he says oh, forget the tariffs, I got Mexico to send troops to the Guatemalan border?
7
"Trump calls off his plan to":
- build a wall at the southern border
- have Mexico pay for it
- replace Obamacare with something that would cover even more Americans at even lower costs
- pass comprehensive immigration reform
- cut the deficit
- increase taxes on the wealthiest
- start a $1 trillion infrastructure project to make our roads, bridges and airports finally as solid as those in Dubai
- create a special task force to immediately deport 11 million undocumented people
- obtain a denuclearized North-Korea
- obtain a denuclearized Iran
... and now the news of the day is ... "Trump calls off plan to impose tariffs on Mexico".
And yet, about 85% of GOP voters fully approve of his record. That's less than what both G.H. Bush and G.W. Bush had at this point in their presidency (and obviously 10% less than the 94% that Trump bragged about during a press conference with Theresa May), but it's still totally incompatible with his record, once you compare it to his campaign promises (or frankly, to the record of any previous president).
That means that GOP has now managed to obtain full control over their voters, through a propaganda machine that works almost perfectly. That, obviously, is the EXACT opposite of MAGA.
45
@Ana Luisa
The Propaganda machine is working for the Democrats because they refuse to work with our President on anything including Border Security. Its a giant smoke screen to obscure and obfuscate the total lack of work for the American people by Congress.
2
That particular tariff/tax would have hit the red states hardest. Again, the electoral college is skewing our democratic process towards democracy for some, not for all.
18
@EW This was nothing but a manufactured crisis concocted by extreme buffoonery with expectations we would believe Trump really solved a problem.
Perhaps is was Mexico that play him...
It is so much easier for Trump to have this little kabuki dance for the benefit of his base, then to do something real and effective about illegal immigration. Trump could no more impose tariffs on Mexico then he could close the southern border. The ruling elite would never allow it - just like the ruling elite will not allow a discussion of mandatory E-Verify and prosecution of illegal employers. Effective illegal immigration measures are bad for business.
24
The tariffs "would have","could have", "may have" caused economic "chaos". But, alas, the liberal hopes and prayers for chaos to continue at our southern border was averted. The President achieved commitments for Mexico to deter the migration path of the illegal entrants and to House those that make it to our Southern border while their asylum claims (almost 90% have no legal basis or standing) , are adjudicated, preventing their release (never to be seen again) into the fabric of our society.
Congress refuses to act. The President used his own methods to
12
@RLF You have no clue about the reality in countries where the migrants come from. Where do you get your 90% claim. It's more likely the opposite. The president put up another one of his phony acts and people fell for it.
@RLF I see from your comment that Trump did achieve what he wanted-a belief that he fixed a problem.
However, it is possible that problem was engineered by him for great theater and hopes his base would find it believable.
Apparently for some it worked.
1
Almost right, except for the prayers for catastrophe by the liberals. Those weren’t prayers, those were apolitical warnings backed by data. Something you’ll never get from Fox News or Rush Limbaugh. I guess that Fox News devotees can’t tell the difference. Probably what happens to people after spending several decades of watching and listening to propaganda disguised as news.
1
Someone is making a lot of money on the swings in the market each time these announcements appear. I wonder who?
18
@Donald Sosin. me too, I wonder who. maybe the twitter gatekeepers?
This is fleeting. The concession he won was minor, but will be played up to his ignorant base. When he sees border numbers not improving, he'll do it again.
8
@KH
And it is not lost on all moderate voters that the democrat party for months kept telling us and their low information voters that there is no crisis, no emergency on our southern border. This issue along with our robust economy are winning issues for the GOP
2
What victory is this when the people of these Latin America countries are still suffering? Crushing people who have no weapons to fight back must not be considered a victory. Andrew Jackson might approve but we should be appalled.
6
Trump lost. He proposed tariffs on Mexico is violation of NAFTA which is still the law and lost. Senator John Cornyn (R) Texas called it like holding a gun pointing at our heads. Mexico allowed them to pull the trigger, just like Mexico allowed the American taxpayer to pay for the wall that Trump said Mexico would pay for.
Trump is no deal maker. Trump is a liar and a fraud. He folded and the world knows he folded.
Mexico is going to build a wall on its southern border? Really? With US money borrowed from China while our national debt is at record levels.
Pelosi is correct: Trump should be locked up.
18
Same old, same old. Trump fabricates a crisis, threatens out loud, sits and waits... and then, at the last minute, steps back. In his egotistical self centered opinion, he saved the day again. He made a great deal. He thinks is a great deal. He thinks is an art.
9
@PA it’s not a fabricated crisis. It is a crisis and only getting worse.
Mexico is slowly learning that the best policy is to slowly detract itself economically from the United States. The refinery in Dos Bocas just awarded the bid to PEMEX, instead of US companies. When this refinery is built you will see the POSITIVE trade balance the US currently has with Mexico completely shift. The plan is ambitious, expensive and in the end will cost US refineries billions. And guess who just gave AMLO all the political capital in the world to finish it?
1
Instead of doing negotiations with Mexico which may or may not be of any use whatsoever, why not just change the US law to state that all asylum seekers must ask for asylum in the first safe country they get to.
With regard the Central American migrants, Mexico is safe (compared to most other places in Central America) so is Belize, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama - and all (except Panama City) are a lot closer than the US Border.
This rule is common throughout the whole of Europe- why not the US? If you are a true asylum seeker that first safe country you arrive in is a haven. If an economic migrant, well, there's that 200 mile journey .......
4
@Paul
Congress is responsible for changing laws.
They’re too busy.
They’ve been too busy to fix the obvious problem for decades.
They’d rather have the issue to run on than fix.
1
In addition to his poor judgment, it appears to me he is knowingly manipulating the stock market. Has anyone checked the investment activity of his family, friends and associates??
14
He had his fun again. Acting out against a phony problem with a phony solution.
6
@David Henry: He, somehow, thinks being president is really being King of the US. He really doesn't understand a thing about America.
Mexico has agreed to try and slow done illegal immigration into the United States.
To get their cooperation it required some brutal political threats (tariffs).
Fine.
7
@maguire More sensationalism from Trump to get attention but no real results.
It appears that the only action on Mexico's side is to deploy more of its national guard. Every thing else touted by Trump is already in place. Fake crisis, fake solution.
2
Bluffing. Trump is pure bluff. What an embarrassment.
7
First of all its President Trump NOT Mr.Trump! Also I agree with every move he made. The President is doing what he must do to curb illegal immigration and put Americans first!
9
@Lena 3% Yah. Trump first, Ivanka second. End.
@Lena 3%: Lena, it's just a show. Let's wait for a month and see how it goes.....but now that it's getting hotter the number of migrants may slow down and he'll say it was his actions that slowed it. But, really, it's all a show where he gets to huff and puff and put a lot of anxiety on our business community. Not helpful to anyone.
@Lena 3%
As an FYI- illegal immigration is worse than it’s been in thirteen years. Even Republicans opposed these latest tarriffs.
Arsonist starts fire and then wants praise for being a good firefighter.
8
One thing is certain; after three years of Trump, we all know what rich people are like.
We are now onto the Trump Wall st rackets. It was always about Wall street, not a wall.
5
Trying to save face with a made-up agreement, when everyone knew he was going to fold and make up something like this.
7
In this week’s episode of Trump’s new hit reality show (aka his “presidency”) he threatens tariffs against Mexico (aka America), is finally leashed by some GOP “leaders”, and then declares a “victory” when he backs-off. (Did anyone not expect him to declare victory for his adoring, simple base?)
Stay tuned next week as market manipulation is added to the ever-growing list of criminal investigations against America’s (self-declared) greatest president ever.
5
This only reinforces threats as a way of governing. It is a third world dicatator's approach. But since we have a mob boss as a president, it fits. In this approach you threaten first, then allow for talks. But it is also a way to generate hatred and resistance toward our country. Yes, people can be forced, but force should never be your first and only tool.
3
Trump is the arsonist who afterward is the fireman.
Trump's agreement is pure demagoguery.
He can't by law send people to a foreign country to "adjudicate" their claim for US asylum. That Trump nonsense has previously been struck down.
This is all just another alarming episode of Donald Trump's "Chicken Little' presidency.
Trump is an ignorant con man, a pathological liar, who's pants are always on fire.
5
Chuck Schumer had the best comment on this, “This is an historic night! Donald Trump has announced that he has cut a deal to ‘greatly reduce, or eliminate,' illegal immigration coming from Mexico and into the United States. Now that that problem is solved, I’m sure we won’t be hearing any more about it in the future.”
Donald Trump can't possibly declare illegal immigration from Mexico solved. It's the issue that got him elected President. Therefore, in weeks if not days, Trump will have to declare that the agreement he taking credit for today, has failed.
The lies are so obvious now that anyone who votes for Trump knows that they are voting for an incompetent liar. They support him anyway, because they want to live in a system where some are favored over others.
7
How can anyone honestly believe that negotiations were conducted, plans devised, and everything ratified just hours after Trump returned to the US from his overseas pleasure trip falsely parading as American royalty? It's obvious that Trump saw what his threat was doing to the stock markets, and had to find a way to reverse course while saving face. These fabricated crises are getting so tedious. There's a name for his illness. It's called Munchausen by proxy syndrome. The patient causes injury, then swoops in to be the savior. Is there any Constitutional provision, especially now that we know how Ronald Reagan was compromised during his second term, for psychological evaluation of a president who is so clearly burdening the nation with his own personal issues?
6
Can anyone remember what damning news was coming to light about Trump before he cooked up the Mexican tariff diversion?
11
Donny Trump: Look, I created a problem and Look, I solved it.
11
I'm starting to get SO mad when I'm reading articles like this.
We should never forget what Trump said in his first phone call with the Mexican president, days after he entered the White House: he didn't need a real wall or real payments from Mexico, just a symbolic action that would allow him to tell his voters that he kept his promises - something the Mexican president refused to do, for obvious reasons (after all, he has his own voters, which is why political agreements are, as Rex Tillerson recently called it, "win-win" agreements, not "winner-loser deals", the only thing that Trump talks about ... to then start "loser-loser" tariff wars).
That means that his tariff threat was OF COURSE 100% kabuki theater.
He needed tweets from his voters defending his "decision" (= a mere tweet) to punish Mexico, so that they continue to believe that he takes the border seriously. And then he needed visits from Mexican diplomats and some marginal modifications, to be able to claim that "it worked" in a way that his supporters would eagerly believe. And that's it.
In the meanwhile, a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that already passed with 68 votes in the Senate and would send not 6,000 but 40,000 additional border patrol agents to the border, sits there, with the president tweeting.
What a horrible farce.
12
Yes. trumps self made crisis has been averted. AGAIN. What would we do without him.
9
Trump is a hero for avoiding a catastrophe of his own making. Sounds like a great gig. Where do I sign up?
14
@woofer
It's called "reality tv", in other words what 85% of GOP voters prefer to reality.
2
Trump is not the king of the art of the deal, rather, he has perfected the art of the presidential hissy fit. The GOP needs to send him to his room for a time out. I have to wonder if he uses these displays to financially benefit from the stock market gyrations that ensue. Many of these migrants are fleeing climate change. Threatening Mexico does not address droughts in the Guatemala.
7
Mexico cannot do anything to try and improve the conditions in the Central American countries involved. Mexico should have demanded that Trump reinstate the aid to those places to help turn off the spigot of migrants.
3
I don’t think the law has changed regarding refugees and the fact they cannot be “kept” outside the USA. Purposely being unprepared in order to create a crisis is part of the con game the Administration is playing with this country and the courts. This whole thing is another Trump created problem to satisfy hateful, vengeful people.
8
I'm sure Trump hasn't a clue as to what is in this agreement. He realized he went too far, and they came up an excuse to bail on yet another Stephen Miller-induced, racist-fueled catastrophe.
11
If this "deal" lessens the total of human misery in our hemisphere, on all sides of all borders, then I'm all for it. Still, can't help feeling that Trump creates problems so that he can stop creating them and then claim that he's solved them.
2
Mr. Chaos has done it again. Created a false issue, gotten lots of publicity, made himself feel important, and for what? Does anyone really think that this is going to stop illegal migration? No, and the media just gave the baby-man another opportunity to preen and say he protected this country from rapists and criminals. Meanwhile, in England the US taxpayer just funded another Trump Family Vacation. When is this Circus going to end?
8
Trump started the fire so he could put it out seeking to be loved as a hero.
Are the rest of you as shocked as I at what the man has done over the last three years? A pall of insanity pervades society, some people reveling in the chaos and most of us so shocked by it that we can't function coherently in the midst of Trumpian "Shock and Awe". It's all so surreal.
He must be an electrical Robot.
8
American government as a TV game show. Spin the wheel. Buy a vowel. Keep the GOP base entertained. Sixteen billion dollars in real money though is going to bail out mid-west farmers devastated by the trade war with China. The lobster industry in Maine is now asking for financial aid because of a crippling loss of business from China. The trade deficit is actually increasing. The immigration crisis at the border is getting far worse. Trump has no strategy but Republicans still rally around him. His planned appearance on the 4th of July at the Lincoln Memorial should be good for a real belly laugh, that is if we can stop crying.
6
Scary policy stateside.
"For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon - We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!"
Obviously your president lacks the ability to by press statement reflecting considered and well advised make public US policy.
The perpetual often irrational tweets have consequences in the real world.
Threats of tariffs on Mexico would have had massive consequences north and south of the border.
Mr Trump is a risk for Wall Street.
Share movements, currency rates, and interest rates follow Trump tweets.
The Fed has said that it may have to move rates lower.
The market has factored in lower interest rates to rally.
The unemployment rate is climbing.
Perhaps NYT should ask face to face Mr Trump his economic policies agenda .
Mr Mnuchin could explain to economists the long term plan economic agenda.
The libraries of books concerning US long term future economic, military, political and cultural agendas are absent.
One book which can not be borrowed would contain Trump's remarks on the Tianeman Square Massacre widely reported this week.
I have never lived in New York.
How a real estate agent lacking tertiary studies in economics, history or culture became president is a bit weird ,
Is Trump a carpetbagger who exploits folk who mined coal and made cars?
So cruel.
1
Typical reality TV show episodes. Start a fire. Watch it blaze. At the last minute come to the rescue to put out your own fire. I never got the feeling the tariffs would be implemented, especially once the Republicans spoke out. Our hero. Stay tuned for the next thrilling adventure of THE APPRENTICE GOEST TO WASHINGTON.
10
Trump like a magician makes tariffs disappear right before your eyes. DJT sets all these media wars to only get the chaos more finely tuned. He is a true performer. But his run is up. If only someone would pull his Twitter account. Enough. America let’s Dump Trump.
6
If this succeeds what a catastrophe for the agricultural, service and construction indústries that so heavily rely on an uncontrolled source of cheap labor! The Republicans never seriously intended to solve the illegal immigration problem— that’s why Mitch blocked the 2013 Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill that had passed the House from coming to the floor of the Senate for debate and a vote. That bill contained a provision for sanctioning employers who hired illegal workers. For once, I’ve got to hand it to Trump! The needs of his frail ego and hatred for immigrants trumped (no pun intended) the needs of exploitative capitalism. It will be interesting to watch how this will end.
1
Trump is not the tariff man it is the show man or the con man. It is not rare that people felt in this farce. He just accepts most of the compromise that Mexico was doing. He did not want to upset G.O.P or his donors, but he was needing for his ego a deal. More than this farce and blaming dems Mexico for the immigration influx he does not know how to stop it. He can make a blockade at the Mex border but the sea is still open.
3
Remember, only a few months ago, Trump threatened to close the border, but declared victory, and moved on. This is getting tedious.
10