Does Donald Trump Even Want a DACA Deal Anymore?

Jeff Malet/Newscom via ZUMA

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Does President Trump even want a deal on DACA? He says he does, but after he was embarrassed at his own immigration meeting for not understanding anything about it, he’s suddenly decided to take the advice of immigration hardliners like Stephen Miller and Tom Cotton, who simply don’t want DACA restored. Jonathan Swan got a copy of a memo from the hawks in the White House explaining the few wee complaints they had with the Durbin/Graham proposal. Here is his summary along with my comments:

As near as I can tell, they know that Trump won’t understand a word they say, so they can say anything they want. Plus there’s a tiny kernel of truth in each one of these points, so they have their butts covered in case someone calls them out.

Bottom line: if Trump is outsourcing his negotiation to the Tom Cottons of the world, it means he doesn’t want a deal at all. Folks like that will never agree to anything.

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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