We begin today’s roundup with The New York Times and its analysis of Donald Trump’s immigration plan:
Don’t be confused by the days of mixed messaging from Donald Trump’s campaign, or the head-feint trip to Mexico, where he was polite to the president. Speaking on Wednesday in Phoenix, Mr. Trump did not retreat from, or in any way soften, his promise to make 11 million unauthorized immigrants targets for deportation. His speech — in 10 points, embellished with statistics, ad-libbed asides and audience hollering and chanting — was as clear a statement of hard-core restrictionism as any he has given.
It was a mass-deportation speech, even if he avoided that phrase. Its intent was hard to miss. [...]
Nativists across the land were praising Mr. Trump’s immigration speech as wonderful, potent stuff. Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies, an organization that wants to restrict immigration, called it a “real-world version” of what’s “necessary to control immigration.” If you saw Mr. Trump’s speech, and you care about the country and values of tolerance and human rights and weren’t disgusted, you were either fooled, or not paying attention.
Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post also points out that Trump’s “softening” on immigration was all spin:
Donald Trump’s diatribe on immigration Wednesday night dispelled any conceivable doubt: He is a dangerous demagogue who rejects the values of openness and inclusion that made this country great. Rarely has an American politician given such an un-American speech.
Foreigners who come here seeking a better life are the scapegoats he blames for problems real and imagined. Never mind that Trump’s mother was an immigrant, or that two of his three wives came from overseas. Ronald Reagan saw this country as a shining city on a hill; Trump wants us to cower in fear behind a Berlin-style wall. Reagan invited millions of undocumented immigrants to stay and contribute to their adopted land; Trump wants to round them up, all 11 million, and ship them home.
Here is Julianne Hing’s take at The Nation:
This was no general election appeal to reach past the converted. Even though he promised a departure from the “usual” campaign speech at the top of his remarks, Wednesday night was primary-season Donald Trump in his most comfortable mode. He weaved demagoguery and nationalism together into a hysterical horror show, ratcheting up the volume as he moved through the speech until he was shouting every single line
Patricia Alvarez at The Atlantic explains how the speech backfired among Trump’s Hispanic supporters:
The resignation rumors are only the latest sign of the Republican Party’s troubles with outreach to Latinos. The head of Hispanic media relations at the Republican National Committee, Ruth Guerra, resigned earlier this year because, according to The New York Times, she felt “uncomfortable” working for Trump. And in Florida, Wadi Gaitan, who led the communications department for the state’s Republican party, stepped down to join the LIBRE Initiative.
Trump’s divisive rhetoric about Hispanics and immigration poses a conundrum for Hispanic Republicans, who may support a more hawkish border stance but are finding it difficult to grapple with Trump’s rhetoric about the Hispanic community.
Can’t have a lot of sympathy for these Trump supporters, though, who actually thought you could change Trump’s bigotry:
Helen Aguirre Ferré, Director of Hispanic Communications for the Republican National Committee (RNC) confirmed that one member of the Hispanic Advisory Council for Trump, Jacob Monty, has resigned. She added that another, Pastor Ramiro Peña of Texas, said that he had to "pray on it."
Peña, according to an email obtained by Politico, expressed his displeasure. "I am so sorry but I believe Mr. Trump lost the election tonight," said Peña, who leads Waco's Christ the King Church. "The 'National Hispanic Advisory Council' seems to be simply for optics and I do not have the time or energy for a scam."
Paul Waldman at The Week:
That is going to be one seriously efficient deportation force if it can round up and deport two million people in an hour. Trump also said that his wall will be built "in record time," although he didn't mention what the current record is for building a wall between the United States and Mexico. [...] the Trump on display Wednesday night is the true one, the one who can't stop campaigning like he's trying to win the South Carolina primary. He needs to get in front of that angry crowd and soak up their love, to stand back and smile while they chant "Lock her up!" at any mention of his opponent, and squeal their joy at his promises to be strong and manly. Nothing gets them as excited as talk of border walls and deportations, and he'll keep feeding them what they want — even if the electorate as a whole finds it repugnant.
And in case you wondering how petty Trump is, he didn’t have the line about Mexico paying for the wall in his Phoenix speech until — you guessed it — he reacted to something he saw on Twitter:
Mr. Trump was peeved [to learn] that Mr. Peña Nieto had gone public with the fact that the Mexican president had broken what Mr. Trump considered a deal to keep the question of paying for the wall off the table at their initial meeting.
So Mr. Trump hurriedly inserted a new sentence in his immigration speech, and he soon boomed out from the podium his traditional declaration that the wall would be paid for by Mexico—adding, “They don’t know it yet but they’re going to pay for the wall.”
“I had no choice,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on Thursday.
Thankfully, voters have the choice to reject Trump and his bigoted immigration plan in November.