Donald Trump's Chief of Staff John Kelly has been walking a fine line ever since he told lawmakers last week that Trump's immigration platform was "uninformed" during the 2016 election. Gosh, who could've known that would tweak the orange-maned Ego in Chief?
So when Kelly was trying to brief reporters this week on the white nationalist dream deal he and his nativist sidekick Stephen Miller masterminded, Trump stopped by unannounced to detonate a few bombs of his own. The New York Times reports:
To the surprise of the 20 or so reporters who were in the office, Mr. Trump dropped into a briefing on immigration that was only getting started. It was ostensibly just to say hello after Mr. Trump learned from Mr. Kelly that the session was taking place. Mr. Trump, despite his criticism of “fake news,” rarely misses a chance to speak with reporters.
The president boasted that he was eager to speak with Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. He emphasized his interest in a path to citizenship as a solution for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants. He expressed joy about going to Davos, Switzerland.
The planned background briefing on immigration was abruptly called off after the president left.
Kelly likely figured he didn't have any time to waste in cleaning up Trump's latest self-made catastrophe.
But now that the briefing Kelly originally intended to give reporters has made it into the public sphere, he may end up having a lot more clean up to do than originally anticipated. Its seems that the immigration deal he and Miller conceptualized—which was ostensibly meant to box in Democrats by offering them legal protections for 1.8 million Dreamers while extracting $25 billion in wall funding and slapping the most sweeping limitations on legal immigration since the the 1920s—is blowing up in Trump's face.
First, Democrats and immigration groups announced it Dead On Arrival without a second thought—meaning Kelly and Miller totally misjudged any strategic advantage they might have and overplayed their hand. Nice work.
Then, one by one, the dynamic duo started losing their right flank—Trump's besties. Breitbart had fired the first warning shot on Wednesday night with a piece titled, "Immigration Shock: Amnesty Don Suggests Citizenship For Illegal Aliens."
Then Miller’s briefing anti-immigration extremist groups got testy. Center for Immigration Studies director Mark Krikorian had some choice words for Trump following the call:
"I am starting to think not only did the President not write the 'Art of the Deal,' I am thinking he didn't even read the book."
Word.
By Friday, Dr. Kelli Ward, who is trying to run to the right of the already extreme Rep. Martha McSally in the GOP primary for Sen. Jeff Flake's seat, dashed off a statement with hashtags #NoAmnesty and #WallNotDACA.
"The White House cannot fall into the trap laid by amnesty politicians like Sen. Jeff Flake and Rep. Martha McSally of Arizona," she charged, using the standard canard that border security needed to come first. "I respectfully but strongly disagree with the White House's immigration framework."
By Friday afternoon, Ann Coulter was quoting a Brietbart column hot off the presses.
Going nicely, guys. Congrats! Wait ... what?? From Sen. Durbin’s communications director.
Stephen Miller’s track record of botched rollouts is growing by the day—this debacle was just shy of his inaugural executive order known as the Muslim ban, which the White House has been reworking for a full year.
But it’s Kelly who will likely pay the biggest price for this—he’s the one Trump thinks is getting too big for his britches.
If there’s a silver lining here strategically, it’s that the GOP nativists have proven that it doesn’t matter what they get in return, they will never accept a DACA fix that actually helps rather than punishes Dreamers. That leaves Trump no place to go but to the moderates, who might actually be able to produce the votes for legislation. That’s far more than the GOP fringe can offer.