It wasn’t all that long ago that Donald Trump used a brutally black-and-white, absolutist position on illegal immigration to distinguish himself from the rest of the GOP presidential hopefuls. Building a wall, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants (more than half of whom have been in the US over a decade), eliminating “anchor babies,” and so forth were his clarion call and rallying cry. Trump had figured out that immigration had emerged as the signature issue of the primaries and turned it into his ticket to the top.
The anti-immigrant (or anti-illegal-immigrant, as some dissemble) prioritization has long perplexed me, given that it’s a relative triviality compared to the legitimately big issues of the day (government spending, economic lethargy, regulation run amok, erosion of rights… the list of what I’d put ahead of immigration is long), but my puzzlement doesn’t mean it’s not true. The conservative blogosphere has shown that the real fire in the bellies of the Right emerges for only a couple issues, and immigration may very well be Number One.
So, now that Trump is softening or muddying his position on immigration, and backing off his original promises (except when he’s not – he’s not exactly coherent or consistent in defining his position), what do his fans think?
If you were a supporter of a different GOP candidate, but are resigned to voting for Trump out of party loyalty or because of a greater antipathy for Clinton, this question is not for you. While many pretend otherwise, it is a fact that Trump won the GOP primary, and he didn’t do so because everyone held their noses to vote for him. Nor did he do so because he was deemed the candidate most likely to defeat Clinton. Trump got a lot of votes from people who genuinely supported him and his policies, immigration in particular.
The question is for the voters who first put Trump on the map, who saw their wishes fulfilled by his candidacy.
Now that he’s abandoned his raison d’être, how do you feel? Are you still supporting him, saying in essence “I’m letting you get away with lying to me?”
Or, are you going to pretend that you knew all along that he wouldn’t or couldn’t fulfill his promises on immigration? If so, why support him over others? Why choose the loose cannon, the man who polled terribly against Clinton, instead of any of several candidates who didn’t come with all Trump’s negatives?
Did you dismiss Candidate X because he or she was “wrong” on one issue? Did you apply a higher standard to the other candidates? Or were you taken in by the carnival barker’s over-the-top promises?
Will any of you, who chose Trump because of his immigration hard-line, now withhold your votes? I’m not holding my breath.
Frankly, I welcome this backtracking. His original position was absurd. It was hateful, immoral, and certain to be destructive both economically and to liberty. If he ends up winning the White House, it suggests we mightn’t see black-clad dragoons loading Hispanic families onto buses. My question, though, remains. If you supported Trump because you wanted mass deportations – what do you have to say now?
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