Form Vox Day The moment of truth
This is the moment of truth, because it is clear that the invaders believe Trump is bluffing and will not permit the U.S. military to utilize violent force to defend the border. And now that they have called, he has to either follow through or fold.
Despite the the media’s portrayal of Trump as uninhibited, Trump cares a lot about optics. The military useing lethal force against non-violent illegals is very bad optics (as far the Trump is concerned), and there is absolutely no way that is going to happen. Also it would be against the law. As it turns out, the options of border troops are pretty limited. From Vox The US is sending 5,000 troops to the border. Here’s what they can and can’t do.:
The US military is barred from using its capabilities directly to enforce US domestic laws — including immigration laws — unless Congress specifically authorizes it to do so. This measure, known as “posse comitatus,” is why US troops can only support US border agents, but not take direct action themselves.
Vox Day writes:
Trump likes to consider himself a tough negotiator and he is certainly an effective one. But if he folds here, he will lose a considerable amount of credibility with even his strongest supporters and significantly increase the currently low odds that he will lose in 2020. This is the moment when he has to be willing to utilize violence to Make America Great Again; if he is not, then he’s going to find all of his bluffs being called with impunity by his opponents, foreign and domestic.
As I observed well over a year ago, Trump is more of a manager than a commander. This gives him an edge regarding foreign policy because he is able to patiently negotiate deals, but it possibly puts him at a disadvantage regarding domestic policy and dealing with an obstinate Congress. Trump tweets a tough game, but follow-through has proven far more elusive. Remember the Harley Davidson jobs tweet, tweets about drug prices, tweets about Google censorship, tweets about USPS and Amazon, etc. That’s why globalists and other elite aren’t losing much sleep over Trump, because he cannot do that much.
As I wrote earlier, Trump’s inaction on immigration does not threaten his reelection hopes that much. We want to believe that immigration is an ultimatum on Trump, but it is not. Politics is about sentiment and /identity/tribalism first, issues and policy second. It always has been, always will be. The overwhelming majority of Trump voters are voting for him because he’s not a democrat. Second, because he conveys toughness against immigrants, and also his overall demeanor and brand. Also, many voters (except for those who pay close attention to policy, who are of the minority) cannot tell the difference between policy and sentiment. When Trump talks tough on Amazon in a tweet, which gets a lot of media coverage further amplifying Trump’s message, many people are likely inclined to believe Trump actually took action against Amazon, but he didn’t. It is just seemed like he did.