From Derb published on Unz.com: Slipping Backwards On Immigration—Get On It, Mr. President!
You got elected largely on this, Mr. President. We’re a year and a half in, and nothing’s happened.
And that’s pretty much what I predicted in early 2017 would happen–nothing. At the time I felt maybe I had jumped to conclusions and was being too hard on Trump, but in retrospect I was right, as this blog often is.
No argument from me on that; but hey, guy, you’re the President. Have your people draft up some laws, then pitch them to Congress. That’s our system, that’s what you’re supposed to do. The laws won’t change by themselves, and the congresscritters won’t do anything unless you bully them.
Exactly. You get the sense Trump just does not have the motivation or drive to want to do more than pound away on Twitter, which is still better than Hillary would have been, but some voters probably expected more engagement as far as legislation and governing are concerned. This demonstrates the potential problem of electing celebrities to high office. They don’t really understand how the controls work. They can grasp the issues, but beyond that they can’t do much. Imagine the presidency can be likened to the cockpit of a 747 flight simulator. There is a vast array of controls, dials, levers, screens, etc., but to fly the plane you only need to know a small number of these instruments, but to take full advantage of the simulation you need to know all of them. Trump is is only running the simulation partially, using the controls necessary to fly the plane, but not enough to take full advantage of the simulator and everything it has to offer. Bill Clinton, however, used the simulation to the full extent possible. As discussed earlier, Republican politicians tend to be more detached and delegate a lot, compared to Democrats, who take a much more active role. This could partially explain why the ‘left’ has had more victories over the past 100 years in terms of culture wars than the ‘right’.
Trump has the power to draft legislation, to make a case to Congress, to negotiate, etc. If Congress fails to pass an anti-immigration bill and or House Republicans defect, he can hold it against them. Even if he fails to get legislation through, he can still say he tried, and voters will respect that, and he can hold the failure against his opposition. Furthermore, a failed bill can help generate momentum and the groundwrok for one that may later be successful, such as how Clinton’s failed healthcare initiative in 1992 laid the groundwork for Obamacare.
This comment from the above Unz.com article stood out:
trump is cucking on immigration, which is why the media is being flooded with stories about how trump is yelling at his staff (in particular DHS head Kirstjen Nielsen) about illegal immigration not being stopped…these stories about him being surrounded by pro-immigration cucks like Kirstjen Nielsen are meant to shore up his support among his base…and the media is helping him do it…think about it…why would the elite media do this for trump?
So, the media stories about him yelling at this staff about illegal immigration will allow him to cuck on legal immigration….
there is no political solution to these problems. You know that, right?
You see the signalling effect as discussed earlier. Trump does not need to actually do anything about immigration, but, with the help of the media, create the illusion he is being tough on illegal immigration, and that is good enough to retain the support of his base.