Trump's Hot Air Balloon is Ripping

[John Miller 761]

I disagree with the header. It's not 'Trump's Hot Air Balloon'. It's 'Trump, the Hot Air Balloon'. Either way, it's ripping and that is a good thing. Fun to watch, too.

Trump's Hot Air Balloon is Ripping

WASHINGTON -- Donald Trump's supporters can pretend otherwise, but deep down they must know the truth: Trump has been playing them for fools all along.

All that bluster about creating a "deportation force" to round up 11 million undocumented immigrants and kick them out of the country? Forget about it. Trump is now "softening" that ridiculous pledge, which he could never have carried out, into a new policy in which "we work with them."

Hmmm. Work with them how?

All we know of the details, so far, is what Trump said Wednesday at a town hall hosted by Sean Hannity of Fox News: "Now, everybody agrees we get the bad ones out. But when I go through and I meet thousands and thousands of people on this subject, and I've had very strong people come up to me, really great, great people come up to me, and they've said, 'Mr. Trump, I love you, but to take a person who's been here for 15 or 20 years and throw them and their family out, it's so tough, Mr. Trump.' I mean, I have it all the time. It's a very, very hard thing."

Trump talked about how such families will "pay back-taxes, they have to pay taxes," and claimed that "there's no amnesty, as such." If this is indeed Trump's revised policy, he now advocates the same basic approach as the one laid out in the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" reform bill passed three years ago by the Senate -- which immigration hard-liners derided as amnesty.

Attempts by allies to explain the complete reversal have been comic. My favorite came from Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson, who said this on CNN: "He hasn't changed his position on immigration, he's changed the words that he is saying."

That absurdist formulation sounds like something from the experimental writings of author Gertrude Stein -- who, come to think of it, gave us the perfect blanket description of the entire Trump campaign: "There is no there there."

There never was any "there" in Trump's wild promises, many of which were not just impractical but impossible. No, he was never going to be able to roust millions of people from their homes. No, he was never going to be able to ban all foreign Muslims from entering the country.

Trump continues to claim that, if elected president, he will build a wall along the entire southern border and get Mexico to pay for it. This, too, would be logistically and politically impossible, but I believe he'll keep saying it until the bitter end. He seems to think he can get away with betraying supporters on the deportation issue by hiding behind his "artistically beautiful" imaginary wall.

I realize that most of Trump's ardent fans do not take kindly to being lectured by the likes of me. But it is with a certain degree of genuine sympathy that I say what has to be said: Your candidate is a flake. A fraud. A bag of air. A con man. A joke.

I understand the frustration that made the Republican base such fertile ground for the Trump phenomenon to flourish. The GOP leadership spent the entire Obama administration making promises it knew it could not keep -- on immigration, the economy, fighting terrorism, repealing Obamacare and so on. This was good short-term politics, especially in the 2010 and 2014 midterm elections, but many voters became disillusioned with politics and politicians. Enter Trump, a non-politician with zero scruples, who quickly identified which buttons to push -- and pushed them like crazy.

I also understand that for some voters, Hillary Clinton is basically, as Trump called her, "the devil." There are those who will vote for Trump just to keep his opponent from becoming president.

But no one, at this point, should cling to the illusion that a vote for Trump is a vote for any specific policy on any given issue. Having said all kinds of outrageous things to win the nomination, he is now trying -- clumsily -- to say more moderate things in an attempt not to get crushed in November. I wouldn't take his new, "humane" immigration stance any more seriously than his earlier draconian pronouncements.

In a sense, spokeswoman Pierson was right: Trump doesn't actually have positions. He only has words.

There is anger, bigotry and ignorance behind many of those words. But mostly, where substance ought to be found, there is just arrogance and ego. Trump thinks his supporters are suckers who will line up to buy deportation one day and amnesty the next. Some champion.

[John Miller 761]

Donald Trump "seems to be morphing" into the very politician he "railed against," former primary opponent Jeb Bush said Thursday, digging into Trump's latest pivot on immigration, which political observers have noted most closely resembles the former Florida governor's own position on the issue.

“Well, I can only say that whatever his views are this morning, they might change this afternoon, and they were different than they were last night, and they'll be different tomorrow," the former governor told WABC Radio's Rita Cosby in an interview Thursday.

Bush, whose own campaign hands have expressed similar sentiments, remarked that he could not specifically comment on Trump's views because "they seem to be ever, ever changing, depending on what crowd he's in front of."

"Sounds like a typical politician, by the way, where you get in front of one crowd and say one thing, and then say something else to another crowd that may want to hear a different view," Bush continued. "All the things that Donald Trump railed against, he seems to be morphing into — it’s kind of disturbing.”

...

“I don’t know what to believe about a guy who doesn't believe in things. I mean he doesn't ... this is all a game,"

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/jeb-bush-trump-immigration-morphing-227418#ixzz4IQWEA2Ue

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

I would love to seem some intelligent discourse on these subjects. Is that asking too much?

[Teddy B 17,251]

Yes

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Yes

Aw shucks! It's disheartening that his ascension has caused all political discussion to delve into either a shouting match full of expletives or complete and utter silence in order to keep from learning anything.

[TBoneTX 43,393]

An inappropriate post has been removed.

[Hotstepper 6]

The hijacking of an established political party by this Imbecile is travesty on this nation.

History books will be opened up on this chapter decades from now with students heads in hands shouting back at the text "what we're you thinking!!?"

This isn't the 1800's where you are getting bamboozled by some snake oil salesman. It is the most technologically advanced we have ever been with information literally at finger tips ergo the most informed an electorate as ever been and yet Don has stolen all the headlines.... Be thoroughly embarrassed with yourselves

New take on Trumps foreign policy... Insert any nation into this....

[TBoneTX 43,393]

Curious as to whether you have an immigration timeline to publish.

[Hotstepper 6]

Is that a pre requisite to joining?

I see many in here who choose not to divulge for whatever reason.

Edited August 27, 2016 by Hotstepper

[TBoneTX 43,393]

As stated, curious.

[Hotstepper 6]

Well look at my initial postings and it tells you I have used the site for the guides etc but have not yet filed.... Aim to do so next month fingers crossed if all goes well with paperwork gathering.

Still I dont expect individuals to trawl through rambling posts hence why I have humoured your curiosity...

Does that satisfy ones curious tendencies?

[TBoneTX 43,393]

The Guides are a good source. Good luck with your impending process.

[Hotstepper 6]

The Guides are a good source. Good luck with your impending process.

As are the appropriate forums from those already partaking in the process. Their do's and don'ts really help too.

[TBoneTX 43,393]

Great that you're doing such thorough reading. More members should do so. Don't overlook the Australia/New Zealand forum, either.

[Hotstepper 6]

Never hurts to read up on as much as you can and dare I say it from other websites too.

Fear factor of having application rejected for dumb reasons makes me read up on all USCIS forms, evidence requirements etc...

Thanks for the suggestion, I will be AOSing and that forum has had a lot of K1 activity hence I don't review it all that much.