Daily Mail:
A defiant Donald Trump told a giant swell of fans Wednesday night in Phoenix that he will build his famed border wall, and reiterated that Mexico will foot the bill.
'We will build a great wall along the southern border. And Mexico will pay for the wall. One hundred percent,' Trump said.
'They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for it.'
Trump met Wednesday afternoon with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto, and praised him in Phoenix as 'wonderful.' But he held firm on sending Mexico City a bill for the wall's construction.
'They're great people, great leaders, but they're going to pay for the wall.'
'On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful southern wall,' Trump boasted.
He pledged to employ technologies to harden the barrier, including 'above and below ground sensors' along with 'towers, aerial surveillance and manpower.'
This, he said, would 'supplement the wall, find and dislocate tunnels and keep out criminal cartels.'
Trump said that after meeting with Nieto, he trusts 'Mexico will work with us. I really believe it.'
'They will work with us, they really will. They want to solve this problem with us,' he said of the drugs, guns, money and illegal immigrants who cross the border every day.
Trump's speech came just a short time after Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto directly challenged Trump after his historic visit to Mexico City on Wednesday, insisting he had told the Republican that his country will not pay for a wall along the border.
...Nieto spokesman Eduardo Sánchez told a Wall Street Journal reporter that Trump had told the truth – because the Mexican president had made a defiant statement but the American never responded.
'Mr. Trump was not lying... because there was no discussion,' Sánchez said.
That is hardball politics folks, and Trump pulled it off like a pro.
On the other side...
ABC News:
Hillary Clinton [yesterday] used her first public event in nearly a week to bash Donald Trump for “dropping in” on Mexico, saying building relationships takes more than “a photo op.”
"You don't build a coalition by insulting our friends or acting like a loose cannon. You do it by putting in the slow, hard work of building relationships," the Democratic presidential nominee and former secretary of state said during remarks at the American Legion's national convention in Cincinnati, referring to her Republican opponent.
"Getting countries working together was my job every day as your secretary of state. It's more than a photo op. It takes consistency and reliability. Actually, it's just like building personal relationships. People have got to know that they can count on you, that you won't say one thing one day and something totally different the next.
"And," she added, "it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again. That is not how it works."
Trump accepted an invitation from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto on Tuesday to meet [yesterday] before Trump gives a speech on immigration [last night] in Phoenix.Excuse me Hillary, but Trump was invited, and he accepted? Isn't that good diplomacy?
Frankly, Hillary's entire response has shrill partisanship about it. While she is right about diplomacy taking time, that is the work of diplomats, not presidents.
From the sound of the meeting, Trump did what a good head of state does: Remain above the fray. In poker terms, Trump was giving Nieto his poker face. Trump knows the hand isn't over yet. There is still much playing to be done.
Speaking of Trump, he followed up his Mexico trip with a speech about his immigration policy:
CNN:
Donald Trump vowed Wednesday "there will be no amnesty," -- making his case for a United States less hospitable to, and accessible for, undocumented immigrants.
But amid the hardline bluster, Trump didn't repeat his previous commitment to round up and deport all 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the United States -- focusing instead on a narrower subset who have committed crimes within the country, and pointedly insisting those already here will have no path to citizenship.That said, let's roll:
"Anyone who is in the United States illegally is subject to deportation."That sounds pretty common sense to me. Trump's elaboration was perfect:
"For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and one route only. To return home and apply for re-entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system that I have outlined today," the Republican presidential nominee said.While I am in favor of an easier immigration system, I also believe the law must be respected, or else government has no purpose whatsoever. As Georgia's former Attorney General Thurbert Baker once told people who were angry at him over the Genarlow Wilson case, that it was his job to enforce the law, and if they didn't like it they could change the law.
(On a side note, Baker is one of the few Democrats alive for whom I would ever consider voting.)
On to the next line:
"Mexico will pay for the wall. 100%. They don't know it yet, but they're going to pay for the wall."I suspect Trump has an ace up his sleeve. The only thing I can imagine is that Trump plans to tax money transfers from the U.S. to Mexico. This would effectively get enough money to pay for the wall, and thereby make Mexico pay for it. Unfortunately, this would also kill all trade between the two countries. However, if Mexico calls this bluff, it would hurt both countries, but it would hurt Mexico more. It might be cheaper for them to pay for the wall directly.
"Maybe they'll be able to deport [Hillary Clinton]."CNN needs a sense of humor. Trump is making a joke here.
"It's our right as a sovereign nation to choose immigrants that we think are the likeliest to thrive and flourish and love us."Trump is correct, although this begs a greater question: How do we enforce this?
If the United States acted as a "good citizen" within the world community, this wouldn't require much special enforcement, since anyone coming to the U.S. would most likely already love us. But since we are involved in a de facto war on Islam, this becomes much harder.
"Within ICE I'm going to create a new special deportation task force."(*tongue firmly planted in cheek*) Because more government bureaucracy is always the solution to any problem...
...Trump shifted his emphasis -- saying those officers would work with local and state law enforcement officials to round up criminals immediately, rather than suggesting they'd boot all undocumented immigrants, regardless of their actions within the United States.Seriously, isn't this already the ICE's job?
"If we can save American lives, American jobs and American futures, together we can save America itself."Nice line, but fixing immigration won't do most of these things. Consider these other factors:
- The crime rate is already low, mostly because we have increased the prison population, thanks to our absurd war on drugs.
- With the Baby Boomers retiring, one would think American jobs would be plentiful, except...
- The automation of the American workforce continues apace.
Finally:
"Anyone who tells you the core issue is the needs of those living here illegally has simply spent too much time in Washington."
I never could understand how politicians could easily ignore the "living here illegally" aspect to commiserate with illegal immigrants. This is a simple thing: Fix the system first, and quit trying to work around it. Or to paraphrase our current idiot-in-chief's favorite lie, "If you like your illegal immigrants, you can keep them." Just make it easier for them to come to our country.
Politically, Trump had an awesome day, fully sucking all the air out of the news cycle, leaving Hillary without anything to breathe. With what oxygen there was, Hillary managed to look like the old shrew which her opponents accuse her of being. By lecturing Trump on what diplomacy is supposed to be, she sounded like a curmudgeonly Washington insider.
The greatest irony in all this: The Mexican president started this by inviting Trump to talk. Trump turned it to his own advantage, while Hillary's counter-attack was an epic failure. My hat is off to Trump. This was political Zen mastery.
No comments:
Post a Comment