Ben Shapiro has a useful summary and analysis of Trump's immigration plan:
I'll make a few ancillary observations:
i) There's a basic difference between a serious plan and a serious man. The plan merits serious consideration. That doesn't mean Trump is serious about the plan. So we need to separate the man from the plan.
ii) Apparently, the plan was basically ghostwritten by Jeff Sessions. Unlike Trump, Sessions takes the issue seriously.
iii) At this juncture in American history, immigration reform presents a dilemma. If, one the one hand, you allow a growing voting block to go unchallenged, it will become too powerful to oppose. If, on the other hand, the voting block already has that much clout, then a direct challenge will consign you to political oblivion for the foreseeable future.
One question is whether we've already passed that tipping point. It is too late to roll back the status quo? Can a national candidate win if he snubs that voting block?
iv) Even if that's the case, one partial solution would be to delegate major aspects of the issue to the states. Some red states could take a hardline position on illegal immigration. Blue states which pandered to illegal immigrants would decline economically, while red states would become economically stronger.
Even if it's not viable for a national candidate to take a hardline position on illegal immigration (and I'm not saying that for a fact), candidates in some red states could still run and win on that issue.
v) In addition, illegal immigration is such a multifaceted issue that even if a comprehensive hardline national policy is politically infeasible, some national provisions would still be feasible. It's not as if it must either be wholly up to the Federal gov't or wholly up to the discretion of state and local gov'ts.
vi) Finally, Democrat social policies hurt minorities. Conservatives need to engage minority communities on the fact that Democrat policies are harmful to the long-term interests of minority communities.
I would imagine lots of politicians utilize ghostwriters and policy wonks for the articulation of various positions, so I don’t think in itself this is a negative for Trump, but certainly his commitment level is suspect, yet there's only so much a sitting POTUS can do anyway, so even if he were serious and focused how much could he accomplish?
ReplyDeleteMind you I'm not defending Trump.
"Finally, Democrat social policies hurt minorities. Conservatives need to engage minority communities on the fact that Democrat policies are harmful to the long-term interests of minority communities."
ReplyDeleteI hate to tell you this, Steve, but blacks and Mestizos will never support the republican party, no matter how much the republican party tries to appeal to them. It's better for the republicans to take up "The Majority Strategy", which Donald Trump apparently is doing. He is promoting policies that appeal to the white majority (we are still a majority in the USA...at least for now). Even with our multicultural nation, if a candidate appeals enough to the white majority, there's an excellent chance that candidate can still win in the USA, as multicultural as we become.
I hate to tell you this, Mike, but the GOP lineup includes a black (Carson), an E. Indian (Jindal), and two Latinos (Rubio, Cruz). Then there's Asian-American voters.
DeleteUnfortunately I doubt the majority of white people on the West and East coasts would vote GOP.
DeleteI hate to tell you this, Mike, but all the current or potential contenders for the Democrat nomination are white: Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Jim Webb, Martin O'Malley, Lincoln Chafee, Al Gore, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren.
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