WASHINGTON – What is Donald Trump’s secret? He is a “joyful warrior” who understands the “entertainment value” of politics. He is “outrageous” and “spontaneous” and “fun to watch.” Bryan Cranston, the star of “Breaking Bad,” finds Trump’s “I don’t give a s–” attitude a “surprise benefit to the country” and “refreshing.”
But this is reality television with a kick. Trump’s first stab at policy is an immigration plan involving mass deportation and an end to birthright citizenship.
Here is Trump explaining his proposal to Bill O’Reilly on Fox News: “We’re losing so much to so many,” including the jobs they’re “taking” and “a literal crime wave.” “We have to do something about it,” Trump explained, because “we’re losing our country.” The plain meaning of the 14th Amendment – which states that anyone born in the United States is a citizen – won’t be an obstacle to deportations because “many lawyers are saying that’s not the way it is.”
Michael GersonAnd then there was this exchange: “Do you envision federal police kicking in the doors in barrios around the country and dragging families out and putting them on a bus?” asked O’Reilly. “We have to start a process where we take back our country,” responded Trump. “Our country is going to hell. We have to start a process where we take back our country.”
It is all fun and games until the mass roundups begin. This summer’s main form of public entertainment is proposing a contraction in the protections of the 14th Amendment and a continent-wide dragnet to capture and deport more than 11 million men, women and children, overwhelmingly of Latino background, because, in Trump’s view, they are taking the country and causing it to go to hell.