President Donald Trump’s team is worried that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have gone too far in enforcing his immigration policy in Minnesota and elsewhere, Axios reported on Friday.
At least, that’s what some unnamed “top Trump adviser” told the outlet, a comment about as believable as Trump’s doctor’s 2015 claim that he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
“I wouldn’t say he’s concerned about the policy,” the adviser told Axios. “He wants deportations. He wants mass deportations. What he doesn’t want is what people are seeing. He doesn’t like the way it looks. It looks bad, so he’s expressed some discomfort at that.”
Of course, if you believe Trump isn’t relishing seeing ICE terrorize immigrants and protesters, then I have a bridge to sell you.
Trump has called anyone who doesn’t blindly back his actions enemies. He’s giddily moved to inflict pain and suffering on the poorest Americans by pulling aid to states that didn’t vote for him. And he’s relished in making his perceived political opponents squirm by corruptly ordering them to be prosecuted on frivolous charges.
What’s more, Trump didn’t condemn the ICE agent who killed Minnesotan Renee Good in cold blood. Instead, he slandered Good as a “professional agitator” who was “highly disrespectful” to ICE.
Put simply, it’s bullshit that Trump thinks ICE’s tactics are wrong.
However, if we believe this Trump adviser, then the president is right that ICE’s chaos is politically damaging.
According to Axios’ report, Trump’s team has viewed internal polling that showed support for Trump’s immigration policies fading, with 60% of independents and 58% of undecided voters saying Trump was “too focused” on deportations.
Public polling shows the same thing, with support for Trump’s immigration policy now deeply underwater and approval of Trump’s ICE goons in free fall.
For example, a CNN/SSRS poll published Friday found that just 42% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, while a whopping 58% disapprove. And a new Navigator Research survey found just 37% of registered voters have a favorable view of ICE, while 57% view it unfavorably.
Will that make Trump order ICE to stand down? Unlikely.
On Friday, he cranked up the temperature, lying about Minnesotans upset with ICE’s actions and raising the specter of sending in the military—a move that would inflame tensions.
“In Minnesota, the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control, and our currently being rendered, USELESS! If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY!”
Don’t believe anonymous Trump aides saying he “doesn’t like” the horrific violence we’re all witnessing. Trump’s team wantonly lies about things that are easily disprovable with video evidence.
At the end of the day, Trump is a racist who wants to deport as many people as he can, and he will continue to do so as long as the Republican-controlled Congress and the courts let him.
