Ross: Are President Trump’s policies intentionally incoherent?
Apr 8, 2019, 7:10 AM | Updated: Apr 11, 2019, 11:23 am
(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
I was prepared to talk today about the president’s threat of a complete border shutdown and epic tariffs. But then, he decided not to do either.
RELATED: Let’s make a deal on health care and immigration
RELATED: How not to be a traitor to the United States of America
Then I figured I’d talk about him standing at the California border and declaring “America was full,” and that refugees should turn around and go home.
Until it turned out that even though the country was completely overbooked, the Department of Homeland Security was officially doubling the number of workers allowed to come across legally to work seasonal jobs as landscapers and maids.
So what can you say when it looks like there’s no coherent policy here? Unless, the incoherence is the policy.
Could it be he understands that if he followed through on things like more tariffs, and complete border shutdowns – and even the Obamacare repeal – it would be his own supporters who suffered?
The President’s critics are convinced this whiplash approach indicates some deep personality disorder involving Russians or Deutsche Bank, but maybe it’s more easily explained.
What does a leader do when his supporters pack into rallies to cheer for policies that would leave them worse off?
What choice does he have but to proclaim that he’s doing all this stuff, and then quietly not do it? What can he do but to order cabinet officers to do the impossible, and then fire them when they can’t?
It almost makes you feel sorry. Almost.