Trump caves on immigrant children

‘Zero tolerance’ gets zero support for president

People were furious over the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents at the border. Even some Republicans voiced their displeasure.

“Let me be clear: I do not favor separating families,” Florida Gov. Rick Scott said.

Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the administration was “needlessly separating children from their parents.”

“This must stop,” declared Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Before we applaud these men for their courage, we should make a distinction. They were not opposing President Trump. They were opposing a policy of his administration. There’s a difference: Trump cares less about his policies than he does about himself. Criticizing policies is safer than criticizing the president.

Abrupt reversal

It’s also more effective. In the span of two days, Trump reversed his position on family separation and now has signed an executive order ending the practice. He doesn’t like policies that divert attention away from him.

The merits of the policy are irrelevant to Trump. His larger goal is to create drama, and the way to create drama is through division. The more bitter we are, the more better for him.

Before Trump’s flip-flop, the debate was going the opposite of smoothly. People were making Nazi analogies. Ann Coulter called the children at the detention facilities “child actors.” Tucker Carlson said liberals don’t care “about helping children.” “Their goal,” Carlson said, “is to change your country forever.” Newt Gingrich said liberals “despise and hate the United States.”

Whatever the topic, as the debate becomes less about policy and more about the depravity of our opponents, Trump benefits, if only indirectly. We emulate him when we personalize our disagreements. When things get personal, they get more emotional and less rational. Everyone starts speaking Trump’s language. He makes demagogues of us all.

On Tuesday, two weeks after White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration wanted “to unify our country,” Trump tweeted: “Democrats are the problem. They don’t care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can’t win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!”

Angry president

That same day at a business luncheon, Trump said, “Mexico does nothing for us. You heard it here. They do nothing for us.” Speaking of the U.S. intelligence community, he said, “We got some bad people that are doing bad things.” The bad people change, but the antagonism toward them does not.

To his supporters, what Trump says matters less than how he says it. As long as he’s angry, they’re happy. His policies are proxies for their feelings.

Trump was to hold a rally on Wednesday night in Duluth, Minn., for reasons that had yet to be specified. But we know the reason: Trump wanted to utter noises in front of a crowd and be applauded for it.

That he holds rallies for no other reason than to gratify his ego underscores how empty his presidency is. Typically, presidents hold rallies for some discernible purpose — to push for a piece of legislation, say, or because they’re running for office. They campaign in order to govern. Not Trump. He campaigns as a way to avoid governing.

He’s doing what his supporters elected him to do: nothing. Republicans spent years attacking Obamacare without developing an alternative to it. They merely want to fume. Many of them would rather chant “build the wall!” than actually build one.

While debating Trump’s policies, we must never lose sight of the larger issue, which is Trump himself, and the larger problem, which is ourselves.

Windsor Mann is the editor of The Quotable Hitchens: From Alcohol to Zionism.