How low they can go

New York’s governor and mayor say that a tax bill capping Americans’ ability to deduct their state and local taxes on their federal returns is kneecapping liberal-leaning states because of their political leanings. Don’t be ridiculous, insists the White House; it was driven by solid economics.

Blue-state mayors and governors worry that the 2020 Census count soon to start is at serious risk of systematically undercounting high-population, immigrant-heavy urban areas, resulting in lower federal funding allocations, less representation in Congress and more. Enough paranoia, claim Republicans; the count will be thorough for all.

A stunning new revelation reported by the Washington Post rightly fuels Democrats’ darkest fears and undercuts every Republican claim that the machinery of government is operating in good faith.

Friday morning, the Post reported that in November, Donald Trump’s White House asked the Department of Homeland Security to consider picking up immigrant detainees —

members of caravans from Central America headed for the border — and releasing them on the streets of small- and mid-sized “sanctuary cities” as explicit political retribution for the fact that these jurisdictions do not in all cases cooperate with the feds.

The request was so alarming, even for the tough cookies at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that they rejected it out of hand as expensive and legally questionable, adding “there are PR risks as well.”

The White House claimed to have never seriously considered making ICE bow to its demands. Then Friday, after the reports, Trump himself tweeted the idea was still under active consideration.

Illegal immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans; it’s not as though the White House would’ve been putting city dwellers at grave risk. It would’ve simply cemented its reputation as acting with roughly the mindset of a junior high school student fuming about a bad breakup.

Too bad. We already know.