Trump seems to enjoy nothing more than to make someone beg. Like the classic bully, he goes after the weakest members of our society -- transgenders and now "dreamers." Why is anyone's guess, as they represent no threat to him, or for that matter the constituency he has chosen to cater to in this administration. Very few persons are actively calling for an end to DACA, just like few are calling for a ban on transgenders in the military.
Maybe he has to take his rage out on someone, given that Little Kim has made him look impotent, Russiagate isn't going away, and he was forced to make a return trip to Texas after showing so little heart the first time around. This time he actually visited Houston and the waterlogged parts of Louisiana that were hardest hit by Harvey. Trump never manages to get things right the first time, or for that matter any time.
Many persons dismissed his early morning tweet on a military transgender ban as a cruel joke, but after a month he actually followed through with an offical memo to carry out this action. Gen. Mattis has 6 months to review the best procedures for implementing this ban given the surprising number of transgender servicemen and women. By March, 2018, according to the White House memo, no trans service members will be allowed to stay in the military.
No official memo yet on how Trump will address the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which Obama initiated in 2012, but few are holding out hope that His Immenseness will keep this program in place. The odd part is that Republican Congressional leaders are calling on Trump to back down, but Trump is not very happy with Congress these days and will likely carry through on these deportations in open defiance. Over 800,000 young undocumented immigrants await their fate.
There was a time Republicans were actually courting Hispanics, but Trump changed the dynamic by stirring up the deeply xenophobic feelings among the conservative electorate on the campaign trail. While some of those feelings appear to have abated, Breitbart continues to insist there is a strong demand for tougher immigration policies. Bannon and Gorka may be gone from his administration, but they still seem to have Trump's ear, especially on emotional issues such as this one.
Rather than move to the center, which many political pundits thought he would do after the election, Trump has steadfastly remained to the right on key issues that put him at odds with most of the country. It seems that as long as he maintains a majority share of conservative opinion, he feels he can hold the Republican party hostage to his policies, especially Congressional leaders who face re-election bids in 2018.
McCain has the luxury of sitting out the next election cycle, which is why he responded with a blistering editorial in the Washington Post to Trump's tyrannical view of politics, urging Congress to return to regular order by seeking bipartisan solutions to health care, immigration and other pressing issues. We'll most likely have to wait until after the midterms to see any movement in this direction, as 2018 has become a mandate on Trumpism.
This is a politics driven by spite, responding to the resentment harbored by hard right conservatives in this country who feel Washington has made too many concessions when it comes to immigration and gay rights. It is shocking to see a president stoop to this level of bullying in an attempt to shore up his support among the alt-right by preying on the weakest segments of our society.
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