In late June, U.S. District Court Judge Dana Sabraw issued a preliminary injunction requiring that the federal government reunite families that had been separated at the southern border as a result of the Trump administration’s racist and unnecessarily cruel “zero tolerance” immigration policy. Sabraw, in his ruling, demanded that children four years old and younger be returned to their parents within 14 days, with all other children being reunited with their families by July 26. [Approximately 3,000 children were taken from their families and put into federal custody as a result of the Trump administration policy. Of those, it’s been reported that 102 were four years old and younger.]
Well, as today marks Sabra’s first deadline, and as only about 38 of the 102 infants and toddlers seized by the U.S. government have yet to be returned to their families, journalists asked Donald Trump, who was leaving today for his private meeting with Vladimir Putin, what he was doing to expedite the process and comply with the court order.
Here, via the White House press pool, is what happened when Trump was asked the question.
And, yes, you read that correctly. When asked what he was doing to remedy the situation that he’d created, and return these small, terrified children to their parents, he said that the solution was for them to have never come to America in the first place. “Well, I have a solution,” Donald Trump told members of the press. “Tell people not to come to our country illegally. That’s the solution.”
The President then went on to say, “I also have a cure for those Americans dying from cancer. It’s very simple. Don’t get cancer.”
OK, I made that last part up, but he might as well have said it… I mean, who in their right mind, when asked what he’s doing to expedite the return of infants to their parents, responds by saying the solution is for them never to have come in the first place?
Here, for those of you who might doubt that President Trump would say such a thing, is the video, which was subsequently released by the White House… Apparently, not only is the administration not embarrassed by this, but they think it’ll work with their base. And, sadly, they’re probably right.
“Well, I have a solution: Tell people not to come to our country illegally. That's the solution: Don't come to our country illegally. Come like other people do—come legally. I'm saying this very simply: We have laws, we have borders. Don't come to our country illegally.” pic.twitter.com/kiwB8rJVDl
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 10, 2018
13 Comments
Being that it appears this administration separates infants from their parents and then can’t figure out which ones go with which, can we assume all other responsibilities which are as simple as this are also too challenging for them? The vast majority of challenges which face an administration are far more complex than this. This suggests they will fail similarly.
What I tried to say was that I think we can expect failures like this one to begin piling up with this administration. This shouldn’t have been such a challenge, especially since it’s something the administration is supposedly very focused upon. I can’t imagine what sorts of man-made disasters await us with regard to all those challenges this administration doesn’t see as a focus.
“Dereliction of Duty” of the highest order is what all my well informed military veteran acquaintances are saying about trump. Most incompetent regime ever. Consistent with then using authoritarian tactics in an attempt to avoid scrutiny.
That’s what I’m hearing from friends currently and formerly in the military. One West Point grad told me he takes Trump’s conduct toward NATO very personally, and considers it an offense to all those he served with, and who sacrificed so much.
With Trump at the helm, it’s clearly difficult to bring in competent, respected, experienced people. Many conservatives just don’t want to be any part of this administration. So they’re having to settle for Kelly Anne Conway types at every level. It’s inevitably going to continue to crumble.
“Many conservatives just don’t want to be any part of this administration. ”
What are you talking about. They love him.
Simply put, this administration came to power with the promise of simple answers to complex problems. And, now that they’re they’re in power, they’re realizing that there’s no such thing. “Trade wars are easy to win,” and “Arrest immigrants at the border,” may sound good to those who don’t like being talked down to by the likes of Obama and the liberal elite, who are always using big words and overthinking everything, but they don’t work as policy. Government, contrary to what the conservative populists might tell us, isn’t easy. It takes work. And this administration isn’t willing to do that work. They tear up a complex international deals, like the one with Iran that took five years to negotiate, and, I should add, was working, and they then attempt, over a handshake, to get the same kind of deal from North Korea. And, guess what? It didn’t work. We will be lucky if we survive the Idiocracy that we’ve put in place to lead us.
If people would stop being poor, there would be no more poverty.
meanwhile he is pardoning those a-hole ranchers in Oregon which when combined with this statement sends a very clear message. Don’t even think about committing a minor crime if your skin is brown or we will take your kids away but go ahead and do whatever you want if you are a white man. Anyone who supports this man is supporting a racist who is so up front about his racism that one cannot claim to support him and not be a racist themselves.
Re: “Many conservatives just don’t want to be any part of this administration. ”
It actually is true. The really competent career public servants have realized that being part of the Trump administration does not help their resumes. So they avoid appointments, leaving them to those willing to take them. It doesn’t help that Trump has been appointing some seriously bad managers to executive positions.
If one shows up at the border and asks for asylum, one is following the law.
It makes perfect sense. We don’t have to have this problem. Automatic deportation if you enter illegally. You can’t have your loophole where people who enter illegally have to be released to wait for a hearing if they say they are persecuted by their government even if they are full of shit.
Lol
Automatic jail sentence for marijuana possession. Makes perfect sense in a country based on laws.
Stupid law that will be changed soon.
“Simply put, this administration came to power with the promise of simple answers to complex problems.”
Why are you being so generous? Trump mostly sells offensive non-solutions to imaginary or exaggerated problems.
“And, now that they’re they’re in power, they’re realizing that there’s no such thing. “Trade wars are easy to win,” and “Arrest immigrants at the border,” may sound good […] but they don’t work as policy.”
Again you assume that Trump is operating in good faith as a public servant. Why is it you think Trump “realizes” his so-called simple solutions are “not working”? Working for what, exactly? The public good or his own self-interest? His “simple solutions” are not meant to solve any tangible public goal, they represent nothing more than bullshit posturing to his base.
“Government, contrary to what the conservative populists might tell us, isn’t easy. It takes work.”
No. You completely misread Trump’s brand of “conservative” “populists” (yes, that was deliberate, each term deserves its own air-quotes). They don’t think government is “easy”, they think it is overreaching and mostly unnecessary. They don’t think it’s easy, they think it should mostly be dismantled.
“And this administration isn’t willing to do that work. They tear up a complex international deals, like the one with Iran that took five years to negotiate, and, I should add, was working, and they then attempt, over a handshake, to get the same kind of deal from North Korea. And, guess what? It didn’t work.”
It didn’t work? For whom? Again, what goal do you think is important to Trump here?
“We will be lucky if we survive the Idiocracy that we’ve put in place to lead us.”
This is the only sentence of your post that I agree with.