During today's (mostly useless) White House briefing, Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended Trump's cruel decision with regard to DACA recipients while also threatening Congress.
When asked what she would say to the 800,000 young people whose futures just became immeasurably uncertain, Huckabee Sanders was firm.
"It's not cold-hearted for the president to uphold the law," Sanders insisted. She went on to claim that we're a "nation of law and order" before making a nonsensical argument about how ignoring that law and order thing means we "throw away everything that gives these people a reason to want to come to our country."
"If we stop becoming the country that we were envisioned to be, then we throw away what makes us special, which makes America unique," she stressed. "This president's not willing to do that. The previous administration was, This one isn't."
This is where I stop and remind everyone that this administration pardoned Sheriff Joe Arpaio, which was nothing less than a middle finger to "law and order."
Huckabee Sanders then turned to acceptable legislative fixes, telling reporters the administration wants "laws that address these problems."
When asked for clarification about what bills Trump would sign and whether a clean DACA/DREAM Act would be acceptable, Huckabee Sanders would not commit. "We want responsible immigration reform and that would be part of that package and part of that process," she replied.
It appears that the administration has landed on a strategy of blaming Congress for not acting, which is actually a fair point.
Except that the nearly veto-proof immigration bill passed in 2013 by the Senate was never taken up by the House. Guess who led the charge to kill that immigration reform bill?
Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III. I have the emails to prove it. He mobilized all of his pals on the Groundswell messaging group, including Stephen K. Bannon and more to put an end to immigration reform ever passing.
If Congress manages to pass a clean DREAM Act through both houses with bipartisan support, Trump will sign it. You bet he'll sign it, because he'll get bragging rights over making Congress get something done and also in a bipartisan way.
This is just spin to appease the lathered and hardcore Trump base, for whom nothing less than a nation of white faces will suffice.
Time for Congress to toss that ball right in Trump's lap.
