Yanking Our Chain

Donald Trump, reportedly, was displeased about some of the questions posed to him Thursday in an interview with conservative radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt.  Questions about Middle East, including the Quds and the Kurds and General  Qassem Soleiman confused the candidate, who in two separate tweets later complained about "typical 'gotcha' questions" by "just a 3rd rate 'gotcha' guy!"

Hewitt producer Marlon Bateman responded, Digby noted, with a tweet noting she had received a note from Trump reading "Please tell Hugh Hewitt it was my great honor- loved the U.N. 'waste' question. See him soon.".  Bateman asked, accordingly, "Why would you tell me it was a 'great honor' to come on our 'third-rate' show?"

There is no indication the producer's question was rhetorical, but it might as well have been.

In his report entitled "Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again" issued on August 16, the candidate wrote "All criminal aliens must be returned to their home countries, a process which can be aided by canceling any visas to foreign countries [that] will not accept their own criminals, and making it a separate and additional crime to commit an offense while here illegally." That day on Meet the Press (video, below) he emphasized "We’re going to keep the families together, but they have to go.”

Clear, unambiguous, and definitive- or maybe not. Javier Palomerez, president and CEO of the US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, appeared on Tuesday's All In With Chris Hayes.   When Palomerez stated "The Donald Trump that I met today and that I sat with today was very different from the Donald Trump that I saw in the media," Hayes asked "what do you mean by that?" and Palomerez responded

The Donald Trump I sat with today was hospitable, he was a gentleman. He listened much more than he spoke. He asked questions.

We continue to disagree, particularly on the wall. We agreed on this notion of mass deportation of 11 million people. And we continued to agree on the fact that we will not use Trump properties.

After Palomerez continued for a moment, Hayes asked about the DREAMers, those people who dream. But in what otherwise was a very good interview, he failed to ask "What do you mean Trump doesn't want to deport the 11 million illegal immigrants?"

Immigration is the issue around which the Trump campaign revolves.  He now has said (semi-privately) that illegal immigrants can stay. He repeatedly has maintained that the USA should build a wall on the Mexican border, for which the government of Mexico will pay. "There have been a lot of dumb ideas put out. The one that said the Mexicans will pay for the wall is probably the dumbest of dumb ideas," in a rare sensible remark by Rand  Paul.   And we learned this past week that in private, he believes that it is an "honor"  to chat it up with "a 3rd rate gotcha guy."

Give Trump enough time, and he'll tell someone- confidentially, of course- that Barack Obama was born in the USA, is a tough negotiator, and would beat him in golf.







 




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