After diplomatic turn in Mexico, a fiery immigration speech proves the GOP nominee’s moderation to be a ruse.
Having ditched his traveling press corps, Trump’s lie that he and President Enrique Peña Nieto didn’t discuss who would pay for his border wall wasn’t exposed until the Mexican president tweeted that they had a few hours later
.. Trump and his campaign had used Peña Nieto as a prop in an opening act that served only to set up an evening stemwinder. The farce was, in hindsight, clear even before Trump approached the mic, as two of his warm-up speakers, Rudy Giuliani and Jeff Sessions, donned Trump hats that read “Make Mexico Great Again Also.”
.. He reverted to the tough talk he was unable to muster on foreign soil just hours earlier about Mexico paying for the wall.
.. Toward the end of his speech, he used the personal anecdotes of mothers whose children were killed by undocumented immigrants to further demonize “illegals.”
.. Trump’s revived bombast and the 10-pronged list of immigration policy ideas were actually a clumsy effort to obscure the fact that he is no longer vowing to immediately deport every undocumented immigrant in the country illegally
Trump’s performance raises hard question: Who’d want to be his VP?
‘I can’t imagine a truly credible person agreeing to be his running mate.’
John Weaver, who served as the campaign strategist for Kasich’s presidential bid, was more blunt: “I can’t imagine a truly credible person agreeing to be his running mate, because it would be the end of his or her political career.”
.. the short list is so short. Multiple high-level Republican sources said it is topped by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, with Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions a distant third and Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin also in the mix.
.. But there’s another, simpler reason why these two white men, both more representative of the Republican Party’s past than its future, have emerged as finalists: They actually want the job.
.. She’s expressed a willingness to join the ticket and could help the presumptive nominee with women, three-quarters of whom disapprove of him, according to an ABC News poll.
.. Trump has also courted a number of Southern governors, including Nathan Deal of Georgia, Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, Bill Haslam of Tennessee and Phil Bryant of Mississippi.
.. Tim Scott has also drawn some buzz as a potential pick. The first-term South Carolina senator is well respected in the chamber and would bring diversity to Trump’s ticket as the sole African-American GOP senator.
.. with U.S. allies and the country’s foreign policy overall, some Republicans are clamoring for names of potential secretaries of defense and state, too.
.. “Trump would be well served to identify a list of senior statesmen that he might appoint to those positions,” said one Republican senator who’s pledged to support the nominee.
Plus, it would give the media and the GOP something to talk about besides the latest Trump controversy.
.. Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is practically despondent over Trump these days, after visiting with the presumptive nominee
Sessions to GOP: Adapt to Trump or die
“My advice is to listen and accept the will of the American people, the Republican voters — the Republican Party is the Republican voters,” he added — a pointed reference to Ryan’s suggestion that he, and not the presumptive party nominee, represents authentic conservative values. “Give me a break! A lot of our drift within our party has gotten away from [the will of the voters]. … I think the leaders in all parties tend to adjust to reality. They just have to or they won’t remain in office. … Already many are sensing it.”
.. But he’s clearly positioned himself as Trump’s man on the Hill
.. “He has said this is going to be a new Republican Party, a workers’ Republican Party, instead of just the elite Republican Party,” said Sessions, who was quietly ridiculed by other GOP senators when he embraced (but didn’t quite endorse) Trump last summer.
.. the foundation of his argument is that everything-except-Trump has already failed, so why not give the people what they want?
.. Like many Southern Republicans of his generation, Sessions views the civil rights era as settled history, not an ongoing issue that remains unresolved.
.. When I asked about the views of family and neighbors during that period, he spoke in generalities but referred to criticism by civil rights advocates as “attacks” on the Alabama system. “They would react defensively and too strongly, so the attacks would be taken as a personal attack on everything I’ve ever done, and basically you’re an evil person,” he said. “Emotionally, it was — one moment would be defensive and the next moment a recognition that this was not a sustainable lifestyle and it had to change, and it was wrong.”