| Oooh, a brown skinned person! How'd he get in here? |
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is still notching policy wins after his return to the right-wing website Breitbart. President Donald Trump’s decision to end Obama-era protections for undocumented immigrants brought as children to the U.S. by their parents is a major victory for Bannon and Breitbart — and they know it.
“This is a huge step in the right direction for the Trump administration, and for Breitbart as we cover the stories that most of the rest of the media ignore on immigration like crimes committed by illegal aliens including so-called Dreamers, the economic and cultural effects on American workers of large scale legal and illegal immigration, and the forgotten man and woman President Trump honed in on during the 2016 race and in his inauguration speech,” a senior Breitbart editor who was not authorized to speak on the record told HuffPost.
Breitbart was a primary source of the push to repeal DACA, which covers approximately 800,000 people. The site has sometimes published multiple stories per day promoting repeal and praising DACA opponents, while attacking Democrats and Republicans who support the program. At one point on Tuesday, nine of the site’s 10 most popular stories were about Trump’s DACA repeal (or, in one case, about Hillary Clinton’s DACA support). It’s no surprise that Breitbart sees a victory here: The site has served for years as the most prominent platform for anti-immigration organizations and politicians to promote their views.
However while Steve Bannon and the racist visitors to Breitbart are partying like it's 1899, the rest of the country is having a completely different reaction.
Courtesy of Politico:
Voters overwhelmingly support allowing undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to stay in the country, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll, placing President Donald Trump’s decision to wind down the controversial Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program at odds with public opinion.
A majority of voters, 58 percent, think these undocumented immigrants, also known as Dreamers, should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements — a sentiment that goes well beyond the existing DACA program. Another 18 percent think they should be allowed to stay and become legal residents, but not citizens. Only 15 percent think they should be removed or deported from the country.
I guess most of these folks are not fans of Breitbart.
And then there were the protests:
Thousands marched across the Brooklyn Bridge Tuesday evening in protest after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the Trump administration is ending the DACA program.
At least 13 were arrested, including one New York council member, adding to the 34 who were arrested hours earlier outside Trump Tower.
Earlier in the day, hundreds of immigrants and advocates from across the tri-state demonstrated in Manhattan and in Washington, D.C.
There were also other protests in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, just to name a few.
But what be most troubling to Trump is that this decision has created a rift between him and many of his evangelical supporters.
Courtesy of the Washington Post:
Religious leaders, including some of the evangelicals who have remained steadfast in their support for Trump, expressed their disappointment that Trump would reverse the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
In a strongly worded statement, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops called the decision “reprehensible.”
“Now, after months of anxiety and fear about their futures, these brave young people face deportation,” they wrote. “This decision is unacceptable and does not reflect who we are as Americans.”
The Catholic Church’s ties to dreamers are direct. About 1 in 4 U.S. Catholics are foreign born, and 34 percent of all Catholics are Hispanic, according to Pew Research Center. Still, the overall Catholic vote in 2016 was split between Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, though Hispanic Catholics overwhelmingly supported Clinton.
The criticism was echoed by local Catholic leaders, including Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, who has a close relationship with Pope Francis. He called the decision “very regrettable and harmful.”
The United Methodist Church was even sharper in its rebuke, calling the efforts to “rescind these protections, not only unconscionable, but contrary to moral work and witness.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church, a major mainline Protestant denomination, wrote that its members would “pray today for those that will suffer undue repercussions due to the end of this program.”
Even some of the faith leaders closest to Trump urged him not to end the protection for young immigrants. Some prominent evangelicals signed joint letters compelling Trump to leave the program in place while Congress works on a more permanent legislative solution.
This decision has essentially only satisfied the most racist fringe of Trump's base, the neo-Nazi/KKK branch if you will.
No wonder Trump sent Jeff "The Keebler Elf" Sessions out to make the actual announcement, while Trump himself hides under his bed.
It almost seems as if Trump is trying to get as many people as possible to hate him before he leaves office.
