It's Time For Trump to Tell Stephen Miller 'You're Fired' and Chart a New Course On Immigration

Miller's enforcement-plus agenda is destroying Trump's presidency.

Jonathan McInstosh via Foter.com

Having been elected on an anti-immigration platform, President Donald Trump thought that pushing an aggressively restrictionist agenda would be the path to success. He hired the ultra-restrictionist Stephen Miller—a man who reportedly said he "would be happy if not a single refugee foot ever again touched American soil"—to become the architect of his immigration strategy.

Miller, however, has led Trump into one debacle after another with his enforcement-plus agenda. He is the mastermind behind both the government shutdowns that helped Trump snatch defeat from the jaws of a deal.

A visibly chastened Trump finally reopened the government Friday after the second shutdown, but only for three weeks. During this time, a bipartisan group of lawmakers have been tasked with hammering out an immigration deal. But the odds that Democrats will give Trump money for his border barrier are quite low because they know that it is a losing issue for Trump. After all, during the last round, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't pay a political price for her intransigence; Trump did for his stubborn insistence on a wall. Even his base got fed up and started abandoning him.

If, despite trying so hard, Trump can't push his border wall and enforcement agenda through Congress—even when his own party controlled it—it shows that outside of Trump's hardcore base, there is just not enough support for this approach. Americans are interested in border security, yes, but not walls or keeping out immigrants, as Miller wants.

Hence, in a few weeks, Trump will have a choice again, I point out in my column at The Week. He can keep on the Miller path and turn his presidency into a complete zero. Or he can pull a Nixon-goes-to-China move, fire Miller, and pivot toward innovative market-based reforms that enhance border security and mitigate any negative impact of immigration while welcoming immigrants.

These are win-win options if Trump would care to pursue them.

Go here to read the column.

Comments

[DajjaI]

Most of Trump's base is interested in enhancing border security ? not necessarily tormenting immigrants.

Obviously you never read the comments on your own articles. His base is a sadistic bunch. There is no appeasing them. However as libertarians we are wasting an opportunity to get the DACA kids to join us. If they renounce welfare and advocate for freedom and equal rights without squishy exceptions, then they can be considered American and we will have no choice but to accept them with open arms. #umaysayimadreamer

[John]

There is no appeasing them. It is a good thing that people like you and Dalmia are so reasonable and willing to meet half way instead of being complete fanatics who will argue against any deportation no matter how justified and any enforcement of the law no matter how slight.

yeah, it is everyone else who is unreasonable. That is the ticket.

[DajjaI]

You know the thing is, John, I actually support deportation and Trump's wall. Because unless these immigrants are libertarian, they present a long term demographic threat to the country. I'm just trying to propose a reasonable middle ground. No one ever gets everything they want. (As a bad hombre whose 'homeland' is Israel, I admittedly have a stake in this issue.)

[John]

I think there is a reasonable middle.

[Bearded Spock]

Careful Dajjal you might end up getting called a racist for such talk. Using terms like "demographic threat" and implying that foreign cultures or traditions are incompatible with Western political systems is what those MAGA-hat-wearing Daily Stormers do.

According to Reason, illegal immigrants love freedom more than anyone else, would never dream of accepting a penny of welfare, and are especially scrupulous in their obedience of federal, state, and local laws.

In effect, they are more American than Americans and if you disagree then you're a White Nationalist.

[Tony]

You do know that lots of white people accept welfare.

[Homple]

So let's import more people to add to the welfare rolls.

[Tony]

Nobody believes that's what you people actually care about.

Besides, as Republicans have taught us in several successive Republican-controlled governments spanning my entire lifetime, it's not like they're actually spending anyone's money.*

*As soon as the president is a Democrat, you'll suddenly start caring about deficit spending, and you'll get where I'm coming from.

[Titanian]

"Nobody believes that's what you people actually care about."

Yes Tony, we know you engage in projection.

[Homple]

For what it's worth, I think deficit spending, supported by both parties, will probably wreck the country.

[loveconstitution1789]

Tony actually believes that Socialism and the destruction of the USA garner wide support in the USA.

He is proved wrong constantly but like sticking his dick into dirty holes, he keeps at it.

[Hank Phillips]

A lot of LP-influenced white girls believe they have some sort of individual right to have a say in reproduction. While Comstock Law Republicans are pointing at locust-swarms of Stalinistas struggling to make these the United States of Venezuela, they are selling that Purlin Wall. Then once it's up, attention can turn to godless Canada welcoming what could otherwise be the flower of Aryan motherhood--except that Canooks have no abortion laws whatsoever! Once the Northern Wall is up, military conscription can safely resume and focus on proper Christian racial deployment policies in countries overdue for invasion.

[Fancylad]

"except that Canooks have no abortion laws whatsoever"
The Canadian federal government you mean. The Provinces who run their own healthcare systems regulate it though, just like how the US States do.
And nobody else on the planet allows a full term baby to be killed like New York does, so you Aktion T4 aficionados can have a proud fap about that...

[chemjeff radical individualist]

foreign cultures or traditions are incompatible with Western political systems is what those MAGA-hat-wearing Daily Stormers do.

There is a difference between recognizing difference in cultures, and using that difference to justify discriminatory acts against people belonging to those different cultures.

What exactly is wrong with a live-and-let-live attitude towards people of different cultural traditions?

[I can't even]

We allow them to vote, not just live?

[Ryan (formally HFTO)]

HEY JEFF!

There you are... Question for ya

If you ran our immigration policy, would you allow ISIS members to gain entry into the US?

[Agammamon]

Does it matter? Nobody's been able to stop them so far. Being 3,000 miles away has proven more effective than all the 'border security' measures implemented in . . . the history of the country.

[Ryan (formally HFTO)]

If one of them applied for a visa, would you allow them to come? Why or why not?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

would never dream of accepting a penny of welfare

Who created the welfare state? Was it Guatemalan immigrants? No.

Is it "un-American" to accept welfare? If so, then why do so many Americans accept welfare?

[Titanian]

Who cares? And why do you continue to deflect with this bullshit?

Yes, white american citizens accept welfare. It's not great that they do that. It also has fuckall to do with immigration except as a deflection.

[Tony]

Except that illegal immigrants are a boon to the welfare state what with them skewing younger than the general population while usually paying into the system without taking benefits, a fact supported by numbers.

Not that racists ever let data get in the way of their horrible stupidity.

[Titanian]

"with them skewing younger than the general population while usually paying into the system without taking benefits, a fact supported by numbers."

Which you conveniently left out.

And which get fisked to death when they are included, and result in not much value beyond demagoguing.

We live in a world where the stats you rely on can be ginned up at any time to say anything your handlers want. Anti-immigrant stats can and are ginned up just as easily.

That you still stupidly peddle them shows just how ignorant you are of the nature of current discourse on the subject.

[Tony]

So you're admitting your hysterical anti-immigrant position is based on, at best, flimsy data?

[chemjeff radical individualist]

More like, he will refuse to believe facts and data, because he can generate "alternative facts" to justify any position he wants.

[Nardz]

Which is the exact same tack you, and other pro illegal immigration advocates, take.

Nations have borders, and a government that either cannot or will not secure and defend its border from unauthorized entry invalidates its claim to a monopoly on the legitimate use of force, as it is unable or refuses to maintain integrity of a nation.

[loveconstitution1789]

Most open border advocates argue via hypebole instead of simply saying that they want open borders.Ken Schultz is an exception here. He has his position and sees that the open border hyperbole is fucking up his position's support from Americans.

Some Secure border advocates simply say that they want more secure borders and Americans should choose. No hyperbole used.

[Tony]

You don't seem to be too worked up about Germans touring France. Or Canadians coming here.

[loveconstitution1789]

What race are Americans anyways?

Border security is not about racism at all.

[Dillinger]

what race is any person?

[loveconstitution1789]

Definition of race
1 : a breeding stock of animals
2a : a family, tribe, people, or nation belonging to the same stock
b : a class or kind of people unified by shared interests, habits, or characteristics
3a : an actually or potentially interbreeding group within a species also : a taxonomic category (such as a subspecies) representing such a group
b : breed
c : a category of humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits

[Dillinger]

under who's authority? yikes. people are people.

[loveconstitution1789]

Tony's only argument against border security is calling Americans racists.

He has yet to identify what race Americans are that they feel they are better than other races.

[grb]

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Go back to the mid-Nineteenth Century and you find sleazy politicians herding Bearded-Spock-Types into a docile and easily-controlled mob, obediently shrieking Catholics, Irish and Italians are brutes and sub-human vermin. Look around the world today and see the same tune played in endless variations. In Hungary, the chumps are told the threat is Jewish financiers. In Greece, dupes are somehow stoked into rage over tiny Macedonia's name. You'd think people would get tired of being manipulated, but they never do. Trump actually convinces his sheep that a crowd of men, women and children hobbling on foot is some "invasion force". He rushes troops to the border with the theatrical flare of a banana-republic clown. His base? They eat that feces up like it's gourmet fare.

[Nardz]

You're dumb, but I admit you've memorized the narrative well.

[Hank Phillips]

If we must have foreign aid, what about arming the strong military-age migrants fleeing Cuba, Venezuela, the Ottoman satrapies and sand-people monarchies all over Africa and sending them back via parachute drop as freedom fighters with supplies and ammo? That would be a nation-building strategy similar to what Reason Magazine used to write about back when Ronald Reagan was more interested in fighting communism than in bringing back Herbert Hooverville Prohibition.

[Tony]

fanatics who will argue against any deportation no matter how justified

When you describe them like that, they do sound unreasonable!

What a top-class brain you have on your shoulders.

[loveconstitution1789]

Poor Tony. He can't convince others so he posts things like this.

[Fancylad]

Just like Shikha, for rhetorical purposes Dajjal deliberately conflates people willfully breaking the law, with law abiding people taking the proper steps to citizenship.

[Dillinger]

>>>If they renounce welfare and advocate for freedom and equal rights without squishy exceptions

i'm an optimist. this is a stretch. would be lovely tho.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

If they renounce welfare and advocate for freedom and equal rights without squishy exceptions

So they should be "more American" than Americans. Got it.

[Drig]

Cue the wailing anguish of Libertarian posers who think human rights stop at imaginary lines on a map drawn by politicians...

[John]

Yes. The answer to any argument is to just call your position "human rights" and then declare all opposing positions illegitimate. Brilliant.

[chemjeff radical individualist]

You're totally right, John. There's no such thing as human rights. Bring back the medieval torture!

[Sigivald]

Yep. That's what any pushback against the Human Rights, You Monster gambit is - denial of the very concept and being for trial by ordeal or just general torture for fun.

(Why do you reject the fundamental human right of people to live in your house if they want to, or drive your car? Those are human rights! They are because someone said so, and you CANNOT ARGUE AGAINST A HUMAN RIGHTS CLAIM, per your own non-logic.

Why do you want them to be tortured to death?

WHY, YOU MONSTER?)

[Mazakon]

Well, for the most part they do. Those "imaginary lines" don't just come into play when talking about immigration. Texas and New York are vastly different on gun rights, the US is a lot different from other countries when it comes to free speech, and then there's the plethora of human rights abuses of countries like Syria. Whether you like them or not, those imaginary lines exist and they produce vastly different outcomes.

[Fancylad]

It's my "human right" to squat illegally in your spare bedroom. And no, I have no intention of paying you rent, or even my share of the utilities. If I had, I would properly apply to sublet from you.
What's your address?

[loveconstitution1789]

Cue the troll socks who forget to change their handle link.

[Dillinger]

think the maps are drawn by cartographers but i'm with you on the imaginary lines gig.

[Sigivald]

Is there a human right to live in the United States?

That's sort of the core question here, innit?

[Rockabilly]

borders are racist

passports are white privilege

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upBWWm86PXU

[Bearded Spock]

"Miller's enforcement-plus agenda is destroying Trump's presidency."

Lol. Gotta love Shikha's transparent concern-trolling here. As if she wanted Trump - a man whom she has previously labeled as a racist - to succeed.

If Trump's tough stance on immigration was truly undermining his presidency then Shikha would be eager for him continue on his current path. The reason she's trying to get him to stop is because it his approach is working.

[Sigivald]

Oh, let's be fair.

She wants him to stop because she hates anything like border security, and because she [as far as I can tell] despises him personally*.

I can't say for sure, but I could see her being perfectly ... tolerant of a "successful Trump presidency" if it got her "open borders" - AFAICT her dislike of the man is predicated on his border position, not the other way around.

(* I can't blame 'er for the latter, and I could even tolerate the former as a position ... if she'd bother to honestly argue it, rather than the handwaving posturing we get instead.)

[loveconstitution1789]

Nope. This immigration strategy is working wonders.

We're getting more fencing soon, immigration law is being enforced more aggressively, and Lefties are outing themselves as lunatics.

[Crusty Juggler]

Hey Shikha, I think you better learn to code!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

[loveconstitution1789]

Code of Silence should suffice.

[Dillinger]

bushido code.

[Tony]

I wonder if the 90% of the people here whose only motivation is keeping brown people from appearing in their field of vision might just take the day off?

[Crusty Juggler]

No Tony, I will man the keyboards until 5:00pm Monday through Friday in order to encourage President Trump to keep the Brown Hordes from ruining my country.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

Deep down, in places we don't talk about at parties, we want you at that keyboard. We NEED you at that keyboard.

[Libertymike]

That is mighty white of you, Crusty.

[loveconstitution1789]

As opposed to the millions of Brown people that American Brown people have allowed to legally immigrate into the USA?

[Crusty Juggler]

^ Retard

[Titanian]

That's pointing at your name bro.

[Crusty Juggler]

You got me, boring version of Tulpa! HA!

[loveconstitution1789]

We tolerate Crusty because sometimes his fake sexual deviancy links to some amusing stories.

He's not even doing that anymore. He's useless.

[Dillinger]

PM Links Crusty was worth showing up for.

[loveconstitution1789]

Poor Crusty.

He finally says something stupid that is not a sex joke and he gets shut down by actual supported positions.

[Crusty Juggler]

As opposed to the millions of Brown people that American Brown people have allowed to legally immigrate into the USA?

The Retard thinks this a supported position.

[loveconstitution1789]

Poor Crusty cannot identify what race Americas are that would make them racists to protecting the US border from illegal Whites, Blacks, Browns, Asians, Pacific Islanders, South Americans, Africans, Arabs...

[Sigivald]

You know, using "retard" as a slur doesn't cover you in glory.

[I can't even]

This article says more about the author than the subject.

The famous quote about Nixon from a NY socialite - "I don't know anyone who voted for him" - in long-form. No attempt to understand the opposition or their concerns.

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[grb]

A couple of points :

(1) Trump's immigration strategy is working - but only as a cartoon puppet show for his shrinking base. And he's hardly on solid ground there; witness the ever-expanding extremes required to keep them entertained : There's his joke of a wall which no one serious takes seriously, the massive Stupid of his government shutdown, and (most recently) his Der St?rmer-style exercise in ugly fantasy, complete with brown-skinned villains and helpless bound maidens. He peddled that porno-propaganda in a major televised speech. What will this desperate buffoon will do when Pelosi finally lets him SOUS?

(2) Trump only says "You're Fired" in scripted reality TV shows. In real life he tweets, or tries to make his employees "quit" by treating them like garbage.

[Crusty Juggler]

There's his joke of a wall which no one serious takes seriously

A lot of people take it seriously, because it's the only to keep us safe.

[Homple]

It's obvious that a lot of people take the border wall seriously because they are so fanatical about stopping it.

[Crusty Juggler]

I know! The fuck is wrong with those people? Who wouldn't want to spend billions of dollars to steal property and build a useless wall? It's smart! So smart!

[Homple]

A border wall is useful in slowing the influx of illegal migrants and the open borders enthusiasts know it, which explains their ferocious opposition to it.

[loveconstitution1789]

Increased border security is clearly effective.

It even gets our resident fake sexual deviant Crusty trying to discuss unsupported immigration positions.

[Nardz]

Weird that they biych about the wall wasting billions, but are completely silent about billions in foreign aid, sent to places such as Honduras and Mexico.

"Building a barrier to stop illegal immigration is stupid and wasted billions.
The real way to stop illegal immigration is to send more billions to the countries illegal immigrants are coming from."
This is their actual position

[loveconstitution1789]

^This Nardz

[loveconstitution1789]

Poor new sock.

Trump's supporters take the border fence seriously.

Never Trumper's take the wall seriously.

[grb]

Not to belabor the obvious, but that contradicts nothing I said....

[loveconstitution1789]

You're a troll AND a comedian?

Everything you say is unsupported and incorrect.

[JFree]

Kuhn's approach - sell visas - is the only innovative thing I've seen re an actual immigration reform. Otherwise, Shikha is just stuck on the usual BS.

[Bramblyspam]

If there's one thing Trump has been absolutely consistent on since day one of his campaign, it's been his immigration policy. If you think there's any chance that he'll fire his immigration czar for being too restrictionist, you're engaging in some serious wishful thinking.

[Libertymike]

Wishful thinking should be serious.

[Sigivald]

I wish Dalmia would write better articles with real, serious arguments for her positions.

But that hand ain't gonna fill up real fast.

[AlmightyJB]

Congress could change immigration law. It is their laws that he is enforcing.

[loveconstitution1789]

+100

[Hank Phillips]

The fence was in the Republican Party platform before the Don won the audition to sell it to voters. Shikha would get more traction trying to sell the GOP the same sort of platform change Thomas Knapp sold to the LP Platform Committee. Our platform now welcomes Saracen suicide-vest jihadists into America no questions asked, no passports shown. And as long as she's writing for the looter press, maybe a submission to Germany's Rheinische Post will convince the Jerries that 14,000 people from Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq, Syria and Turkey sneaking across the border are a wonderful opportunity to expiate their past sins and make Germany groovy again. Shucks, a writer with Reason credentials pushing the now-official LP Platform position ought to make them Germans forget all about a few rape and stabbing incidents.

[Agammamon]

Miller's enforcement-plus agenda is destroying Trump's presidency.

Again - I'm pro-open borders and pro-immigration.

But I can also see what's actually happening. And no, Miller is not destroying Trump's Presidency. At worst he's having a slightly negative effect on it. At worst.

Again - I'm pro-immigration - Jeff Sessions was, IMO, a more important indicator of how shite Trump can be than Miller is. Sessions off the leash would have been way worse for the country than Miller could ever be.

[Echospinner]

Denmark has finally gotten wise and is building a wall to keep out the non human illegal Germanic wave threat.

Go Denmark!

https://tinyurl.com/Danishfence

[M.L.]

No. We should just take a pause on all immigration for a while. Reduce annual immigration levels by 50-100% now.

[awildseaking]

Libertarians still can't sort out this contradiction. If you believe an accessible immigration system is a fundamental libertarian position, how do you deny access to those who do not agree with our libertarian values?

[Echospinner]

Trump missed the play.

No doubt about it. Doing the same thing again is not an option.

The classic pick and roll is an offensive move in basketball. It requires close coordination by the offensive team. The defense needs to chose between guarding the ball handler or the pick.

The ball handler needs to be able to choose between shooting or pass in fractions of a second. The offense team needs to hold up the rest of the defense.

That did not happen here. Trump did not get a team together. That is key.