Donald Trump's perplexing immigration clarification

We haven't had many opportunities to say this over the past year, so let's savor this one: Donald Trump really cleared a few things up on Wednesday.

It didn't look like that's how it was going to go when the day began. Trump hopped down to Mexico for a meeting with President Enrique Peña Nieto, and when the two emerged before the cameras, the Republican nominee looked so lethargic one wondered whether he would nod off at the podium.

One of the key questions people had was what, exactly, was said between the two men about that big, beautiful wall Trump always talks about. You know, the one Mexico is going to pay for? For the primary voters who flocked to his candidacy, this wall was the single most powerful symbol of the national restoration Trump promises. Not only would he banish foreigners from their midst, he'd keep them out, and he'd force those rotten Mexicans to pay for it — not because they should, or because they can, but because Trump is so strong and manly that once they beheld his majestic power they would grovel in fear before him and submit to all his demands.

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But when Trump finally had the chance to sit down with the Mexican president, one of two things happened, depending on whom you believe.

Trump's story? Basically, he chickened out. "We did discuss the wall," he told the press. "We didn't discuss payment of the wall. That'll be for a later date." But then, Peña Nieto tweeted out that he "made clear" to Trump that Mexico would not be paying for the wall.

During the trip, Trump had nothing but praise for immigrants from Mexico and their descendants while he was south of the border. "First, second, and third generation Mexicans are just beyond reproach," he said. "Spectacular, spectacular, spectacular hard-working people. I have such great respect for them and their strong values of family, faith, and community."

Wait a minute, you might be thinking. Before, Trump said immigrants from Mexico were rapists and criminals, and now he's calling them spectacular and "beyond reproach"? Which is it? Well, all we had to do was wait until the evening, when he gave a speech in Arizona that felt just like old times.

After the crowd was warmed up by Joe Arpaio, Rudy Giuliani, and Jeff Sessions — a veritable Three Stooges of xenophobia — Trump took the stage and let loose with a blizzard of fear-mongering and white nationalist resentment so intense that it appeared we had been transported back in time to the primary campaign, when his victory depended on winning the hearts of enough hard-core Republicans to beat back challenges from the likes of Ted Cruz and John Kasich. If you thought there was going to be a "pivot" to some warmer version of Trump that independent voters might find attractive, you can forget it.

But weirdly enough, there was actually some policy detail in the Arizona speech, too. Recently, he and his aides have given a whole panoply of answers on whether he still wants to create the "deportation force" he has promised before, and just how quickly he's going to start rounding up the country's 11 million undocumented immigrants. And now we know: "Within ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), I am going to create a new special deportation task force," he said in his speech, "focused on identifying and quickly removing the most dangerous criminal illegal immigrants in America who have evaded justice just like Hillary Clinton has evaded justice, okay? Maybe they'll be able to deport her!"

We have no idea how many undocumented immigrants there are, Trump said. "Our government has no idea. It could be 3 million. It could be 30 million. They have no idea what the number is." Then he said we know exactly who the criminals among them are. "According to federal data, there are at least 2 million, 2 million, think of it, criminal aliens now inside of our country, 2 million people, criminal aliens. We will begin moving them out day one. As soon as I take office. Day one…[The police] know who these people are. Day one, my first hour in office, those people are gone."

That is going to be one seriously efficient deportation force if it can round up and deport two million people in an hour. Trump also said that his wall will be built "in record time," although he didn't mention what the current record is for building a wall between the United States and Mexico.

And as he has before, Trump brought to the stage parents of people killed by undocumented immigrants, who testified one by one that if Donald Trump had been president, their child would still be alive today. That bit of Willie Horton theatrics made the message clear: You need to hate and fear the foreigners coming to kill your children, and only Trump can protect you.

The question of precisely what Trump would do on immigration if he becomes president is immaterial. If he does win, he'd likely pass the work on to Republicans in Congress, just as he would with all that boring policy stuff he'll be too busy Making America Great Again to concern himself with. The bluster about what will happen in his first hour and his first day is about as meaningful as a degree from Trump University.

But the Trump on display Wednesday night is the true one, the one who can't stop campaigning like he's trying to win the South Carolina primary. He needs to get in front of that angry crowd and soak up their love, to stand back and smile while they chant "Lock her up!" at any mention of his opponent, and squeal their joy at his promises to be strong and manly. Nothing gets them as excited as talk of border walls and deportations, and he'll keep feeding them what they want — even if the electorate as a whole finds it repugnant.