Republicans are privately sick of Trump burning them on immigration

Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan break ground on a Chinese factory in Wisconsin

(Image credit: Andy Manis/Getty Images)

published 5 July 2018

Cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits used to be the "third rail" of U.S. politics — touch it and you get burned — but "the new third rail in Republican politics is criticizing [President] Trump," Washington Examiner correspondent David Drucker writes at Vanity Fair. Off the record, however, "Republicans believe Trump is bungling an opportunity to capitalize on his unrivaled street cred with the conservative grassroots to create the political space for the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to overhaul a significant portion of the nation's outdated — horrible, a joke, the president might say — immigration laws."

The inability or unwillingness of Trump, "perhaps the most hardline anti-immigration voice in a generation" and a self-professed dealmaking maven, to make a concerted push for his party to constrict America's immigration laws is "one of the more curious aspects" of Trump's presidency, Drucker writes. And unless Trump "radically" changes his approach to "overcome the complete lack of trust on Capitol Hill" he has engendered, that won't change, he adds:

With the proper assurances, Trump could soothe his base, bring Fox News in line, and give conservative lawmakers cover to pass a bill. But congressional Republicans have no faith that Trump won't betray them if they stick their necks out for him. Who's to say they won't deliver him a bill that protects the Dreamers — one of Trump's four pillars — only to have the president complain afterward that he never really wanted to sign a bill with an "amnesty" provision but was forced into it by those wimpy Republicans in Congress? ... "The House guys are tired of getting burned," said a Republican who has advised both moderate and conservative members on immigration. "No one can ever be sure what his priority is going to be the next day." [Vanity Fair]

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.