Trump's strategic retreat

By Monica Showalter

The media is making hay over President Trump's executive order stipulating that families entering the U.S. without authorization be detained as family units, calling it a 'cave-in' or else, as Washington Post's Karen Tumulty put it, "forced into retreat by babies."

Yeah, sure.

As Brian Joondeph superbly points out here:

Trump’s executive order stipulates that the government will continue to prosecute illegal border crossers. And instead of separating families, they will be kept together, in detention facilities, while waiting for their cases to be heard by the courts.

Is this what Democrats wanted when they urged Trump to use his executive order power? Was this the “cave in” that the media thinks it is? The only cave is where the Democrats will be wandering in come November. Only a day ago Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urged President Trump to, “Sign an executive order to end the separation of families at the border, saying it doesn't require legislation.” He even offered to lend Trump his pen to sign the order.

Be careful what you wish for since you might get it.

(You really have to read the whole thing, along with this one by John Turner, both are superb pieces)

My own take on it is that Trump, like a general, executed a careful strategic retreat. He knew the press had a live one with its saturation-coverage of crying toddlers on television, and never mind that they were brought into the U.S. illegally, courtesy of either their parents or the human smugglers they hired. Republicans were caving in left and right, and Democrats were feeling their oats. The amnesty-happy Bush clan had a field day.

As for Trump, he obviously just wanted it to go away, so he mandated detention for everyone, moms, kids, smugglers, the lot of them, and no more Froot Loops, coloring books or soccer fields for the kids because they can now just wait it out in group detention. Presumably, they may get shipped back to wait it out back home if the 20-day period for the kids runs out and the asylum judges don't get around to them. We will hear howls and sob stories about that, too.

But what we do notice is that he didn't volunteer to bring back 'catch and release' which amounts to a huge incentive to emigrate illegally into the U.S. Trump didn't back down on his 'zero-tolerance' policy for illegal border crossing, meaning, there remains one law for everyone, and no special privileges for foreigners. Those things matter, and what's more, they suggest he remains committed to the control of the U.S. border. He has no intention of caving to the Bush family agenda.

For those of us who despise the Bushes, that's good news. President Trump is still our president. He's just executed a strategic retreat in the interest of ultimately winning the war.