🧊Trump’s ICE quagmire; Dems’ ICE reversal 🧊
Plus, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) gives Chuck Schumer a “D."
👀 🎥 TODAY’S WATCH — On today’s episode of our new digital morning show, “THE HUDDLE,” DAN TURRENTINE, SEAN SPICER and I breakdown:
Trump’s ICE quagmire, with polls plummeting on immigration.
DON LEMON’s embarrassing display at the anti-ICE church protest.
Trump’s sweet revenge against Sen. BILL CASSIDY (R-La.).
And whether the president is serious about tariffing his way to acquiring Greenland…
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ICE, ICE BABY — President DONALD TRUMP is facing a lose-lose situation when it comes to ICE and the increasingly negative polling surrounding immigration enforcement.
On the one hand, the administration is watching these escalating anti-ICE protests and clearly feeling the need to enforce order. Over the weekend, protesters stormed a church service in Minnesota after learning one of the pastors allegedly had ICE links. Elsewhere, other anti-ICE activists appeared to have assaulted a conservative influencer, and impeded the arrest of an alleged child sex offender.
Naturally, the administration wants to push back. They currently have 1,500 active-duty Army paratroopers on standby for possible deployment to Minnesota. The FBI is reportedly also seeking volunteers to help out in the North Star state. And of course, the president has floated invoking the Insurrection Act.
But on the other hand, some Trump allies are spooked by the drastic turn in public opinion on this subject. Axios reported this weekend that even their own internal polling shows they’re bleeding swing voters and minorities on this issue — two groups that will be pivotal in the midterms and which made up a critical part of Trump’s 2024 coalition.
The headlines are also a major distraction from what the president’s team wants to focus on.
So what will it be? Either escalate by sending in more troops, which could lead to more blowback? Or do nothing and allow anti-ICE demonstrations to continue to trip up immigration enforcement? It’s a no-win situation.
MEANWHILE, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE… Democrats’ posture toward ICE has come full circle. Just a few years ago, the leadership team of savvy politico NANCY PELOSI, was telling Democrats to knock it off with the “defund ICE” rhetoric. Now, even Dems I’ve long consider of the more “pragmatic” ilk, are tripping over themselves to attack ICE.
Consider this: Just a few years ago, in a profanity-laden diatribe, then-Rep. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER harangued her colleagues privately for supporting lefty policies like “defund the police,” arguing that it cost them seats.
Now, in one of her first acts as the newly sworn-in governor of Virginia, Spanberger (considered a “centrist” by her fellow Dems) is stopping state police from helping ICE capture illegal immigrants with criminal records.
Some Dems are even signaling a willingness to go after ICE officials personally. Over the weekend, Rep. ERIC SWALWELL made waves with the left when he threatened to revoke the driver’s licenses of ICE agents if he won California’s gubernatorial race.
“I will take your driver’s license! Good luck walking to work, assholes!” he said.
Meanwhile, the push to “defund ICE” continues to garner steam ahead of the Jan. 31 government shutdown deadline. Sen. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-Ariz.) became the latest to jump on that bandwagon on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.
“We cannot vote for anything that actually adds more money and doesn’t constrain ICE,” he told JAKE TAPPER, arguing that ICE agents are “suppressing US citizens,” and “bringing violence.” “If I have to shut down a portion of ICE that is causing this kind of harm… I know the political implications of that. But we cannot keep funding this type of goon squad.”
“Assholes”? “Goon squad”? Yikes. (Reminder: Most ICE officials are government servants just doing their jobs. It’s one thing to attack the policy; quite another to attack the people.)
It’s all an eye-popping reversal for a party that saw “defund ICE” as toxic just a year ago. And it tells us how the politics of Trump’s deportation efforts have been turned upside-down in the wake of RENEE GOOD’s tragic death.
What’s more, the president in some ways has been a victim of his own success on immigration matters: With the border closed and illegal crossings all but eliminated, the public is not concerned about this issue the way it was during JOE BIDEN’s presidency. Now they’re worried about ICE.
But as always, politics is a pendulum. What’s in vogue right now, could come back to bite Dems in the future.
🎥ICYMI: On “THE HUDDLE” Friday, we were joined by progressive star Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.), who had some buzzy bits worth noting…
👉Khanna, who boasted that he was among the first to call for CHUCK SCHUMER to step down, gave the Senate minority leader a “D” on leadership.
“When you look at Chuck Schumer on TV, do you think that’s the future of America?” he said, as we discussed David Plouffe’s recent NYT column calling for Democrats to elect new leaders.
More Khanna: “Here’s our fundamental problem as a Democratic Party…. Donald Trump and JD VANCE have been in elective office, what, six? Eight years total? … We have people there for 50 years — and people are saying, ‘The country is not working, the institutions aren’t working, the American dream is dead …change it!’ …. How do you say that ‘Yeah, they screwed up; we have a better vision’ if you’ve been part of the system for 30-40 years?”
👉Khanna also threw some shade at potential 2028 rival GAVIN NEWSOM — again…
We played that recent viral video of BEN SHAPIRO trying to pin Newsom down on whether the situation in Gaza constituted “genocide.” (Newsom wouldn’t say.)
Here’s Khanna: “This word is so overused: authenticity. Say what you believe, say what you stand for… [Americans] want to know where’s your gut….They want to know: Where do you stand, and are you willing to then live with the consequences? … [Gavin] would do himself better if he just spoke what he thinks.”
👉Khanna also seemed to second-guess the Biden DOJ’s push to imprison STEVE BANNON for defying a congressional subpoena. I pushed Khanna on this, given that the Clintons defied congressional subpoenas last week; it’s not inconceivable that we could see Trump’s DOJ serving up the same sort of punishment.
Here’s Khanna: “I’m not sure how I felt about putting someone in prison over that … I think contempt is fine. Prison is harsh. I mean, I’m not sure someone should just go to prison for a congressional defying — unless it’s egregious.”
👉Khanna has been among the most high-profile Democrats calling for the arrest and prosecution of the officer who shot RENEE GOOD — a position all three of us “The Huddle” hosts have questioned. But in our convo on this, Khanna conceded that Good was likely in the wrong for blocking law enforcement — and that the officer who shot her probably did have some level of fear.
Still, he argued that “I don’t believe that capital punishment is the answer.”
Watch the full interview.
I think that not prosecuting the murderer of Renee Nicole Good is a great idea. It suggests that the Holocaust's killers were just carrying out their gov'ts policy. This idea didn't fare all that well in Nuremberg, and it bears the stench of creating a class of "entitled" murderers. Which circle of Dante's hell is applicable to your case?
I will unsubscribe post-haste.
ICE is America's Gestapo, which consists of hirelings who propagate harm rather than assistance. These poorly trained/untrained armed and masked goons may be part of the current abberational government, but they are denigrating everything that other countries used to respect about us. This nonsense of covering these deplorables with a gov't cloak does not hide/excuse their exercise of invented powers and nullification of our Constitution.
Shame on you!.