For Trump, what mattered most in creating & addressing the family separation crisis was looking...

For Trump, what mattered most in creating, and addressing, the family separation crisis was looking strong

By Michael Scherer
June 20 at 7:56 PM

President Trump abandoned his policy of removing migrant children from their parents’ care without any mention of his supporters who defended his false claims that Democrats were responsible for a family separation crisis on the border that only Congress could solve.

Instead, he invited the news media to the Cabinet Room on Wednesday to talk at length about his own strength, an issue he has always placed at the center of the immigration debate. “We are very strong,” he said twice to start, going on to say the word “strong” seven more times, as if worried that allowing undocumented immigrant families to remain together might call his resolve into question.

“If you’re really, really pathetically weak, the country is going to be overrun with millions of people, and if you’re strong, then you don’t have any heart,” he said. “That’s a tough dilemma. Perhaps, I’d rather be strong.”

That bluster — the shock and awe of a president who claims he might not care — has been a calling card throughout Trump’s political rise, a clear rebuke of George W. Bush’s self-styled “compassionate conservatism” and Bill Clinton’s desire to feel the nation’s pain. The “heart” might have won this battle, Trump told the nation, but no one should mistake the skirmish for the whole war.

The projection of strength, after all, has always been the central pillar of Trump’s politics, the reason behind his constant attraction to conflict and a main draw for voters desperate for change and a powerful ally. And immigration has always been his favorite arena for flexing his rhetorical muscles.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/family-separation-debate-shows-trump-worries-most-about-showing-strength-not-heart/2018/06/20/330ee6be-74b0-11e8-9780-b1dd6a09b549_story.html