Opinion: Trump appeals to inner demons. It makes his damage even harder to repair.
By Michael Gerson Michael Gerson Columnist Email Bio Follow Columnist April 8 at 5:03 PM The ouster of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen — the implementer of some of the most unjust immigration policies since the internment of citizens and noncitizens of Japanese descent during World War II — is further proof of President Trump’s ratchet-wrench theory of loyalty. It goes only in his direction.
Nielsen, however, took another route. After a career generally characterized by competence, Nielsen chose to reflect Trump’s priorities. Maybe she reasoned to herself that she was implementing the president’s agenda more humanely than others would have done. Aristotle once defined human beings as rational animals. They are, at least, rationalizing animals.
But Trump now seems to find a message of exclusion positively invigorating. In his stump speech, he does not raise legitimate issues related to immigration. Instead, he easily outpaces Romney, who now represents Utah in the Senate, in the maniacal and crazy department. At the White House, he humiliates staffers who don’t share his enthusiasm and fires people who are not creative enough in their severity. Even a hint of reluctance is taken as betrayal.
I have no doubt that Trump is using the issue of immigration in a cynical way to solve political problems. But the implications are disturbing. The president clearly regards resentment against migrants as the common, binding purpose of the Republican Party. And, so far, he has not been wrong. The success of Trump’s cynical ploy depends on the existence of genuine enthusiasm for exclusion within his party. His play only works if the party’s nativism is broad and authentic.
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