Trump Sends Mixed Messages On Immigration In New Interview
Trump Sends Mixed Messages On Immigration In Super Bowl Interview
The Super Bowl is right around the corner, which means it’s time for the yearly pregame interview with the president. A preview of President Donald Trump’s interview with NBC News’ Tom Llamas was released on Thursday, and in it Trump spoke on several topics, including the growing backlash against ICE.
“I learned that maybe we can use a little bit of a softer touch, but you still have to be tough,” Trump told NBC News. “We are totally focused on criminals, really bad criminals. Now you could say that people who came in illegally are criminals, but I’m talking about murderers from different countries.”
Data shows that’s not who ICE focused on at all, though. Of the thousands of immigrants ICE has arrested, the majority do not have a criminal record.
Despite saying ICE could use a “softer touch,” Trump was still critical of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two U.S. citizens who ICE agents fatally shot during their occupation of Minneapolis. “He was not an angel, and she was not an angel,” Trump said of the two, before adding that the killings were “very sad to me.”
“And you know who feels worse about it than anybody? The people of ICE,” Trump added.
Ya know, calling Renee Good a “f–king b–ch” after shooting her, and clapping after watching your peer fire 10 shots into Alex Pretti’s back is an interesting way of displaying sadness over the shootings.
ICE’s conduct in Minnesota has not gone well for the Trump administration. Trump campaigned on a mass deportation effort, but now that people are seeing the reality of what that entails, his approval rating on immigration has steadily dropped.
Despite ICE’s approval ratings plummeting and abolishing ICE becoming an increasingly moderate position, Trump shied away from saying that the ICE raids would cease. He instead implied that he would like to avoid cities where ICE would face significant pushback. “We have five cities that we’re looking at very strongly, but we want to be invited,” Trump said.
I’m struggling to think of an American city that would be welcoming of ICE post-Minnesota.
Elsewhere in the interview, Trump was asked about the $2,000 tariff refund checks he’s continually floated for the last year. “I’m looking at it very seriously. I’m the only one who can do it,” Trump said. “I haven’t made the commitment yet, but I may make the commitment.”
So it’s safe to say no one should be counting on the federal government sliding a couple g’s in the mail.
Trump also touted his work on the economy and claimed AI would be a job creator, despite most evidence showing the contrary. “It’ll be the greatest jobs producer, it’ll be the greatest military producer, it’ll be the greatest medical producer. There’ll be tremendous good, and there’ll be probably some bad, too,” Trump said.
When Llamas brought up that several companies explicitly cited AI as a reason for laying off workers, Trump still pushed back against the notion that AI would kill jobs. “No, no, it’s not killing,” Trump said. “It’s going to make — it’s going to create a lot.”
“Mr. President, there’s widespread concern that AI is gonna wipe out a lotta jobs, manufacturing jobs,” Llamas said.
“They said the internet’s going to — robots are going to kill jobs, everything is going to kill jobs,” Trump replied. “And you end up, if you’re smart, doing great.”
Last week, the FBI raided a warehouse in Georgia’s Fulton County for materials related to the 2020 election. Trump escalated what was already an alarming situation by calling for elections to be “nationalized” in an interview with podcaster turned deputy director of the FBI turned podcaster again, Dan Bongino. Trump appeared to walk back those comments during his interview with Llamas. “I didn’t say ‘national,’” Trump said. “I said there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt.”
More of Llamas’ hourlong interview will be released this Sunday ahead of the Super Bowl. I, for one, am looking forward to watching literally anything else before the big game.
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