Conservative columnist: 'Pathetic' Trump folded on immigrant kids because he's 'weak and getting weaker'

In a scathing column for the Washington Post, conservative commentator Jennifer Rubin said President Donald Trump folded in the face of outrage over the forced separation of immigrant children from their parents because he is "weak and getting weaker."

With Trump issuing an executive order rolling back his own administration's policy of placing children in separate detention camps, Rubin said the uprising against Trump made him look "pathetic" when he rolled.

"The great falsehood that was at the root of President Trump’s candidacy was that he was very strong and America was very weak," she wrote. "We were losing, having our jobs stolen, getting ripped off by allies, etc. We were supposedly awash in crime and illegal immigration, and the latter, we were told, contributed to the former. It was all untrue. We got a welcome reminder this week that both halves of that equation are false — Trump is weak and getting weaker by the day, while the United States has never been a basket case — and is regaining its strength in opposing Trump and Trumpism."

"Trump talks tough, but when criticism rains down, he blames others (the Democrats!) or lies that his hands are tied or that his predecessor did the same," she continued. "And when he retreats, he pretends he never wanted what he implemented anyway. Because he does not know what he wants or what is in various legislative options, he cannot provide clear direction in Congress."

When it came to Trump's disastrous immigration policy, Rubin praised the media, saying it "did its job impressively — allowing Americans to see and even hear what was going on, definitively calling out Trump’s lies and doggedly pursuing Republicans to either defend or oppose the policy."

"Humanitarian groups, religious organizations, mayors and governors all stepped forward to denounce the president. Democrats were entirely unified and precise: Trump’s policy was inhumane and bringing disgrace on the United States," she explained, before adding, "Certainly, any argument in which the suffering of toddlers and babies is tolerated (let alone sought as a deterrent) is going to lose and lose badly."

Rubin warned that the fight with the president over immigration reform is not over, stating, "Trump does have a knack for exhausting his critics... The press, child advocates, religious organizations, and local and state governments must persist. They have seen how strong they are and how weak the president is. Now is no time to let up."

You can read the whole piece here.