An analyst revealed Tuesday how White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller's war on immigration has created political repercussions for Republicans and prompted President Donald Trump to change course as a result of the defeat.
In the fallout over ICE's killing of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, Trump's retreat in Minnesota has signaled a major shift among Republicans and within the Trump administration, The Atlantic's Jonathan Chait wrote. Trump has reportedly considered a shift in the policy constructed by Miller, the architect of the administration's aggressive immigration actions, influenced by the sharp public response to ICE in Minnesota.
"Trump’s retreat in Minneapolis is a stinging defeat for the national conservatives, the Republican Party’s most nakedly authoritarian faction," Chait wrote. "The NatCons believe American liberalism cannot be dealt with through normal political methods such as persuasion and compromise."
This faction has focused on "wokeism" and called "the American left as 'the enemy within,'" Chait explained. Miller has maintained that stopping immigration is "a final chance to stop permanent left-wing tyranny."
"NatCons also maintain that immigration poses a mortal threat to the United States. These two strands of thought are intertwined; NatCons consider immigration a weapon employed consciously by the left to assume permanent power, via manipulating elections and creating government dependency, a conspiracy that can only be reversed through the kind of ferocious operation on display in Minneapolis," Chait wrote.
The reality is that Trump can't handle disapproval from within his own party and the public.
"He cannot tolerate criticism and he deems any process that embarrasses him, including a critical news story or an election, illegitimate, even criminal," Chait wrote.
That's what made Pretti's killing so distinct — and repulsive — to many Americans, including conservatives, Chait explained.
"Whether or not Trump’s intermittent expressions of human feeling for the immigrants his administration has abused is heartfelt, his desire to maintain his political standing most certainly is," Chait wrote.
"Trump’s capitulation would never have occurred if not for the heroic, disciplined resistance in Minneapolis," Chait wrote. "Faced with something like an occupying army that was systematically flouting the law, the people of Minneapolis thrust its abuse into the public eye, raising the political cost of Miller’s war until enough Republicans decided that they couldn’t bear to pay it."