It's natural to see this headline from @NickMiroff & @jdawsey1 & just laugh. But there's more going on here than the usual Mulvaney-bufoonery.
Why is he praising legal #immigration while presiding over its dismantling?
Partly it's emotional need...
1/
washingtonpost.com/politics/mulva…
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 Mulvaney's in a room full of business-minded fellow-elites, I presume. He wants to signal he's one of them, someone who understands that #immigration is good for the economy, not some fire-breathing restrictionist ideologue.
He wants to be loved.
But it's also strategic…
2/
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 Here's the White House election-year #immigration messaging strategy:
a) We love LEGAL immigration!
b) We just want it to be "merit-based." Jared is totally working on a plan with Congress.
c) Merit merit merit legal legal legal we're not monsters.
3/
boundless.com/blog/trump-red…
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 How many people will buy this? Maybe a lot.
How many people will say wait—you're summoning the vast powers of the government to dismantle & restrict legal #immigration, including "merit-based"?
Maybe you, dear reader. Fox News watchers, not so much.
4/
bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 Mulvaney & most Rs in Congress are demagogues against undocumented #immigrants—sometimes excepting #Dreamers—but genuinely want ample #immigration for business needs (white-collar, ag, construction, etc).
The Bannon/Miller faction *hates* that.
5/
vox.com/policy-and-pol…
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 And it's Stephen Miller running the show. For restrictionists like him the only good #immigration policy is one that results in fewer #immigrants—undocumented, asylees, refugees, #H1Bs, family green cards, entrepreneurs, whatever. Onward & downward.
6/
theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 It's an awkward but workable coalition: Totally Reasonable Republicans get to sing the praises of "good" #immigrants, while Miller & his extreme #immigration restrictionists work 24/7 to cut off #immigration entirely.
Well, with *some* exceptions.
7/7
thedailybeast.com/gordon-sondlan…
@NickMiroff @jdawsey1 h/t @AdamSerwer @mekosoff @taragolshan @NickMiroff @jdawsey1 @John_Hudson @michaelbirnbaum @chooseboundless @NFAPResearch
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