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On Saturday, President Trump halted the crackdown on illegal aliens by ICE at the request of Democrats.
Days ago Iran shot down a United States drone over international waters. The world held its collective breath for Trump's response.
Another war? Another World War?
Trump stepped back.
Is Trump's brinkmanship indecisive or judicious?
Be informed.
Personal: We had a great week off. It's great to be back.
On Saturday, President Trump halted the scheduled ICE crackdown, set to begin yesterday morning.
The crackdown was to begin the deportation of illegal aliens yesterday morning.
The "Never Trumpers"---those from both parties who will not support this president on any issue, regardless of his position---immediately began calling the President "unfit to serve" and "indecisive."
Trump explained on Twitter that he halted the crackdown on Saturday because the Democrats had reached out to him asking him to halt the ICE action and give them some time to come up with a solution.
In fact, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the President Friday night asking him to call off the raids---and thanked him for delaying the enforcement crackdown for 2 weeks.
Yesterday, President Trump acknowledged that any proposed solution would likely fail. "Probably won't happen," he said, "but it's worth a try."
About 2000 people who have already been served deportation orders were the first on the ICE list.
According to federal data, there are currently 1.7 million illegal aliens from Mexico and Central America living in the US with deportation orders or are on a pending deportation order.
It isn't as though the Trump Administration has randomly picked these folks for deportation.
Nancy's Border Bill.
Those who oppose Trump and/or want open borders anyway, are calling Trump's action to put ICE on hold a sign of indecision and inability to lead---even though they got what they wanted.
They're saying the same thing about his measured response to Iran's shooting a US drone out of the sky over international waters.
Seizing the moment, Pelosi announced yesterday that she already has a border bill--but it has a catch.
Claiming the "President's failed policies have exacerbated the situation at the border, where vulnerable children endure inhumane conditions that threaten their health, well being and sometimes, tragically, their lives," Pelosi promised a solution.
The catch is the advancement of far Left policies that got us into this catastrophic situation in the first place---while Trump was still building skyscrapers.
The bill includes this:
- $934.5 million for processing facilities, food, water, sanitary items, blankets, medical services, and safe transportation;
- $866 million to reduce reliance on influx shelters to house children;
- $200 million for an integrated, multi-agency processing center pilot program for families and unaccompanied children, with participation by non-profit organizations;
- $100 million for legal services for unaccompanied children, child advocates, and post-release services;
- $60 million to assist jurisdictions experiencing a significant influx of migrants and non-profit organizations serving those communities;
- $20 million for Alternatives to Detention;
- $15 million for the Legal Orientation Program to educate migrants about their rights and legal proceedings; and
- $9 million to speed up placement of children with sponsors and manage their cases.
Fox News is reporting this:
Another rider allegedly includes language that would require the federal government to prospectively notify illegal immigrants that if they bring an unaccompanied child into the country and sponsor them, their illegal status would in no way be used against them, a source said, and that the child will be delivered to them without any reservation.
“So we’d not only be protecting the child smuggling loop, we’d be advertising the child smuggling loop to illegal aliens throughout the United States who would in turn then be able to have confidence they could pay a smuggler in a transnational criminal organization to smuggle a child into the country that we would then tell them we would deliver to them regardless of the law breaking involved,”
Fox News said last night that the Democrats are trying to create a bill that will nullify significant parts of existing immigration law and protect illegal immigrants who sponsor child migrants.
Republicans who have seen the Democrat bill say Pelosi's Party is using children as a de facto passport for those seeking to enter our country via the southern border. This will advance and expand the misuse of children because our border authorities document many cases where young people are used multiple times to help illegal aliens illegally cross our border.
It's a scam--- recycling kids, by reusing them repeatedly to get illegals across the border under the guise of compassion and commitment to "families."
Open border advocates are using kids as pawns, claiming to stand for families.
Is President Trump "melting" on his ICE commitment? And Iran?
The mainstream media to a one was reporting yesterday, and will continue to do so today, that Trump is now fearful of the Democrats and Iran, indecisive and unable to lead.
Even The Federalist Papers (not to be confused with The Federalist online) published an op-ed which blared "Trump Caves To Dems, Will Not Start Deportations Sunday."
The article begins, "President Trump is usually a man of his word but he has now gone back on his word for time number two this week." That would be 1. ICE and 2. Iran
Is Trump indecisive or judicious?
With the media mauling the President today, apparently for not bombing Iran and for at least attempting to work with the Democrats---remember the old word "bipartisanship" that was for so long a holy word for so-called progressives---I thought Pastor Wallace Henely's words published yesterday bring some important understanding to these current events.
Henley, who once worked in the White House during the Nixon years, is now senior associate pastor of Houston's Second Baptist Church.
In his article titled, "Trump's Brinkmanship: Indecisive of Judicious?" he notes:
"Anyone can pull back from the edge of conflict, but only the strong, confident, principled, and well informed can be trusted to pull back from the brink, not because they have been scarred away but because they know it to be the most judicious, reasonable action."
He says:
"Trust means a leader's own people can have confidence that leader knows the implications of his or her actions, and that the opponent can trust the fact that the leader means business, and if the overture is not accepted there will be consequences."
Yesterday, President Trump told Iran through statements to the press and on Twitter, that if Iran ever threatens the US again, it will be "ruin" for their country. Even NBC quoted statements like: "Don't mistake Trump's prudence for weakness."
Pastor Wallace explains that Trump is not Joshua, but successes of ancient Israel in its conquest of Canaan came about because, among other reasons, Joshua could be trusted when he gave orders to advance, but also when he commanded a halt in the battle.
He suggests that what we are seeing in Trump is a "maturing of his presidency."
The pastor gives a detailed account of the Eisenhower, Nixon Administrations who displayed this kind of maturity in dealing with China.
The takeaway
Wallace concludes that the President must show that he is strong enough to pull away from the brink, but smart enough not to take his eye off it.
"And," he says, "he can only do that if he knows he is backed by America's military strength, intelligence agencies that will tell him the truth rather than working to destroy him, and confident in his own values as opposed to those of his opponents, and his ability to make a deal that benefits everyone."
Amen.
Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.