Trump’s First “heck of a job” moment

In 2005, President George W Bush praised his emergency management head, Michael Brown, for doing a “heckuva job” with recovery efforts.   As everyone knows, Brown did a terrible job.  If he had been abducted by Klingons the day before Hurricane Katrina hit America, things would have gone better.

This ‘doublethink’, that is praising someone for a job badly done, is Donald Trump’s ‘reward’.

The impact of  President Trump’s Friday afternoon immigration order will be revealed by history, but his early praise for its implementation remind everyone of Bush.

Trump’s response to what happened after he signed the order;  “You see it in the airports, you see it all over. It’s working out very nicely, and we are going to have a very, very strict ban, and we are going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years.”

This was another sample of ‘Doublespeak’, that is, saying something that isn’t true, that is clearly untrue, but said with a certainty of its truth as if repeating it enough will make it true.

At major US airports, things weren’t going ‘nicely’. Immigration officials were flung into an insane cauldron.   Trying to implement  Trump’s order, but receiving conflicting instructions on who to bar from entry into the US, and then,  what to do with the people?

As time passed and information concerning the detentions spread like wildfire, crowds of protesters flocked international terminals.

During the campaign Trump could shoot off his mouth, insulting this and that,  claiming the American  immigration system was broken.  He could bellow about bans.

Now, as President he is to implement his promises.

It’s not so easy.    His simplistic one/two word remarks must be translated into policy.

Trump’s Executive Order was written without legal consultation or any input of Homeland Security.

Many people felt that permanent United States Residents, those with Green Cards should not be included in the ban.

As this insanity was happening in America,  a court was convened on Saturday night and government attorneys had to defend measures.

Federal Judge  Ann Donnelly said; “I think the government hasn’t had a full chance to think about this,” as she ruled that individuals with had  valid documents giving them a legal right to be in America could not be deported.

Her ruling is, of course, temporary, as the rulings in other courts.   This will  become a protracted legal battle.

The lawyers for Trump’s administration will fight the orders, deciding on the fate of people who hold valid VISAs.

It is another episode in the new drama of Trump Time.