Trump Is Getting Tougher

It appears that, during the final stretch of his term, the U.S. president will do anything to pander to the electorate who voted for him for his exclusionary speech

The unusual string of changes in President Donald Trump’s administration since he arrived in the White House reveals, at the same time, the frivolity and inconsistency of many of his appointments and also the presidential determination to apply, by any means necessary, the most radical and extreme version of the program that led him to power.

The resignation of Kirstjen Nielsen—secretary of homeland security and the person who was ultimately responsible for implementing migration policy—is the latest episode in the government’s constant readjustment, the sole aim of which is to convey the image of toughness so often associated with Trump, even if it means substantiating improvisation and disarray and bolstering critics.

The president is very frustrated by the legal hurdles to immigration control and will not tolerate the slightest doubt among the people around him, or their questioning of any shortcuts toward imposing his viewpoint, of which the latest chapter is the brilliant idea of sending those immigrants he calls “illegal” to cities governed by Democrats. Ten months away from the start of the primary campaign and with several Democratic pre-candidates showing a progressive approach, strategists believe that the social divide will lead Trump to emphasize his most aggressive aspects in order to nail down the bulk of the electorate who voted for him in 2016 precisely for being the voice of a white and exclusionary nationalism, disappointed by the resolution of the crisis and entirely hostile toward the significance of Barack Obama’s presidency.