Pirate's Cove

Apparently we’re back to the stage of “we Republicans don’t like what Trump is doing but we’re afraid to tell him”

ICE Shootings Are Freaking Out the GOP. They’re Afraid to Tell Trump.

To cover the Republican Party in the age of President Donald Trump requires a grasp of cryptology.

Because of the unflinching personal loyalty he demands, and punishment he’ll administer on public dissenters, leading GOP officials speak in rhetorical code.

And in the aftermath of the second killing by federal agents of a protester in Minnesota, there’s been a stream of statements, comments and sound bites from party lawmakers that beg for translation.

Oh, so Politico writer Jonathan Martin is going to make it up

Before we get to the private and public messages being transmitted, however, a word on what top Republicans actually believe about what has become a deepening crisis for the White House, based on my conversations over the last two days.

They are concerned more protests to the bloodshed may beget additional incidents, have little faith in DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and, from a raw political standpoint, worry the party has squandered the best issues it had when voters were otherwise frustrated with the cost of living: the border and public order.

Immigration, broadly, as one veteran senator granted anonymity to speak candidly told me over the weekend, is for the GOP what health care is for Democrats — a “home game.” Yet with viral images of Americans being shot in broad daylight replacing migrants stampeding across the country’s border, that advantage is quickly dissipating.

Other than the usual Squishes, Republicans are fine with what’s going on. These idiots, so many of them being paid to be there, are putting themselves in the way of duly empowered law enforcement.

So what are Republican elected officials doing to address what could prove calamitous, for the country and their political fortunes?

To date, it’s the usual approach.

They plead with Trump and his advisers in private to calm tensions, as a handful did this weekend. However, most officials hope one of their colleagues can do that work so they don’t have to play the heavy. “You can talk to them” or “Can you talk to them?” are phrases I don’t need access to text chains to know are being relayed between top Republicans.

When lawmakers do reach Trump, the dialogue is similar to those private messages he posted last week from European leaders eager to get him off his Greenland fetish: Start with praise and flattery before moving to the heart of the matter.

Some actual Republicans are named later, like Squish Kevin Stitt, Thom Tillis who’s retiring (because Republicans do not trust him), and Squish James Comer, none of who really blast Trump’s immigration.

In another television interview, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) deployed the “I’m-only-thinking-out-loud-here” approach of trying to get through to Trump and his aides.

Rather than say: Hell yes, we should yank federal immigration officials from Minnesota and end this fiasco, Comer tried to say it this way on Fox:

“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about, OK, if the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more, you know, innocent lives or whatever, then maybe go to another city and let the people of Minneapolis decide, ‘Do we want to continue to have all of these illegals?’”

Yeah, Martin keeps digging deep like that. The answer is simple: give the criminals to ICE. Don’t shield them and there would be no need for surges to liberal cities. How many Americans were killed, raped, assaulted by illegals just last year? There are over 13,000 illegals convicted of murder in the US as of last year. These are who Democrats are fighting for, are protecting.