How Trump Snookered His Cultist Base On Mexico

The New York Times reports:

“This is a pattern we’ve seen since the first days of this administration,” said Ned Price, a former C.I.A. official who worked on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council staff and is now director of policy at National Security Action, a progressive foreign policy advocacy organization.

“The president manufactures a crisis, galvanizes his base around the challenge, leaves the definition of success undefined, pretends to play hardball and, lo and behold, finds a solution that entails little more than window-dressing, if that,” Mr. Price said.

“For Trump, it’s a win-win.” But “the loser tends to be the American people, oftentimes Trump’s base first and foremost,” he added.

As multiple outlets have reported, the “deal” Trump announced on Friday is merely a restating of vague promises Mexico made last year and doesn’t include Trump’s demand that the US be allowed to reject asylum seekers that haven’t first sought refuge in Mexico.

The 6000 Mexican troops that Trump claims will be deployed to their southern border? The Mexican National Guard “doesn’t really exist yet,” according to a Mexican official.

Not only that, Trump’s tweeted claim that Mexico has committed to buying “LARGE QUANTITIES” of American produce is also flatly false.