Three days ago, Donald Trump took to Twitter to push for Republicans in Congress to vote on a conservative immigration proposal.
Today, Donald Trump took to Twitter to claim he actually never pushed for Republicans in Congress to vote on the immigration proposal.
The abrupt about-face from the president raised eyebrows as earlier in the week Trump had been particularly direct in pushing for the bill from Bob Goodlatte, who is among the more conservative members of Congress in his stance on immigration. But the bill failed to gain even support among Republicans.
As Vox noted, it was a blow to Trump that Republicans were unable to get together around any of their immigration proposals.
“This is the second Republican-led immigration bill the House has failed to pass in two weeks,” the report noted. “On June 21 a hardline conservative immigration bill introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), which would have drastically cut the nation’s legal immigration levels and provided an extension of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, failed as well. All Democrats and 41 Republicans voted against that bill.”
But instead of regrouping after his defeat, Donald Trump has apparently decided to act as if it never happened. His tweet on Saturday afternoon disavowed any connection to the bill, even though just a few days before he was trying to rally Republicans around it.
I never pushed the Republicans in the House to vote for the Immigration Bill, either GOODLATTE 1 or 2, because it could never have gotten enough Democrats as long as there is the 60 vote threshold. I released many prior to the vote knowing we need more Republicans to win in Nov.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 30, 2018
The interent didn’t forget, however, and many journalists posted Trump’s denial side-by-side with his call for Republicans to support the bill just days before.
On left: just now On right: 3 days ago pic.twitter.com/RXopQbGGUG
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 30, 2018
Donald Trump was making some other curious statements on Twitter on Saturday. Just a few hours before this immigration denial, Trump defended the controversial immigration enforcement agency ICE and claimed that he had seen the agency “liberate” towns that were taken over by the gang MS-13. That statement drew criticism, as there has never been evidence that MS-13 ever took over any town, or that ICE was then forced to “liberate” these towns, as reported by the Inquisitr .
Trump had frequently made the claim that the MS-13 gang had taken over towns, despite members of the gang making up less than 1 percent of all arrests of illegal immigrants.
Please march today to protest Trump’s cruel policies. Marches are everywhere! https://t.co/qKaxRnuaIp
— Amy Siskind ???? (@Amy_Siskind) June 30, 2018
While Donald Trump may be retreating from his stance on the immigration bill, he is also distancing himself from the debate over his controversial policies — literally. As protesters descended onto Washington, D.C., to protest his policy of separating immigrant children from their parents, Trump traveled to his property in New Jersey for a day of golfing.
