Donald Trump’s ‘Increasingly Erratic Behavior’ Alarms Republicans, Business Leaders, ‘Washington Post’ Reports

Donald Trump has put the White House through “12 days of chaos,” according to The Washington Post, as he was “showing signs of panic” over a sharp spike in border crossings at the United States-Mexico border.

Trump’s “increasingly erratic behavior” since March 29 when he first threatened to shut down the border in a Twitter post has caused alarm not only among top Republicans, but also among business leaders and even foreign leaders who worry that Trump cannot control his emotions, and will do something impulsive that would damage the U.S. economy, or make the situation at the border worse, according to the Post report.

Trump forced out Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, fired Secret Service Director Randolph Alles, as The Inquisitr reported, and purged other top Homeland Security officials over the past week, leaving his Republican allies in Congress “floored,” according to Politico.

The Republicans were “distressed” by Trump’s sudden assault on the DHS, according to the Politico report, and while most have been broadly supportive of Trump, they are not in “lockstep” with him on the immigration issue, Politico reported.

“He thinks it’s a winning issue,” Republican Senator John Thune told Politico. “It works for him. It may not work for everybody else.”

John Cornyn of Texas, another Republican Senator who has been a staunch supporter of Trump, was forced to break with him over the threat to close the border. Cornyn “pleaded” with Trump to back off the threat, because his state exports nearly $100 million worth of products per year to Mexico, according to the U.S. Trade Representative Office.

Trump’s response to the increase in border crossings — which threaten to undermine what he sees as his strongest reelection issue — has been to push for harsher policies, demanding to bring back the “family separation” policy that Trump supposedly reversed by executive order last year, according to The Post. But according to a CNN report, Trump denied that he wants to begin splitting children from their parents again.

Multiple sources had told CNN that not only did Trump want to separate children from parents who crossed the border illegally, but he also demanded that children be taken from parents attempting to enter the U.S. at legal ports of entry — and even wanted to split children apart from parents who were apprehended inside the U.S.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that he had, in fact, stopped the family separation policy, claiming that the policy was initiated by President Barack Obama. But that claim was false, as National Public Radio established in a fact-check report. Nonetheless, Trump also appears to endorse the policy of splitting parent and children as a method to deter unauthorized immigration.

“I’ll tell you something, once you don’t have it that’s why you have many more people coming,” Trump said on Tuesday. “They are coming like it’s a picnic, like, ‘Let’s go to Disneyland.'”