Following his major turnaround on mass deportations and a new embrace of an amnesty process, his reliably comical spokeswoman Katrina Pierson went on CNN this morning to try to convince people that there was really no change at all—and it wasn’t exactly successful.
“He hasn’t changed his position on immigration,” Pierson said. “He’s changed the words that he is saying.”
CNN host Erica Hill, along with the panelists, burst into laughter.
.@KatrinaPierson: Trump "hasn't changed his position on immigration, he's changed the words that he is saying" https://t.co/u4rfExlrCC
— Carol Costello (@CarolCNN) August 25, 2016
Pierson continued: “What he has always said from the beginning is that he does not want to allow people to stay in this country illegally. He does want to build a wall. But he wants to work with Congress to get things done. And that’s exactly what he has said from the beginning.”
Hill responded, “Katrina, he has said, ‘Get them out.’ He’s been very clear about his position. This is a change; this is a shift; this is a flip-flop; it’s an evolution, whatever word you want to use.”
Trump has put himself in an impossible trap. Unless he pivots away, he can’t make gains with non-white voters and white voters who don’t want to be associated with his racism. But if he does pivot away, he alienates his far-right base, such as the now-devastated Ann Coulter.
And even if he does pivot away, it can’t possibly work—because we all know what his positions have been for well over a year! The vast trail of TV interviews and campaign rally videos is not simply going to disappear.