Donald Trump’s mixed signals about easing his plan to deport all illegal immigrants are dividing his closest allies and prompting warnings he could lose core supporters if he abandons the signature issue of his campaign.
Even as some supporters said they would welcome a softer tone as a sign Mr. Trump is working to broaden his support, he reverted to stronger language in an interview with CNN Thursday, saying illegal immigrants would need to leave the country before they could apply for legal status.
But in interviews this week with Fox News he backed away from his long-held proposal to deport the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants, suggesting those without criminal records could stay if they pay “back taxes.”
That didn’t sit well with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was among the first high-profile Republicans to endorse Mr. Trump in January. “If Mr. Trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions taken on things that the core foundation of his support has so appreciated, and that is respecting our Constitution and respecting law and order in America, then, yeah, there would be massive disappointment,” she said...
The issue of immigration is just the latest policy issue that the New York businessman has shifted on since facing a general election electorate. He has stopped speaking about barring Muslims from entering the country, despite the fact that his Dec. 7 pledge calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” remains on his campaign website.
Mr. Trump’s new aides have had some trouble navigating their candidate’s positions. When Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s new campaign manager, was asked Wednesday on MSNBC if his proposal to bar immigrants from countries with terrorist enclaves would supplant the Muslim ban, she said: “I don’t think it supplants it at all.…I think it clarifies it.”
One day earlier, asked about Mr. Trump’s previous call for mass deportations, she said on CNN: “He has not said that for a while.”
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/do...e-a-flap-1472169148-lMyQjAxMTA2ODI4NjAyNDYxWj
Even as some supporters said they would welcome a softer tone as a sign Mr. Trump is working to broaden his support, he reverted to stronger language in an interview with CNN Thursday, saying illegal immigrants would need to leave the country before they could apply for legal status.
But in interviews this week with Fox News he backed away from his long-held proposal to deport the nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants, suggesting those without criminal records could stay if they pay “back taxes.”
That didn’t sit well with former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who was among the first high-profile Republicans to endorse Mr. Trump in January. “If Mr. Trump were to go down a path of wishy-washy positions taken on things that the core foundation of his support has so appreciated, and that is respecting our Constitution and respecting law and order in America, then, yeah, there would be massive disappointment,” she said...
The issue of immigration is just the latest policy issue that the New York businessman has shifted on since facing a general election electorate. He has stopped speaking about barring Muslims from entering the country, despite the fact that his Dec. 7 pledge calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on” remains on his campaign website.
Mr. Trump’s new aides have had some trouble navigating their candidate’s positions. When Kellyanne Conway, Mr. Trump’s new campaign manager, was asked Wednesday on MSNBC if his proposal to bar immigrants from countries with terrorist enclaves would supplant the Muslim ban, she said: “I don’t think it supplants it at all.…I think it clarifies it.”
One day earlier, asked about Mr. Trump’s previous call for mass deportations, she said on CNN: “He has not said that for a while.”
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/do...e-a-flap-1472169148-lMyQjAxMTA2ODI4NjAyNDYxWj
