I don’t watch 60 Minutes any more but it was impossible not to know Bari Weiss had secured an interview with him after the midterms. And tagged along to watch her new, fellow MAGA adjacent correspondent conduct it. I had to double check that I wasn’t reading The Onion but apparently Trump admitted with the cameras rolling he might have been “too tough” on at least some of the people he’s had deported. That’s not an apology. Not by a long shot. Nor is it admitting having made a mistake. Still, acknowledging the deportations might have been over the top, at least for some of the people who were rounded up and kicked out is a stunning admission.
As I said, I didn’t watch. I was done with 60 Minutes after Weiss pulled the CECOT segment at the last minute a year ago. I wonder how hard it was for the sound engineers to edit out the blood curdling screams of Stephen Miller wailing NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! as Trump admitted maybe folks who’s only ‘crime’ was illegal entry and had been living here for years and not getting into trouble, working and even paying taxes shouldn’t have been deported. The CBS New article about their 60 Minutes turned out to be worth the time to read. Trump didn’t just say maybe immigration enforcement might have been too tough when it came to people who’d been here ten years or more:
Mr. Trump said his immigration crackdown “both helped and hurt” him at the polls. He believes he “got an A+ for closing up the border,” and got “very high marks for getting the bad ones out.”
“But I get hurt because we also took people that had good jobs, that created one violation, or breaking of the law, and that was that they came into the country illegally,” the president continued. “Now, there is a large part of the country that think that they should be put out. And there’s a large part of the country that think that they should be allowed to stay if they’re good people working in a landscaping company, or working in a hotel, or doing something, right? And in some cases, paying taxes.”
He continued: “I think it was too tough.”
I again must assure you I checked the URL and the article is NOT a piece of satire from The Onion. I wrote earlier today that his and the GOP’s smackdown was so huge Trump barely tried in the days after the Blue Wave washed over the country there’d been ‘massive voter fraud.’ The electoral two-by-four whack upside his fat orange head seems to have knocked some actual introspection and honesty into him. In case you’re wonder I can’t believe I just wrote that last sentence!
I can’t help but think about Miller who had to have gone batsh!t insane hearing Trump say that. I’ll bet he tried to slash his wrists with his genuine Hitler Youth knife he stole from a museum but the Secret Service wrapped him up in a bear hug and carried him out. Not that they’d mind Miller actually cutting his wrists but part of them had to worry he’d try to run over and cut Trump’s throat! I’d imagine ‘Doctor’ Ronny Jackson has him well sedated in a straightjacket for the night.
It’s a safe bet that Miller was whisked away faster than ICE whisks away their victims and he didn’t hear Trump go on to say he’d like to work with Democrats on immigration next year. If he had heard that on top of everything else we’d be seeing press reports about Miller’s head exploding! Hey, we can hope…
Trump’s moment of lucidity and reason won’t last of course. In fact there’s already a Countdown Clock running on when Trump will walk back what he told 60 Minutes. Vegas will start an over/under line on how many times before the end of the year Trump will deny all he said about immigration in that interview.  At this point I wonder what else Trump said that Bari Weiss edited out. She has to know there will be an uproar, and that journalists from other outlets will hound Trump over what he had to say and that Trump will revert to being the Trump we all know and despise. Frankly I’m stunned what he said that I’ve included here made it into the segment.
Still, since there are tons of people like me who are done with 60 Minutes this is something everyone should about. If anyone reading this actually watched the segment I’d love for them to offer their own take in the comment section below.
Friends, I know everyone begs you for money. I promise, among all those asking for spare change, we are the smallest and the hardest working. We’re a group of old, disabled people, except for one writer in his mid-50s. The rest of us are in our sixties and seventies, and this is a labor of love. All we’re asking for is the chance to keep telling the truth about Trump and help ensure democracy survives. If you can help, please do. Thank you. Ursula
