White House Watch: The DACA Deadline Dies

Another top aide leaves. [View this as website]( [header]( Share: [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Share on Google+]( For recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a sigh of relief: The Supreme Court on Monday effectively upheld a lower court’s ruling that the White House cannot end DACA, which provides legal status to people brought to America illegally as children, until challenges to the administration’s decision have worked their way through the courts. The Supreme Court declined to hear the Trump administration’s appeal of the 9th Circuit Court’s ruling, saying that “It is assumed the court of appeals will act expeditiously to decide this case.” In effect, this means that DACA’s dictated sunset date of March 5, which for months functioned as a stick to spur lawmakers to strike a deal on immigration, has become meaningless for now. Following the decision, President Trump once again punched out at the court that issued the stay, saying that “nothing’s as bad as the 9th Circuit.” “It’s really sad when every single case filed against us is in the 9th Circuit,” the president said Monday. “We lose, we lose, we lose, and then we do fine in the Supreme Court. But what does that tell you about our court system? It’s a very, very sad thing.” [Read more...]( President Trump on Monday offered another scattershot of proposals in the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting, repeating his calls for increasing background checks on private firearm purchases while calling for “well-trained and certified school personnel” to be armed and people thoughts to be potential shooters institutionalized. “We can’t have this go on,” Trump said during his impromptu remarks at Monday’s business session with many of the nation’s governors. “Our nation is heartbroken. We continue to mourn the loss of so many precious, innocent young lives. These are incredible people. I visited a lot of them. But we will turn our grief into action.” The Parkland massacre seems to have made a serious impression on President Trump, who has offered such calls to action on a nearly daily basis for the past week. But while Trump seems determined to do something, it’s not clear what an eventual White House school safety proposal will look like. Americans disagree strongly on what policy changes would help prevent further school shootings, and Trump appears to rotate between these suggested changes. [Read more...]( ADVERTISEMENT Mark It Down—“Don’t worry about the NRA. They’re on our side.” —President Trump, February 26, 2018, on the National Rifle Association’s resistance to his suggested restrictions on gun purchases last week Mueller Watch—Whatever happened to President Trump’s cheerful January insistence that he was “looking forward to” sitting down for a face-to-face interview with special counsel Robert Mueller? “Here is the story: There has been no collusion whatsoever,” Trump told reporters on January 25. “There is no obstruction whatsoever. And I am looking forward to it.” [As I reported at the time]( Trump has reason to be nervous about such an interview, whether his campaign colluded or obstructed justice or not. Lying to the FBI is a felony, so there would be no small danger of the chronically untruthful president incriminating himself right then and there. One member of Trump’s legal team offered another rationale his lawyers could use to refuse an interview[to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday]( the White House has given Mueller everything he needs, and to impose on the president further would be an insufferable waste of his time. “It would be a travesty to waste [the president’s] time and to set a precedent which would cripple a future president,” the unnamed attorney told the Journal. Must-See TV—It’s been less than two months since Michael Wolff published his White House exposé Fire and Fury. Possibly the most ludicrous moment in this long publicity march came on Monday, as Wolff was giving an interview to Australia’s Today Show. Pressed to answer a question about his unfounded rumor mongering about an affair between President Trump and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Wolff suddenly insisted his earpiece was malfunctioning and cut the interview short. He didn’t do a very good job selling it, though. [20180227 TWEET]( NAFTA Watch—In the wake of Trump’s headline-grabbing comments about school safety, his remarks in the same meeting about American trade flew relatively under the radar. As is standard, the president grouched vaguely for a while about the general state of America’s pre-Trump trade deals, before issuing grievances against a more unusual pair: Canada and Mexico. “You know, with Mexico, as an example, we probably lose $130 billion a year,” Trump said. “And at some point, we have to get stronger and smarter, because we cannot continue to lose that kind of money with one country.” Nor did our neighbors to the north escape Trump’s displeasure. “We lose a lot with Canada. People don’t know it. Canada is very smooth. They have you believe that it’s wonderful. And it is—for them. Not wonderful for us, it’s wonderful for them. So we have to start showing that we know what we’re doing.” Trump’s comments come at a revealing time: The three North American nations just this week began their seventh round of negotiations concerning the North American Free Trade Agreement in Mexico City. In recent months, Trump has softened his baleful rhetoric about NAFTA, [telling the Wall Street Journal]( that negotiators had “made a lot of headway” and assuring a group of farmers that “I’m working very hard to get a better deal for our country and for our farmers and for our manufacturers.” ADVERTISEMENT Song of the Day— “Destroyed By Hippie Powers,” Car Seat Headrest [20180227-sotd]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( The Weekly Standard · 1152 15th Street, NW · Suite 200 · Washington, DC 20005 · USA