Et tu, Donald Trump?
That was the overwhelming message conservatives and diehard Trump supporters expressed online following reports that the President had struck a DACA deal with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer during a dinner with the Democratic leaders Wednesday night. Pelosi and Schumer said Trump agreed to broadly protect the so-called “Dreamers,” who are certain U.S. residents whose parents had brought them into the country illegally, by ensuring an eventual path to citizenship. Last week, Trump decided to end the DACA program instituted unilaterally by former President Barack Obama.
Trump has since pushed back on some aspects of Schumer’s and Pelosi’s account—he stressed that he would continue to push for a wall between the U.S. and Mexico (although it’s unclear if that will be a make-or-break condition for enshrining the DACA program through legislation like the DREAM Act) and that ramped up border security remained an enormous priority for him.
Still, he echoed some of the main points made by DREAM Act and DACA supporters in a Thursday morning tweetstorm, asking whether or not anybody really wants to “throw out good, educated and accomplished young people who have jobs, some serving in the military?” And that’s not sitting well at all with some of his biggest supporters in conservative media and political spheres seeing as Trump’s hardline immigration stance was perhaps the cornerstone of his 2016 campaign.
Ann Coulter
Coulter has been one of Trump’s biggest boosters, mainly because of his tough talk on Hispanic and Muslim immigration (legal or otherwise). She appeared to be having a hard time wrapping her head around Trump’s apparent reversal.
Sean Hannity
One of Trump’s most prominent advocates in political media, the Fox News host tried his best to rationalize the deal while clearly despairing over the change in circumstance. The biggest target of his ire? Establishment Congressional GOP leaders.
Steve King
The Iowa GOP Congressman has made his political bread and butter on immigrant-bashing. So it’s not surprising that he’s taking the news a bit personally.
Breitbart and Drudge
Two of the most popular conservative political sites have spoken. And they are not happy with “Amnesty Don,” as Breitbart News labeled him.
The Drudge Report’s current splash has Trump and Pelosi in a split frame with the caption, “DREAM TEAM.”
Lou Dobbs
The Fox Business anchor and immigration hardliner seemed to place some of the DACA blame on Trump’s “globalist” advisers in the White House.
And that’s all just the tip of the iceberg. A bevy of other conservative writers and celebrities have also joined in on the collective vent session.
