Yglesias being smart and semi-right:

«The contemporary American right has this grand social vision of trying to refashion the United States into a more churchgoing, gender-traditionalist society, where everybody has tons of kids. And I don’t think they have any idea about how to make this happen. One reason they keep getting bogged down in wildly inaccurate nostalgia economics is that getting the sign reversed in terms of the relationship between prosperity and stay-at-home moms helps cover for the fact that none of their ideas make sense.

The self-deportation plan, by contrast, I think does more or less work. If you tell ICE not to worry too much about criminals and not to show any leniency to even the most sympathetic cases, then I think that does maximize the odds that people will leave voluntarily.

The problem, as Trump was saying at the top, is that the consequences of it working are really bad.»

https://www.slowboring.com/p/trump-rediscovers-comprehensive-immigration

«There are just tons and tons of people who would like to come here for the exact reason that my various ancestors came here in the days before national quotas — it’s a way to improve your standard of living and to give your kids greater opportunities. The conservative notion that it’s all killers and rapists is a ridiculous lie. Of course there are people who come here illegally and commit crimes, just as there are plenty of native-born Americans who commit crimes.

But it’s overwhelmingly people just trying to work for a living.»

https://www.slowboring.com/p/trump-rediscovers-comprehensive-immigration

I don’t think Trump has “rediscovered” anything. He’s just a liar trying to keep playing his child’s game of “boss of the world”.