Economist: Dems Are Lost on Immigration
Democrats are lucky President Trump’s executive order on immigration was so haphazardly implemented, says Josh Barro at Business Insider, but they “should not get comfortable.” Even with all the chaos, support for the order is running about 50-50. And eventually, “Trump will get to more comfortable political ground: the question of whether immigration to the US is in the interest of American citizens.” But Democrats “are much less clear about what they see as the purpose of immigration and how they believe their policies serve the interests of existing American citizens.” And “you don’t need to be a nationalist to understand that voters expect policies to be made in their interest.”
Conservative take: Can GOP Restrain Trump’s Spending?
Candidate Trump wasn’t big on the policy specifics, but he did make one thing clear, says Jay Cost in The Weekly Standard: “He wants to spend money, a lot of money.” His proposed infrastructure projects alone are estimated at $137.5 billion — “a lot of dough for Uncle Sam, even if the private sector picks up some of the tab.” As for savings to pay for it, “the administration already seems to have taken entitlement reform off the table.” But “if Trump is not going to cut entitlements, he is not going to find the money he needs.” And the net result will be “a substantial increase in the federal debt.” So “if the GOP really wishes to stop the growth of government, it must rebrand itself an anti-deficit party” and “hold the line.”
Policy wonk: Regs Kill Another NYC Favorite
China Fun, a popular Upper East Side restaurant, recently shut its doors after 25 years, blaming “the climate for small businesses like ours in New York,” says Seth Barron at City Journal. The owners specifically identified “a serious flaw and contradiction in the way New York claims to treat small businesses” — “punishing rules and regulations” that suggest the state and city “believe we should be their cash machine.” Barron agrees: “New York City’s elected class talks a good game about the importance of small businesses, while pursuing policies that use these businesses as the instrument of left-wing social change,” such as paid sick leave and raising the minimum wage. The governor and mayor “can keep slapping one another on the back, but New Yorkers just lost another family business.”
Advocate: Trump Opens Door for Black Colleges
Historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, are on the verge of achieving something from Trump that they couldn’t achieve in eight years under Barack Obama, says Jarrett Carter at HBCU Digest: “A single meeting with the president of the United States to address critical issues facing our campuses.” He’s also reportedly planning an executive order on HBCU funding. Indeed, notes Carter this is “more goodwill” than America’s first black president would “even feign in three commencement speeches and eight national HBCU week conferences — none of which he attended.” But “HBCUs need and want Trump’s support,” while “Trump wants and needs to earn the support of Black America.” So “we may never see stranger bedfellows generate a more positive outcome for the nation’s history of race relations and minority progress.”
Culture critic: The Left Is Not Happy With Lady Gaga
Most everyone was wowed by Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime show, and many were surprised she didn’t take the opportunity to “uncork yet another celebrity lecture” against President Trump, notes Christian Toto at Acculturated. Yet the fact that “she didn’t get on a soapbox” but just entertained has others furious. The Washington Post ran a piece decrying the self-styled “rebel” for having “played it safe.” And “Deadline.com seemed almost weepy that the singer didn’t embrace a hard-left position, calling the show ‘mediocre.’ ” It’s the same treatment Taylor Swift got for skipping last month’s anti-Trump Women’s March. Says Toto: Lady Gaga and Swift “did us all a favor,” adding: “If only more celebrities would be so brave.”
— Compiled by Eric Fettmann
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