Via CNS News, a friendly reminder to my friends on the right who seem very sure right now that Trump can’t win the general election that Trump can most certainly win the general election. It’s all a question of which issues become a priority for the electorate. If the economy dips this fall, which position looks more reasonable to a swing voter: We should deport everyone — or we shouldn’t deport anyone?

What piqued my interest in this clip last night wasn’t outrage in conservative social media, it was the eyebrow-raising among members of the wider media. You’re pretty far along the slippery slope when even mainstream reporters are questioning whether Democrats have overreached on a core liberal issue:

The Democratic candidates are closing in on the position that it is immoral to deport anyone who came here illegally who is not a criminal.

— Nick Confessore (@nickconfessore) March 10, 2016

https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/707758134371225605

It … does seem a bit open-borders-ish to guarantee up front that entering the U.S. illegally means you get to stay so long as you lack a criminal record, now that you mention it. And given how sensitive the flow of illegals abroad is to immigration policy developments inside the United States, having not one but both Democratic candidates give thumbs up to amnesty for nearly the entire population at a nationally televised debate should have exactly the consequences you’d expect.

I’m surprised at Ramos for not spotting Hillary’s attempt to find a loophole here, though. He keeps trying to pin her down on whether she’ll promise then and there to deport only the criminals, but it’s clear to me from her response that she’s trying to limit that promise to illegals who are already here. If you cross the border after she’s president, well, then you’ll need to go back. That’s going to be her hedge when she faces the general electorate this fall — amnesty for those who are here, no amnesty for the next round of newcomers — although of course that’s been the promise of every attempt at comprehensive immigration reform for the past 30 years. It’s pure nonsense, and no one would be more incensed than Ramos himself if President Hillary tried to keep her promise by deporting new illegals en masse. There’ll never be “enough” illegal immigration for the activist left. Or, of course, for the establishment right. Exit quotation from Ross Douthat:

Yes the Democratic Party's lurch toward open borders has nothing to do with the rise of Trumpism, nothing at all, la la la.

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) March 10, 2016