Is Steve King right that Trump's base will be "destroyed" by this DREAM deal?

I realize King hates the nascent deal, and Coulter, and Ingraham, and Breitbart. Who cares? They’re nationalists. Much of Trump’s base isn’t. They’re Trumpists, which means they trust that whatever His Majesty wants is right. Trumpism and nationalism overlap but nationalism has fixed principles and Trumpism shifts according to the whims of the man himself. In a truly nationalist administration, it would have been Gary Cohn and Jared Kushner who were sent packing, not Steve Bannon.

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So yeah, nationalists hate what Trump seems to be prepared to do. Do Trumpists? Let’s maybe wait for a poll before we declare that he’s lost his base by playing pattycake with Schumer and Pelosi.

Ask yourself: Who better represents the loyalties of MAGA nation, Bannon or Sean Hannity? Who’s more in tune with Trump’s voters, King — who didn’t even back Trump in Iowa last year — or Bill Mitchell? Because the Hannity/Mitchell line this morning isn’t “SELLOUT,” it’s a mix of “trust in the leader” and “the g*ddamned RINOs forced Trump into this.” Doesn’t sound to me like POTUS is in imminent danger of losing either of them.

https://twitter.com/seanhannity/status/908170255238922243
https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/908297882071130112
https://twitter.com/mitchellvii/status/908335013879574528

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Coulter and Bannon et al are loyal to nationalism, Hannity and Mitchell are loyal to Trump. Bet heavily that the latter are better predictors of the reaction among rank and file Republicans than the former. On top of that, voters on both sides instinctively like bipartisanship. Rasmussen just published a poll asking Americans if Trump should work with congressional Democrats to advance his agenda. You might think Republican voters would be inclined to say no to that. With the party in control of both houses of Congress, why compromise with The Enemy? But no:

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 66% of Likely U.S. Voters say it is good for the country if Trump works with congressional Democrats to advance his agenda. Just 13% think the bipartisan cooperation is bad for the country, while 21% are undecided…

Republicans (72%) are even more enthusiastic about the president working with congressional Democrats than Democrats (62%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (63%) are.

Morning Consult asked a similar question and found 57 percent of Republicans preferred to see Trump work with Republicans *and* Democrats versus just 31 percent who wanted him to work with Republicans alone. Combine that with the ardent support of the Hannity/Mitchell core, which really just wants to “win,” as Jonah Goldberg says, and the fact that legal status for DREAMers polls well in its own right and again — who cares what Coulter or King think? Trump will be just fine. No wonder the mood during dinner with Schumer and Pelosi was “jovial.”

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And if worse comes to worst and some in his base do start to grumble, the more gullible ones can probably be appeased with some Orwellian euphemisms. He’s not in favor of “amnesty” for DREAMers, you see, he’s in favor of … a responsible path forward:

Marco Rubio couldn’t have said it any better. Likewise, he’s still 100 percent behind the wall. It’s just that “the wall” will include some fencing, and it might not be “built” so much as “repaired”:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/908274366739345409

Out: BUILD THE WALL. In: REPAIR THE FENCE. MEXICO WILL PAY FOR THE RENOVATIONS!

The best gauge, as always, for how MAGA nation is apt to react is Fox News. Were Trump’s pals on “Fox & Friends” ticked off this morning that he was reportedly preparing to rubber-stamp a DREAM amnesty without wall funding in return? Of course not. Watch this clip to see how they hit all the major points of spin in eight short minutes. Bipartisanship is in the best interests of the country; Ryan and McConnell made Trump look bad and now he’s totally pwn3d them; and hey, with illegal immigration down, maybe a wall isn’t as necessary as we thought. Maybe it’s more … “symbolic.” Enjoy the next three and a half years.

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