One of the secrets to not having a heart attack around Donald Trump at least once a week is to realize that he just throws things 'out there' not so much to see what sticks, but to see what blows up.

Much of what is perceived as him stepping on himself - or his 'message' - is his own convoluted way of feeling the audience. Testing reactions and, I think, to a large extent, confirming that what his initial gut instincts were telling him was the right way to go.

It's happened so many times, and I'll admit, I used to fall for it with the same, 'Oh, dear GOD, what NOW' horror everyone else was experiencing when whatever inexplicably bizarre or contrary thing popped out of Trump's mouth.

Now? I catch myself before the freakout, wailing, and hair-pulling stage, and express either a simple 'WHUT?' or yes/no to the issue or position reversal being floated.

And they are being floated, believe me. Nothing is cast in stone if it comes from anyone other than Trump himself and without any of the qualifiers he slips in like 'maybe' or 'I don't know, I've heard...'

A classic example was this week's adventures in illegal alien deportations.

What were we all promised? That every last illegal would be gone.

What did Tom Homan set out to do before the LA riots kicked in?

Deport them all. That was the deal.

What did we hear this week?

Trump vows changes to immigration crackdown to protect migrant farmers, hotel workers

HANG ON A COTTON PICKIN' MINUTE

President Donald Trump said he plans to make changes to his administration's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration to protect migrant farmers, hotel workers and others in the leisure industry who have been among those deported.

Trump promised the changes in a June 12 Truth Social post that acknowledged Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have expanded arrests beyond just migrants convicted of violent crimes, who Trump officials have said are the primary targets of raids and deportations.

"Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace," Trump wrote on the social media platform he owns.

Oh, no, no, no, no. That's not what we all voted for. Not any part of 'some of them can stay.'

And, woof. Immediate and united uproar in the negative.

If President Trump does indeed interfere with ICE by designating deportable and non-deportable classes of illegal aliens it will be a deal breaker for me. It is pure craven politics. And the weaponization of a govt agency by a President.

— H.L. Chiselfritz (@RotNScoundrel) June 16, 2025

Harsh words flew from everywhere.

Does this means we’re now okay with tens of millions of criminals continuing to farm our fields, bus our tables and clean our toilets in Trump hotels? WTF

Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries https://t.co/okGmodIx4W via @NYTimes

— Jamie Lincoln Kitman (@jamiekitman) June 14, 2025

The Daily Caller's 'Unfit to Print' Newsletter today was apoplectic.

...Is this what Trump supporters voted for?  

During the campaign, Trump promised to launch the biggest mass deportation program in American history. Polls from 2024 show that the majority of Americans supported removing all illegal immigrants. Republicans have called for mandatory E-Verify, a program for employers to determine if their employees are legally eligible to work in the U.S., for years. In April, ICE released a statement indicating that the administration “will prosecute business owners who exploit alien workers.” 

The expectation was that all of the illegal immigrants — starting with the criminals — would be going home and that businesses would have to use legal labor (hopefully Americans). 

Illegal immigrants, of course, typically work for lower wages than native-born Americans and legal immigrants and, as the pro-immigration conceit goes, do the jobs “Americans won’t do.” The “experts” have thus warned us that Trump’s deportation program will lead to higher prices and major job shortages.

And much derision from the Left, but what's new?

I called BS on it when I first read what was being proposed, and said the backlash was going to be overwhelmingly awful for the administration.

For one thing, this sudden change of heart was making little sense in the face of Trump's more aggressive posture towards immigration enforcement in sanctuary cities, so what gives? 

That was before I had a chance to look at what had actually been said. The code language was there for all to see (if the angry red mist cleared from their eyes to do so) and I immediately invoked my three-day Trump rule: sit back and wait for three days to see what happens.

...The president did not specify what changes could be in store to address worker shortages caused by his immigration crackdown. Critics of Trump's mass-deportation agenda have long said migrants ‒ who tend to provide cheap labor by working for low wages ‒ are an essential part of the country's agriculture workforce.

The second I saw that Trump hadn't 'specified' any changes, I thought 'code words.' He wants to see how and if a two-tiered illegal immigration system is going to fly with the American people. Trump got fast and furious answers in response to ponder over.

Then this morning?

Welp.

You would think people would have learned to wait before engaging in dramatics at this point.

— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) June 17, 2025

There it was, all neat and tied up in a bow.

Good: Trump officials reverse guidance exempting farms, hotels from immigration raids. https://t.co/qsz0K0ROtA

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) June 17, 2025

The Washington Post is also reporting that DHS staff received a memo to pause enforcement in certain agricultural and other industries, but then received word to disregard it and get back to work on the deportations.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday told staff that it was reversing guidance issued last week that agents were not to conduct immigration raids at farms, hotels and restaurants — a decision that stood at odds with President Donald Trump’s calls for mass deportations of anyone without legal status.

Officials from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, including its Homeland Security Investigations division, told agency leaders in a call Monday that agents must continue conducting immigration raids at agricultural businesses, hotels and restaurants, according to two people familiar with the call. The new instructions were shared in an 11 a.m. call to representatives from 30 field offices across the country.

ICE and HSI field office supervisors began learning about a likely reversal of the exemption policy Sunday after hearing from DHS leadership that the White House did not support it, according to one person with knowledge of the reversal.

An official from DHS had sent an email Thursday telling agents to “hold on all worksite enforcement investigations/operations on agriculture (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and operating hotels.” That message went out hours after Trump suggested he was sympathetic to concerns raised by farmers and hospitality executives about his deportation plan. The Washington Post spoke with four people who confirmed that a call was held Monday with the agency’s leadership.

Interestingly enough, nowhere in the Post report does it point the finger at the White House or Trump for directing the pause to begin with, which means someone, somewhere in the food chain, took it upon themselves to order it. You'll notice, too, that the WaPo says 'Trump officials reverse guidance,' not that Trump is ordering his own guidance reversed.

It makes one wonder who exactly did order the pause - was it Noem? Both she and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins are farm industry types, and Rollins has been advocating ardently for relief from immigration pressure for farmers and their help. Obviously, the hotel industry has Trump's number for angry phone calls.

Whatever happened, one can rest assured it was yet another Trump trial balloon, and there was zero question what the survey answers were when it went up.

Hard, fast, and unambiguous 'NO EXCEPTIONS OR EXEMPTIONS.'

And voilà - ICE is on the warpath, as promised.

It's refreshing.

And I should be pretty good at this by the end of four years.