I am hearing that Markwayne Mullin has been saying things about immigration that are not PERFECTLY aligned with my immigration, which is a very serious problem because nobody is allowed to have an immigration that is different from my immigration. He said the idea that immigration steals American jobs is true in some industries but not all industries, and that immigration might help with low labor-force participation in certain areas. Very complicated. Too many words. Not enough WINNING!
I appointed Mullin more than four months ago because I was told he could keep the Department of Homeland Security out of the news, which is exactly where I like my Cabinet secretaries: invisible, obedient, and available for a loyalty assessment at any moment. Instead, he has been making remarks, changing policies, and apparently thinking about the difference between a secure border and a functioning labor market. I have no idea who gave him permission to think.
The people are saying I am frustrated with him, which is FAKE NEWS because I am not frustrated. I am conducting a tremendous personnel experiment. I am testing whether a Cabinet secretary can be weak, off message, opposed by border czar Tom Homan, criticized by Laura Loomer, and still remain employed. Nobody has ever tested this before. It is 4D personnel chess, the highest level, while everyone else is playing checkers with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Mullin temporarily halted most federal immigration vehicle stops after two back-to-back fatal shootings of immigrants, and I reversed that policy the next day because I do not like surprises unless I am the one surprising people. Then he suggested that some of the 350,000 Haitians covered by temporary immigration protections might fill out paperwork and remain under permanent status, or return to their country with help. A very strange way to discuss a Supreme Court victory. When the Court gives me a victory, I prefer it served hot, with no paperwork and a large number attached to it.
I also understood that Mullin wanted to cancel the Fourth of July fireworks because of lightning. Cancel the Fourth of July! On the Fourth of July! I said it does not work next week, because next week is not the big day, and everybody knows that the calendar is one of the few institutions still capable of respecting me. Many people, very smart people, have told me that the fireworks were the biggest fireworks in history, bigger than Washington’s fireworks, bigger than Lincoln’s fireworks, and possibly bigger than the Moon’s fireworks. The crowd was tremendous. The rain was tremendous. The lightning was very loyal.
And yet I am not firing him. This is not weakness. This is a BEAUTIFUL DEAL. I get a secretary whose ICE is arresting between 1,500 and 2,000 immigrants a day, while I get to complain that he is not sufficiently committed to mass deportation. That is called having it both ways, which is something only a very successful businessman can do, especially one who has never been responsible for anything that happened under his own administration.
The ICE arrests are now among the highest daily totals of my administration, but Mullin is still being treated as though he has failed because he briefly allowed reality to enter the building. I recognize the feeling. The numbers can be enormous and still not be large enough when the crowd is watching. You can have 2,000 arrests a day and still hear that you did absolutely nothing. You can have the biggest Cabinet in history and still be surrounded by disloyal people who refuse to understand that the size of the Cabinet is a measure of the leader’s greatness.
Now Lance Schroyer, Mullin’s choice to lead ICE — the Oklahoma Highway Patrol veteran whom rank-and-file ICE officials say lacks federal or immigration experience, while Tom Homan opposes him — faces a Senate that has not even scheduled a confirmation hearing. This is exactly what I wanted. I nominated the man who may not have the federal-government experience they want, placed him in the center of a fight, and allowed everyone to reveal themselves as either loyal or DISLOYAL. The appointment is stalled because it is succeeding. The opposition is proof of the deal. The delay is proof of the speed. The weakness is proof of the strength.
People are asking why I tolerate a secretary who keeps wandering into unauthorized nuance. They do not understand the genius of the operation. Mullin says immigration does not steal every job, and I say the comment was part of my plan. Mullin pauses vehicle stops, and I reverse him. Mullin offers paperwork to Haitians, and I convert the offer into a campaign promise. Mullin recommends canceling fireworks, and I teach the entire Country that weather is no excuse for disloyalty.
I have already covered the shootings that forced the vehicle-stop pause in the earlier account of the fatal ICE encounters, and I have already made clear why Schroyer’s nomination matters in the report on his selection to lead ICE. Those stories prove the same thing I have always said: the Department must be strong, the Department must be loyal, the Department must be quiet, and the Department must never make me look like I am reacting to the Department.
I know exactly what I am doing. I am winning the argument against the argument I made yesterday, which was already the argument I planned to make tomorrow. I am keeping Mullin because firing him would suggest failure, and I am blaming Mullin because keeping him would suggest success. This is the PERFECT arrangement. It has no weakness, no contradiction, and no need for a confirmation hearing.
Diklis Chump did this, very few people could have done it, believe me. I built a Cabinet where every off-message remark becomes evidence of my authority, every reversal becomes strategy, every stalled nomination becomes a trap, and every secretary remains loyal by learning that loyalty means surviving my disappointment. Why do they keep coming back? Why do they keep saying yes? I mean, they love the Country — the Country loves me — the Country loves the arrests — the arrests love the numbers — and the numbers, the biggest numbers, are the only thing that understands me.