Trump Ends DACA, Responds to Hurricane Harvey: A Closer Look

-As his summer of near-constant chaos ends,
President Trump faces a series of challenges
more difficult than any he has dealt with up to this point.
So how has he responded?
By threatening to deport
hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Americans.
For more on this, it's time for "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
On top of everything else
he'll face in the next several months --
the budget, the debt limit, North Korea's nuclear program --
Trump has had to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
And this Labor Day weekend,
Trump chipped in with some labor of his own,
helping load supplies onto a truck,
though he did it in a way that illustrated
how little he knows about loading.
Hey, can you handle this?
It's a lot of.... -Yes, sir.
-Have a good time.
[ Laughter ]
-"Here you go.
Now just drive off with this in your lap."
[ Laughter ]
We should just be happy Trump wasn't in charge of
filling the trucks with gas.
To be fair to Trump,
we don't need elbow grease from our presidents
in times of tragedy.
We need their inspirational words.
But even there, Trump wasn't quite up to the task.
[ Indistinct shouting ]
-My hands are too big.
We're here to take care. It's going well.
And I want to thank you for coming out.
We're gonna get you back and operating immediately.
Thank you, everybody. What a crowd. What a turnout.
-What is wrong with you?
You're the president, not a stand-up comic.
"What a crowd. What a turnout. Thank you.
Thank you so much for coming out tonight.
Oh, what? You had to because your house is underwater?
That's my time." [ Laughter ]
I don't want to say that Trump is out of touch with reality,
so I'll let him say it.
-It's been a wonderful thing.
As tough as this was, it's been a wonderful thing
I think even for the country to watch
and for the world to watch.
It's been beautiful.
Have a good time, everybody.
I'm gonna be doing a little help over here.
-"Have a good time, everybody."
You know, it reminds me of newscaster Herbert Morrison
and his commentary during the Hindenburg disaster.
-Just look at those beautiful flames
arching skyward from that airship.
Oh, the humanity!
The humanity...
is having the time of their lives.
Have a good time, everybody.
-And yet despite his bumbling through staged photo ops,
Trump seemed to think highly of his performance after Harvey.
So highly, that on Friday,
he had a group of faith leaders at the White House
to declare a national day of prayer
and made them take turns praising him.
-Mr. President, we want to thank you for your leadership.
-We thank you, the Vice President, and your entire team.
-Don't be shy. What are you?
Since when are you shy?
-I'm not shy, Mr. President.
-Anybody else? Anybody else? How about it?
-Thank you, Mr. President. -Right from the beginning.
Go ahead. -Yes, indeed.
-Pastor Jeffress. -Yes.
-Prayer? -Let's pray together, may we?
-Father, I thank you that we have a president,
President Donald Trump,
who believes in the power of prayer.
This country has been bitterly divided
for decades upon decades,
and now you have given us a gift -- President Donald Trump.
-Far be it from me to criticize God,
but He is a terrible gift-giver. [ Laughter ]
Did Trump come with a gift receipt?
Although I'm sure -- By the way, I'm sure God would say,
"A gift? I sent him as a harbinger of doom.
What's wrong with you people?"
But of course as quick as he is to praise himself,
Trump is even quicker to needlessly attack others,
as he did on Saturday when he was praising
emergency responders for their heroic work,
and out of nowhere,
took this false and gratuitous swipe at the media.
-I hear the Coast Guard saved 11,000 people.
-Yes, sir, almost. -11,000 -- think of it.
Almost 11,000 people
by going into winds that the media would not go into.
They will not go into those winds.
Unless it's a really good story, in which case they will, okay?
-Of course, the media was on those choppers
with the Coast Guard during many of those rescues,
which is why you saw those rescues on the news.
[ Laughter ]
And you certainly didn't see Trump
going into any dangerous winds.
Believe me, you would have noticed.
[ Laughter ]
And of course, the media did work
in exceedingly dangerous conditions,
flagging down emergency crews in the rain
and literally pulling people out of floodwaters.
Meanwhile, the closest Trump has ever come to water
is still this.
-It's Rubio.
[ Laughter ]
[ Laughter ]
-Of course, the Coast Guard
and the media weren't the only ones
braving dangerous conditions to save lives.
There were also countless emergency responders,
like Houston-area paramedic Jesus Contreras.
Contreras is protected from deportation
under the Obama-era program known as DACA.
He spent six straight days
rescuing people from floodwaters in Houston,
so how did the president thank him?
Well, today, Trump announced that he was rescinding DACA,
supposedly with a six-month delay
to allow Congress to pass legislation to replace it.
Trump's decision throws the lives of
nearly 800,000 Americans,
who were brought here as children
and who work here and go to school here, into chaos.
Now, polls have shown consistently
that a large majority of Americans
support letting DACA recipients, known as dreamers,
stay in the country, which may explain why
Trump hid behind his Attorney General today,
letting Jeff Sessions make the announcement.
All Trump could muster was
a statement supporting the decision
and a tweet urging Congress to come up with a solution.
Trump tweeted...
Trump ends every tweet like
he's jumping out from behind a door to scare you.
"Congress, get ready to do your job. DACA!"
[ Laughter ]
"You should --
You should see your face when I said DACA."
[ Applause ]
To be clear, DACA recipients were brought here as children,
have known no other country, pay taxes,
have no criminal record,
and are as American as anyone else living here.
And this will shock you --
With this decision today,
Trump once again proved himself to be a liar
after repeatedly assuring dreamers
that he would take care of them and treat them with heart.
-Is there anything you can say to assure them right now
that they'll be allowed to stay?
-They shouldn't be very worried.
They are here illegally. They shouldn't be very worried.
I do have a big heart.
We're going to take care of everybody.
We love the dreamers. We love everybody.
We're gonna show great heart.
DACA is a very, very difficult subject for me, I will tell you.
To me, it's one of the most difficult subjects I have,
because you have these incredible kids.
The DACA situation is a very, very --
It's a very difficult thing for me
because, you know, I love these kids.
I love kids. I have kids.
-"That's right. I have kids.
And I would only deport one of them."
"Father, no!"
[ Applause ]
In fact, Trump himself
apparently didn't even want to make a decision
and desperately hoped someone else would solve the problem.
According to The New York Times...
Something tells me this isn't the only time
Trump has asked his aides for a way out.
I just assume he's been carving a tunnel
through the wall of the Oval Office
under a poster of Rita Hayworth.
So a president who backed himself into a corner
by catering to the racial resentments of his base
is now needlessly throwing the lives of hundreds of thousands
of hardworking Americans into chaos.
Which means it's now up to Congress to do something.
Now, many Republicans urged Trump not to end the program,
including people like House Speaker Paul Ryan
and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
But Trump's relationship with those Republicans is strained.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday
McConnell's relationship with Trump began to fray last month
as the GOP effort to repeal Obamacare was falling apart.
Incidentally, that's the title of my favorite Judy Blume novel.
[ Laughter ]
So Republicans now treat phone calls with the president
the way the rest of us treat
phone calls with our grandparents.
"Hi, Grandma. Just keep talking.
I'm gonna put you on speaker.
Wow.
That does sound like a lot of pills."
[ Laughter ]
So you have a president needlessly tormenting
hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans
with a cruel and capricious policy
that is supported neither by a majority of voters
nor by his own party.
So why do Republicans continue to stand by him?
GOP Congressman Duncan Hunter
summed up the core ideology of the modern GOP best
when he said of Trump on Friday to a group of Republicans...
Now, I'm not a licensed proctologist,
but, Congressman,
there is something seriously wrong with your ass[bleep]
This has been "A Closer Look."
[ Cheers and applause ]
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Trump Ends DACA, Responds to Hurricane Harvey: A Closer Look

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