Media uproar over the Trump administration’s zero tolerance family separations policy shows no signs of slowing down, and polling has found the public is not supportive. That’s a bad recipe going into the midterms for the GOP.
Amid all this, the administration is welcome to lob (often accurate) charges of media bias. But complaints about the press ring hollow when you’re struggling to get your own story straight.
For instance, Trump officials have struggled when asked whether the family separation policy is meant to act as a deterrent to child migration. This would seem like one of the only ways to justify a policy so drastic, after all. Other administrations, including President Obama’s, have used some version of the policy with that purpose. White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has made the argument.
But Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielson has said this notion of family separation as a deterrent was “offensive” on Monday, hours before Laura Ingraham pressed Attorney General Jeff Sessions into conceding “yes, hopefully people get the message and come through the border at the port of entry and not break across the border unlawfully.”
Asked about the “discrepancy” again by a Fox News host, this time Brian Kilmeade, White House communications official Mercedes Schlapp said “it’s a bigger and broader message which is that, clearly, that we are simply enforcing the law.”
The White House seems set on skirting the word “deterrent,” and has probably instructed surrogates to avoid using it. But if that’s an accurate description of the policy’s purpose, as Kelly, Sessions, and Schlapp have suggested, the administration would better serve its own purpose by just being honest about it. Make that argument. All these dodges look confusing and dishonest. And if you think the media is against you now, just wait until your inconsistent story has compounded the challenge.
Flooded with emotional images from the border, adding dimension to a policy they already don’t like, people will want clarity from the White House, not chaotic messaging. Framing it as the fault of Democrats will only go so far. It’s obviously not easy in this media atmosphere, but the White House should be working twice as hard to project clear facts and clear reasoning if it intends to continue defending the move.
