Kasich still casts a shadow

On Wednesday, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump delivered a much anticipated policy address on immigration, and while it certainly was red meat for his supporters, there was a glaring omission. But it may well have been intentional.

Trump, the veteran reality talk show host and New York City billionaire, is aware that voters who favor him over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton don’t care about specifics when it comes to issues. They have bought into his spiel that as president he will “Make America Great Again.”

To them, making this nation great means getting rid of the illegal immigrants living here, as well as placing controls on legal immigration.

The blue-collar, middle class voters – largely white males – who support Trump haven’t been shy about pointing the finger of blame for their economic distress.

And they have found an enabler in Trump.

Here’s what he said, in part, last week:

“While there are many illegal immigrants in our country who are good people, this doesn’t change the fact that most illegal immigrants are lower-skilled workers with less education who compete directly against vulnerable American workers, and that these illegal workers draw much more out from the system than they will ever pay in.

“But these facts are never reported.

“Instead, the media and my opponent discuss one thing, and only this one thing: the needs of people living here illegally.

“The truth is, the central issue is not the needs of the 11 million or however many there may be – and honestly we’ve been hearing that number for years. It’s always 11 million. Our government has no idea. It could be 3 million, it could be 30 million, they have no idea what the number is.

“That has never been the central issue. It will never be the central issue.

“Anyone who tells you that the core issue is the needs of those living here illegally has simply spent too much time in Washington.

“Only out of touch media elites think the biggest problem facing American society today is that there are 11 million illegal immigrants who don’t have legal status.”

No mercy

Throughout the hotly contested primary campaign that featured 17 candidates, the real-estate tycoon from New York let it be known that his policy was based on this simple principle: Show no mercy.

As he said on Wednesday, “For those here illegally today who are seeking legal status, they will have one route and only one route: to return home and apply for re-entry like everybody else under the rules of the new legal immigration system …. Those who have left to seek entry under this new system, and it will be an efficient system, will not be awarded surplus visas, but will have to enter under immigration caps or limits that will be established in the future.”

Trump also said there would be no amnesty for individuals who have lived in this country a long time and have established families and deep roots in their communities.

But there was a huge missing piece in the speech – the very reason Trump stood out from the rest of the primary election field: his call for the mass deportation of the 11 million illegal immigrants.

Indeed, the prospect of lines of buses loaded with individuals from Mexico and other South American countries heading for the border with Mexico had many Trump supporters foaming at the mouth.

But his mass deportation plan also triggered harsh responses from his critics.

One person, in particular, gained national notoriety because of his strident criticism of the billionaire: Ohio Gov. John R. Kasich, who sought the GOP presidential nomination but was only able to win the Buckeye State.

Kasich, who was re-elected in 2014 by a landslide, called Trump’s immigration policy “a silly argument.”

The governor, a former member of House of Representatives where he served as chairman of the budget committee, had this to say:

“In 1986, Ronald Reagan basically said the people who were here, if they were law-abiding, could stay. We need to control our border just like we have to control who goes in and out of their house.

“But if people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up in their house and ship them out to Mexico – think about the families, think about the children. So you know what the answer really is? If they’ve been law-abiding, they pay a penalty, they get to stay, we protect the wall, anybody else comes over, they go back.

“But for the 11 million people? Come on, folks. It’s a silly argument, it’s not an adult argument. It makes no sense.”

Kasich, the governor of a key battleground state in the November general election, has not only refused to endorse Trump, but he has been conspicuous by his absence when the GOP presidential nominee has campaigned in Ohio.

Although Trump’s speech last week left no doubt that he is standing firm on his immigration policy, his failure to discuss how he intends to force the 11 million illegal immigrants out of the country is a glaring omission. Whether it was intentional remains to be seen.