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Maddow Blog-The public is not on board with Trump's idea about sending Americans to a foreign prison
The public is overwhelmingly against the idea of sending American citizens to a Salvadoran prison. So why does the president keep talking about it anyway?
https://bsky.app/profile/hategop.bsky.social/post/3lnvnkrjc2s2v
The public is not on board with Trump’s idea about sending Americans to a foreign prison.
The public is overwhelmingly against the idea of sending American citizens to a Salvadoran prison. So why does the conman-in-chief keep talking about it anyway?
The public is overwhelmingly against the idea of sending American citizens to a Salvadoran prison. So why does the conman-in-chief keep talking about it anyway?
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/public-not-board-trumps-idea-sending-americans-foreign-prison-rcna203388
When Trump welcomed El Salvador President Nayib Bukele to the Oval Office, the Republican whispered to his guest about one of his apparent priorities. The audio was a little difficult to hear, but Trump clearly said that “homegrown criminals are next,” adding that El Salvador will have to build “about five more places.” He echoed the point to reporters two weeks ago and then again during a Fox News interview.
It was against this backdrop that Time magazine reporters asked the president about his ambitions in this area, and as my MSNBC colleague Hayley Miller noted:
It is not allowed under the law.
There’s also reason to believe that Americans are not even close to being on board with the idea. The latest New York Times-Siena College poll found that 73% of voters — and even a narrow majority of Republican voters — said a president should not be able to send American citizens to prison in El Salvador. Only 10% of the public endorsed the idea.
Given the nation’s partisan and ideological divisions, it’s rare to see 73-10 split on much of anything, but on this, public attitudes have reached near-consensus levels.
And yet, Trump keeps talking about this, either because he doesn’t care about public attitudes or he believes he can persuade many Americans to change their minds — or some combination thereof.
The more the president pushes this line, the more it becomes necessary to take the threat seriously.
It was against this backdrop that Time magazine reporters asked the president about his ambitions in this area, and as my MSNBC colleague Hayley Miller noted:
Despite the backlash to and illegality of such a fantasy, Trump doubled down on his wish to send some criminals who are U.S. citizens to foreign prisons. ... “I would love to do that if it were permissible by law,” Trump said, adding: “We’re talking about career criminals that are horrible people that we house and we have to take care of for 50 years while they suffer because they killed people. If you ask me whether or not I would do that, I would, but totally, and I think you have to leave this part of the sentence totally subject to it being allowed under law. And people are looking to see if it would be allowed under law.”
It is not allowed under the law.
There’s also reason to believe that Americans are not even close to being on board with the idea. The latest New York Times-Siena College poll found that 73% of voters — and even a narrow majority of Republican voters — said a president should not be able to send American citizens to prison in El Salvador. Only 10% of the public endorsed the idea.
Given the nation’s partisan and ideological divisions, it’s rare to see 73-10 split on much of anything, but on this, public attitudes have reached near-consensus levels.
And yet, Trump keeps talking about this, either because he doesn’t care about public attitudes or he believes he can persuade many Americans to change their minds — or some combination thereof.
The more the president pushes this line, the more it becomes necessary to take the threat seriously.