With each passing day it's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the apparent breakdown in communications between the Trump White House and his various agency chiefs. Earlier this morning we noted one of the more egregious communication mishaps since Trump took the White House in which Kellyanne Conway told MSNBC that General Michael Flynn enjoyed the "full confidence" of the President just hours before he was fired (see "Kellyanne Conway Blasts CNN Reports That She's Been "Benched" From TV Appearances").
Now, we learn the latest communication mix-up came from two very contradictory comments, one from DHS Secretary John Kelly and the other from President Trump, earlier today on exactly how law enforcement officials would implement plans to roundup and deport criminal illegal aliens currently residing the U.S.
Speaking in Mexico City earlier today, Kelly, in an attempt to assuage tensions created by Trump's immigration policies, told Mexican diplomats that the administration's new immigration rules would not result in "mass deportations" and vowed that his department would not use "military force" to implement domestic policies. Per The Hill:
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Thursday pledged the military would not be used to expel undocumented immigrants from the U.S.
Speaking in Mexico City, Kelly pledged the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) sweeping new immigration enforcement rules would not result in “mass deportations.”
“Let me be very very clear, there will be no, repeat, no mass deportations,” he said. “Everything we do in DHS will be done legally and according to human rights and the legal justice system of the United States.”
"There will be no, no use of military force in immigration,” Kelly said, telling the news media only "half of you get that right.”
Unfortunately, Kelly's comments came just after Trump, in a meeting with manufacturing CEOs at the White House, described his administration's efforts to "get the really bad dudes out of this country" as a "military operation."
"We're getting gang members out. We're getting drug lords out. We're getting really bad dudes out of this country. And, at a rate that nobody has ever seen before. It's a military operation..."
This is notable. Trump: “We're getting really bad dudes out of this country ... it's a military operation.”
A military operation. pic.twitter.com/PgU02sg9AW
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 23, 2017
Of course, the use of military force to implement immigration policies became a hot topic last week when the AP published a memo from the Department of Homeland Security that it said called for as many as 100,000 national guard troops to be deployed to arrest illegal immigrants. That said, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security subsequently downplayed the memo saying it was a very early draft, and the idea for National Guard mobilization was “never seriously considered.”
Read the draft memo behind my @AP story on the proposal to mobilize National Guard for immigration enforcement: https://t.co/m15VFujbJ1
— Garance Burke (@garanceburke) February 17, 2017
Meanwhile, Sean Spicer was tasked with cleaning up this latest mess at his daily press conference saying Trump used the term "military operation" as an adjective to describe a process that is being executed with "precision."
.@PressSec says Pres. Trump was using "military operation" as an adjective to describe deportation efforts: "It's happening with precision" pic.twitter.com/7evgVYyXg4
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 23, 2017
While we certainly understand the desire from some within the administration to just "let Trump be Trump", after all it's worked out better than almost anyone could have predicted up until now, we wonder whether it might be time for at least some high-level coordination on certain 'minor' topics like whether or not military personnel will be deployed domestically...