Donald Trump and Wilbur Ross have a whole new problem
Yesterday, Donald Trump’s Department of Commerce officially admitted defeat when it announced that it had begun printing the 2020 census without the controversial question about citizenship. This had been a losing battle since the Supreme Court effectively ruled that the Trump administration had been cheating the issue – but it was somewhat surprising to see the Trump regime simply give up. Now it looks like perhaps no one told Trump about it.
Last night Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he was ordering the Departments of Commerce and Justice to go back and win the Supreme Court case – which didn’t address whether Trump was planning to try to do so before the census, or if he was planning to illegally delay the census, or what he might have been up to. This morning he gave away that he doesn’t have a clue what’s even going on.
Trump posted this tweet: “The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census is incorrect or, to state it differently, FAKE! We are absolutely moving forward, as we must, because of the importance of the answer to this question.” The trouble here is that Commerce made the announcement directly – so this isn’t something that Trump can even pretend the media made up.
It’s far from clear what happens next. Donald Trump’s Commerce Secretary and close ally Wilbur Ross surely signed off on the census defeat yesterday before the announcement was made – but it feels like he didn’t bother to tell Trump he was caving. Will Trump now fire Ross over this? Will someone else be scapegoated? In any case, Trump can’t win this issue, but it’s anyone’s guess as to how he’s planning to go about losing it.
