I was able to attend the taping of Sean Hannity and Donald Trump's two-part "town hall" on immigration at the Moody Theater in downtown Austin on Tuesday afternoon. Since the press wasn't officially welcome at this event and one segment isn't scheduled to air until tomorrow, I'd say this bit of news counts as an exclusive:
xBREAKING: Trump (w/ Hannity) is pivoting HARD on immigration here in Austin. The crowd is confused and divided. Honestly, this is pathetic.— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016Here's what happened.
The first segment (which just aired) featured several mothers who lost their children due to violent acts or accidents by undocumented immigrants. It was incredibly heartbreaking to hear these stories one after the other, but it was equally heartbreaking that their sadness was being so obviously exploited by Fox News.
xSo far, #TrumpInAustin is all about exploiting fear, pain and loss for political gain. Much like the Republican convention.— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016Here's the thing though: Just minutes before that, Trump made his first immigration pivot attempt of the day. His hard-edged but shallow refrains of "follow the law!" got some applause, but the words about "softening" his stance resulted mostly in confused silence mixed with a few yells of "don't back down!" from the crowd. If it had stopped there, it would have been awkward enough. But he was just getting started.
In the second half of the taping (slated to air Wednesday night) Trump made his big pitch to the live audience that went something like this: "What about the incredible people without criminal records who have been here for about 20 years? Don't you think they and their families should be able to stay? Shouldn't we be able to work this out?" In other words, suddenly sounding a little bit like Hillary Clinton.
As you can imagine, this doesn't go over well in the otherwise very sympathetic room. So they try again.
"Who here thinks we should find a way for them to stay?" Light scattered applause. "Who here thinks we should kick them out?" Much bigger applause.
At this point, Donald throws up his hands with an "oh well" expression and seems ready to admit defeat. However, Hannity wasn't wanting to let it go...so they try yet again.
"Whoever thinks they should all get kicked out, stand up." Several stand up and one fellow in particular has no problem loudly voicing his displeasure. But then finally, after sensing that Trump really needed to be saved, a solid chunk of the crowd stands up and applauds in favor of letting some of them stay. But it was far from an overwhelming sentiment, and felt more like mercy applause to just end the awkwardness and move on. It was really something.
xHe's suddenly trying to convince everyone that longterm undocumented immigrants can maybe stay. Confusion is result. https://t.co/uZvIhQE5lK
— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016Pardon the occasional paraphrasing, though I will update with exact quotes when the segment airs tomorrow (unless it's edited, which wouldn't surprise me).
Today's display made clear that this pathetic flip-flop attempt is the worst of both worlds for Trump: Some of his hardcore supporters might be begrudgingly talked into it, but most of them will feel betrayed or confused. Meanwhile, everyone else knows that this is a transparently desperate move from a losing politician...and they aren't changing their vote.
Honestly, I think he might end up flip-flopping on the flip flop before this week is done.
Here are some additional tweets from the afternoon:
xA woman buys a pink Trump cap for her 8-yr-old niece...who is LITERALLY "in love with Donald". pic.twitter.com/P5mDAHO5p9— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016 xThe people behind me in the Trump line are sure that he will win in a "shocking" landslide because what he says "just makes too much sense".— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016 xProtesters chant "BUILD BRIDGES NOT WALLS" and "LOVE TRUMPS HATE" as the statue of Willie Nelson looks on. pic.twitter.com/Gc1BguFoVN— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016 xQuite a few empty seats at start time. Sad! #TrumpInAustinpic.twitter.com/sukOV8tpYh— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016 xThe disruptive protests have begun. Welcome to Austin, Mr Trump.— Hillary HQ (@Hillary_HQ) August 23, 2016.
Originally posted at HillaryHQ.com