What if it's Trump?

I have long believed the candidate who makes illegal immigration the centerpiece of his or her campaign will win. That’s exactly what Donald Trump has done and he’s still winning. He’s still winning despite a lackluster debate performance. The latest CNN poll has him up 11 points over his nearest rival. And Trump is fleshing out his illegal immigration policy.

Not only does he want to build a wall on the southern border, he wants to make Mexico pay for it. Skeptics tell him that he could never get Mexico to go along but it’s not a matter of getting Mexico to go along. It’s a matter of making them do it.

There are multiple ways to do that. We send almost a billion dollars to Mexico in aid. Why? Why would we give them anything when they’re flooding our country with illegals? That money should be cut off immediately. Trump proposes impounding all remittance payments going from illegals here back to Mexico until the wall is built. Skeptics say it’s unworkable since bitcoin and other digital currencies allow people to move money across borders undetected. That may be so, but the bulk of the money leaving the country now is via wire transfer. I’d like to see either a 50 percent tax on remittances or a requirement that one proves they’re in the country legally before they can transfer money out at all, but I’ll take impounding the money instead.

You see, a lot of presidential candidates have talked around the edges of the illegal immigration issue but Trump is grabbing it by the horns. Another CNN poll asked people which Republican candidate they thought would change Washington. It wasn’t even close. Trump had 44 percent. Ben Carson was in second place at 9. That, in a nutshell, is the reason for Trump fever. Other politicians talk about changing Washington but when Trump says it, people actually believe it.

Now, I’ve said that Trump is an empty vessel into which people pour their hopes and dreams, and there’s a lot to that. People attribute all sorts of things to Trump that he never said. They either think he said it or wish he had. Either way, they’re on the Trump train and it really doesn’t matter why. Yet.

Except for the illegal immigration issue, Trump has been short on details. One would think that would have to change if Trump is to maintain his humongous lead. But, of course, one would have thought his McCain remarks would’ve derailed the Trump train. If not that, one would have thought a poor debate performance would have. Nothing yet has come close and the Washington elites are longing for that so-called inevitable moment. They may be waiting quite a while.

At the first debate, the candidates were asked if there was anyone on stage who couldn’t promise to support the nominee, whoever that might end up being. Trump was the only one raising his hand. He caught a lot of flack for that. The other candidates, by not raising their hands, pledged to support the eventual nominee. What if it’s Trump? Will Rand Paul support Trump? Will all of the others support Trump? Now that Trump’s chances are growing, it’s something each of these candidates needs to consider. Instead, most of them would rather throw stones at him, which is understandable in a primary, but someone will emerge victorious. 

Several of the candidates are heaping on insults and criticism of Donald Trump in an effort to somehow stop him. Are they ready to eat those words when the process is done?

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.