We bring you the latest on President-elect Trump, who's named Reince Priebus as the new White House chief of staff and Steve Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor; Trump tells '60 Minutes' his plan to deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants - how accurate are those numbers?; and President Obama speaks to the press for the first time since Trump's election - we weigh in with analysis and listener comments.
Trump admin taking shape with Pence, Priebus, Bannon
On Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump tapped Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus as chief of staff and campaign adviser Steve Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor.
Before joining the Trump campaign, Bannon was president of Breitbart News which he has described as "the platform for the alt-right" - a movement often associated with white supremacist ideas that oppose multiculturalism and defend "Western values." John Weaver, a Republican strategist who worked for Ohio Gov. John Kasich's presidential campaign, tweeted, "The racist, fascist extreme right is represented footsteps from the Oval Office. Be very vigilant, America."
While former associates of Bannon say there isn't proof that Bannon is a racist or an anti-Semite, some argue Bannon's willingness to pander to those audiences will be at play in the forming Trump administration.
Guests:
Louis Nelson, Reporter for Politico
Christina Bellantoni, is assistant managing editor for politics at the Los Angeles Times
4 things to know about Trump’s plan to crack down on illegal immigration
Immigration was a key part of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, and many have wondered whether he’d make good on his deportation plans, as well as the promise to build a Mexico-funded wall along the U.S. border.
In an interview with “60 Minutes” over the weekend, Trump told Lesley Stahl that his administration is still set on building a border wall, though some parts of it would actually be a fence, and that he wants to immediately deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants from the country.
“What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,” Trump said.
AirTalk’s Larry Mantle sat down with Ted Hesson, a reporter covering immigration for POLITICO, to break down Trump’s stance on immigration. Here are 4 takeaways:
1. Trump's estimate that there are 2 to 3 million illegal immigrants who have criminal backgrounds is high
Ted Hesson: The estimate of 2 to 3 million is definitely high, especially if you're talking about undocumented immigrants. There was one report by the Department of Homeland Security that said there could be roughly 1.9 million deportable immigrants in total and that was in 2013. But that figure also included green card holders who had previously been convicted of a crime.
2. Practically, carrying out these deportations could be difficult, especially in the case of undocumented immigrants who committed crimes many years ago
TH: There'd be huge challenges because you're talking about people who may have really established lives in the U.S. at this point. Perhaps this conviction is decades in the past and they work in their community... they have families here, they have children here... Practically, not only just tracking the people down but then apprehending them could involve going to homes, it could involve going to places of work. It just seems like a huge, huge undertaking, the way he's outlined it here.
3. Border security is Trump's first step, and it's nothing new
TH: [Trump]'s talking about border security to begin with, and that's something President Obama has also focused on.
4. Trump could carry onward with Obama's policies, which also established priorities for deportation
TH: The Obama administration has prioritized people who've recently entered the country and people who've committed certain types of crimes, so in a way president-elect Trump could carry forward those Obama policies and enact them with more vigor, as he said...Under President Obama there were priorities for deportation and yes, under the top level categories it focused on people with felonies or with multiple misdemeanors. But those priorities actually extend fairly broadly and in the lower level categories for prioritization are people who are just in the country and have removal orders for deportation. So when you do hear by the Obama administration that their deportations are meeting priorities, those priorities are fairly broad.
Guest:
Ted Hesson, reporter covering immigration for POLITICO; he tweets
President Obama’s first press conference since Trump's election
WASHINGTON (AP) - As President Barack Obama prepares to head out on a post-election overseas trip, he says he will be able to assure foreign leaders that there will be "no weakening of resolve" by the U.S. toward NATO under President-elect Donald Trump. He says Trump has assured him of his commitment to core U.S. alliances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfxk5aeCNXo
Guest:
David Nakamura, White House Correspondent at the Washington Post.