The Atlantic

President Trump’s Numbers Game

On <em>Face the Nation,</em> even Mick Mulvaney couldn’t say where his boss had come up with “25,772,342 illegal aliens” in America.
Source: Adrees Latif / Reuters

Exactly where President Donald Trump was getting the illegal-immigration numbers he tweeted on Sunday morning was anyone’s guess. His acting chief of staff, appearing a short while later on CBS’s , couldn’t say. But the timing of his tweets suggests a play to shore up support among hard-liners who have excoriated him for caving on Friday to Democrats and ending the partial government shutdown without securing a dollar for his wall along the southern border. Ann Coulter, Representative Steve King of Iowa, and other right-wing figures had blasted the president’s last week as “amnesty.” Perhaps, as

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Atlantic

The Atlantic5 min read
The Strangest Job in the World
This is an edition of the Books Briefing, our editors’ weekly guide to the best in books. Sign up for it here. The role of first lady couldn’t be stranger. You attain the position almost by accident, simply by virtue of being married to the president
The Atlantic5 min readAmerican Government
What Nikki Haley Is Trying to Prove
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Nikki Haley faces terrible odds in her home state of
The Atlantic3 min read
The Coen Brothers’ Split Is Working Out Fine
It’s still a mystery why the Coen brothers stopped working together. The pair made 18 movies as a duo, from 1984’s Blood Simple to 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, setting a new standard for black comedy in American cinema. None of those movies w

Related Books & Audiobooks