President Trump at a news conference following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, February 28, 2019. (Jorge Silva/Reuters)

I’m glad Trump blew up the Republican establishment’s position on immigration in 2016, but my fear is that he will end up representing an exaggerated version of the GOP conventional wisdom on the issue. For years, Republicans said illegal immigration was bad (true) and that legal immigration was good (more complicated). It was impossible to get them to think outside this impenetrable box. It seemed that Republicans, with Trump’s support, might be getting beyond this with the debate over the Raise Act. But now, even as he makes a signature priority of what once was the lowest common denominator of controlling illegal immigration, a physical barrier at the border, Trump is talking about more legal immigration. This combination could be drawn straight for the party’s immigration playbook circa 2006.