Despite a near-universal consensus by economists and other business leaders that immigrants actually fuel long-term economic growth, and that immigrants contributed to roughly two thirds of U.S. GDP expansion between 2011 and 2018, Miller and Trump insist such individuals take jobs from U.S. workers and hurt their wages. Given that a recession is all but a certainty, it’s not hard to imagine Miller convincing Trump—with little effort!—that the immigration curbs should remain in place indefinitely, if not become more restrictive. (Currently, the executive order applies to people seeking green cards for work, as well as the spouses and children of legal permanent residents, and the parents, siblings, and adult children of U.S. citizens; foreign nationals already in the United States to become green card-holders are unaffected.)

Miller was involved in crafting and selling the executive order, officials said, working quietly without many others in the administration knowing. Senior White House officials said the memo had not been vetted by lawyers or top officials before the president tweeted that he would be signing it.

While hard-right restrictionist groups panned the order as too easy on immigrants, Miller encouraged them on the call to get behind the moves, throwing in a “they took our jobs!” rallying call that he knows the base just loves. “All around the country, Americans of every political stripe will rally behind an initiative to make sure that they, their children, their parents, their husbands, wives, sons, uncles, nephews, cousins can be the first to get a job when it opens up, to get her old job back when they rehire or to keep their job if they already have one,” he said. “Those individuals have a right and an expectation to get their jobs back and not to be replaced by foreign workers. That’s the action the president took, it is historic. It is vital, it is necessary, it is patriotic and it deserves the full-throated support of everybody on this call.” And apparently, if you’re good boys and girls, there’ll be some anti-immigrant treats for you down the road.

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Nothing to see here, just the president bringing 1,000 people into a confined area so he can feel good about himself

To the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis, because why not: