It can be hard to tell how Donald Trump thinks. The man switches directions with all the forethought of a cat chasing a flashlight spot.

For days, Trump’s top campaign aides seemed to be making pronouncements based on what they hoped he’d say about immigration in Phoenix on Wednesday night, not out of any real knowledge of his plans. He then proceeded to make anyone who had said anything about what he’d do — including himself — look foolish.

In talking about immigrants, he offered everyone a Windexed view of his blackened soul and the morally bankrupt way he thinks about people.

“While there are many illegal immigrants in our country who are good people,” Trump began, “this doesn’t change the fact that most illegal immigrants are lower-skilled workers with less education who compete directly against vulnerable American workers, and that these illegal workers draw much more out of the system than they will ever pay in.”

Countless studies show illegal immigration creates a net benefit for the American economy, and, unlike Trump (at least in some years), illegal immigrants pay taxes without the benefits of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other social safety net programs. Arizonans have seen those dynamics at work in their home state.