Trump triples down, now wants up to 15,000 troops on Mexican border

Mexico's not paying for this either

Back during his 2016 campaign, when Donald Trump would get static over his call to build a Mexican border wall, he'd fire back with a taunt that it "just got 10 feet higher."

So what Trump did Wednesday naturally follows. Amid criticism that his dispatch of 5,200 troops to the border was a political stunt for the midterm elections, the president told reporters: "We'll go up to anywhere between 10,000 and 15,000." Then he headed out to hold a rally in Florida.  

Trump may have blindsided his own military brass. On Tuesday, Air Force Gen. Terrence O'Shaughnessy, commander of U.S. Northern Command in charge of the trooper operation, disputed a news report that the active-duty total could reach 14,000, saying, "I honestly don't even know where that came from. That is not in line with what we've been planning."

A deployment of 15,000 would be a larger force than the 14,000 helping to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan or the 7,200 rolling back ISIS in Iraq and Syria. In Trump's telling, the migrants from Central America trudging from Mexico are an "invasion" that gets scarier every day.

On Fox News Tuesday night, he said the caravan had a "big percentage of men, young, strong, a lot of bad people." A tweet Wednesday morning said: "The Caravans are made up of some very tough fighters and people. Fought back hard and viciously against Mexico at Northern Border." That was an apparent reference to a clash Sunday involving some people in a second, smaller caravan at the Mexico-Guatemala border. The first caravan is largely women and children.

Trump's use of the military was denounced by Kelly Magsamen, a National Security Council official under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as a "craven political stunt." Retired Marine officer David Lapan, who served as a past Homeland Security spokesman for the Trump administration, tweeted that "a military strained by 17 years of war . . .   doesn't need this" and the U.S. "doesn't need its military to 'defend' against a group of unarmed migrants, inc. many women & kids."

For more, see Candice Ferrette's story for Newsday.

Bigger than inauguration crowd?

In an ABC News interview, Trump said estimates from reporters on the ground on the migrants — The Associated Press says there are 4,000 in the main caravan — are too low.

"I’m pretty good at estimating crowd size. And I’ll tell you they look a lot bigger than people would think," Trump said. 

All are entitled to Trump's opinion

Trump is now firmly embracing the notion that he can undo by executive order the long-recognized right to birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Which means Republicans who politely disagree, such as the House speaker, better watch out.

"Paul Ryan should be focusing on holding the Majority rather than giving his opinions on Birthright Citizenship, something he knows nothing about!" tweeted Trump, not previously known to be a constitutional scholar. "Our new Republican Majority will work on this, Closing the Immigration Loopholes and Securing our Border!"

Later, Trump told reporters that if Obama could "do DACA, we can do this by executive order." But Trump and Republicans argued that Obama exceeded his constitutional authority in his move to protect young immigrants in the country illegally from deportation. Trump's contention that he can negate what has been recognized as a constitutional right is on another level.

Janison: Hoke and strange

What's reality got to do with it? Trump's dubious claim that he can undo birthright citizenship has joined his scare-fest about the migrant caravan and a phantom tax-cut plan as way to dominate campaign airtime, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. 

Otherwise, he and his team might have to explain why no promised health care changes and no infrastructure program have blossomed amid a ballooning federal deficit, or why he seems to think the giant tax cuts approved last year won't offer enough relief to the middle class. 

Growing the fear 

Democrats are letting Central American invaders into the U.S. to kill police, a new Trump-GOP ad claims. This might top the famous "Willie Horton" ad of 1988 for alleged racial fearmongering.

Grief and grievance

Trump reflected on Twitter about his visit to Pittsburgh, where he visited the synagogue attacked by a neo-Nazi gunman who killed 11 people and a hospital where the wounded are being treated. Mostly, Trump reflected on how he was treated.

"Melania and I were treated very nicely yesterday in Pittsburgh," he said. "The Office of the President was shown great respect on a very sad & solemn day. We were treated so warmly. Small protest was not seen by us, staged far away. The Fake News stories were just the opposite — Disgraceful!"

Another thing to be unsurprised about

Neither the letter bomb sent to George Soros last week nor the Pittsburgh gunman's social media posts linking the liberal billionaire to the migrant caravan are enough for Trump to distance himself from the conspiracy theory that Soros could be behind it.

"I wouldn’t be surprised," Trump told reporters outside the White House when asked if "someone" is paying for the caravan. "George Soros?" a reporter interjected. "I don’t know who, but I wouldn’t be surprised," Trump said. "A lot of people say yes.”

USA Today traced the origins of the Soros tale from a fringe North Carolina Twitter figure who posts frequently about “white genocide,” Jews and the “invading force.” The yarn migrated to pro-Trump Facebook groups and went viral, soon to be picked up by Rep. Matt Goetz (R-Fla.), who tweeted: “Soros? US-backed NGOs? Time to investigate the source!” That got retweeted by widely followed right-wing commentators Ann Coulter and Sara Carter, as well as Donald Trump Jr.

What else is happening:

• The federal government is projected to borrow a total of $1.3 trillion this year, more than double the amount borrowed last year and the most since 2010, according to Treasury Department figures. Revenue can't keep up with spending following last year's tax-cut legislation.
• At Trump's rally in Florida, an early-voting state, he asked the crowd how many had already cast ballots. Many hands shot up. “Then what the hell am I doing here tonight?” Trump asked.
• Early in his speech, Trump told the crowed he condemns hatred and bigotry in all its forms, "but the media doesn't want you to hear your story." He also denounced "the vile poison of anti-Semitism," pivoting to complain that the "far-left media" sowed division over his Pittsburgh visit.
• Trump said “I’m not going to blame anybody” if Republicans lose the House. This can't be fact-checked until Nov. 7.
• The Trump administration appears unwilling to renew funding for a Homeland Security program to combat violent domestic extremism, NBC News reported.
• Interior Department employees were warned in an internal email not to dress up as Trump for Halloween, The Daily Beast reported, because it could be regarded as a partisan action in violation of the Hatch Act.