Throughout much of Donald Trump’s career in politics, Washington insiders speculated that the president was poised like few others in the GOP to engineer a “Nixon to China” moment when it came to immigration.

Just as Richard Nixon’s anti-communist bona fides were so sterling that only he could orchestrate a diplomatic opening with the People’s Republic without being accused by his right flank of being a secret fellow traveler, Trump’s anti-illegal immigration views were unquestionable. If he got behind a compromise immigration reform bill, the thinking went, he could drag his party with him and neutralize the issue.

© National Review