CNN's John King says possible DACA deal may be Trump's “new pivot”

King: “Is this his new pivot, to stand up to the people who helped him win?”

From the September 14 edition of CNN’s Inside Politics:

Video file

JOHN KING (HOST): So here's the president on the ground telling the people of Florida, “I’m with you 100 percent.” He doesn't care if they’re Democrats or Republicans. This is what a president should do and he’s doing it. The big question in town is what about this -- these other -- a spending and debt ceiling deal last week with the Democrats, with [House Minority Leader] Nancy Pelosi and [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer. Now the outlines of a deal to give legal status to 800,000 Dreamers, details still to be worked out, but clearly the top Democrats want it. Top Republicans say they want it too. The question is, is the president now repositioning himself politically, is he willing to stand up to the vocal voices in his own party who helped him win the nomination, who helped him win the election, who have been pushing him to stick to his campaign promises? I almost don't want to interrupt these pictures, but if we could split the screen and show you the headline -- Steve Bannon, his now-fired chief strategist, runs Breitbart News again, on Breitbart News he calls him “Amnesty Don” today. Is the president willing to stand up -- is this his new pivot, to stand up to the people who helped him win?

[...]

KING: I guess my question is, is this a new Trump who has learned the lessons of the Obamacare defeat, who blames the Republican leadership, who says he's going to try to do it a different way, or is this this week's Trump, and this is what he's going to -- it worked for him on the spending deal, he got the [Hurricane] Harvey money, he got something to sign, and he thinks “that worked, [[and]] now I’m going to try it on something else” and he can do it on immigration. And if this goes into the quicksand, like most immigration conversations in this town do, does he pivot again, or is this a new Trump?

JULIE PACE: I mean, I really, I really think it would be difficult for us to sort of overinterpret this. Because Trump does both of those things that you said. It is very possible that he did see the negative reaction to health care and feel like he had to go in a different direction. It is also very possible that he just sort of woke up last week and said, “I think I’m going to start dealing with the Democrats.” And that could change next week. We just don’t know.

Previously:

There will be no pivot

CNN's Dana Bash: Trump has been “extremely consistent” on wanting to keep DACA recipients in the US