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NPR's Mara Liasson on DACA, Trump, and Bipartisanship

Michelle Maternowski

A little more than a week after the Trump Administration announced it is ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, DACA and the White House are back in the news this week, as the President and Congressional Democrats both said a deal to legislate DACA might be at hand.

That runs counter to what some Congressional Republicans are saying, and the story continues to evolve amid conflicting reports of the President's plans to move forward. This lack of clarity has become emblematic of the way the Trump Administration navigates contentious issues, weaving sometimes contradictory narratives about the President's opinions and motives. 

Mara Liasson is NPR’s National Political Correspondent. She was in Milwaukee to speak at an event held by the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and she says the unorthodox nature of the Trump presidency it's difficult to compare him to past presidents or guess his next move. 

She says, "We can’t apply the old rules - yes, we’re going into the fall of odd bedfellows, but the President isn’t a Republican. He never was a Republican. He says he’s conservative, but the President is a party of one in many ways."