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Conservatives Express Outrage Over Trump's Reported DACA Deal With Democrats

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Now let's look at how conservative media outlets are discussing the possibility of a deal between President Trump and Democrats on DACA. There's a lot of worry and some warnings. NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea has this report.

DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Supporters of President Trump often point to his reputation as a deal maker, but this possible bipartisan agreement on immigration isn't exactly what they had in mind. Here's how conservative talk radio king Rush Limbaugh put it on his show this afternoon.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOW")

RUSH LIMBAUGH: So I wake up today and all hell is breaking loose.

GONYEA: We'll get back to Limbaugh in a moment. But let's survey some of the other leading voices in conservative media. At Fox News, Sean Hannity, one of Trump's biggest supporters in cable TV, tweeted, quote, "POTUS needs to stay the course and keep his promises or it's over." On the radio this morning, another staunch Trump backer, Laura Ingraham, was clearly not happy. She talked to her radio audience as the bumper music played under her voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE LAURA INGRAHAM SHOW")

LAURA INGRAHAM: Is that what y'all voted on, you voted for in November, to make Chuck Schumer happy? I have a feeling not. Not in Ohio, certainly not in Pennsylvania. Your goal...

GONYEA: Ingraham derisively described the dinnertime meeting at the White House between Trump and the Democratic leaders as the supper club at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. To her, the deal on DACA as described by Pelosi and Schumer sounds just like past immigration proposals that can't seem to stay dead.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE LAURA INGRAHAM SHOW")

INGRAHAM: And now, like the Freddy Krueger of all legislative policies, the same policy is back, except I think a lot of people didn't think it would be happening under the presidency of Donald J. Trump.

GONYEA: Her callers weighed in as well, including Jody in Arizona.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE LAURA INGRAHAM SHOW")

JODY: Hey, Laura, this morning I have PTSD - Pelosi Trump Schumer Disorder. I am done if they don't build the wall.

GONYEA: Meanwhile, over at breitbart.com, the website run by former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon, one headline blared, quote, "Trump caves on DACA, wants quick amnesty for 800,000 aliens." It continued on Breitbart's daily talk show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. The guest was Jenny Beth Martin of the Tea Party Patriots.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "BREITBART NEWS DAILY")

JENNY BETH MARTIN: We voted for Donald Trump because we wanted something different than what Hillary Clinton was going to give this country. And the deal that we're hearing coming out of the White House is what we would expect Hillary Clinton to give us.

GONYEA: The show's host, Raheem Kassam, showed his frustration when he asked this question.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "BREITBART NEWS DAILY")

RAHEEM KASSAM: What possibly can we do to get this presidency back on track?

GONYEA: The Tea Party leader responded that Trump needs to hear loud and clear that this deal is unacceptable and that same message must be sent to Republicans seeking re-election. Now back to Rush Limbaugh. He actually suggested that everybody slow down for a moment. He cited the president's tweets that the deal is not done and that there will be a wall. And Limbaugh said the media likes this story so much for one simple reason.

(SOUNDBITE OF RADIO SHOW, "THE RUSH LIMBAUGH SHOW")

LIMBAUGH: They want you to think Trump has sold you out and thrown you under the bus. They want you to think that Trump has given away his mandate in exchange for doing deals.

GONYEA: Don't jump to conclusions, he cautioned, though it's clear that a lot of Trump's supporters have done just that. Don Gonyea, NPR News Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF LYNX SONG, "STOLEN")

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

And you may have noticed a new voice on the program today. We're excited to have Ailsa Chang here filling in, hosting while Audie Cornish is on maternity leave. Ailsa, it's so good to have you here.

CHANG: I am so thrilled to be here. This has been so fun.

SHAPIRO: You want to tell us - tell us about one of the stories you're bringing to the show.

CHANG: Well, we've spent a few days in Wisconsin. There's a big Supreme Court case that's coming up. It's about partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin and whether or not too much politics was taken into account when they redrew the districts there.

SHAPIRO: We will look forward to hearing that. And I look forward to hosting with you for the next couple weeks.

CHANG: Thanks so much, Ari. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

You're most likely to find NPR's Don Gonyea on the road, in some battleground state looking for voters to sit with him at the local lunch spot, the VFW or union hall, at a campaign rally, or at their kitchen tables to tell him what's on their minds. Through countless such conversations over the course of the year, he gets a ground-level view of American elections. Gonyea is NPR's National Political Correspondent, a position he has held since 2010. His reports can be heard on all NPR News programs and at NPR.org. To hear his sound-rich stories is akin to riding in the passenger seat of his rental car, traveling through Iowa or South Carolina or Michigan or wherever, right along with him.