President Donald Trump appears to have moved forward with a major change in strategy after hearing about the idea on Fox News Monday morning, according to an analysis of the events from leading media reporter Brian Stelter.
On Monday, Trump announced that he would be sending border official Tom Homan, one of his leading advisors on immigration enforcement, to Minnesota. While Trump only mentioned allegations of welfare fraud in the state, the move comes amid the historically large ICE and CBP enforcement surge in the Twin Cities area, which has soured Americans on Trump's mass deportation agenda considerably and led to the deaths of two American citizens at the hands of federal officers. The move was largely interpreted as a ploy to regain control in the state amid widespread criticism of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's handling of the operation.
"I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight," Trump posted to Truth Social. "He has not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many of the people there. Tom is tough but fair, and will report directly to me."
Notably, Stetler, a leading media correspondent for CNN, observed that Trump made the announcement about Homan not long after Fox News morning host Brian Kilmeade suggested the idea several times on the air, first mentioning it around 6:15 a.m EST.
"Kilmeade, a Trump booster who knows the president often watches the morning show, volunteered the idea again at 7:15 and once more at 8:10," Stelter explained. "Homan, the border czar and a former Fox commentator, would 'settle things down' and help Trump, Kilmeade said."
“What I would do is just bring Tom Homan in," Kilmeade said, later adding. "The bottom line is, these images are not the ones that are going to help you keep the majorities [in the House and Senate]."
Trump's announcement post went up at around 8:30 a.m. EST.
This timeline fits the pattern of Trump seeming to take policy and strategy suggestions from Fox News, which he is said to watch a lot of each day. Michael Wolff, a veteran reporter with inside sources near Trump, recently suggested that, due to the president's unwillingness to read or listen to official materials, White House staffers have taken to laundering their plans through Fox News in order to actually reach him.
"The people at Fox News would then echo what the White House wanted them to say so that Trump would hear this and, and he would he would listen and appreciate and understand, because it was on television,” Wolff explained. “A very closed circle was being created. He was running a White House that was largely a reality television show. And the television itself was supplying him with much of the script for this show.”
