Politico's Glenn Thrush hosted conservative commentator Ann Coulter on the "Off Message" podcast last week, and has concluded that she has become Donald Trump's immigration "guardian."
Coulter didn't like Trump before his campaign. She thought he was a "boorish vulgarian," but then he put immigration at the forefront of his campaign "and, you know, now — wow, was I wrong," she says.
Now, Coulter insists on keeping Trump true to the immigration policy he began his campaign with.
"I was worried, the first few weeks after he announced, and — I haven't told the other people this — I would email in a point or two now and then, and whatever. Whenever I would email Corey [Lewandowski] whatever, 'Stop re-tweeting ugly photos of opponents' wives,' or whatever it was, what the final point was [was] always, 'Don't let him back down on immigration,'" she said.
"And Corey was getting a little exasperated with me and kept saying, 'He's not backing down,'" she continued. "Then he came out for the Muslim ban on my birthday, Dec. 8, my best birthday gift ever. I finally emailed Corey and said, 'OK, I think he's not backing down.'"
In August, CNN reported Trump said "there could certainly be a softening" on his immigration policy. He did seem to shy away from some of the finer points of his proposals.
He admitted it would be "very, very hard" to deport every undocumented immigrant in the country, and even implied that he could "work with them," although he wouldn't grant them citizenship or amnesty.
But Coulter is positive that, if elected, Trump will "build a wall, he's the commander in chief.
"I'm sorry. That is part of the defense of America. He has full authority to do that. He does not need a penny from Congress, but I think they're going to give it to him if he wins," she said. "Renegotiating trade deals, putting a big crimp in Muslim immigration, totally within the authority of the president, solely, exclusively.
"It's so clever. The things he talks about often are negotiations. They often are things that are 100 percent up to the Executive Branch."