As I detailed at length this morning, there is no question that Donald Trump is not the mass deportations immigration hawk his ardent base believe him to be or his angry opponents fear he is. He is at best soft on immigration, at worst, completely uncommitted and unserious about having a position at all.

You might think that would turn off his loudest supporters, but then you’ve never had Sean Hannity for a cheerleader. If Donald Trump decided to campaign on nuking all of middle America, Hannity would be on his radio show that afternoon talking about how great all that new elbow room would be. So how does immigration hawk Hannity deal with Trump’s ensoftening?

Hannity asks if Trump would change laws to accommodate those that have "contributed to society."
TRUMP: "There certainly can be a softening"

— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) August 23, 2016

**cough amnesty cough**

This is from a town hall that was taped this afternoon in Austin. You guys, he literally said “softening.” Please recall that his devoted fan base has been saying that it is stupid to say Trump is softening on immigration, and now here is Trump talking to his best, most loyal devotee, and literally saying the word “softening.”

I mean, as I pointed out pretty definitively this morning, there really was no question he wasn’t going to be the ethnic cleanser his base desperately hoped he would. It’s not popular enough. And as we saw when he threw the Second Amendment overboard after the Orlando shootings, Trump is easily led by what’s popular. In the general, being soft on immigration is popular so .. here you go.

But even though that wasn’t a question, it still raises a separate, valid question. Who gave up first? Hannity is one of Trump’s top advice men and is now an official advisor. Was this his idea? Or is he just cheering the boss.

My money is on the latter. Like I said, there’s nothing Trump can say at this point that Sean won’t get tattooed on his private area. He’s 100%. That’s my view.

Still a valid question, though.

By the way? Here’s a fun trip down memory lane for you.

Back when Trump hit Cruz as "pro amnesty" in a primary ad… https://t.co/ufPahgzeUS

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 23, 2016

Yeah. He’s really a mess.