It's only 1 week into Donald Trump's presidency, anf the husband already has his first "heckuva job" moment. For people that don't remember, as a direct consequence of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, President George W Bush publicly praised his emergency management head, Michael Brown, for carrying out a "heckuva job" with recovery efforts.
That comment was hung across the president's neck such as an anvil, as flood waters swamped regions of New Orleans plus the city descended into chaos. It started a public approval unpredictable manner that triggered sweeping Democratic victories inside 2006 mid-term elections. History will judge the long-term impact of Mr Trump's Friday afternoon immigration order, but his early praise for the implementation will not likely easily be forgotten.
"It's doing exercises very nicely," Mr Trump said in the brief a reaction to a question on Saturday afternoon. "You see it inside the airports, you notice all over. It's training very nicely, therefore we are going to have an incredibly, very strict ban, therefore we are going to have extreme vetting, which we have to have had within this country for quite some time."
On the floor at major US airports, things weren't going quite so nicely, however. Immigration officials were creating a difficult time implementing Mr Trump's order after receiving conflicting instructions on who to dam from entry in to the US - and what to do with them whenever they were held. And as the day progressed, and word spread in the detentions, crowds of protesters at international terminals grew from dozens to hundreds to thousands.
While for the campaign trail, it absolutely was easy for Mr Trump to roundly decry the US immigration system as broken and create a general demand bans and moratoriums. As president, however, his team has brought to fill inside the details - also it seems they faced some difficulty translating his pre-election rhetoric into policy.
Mr Trump's Friday afternoon executive order reportedly was crafted without conferring with legal aides and enacted above the objection of homeland security officials, who balked at including permanent US residents from the ban. This created for an awkward scene Saturday night with a New York courthouse, where government attorneys needed to defend measures which are creating chaos at airports around the world.
"I think the us govenment hasn't a full possibility to think about this," said federal judge Ann Donnelly, as she ruled men and women with valid paperwork on US soil couldn't be deported.
Her temporary ruling - the ones like it in other courts - are merely the opening salvo with what will likely be a protracted legal battle. Trump administration lawyers will really be better prepared in the future hearings. The orders may be re-instated following full trials around the merits, no judge has yet to rule about the fate of folks who hold valid US visas and on foreign soil. In the meantime, however, it is proven to be an uncomfortable episode as to what looks like a not-ready-for-primetime White House.
A number of Republicans in Congress attended out with varying numbers of objection towards the programme, and even though the Republican leadership is playing along for the present time, that might change quickly in the event the political heat increases. The president could have broad powers in setting immigration policy, but Congress can pass legislation that overrules him without notice. Meanwhile, Democrats are scrambling to look at advantage in the political opportunity. "History will judge where America's leaders stood today," Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois said. It was an alert some of his party's 2020 presidential contenders seemed to look at to heart. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered airport trains to resume want to JFK Airport, after transit officials had suspended plan to prevent protesters from continuing to flood in. Senator Elizabeth Warren spoke to crowds at Boston's Logan Airport, as did Senator Cory Booker at Dulles near Washington, DC. All three are viewed as near the top with the Democratic presidential field.
2020 is often a long way off, needless to say. Of more pressing issue is where the Trump administration goes at this point. On Sunday morning, press secretary Sean Spicer, chief of staff Reince Preibus and top aide Kellyanne Conway took for the airwaves to guard the White House policy and explain its implementation. Mr Trump himself fired back on Twitter - although only after first going for a swipe for the "failing" New York Times to the second day within a row. "Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW," he tweeted. "Look what's happening across Europe and, indeed, the globe - an awful mess!"
Out of media player. Press enter another or tab to go on. While championing US security can be quite a winning issue, protracted detention of children along with the elderly at airport checkpoints is "bad optics", as it were. Watching a five-year-old re-united regarding his mother and 70-year-olds facing indefinite detention puts a personality's face on Mr Trump's immigration programme - as well as the results aren't flattering to the White House.
During the presidential primary, a lot of Republican voters backed Mr Trump's demands a sweeping ban on Muslims entering the US, therefore the president's core support may hold firm then weekend's events. The views inside the American heartland, far stripped away from major air terminals, sometimes differ greatly from your liberal bastions within the coast. At best, however, it is deemed an unnecessary distraction for that White House, calling its organisational ability into question. At worst - in the event the majority on the nation turns for the president - Mr Trump could find his power and influence needs to ebb before his administration even gets fully under way.
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