RUSH: I used to read The Economist. It is a British magazine that focuses on economic matters. It’s also a journal of opinion disguised, and my memory is that The Economist — and I’m talking 20 years ago, now, 25 years. I haven’t read it in a long, long time. It used to be approved reading by the intellectual right. My memory was that it was valuable here and there. It had some decent insight. But they’re gone.

Look at this: The Economist explains how Donald Trump may be making life easier for MS-13, the street gang. This is very long, typically long. The Economist’s argument, the point is Trump’s tough talk is encouraging and emboldening the street gang MS-13. That’s right! Tough talk at the North Korean lunatic dictator? That’s just making him bigger! That’s just making him tougher. That’s just steeling his resolve.

Now Trump is doing the same thing — he’s talking tough on MS-13 — and what’s happening? He’s making them bigger! Let me ask you a question: What is the status of illegal immigration in the country today versus when Trump was inaugurated? In fact, let’s just measure it year over year. Illegal immigration is way down, is it not? I mean, it’s down by a factor of millions, is it not? It is, folks. Don’t doubt me. Have we had any significant changes in the law?

Has there been any comprehensive or otherwise immigration reform or new legislation? The answer is, no. There hasn’t been any substantive change whatsoever. How has Donald Trump been approaching the issue? Well, since the middle of 2015, he’s been talkin’ tough on it, and he’s been tellin’ people we’re going to build a wall — and he’s been telling people that if they come in illegally, we’re going to track them down and we’re going to deport them.

He’s been telling people if they’re here illegally and we find them we’re going to deport them. The point is Donald Trump has been talking tough on illegal immigration, and what has happened? It’s way down. The number of people trying to get into the country illegally is way, way down. Now if you listen to the left, Donald Trump’s tough talk on illegal immigration should have them pouring over the border.

Donald Trump’s tough talk on illegal immigration should be making these illegal immigrants and their coyotes and their supporters twice or three times as committed to get in here. But it’s not working out that way. Just the enforcement of existing law — the promise to enforce existing law, the threat to enforce existing law, the commitment to build the wall, the tough talk, the committed talk on the policy — is actually working.

It is causing there to be a massive, major reduction in the numbers of people attempting to get into the country illegally. There’s documented evidence that tough talk is working. Honest, tough talk is working. Yet, tough talk with Kim Jong-un? “Oh, no! It’s going to lead to nuclear war! Oh my God, we’re going to die!” Same thing with MS-13, according to The Economist. Donald Trump is making life for these gang members easier and easier. He’s talking tough and he’s just helping them recruit more members.

Now you can’t have it both ways.