Andrew Rudalevige

A recent tweet by Bowdoin government professor Andrew Rudalevige regarding President Trump’s executive order on the detention of immigrant families made a serious point: that the language of the order might render it ineffective.

Nonetheless, comedian Stephen Colbert found some dark humor in the contradiction that Rudalevige identified.

In his tweet, Rudalevige asks if the executive order would actually change anything, since the new “‘maintain family unity’ policy only applies ‘to the extent permitted by law,’ and the administration claims the law does not allow them to maintain family unity.”

Colbert cited this tweet and then joked: “It’s like one of those brain teasers where one man always tells lies… and we elected him president.”

Since the new Trump EO says its “maintain family unity” policy only applies “to the extent permitted by law,” and the admin claims the law does not allow them to maintain family unity, did anything actually just change?https://t.co/s0IWvXIj9y

— Andrew Rudalevige (@rudalev) June 20, 2018