On a night that the President once again failed to deliver on the hype, the speculation about him declaring a ‘national emergency’ was just another ruse. Once he leashed the dog and saddled the pony, the lies flowed like the waters of the Rio Bravo. Mr. Trump talked about the “crisis of the human soul” while not mentioning the deaths of two small migrant children. The first a seven-year-old girl named, Jakelin Caal and on Christmas Eve, 8-year-old Felipe Gomez Alonzo. The first reference by the President to the faux border crisis was the word “humanitarian.” I suppose this was his attempt to temper his cruelty with his version of sympathy.
Immediately thereafter he took the Russian propaganda social media tactic of pitting people of color against each other and Whites. His purposeful use of mentioning the loss of jobs and services by Blacks and Hispanics, to undocumented immigrants, was done with the usual Trump foot in mouth Joie de Vie. Anytime he can publicly ostracize minority groups and juxtapose the words drugs, coyotes, fentanyl and MS-13 in a sentence, he never fails.
The fact checkers were all kept busy…
Mexico is not paying for the Wall even with an end-run Trade Agreement. The money goes into the national treasury Mr. Trump, it is not a slush fund to buy self-portraits or phony magazine covers. The United States Congress holds and controls the purse strings, it is not a Presidential piggy-bank. A financial deal with Mexico is not a transferable cash account to build a Wall without congressional approval.
Sociologist Robert Adelman of the State University of New York at Buffalo led a group [Marshall Project] that studied 136 metropolitan areas. They found that in the 10 study areas with the biggest increases in immigrant populations, from 1980 through 2016, also had the biggest decreases in crime. So, even with Mr. Trump waggling his fingers in his ears and yelling, Ooga Booga, the 100,000 assaults, 30 sex crimes, and 4 “violent” killings, he described, and thinks only happen where migrants are involved, rings hollow.
As for the President’s claim that his now “steel barrier” was a concession “ at the request of Democrats,” is as real as a Conway “alternative fact.”
The man that has permanently, in some cases, separated offspring from their parents, caged families, and presided over the death of at least two other children, unashamedly spoke in quiet passionate tones about rape, murder, and beatings. America has always stood as the shining beacon of exculpation summoning those who are suffering. We have served as the world court of last resort for the disparaged, damaged and demeaned. Mr. Trump made it clear that America is no longer a place of refuge but a prospective walled-off self-imposed prison of selfishness. As we use to say on the street, “ I got mine, you get yours.”
The media once again thought they could score a rating bonanza and allowed Mr. Trump to be unfettered and lie to us. His big announcement was just recycled rally lines, sans screaming. I AM GOING TO BUILD A GREAT WALL, SLATTED FENCE, STEEL BARRIER, FOLDING SCREEN; and who is going to pay for it?… FOXICO!
Vote in 2020 for Change.