He
wants a crisis, even if he has to cause it himself.
The most ridiculous thing about Donald Trump’s xenophobic, demagogic assault on Central American amnesty seekers is that his frantic demand to build a $5-billion-dollar border wall isn’t his most ridiculous ploy.
Even
more ridiculous is his panicky political assertion that the caravans coming
north through Mexico are gangs of rapists, murderers, and terrorists out to
slaughter and conquer us.
Never
mind that the migrants he demonizes are overwhelmingly women, children, and
peaceful families fleeing the terrifying gangs, extortionists, and corrupt
officials who’ve turned their lives in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras
into hell.
But
rather than greet these refugees with a policy of common compassion and long-term
solutions, Trump and his fellow Republican screechers have militarized the
border to separate them from their children, incarcerate them, and turn them
into political pawns for Trump’s re-election campaign.
But
wait — it gets more ridiculous. Crying that the three countries should bar
these desperate families from fleeing the horrors of home, Trump has peevishly
— and stupidly — cut off U.S. aid intended to battle the gang violence driving
them northward.
Okay, Trump has no empathy or subtlety. But how smart do you have to be to see that if you have no strategy to help mitigate the nightmarish conditions of your neighbors, you’ll have to cope with the fallout on your own doorstep?
Most
ridiculous of all, though, is that we have a president with a moral compass
that points only to policies that serve his ego and political needs.
Trump doesn’t really want any border solution at all, not even a wall — he wants a “crisis,” a bugaboo to demagogue for his own political advancement, no matter how many families suffer.
Trump doesn’t really want any border solution at all, not even a wall — he wants a “crisis,” a bugaboo to demagogue for his own political advancement, no matter how many families suffer.
He’s
a pathetic weakling of a president, ridiculously masquerading as a “strong
man.”
OtherWords columnist Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer,
and public speaker. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
