Trump’s 31 August, however much it is spun, was, on its face, a red letter day for The Donald. He behaved Presidentially in his visit to Mexico, appearing for the traditional photo ops and taking great care not to create any controversy surrounding his meeting. Fresh from establishing his credentials as being Presidential he went native and xenophobic in his “new” explanation of his immigration policy in a much anticipated speech in Phoenix. This without going off teleprompter script. Immigration “reform” is the central plank of Trump’s 2016 election campaign and also his central problem.
SPLISH SPLASH HOW WAS ONE TO KNOW THERE WAS A FLIP FLOP GOING ON?
In the past week Trump attempted to have it both ways and it remains to be seen what the outcome will be:
On August 23 he told Hannity on Fox News, this after 15 months of hanging tough that he would deport 11 million “illegals”, he would consider “softening”.
The next day he took it all back and told CNN'S Anderson Cooper on August 24 that rather there is a “hardening” of his immigration stance.
On August 28, Trump’s new campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, whose job it is to put lipstick on the pig, argued that The Donald had not mentioned a deportation force for months.
On August 31 in the morning he made “nice” to Mexican President who told The Donald that Mexico would not pay for the wall.
In the evening of August 31 he ranted in a speech written by Steve Bannon, his new CEO, whose job it is to wipe the lipstick off, that everyone of the 11 million "illegal" immigrants is subject to deportation, Mexico would pay for the wall even though they didn’t know it, and he would strengthen a deportation force. The speech reassured one of his prominent supporters, ultra right wing commentator, Anne Coulter, who has opined that his supporters would tolerate flip flopping on everything other than his immigration plan. She tweeted that she would replay his speech each night so that she could sleep like a baby.
On the morning of September 1, he informed Laura Ingram, also in the lipstick business, that his current policy was a “softening” of his immigration plan and all this would be conducted very humanely.
THE PRICE OF LIBERTY IS ETERNAL VIGILANCE
There is every reason to believe that on the basis of the demographics alone that Hillary Clinton will be the next President. However to take this outcome totally for granted is risking the very values that America claims to hold dear. Democracy is a very brittle institution and relies, to a lesser or greater extent, on participants working within the same paradigm of pitting opposing policies within an agreed framework. History is strewn with examples of charismatic, plausible demagogues who have used the democratic process to create a system of tyranny. Hitler, Mussolini, Lenin and Stalin are history’s most tragic recent examples. The decolonization of Africa cynically resulted in several countries being characterized as having one man one vote once and ending in dictatorships.
Trump’s threat to the American democratic way of life is an attack on the role that wave after wave of immigrants have played in the creation of the most successful and powerful nation in recent world history. The American new world created a haven by asking, “Give me your tired your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”. The reason for this approach was not altogether altruistic because each wave of immigrants be they Irish, German, East European or Scandinavian increased the work force and the income produced and therefore the economy. The end result of this never ending immigration was the creation of the most powerful and richest country in the world. Controlling immigration was always a problem and Ronald Reagan, the Republican alter ego, resolved a similar problem in the 1980’s by “amnesty”.
Trump also challenges the values articulated by the Founding Fathers on the rights of an individual, whether citizen or not, on habeus corpus and the right to due process and that “all men are created equal”. He frequently behaves as if he is running one of his companies suggesting that when he is President he will instruct the armed forces to commit illegal acts. It is his way or the high way.
WHY DO IMMIGRANTS COME TO AMERICA?
Broadly speaking they all come to improve their lives from situations where they perceive they have nothing to lose. All these new comers have been subject to prejudice and exploitation whether they be Irish Catholics, Mexicans or East European Jews that worked in clothing sweat shops. The broad bulk of what constitutes the American body politic have been from Western and Eastern Europe and have been white.This European white crowd no longer see America as such a great big “dream” anymore and the “poor huddled” are now either from Asia or South America. In fact, together these “non whites” with the descendants of the slaves the Southern white immigrants brought to America threaten to muddy the very America The Donald promises “To make great again”. Lest there be any doubt as to his racial prejudice in this exercise he acknowledges the need for the right, (white), type of legal immigration.
BACKGROUND TO THE TRUMP APPEAL.
Now no revolutionary demagogue can exist in a vacuum. Trump has emerged as the Republican candidate for a host of reasons not the least of which is the GOP’s disconnect with their base’s acceptance of the Democrat’s social welfare programs such as Medicare and Social Security. The GOP Establishment’s preoccupation with backing the corporations who have screwed the blue collared by exporting jobs and capitol as opposed to servicing their interests have also not resonated with the blue collared Republicans. In addition the Republican millennials are quite disenchanted by the Party’s obsession with social issues such as a woman’s right to chose or whether they use contraception or not. Then there is the general anger that no party is responsible for - the loss of manufacturing jobs generally which can never return because of mechanization and computerization.
All the above would not be enough as that is essentially the Democratic platform. To appeal to the GOP far right base Trump has thrown in the usual compendium of prejudice, xenophobia and victimization by the “other”. In true textbook style he has created, the scapegoat, the sacrificial lamb - the “illegal” who just happens not to have a white skin, who is responsible for all these woes - “They are stealing your jobs, murdering and raping your children, and the like”. He is upping the ante even further in claiming that they are responsible for undermining the nation’s security. All this is powerful medicine especially when prescribed by a highly articulate unscrupulous entertainer and master salesman who is an icon of the American scene.
So in essence his unique contribution to the national debate is the “Immigration” problem combined with nationalism and that was the subject of his much publicized speech on August 31 which was supposed to catapult him out of the electoral doldrums into the WhiteHouse.
THE SPEECH AND THE PLAN
Trump has never been too strong on the facts and his immigration speech was no different. Scrupulous fact checkers have found to date that seventy - five percent of what he claims are either lies or gross misrepresentations not to mention the over simplifications. In addition much of what he ranted about on illegal immigration was already in place. The biometrics that he wants to set up are already there. Another key example, is that the Obama administration has already made deportation of criminals the highest priority and the net Mexican immigration legal or illegal currently is nil. In fact Obama has exited more illegals than any other President, 3 million.
Then Trump claimed that there were still 2 million illegal dangerous criminals on the loose. The facts show that there are 695,000 that are either felons or are guilty of serious misdemeanors around. Of these a large number have situations that are complex. They are said to include a substantial group where procession of a small amount of drugs such as marijuana was once considered a “serious misdemeanor”. There are others that may have beat up their wives 25 years ago and so on. Then what has become standard fare, a gross distortion of Hillary’s position on Middle East refugee policy. Another gross distortion was that the “illegals” were responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent crime when the statistics show that at worst the prevalence of their felonies are the same as society or possibly less. The final racialist smear was even the Latinos that were legally here were not properly “assimilated” and needed to meet a Trump standard.
WHAT HE LEFT OUT
Then he was going to stop the immigrant visa plan for temporary workers happily ignoring that he has employed that practice and still is on the basis “that there are no Americans who are prepared to work at his Florida resort”.
The most crucial point from Jay H. Ell’s world view is he failed to recognize why these workers were getting work in America. If he was really serious about stopping undocumented employees from being in the market place he would punish their employers. If Trump were to be successful in his endeavor then several industries would grind to a halt. These include agriculture and farming, landscaping and construction.
Ironically, ignored in the hoopla of his much awaited clarification of his immigration final solution was yet another exposure of his illegal business practices by the New York Times. There was evidence that he encouraged models working in his modeling agency to enter the country on visitor visas and lie to customs agencies as to their intention. They were then exploited and treated like indentured servants. All this against the law and to quote The Donald, “We are a country of laws”. Documented incidents involving Trump’s usage of illegal immigrants lead Marc Rubio, in one those interminable Republican debates, to blurt out, “If he builds a wall like he built Trump Towers he will be using illegal immigrants”.
Finally, for those who listened to his speech carefully he in fact left wiggle room not to deport all 11 million when he referred to after getting rid of the Latino scum they would decide what to with the rest. Like anyone would believe anything that he ever says.
THE UPSHOT
As Jay H. Ell began he must end. August 31 was a much better day for The Donald. He was Presidential in the morning and read his teleprompter without a hitch in the evening. Trump has a very low bar to overcome and he succeeded. He mustn’t swear or mock the handicapped or threaten to bomb Mexico City if they won’t pay for the wall. The polls are tightening and there always must be the fear that somehow he will get enough whites to vote for him to spring a surprise. So far he still has done nothing to win back the Republican white suburban woman and Republican college educated voters. He has now alienated what Hispanic support he had and if Bernie Sanders couldn’t convince the African American voters to abandon Hillary why should he?
The verdict on the Mexico visit is still out. The Mexican President is retweeting that he made it clear to The Donald that he refused to pay for the wall. The Mexican media are on a rant against Mr. Trump whose ratings in Latinoland are less than 5 percent. The big test will come if he can resist the temptation to tweet back.
Hillary, who to date has been only to happy to allow The Donald the stage and make the election a referendum on him, must be having second thoughts. However ridiculous her e mail controversy may appear to most in comparison with the danger of a Trump administration it is very important to large sections of the electorate. There is a need not to be patronizing when addressing the subject and for her to give more interviews and even a Press Conference.
At the end of the day Trump still has to come through in the debates where his woeful ignorance will no longer be able to be glossed over. In addition any replay of his boorish behavior in the Primary debates will finally put paid to any hope he may have.
The fear of a despotic unstable nativist bigot becoming leader of the free world will not go away as in a two horse race there is an awareness that anything could happen. Unlike Anne Coulter nothing can make Jay H. Ell sleep securely till after November 8 when Trump has been so convincingly beaten that those he encouraged in the event of his defeat, “to use their second amendment rights because the system had to have been rigged”, will stay home and lock up their guns.
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