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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Rude Pundit - Taking Donald Trump Seriously (Or Not)
Okay, fine, so we're supposed to pretend to take Donald Trump seriously and continue to indulge this fantasy so narcissistic that Kanye West has called him to take that shit down a notch. Well, then, let's do it. Let's say that Trump actually has proposals worthy of consideration beyond "Are you fucking kidding?" If you go to his website and click on "issues," there is still only one: immigration reform. That's it.
And if you read it, you'll see that Trump fully believes (or doesn't - it's hard to tell what shit he actually believes and what shit is just expediency for the moment) that "solving" the problem of undocumented workers will solve pretty much every other problem in the country, from terrorism to poverty. It's so fuckin' miraculous that no one ever thought before to scapegoat one group and order their purging. It cures all that ails a nation, no?
Beyond actual, seriously-stated proposals like that we should economically sanction and diplomatically isolate Mexico until that nation pays for a 2000 mile border wall, what's most fascinating are the links to articles that make up the "research" that's gone into the plan. No less than half a dozen times, Trump cites the conservative news port-a-potty, Breitbart, which means either he's paying good money in exchange for blow jobs and clicks or he just doesn't give a shit what his sources are.
'Cause, see, for example, Trump offers the kind of proposal makes stupid people smile stupidly because they think it's common sense: "Use the monies saved on expensive refugee programs to help place American children without parents in safer homes and communities, and to improve community safety in high crime neighborhoods in the United States." And he links to two Breitbart articles. For "high crime neighborhoods," he sends us not to crime statistics or even a report of criminality. No, we get to click over to an article that is a summary of a caller to Laura Ingraham's radio ear bleeder. No shit, it's a woman claming to be black and living in Baltimore who says she wants asylum from crime in her neighborhood, which may well be true, except if you're passing it off as news, you motherfucking confirm that it is a real person with a real opinion and not some fucknut who wants to hear their bullshit on the radio. But for a presidential candidate to use that as a demonstration of the effects of high crime rates is laughably absurd, if we still had the capacity to find all this absurd anymore.
On it goes. Another link is to a Breitbart article that is, shit you not, a reprint of an abstract of a study, along with the first paragraph of the introduction. In other words, the article's "writer" didn't even bother to read the fucking study about how immigrant workers affect native workers in the United States. One other frightening thing comes out of looking at Trump's "research." Most of these articles are about the effects of documented and undocumented workers. In other words, it's not just an attack on "illegals." It's an attack on immigrants coming here and taking our jobs or some such fucked-up lie.
This isn't an indictment of Breitbart. If you go to the circus, expect to see heaps of elephant dung. But it is an indictment of Trump, who doesn't give a fuck who his "experts" are. You been on TV saying shit Trump likes? You're hired. Who the fuck cares if you're associated with white supremacists. And it's an indictment of the knuckle-dragging yahoos and racist opportunists who see in Trump their idiot god who says what they really want said.
Sure, sure, we can pretend that these are serious proposals. But if we do, we have to seriously contend with the hatred from which they spring and the hatred that they provoke. We have to seriously understand that a large contingent of the Republican Party is no longer hiding its racist anger. Instead, it's out in the open. We thought that would make it less frightening, if we could see its face and hear its awful words.
It doesn't.
http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2015/08/taking-donald-trump-seriously-or-not.html
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)I am a bit surprised a Republican hasn't played the Reagan card on this - The GOP's patron saint told other countries to get rid of barriers designed to keep their people in, while Trump wants them to build exactly the same walls.
The Wizard
(12,547 posts)the scab off of America's oozing infection, Republican bigotry.
hueymahl
(2,510 posts)Is that he is not saying it correctly. He absolutely is "right" on the issues, but he is "screwing up" by not camouflaging the truth of the with heaping piles of double-speak.
malaise
(269,157 posts)I might steal that line
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)is even more surprising to me then tRump being in first.
And to have both happening at the same time?
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)I think it is entirely possible that Evilhair is running a marketing campaign that is going to hand this to "our next black president"...
SHRED
(28,136 posts)...who hire illegally.
It's illegal hiring that has hurt what use to be good paying careers like construction.
Blame the source. Blame those that hire.
gerryatwork
(64 posts)... that in his clothing line, his ties are made in China and his suits and shirts are made in Mexico. He makes this big pitch to everyone that he will bring jobs back to America when he is the person sending them out. Unfortunately corrupt stream media is so far up his ass that the only daylight they will ever see is when Trump regurgitates them out of his mouth in one of his bullshit speeches that he will bring jobs back. Just a merry-go-round of bullshit.
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Nailed It!!!
WiffenPoof
(2,404 posts)Two points...
Pro wrestling never bothered me. It was the people in the audience that actually believed that wrestling was real. The same goes for Trump. I really don't care about Trump...asshats like him are all around us. It's the people that actually believe in him. Now that's scary.
More importantly... The press has absolutely failed us. For a long time now, the press has not done their job in keeping our political representatives in check. There was a time when the press served a very important role which insured our democracy.
No one has called Donald Trump to task on an infinite number of issues and contradictions. Shame on the press corps.
Paige