by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Back when Joe Arpaio was Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, a personal fiefdom which didn't reach within a hundred miles of the U.S. border with Mexico, Old Joe nonetheless would always begin demonizing immigrants whenever he wanted to stir up his rubes and increase political donations or get them to the polls. One of Old Joe's favorite gags was to rant and rave about the Sonora desert south of Phoenix being strewn with headless bodies, and although he never explained why those decapitated corpses had lost their heads, the implication was that it had something to do with illegal drugs or human trafficking. The enemy was at the gates and racing through - and only crusty Old Joe could stop them!
I lived in Phoenix for five of the Arpaio years and had the personal pleasure of voting against him twice. During those five years if ever a headless corpse was discovered in Arizona, it did not make it into the Arizona Republic or any of the area's many local news sources. Old Joe, you see, was (and undoubtedly still is) a profound and quite happy liar.
Donald John Trump is also a profound and happy liar, and he, too, has learned that vilifying immigrants is a sure-fire way to stir support - money and votes - from the rubes. Trump built his base in the last election by playing to people's fears, and one of the most successful fears he cultivated was that of foreigners. Not just any foreigners - because Trump himself has had two foreign-born wives - but particular fears of brown-skinned immigrants (animals) from "shithole" countries - and Muslims.
One way that Trump managed to focus his not-overly-bright base was to rail about immigrants coming across our southern border - people he characterized not only as "animals," but also as gang members, rapists, drug traffickers, and job-stealers. And while he shamelessly inflamed America's racist passions, he conveniently forgot to mention to his army of God-fearing border protectors that his own businesses had hired many of these immigrants to work at Trump properties.
Trump said that America was in danger from these (mostly imaginary) hordes of invaders, and at some point during his campaign of misinformation and fear-mongering, he gave his supporters a solution that they could understand. When he became President he would build a big damned wall and keep those dirty Mexicans out.
Then, through a colossal karmic joke, Donald Trump was elected, something that surprised even him. He began implementing his racist agenda through a travel ban that barred visitors from several major Muslim countries, and increased official harassment at the southern border - including his odious family separation policies. But somehow Trump never got around to building his wall - at least not during the first two years of his administration when Republicans had complete control of Congress. The golf course beckoned - almost daily!
When the Republicans lost control of the House with last November's elections, Trump suddenly got fired up again about his wall - a fight to again stir his rubes and reenergize support for his flagging presidency. This time when Trump was demonizing the "invaders" from the south, he added a new component. Muslim prayer rugs had been found littering the desert - those heathen Muslims were sneaking in, too! That was just too much, and a big, beautiful wall was now an absolute necessity!
The prayer rugs, like Old Joe's headless bodies, never existed. Oh, there might have been the occasional discarded poncho that some scared immigrant had used for a bed roll, but "prayer rugs" make much better stories than ponchos and blankets. The rubes believe that the voice of God flows across Trump's lips, and they continue to buy his lies as gospel.
Now Donald John Trump, after failing to get the amount of money that he wanted for his vanity wall through a government shutdown and through negotiations with Congress, said that he will sign the new appropriations bill - one that does not fund his wall with the amount of taxpayer cash that he has requested. But he will also declare that a "national emergency" exists at the border, and he will take the funding that he needs from other sources.
The headless bodies and prayer rugs don't exist -they never did. Those are facts - and the Trump administration shows a distinct discomfort in dealing with facts. Here is another fact - there are nine U.S. congressional districts along the 2,000 mile southern U.S. border with Mexico, and all nine of those congress people, Democrat and Republican alike, are opposed to Trump's border wall. If our southern border was actually in crisis and a true emergency existed, wouldn't it be likely that members of Congress from that area would know about it and would be fired up and demanding action? Instead, they want nothing to do with it!
And if the members of Congress who represent our southern border don't want Trump's wall, chances are their voters - the people who actually live and work in the shadow of the border with Mexico - don't want it either!
There is no damed emergency along our southern border, but that is not to say that we are safe from foreign threats. Robert Mueller and his team of investigators are preparing a report that will hopefully shed some light on a true threat to our democracy - a substantial threat cultivated and funded by Putin's Russian.
America is currently under the thumb of a despotic individual who lies incessantly and has trouble speaking in coherent sentences. He appears to be making a personal profit off of his office and holds his financial information secret - and he also appears to make rash and impulsive decisions without consulting advisors - decisions which don't always appear to be in the best interests of the United States of America.
Now, as all of these other concerns begin to clarify, Donald Trump, the great distractor, is yelling "Look over here - there's an emergency on the border!" There is an emergency alright, but it's not at the border.
Our emergency is Donald John Trump, and it's high time the country recognized its peril and took action!
The very concept of democracy hangs in the balance!
Citizen Journalist
Back when Joe Arpaio was Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, a personal fiefdom which didn't reach within a hundred miles of the U.S. border with Mexico, Old Joe nonetheless would always begin demonizing immigrants whenever he wanted to stir up his rubes and increase political donations or get them to the polls. One of Old Joe's favorite gags was to rant and rave about the Sonora desert south of Phoenix being strewn with headless bodies, and although he never explained why those decapitated corpses had lost their heads, the implication was that it had something to do with illegal drugs or human trafficking. The enemy was at the gates and racing through - and only crusty Old Joe could stop them!
I lived in Phoenix for five of the Arpaio years and had the personal pleasure of voting against him twice. During those five years if ever a headless corpse was discovered in Arizona, it did not make it into the Arizona Republic or any of the area's many local news sources. Old Joe, you see, was (and undoubtedly still is) a profound and quite happy liar.
Donald John Trump is also a profound and happy liar, and he, too, has learned that vilifying immigrants is a sure-fire way to stir support - money and votes - from the rubes. Trump built his base in the last election by playing to people's fears, and one of the most successful fears he cultivated was that of foreigners. Not just any foreigners - because Trump himself has had two foreign-born wives - but particular fears of brown-skinned immigrants (animals) from "shithole" countries - and Muslims.
One way that Trump managed to focus his not-overly-bright base was to rail about immigrants coming across our southern border - people he characterized not only as "animals," but also as gang members, rapists, drug traffickers, and job-stealers. And while he shamelessly inflamed America's racist passions, he conveniently forgot to mention to his army of God-fearing border protectors that his own businesses had hired many of these immigrants to work at Trump properties.
Trump said that America was in danger from these (mostly imaginary) hordes of invaders, and at some point during his campaign of misinformation and fear-mongering, he gave his supporters a solution that they could understand. When he became President he would build a big damned wall and keep those dirty Mexicans out.
Then, through a colossal karmic joke, Donald Trump was elected, something that surprised even him. He began implementing his racist agenda through a travel ban that barred visitors from several major Muslim countries, and increased official harassment at the southern border - including his odious family separation policies. But somehow Trump never got around to building his wall - at least not during the first two years of his administration when Republicans had complete control of Congress. The golf course beckoned - almost daily!
When the Republicans lost control of the House with last November's elections, Trump suddenly got fired up again about his wall - a fight to again stir his rubes and reenergize support for his flagging presidency. This time when Trump was demonizing the "invaders" from the south, he added a new component. Muslim prayer rugs had been found littering the desert - those heathen Muslims were sneaking in, too! That was just too much, and a big, beautiful wall was now an absolute necessity!
The prayer rugs, like Old Joe's headless bodies, never existed. Oh, there might have been the occasional discarded poncho that some scared immigrant had used for a bed roll, but "prayer rugs" make much better stories than ponchos and blankets. The rubes believe that the voice of God flows across Trump's lips, and they continue to buy his lies as gospel.
Now Donald John Trump, after failing to get the amount of money that he wanted for his vanity wall through a government shutdown and through negotiations with Congress, said that he will sign the new appropriations bill - one that does not fund his wall with the amount of taxpayer cash that he has requested. But he will also declare that a "national emergency" exists at the border, and he will take the funding that he needs from other sources.
The headless bodies and prayer rugs don't exist -they never did. Those are facts - and the Trump administration shows a distinct discomfort in dealing with facts. Here is another fact - there are nine U.S. congressional districts along the 2,000 mile southern U.S. border with Mexico, and all nine of those congress people, Democrat and Republican alike, are opposed to Trump's border wall. If our southern border was actually in crisis and a true emergency existed, wouldn't it be likely that members of Congress from that area would know about it and would be fired up and demanding action? Instead, they want nothing to do with it!
And if the members of Congress who represent our southern border don't want Trump's wall, chances are their voters - the people who actually live and work in the shadow of the border with Mexico - don't want it either!
There is no damed emergency along our southern border, but that is not to say that we are safe from foreign threats. Robert Mueller and his team of investigators are preparing a report that will hopefully shed some light on a true threat to our democracy - a substantial threat cultivated and funded by Putin's Russian.
America is currently under the thumb of a despotic individual who lies incessantly and has trouble speaking in coherent sentences. He appears to be making a personal profit off of his office and holds his financial information secret - and he also appears to make rash and impulsive decisions without consulting advisors - decisions which don't always appear to be in the best interests of the United States of America.
Now, as all of these other concerns begin to clarify, Donald Trump, the great distractor, is yelling "Look over here - there's an emergency on the border!" There is an emergency alright, but it's not at the border.
Our emergency is Donald John Trump, and it's high time the country recognized its peril and took action!
The very concept of democracy hangs in the balance!
No comments:
Post a Comment