Jon Stewart has a good point. Donald Trump is not the problem. The problem is us. Why do we pay attention to anything Trump says?
Trump is following the traditional right-wing script. Now he’s whining about being America’s whipping post because he’s willing to bring up things like immigration that nobody else wants to talk about. Poor me, says Trump.
First of all, Trump is certainly not the only person who is talking about immigration. Obama tried to talk about solving the problem of illegal immigration, but was soundly denounced by the Republicans. And Trump’s solution? Build a (Berlin-like) wall all the way across the border. Even though that would cost insane amounts of money and still would not stop illegal immigration.
And his big example of the problem? A woman was killed by an illegal immigrant in San Francisco. Why do we let anyone get away with using anecdotal evidence to prove anything? There is plenty of evidence that immigrants, both legal and illegal, commit less than half the crime than average US citizens (Trump’s claim that Mexico is sending their worst people to the US is a complete fabrication). And the unfortunate murder in San Francisco is a particularly bad example. Immigration had previously caught the illegal immigrant who committed the murder, but they turned him over to the SF police. The SF police stupidly released him, instead of turning him back over to immigration (to be deported or jailed).
We don’t need a wall, we need police departments that aren’t swamped fighting minor crimes (like personal drug use) and prisons that aren’t overcrowded, so that we don’t release violent criminals and the police can give priority to real crimes.
And we need fewer jerks like Trump. The only way we will get that is to stop paying any attention to them or their stupid lies.
2 Comments
“We”? Hardly. The media (left-wing, mainstream, lamestream, wing-nut, or whatever) is to blame. They push a consumerist message of youth & beauty, all the while ignoring anything that might be relevant to our lives or continued existence on this planet. “We”, indeed!$$
The media (mostly) doesn’t push any particular message. They just broadcast what gets them eyeballs while not pissing off their sponsors, so they can make money. So, again, “We” – as long as we watch it and don’t complain.