Tag Archive: border

Don’t be shocked or awed by the next four years

How not to feel

During Donald Trump‘s last White House term, many people woke up each day to some new outrage (e.g., the “family separation policy” that threw kids in cages), and lived in a state of perpetual shock. This time around, not surprisingly, Trump began his first few days in the White House with a number of orders and actions that are similarly hurtful to America. These include, for example:

–Illegally redefining the Constitution’s definition of birthright citizenship to try to declare many natural-born Americans non-citizens;

Ordering thousands of military troops to the Southern border;

Falsely classifying many career U.S. government employees as “political” hires, making them easier to fire, and possibly replace with Republican party apparatchiks;

–Withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement;

–Eliminating Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs and positions in the federal government;

–Granting pardons and commutations to hundreds of people convicted or prosecuted in the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol; and much more.

We know there will be many more such hurtful actions and attempts over the next four years. But we can also decide not to live in a state of shock and awe this time around. One man in the White House, for example, should not change the way we love our friends and family. Nor should it change our vision of what we want for ourselves, our loved ones, and our country.

We can also continue to work toward our goals over the next four years. We can regroup and get ourselves on a more positive, effective political path going forward. That might include, for example, less time focusing on Trump, even when it is to criticize and mock him, since that was not successful in the 2024 elections, and more time concentrating on what we want, and how to get there. And perhaps most importantly, we can regularly pull the plug on increasingly biased “news” reports about what is happening in the White House. Let’s make the next four years about us, not him.

Photo by Alan Levine, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/zWVcp0

 

The 2020 elections will be a war over inclusivity

Protest against Trump administration family separation policy

Sometimes, the difference between Democrats and Republicans can be distilled to one word. Right now, that word in “inclusivity.” Donald Trump set the tone for this war over inclusivity when he announced his candidacy for president four years ago. In that hate-filled announcement speech, Trump attacked immigrants who come to the U.S. across the Mexican border, saying, “They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.” Since then, Trump instituted an anti-Muslim ban on foreign nationals entering the United States; instituted the inhumane family separation policy; hyped up false fears about a migrant “caravan” before the 2018 midterm elections; and even continues to try to build a Medieval-style wall on our southern border. This past Monday, Trump threatened to deport “millions” of undocumented immigrants beginning as soon as next week.

Trump’s great border wall distraction

Climate change, one issue that gets less focus in favor of immigration

If you follow major news stories for the past few months or longer, you might think the biggest issue of our time is illegal immigration, and specifically Donald Trump‘s desired border wall. After all, Trump and the Republicans created the phony “caravan” issue before the 2018 midterm elections. Then, in December, Trump shut down the federal government over his inability to convince Congress, and the American people, to approve his wall. The shutdown was so disruptive that it forced the news media and the voters to spend more time focusing on the wall and immigration. After the Trump Shutdown hurt Trump and the Republicans in the polls, and amidst the threat of a second Trump Shutdown, Trump caved to the Democrats regarding funding for border “fencing.” However, Trump then declared a fake “National Emergency” as a ploy to circumvent Congressional approval and steal money from other taxpayer funds, such as disaster relief, to try to fund his wall.

Trump’s unsustainable family separation policy

Trump’s child separation policy

2018 is turning into the Year of the Children. Unfortunately, however, Republicans keep ending up on the wrong side of heartrending, visceral issues regarding child safety. First and foremost this week is the barbaric Trump administration policy of separating immigrant children from their parents at the border, and then detaining the children in “cages.” This follows the school shooting tragedy in Parkland, Florida last Valentine’s Day, and the subsequent protest movement in favor of greater safety from gun violence in our schools and elsewhere.