Immigration

Progressives Rooting for Trump: Careful What You Wish For

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You don’t have to look hard to find progressives giddy over Trump’s ascendancy. Just scroll down your Facebook page or check out the comments to posts here. Our own commenter, the omniscient Captain Arizona, is on board. “The enemy of your enemy is your friend,” he explains.

Where it is still permitted, we undoubtedly will see progressive mischief makers cross over to vote for Trump in Republican primaries, if his show lasts that long.

As I’ve written previously, I’m sure Trump will crash, or at least fade. Nonetheless, his success thus far should be cause for alarm, not celebration, among thinking, decent people. Face it: If Trump survived the Republican primaries, the only thing between him and the presidency would be people of color. White America would be ready to elect him, perhaps in a landslide. That reality should be chilling.

Trump not only is whipping a huge (and growing) segment of the population into a nativist, nationalist frenzy, he’s doing so based on pure fiction. Our current net in-migration rate is approximately zero. It might even be slightly negative.

On the world stage, however, mass immigration and right-wing nationalist backlash are real, with the associated dangers growing. Andrew O’Hehir of Salon connects the reality in Europe to the seeming unreality of Trump. His analysis should give those progressives rooting for Trump pause.

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Grandpa and Grandma

My Mom Was an Anchor Baby

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Grandpa and Grandma
William and Emma Sprenger

Since Donald Trump has brought “anchor babies” back into the public eye, I decided to re-post this story that was originally published in October 20, 2010 on TucsonCitizen.com.

Russell Pearce is a grandstanding xenophobe who is basking in the limelight of SB1070 and seeking to extend his 15 minutes of fame. His latest anti-immigrant legislation on his one-man crusade to white-wash the country is to “clarify” the 14th Amendment and hopefully make anchor babies illegal once and for all. Here is the text that Pearce and other right-wing extremists want clarification on:

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”

Ah, Mr. Pearce, what nationality are you? I don’t think “Pearce” is a Native American name. I believe that someone in your family tree was an anchor baby (a child born in American of immigrant parents).

My Grandpa William Sprenger was born in Germany. He came to the US as an infant in 1881 with Great Grandma Katrina and his older brother Conrad. (Great Grandpa Conrad was already working in Northern Ohio.)

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J.E.B.(!) Bush is a terrible candidate

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The scion of the “Bush Dynasty,” J.E.B.(!) Bush, no doubt assumed that the presidency was his inheritance — all he had to do was run for president. It turns out that J.E.B.(!) Bush is a terrible candidate, and his assumptions are wrong.

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After spending the better part of a week doubling down on his idiot brother’s unnecessary and illegal war in Iraq and illegal torture policy, J.E.B.(!) returned to offending key voting blocs.

In recent days this gaffe machine has again offended Latinos and women, two key voting blocs that no candidate can get elected president without. It’s as almost if J.E.B.(!) doesn’t want to be president and is subconsciously sabotaging his own campaign.

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Sorry Trump fans, but it’s good having grownups in charge

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

“The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world today is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.”—Bertrand Russell.

I brought a handful of books to Sedona with me when we were up there but the one I read from start to finish was Jimmy Carter’s A Full Life: Reflections At Ninety. As the title suggests, it’s a straightforward account of Carter’s entire life spanning his childhood on his family’s farm in Plains, Georgia, to a career as a submariner and nuclear engineer in the Navy, and then his lengthy career in public service. I have to admit to rolling my eyes through parts where he would describe his religiosity and the pride he took in his missionary work (not my thing) and puzzling over a few occasions where he described his “moderate views on race” during the Civil Rights era but, for the most part, Carter’s account of his life left me more impressed with the guy than I already was.

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Donald Trump, leader of the Mass Deportation Party

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Two new polls out this week show Donald Trump maintaining a double digit lead over his nearest competitor. Fox News Poll; Latest CNN Republican Poll Has Donald Trump at 24%.

Cartoon_18.14On Monday, “The Donald” released his immigration plan, which is detailed on his website. He calls for construction of a wall along the Mexican border, vowing to “make Mexico pay” for it; an end to birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants (“anchor babies”); the defunding of sanctuary cities; the strengthening of immigration enforcement; a moratorium on new on H-1B visas issued to workers abroad, and a hire Americans first policy: and a whole lot more. Of course, he has no clue how he is going to accomplish this or to pay for it.

It is essentially a collection of every xenophobic, anti-immigrant, nativist and racist idea from the far-right fringe over the past decade or so, that are now being “mainstreamed” in the GOP. Several of Trumps rivals are also adopting Trump’s far-right anti-immigrant positions. As the Washington Post reports, Trump is driving migrant debate among GOP field:

The ideas once languished at the edge of Republican politics, confined to think tanks and no-hope bills on Capitol Hill. To solve the problem of illegal immigration, truly drastic measures were necessary: Deport the undocumented en masse. Seize the money they try to send home. Deny citizenship to their U.S.-born children.

Now, all of those ideas have been embraced by Donald Trump, the front-runner in the Republican presidential race, who has followed up weeks of doomsaying about illegal immigrants with a call for an unprecedented crackdown.

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