America Is Too Great For Donald Trump's Hate-Mongering

This is not who we are as Americans.

Trump's just warming up to full-fledged rage. Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0

     
Israeli columnist Chemi Shalev recently drew an interesting parallel between Donald Trump's current anti-Latino/Hispanic propaganda and European anti-Semitic propaganda of a century ago.  

I disagree with his column’s larger thesis.  But this example of old European anti-Semitic propaganda he included got me thinking about the fear-mongering propaganda we hear increasingly here in the U.S.:

Trump’s Fortune is Built on Undocumented Immigrant Labor (Exhibits 1 & 2) - So Why's He Suddenly So Mad About Them?

Americans deserve a more intellectually honest discussion about our immigration policies.  But Trump isn't the guy we want leading it.

200 undocumented Polish immigrants helped demo the building Trump replaced with Trump Tower / Photo: Brad CC BY 2.0

Donald Trump made most of his fortune in industries that employ substantial numbers of undocumented workers: real estate development, commercial real estate management, golf courses, and hotels/resorts.  So it seems likely that he’s made millions of dollars with the help of cheap labor from unauthorized immigrants. 

So far, a few stories have surfaced involving cases of Trump knowingly, if indirectly, employing unauthorized workers.  His employment of 200 undocumented Polish workers years ago.  His contemporary use of a number of unauthorized workers to build his new DC hotel.  More such stories seem certain to come.

Bounty Offered for Evidence That Trump's Employed Undocumented Labor

It may not be much of a bounty.  But I'm not Lars Larson or Mitt Romney - I don't have $10,000 to put on the line, particularly when I strongly suspect that the proof is out there, in myriad locations. 

So here it is:

I'll give a big kiss on the cheek to the first person who comes up with *credible* documentary or testimonial evidence that undocumented labor has been substantially involved with building or maintaining any US "Trump" property (whether his project, or a project he merely licensed the use of his name to.) 

Given the frequency with which we see crews of folks with limited to no English proficiency on construction sites, on landscaping crews, in restaurant kitchens, and on hotel housekeeping staffs, the odds that Trump has been personally enriched through the use of low-cost undocumented labor seems very, very good.  And given the frequency with which this has occurred in the past 15 or so years, it seems that someone who has Mr. Trump's passionate concern about illegal immigration would have ensured that his management and subcontractors ran each and every person employed through E-Verify for at least, what, the past decade?

It doesn't need to be proven that he personally, knowingly hired undocumented work crews.  It merely needs to be shown that he knew - or reasonably should have known - that his projects (or projects he rented his name to) were employing significant numbers of undocumented workers. 

Gun Down Illegals - AND Get Paid For It!

I'm not loving this ad for US border patrol agents that I stumbled across yesterday.

While reading the Washington Post, this ad sprung up:

"Huh?"  I thought.  It would be strange if our government is recruiting folks for border control with an ad that seems to be saying, "Wanna gun down illegals tryin' to sneak across our borders?  You can - AND get paid for it! (PLUS Federal benefits!)"

Well, maybe, I thought, it's one of those ads that links to a for-profit company that promises to help users land a job with the federal government. Or maybe it's from a for-profit site that somehow makes money as little more than a portal to government job sites.  I've seen plenty of ads for outfits like that.

So I clicked on the ad.  And landed squarely at USAJobs.gov - our federal government's own job listing site.  

Interestingly, the application period for this announcement had ended nine days prior - so not only were we (since our government represents all of us) running an obnoxious and ill-considered ad, but - BONUS! - we were wasting taxpayer money while we were at it. 

Fed-up Houston mom has a good point, but it’s not the one right-wingers are trumpeting

Bernadette Lancelin’s “epic rant” against the federal government spending billions of dollars to address the so-called “border crisis" is spreading like wildfire across right-wing talk radio and blogosphere.  See Top Right News, Mediaite, The Blaze, Real Clear Politics, Rush Limbaugh, Rush again, Herman Cain on facebook, the CainTV site, Larry Elder … etc.

A local TV reporter solicited Lancelin’s comments as part of a piece on Homeland Security touring a closed neighborhood middle school.  DHS was considering the site for temporary housing for some of the incoming aliens while their refugee petitions are processed.

Here's the video with a transcript of Lancelin's comments.  The reporter’s lead-in provided important context: “[O]ne resident who said her kids have gone without nothing, they have had nothing for years, she says she is furious.”

Top Right News notes that Terrell Middle School “had been closed due to ‘funding issues,’” but doesn't mention that the "issues" and closure happened in 2001, in the first year of the Bush presidency, after several years of his governorship. 

Herman Cain’s spin on his radio show this morning belongs in the “Are you frigging kiddin’ me?!?” Hall of Fame.  Here's how he phrased it on Facebook: 

“Bernadette Lancelin is sick of watching money go to illegals while American families struggle in poverty.  Like I always say, black voters who support Dems need to wake up and realize they're being played by this President and his party...”  

Really? I’d say it’s you, Mr. Cain, who’s attempting to play black voters (and anyone else who will listen.)