Trump seems determined to use immigration trash-talk to get re-elected

President Donald Trump wants another term in office, and seems determined to create the impression of himself as the guy who kicked all those frickin’ foreigners out of this country.

TRUMP: National equivalent of playground bully?

He’s the guy who wanted a series of national immigration raids to create a sudden boost in the actual number of deportations.

OF COURSE, SO many details got out about where and when these raids would take place that Trump put a hold on the plan – while insisting he did it as a courtesy to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who was working to put together a border aid package in Congress.

Not that anybody believed Trump would do anything out of courtesy to anybody but himself. Which is why the talk is starting up again that raids of a sort will start Sunday.

With activists saying they’re planning a protest rally in Chicago for Saturday, hoping to get several thousand individuals to publicly express their disgust with The Donald and his immigration desires.

This comes as Trump made his announcement Thursday of his latest desire to get information about non-citizens living in this country. He contemplated an executive order that would require a Census Bureau question as in being able to enact his desires without having to get Congress to sign off on them first, which truly is the “American Way” of doing things.

TRUMP, WHO HAS tried to get the 2020 Census population count altered so as to include questions about the citizenship status of those reporting, now says he’s going to require federal government agencies to turn any information over to the Commerce Department so it can be compiled into incriminating information.

He’s not concerned with the several court rulings that have found there to be no legitimate purpose to having such a question as part of the Census. Because the purpose of the Census is to get as accurate a count as possible of the U.S.’s actual population on April 1, 2020.

And Trump is determined enough that his way MUST prevail that he’s going to get his question included in some form, so as to gather up as much information as possible as to who exactly is here.

Which has some concerned that all Trump is doing is trying to gather intelligence that could someday be used to single out even more people for deportation. Trump backers try to claim that it’s overly cynical and paranoid to think ill of the presidential intentions on this issue.

BUT IT PROBABLY says much about the lack of trust the majority of our society has in the executive abilities of Trump that we don’t fully trust him. And for good reasons.

Because this is the man who started off his political portion of life by letting it be known he was more than willing to single out for abuse certain types of people – and was more than willing to kowtow to the segment of our society that has a strong xenophobic streak running down its spine.

The kind of people who will wet their pants with glee at the very thought of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents working overtime on Sunday to weed people out, arrest them, then deport them.

And those who are willing to think that the courts’ refusal to go along with Trump’s desires for a Census Bureau question that some in our society would not feel comfortable answering is merely evidence that the courts themselves ARE the problem.

IT WILL BE curious to see if this becomes a winning strategy; letting the ideologues amongst us think they are succeeding in reclaiming our country from those of us who’d prefer to see American ideals prevail in the way things are done.

Which is why I found interesting the results of a Morning Consult poll that shows one-time Vice President Joe Biden holding slight leads over would-be presidential challengers Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren.

But that is amongst people who identify themselves as most likely to actually vote. Which means it could well be in the hands of those slightly-more apathetic about casting ballots to decide whether we actually replace Trump come November of 2020.

Which may well be part of the Trump strategy as well – stir up so much trash that the bulk of people will be dismayed enough to not bother voting. Truly a sad strategy that says little about the man’s inherent character.

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Trump talk more about scaring people silly, not accomplishing anything

I’m not sure how seriously we ought to take the latest round of Trump trash talk that says, beginning Sunday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials will step up their efforts to remove from this country those individuals who haven’t dotted all the “I’s” and crossed all the “T’s” involved in getting a valid visa.

TRUMP: Sunday's the day; no more foreigners

Trump says the efforts will focus on certain cities, places that he thinks are so-called hell-holes that have too many foreigners. Yes, our very own Chicago is on the list.

SO ARE WE going to see people getting picked up, hauled away in a van, and wind up being processed for removal from this country?

Is this weekend literally “the end” of their stay in the United States for some 1 million people, as President Donald Trump insists?

I don’t doubt there are individuals who will, by coincidence, come to the attention of federal immigration officials and wind up being processed for removal this weekend.

But let’s be frank (or should we be Francisco?) here and say I doubt there will be much of a coordinated effort taking place across the more urban areas of our nation, all at the whim of Donald J. Trump.

FOR ONE THING, I suspect such an organized effort is beyond the organizational skills of federal immigration officials. If anything, it might be better to study how many people continue to evade the attention of immigration this weekend, or in coming weeks.

I suspect that Trump’s trash talk is more about el Donaldo thinking he can scare the chones off of so many Latinos by making them think the end is near for their search of a better life in the United States.

Because the dreaded la Migra is going to come and get you, similar to how some people like to tell their children tales of the boogeyman coming to take you away.

PRITZKER: The protector?

Trump thinking he can terrify Latinos (and anybody else who isn’t “white American” enough to satisfy his definition of “belonging” in this country) probably gives him a tingle of joy. Although for all we know, that ‘tingle’ is really just the president wetting his pants.

OR MORE IMPORTANT, it could be something he says just to give his silent majority (which is most definitely not silent and really only consists of about one-third of our society’s population) a jolt – to the point where they’ll sing his praises and talk up a storm about how we need “four more years” of a Trump presidency.

It’s political rhetoric, not serious public policy. Because it is delusional to think that Trump could seriously achieve the notion of removing more than a million people from this country without causing a sudden vacuum in our society.

Then again, I have to wonder about the three bills Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law on Friday – all related to immigration and preserving the notion that our state government views the federal immigration officials who get worked up over xenophobic fantasy as political nitwits.

Illinois now forbids the private detention centers that immigration officials want to hold all these foreigners until they can get around to deporting them. Also, non-citizens will be able to apply for financial aid if they’re accepted at state colleges.

AND LOCAL LAW enforcement officials across Illinois will be prohibited from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Which theoretically means immigration officials will have to do their own work in terms of enforcing federal law. Local cops will stay out of it.

Which ought to make sense to everybody. Except for nativist ideologues who want to view police of all types as a unified force that harasses people who aren’t exactly like themselves.

As much as Trump is trying to gain the support of those ideologue-inclined individuals, Pritzker wants people to know clearly that he (and Illinois) is on the complete opposite side of this political equation.

Think of it this way; Trump wants to scare up the foreigners, while Pritzker wants to frighten the ideologues who can’t comprehend a society that is accepting to all. What does it say about you personally if you side with Trump and his trash talk?

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“Deport ‘em all” seems to be the extent of a Trump campaign strategy

Donald Trump may well have said stupid things about just about every group of people possible who isn’t like himself, but he’s the guy who kicked off his time as a political person by calling Mexicans “drug dealers,” “criminals” and “rapists.” 

TRUMP: He wants to stay in D.C.!

So it really shouldn’t be surprising that to kick off his bid for re-election, he’s going on a rant about deportation.

AS IN HE’S going to have federal immigration officials begin the process of kicking out millions of people whom he wants to believe have no business being in this country.

Of course, that’s just Trump his role as the twit who Tweets – using his Twitter account Tuesday morning to send out messages to his followers about how he’s going to get serious about removing all these foreigners from this country.

Which may well be a task too large to take on. It may well be that trying to get rid of that many people at once is too great to accomplish. It may very well overwhelm the infrastructure of our immigration department.

But then again, I doubt that Trump is seriously intending to accomplish much of anything – other than spewing cheap trash talk to get his ideologue followers all worked up.

AND SINCE MANY of his backers seem to have a xenophobic streak behind their thought processes, saying he’s going to get the foreigners out of this country so that only people like themselves will remain will be just the kind of trash talk that will get them all worked up.

Which makes this perfect for the rally Trump planned for Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla. – the one where he officially kicks back into campaign mode and becomes the guy trying to win himself re-election.

Actual governing? He’ll leave that to the geeks whom he has appointed to various federal government posts. And when they turn out to be incapable of getting anything done?

 

OCASIO-CORTEZ: She's not leaving, either!

Well, he’ll blame it all on Democrats for standing in the way of everything he wants done on behalf of people just like himself.

OR MAYBE HE’LL blame it all on Alexandra Ocasio Cortez – the congresswoman from New York whom the far right seems overly obsessed with. Even though many of them don’t even appear to know her name, instead merely referring to her as “that AOC woman!”

Who knows? Maybe Trump, in his own delusional way, thinks she’ll be the first one he can have deported. Or maybe one of her relatives – even though as one of Puerto Rican ethnicity, that means her family consists of U.S. citizens going back generations.

For all I know, she’s more a “real American” than any of the Trump backers whose families came here a generation or two ago from somewhere in Eastern Europe – and view nodding their heads in accordance with Trump trash talk as their way of “fitting in” with our society.

But back to Trump, who’s more than willing to use his xenophobic scare tactics to stir up support.

TAKE TRUMP’S SON, Eric, who had an e-mail message sent out Tuesday telling people that his father wanted $7 million in contributions made to him that day – a “huge” and “incredible” gesture meant to show that everybody loves Donald. “Even the Radical Left won’t be able to lie their way out of this one,” Eric said.

 

BIDEN: Can he even beat his 20-plus opponents

Although going through my e-mail, I also found a message from the Joe Biden presidential campaign – announcing his own Internet-based fundraising effort.

Both men are seeking donations of $5 or more per person (although Trump claims the average donation he’d like to see is $42), all in a grand to try to one-up each other. Which makes me think that Trump’s trash talk about deportations is meant more to inspire donations toward his $7 million goal, rather than being about removing a single soul from this nation.

And making believe all the moreso that Election ’20, regardless of its outcome, is going to be an incredibly depressing period in our society – as we all dive down to the bottom of our pit!

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Lashing out against tweets from twit

It’s almost become the news judgment equivalent of “dog bites man,” President Donald Trump uses his Twitter account to post yet another rant that somehow singles out Mexico for everything The Donald wants to believe is wrong.

The latest anti-Trump retaliatory rant … 

Although there’s something many of the ideologues who chant and cheer every time Trump spews more rhetorical trash ought to keep in mind – the level of contempt is returned.

AND IN THE end, the amount of contempt people wind up feeling toward the United States is escalated – because many figure we were either stupid enough to vote for the buffoon OR were to weak to prevent a man who couldn’t get a majority of the vote from rising to the presidency.

Seriously, people ought to see and/or hear the trash talk that comes from Mexican-Americans whenever the topic of Trump comes up.

Much has been written and spoken of the number of piñatas made in the image of Donald John Trump. Since the ultimate purpose of a piñata is to be smashed by partygoers, it gives people the chance to vent their contempt by taking a two-by-four upside the paper-mache skull of the presidential image.

There also are many t-shirts printed up that take the image of Trump in vain.

… based off the hot-sauce logo

I COULDN’T HELP but notice one shirt I encountered just this weekend when I ventured into the Taste of Mexico festival – held in various cities across our nation. I spent a little bit of time Saturday at the one in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood.

The shirt was a mock-up of the Tapatio hot sauce logo – only turning the product brand name into a Spanish obscenity, and proclaiming that Trump was all about “hate sauce.”

That, and it reinforced my long-held suspicion that the way to make anyone look ridiculous is to portray them in a sombrero – as this t-shirt did to our sorry excuse of a national leader.

All provoked because Trump himself has a desperate need for someone to bash about, and feels Mexico is an easy target, Largely because it’s right next door. He picks on the one within easy sight. Resulting in the return fire.

Bashing Trump -- literally!

TRUMP’S LATEST TWEETS made Sunday morning were an extension of his threats to impose tariffs that would escalate steadily against Mexican-made goods being brought into this country.

He says he’s more than willing to punish U.S. companies that have transferred operations to Mexico to take advantage of lower labor costs. As Trump put it in his less-than-articulate manner, companies will be, “brought back into the United States through taxation (tariffs). America has had enough!”

While also referring to Mexico as “an abuser” that is “invading” our society.

Actually, what we, the majority of our society, has had enough of is the notion of Donald Trump as president. It’s the reason a growing number of people – including two members of Chicago’s congressional delegation, Jesus Garcia and Danny Davis – are calling for impeachment proceedings.

Garcia and Davis (below) have joined … 

NOT THAT I think such a tactic would work – because I have no doubt that the ideologue nincompoops who run the U.S. Senate and would preside over any impeachment trial would wind up undermining any effort to remove Trump from office – then try to claim it as “God’s will” that Trump remain in office!

The fact is that we’re stuck with him through the end of next year, and will have to hope the political opposition can put together a credible enough campaign on behalf of a candidate who can defeat Trump at the polling place.

… the impeachment parade

Perhaps then, we’ll be able to look back on all the anti-Mexico rhetoric and find some of it amusing – such as the portrayal of Trump in the Tapatio hot sauce sombrero. Or find it as historically telling as we now view much of the anti-Japanese propaganda of the World War II era.

Or perhaps we’ll regard Trump someday similar to how late night television host David Letterman once put it to right-wing radio host (and Trump proponent) Rush Limbaugh, when he asked him on live television, “Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and think to yourself, ‘I am just full of hot gas’?”

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Trump talk of “punishing” U.S. w/ foreigners shows ideologues know little

President Donald Trump’s latest trash-talk of taking all the people trying to come to this country and deliberately sending them to the big cities – particularly those cities that have enacted “sanctuary city” policies that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials and policies – show just how little he and his ideologue backers comprehend reality.

Not just Noo Yawk feels this way

Trump’s rhetoric from late last week further indicated his nonsensical beliefs that these non-Anglo, non-U.S.-born people are the dregs of humanity.

SO HE’S GOING to punish those of us who refuse to go along with his xenophobic-motivated immigration policies by flooding us with foreigners. That’ll show us, he likely thinks!

The problem with such a line of reasoning is that many of those municipalities already are foreigner-friendly, and the existence of those ethnic enclaves within the cities is a significant part of their character.

If anything, they make the municipalities places where upper-scale people might themselves want to locate. Even if they don’t live in the same neighborhoods right next to each other, they give the upper-scale individuals the ability to say they live in varied communities.

Compared to some of those rural places that are so overwhelmingly white and un-ethnic that they appear to be unfriendly to anyone who didn’t actually grow up there – and also often take on such a character that many of their younger, more-motivated residents feel the need to go away to college and find someplace else to live their adult lives.

I DON’T DOUBT that the people living in the rural, white parts of the country would find Trump’s nonsense-talk all the more appealing because it would reinforce their thoughts that they’re the only people who ought to matter.

But if it really happened, it would also further enhance the notion that these rural communities would become further isolated from the masses who are the real tone of our society.

If Trump really were to try to enact his suggestion, he’d be doing so much long-term damage to the areas where the people who like the Age of Trump we’re now in. The harm would be so long-lasting and permanent.

Would plans actually hurt rural Illinois political interests?

Which is why even Trump’s allies are pointing out the flaws of his idea, and are hoping that this is all just another example of Trump Talk – rancid ramblings meant to do nothing more than get the idiotic ideologues all worked up into a rage on the president’s behalf.

PERSONALLY, I’D THINK the idea would be reprehensible to Illinois politicos of the Republican persuasion – because adding to the Chicago population would do little more than further enhance the urban leanings that already work to the detriment of rural Illinois.

As in the one that ensures Illinois’ congressional delegation is 13 Democrats and five Republicans. With the likelihood that the next reapportionment of Congressional districts after 2020 will cost Illinois a seat, you have to wonder if those rural, isolationist-minded people realize that seat likely will come from their portion of the state.

Then again, there’s no accounting for sense when it comes to politicos.

Take the measure now pending in the Illinois General Assembly, where state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, wants his colleagues to pass a resolution that urges Congress to break Chicago away from Illinois.

Trump and Davidsmeyer (below) … 

HE TOLD THE State Journal-Register newspaper of Springfield that rural people are losing their chances to make Illinois more like rural Missouri or Indiana because Chicago, by its very nature, is in competition with places like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

I’ll agree that people have a right to live off in isolation, if that’s really all they want out of life, even though I can’t comprehend why they’d want to.

… both don't comprehend consequences

But I definitely don’t think those people have a right to dictate to tell the rest of us we have to live like them.

So if Trump thinks he’s punishing places like Chicago, I’d say we’ll take these newcomers – who would not only boost the city’s population count to our political advantage, it would also give us a slew of newcomers eager to work hard for better lives – unlike those who want to live in isolation and on the decline.

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Republicans ought to stifle their trash talk about overly partisan political acts

“Illinois House Democrats had a chance to govern differently and compromise, … but they failed. Like the Senate Democrats, they chose to ram through this costly and short-sighted piece of legislation just so they could make good on a vacuous campaign slogan.” Also, “Governor Pritzker has one last chance to show he really meant it when he said he wanted to compromise and take bipartisan action on major issues facing the state.

“We hope he follows through, but we aren’t holding our breath.”

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Will Pritzker or Trump (below) … 

That was part of the official partisan rhetoric, issued in the name of Illinois GOP spokesman Aaron DeGroot, in the moments after the General Assembly completed the vote Thursday on a measure that will gradually raise the minimum wage for Illinois to $15 an hour.

Republicans were p-o’ed, even they were in no position to halt the measure, which was a significant part of the Democratic Party rhetoric of what they’d do if they won election. With the veto-proof majority, they can ram it through, and there’s nothing that Republican partisans can do but whine.

SO I CAN’T help but feel nothing but contempt for such rhetoric considering that the same people who are demanding there be bipartisanship and that Republicans be included in the process most likely are the biggest supporters of President Donald Trump’s “national emergency” declaration on Friday.

One can argue that Democrats acted as heavy-handed as did Trump, but there is one major difference.

Illinois voters picked a heavy slant to the General Assembly that approved the minimum-wage measure, and a governor will sign off on the measure some time likely next week.

… wind up the bigger political victor?

Whereas Congress made it damned well clear they weren’t going to do a thing that would support any of Trump’s nonsense-talk about the need to erect barricades along the U.S./Mexico border – which now has an $8 billion price tag attached to it.

THIS MEASURE MEANT to result in erection of a border barricade so as to keep the foreign elements out of our society is the ultimate example of strong-arm political tactics meant to ignore the will of a majority of the people – who’d rather see this whole idea wither away.

As for doing something “solely to make good on a vacuous campaign slogan,” I’d have to argue that everything Donald Trump has tried doing has been nothing more than trying to fulfill his lame slogans.

Particularly when it comes to anything related to federal immigration policy or Latin America. Trump is determined to be the president of xenophobes, with the rest of our society having to just shut up and tolerate their ignorant view of what our world should be like.

So excuse me for thinking that the president’s live statement about a “national emergency” was just a whole lot of hooey. One that it wouldn’t shock me to learn upset many morning television viewers because its broadcast pre-empted “Let’s Make a Deal.”

NOW I’M SURE some are going to jump all over my minimum wage boost and the thought that Republicans can only whine about it, by trying to claim the Democratic opposition to Trump’s immigration thoughts are equally lame.

Which issue gets people riled up more: border barricades … 

But seeing that not even Republicans in Congress really wanted to be bothered with this particular issue (largely because they took the political hit for using it to shut down government operations last month), it’s obvious the only person who perceives a “national emergency” is The Donald himself.

In fact, I get my amusement these days from the pundits who say that the only “national emergency” our nation faces is the Trump presidency itself.

It will be interesting to see how quickly and thoroughly the courts ultimately interfere with any such border barricade from being build. And for those who have a problem with that happening, keep in mind that the judicial branch of government’s very purpose is to interfere every time government officials get stupid and try to over-step their bounds.

OF COURSE, IT also will be interesting to see how the raising of minimum wages progresses from state to state.

… or minimal pay for the impoverished?

Illinois will be far ahead of many other states in terms pay the minimum pay its workers can get. Many are like Indiana, our neighbor, which clings to the $7.25 per hour rate that is the federal standard.

Indiana’s Legislature has contemplated raises to the $15 per hour standard, but has always thwarted then in blatantly-political fashion. But is the gradual increase to $15 in Illinois by 2025 going to result in the Hoosier State and other like-minded states being forced to follow suit?

With the courts eventually trampling all over Trump’s narrow vision of our society, will the ultimate outcome of this Age of Trump be a whole lot of failed initiatives that withered away in their own pile of ignorance?

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EXTRA: El Grito, Pritzker-style

I’m sure there are some people out there who are peeved (to put it mildly) at the very notion of “El Grito” being celebrated Saturday night within Chicago’s Millennium Park.

The ringing of the bell … 

Sure enough, the World Music Festival of Chicago held at the Pritzker Pavilion included an afternoon-into-evening of Mexican-themed musical acts, and ended with a ceremonial ringing-of-the-bell and the cry of El Grito – a recreation of the “Cry of Delores” action taken by Father Miguel Hidalgo on this date back in 1810 that began the fight for independence from Spain.

EL GRITO IS a demand for respect for Mexican people, and a recreation of it is usually a standard part of any celebration of Mexico Independence Day – which is Sunday.

But in this Age of Trump where the nitwits of our society want to use Mexican people as their punching bag, I’m sure it will bother them that such an act – along with a public singing of Mexico’s national anthem – occurred on what otherwise was a beautiful Saturday night in Chicago.

All of which was a part of the program put on by the Mariachi Herencia de Mexico – a mariachi band consisting of students from Benito Juarez High School in Chicago that actually has some talent, has made recordings and has even been nominated for Grammy awards.

… while waving the flag all part of Mexico tribute

Although I’m not about to claim that the Saturday evening program was totally inoffensive.

I’M STILL A little bit freaked out that their program felt the need to include a musical medley of songs en Ingles from that 1978 film “Grease.”

Somehow, the image of John Travolta’s “Danny Zucco” character just doesn’t fit into my notion of paying tribute to Mexico’s traditions through mariachi music.

Although for the xenophobes out there who are throwing tantrums about the notion of Mexican independence being celebrated in this country -- let alone in Chicago, keep in mind that the youthful mariachis also did a rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” that would have put to shame many a version done by Anglo-oriented musicians.

But Star-Spangled Banner got its moment too. Photos by Gregory Tejeda

And that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s public schedule for the weekend consisted of one lone event – an El Grito celebration Saturday night at Harrison Park in the Pilsen neighborhood. An event that has been an annual one for the man who has hopes Illinois voters will give him another term in office come Nov. 6.

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Trump thinks he’s being too soft on immigration? How delusional is he!

We most definitely have a serious split in our society when it comes to the concept of what makes for a rational immigration policy.

TRUMP: Who thinks he's soft on immigration

Because for all the nonsense-talk that President Donald Trump has spewed with regards to immigration and increased deportations and erections of border barricades, it seems that Trump-backers think he’s being weak.

I COULDN’T HELP but chuckle at the CNN report about the meeting Trump had this weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to talk with assorted advisers – many of whom were of the view that the presidential political base thinks Trump is “softening” on immigration.

All of those Tweets from a twit meant to inspire those of a belief that immigration reform means increased deportations and the threats that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals is now a dead policy with no chance for extended existence and how we need to move forward with erecting a barricade along the U.S./Mexico border?

Not good enough to appease the ideological buffoons of our society. No matter how much Trump’s talk manages to irritate those amongst us of a more rational line of thought, it’s not enough!

Some of us are just going to demand that our society devolve down to an absolute “police state” before they’ll be satisfied. Heck, even then they probably will find something to be peeved about. Some people will just never be satisfied.

NOT THAT THIS attitude should come as a surprise.

All past efforts to enact serious reform of our national immigration policy (which actually is long overdue, there are some serious flaws in the way things are now handled) have been thwarted by these ideologues.

All efforts by former President Barack Obama to push for serious reform went nowhere because the ideologues played hardball in hopes of gaining their borderline fascist fantasies. While Obama gained the tag of “deporter-in-chief” amongst some Latino activists, he got lambasted by others for the exact opposite tag.

OBAMA: Too soft to fight for immigration?

It seems the same split is at work here. The people who thought Obama too weak on immigration policy ought to realize how backward their line of thought was, since it ought to be apparent (if it wasn’t already obvious enough back then) how intense the opposition to serious immigration reform was.

HECK, THE PEOPLE who were vehemently opposed to Obama (and who turned on George W. Bush when he tried pushing for immigration reform towards the end of his presidency) are now thinking that Trump’s overly-hostile immigration rhetoric is too weak!

What it comes down to is that some people amongst us just are never going to be satisfied. And that to those individuals, Trump’s “Making America Great Again” means putting them in charge so they can force their own vision on the rest of us.

Just how over-the-top is that vision?

Consider that Trump, as a way of getting around the fact that a majority of Congress and the public are never going to accept his “border wall” in large-part because of the expense such a project would ring up, has suggested that perhaps “the military” could fund it.

AS THOUGH WE could take that stretch of desert and heavily-polluted land around the Rio Bravo del Norte/Rio Grande and turn it effectively into an army-base – heavily armed and perhaps even containing a moat with man-eating alligators inside.

BUSH: Lost supporters over immigration

It gets scary when stupid suggestions from then-presidential candidate Herman Cain (remember 2012?) wind up being taken seriously by anybody.

Because that’s the level of thought we’ve devolved to if people seriously think Trump isn’t being extreme enough when it comes to his cheap talk on immigration policy.

And to which our society’s saving grace is that Trump appears to be too politically incompetent to actually get anything done, while too egotistical to listen to people who can. Which may be the saddest comment of all.

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