Published July 28th, 2015
For Donald Trump, it’s always loud headlines first and then, once in a while, substance later. This seems to be the modus operandi of our nation’s leading Republican candidate for President, the Kim Kardashian of today’s presidential race. What this says about the state of our nation’s electorate, or the Republican Party is quite concerning. Yes, it is the theme of what goes on in so many aspects of our popular culture. It matters not what is the truth. Instead, that which gets attention and commands an emotional reaction is what reigns supreme, at least as far as the 1 to 2 second attention span of our mass media audience is concerned. Throw a hand grenade now, and explain later, with it being absolutely irrelevant that the morning after explanation is a galaxy away from the explosive opening. In the world of Donald Trump and his campaign for president, this holds true, especially when it comes to where he “stands” on immigration, since now it seems he supports the inevitable “path to legalization” (aka “amnesty”, depending on your vocabulary) for the vast majority of our nation’s undocumented population.
If you are trying to ascertain Trump’s exact stance on immigration or other important issues, don’t bother looking to his campaign website. Imagine, in the pre-internet days, a person purporting to run for president, whether for President of the United States, or the 8th grade student council, with no platform or formal positions on the issues. It’d be thought of as a joke, right? Despite this lack of substance or specifics on the issues, our nation’s Republican front runner for President, continues to command attention, even respect, with incendiary remarks, and his non-sequitur follow up explanations.
Earlier this month, according to Trump:
a) Mexico was sending over its drug dealers, rapists and assorted criminals,
b) most undocumented immigrants are not good (he supposes “some” are ok, though),
c) he would build a wall, a big wall, along the U.S./Mexico border.
d) (off topic just a bit), Trump also strongly condemned John McCain, the well-respected, former prisoner of war, for his stance on immigration and treatment of veterans and even questioned whether he was worthy of being called a “war hero”.
In the past week, Trump further chimed stating:
a) The true number of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. is more than 30 million, but when asked how he reached this conclusion, Trump, in true Trump fashion stated “I’m hearing it from other people, and I have seen it written in various newspapers. The truth is the government has no idea how many illegals are here” AND
b) That absorption/legalization/amnesty may be the solution to our nation’s undocumented population problem, concluding , “If someone’s been outstanding….we try and work something out.”
The story of Donald Trump and immigration fascinates me. First, we have a man who is mainly selling cotton candy and likely has no interest whatsoever in politics, using the media to get attention, to seem important and to feel important. Second, we have a man who has essentially held a mirror up to our society, giving us all a glimpse of how fed up, bored or impatient, we are with conventional campaigning. In a crazy way though, it actually prompts discussion of real issues and perhaps even a search for the truth, perhaps as a necessary response in order to scrutinize the half-truth utterances of an attention seeking grenade thrower. When it comes to a solution to handling our nation’s undocumented population, the truth is that Donald Trump is really no different, and is indeed as far “left” as John McCain, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
PUBLISHED July 28, 2015– “IMMIGRATION LAW FORUM” Copyright © 2015, By Law Offices of Richard Hanus, Chicago, Illinois
