Immigration: Trump 2024 Hypocrisy and Political Posturing
Some 2024-related posts will highlight points made in previous blog posts, so feel free to check out my past work on my Substack and Medium pages. Also feel welcome to reach out to me on LinkedIn with any comments or questions.
Donald Trump — as both Democrats and most Republicans would admit — is not the type of person you would want to hang out with. He’s a bully, and a number of medical professionals — including his own niece — believe he exhibits almost all major narcissistic tendencies. And lately, he seems more cognitively impaired and “low energy” than he was back in 2016.
So, what gives? Why are we still talking about this guy? Because Donald Trump has a unique way of resonating with people. Some of it is style — as crass populists like Jim Traficant of Youngstown, Ohio once had.
Still, Traficant got expelled from Congress in 2002, and hardly anyone knows his name today. So that alone is not it.
Trump also resembles — or really, pretends to be — the fighter not willing to shy away when the going gets tough. He has been regarded as authentic and not a flip-flopper, a common criticism of politicians like Hillary Clinton back in 2016. At the same time, Trump’s “policies” were more palpable to past GOP platforms and the GOP’s increasing demonization of Democrats over the years. He came to be a working-class hero in the eyes of many — ironic, but true.
He talked about how elites talked down to regular folks as “the basket of deplorables.” He talked about “draining the swamp,” and taking on the establishment — something Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were and are actually doing. He talked about crime and violence in once-flourishing areas. To many, Trump had — and even still does — represented the last hope for people who feel they have no other voice.
I must disagree with their take, at least as applies to Trump and his definitions of “the swamp” and “the establishment.” But the basic idea is not totally far-fetched by any stretch. Not all Trump supporters are made in the cloth as reprehensible degenerates like David Duke, Roger Stone, Stephen Miller, or Michael Flynn. As has been elaborated before, President Biden will have to address the discontent that remains and has been there over the past several decades.
President Biden should talk about his record, and the contrast with Trump’s meager resume and list of accomplishments — which are almost as small as his hands. President Biden also needs to offer a progressive vision to this country, taking a turn away from failed Clinton policies and from Trump’s campaign of relitigating the past once more.
The contrast of both Presidents is clear over time. And it appears immigration is one more example in their very different leadership styles.
Trump started his campaign by making immigration what would prove to be an effective talking point. He used it as a scapegoat for the decline of many places in America beyond where “the coastal elites” live. Yet we must confront the myth of Trump’s immigration record, which was all talk but no action.
He proposed a border wall at the scale of China’s Great Wall, which Mexico would pay for. Well, Mexico did not pay for it, and China’s Great Wall is far better-looking than what we have now. He said he was going to have fencing across the southern border. Only 400 miles was ever done — and those areas are overrun with underground tunnels, which defeats the whole purpose. All the while, he stuck children in cages the way it is done with exotic wildlife or museum keepsakes.
And what did all his posturing do? The sex trafficking continued. The flow of fentanyl from China came through in spite of Trump’s stances. The backlogs remained. Legal immigration itself became more difficult. Violence still ravages Mexico and all across Latin America. Through it all, the U.S. had no strategy to deal with it because Trump was simply not interested. The 2019 shutdown did nothing to improve the situation either.
In short, Trump’s immigration policy was nothing short of disastrous, ineffective, and wrong. And his new plan is just plain radically cruel and twisted.
Immigration is a complicated issue both parties have failed to address going back even to the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, immigration is, without a question, a real shortcoming of the Biden Administration so far. They have been behind the curve — often with a clear objective not fully in place to contend with the matter. Border security is an imperative — including with other ports of entry.
So is the need to address the legal backlogs, and expand immigration courts to take up cases even faster. So is the need to welcome law-abiding, undocumented immigrants, while at the same time rooting out drug cartels and rogue actors taking advantage of the situation for drug and sex trafficking purposes. We should also not forget the need for global leadership to help stabilize regions inflicted by violence, disaster, and poverty. People are, after all, more willing to leave a place in chaos than in peacetime.
But would Trump address any of this? Of course not. His Title 42 rule was only a temporary band pandemic-era Band-Aid. It is not a solution to the problem. But peeling back the Band-Aid means finding something that will help heal the deeper wound.
Fast forward to today. President Biden has a real chance to work with both Democrats and Republicans to start addressing the real issues. For the first time since 2006, a bipartisan immigration reform agreement, though not perfect, is in the works to deal with the emergency situation on the border.
In an election year, it was almost too good to be true. And it was, because Trump resorted to other plans. The fate of the compromise is at real risk because of Trump’s intervention and his desire to kill any compromise and make Biden look bad.
In other words, to try to make up for his own poor immigration record, Trump is working to undermine a deal in place so he can campaign on immigration again the way he did in 2016 and 2020.
Imagine an arsonist who starts a wildfire on purpose, blocked the way of the real firefighters, only so that he could claim he was the only person who could ever put out the fire. That is almost exactly what is taking place with Donald Trump’s 2024 election interference on the border.
With few exceptions, the Republican establishment has fallen in line with the Trumpian do-nothing approach. Contrary to what Trump so often likes to tell his voters, he is a part of the establishment that does not understand the issues facing regular Americans. Worse, he is part of the problem he vowed to tackle back in 2016.
On immigration, the Trump presidency was a dud — if not a disaster of historic proportions. Biden’s presidency — and the bipartisan deal he helped craft — could be a blueprint for success if he is reelected. It has not been a perfect ride, but it is clear by far who is the better choice to lead the fight for immigration reform from here on out.
Hint: that person is NOT Donald Trump. It is Joe Biden.
