On this morning's “Meet the Presss,” Donald Trump said America should "get rid of" birthright citizenship, which now confers American citizenship on children born into the United States whose parents are immigrants. "What they're doing: They're having a baby. And all of a sudden, nobody knows ... the baby's here," he said. He also said undocumented immigrants "have to go," and vowed to undo President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Meanwhile, his campaign released a position paper on immigration and border security calling on Mexico to pay for a wall on the southern border of the United States.
Trump didn’t invent the art of using the economic insecurities of a majority to scapegoat a minority. Republicans have been doing it for decades. Demagogues and dictators abroad have employed the same technique for centuries. But it’s a dangerous gambit. Not only does it shift attention away from the real sources of economic insecurity – an economic and political system rigged by an oligarchy at the top – but it legitimizes and mobilizes hate. Trump is a bully and a racist who is stirring up the worst in America. That he currently leads the race among Republican voters tells you more than you want to know about the state of the Republican Party.
Robert Reich
Trump didn’t invent the art of using the economic insecurities of a majority to scapegoat a minority. Republicans have been doing it for decades. Demagogues and dictators abroad have employed the same technique for centuries. But it’s a dangerous gambit. Not only does it shift attention away from the real sources of economic insecurity – an economic and political system rigged by an oligarchy at the top – but it legitimizes and mobilizes hate. Trump is a bully and a racist who is stirring up the worst in America. That he currently leads the race among Republican voters tells you more than you want to know about the state of the Republican Party.
Robert Reich
