November 14, 2023

"Undeniably, the public has soured on President Biden’s handling of [illegal immigration]."

"Voters trust Trump on it by wide margins, support making asylum harder and even back his border wall. This has pundits opining that the issue now favors Trump. But let’s be clear on why this is happening and what it really means for 2024. Recall that Trump’s handling of immigration was also deeply unpopular. In April 2019, another time when migrant arrivals dominated the news, large majorities opposed Trump’s approach, and very small minorities supported a border wall and wanted to make it harder to apply for asylum.... While the mere promise of a better-managed border would be a formidable argument against Biden, Trump... seem[s] determined to telegraph unbridled nativist savagery, which could well constitute political overreach in 2024...."

I'm trying to read the Greg Sargent column "Trump’s plan for giant detention camps points to a brutal 2024 reality" (WaPo).

Ah! Let me translate that. Trump can win on the immigration issue, but the way he can lose is if people perceive that his immigration policy is fascist and cruel. Therefore, Trump's antagonists are on notice that they must make the most of whatever evidence they have that Trump's ideas about immigration come from something truly evil. 

For example, just in this column, there's this:
It’s telling that Trump, who recently declared that migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” is trumpeting designs with clear White-nationalist implications, such as a revived ban on Muslims and a vision of detention and deportations that appears designed to showcase maximum cruelty for base-thrilling kicks.

Expect maximum base-thrilling kicks. 

ADDED: If we follow the link on "recently declared," we get to a NYT article that has a larger context for Trump's words:

“Nobody has any idea where these people are coming from, and we know they come from prisons. We know they come from mental institutions and insane asylums. We know they’re terrorists. Nobody has ever seen anything like we’re witnessing right now. It is a very sad thing for our country. It’s poisoning the blood of our country. It’s so bad, and people are coming in with disease. People are coming in with every possible thing that you could have.”

A charitable reader would say "poisoning the blood" refers to disease, not to what Sargent called "clear White-nationalist implications" — genetics. 

The NYT article quoted Jonathan Greenblatt, of the Anti-Defamation League, to push readers to reject the charitable reading. He says:

“Insinuating that immigrants are ‘poisoning the blood of our country’ echoes nativist talking points and has the potential to cause real danger and violence,’’ Mr. Greenblatt said in a statement. “We have seen this kind of toxic rhetoric inspire real-world violence before in places like Pittsburgh and El Paso. It should have no place in our politics, period.”

Notice how Greenblatt doesn't even claim to know what Trump really meant. It's enough that he hears an "echo" of something other people have meant and to observe that merely hearing this echo could "inspire" people who believe these terrible things. 

Who is most maximizing base-thrilling kicks?

56 comments:

RideSpaceMountain said...

"but the way he can lose is if people perceive his immigration policy is fascist and cruel."

Trump can solve this by dressing in a white seersucker suit, traveling to Texas with a good photographer, and making a scene shaking Biden's gimmigrant child cages while shedding copious amounts of crocodile tears.

AOC proved this is a winning strategy with the wine aunt demographic. If you can't beat em join em.

Jake said...

The disingenuity is stunning.

Joe Smith said...

'Trump can win on the immigration issue, but the way he can lose is if people perceive that his immigration policy is fascist and cruel.'

Make fascist and cruel great again!

Seriously...something has to give or we are done as a nation.

I'd like to learn Spanish because I want to, not because I have to.

Have been hearing more and more Spanish-only ads on radio and TV on traditionally non-Spanish stations in CA. Enough.

rehajm said...

WTF ‘has soured’?? If you couldn’t recognize it as a disaster before it began how about you have a seat on the bench for a while?

rcocean said...

Here's the thing: Millions of illegal aliens are pouring in because Biden and his DHS secretary aren't enforcing the immigration laws. Sick people, criminals, gang members, whatever can enter with impunity.

And the number of illegal and visa overstayers that are kicked out is only a small percentage. The word has gone out: Get to the USA somehow, claim you're a refugee and you can stay. In a sane country, the DHS Secretary would be impeached and removed for failing to do his job. But since the R's want cheap labor, this won't happen.

The whole problem with attacking Trump as cruel to immigrants, is Trump was POTUS for 4 years and that didn't happen. So scaremongering about what Trump will do in 2025 doesn't work. Unless you're stupid.

RideSpaceMountain said...

"The public has soured"

Oh you dear sweet summer child, not nearly enough. You see, we are but at the top of the roller coaster, and the butterflies in the stomach have only begun to flutter at the anticipation of the plunge.

If you saw any of the anti-immigrant town halls in Chicago and NYC, you are sampling but a taste of what's to come. When the favored democratic black demographic suddenly wakes up for real in a decade's time to the reality that it isn't whites they're in economic competition with, but Latinos, there is going to be a howl of consternation that will shake the country.

And here's a bigger secret: Latinos aren't going to sit back like suburban white people. They have no problem fighting hated black people (S. American Latinos really hate them) in the streets, and they'll win.

If blacks want a taste of what they're in for in an America that's 40% Latino, put them on a plane to the Dominican Republic where they're treated like free range chickens.

Skeptical Voter said...

White nationalist is a dog whistle to the Biden base.

gilbar said...

the ENTIRE main stream media (including Fox & WSJ) are doing EVERYTHING they can to stop Trump.
the MSM is Biden's loudest (only?) supporter.. STILL:
Voters trust Trump on it by wide margins, support making asylum harder and even back his border wall.

Just IMAGINE what things would be like for the dems *IF* there was a free press?

do YOU miss cheap gas?
do YOU miss peace?
do YOU miss looking forward to the future?
are YOU better or worse off, than 4 years ago?

Lem Vibe Bandit said...

Poisoning the lifeblood, is what what Trump probably meant to say there. But to see that, to read that, you have to be willing to give somebody the benefit of the doubt.

gilbar said...

NY Post: Migrant crisis has US taxpayers on the hook for up to $451B

Over 1.9 Million People Illegally Entered Texas In Fiscal 2023, greatest number in history

n.n said...

Labor arbitrage, Democratic gerrymandering, and CAIR with Spring to mitigate shared responsibility, in lieu of emigration reform, and with equity and inclusion of diversity in lust and abortion.

Gusty Winds said...

Last week an African-American female Chicago City Council member (Emma Mitz) was physically blocked from entering the city council chamber by Mayor Brandon Johnson's floor leader, Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa. He was forced to step down from his floor leader position.

At issue was a Chicago City Council vote on whether to have a public referendum on whether or not Chicago should remain a "sanctuary city". Obviously idiot inner city liberals are not liking having migrants in their "sanctuary city". It was nothing more than a virtue signal like Martha's Vineyard.

NOBODY is against immigration. At issue is the ILLEGAL immigration on the southern border being used by Democrats to try and turn Texas blue. The result is massive costs for the American taxpayer, and dangerous exploitation of the migrants that liberals claim to care about. The cartels run the border and fentanyl flows in freely, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans.

It is also turning out cities to complete shit.

Once the immigrants hit the backyards of inner city Democrats...they really didn't like sanctuary they were falsely offering. Nobody was supposed to take them up on the deal.

Kakistocracy said...

So the US has full employment, high wage increases and mortgage holders are every month enjoying ultra-low interest rates fixed for the life of their mortgage. But rather than enjoying their 'never had it so good' fortune, instead the US turns to its national hobby of feeling sorry for itself and searching for a politician who will stir up feelings of victimhood in which they can wallow.

This is where the insular nature of the US public becomes a problem. The US economy is massively outperforming the rest of the G7 on almost any economic metric yet there’s this view in the US that the economy is a shambles — and, worst still, they’re blaming Biden for it.

Yancey Ward said...

Sargent starts with a lie- that Trump's immigration policies in 2019 were deeply unpopular. The rest of Sargent's essay can be skipped.

Gusty Winds said...

RideSpaceMountain said...And here's a bigger secret: Latinos aren't going to sit back like suburban white people. They have no problem fighting hated black people (S. American Latinos really hate them) in the streets, and they'll win.

You can see the division in my previous post regarding the Chicago City Council. Suburban white people, especially the Affluent White Female Liberal (AWFL) kind who fancy themselves open minded and compassionate, just don't deal with or go to the cities where there virtue signal votes create destruction.

They live in wealthier communities with safe public schools and low crime rates. Then, they wag their empty headed, arrogant finger at everyone else.

cassandra lite said...

" Trump can win on the immigration issue, but the way he can lose is if people perceive that his immigration policy is fascist and cruel."

Who is supposed to spin his immigration policies as being fascist and cruel? Those from the side that's more likely to endorse Hamas's fascist cruelty?

RideSpaceMountain said...

If immigration and demographic problems in America are not solved, we are going to become Brazil. Sorry...we are becoming Brazil, right now. I know a lot about Brazil, and I travel there to see family multiple times a year. You cannot imagine how dark and dystopian that future is being able to compare both countries and knowing intimately what everyday life there for anyone who is not in the tenth percentile is like.

Brazil is, in essence, a feudal country whose middle class was hollowed out long ago, a process that is currently happening in the USA. I've said many many times that immigration is the most important problem we face politically, and I still say that. Not solving it will change the country forever and permanently, for the worse.

The Vault Dweller said...

The longer illegal immigration remains an issue the further towards Trump's position the public will be. As an example I will cite the recent Bill Maher clip where he was talking with Ted Cruz about illegal immigration. Ted Cruz talked about border security and reestablishing the remain in Mexico policy. When Bill suggested about addressing it from the other side, he didn't mention investing in developing other countries, or in a pathway to citizenship, he talked about prosecuting employers who are knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. Now part of this may not be Bill accurately reflecting where the "Left" is at, but it probably at least reflects where Bill thinks the Left should be or is most likely to have the best political outcome for the Left.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

The GOP need to make this election about Biden's corrupt open border.

That might trump the left's obsession with abortion.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

We are losing our nation to people who were bussed in and placed at the southern border.

They did not walk across Mexico - as the corrupt media indicate.

Yes - these illegals are costing us millions per day. PER DAY!
The corrupt Biden administration are also abusing the Asylum laws.

chickelit said...

Another partisan “journalist” papers over Bidet’s reality, hoping that a projection of Trump’s future will suffice. Sergeant is just another wannabe William Shirer.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Ace can read our minds.

$451 billion a year. I don't trust that number. It's sounds way too low.

All paid for with money printed out of thin air on the good faith and credit of your income taxes. USA! USA!

Pillage Idiot said...

Not ONE JURISDICTION in the entire U.S. is announcing that they are welcoming all available illegal immigrants. Instead, every Democrat-run "sanctuary city" is trying to EXPORT illegal immigrants ... not to their countries of origin, but to other places in the U.S.

Even LIV Democrats understand that a community full of illegal immigrants is a huge net negative.

The only people supporting continuous massive waves of illegal immigrants are wealthy white "liberals". The exact group not impacted by their presence!

No mass of illegals in their schools draining the already strained budgets. No packed emergency rooms in their hospitals. No groups of MS-13 rapists attacking their daughters on public sidewalks.

Living in a community with median home prices at $800,000 or above sure does insulate privileged Democrats from the current vicious Democrat immigration policies!

chickelit said...

Blogger Rich said...
“So the US has full employment, high wage increases and mortgage holders are every month enjoying ultra-low interest rates fixed for the life of their mortgage. But rather than enjoying their 'never had it so good' fortune, instead the US turns to its national hobby of feeling sorry for itself and searching for a politician who will stir up feelings of victimhood in which they can wallow.”

Seriously?

loudogblog said...

Rich said...
"So the US has full employment, high wage increases and mortgage holders are every month enjoying ultra-low interest rates fixed for the life of their mortgage."

It is true that we have low unemployment, but most people haven't gotten high wage increases that are keeping up with inflation. (At the theme park I used to work at, the Entertainment techs got a 0% pay increase this year - not one dime.)

Also, most people don't own homes with low fixed interest rates and they damn sure can't afford to buy a home now.

When I go to the store, many of the prices of the food items that I buy are literally twice what they were a few years ago.

And it's been several years since I've seen gas below $5 a gallon here in SoCal.

Rob said...

Interestingly, you paraphrase Sargent's phrase "the issue" as "illegal immigration," but true to Sargent's progressive framing, he never uses the word "illegal" at all. It's bad form for a progressive to admit that any immigration is illegal. That's verboten. It's damn near illegal.

gilbar said...

Rich said...
mortgage holders are every month enjoying ultra-low interest rates fixed for the life of their mortgage.

as Al Smith would say.. Let's Take a Look; at the Record
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=h_&q=home+mortgage+rates+today&ia=web
Today's mortgage and refinance rates, November 14, 2023 - Bankrate
TodayToday's 30-year mortgage refinance rate rises, 0.01%. The average 30-year fixed-refinance rate is 8.01 percent, up 1 basis point over the last seven days.

Rich? are you mentally stupid?

Clyde said...

Given a choice between an ongoing invasion by millions of illegal immigrants due to Biden throwing open the southern border when he was installed in 2021 and a "fascist and cruel" policy of closing the border and sending the invaders back where they came from, I'll welcome the latter. Biden's misbegotten policy is destroying our country. And it is OUR country, not that of the invaders.

Old and slow said...

The immigration problem is changing the culture of all western countries for the worse. The tipping point has long since passed to prevent this radical change. Now all we could possibly do is slow the inevitable decline. That said, I'm a lot happier with Mexican immigrants than I would be with north Africans and Arabs.

Rusty said...

Rich said...
"So the US has full employment, high wage increases and mortgage holders are every month enjoying ultra-low interest rates fixed for the life of their mortgage. But rather than enjoying their 'never had it so good' fortune, instead the US turns to its national hobby of feeling sorry for itself and searching for a politician who will stir up feelings of victimhood in which they can wallow.

This is where the insular nature of the US public becomes a problem. The US economy is massively outperforming the rest of the G7 on almost any economic metric yet there’s this view in the US that the economy is a shambles — and, worst still, they’re blaming Biden for it."
Gosh Rich. Then whyt am I paying twice as much for fuel today than I did in 2020. Why am I payong 60% more for grocerys. What have motgage interest rates gone up? Why ahve my electricity rates gone up?
What happened between 2019 and now, Rich? What was the catylist?
It isn't that the US is doing so much better it's that the rest of the G7 is doing so much worse.
I'd like you to know something, Rich. I know the difference between piss and rain.

Quaestor said...

Althouse writes, "I'm trying to read the Greg Sargent column..."

We realize how arduous it is to wade into the WaPo's gobbledygook and mind rot to divine the plaintext for us. Codebreakers run risks. At Bletchley Park then, it was nervous breakdowns. At Madison now, given the left's naked violence, it could well be an assault. We, your readers, thank you sincerely.

Watch your six.

hombre said...

Nevertheless eight shitbird Republicans voted against impeaching Mayorkas.

Inexplicable! Irresponsible!

tommyesq said...

Trump was POTUS for 4 years and that didn't happen. So scaremongering about what Trump will do in 2025 doesn't work. Unless you're stupid.

I think you have hit on the problem.

hombre said...

The Democrat gameplan is to: Choke the economy; Flood the country with illegals and their spawn (drugs, crime, terrorism [soon]); grab our guns, not to mention ruin our toilets, dishwashers, etc.

Create dependence. "All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state." Benito Mussolini

Many Republicans are complicit.

Rocco said...

Rich said...
"So the US has full employment, high wage increases..."

For those in on the government graft, yes. For the rest of us, not so much.

"... and mortgage holders are every month enjoying ultra-low interest rates fixed for the life of their mortgage."

Now how about doing food, gas, and the other things people buy on a regular basis?

"But rather than enjoying their 'never had it so good' fortune, instead the US turns to its national hobby of feeling sorry for itself and searching for a politician who will stir up feelings of victimhood in which they can wallow."

Eat your bugs, comrade, and feel good about it.

"The US economy is massively outperforming the rest of the G7 on almost any economic metric..."

That says more about the state of their economies rather than anything positive about the US.

"[Y]et there’s this view in the US that the economy is a shambles — and, worst still, they’re blaming Biden for it."

If the shoe fits... sorry, if the Depends fits, wear it.

Kevin said...

Recall that Trump’s handling of immigration was also deeply unpopular.

That was before we'd seen the effects of the "everyone is welcome" approach.

We no longer live in a world where "orange man bad" is sufficient.

CJinPA said...

Focusing on the white progressives allowing this to happen would have the same impact and leave Republicans less open to claims of evilness.

The people flooding the border are behaving in a *completely rational* manner. The white progressives who dominate the U.S. are behaving in manner that is rational only in that they are clearly ginning up new voters, but irrational as federal officials.

Sebastian said...

"if people perceive that his immigration policy is fascist and cruel"

What's more cruel to Americans, especially black Americans in major cities, than the invasion?

Michael K said...

This is where the insular nature of the US public becomes a problem. The US economy is massively outperforming the rest of the G7 on almost any economic metric yet there’s this view in the US that the economy is a shambles — and, worst still, they’re blaming Biden for it.

I would like to thank "Rich" for making it clear he is a Democrat.

Kirk Parker said...

"NOBODY is against immigration"

Gusty, you might consider speaking for just yourself, and let the rest of the world do their own talking.

khematite said...

Sargent's piece seems to be based on the premise that people trust the two parties fairly equally on the border security issue, with perhaps a slight advantage to the Republicans that can be easily overcome with more facts from the Democrats. But an NBC poll just a few weeks ago found that the gap between the two parties on the issue of border security is much bigger than Sargent implies. Setting aside the roughly 30% who don't know or don't care, 50% of registered voters trusted the GOP more, while only 20% had greater trust in the Democrats. That's a much bigger mountain for Democrats to climb than Sargent seems willing to recognize.

n.n said...

Build the wall to mitigate progress and collateral damage at both ends of the bridge and throughout. Send Harris to engage with foreign stakeholders in order to investigate and pursue emigration reform.

Rusty said...

"I would like to thank "Rich" for making it clear he is a Democrat."
Ane as such he thinks everyone that isn't is an idiot.
Go gaslight somewhere else pal.

Jim at said...

11/14/23, 10:34 AM

I don't even know where to start with someone who actually believes that shit.

BUMBLE BEE said...

It is surprising that dumbacrats are doing this to their own children. When things start going 10/7/2023 around their neighborhood will they acknowledge their child abuse?
Bet me!

Michael said...

Fascist and cruel to uphold the law. Understood.

Mason G said...

""Undeniably, the public has soured on President Biden’s handling of [illegal immigration].""

"Handling"? Somebody misspelled "enabling".

Joe Smith said...

They will be big, beautiful detention camps, the best camps anywhere.

I can only hope...

mikee said...

Border security under Biden has kept the day labor rate at a max of $20/hour since late 2020, for skilled laborers at the I-35 Home Depot in south Austin, and thanks to Google Translate my mime skills aren't needed at all when discussing the day's trabajo with potential rental workers. The only real problem is keeping the ones who haven't worked in a while from climbing into the truck uninvited. There are a lot of hard working guys who want and need work hustling for a legal gig there, and more coming into town daily. Not sustainable at all, really.

walter said...

Biden campaigned on promising a "surge".
We are on track to get 10 million+ in Pedo Pete's term.
Enabling coyotes, rape trees and traffickers, shipping them where they want to go, putting 'em up in hotels...but not in Rich's guest room.
Blown out debt both personal and government..
Happy days!

Kakistocracy said...

@ Gilbar:
The median mortgage: 2020-Present 3.45%

The minimum mortgage: 2020-Present 2.65%

Bunkypotatohead said...

"Trump’s plan for giant detention camps points to a brutal 2024 reality"

Headlines like that encourage me to support the guy.

PenguinBelly said...



A charitable reader would say "poisoning the blood" refers to disease, not to what Sargent called "clear White-nationalist implications" — genetics.

I do not understand how one is more "charitable" than the other. He is referring to a group of undifferentiated people. Is it better to call people you do not know "disease-ridden" than to call them whatever (inferior, I suppose you meant)? How about referring to them as "dirty," is that better than calling them inferiors? In either case, the underlying message is the same.

That you are trying to put lipstick on a pig only dhows where you sensibility lies.

Tina Trent said...

I see a lot of white manual laborers being squeezed out of job after job by illegal immigrants, too. And while some of them have the right skills, a lot of them don't, and the contractors don't care. They're getting rich doing nothing while picking up guys in parking lots and then disposing of them. Meanwhile, these poor guys can't communicate with clients and sometimes each other, can't even understand basic safety commands, let alone installation of complex electrical and plumbing and fuel line systems. It's incredibly dangerous.

These are jobs and businesses fathers used to pass on to their sons -- good, solid careers. Nowadays nobody can afford to compete with the contractors who use illegals. Nobody has legal recourse. This invisible destabilization of entire sectors of our workforce IS poisoning our future.

It's a lot like what happened in academia when the tenured few decided they didn't feel like working the hard jobs anymore and voted to slough off all the tedious, time-consuming, but crucial teaching to impoverished, expendable adjuncts so they could enjoy a 1/1 or at most 1/2 class schedule with summers off and six-figure salaries and health insurance and retirement -- necessary for them but not the serfs shouldering their workloads.

No adjunct ever took a chainsaw in the teeth because he or she couldn't read the instructions. But it's basically the same dynamic.

There are many ways to destroy a country, but the usual one is one step at a time.

Rusty said...

This one is for Rich.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VakkzNb7kOg

Kakistocracy said...

Neither party does much about illegal immigration. Trump just talks about it more. Republicans control the House, but where are the immigration bills?

Nowhere.