Art Cullen is from Iowa. That's Steve King country. And, even though King proudly waves his white nationalist credentials, Trump's war on Mexican migrants isn't playing well there:
In Storm Lake, we have come to understand what our neighbors have been through and appreciate that they are here, buoying a rural community that otherwise would wither with the rest. But the main narrative is that refugees somehow erode what Storm Lake or Iowa is, when in fact they affirm the American immigration story. Just what are we about?
Republicans are embarrassed by King and Trump. We hear talk of the state GOP power apparatus looking to fund a primary challenge to King. They should consult Rick Bertrand of Sioux City, who managed about 35% support in his 2016 primary. And, they should consider that the leader of their party, the president, is in lockstep with King. How can you reject King and wave a banner for Trump?
In the heart of King country, dairy farmers are finding that immigrants are handy help at cleaning time. Their consciences cringe just a little when King slanders Mexican teens. They would like a more orderly system, too. Secretly, they might cast a vote for Scholten. Or they might not vote for King and Trump.
Trump thinks that immigration will pave his way to a second term. But it won't. It will, however, get ugly:
There are many people of good will in Washington working on a solution. There cannot be one until this politics of hate is put down, again, as Americans have put it down before. It will get worse before it gets better. This campaign will be among the worst we have seen because the president has determined it is the best way to keep the nation divided.
But resistance is rising:
The stock market is telling him to back off. The midterm elections told him to back off. People from around the globe resettled in Denison, Storm Lake and Marshalltown, Iowa, are getting along fine cutting meat. They don’t like the uncertainty any more than Wall Street does. We all know that the problem is in Latin American poverty and oppression and our own demand for drugs, and in the fact that nobody wants to scoop manure for $10 an hour any more except for the undocumented.
But Trump can't read signs. The only sign he recognizes is the image he sees reflected in his mirror.
And, in the end, that reflection will do him in.
Image: Time Magazine
8 comments:
.. it may all melt down Owen.. (by the way, hope your back is behaving)
Is there a 'civil war' evolving or fomenting in the US of A ? The ripe plum, that Trump is despoiling ? Or will the sheer numbers of coherent, concerned (freaked) Americans outweigh the cockroaches of the Trump Empire of Losers ? The Hannity's, Alex Jones, McConnell, Huckabee Sanders, Manafort and base scumbags? Its looking like 4 years of a pus sac President is going to rule the day.. for now. Despoiling Environment, Democracy, Lying its ass off daily. Insult, Evansion, Deflection & Deceit as side orders to a diet of horse shite salad, minus lettuce and tomato, served hot n steaming, straight from the Idiot In Chief who US Marines now salute..
I continue to hope, sal, that Trump is wearing out his welcome. Eventually, they'll need to call in the pest control agents.
I wish everybody would give over with the “Jobs-that-Americans (or Canadians, etc.)-won’t-do” argument. I’ve done those jobs and won’t mind doing them again if the money’s there. Isn’t that the way that every good little libertarian thinks it should be.
That's what libertarians say, John. But it's been my experience that libertarian rhetoric doesn't always match libertarian actions.
I don't buy it. There are many things that could do in Trump, but immigration's not one of them. Cullen's claim that Republicans are embarrassed by Trump is risible. According to Gallup, Trump finished out 2018 with an 89% job approval rating among Republicans despite his partial government shutdown and the deaths of two young children in US Immigration custody. Republicans aren't embarrassed, they love the man not despite his bigotry but because of it.
Cap
I agree that Republicans love Trump for his bigotry, Cap. But I suspect that, as they see public opinion turn against him, they will abandon Trump -- as they did with Nixon. When the end comes, it will come quickly.
A comment from Cap:
The end may come quickly, Owen, only not in the way you have in mind.
In his meeting yesterday with Chuck and Nancy, Trump threatened to use his federal emergency powers to build his southern wall. Invoking the emergency powers is entirely within Trump's jurisdiction. They provide a "parallel legal regime [that] allows the president to sidestep many of the constraints that normally apply." Erdogan, Putin, and other autocrats that Trump admires used emergency powers to end democratic rule. Trump's threat to follow suit is very worrying, especially as his options become increasingly limited.
Cap
I wouldn't be surprised if Trump tried to do just that, Cap. I hope that the other co-equal branches of government would revolt. After all, the purse strings for everything are in the House of Representatives. And that body no longer belongs to Trump.
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