I want all of you to know that I’ve just developed this wonderful elixir that will alleviate or cure a host of various medical problems. Its known to reduce or eliminate the pain and suffering from arthritis, rheumatism, sciatica, gout, and many other maladies including diabetes and even cancer. And I’m offering this splendid tonic for only $40 for a month’s supply. It’s really too good a product to pass up. What, no takers? Well, how about this then. I also dabble in real estate and I’m willing to put on the market for a very low price, a bridge that connects Brooklyn with Manhattan. It’s the deal of a lifetime. A deal that you can’t afford to pass up. Still no buyers? Whew, tough crowd. I don’t see why people aren’t jumping to take advantage of these splendid offerings when apparently millions are buying into the same type snake oil that Donald Trump has been peddling. If anything, my promises would appear to be more credible.
For example, Trump promises that as president (a scary premise you can put together in time for Halloween), he will build a nearly 2000 mile long wall on our border with Mexico to keep out those dastardly illegal aliens. But the best part of this scenario is that he will get Mexico to pay the tens or hundreds of billions of dollars such a wall would cost. I can just imagine how this would play out. Trump calls Mexico with his request, and the Mexican president comes on the line and says: “But of course, Señor Trump. Anything for you. We’ll be delighted to furnish you the billions you need to build your wall. We’re rolling in so much cash here in Mexico that we don’t know where to spend it all.” And just like that the wall is built and paid for, almost overnight. Pure, unadulterated snake oil, yet Trump is leading in the polls for the GOP nomination.
To follow this premise to its logical conclusion, say the wall gets built and does bar undocumented migrants from entering our country through our southern border. So what’s next. Will those sneaky illegals then fly to Canada and come in through our porous, nearly 4000 mile long border to the north. Will this necessitate spending more gazillions of dollars for a wall on the Canadian border. What if the illegals get on rafts or dinghies and try to enter from the east or west coasts. More walls to erect, until we’ve totally boxed ourselves in from the rest of the world? Such is the mind-numbing blindness that Trump followers are so heavily infested with. Did I mention that Trump leads in all the polls for the presidency in 2016? At one Trump rally, a woman was holding a big sign over her head that read-“Thank God for Trump.” So let’s look past the hysteria over undocumented aliens, revved up thanks to Trump’s demagoguery and opaque salesmanship, to those pesky, deflating little items known as facts. Facts that demagogues such as Trump truly despise because they tend to deflate their hate filled balloons.
According to experts in the field, the undocumented alien population in the U.S. six years ago stood at about 12.5 million. Due to the economic swan dive the U.S. has experienced over the past 6 years, the illegal population in this country has actually declined to just a tad over 11 million. I guess many that came here figured out that conditions in this country were just as lousy as back home, and self-deported themselves, (as Mitt Romney might say), back to Latin America. With a U.S. population of some 320 million, the 11 million illegals here today represent less than 4% of the total. The fact is that the overwhelming majority of Americans have little or no contact with illegals. Another fact is that a good chunk of of the undocumented worker pool are people that entered this country legally, but who have stayed on after their visas have expired. So much for building those hideous walls.
Another demonization perpetuated by the illegal immigration demagogues concerns the status of “anchor babies.” Supposedly, pregnant Hispanic women are entering the U.S. illegally, to give birth on U.S. soil, so that their baby has to be granted automatic U.S. citizenship according to the 14th amendment to the U.S. constitution. If the baby is an American citizen, so the argument goes, it’s all the harder to deport that baby’s illegal parents. First off, this occurs in a very few and insignificant instances. Secondly, it’s fascinating to watch all those right-wing fanatics who have been constantly berating the Obama administration for ignoring or flouting a ton of constitutional requirements, now willing to shred the clear and precise language of the 14th amendment, when it suits their purpose. I guess, in the end, it all depends on whose ox is being gored.
To be a successful demagogue several factors have to come into play. First, the aspiring demagogue must be highly skilled at salesmanship. Secondly, there has to be a small, rather defenseless minority within the country that can be demonized and scapegoated as causing the major problems that country is experiencing. That’s how Hitler was able to attain power in Germany during the 1930s. Hitler’s powerful salesmanship abilities were able to convince a well-educated, sophisticated, and cultural German populace that a small, law-abiding, defenseless Jewish minority was the cause of virtually all of that country’s ills at that time. We all know how well that scenario played out. Now Trump is in full throttle mode of demonizing undocumented Hispanics in order to become the most powerful man in the world. Once in power, he promises to have his forces go door-to-door if necessary, to round up 11 million illegals and deport them all back to from whence they came. The similarities with Nazi Germany are unfortunately all too apparent. The question is, will a majority of the U.S. populace be duped by this snake-oil salesman and grant him the power he so desperately seeks.
realityincorporated 