What Trump means by MAGA has nothing to do with America. He could care less about America. He's a 70 plus Gamergate type. Winners are malicious, expert at insults and territorial: keep women out! Trash them - or worse. Trump's thing is white supremacy and domineering instead of earning respect. Oh, and raking in the money. Corruption is "making a deal" to Trump.
27
What about the influence of the Kurds? Neither of today’s stories discusses this group who could impact the election.
2
Trump is doing more than corroding American institutions - he has already shown any wannabe dictator that there is nothing substantial (yet) to stop them. But he is destroying the EPA, and all the environmental safeguards we have worked so diligently to enact, often in the face of Republican opposition. When you lease the lands by the Grand Canyon, Chaco Canyon, Alaskan preserves et al to oil companies, there is no return. The planet can get along without the US just fine (maybe) - but nothing will flourish on a planet with filthy air, filthy water, degraded land and broken ecosystems.
This man and his cronies must be stopped and fast.
33
Cohen alludes to the essential question: it is not what is occurring these days but why is it occurring. In order to improve things, we must deal with the less-than definitive realities of what is human nature, how people behave in groups, and what may be essentially genetically coded "values." Too much of the energy objecting to the degeneration of our sociopolitical reality is spent documenting what is occurring, as well as the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. For the most part this only leads to bumpersticker "analyses" and "solutions."
If we really want to make progress, to make useful change, we need to spend less energy engaging in moral posturing and more in figuring out why "the others" profess and act the way they do. Minds need to be changed, and we will only develop the understanding and credibility necessary to change "their minds" if we listen to what "they" have to say, thus giving "them" an opportunity to believe they might change "our minds."
As the saying goes, stupidity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result the next time. Unless the Democrats have something new to say, the result will be the same.
It is far too easy to simply dismiss others. Essentially, it is the lazy way out, allowing one to feel smugly superior without having to get down and dirty, fighting in the trenches as it were, to make things incrementally better. After all, it is so much easier to fail at perfection than to succeed at improvement.
13
“A two-term Trump presidency would likely corrode American institutions and values to the point at which they could scarcely be resurrected.”
“To ridicule Trump will achieve little absent a compelling social and economic alternative that addresses anxiety. The Democratic Party, for now, is nowhere near that.”
To counter feckless fact-challenged Trump, Democrats need to develop and institute an offensive campaign. We are at war with lies and misinformation.
Attack Trump’s policies, his lack of accomplishments, his inability to negotiate compromises, and deliver bonafide deals. Attack his vacillating positions, his inconsistency. Attack his volatile temperament, his poor interpersonal communication skills, and his inability to maintain good relations with our allies. Attack his poor managerial skills, his inability to retain staff.
Attack every appointment he has made by illustrating how they are dismantling and destroying the agencies they represent. Demonstrate how their polices will make the lives of Americans worse.
Democrats, expose the harm Trump has inflicted at home and abroad with ill-conceived and poorly executed policies.
Democrats, stop playing defense! Hammer away at Trump, make him crack. Force him to defend himself with evidence based factual knowledge. He’ll be hard pressed to do so. Challenge his distortion of truth. Let’s get the truth about him out there and make him defend, make him explain, make him crumble.
63
if there are enough votes to re-elect him, after the disaster he's been, then we are done already
68
Trump truly is a dispicable man and his policies are abhorrent. But this article adds almost nothing to the conversation. The demonizing of migrants and immigrants is an atrocious way to try to present a policy. But what is an appropriate policy at a time when populations in many areas of the world are beyond the capacity of the land to support that population and as a result are the civil wars, severe repression and decinigration of order in so many areas that cause the mass migrations that create the resistance and animus toward migrants and immigrants. Is it the responsibility of those areas that have reasonable populations and efficient economies to take in all those wishing to come? Mr. Cohen’s ideas on what do would be welcome and not just what not to do.
11
It is no exaggeration that the November election is th most crucial in modern history because it is our last best hope to rein Trump in and put brakes on his dismantling of our country's institutions, norms and democratic processes. 2020 will be too late, and we cannot put all of our eggs in the Mueller basket given that a GOP-controlled Congress will not impeachment. I'm appealing particularly to the 18-34 year-olds out there-- register and vote if you want to live in a democracy versus a fascist state. Your future and that of your children depends on it.
42
I imagine the main thing well-meaning, democratic-minded and progressive person could wish for is to win the next elections. To devote so much time and space to the harmful doings of trump, as this article does, to emphasize over and over his contradictions and outright stupidity in so many daily columns is ignore the main point: we must emphasize our own agenda in practical terms to win the next election ! For every word of condemnation we must utter ten espousing what the American people need: Healthcare for All.
Control of the banks, who brought about the 2008 debacle. Free
college tuition in state colleges. A minimum wage of 15 dollars.
This is more meaningful, will win back those who saw in trump a departure from the routine politics of the past and unite the electorate to vote Democratic in the coming elections.
32
The author lacks historical focus. The rocket fuel which drives voters here to President Trump and in central Europe to leaders such as Viktor Orban is the existential struggle against radical Islamic terrorism, not a primal fear of 'the other....' There exists an awareness that until the Islamic threat is defeated, we will endure 'collateral damage' as we lawyers say, i.e. this week on our southern border. Also, should the writer believe that the words of our brave border agents and local residents will not be considered, he is mistaken. As a Long Island resident I point out only this week our latest atrocity, where two young men were hacked to death by machetes, assuredly by MS-13 gang members. We are playing with fire until we build a wall. The President alone understands this.
14
I respect Mr. Sparks' point of view as a former Long Islander myself and one who can easily understand the fear gang members or terrorists, but I also disagree with the conclusions, and remind all of the explosive outcomes of that fear that our leadership appears too well aware of. It's these fears themselves which are the convenient fodder for the far scarier agenda of demonizing, dehumanizing, and potentially destroying innocent masses of people predicated on outliers like MS-13 and ISIS which have nothing whatsoever to do with 99.99% of our Mexican and Muslim friends and neighbors. This is still America ... let's not lose it to fear and let would-be despots return us to darker days we also worked hard as real Americans to defeat.
67
If Trump were president in 1936, his VP would have been Charles Lindbergh and he would've had the USA join the Axis powers. No hyperbole. We know where Trump stands. On the precipice of the torrent that is the wrong side of history and I hope we aren't swept over it's falls in with him.
59
The main message here is for the Democratic leadership. Are they listening. Do they have a clue? Why do they continue to act is if no action is best?
And maybe it is. But when an issue has asserted itself and the nation is polarized about it, it cannot be helpful for the Democratic Party's position to be 'Ain't it awful'.
It must speak out for an immigration policy --which seems, by implication but by all the evidence, to be open borders. This clearly is a policy to re-elect Trump. See the opinion piece in NYT today, about Australia.
17
Mr. Cohen is correct that Trump is the greatest danger to America as we know it. Mr. Cohen is also correct that former European democracies, like Hungary and Turkey, have become illiberal democracies . However, Mr. Cohen neglect to mention that the institution of Europe in itself is on life support. Both France and Germany, especially France, is one vote away from controlled by right wing nationalists. With either France or Germany leaving, Europe would be no more. The picture is even grimmer looking beyond traditional democratic countries. Major power like Russia and China were moving toward democracy a couple decades ago but Putin has been czar for a long time and Xi just comes emperor for life. In less extreme cases, many major countries are also controlled by right wing nationalists, such as Modi in India. What would the world be like when most countries are controlled by right wing nationalists? I would suggest that it looks like early 1900s. Autocrats are chummy with each other now but egoist children do not play well together in the long run. Human race is in mortal danger and I do not see what would turn the world from this path to disaster.
28
You observe "To ridicule Trump will achieve little absent a compelling social and economic alternative that addresses anxiety. The Democratic Party, for now, is nowhere near that." Why is the Democratic Party nowhere near that?
12
What is needed, globally, instead of all that has been presented so far, is a system that signals very clearly that asylum is eligible only to those meeting stringent criteria. The value and reason for asylum have been forgotten and buried under the current debates, its definition has been blurred to the very point of labeling everyone who crosses a border simply a migrant. The president of Afghanistan said that every migrant who reaches the West spent the equivalent of US dollar 20000 on migration costs. Many people in France and the UK never had as much money on their bank accounts. Who is a person in need here?
7
Many Americans of all races don't have and have never had that much in their bank accounts, either.
7
Well, $20,000 is probably an exaggeration. But many migrants do, if fact, need less than we may think, because they can rely of family members for help.
1
Roger Cohen lists a variety of possible explanations for the growth of anti-immigration political movements in Europe, including stagnant wages, income inequality, and new technological innovation. Cohen misses one possible explanation - the extremely high levels of immigration into European nations from Africa and the Muslim world in recent years. Could this be a potential explanation for the growth of anti-immigration movements, rather than stagnant wages and new technology? It seems a more direct explanation and should at least be considered as a possibility. For some reason, Cohen does not include it on his list of potential explanations.
8
Cohen links to a UNHCR report stating current levels of migration and displacement at 68.5 million people, much of them from North and central Africa. So, yes, he does include this in his list of potential explanations.
6
Cohen is slyly indirect -- he first talks about European wage stagnation, income inequality, technical change, and then down at the end of the paragraph slips in a few words about "worldwide migration trends." European anti-immigration political movements are the shocking, society-transforming levels of immigration into Europe, not about technical change, etc., etc. They are about migration into Europe from Africa and the Muslim world, not worldwide immigration trends. He buries that message when it should be up there above the fold. So yes you are correct Cohen does sorta-kinda mention the key reason for anti-immigration parties, in passing and coded into generations, after carefully burying the message with lots of non-explanatory explanations.
Excellent analysis! Add to this the other Times article about Trump not delivering on promised 'deals' on a number of major issues.
The 2018 elections will flip Congress, so that laws can block more of his tweets until he leaves office.
8
An excellent article on the dangers we face from the Trump administration. I would make two points: 1) The behavior of the leaders of Hungary and Italy might not get so much traction, if the US were leading in a non-fascist direction through policies set by a president other than Trump and his followers (this includes Republicans in Congress). 2) I think that climate change should definitely be included among the significant factors driving mass immigration efforts.
25
The dislocation brought on by the Great Depression led to the rise of strong leaders in every country, similar to the effect of the recent Great Recession as alluded to by Roger Cohen. This time, however, we had the bad luck to elect Donald Trump instead of Franklin Roosevelt. This was probably due in part to the effectiveness of our conservative political machine and associated plutocracy. I'm pessimistic about the outcome; the fascist leaders of the 1930s were defeated by external forces, not internal ones.
25
Excuse me, Marin County, but we didn't get the donald simply by bad luck. I didn't know Roosevelt, except through history, but I'm pretty sure that HRC is no FDR.
4
Nancy and Hillary spent a good deal of their time in 2016 speaking loudly about protecting immigrants and LBGTQ. The Democrats may have won a majority of the popular votes, but it was not the blowout that it should have been considering the venal and incompetent GOP candidate.
Look at what the Democrats are shouting about now; why should they expect a different result in 2018?
1
The voices of America, the powerful ones, are not being heard regardless of party affiliation. This presidency has not accomplished anything of concrete value, except to give bags of coal to the miners.
Bret Stephens wrote of the Americans who live between the East and West Coast. It cannot be difficult to find out what is needed to make our nation great and prosperous.
There is fodder to make a rehash of 'The Miserables', and we cannot afford a contemporary revolution that will make the one at the end of the 18th century France look like fries.
- Are we better off than in 2000;
- Are we feeling safer and more hopeful;
- Are we proud of our country;
- Are we planning to vote;
- Are the presidential elections rigged;
- Are we sensing the need for keeping weapons in our home.
- Are we satisfied to have the possibility of a second-term
Trump presidency; prepared to become insular and an isolationist superpower.
- Are we planning to go into the 21st century.
Our justice system is broken; the nation is becoming a third world country; and it is a possibility that The Press will be shut down.
Whether America has plans to get off the couch, understanding that we are on the brink of anarchy, is becoming vaguer and vacuous as we go about our daily business.
10
Nikki Haley has made it clear that Trump is hostile to human rights. In Trump's world the US is like an exclusive neighborhood, guarded by gates with people mad about conspicuous consumption hiding behind the gates. Talk about poverty in the US brings outrage from the Trump folks. Undeserving poor and the poor huddled masses are equally dangerous spawning grounds for terrorism, crime and a constant irritants for hand outs. Trump has managed to make his greedy plutocratic views into populist "turn up the hate" boilerplate for his adoring supporters.
14
'Human rights' works both ways. Why should I not benefit from my skills and hard work? Don't I have rights?
I do not mind sharing with my fellow Americans who are hardpressed, but when you include the entire Earth's population into the equation, we will all be reduced to the level of the Third World.
11
I assume your earth pop. is about foreign aid: 1/10 of one percent is our tithings. The 1% ers have had their taxes cut from 90+% to the 30's over the past 70 years. There in the source of your lower paycheck not the alleged "handouts". Your/we have not had real relief ever, this taxation gift to the plutocracy will bring Nancy Pelosi's prediction of crumbs. My will be approx 20 dollars per week will be donated to Planned Parenthood. BTW the rich do mind sharing with the "Great Unwashed".
The President is just casting about amongst his strongman buddies for a place that will grant him asylum after he is deposed as Emperor and sent into exile. I guess that would make him an immigrant. You know this president is always thinking ahead. He wants a back-up plan in case karma comes back to bite him. RAW
22
I think that we (and the press) have to daily remind ourselves that this administration and President came to be by way of only 77,000 votes across 3 states (while getting 3,000,000 less votes overall). Furthermore there were well over 100,000,000 votes that could have been cast, that were not.
They stayed home.
So, when we have column after column decrying how the Republic and Democracy itself are at stake, then we can look at whatever percentages of the republican party that supports this President, and realize they are but a sliver of a minority.
They are irrelevant, if we just get up off our duffs and flex our electoral muscles by simply voting.
62
Some stumbling block to registering would be the hours of operation of the respective city/town hall. The offices in the four states I have lived in were never open past 4:00pm which then requires the taking of time off from unsympathetic employers or immediate supervisors. Transportation to city hall could be another impediment.
Birth certificates located in other states which will not send them. Paranoid state government making registering as difficult as possible. Non-existent fraud under every rock. Common sense takes a holiday.
9
Why does Trump do this? It is very simple. Trump is doing the bidding of Vladimir Putin, the dictator he perhaps admires the most. The question that must be answered is why is Trump working to hard to Make Russia Great Again by doing everything he can to fracture the Western Alliance set up by the victorious allies under American leadership by Roosevelt and Truman. Is it just because he admires Putin?" Or is it because, as his eldest son bragged some years ago, the failing Trump organization was bailed out by Russian money?
30
Nice post, but you omitted one other question: where are those tax returns he said would be made public after the election? The information to be found there would most likely help answer your questions.
9
and does it even matter which of these revolting possibilities - or an unholy combination of both - is the underlying cause?
TRUMP is the enemy of the people. at least the ones who do not frequent Mar a Lago.
ask yourself two key questions:
1) what has the Republican Party under Trump done for you?
b) what has the Republican Party under Trump done against you?
6
If Trump wins a 2nd term in 2020 -- and the GOP continues to maintain control of Congress -- It's all over folks. Do you really think this man will leave office after two terms? No sir, at that point we can kiss our beautiful country goodbye.
34
DON: I remember people saying the same thing about Richard Nixon.
2
Mr Cohen as usual writes articulately with knowledge and insight. And I thank him and his op ed colleagues at the Times for their shared wisdom. But, and maybe it is my profound fear as to the ominous trajectory of this present Trump paradigm, I just wish someone/s could come up with answers, a plan, leaders to save our democracy from tyranny and ruthlessness. What will it take for us to awaken this president's supporters to the fact that he cares not one whit about them? He will do nothing for our needs. This man has descended so far into his self-inflicted madness that his focus is solely on total control and power over us the "masses." His aspirations do not include a government of, by, and for the people, but rather a dictatorship where he can rub shoulders with those amoral thugs mentioned in this piece. It is okay to "vent," but the time is now to peacefully yet relentlessly take over the helm of this ship to steer it back into safe waters, to the foot of Lady Liberty. That's our identity, that's who we are.
35
If Trump is to be defeated the Democratic Party must select a candidate early and begin offering a better way.
11
Recognize and address climate change
End corporate tax giveaways
Don’t gut Obamacare
Restore the mission of the EPA—protecting as opposed to decimating the environment
Treat long-standing allies as friends instead of enemies
Appoint a Sec of Ed. who believes and will support public education
That’s just a start. Any Democrat would enact such an agenda.
27
That's very true. But that candidate is not Bernie Sanders, who failed to get both the Black and Latino vote, who isn't a Democrat, and who helped divide the party to the extent that Donald Trump won.
Not only that -- Sanders has nothing to do with Soccer.
2
I wish progressives would seriously consider your suggestions. In particular, this one: “Treat long-standing allies as friends instead of enemies.” For, when we treat ideological/political allies as enemies, we always end up averting our gaze from the goal of installing a government that will enact many of our political objectives into reality. This has to be the ultimate reason for our political involvement. In 2016, for an example, too many progressives, because of their animus towards Hillary, apparently forgot they had a chance to have, amongst many of their aspirations, a progressive majority on the Supreme Court. So, they acted and/or voted in a way that fractured a united progressive front against Trump. The GOP and its evangelical allies, despite whatever misgivings they claimed to have about their nominee, blocked Obama’s legitimate nominee for the SCOTUS, voted solidly for their nominee, and now smile contently at what they see on the Court. Progressives, apparently, never learn: not from the Gore/Nader affair of 2000, nor the Kerry/Nader one of 2004; nor the Humphrey/Kennedy Clan tossup of 1968. Pres. Nixon, the victor in 1968, had a good advice for all in his farewell speech to his staff: “… never be petty; always remember, others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.” Are Trump’s Executive Memos thank-you notes to progressives whose animus towards H contributed to the 2016 results?
1
The real frustration are the 8000 cult followers at the rally in Duluth and the many, many more at other rallies. How can these people be so misguided at to support a morally bankrupt, soul-less individual.
33
not to put too fine a point ln it, but what percentage of them also believe in angels, the Easter Bunny, and a close relationship with an imaginary personal savior?
Trump nd his followers both have only the most tenuous grasp on reality... and that, not all of the time.
1
Fortunately, my grandmother came through Ellis Island at a time when the message of the Statue of Liberty was still honored in this country. She was tired, poor, and part of the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Although she was white, she had nothing, and her Irish -Catholic heritage was initially rejected by many here. But because she was allowed to stay, she built a life, and our family has produced doctors, lawyers. police officers, and a slew of college graduates. Who knows what talents we are now turning away at our borders?
39
We are turning away many doctors and medical researchers among others.
6
JIM: Times were different. The nation was expanding westward and we need people to develop it. Immigrants were encouraged to come here and farm the west; we needed workers for our expanding factories.
We are no longer expanding. In fact, opportunities are shrinking. PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts that almost 40% of US jobs could be taken by robots by 2030.
Although unemployment is low, many Americans are underemployed or involuntarily working part-time. Currently, 95 million Americans 18 to 54 are out of the labor force. Many are waiting for wages to increase before they start looking for work and become officially classified as 'unemployed.' Immigrants depress wages, especially illegal ones.
The H-1B visa is used to keep salaries low in select fields and illegals work at or below minimum wage without benefits; employers prefer to hire immigrants because they improve the bottom line.
We are currently producing a sufficient supply of professionals.
For the greater good of both poorer countries and the future well-being of current Americans and their progeny, it would be best to close our borders to all, including the most talented.
Does it really matter where antibiotics or microchips are discovered or developed? With our interconnected world, great inventions and discoveries made anywhere will be available to all but much of the profits will accumulate in the countries where they were developed – A boon to many Third World countries.
3
Putin is the architect of this latest nationalist movement. His hooks are in deep all over Europe and America. There are at least four European parties in power that are pro-Putin/nationalist and possibly others on the ascendant. The President of the U.S. is pro-Putin/nationalist.
Current International banking laws (or lack thereof), which allow Putin and his oligarchs to hide their illicit funds, need to be included in the list of precursors to this major world event.
Additionally, on a smaller scale, U.S. real estate and campaign finance laws are perhaps what allowed Putin the greatest entry to our political system.
Absent from this piece is the tone of eternal faith in our enduring American principles and institutions. It's time to sound the alarms.
13
Actually, Trump's use of the word "infest" in his tweet appears to have been directed at such vile actors as the MS-13 gangs. It was immediately inflated into an insult toward immigrants in general by the Trump-unfriendly media.
I wonder whether Mr Cohen and his fellow columnists ever become discouraged by the utter lack of results achieved by their endless, and ultimately monotonous, railing against Trump. Or whether massaging the sense of righteousness of the legion of Trump despisers is rewarding enough.
Perhaps at some point the frustration level might rise to the point that they will be motivated produce some positive proposals for their audience to consider.
5
"Perhaps at some point the frustration level might rise to the point that they will be motivated produce some positive proposals for their audience to consider."
Here's a proposal: vote for candidates who will resist Trump's dismantling of the environmental regulations that brought the US cleaner air and water.
And, remind the voters that the lack of regulations really won't benefit the average worker.
10
They (Trump's supporters) don't care. Choose any subject of national concern and the answer is they don't care. Mrs. Trump even wore the words on her jacket. We have to make them care.
Cohen's view is insightful, accurate, alarming and depressing. It may be wishful thinking but there are some differences between what is going on in Europe vs the US. First, the current US focus is on illegal immigration. It is true that Trump also wishes to change conditions for legal access to the US but even in this area, the focus is on arbitrary (lottery) Green Cards and what credentials immigrants should have (skills etc). So while the US is a country of immigrants, a debate about illegal, arbitrary, extended family and unskilled entry is perhaps not as egregious as what is happening in Poland and Hungary, insular and homogeneous societies that only recently emerged from dictatorship and without a history of strong independent institutions that can act as a counterbalance to the malignant instincts of a leader. The most alarming point Roger makes is the one about where Democrats are in terms of mobilizing an effective opposition at the ballot box. The recent moral outrage at the Border should provide some insight into an effective strategy. Every ad in the run-up to November should have images from this fiasco alongside Session's "bible" justification and Trump's "murderers and rapists" claims. Ads should also focus on the effects of tariffs on US consumers. For example, tariffs on South Korean washers have already led to an increase in price for all washers, including those by domestic manufacturers.
11
@ Observer - I noted yesterday perhaps at Krugman that the use of correct terminology is not seen as important. The phrase illegal immigrants is used throughout by people of many persuasions.
In Sweden, all who come in have been viewed as "asylum seekers" and then, after they have been registered they are assigned to various categories for review.
I want the Times perhaps to present official US terminology and then compare that with European or selected European.
The Times could also report weekly a comparison of those who have entered across the Mexico USA border and those who have been granted asylum, for example Syrians. This would show among other things how ridiculous Trump's concern with people from, for example, Syria is.
It appears that 14 Syrians have been accepted during the first 4 months of 2018. Need I say more. Sweden, population 10,000,000 took in 842 who will be evaluated during the year. The 842 are treated humanely.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
11
It would also be helpful if the Democrats articulated specific policies that they offer as alternatives to those of the current administration. As far as I can tell from what the press reports about positions taken by the Democratic leadership in both houses, it consists of nothing more than outrage at Trumps policies and actions. They don't offer specific policies or legislative proposals to counter the administration. They are as much empty suits concerned only with holding their offices as the Republicans are. It may be time for a third party; one with progressive principles that guide its positions and legislative proposals.
11
Larry, your comments resonate but sadly also reflect the relative place of compassion in different cultures.
The primary division in global politics is clear: nationalism vs. internationalism.
7
We have lost the long view. We have buried archeology. We do not examine history beyond what remains in our recent historical memory of wins and losses, wars and invasions, and much of that recent history is selectively entombed without examination, or, if examined, shoveled into the depths--beyond our willingness to endure shame for our behavior.
How do we own this country? How can we or any country claim perpetual and exclusive ownership of any slice of land? Of any border? Of any and all the resources therein? Long before Abraham there was migration. Long before any written history there was migration. Witness the discoveries of thousand-years-old bodies frozen in the ice of mountain ranges. People were on the move, growing food, building homes, making tools and propagating the earth. Evolving. Interweaving along their journeys: creating new blood relationships, new kinfolk, new cultures. Do the current leaders want to stop evolution? Selfishly guard the past against the future? Why? Are we afraid? Whatever one believes, whether in god, or not, some force has moved us forward for millennia. Can we not have the courage, the intellectual curiosity, to want to continue this journey into the unknown? Or is this selfishness? Just selfishness at the heart of every "base" whom these leaders claim to have seduced with their messages of fear, hate and exclusion?
13
Well, maybe it would be nice to not have property rights, including rights to land.
Good luck on this argument for immigrant & refugee rights.
1
Sorry, but whether you think it is "selfish" or not, I really doubt if most Americans, Canadians, Brits, French people, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Swiss want to dissolve their nation's borders. And they are under NO obligation to do so, just because you and John Lennon want them to.
1
We're in trouble.
His policy of white nationalism degrades people of color as lacking value. Meanwhile, as a country we have an ugly history where nonwhite families faced brutal separation.
We've been beset by a domineering patriarchy that simultaneously exhibits fake evangelical piety and exacts continual revenge by means of alpha male aggression.
12
"Let’s put this bluntly: Trump (whose stats on German crime were wrong) backs Orban against Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in the continuing bid to make racism and xenophobia the new normal of Western societies."
Thank you, Roger Cohen, for searing focus.
The President of the United States IS USING his @realDonaldTrump Twitter Account to UNDERMINE the German Chancellor who is THE BEDROCK under the German people's resolve to stem 'the opportunists' using fear and hate.
European countries, and to a much lessor extent the US, did a courageous act of KINDNESS FOR MILLIONS of good and honorable Syrians.
So, The President of the United States tweeted:
The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!
8:02 AM · Jun 18, 2018
Come November 6th, Republican officeholders OUT.
ASAP, Trump OUT!
19
Insightful piece, though I've got one detail to quibble about:
Is "Judeo" - Christian a hyphenated word you want to use in those countries when hoping to make diplomatic headway?
Maybe if the goal is to help the last few centuries of Eastern Europe become water under the bridge. If Soros is the dog whistle there, he's got his work cut out.
Ideally, they'll return his outreach with hyphenated creations of their own to acknowledge everyone who's built this country.
1
Newspaper pundits like Cohen believe that small European Christian countries like Hungary should just accept that the -nation-state is dead. Hungarians should put up with unlimited immigration and forget about their national identity and culture. However, some countries in other parts like Israel, Saudia Arabia, and Japan seem to get a pass on preserving their past.
The neocons believed that a desire for democracy was what drove societies. That was proved wrong in the Middle East, where religion proved more important to the people. Orban is popular in Hungary, he won over two-thirds of the votes in the latest national election. Suddenly democracy is not enough in Hungary. What Cohen is recommending is essentially what the EU is offering, rule by a remote technocratic elite. This is the Soros version of globalization.
We have seen throughout European history that ethnic disputes can quickly escalate and turn nasty, which is why the Allies at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 tried to create ethnically homogeneous countries. They also endorsed ethnic cleansing and relocated 12 million Germans. People like Cohen and the EU are a threat to peace and stability, they are ignoring human behavior. We saw in Yugoslavia what can happen when countries forced together want to break free.
9
1945 was not the beginning of ethnically homogeneous countries. It has been going on for ages. In this country, it started with the incarceration of the true natives in reservations. Remember the "Whites Only" signs on stores and even in public places, applied also to Hispanic and Black soldiers who fought for the USA in our various "modern" wars.
We will never be free from racism.
1
Trump is not a new Plague upon this country. His type have always been around. Each era produces xenophobic leaders determined to rid society of other. They, like Trump, spread hate and lies to enrage and control their followers.
We as a nation have a very ugly past. “In 1879, U.S. cavalry captain Richard Henry Pratt opened a boarding school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania...
Carlisle Indian Industrial School was a government-backed institution that forcibly separated Native American children from their parents in order to, as Pratt put it, “kill the Indian in him, and save the man...
Native American boarding schools were a method of forced assimilation.”
This abomination continued until the passage of
“...the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act based on research that “25–35 percent of all Native children were being removed; of these, 85 percent were placed outside of their families and communities—even when fit and willing relatives were available,” according to the National Indian Child Welfare Association’s website. With the act, tribes won the ability to determine the residency of children in that tribe.”
Today’s forced separation of the families of asylum seekers and illegal border crossers is a page right out our United States history. We don’t need to compare Trump to foreign despots we have our very own role model, Richard Henry Pratt.
https://www.history.com/news/government-boarding-schools-separated-nativ...
17
Thank you so very much for sharing this link. It's chilling and heartbreaking to find out these ugly truths in our history but essential to know.
3
Barbara,
You’re welcome. I had a vague knowledge of this era but didn’t realize just how closely it mirrored current events until I read this article. I believe how we treat others is a measure of our individual character. How our nation treats minorities, marginalized groups, and immigrants is a measure of our collective character. Right now our character is tarnished by what our president and his government is doing in our name.
3
Trump is using the same philosophy used by Hitler against the Jews. He's attempting to dehumanize people with brown skin. It's a step by step process. If you overshoot, step back a little. Dehumanize them more and then do it again.
People get upset about the comparison to Hitler but we have to realize, that's where the strategy came from. If we don't recognize it, we will fail at combating it.
Trump is making no secret of the fact that he wants to be a dictator. If you are willing to give up your rights, by all means, support Trump. I'm not ready to give up mine, something for which many people sacrificed their lives to give to me.
28
Correction: A two-year Trump term is already corroding American values and institutions to the point that thousands of immigrant children have literally been ripped from their parents' arms, put in cages and detention centers, and shipped thousands of miles away. That includes breastfeeding babies.
This is an atrocity that will be in American history books from now on. It is moving very close to Nazi policies of dehumanizing whole categories of people by the president himself calling immigrants animals and vermin who "infest" the country.
A large part of the atrocity is that the entire Republican Party morphed into a Trump white nationalist party. This did not happen during the campaign when plenty of Republicans called Trump out for his lies, scandals, and unfitness. It happened once he became president, when the GOP collapsed into a Trump Party.
The GOP Congress has done one thing only -- enormous tax cuts for the rich that will add as much as $1.8 trillion to the deficit and cut the healthcare of around 13 million Americans. They have compounded their cruelty by cutting food stamps, cutting out healthcare for 52 million Americans with preexisting conditions, etc.
But nothing, absolutely nothing, is as bad as creating baby jails, putting children into cages by the thousands, with the knowledge that this is harming these children psychically forever and that there is no guarantee the families can be reunited.
Every hour of separation harms the children.
21
I agree with this, of course. Especially bizarre is the support of groups of people who also unquestioningly support Israel for immigration policies and attitudes that also closed U.S. borders to Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany after Kristallnacht. What's going on with that?
What's missing, though, is an intelligent discussion of the reasons for allowing immigration and for setting particular limits to it. Democrats really do frequently sound like they oppose any limits or enforcement of border restrictions, which isn't something any country can afford. Immigration is sort of like sex; when politics get ahold of it, the result is inevitably hypocrisy. The U.S. could easily absorb legally the number of Latino people who have been coming here illegally, because we've been doing it for decades, and it's extremely hard to make an unbiased case that the society has been destabilized by it. But that doesn't mean it wouldn't be destabilized by opening the borders completely. It could certainly be argued that the migrant influx is beginning to destabilize German society. The effort should be to encourage intelligent, fact-driven policies, not merely to whip up one's respective base.
11
Gross insensitivity at every turn. And possibly so cruel or vengeful he can't understand peoples' concerns or difficulties. This white house is simply immune to differing facets or nuances in almost every situation, policy roll out, or tweet!
No understanding of long term impact. Alienating our closest allies. Implementing tariffs that hurt our own people.
Taking a bulldozer to international agreements. Brash and bullying statements! Turns out President Barack Obama was right when he said 'don't do stupid stuff.'
8
The best recipe will be: ridicule Trump! Poke fun out of him, tell funny jokes about, write to the NYTimes to do the same.
Trump fears to be ridiculed, maybe he is even shocked of it in his narcissist lifestyle. Jokes will bring him down. Or just mention his name and then start laughing loud, as loud as you can. Adhort people to do the same. A real collective will make an impression on Trump, he is sensible to people who laugh about him and don't take him serious.
10
That was tried with Nixon as a matter of fact. It's the law that has to bring him down. We are a nation of laws.
1
Much of this article is correct, but it misses some basic points. For example, Cohen tells us "The Democratic party is... nowhere near" understanding the problem. Neither is Cohen. And the vast majority of Americans aren't even in the same ballpark as the problem. America differs from the European countries plagued by renascent troglodytic nationalism. America changes at least once in a generation. In this century alone, we’ve added a population roughly ten times that of modern Ireland. In my lifetime, America has added nearly 200 million people. And that was done with the assumption that the bedrocks of the American constitution and government were immune to societal change. We need to engage with the question of the adaptability of humans. Some, a minority perhaps, are adaptable to a rapidly changing world. Many are not. Inability to adapt is manifested in as many ways as there are immature fears and worries. Trump shares these fears, and through looking into his own dark soul, learned how to manipulate the dark soul of America.
9
Do you care even remotely about the environment? What about automation and the massive loss of employment opportunities? And if the US is obligated to take in the entire world, do other nations have any similar obligations? Canada has much much more empty space than the US and yet somehow the US is obligated to accept everyone who wants to move here, but Canada is not? Why?
1
Trump goes for the jugular is an apt way to describe the repulsive, impulsive, arrogant behavior of a stupid man who lacks a conscience.
The only language this type of person understands is a response akin to a junkyard dog, instill fear in him.
Elijah Cummings and John Lewis are to be respected for expressing sincere outrage which should move those in Congress to quit the hand wringing, postering about mid terms and attack the Administration with a vengeance equal to what they have casually inflicted on thousands at the border.
Address each outrageous lie. Ask the public, "Would you want Trump for a nieghbor? Would you want Trump to disrupt your neighborhood on a whim everyday? Would you want to be dominated by a bully day in and day out or would you put your house up for sale for some peace?"
10
It's becoming crystal clear that, if given an opportunity, the Trump Administration and many of its supporters would like to remove the Statue of Liberty (and all it stands for) from New York Harbor and consign it to the trash heap of history. And build a wall, not just along our southwest border, but one that runs the entire circumference of these United States.
One thing their current policy is doing that could well be self-fulfilling for them: The trauma it is imparting to a large component of immigrants, including young children, could well transform many into anti-social misfits who become the kind of people the Trumpsters "warned" us about. They're sending an unambiguous message that the new arrivals are not welcome here, and some of them seem likely to re-act to that message in anti-social ways. Which will allow the xenophobic American Firsters to strut around like Trump, clapping for themselves, and tell the world "We Told You So!"
SAD!!!
9
Let's put this bluntly and call Trump's propaganda about the German crime wave for what it is, a lie and hammer away at every one of his lies like the photo op yesterday with people who lost loved ones to murder. The European refugee crisis is horrible, sparked in large measure by our invasion of Iraq, one of America's worst military blunders that destabilized the Middle East. The U.S. helped create the refugee crisis south of our boarder by backing oligarchs in Central America for decades and allowing Texas to be the arms bazaar for Mexican drug cartels.
Opponents of Trump Party can attract more geezers like myself when they educate them about his party's desire to throw them on the trash heap like wrinkled rinds as FDR said about critics of Social Security. The Trump Party would like to make us poor and dirty again like the frantic mother I saw in LA wiping tears from her infant's burning eyes, trying to sooth her wails before air pollution controls were enacted. American history offers opponents of the Trump Party many lessons like Theodore Roosevelt's hope we "Do not let selfish men or greedy interests skin your country of its beauty, its riches or its romance.”
20
It takes a bigger bully to scare a 2 bit bully like Trump. He is the epitome of weakness. His mind, his flesh, his vocabulary, his morals--all weak. The U.S. Presidency is in the grip of a madman.
What about the famous purple mountains majesty and fruited plains? What is going to happen to them if a billion people move to the US?
It's hardly surprising that this president who claims to know everything better than everyone else, still manages to get just about everything wrong. But that's what happens when you live firmly ensconced in a world of false realities, with no facts and threatened by every little thing.
When Angela Merkel opened the doors to shell-shocked Syrian refugees in 2015, with the promise of "Wir Schaffen Das!" (We Can Do It!), I told my family and friends in Germany that all their good will would be gone by Christmas.
It was.
But what I didn't see coming was the door to the Bundestag opening so that the right-wing nationalist party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) would find a seat there -- and that this would happen repeatedly all over Europe, as countries were forced to confront leagues of immigrants escaping not only war, but cruel poverty and persecution as well.
nd there's no way to deny that because many of these immigrants are Black and Brown, a calibrated racist response often comes into play.
Sadly, in this regard there is little difference between the reactions of Italy, Poland, Hungary and Austria in closing their borders, and now, the U.S.
Just as there's little or no doubt that Donald Trump is a bigot, using his protectionist and nativist jargon of 'America First', to essentially keep it as white as possible.
But the truly most terrifying aspect of what he is doing to this country, is the fact that in the end it may not survive him.
8
The possibility of a two-term Trump leaves me sick to my stomach. A year-and-a-half is already too much. Could there even be a come-back after eight years of him? That's hard to imagine.
14
Four months will pass with lightspeed until election. Isn't it high time the Democrats get a powerful message and compelling platform out there delivered by an equally powerful voice? Their silence is mind boggling and almost defeatist in the mind of this voter. Depressing.
8
HMP
You are right, of course. The other thing they need to do is have a very organized, thorough, and highly visible voter registration plan, especially for those states that are actively looking for ways to disenfranchise people and otherwise make voting difficult.
4
It astonishes me how a single-cell rogue microbe can destroy a life - an entity hundreds of thousands of times it's size. Or how a micro-dose of venom from a tiny insect can stop a heart from beating. Whether Trump-think is a virus or a microbe or a poison - it seems to have the capacity to damage and to grow exponentially, unhindered by inbuilt defensive mechanisms. And, adding insult to injury, it draws it's fuel from the body it is infecting and will eventually destroy if left unchecked. At the risk of belaboring the metaphor - the antidote to curb this malaise lies in the mid-terms to hobble the agent - and in the end to remove it from the body politic.
11
“Every utterance of Trump on immigration is meant to conflate immigration with danger.” Au contraire. Every line in this opinion is meant to conflate legal with illegal immigration. The majority of Americans do not want open borders. The majority of Americans ask that the government screen who comes in and out in order to protect them from evil elements and provide a fair and sensible system of legal immigration. This country cannot handle 68.5 million more people. Somehow the open borders crowd also does not have any compassion for children dragged across roasting hot dangerous deserts by opportunistic adults exploiting them to illegally sneak into this country. This opinion is tuned up malarky written to increase hysteria without providing real solutions for controlling our borders.
7
Correction. Only 1/4 of Americans support separating families. More than 70% of Americans support immigration, and about 80% of Americans support protection for Dreamers.
It is not hysterical to be concerned about thousands of children ripped from their parents' arms and put into cages and detention centers.
It is cruel, immoral, heartless, and against human rights to treat children in this manner. That is why every major religion and the pope, plus the former First Ladies, major businesses, and 3/4 of all Americans object so strongly.
White supremacy is a fringe group. At his last rally, Trump had only about 8,000 people in that crowd, and he lied every few minutes as fact checkers establish.
Another correction: The "open borders" reiteration is simply not true. What is true is that you don't demonize and dehumanize immigrants, and you never, never, never put children in cages.
9
I suggest you educate yourself about immigration, both legal and not. Stop listening to Trump's lies. It is obvious you have no idea what you are talking about.
5
Hopefully our great country will respond to Trump and republicans in 2018 and 2020 the way France declined to elect Marine Le Pen. It's that important!
10
Because of the extremely careless and unprofessional way this presidency is carried out, and the horrors that Trump and his enablers are provoking around the globe, at home and at the border, as a foreign observer, I´d like to have faith in the rest of the US population... They must be better than Trump and his gang... In 2016 in fact, three million people more voted for Clinton, but due to the non-democratic system in the US, the candidate that lost at the end won, and the one that won, lost. And so the US and the world ended up with Trump.
If the voice of the people had indeed been taken into account, as in any normal democracy, Trump would´ve not arrived to the presidency...
He is thus destroying the country following the impulse given by a minority that voted for him...
How on earth can this be happening?
If there is any chance that the country and democracy will prevail in the US, then the voice of the majority needs to be heard...
8
Seems the only way to cobble together an understanding of this deplorable man is to first ask, "What would most benefit trump?" Therein lies U.S. policy.
4
“Trump the European Nationalist Puts America Last.” That headline may work on some level but it’s not connected to the column’s argument. It’s easy enough to respond that Trump and his fellow nationalists think they’re putting the interests of their own countries before the interests of the world at large. So, on further consideration, the headline works against the column’s persuasiveness.
We know where constant falsehoods and demonization of others leads. America after WW II may have pursued its own self-interest but it did try to create a more prosperous and secure world rather than ruthlessly press its advantage. That’s a good thing but a complicated thing that becomes difficult to explain as the Great Depression, WW II, and Stalinism fade into history.
It seems clear there were a series of changes to the law that affected the total amount of wealth and its distribution. I’m glad there’s more aggregate wealth and that millions of regular folks around the world were lifted out of poverty. I’m not glad many regular folks in Europe and America seem to have been left behind. When NAFTA was signed it seemed like a good time to concurrently enact measures like wage insurance, aggressive job retraining, and early buy-in to Medicare. Spilt milk, water under the bridge, I suppose. But a rising tide of nationalism on the right countered by name calling on the left while people who are comfortable wait for the furor to subside doesn’t seem tenable.
4
To avoid a second Trump term, or to gain ground in the midterms, Democrats had better find a message on immigration that is a reasonable middle ground. From reading comments here and in the Washington Post, there is still plenty of anxiety among voters about the Republican-created perception that electing Democrats equals open borders. The rhetoric from Democrats on immigration has been pushed leftward, like a pendulum, in response to the ugliness of Trump. Perhaps that is an intentional outcome? The right is very crafty about manipulating public opinion. The Democrats not so much; they are easily herded to unpopular positions. Democrats need to be very careful how they respond to this current crisis.
11
Mr. Cohen is right on target with the danger to our Liberal Democracy that Trump poses now and the disaster that would come with a second term.
Fear is one motivator for the bewildered voter that politicians the world over have taken advantage of for many years. Hatred is another; the kind once is taught as a child and never quite discards though reason and history would teach otherwise.
Trump and the other ultra-nationalists all over the world have learned the lesson well; to combine fear with hatred. This was obvious to many Americans who saw the "birther" lie that he promoted for seven years and the ride down the escalator to announce his candidacy by referring to Mexican immigrants as "rapists and murderers" for what is was. Anyone paying attention knew who he was and that he should have been discarded as a candidate for the highest office in the land by the Republican Party.
While jobs, automation, income stagnation, wealth inequality, a staggering number of refugees and terrorism are legitimate concerns, race and religion are not. Beware of the politician that drives the popular will with both hate and fear, using lies and ignoring history.
1
I think Trump has been hired to distract. With talent for producing conflict on reality tv he’s distracting us with salacious, offensive, obstinate, threatening behavior.
Why is the Republican Party silent? Why does the market approve?
Because while he distracts the Republican Party is gutting consumer protections, launching a Trojan horse attack on social security, abandoning climate regulation, crushing healthcare.
Why? Because their campaign donors love it, and the market reflects profit profit profit.
But while short term profit benefits the very few, the widespread impact will be catastrophic.
The New York Times would serve us better to put policy changes on Page 1 and leave the White House distraction machine for page 2.
10
Corporations taking themselves private will impoverish the rich too.
2
America has a unique problem in this regard. Immigrants from Central America are fleeing the terrorism of the Drug Cartels and they will keep coming no matter a wall. It IS that dangerous in their homelands.
America has had and continues a head in the sand policy regarding the billion dollar drug industry. Never acknowledging the sinister use of drug use in controlling and destabilizing the African American and Latino communities in America. The coded 'law and order' zero tolerance of drugs in these communities serve to constantly destabilize the family structure of peoples of color and give excuse to jail a disproportionate number of people of color.
As if whites in America never use drugs. The huge amount of money laundered by American banks for the drug cartels and the profits made by US drug companies are never confronted. Trump is assiduously avoiding the opiod epidemic to maintain this status quo.
So labeling and dehumanizing immigrants serves not only white nationalism but our own nefarious subliminal and systemic oppression of people of color here in 'family values' USofA.
Trump is trying to establish a huge for profit prison/detainment system backed now by US Military authority for the abuse and condemnation of people of color.
8
Great analysis Roger.
It is simply not possible to be accused of hyperbole in describing the risks posed by Trump and his lackeys on the Republican side in Congress.
Once fascism takes root, its staying power is generational.
Consider Trump's glowing praise for dictators like Putin and Kim.
Believe him when he says: He 'wants people to sit-up at attention' when he speaks, as they do for Kim in North Korea.
He is demanding fealty: the exact opposite of freedom.
Make no mistake. North Koreans do that for one reason:
to avoid being placed in concentration camps or worse.
16
Well written, to the point. So many of us agree and are scared that our institutions and civility may not survive a second term. But even if a new president and congress is elected, there are still millions of Trump supporters out there. Our society lost the integrating communities we used to associate with: religion & churches are on decline, families are split and divorced and people become 'homeless' and don't know where they belong. It looks like the only substitute offered are our tribes, our common hate towards the others and man made boarders. We need to create new, positive and unifying values which include all to solve this crisis.
9
Agree, so how do we do it?
2
Meddling in politics has revealed what a scam religion has become in the US.
1
There must be something in the NYT pundit stylebook that mandates that every op-ed column, no matter what the topic, contain some kind of "balancing" shot against the Democratic party, the Clintons or Barack Obama, as if the Democrats somehow have equal access to power and media outlets in which to express their opinions.
As Paul Krugman continually points out, the "both sides have a point/are at fault" default posture assumes a false symmetry between Republicans and Democrats, that we live in a political universe where each side has equal power and access to media.
Thus, even if we were to assume, contrary to Cohen's assertion, that Democrats actually do "have ideas", where we would we read or see about them amid the avalanche of Trump Tweets and Fox News?
Seeing a Democratic legislator on cable news ("All Trump, All the Time") is about as rare as sighting a bald eagle. And even in their rare appearances, all of the questions are about reacting to some Trump statement or position, not about any Democratic ideas or policies.
Given how Trump has stolen all of the oxygen in the media universe, it is difficult to see how Democratic ideas can get any kind of fair hearing or exposure. I think it is that fact that is accounting for much of the despair about the upcoming elections that is reflected in many of these comments.
20
It is uncanny how hardly anything "liberal" goes viral in this bullied nation.
3
The convulsion of political change in America, particularly on the right, is the by product of Americans essentially not believing in Democracy anymore. Many doubt the power of voting, disregarded as useless and fake. Many would rather powerful authority instead of civil law enforcement. Many fear the invasion of the homogenous non-cosmopolitan cultures and will allow any oppressive enforcement of order to prevent further decline in their isolated centers. They rely on nefarious, opportunistic, alleged religious leaders for guidance and fail to see their leaders' and their own corrupted moral compasses that nurtures elitism, fear and bigotry. All their extremist reactions to a world they see as in disorder ever becoming unchristian and uncivilized, will arise as approved to protect their fearful values, without reasoning, without truthful judgment, without honest understanding. Emotion drives the movement down the road to barbarism and hate. Mr Trump is their Montebank of Hate.
5
Your tax dollars at work. Is the building of these Trump camps a part of his trillion dollar infrastructure plan?
11
To ridicule Trump at this time is probably a waste of time, as mentioned in this column. Clearly, he's a disaster. As regards the matter of immigration policy, it seems the country is so polarized into two camps striving to make their point about being "right" and "moral" that for each it comes down to being merely and mindlessly the opposite in position to the other side. As a question for national conversation, it would be helpful to address without emotion and political ambition the question, What's wrong with open immigration? Isn't there enough room, for example? Or, if some who would be admitted are unable to care for themselves, is social support for them too limited? What? And, what might be the over-riding considerations to suspend such restrictions? With the national divide we seem to have presently, not only are we getting nowhere but more and more damage is being done in a new form of civil war. As for context, it may be worth recalling that this land (most of it, anyway) was stolen from native inhabitants. That moral matter somehow doesn't seem to get much attention.
4
Open borders is a Libertarian shibboleth that would work only with a stable global population.
2
For the umpty-umpth time: No. One. Is. Proposing. Open. Borders. Democrats have not suggested "open immigration" -- except in Fox land where they freely invent lies about what Democrats want. Trump's actions are nakedly racist and gratuitously cruel and indifferent to human lives. Each year, an estimated 200,000 Canadians and Europeans arrive on temporary visas and never leave. Where is the outcry from the "protect our borders!" crowd? Why aren't our white "illegals" in shackles -- denied due process -- interned in harsh remote internment camps -- their children dragged from their arms -- placed indefinitely in ad hoc unlicensed shelters -- with no parental contact or plans to reunite them -- and moved in darkess to undisclosed sites -- thousands of miles away -- closed to visitors and inspectors -- with no word at all to their parents...why are only poor Latinos fleeing violence subjected to this? We are violating OUR OWN LAWS about asylum seekers. Only a huge outcry from all over the country ended the needless, damaging separations. My father escaped the Nazis -- and this is the kind of thing they did before the death camps began. There is no calm discussion or moral justification for this wholesale mistreatment of powerless, desperate families. None. When it ends, maybe we can talk policy.
5
You forgot to mention that this stirring up of nationalism is the bedrock of Putin's doctrine and strategy aimed at the unraveling of the Western alliance of democracies. Trump is simply Putin's Trojan Horse in the heart of America.
12
Roger, I have completed my 21 days in the Burlington VT area, and soon 5 days in Albany. During the 21 in VT, I celebrated in conversations and at my blog the best of my America as experienced daily, the people, the mountains, forests, lakes and the music and art in that region.
I avoided reading, mentioning, or writing about Trump. Today your column brings me back from the fantasy world I have been living in and quite specifically to the potential Trump has as an American Putin, to do as Putin did, inflict extraordinary damage on the Europe I have lived in for the past 22 years. The links between Swedish and American neo-Nazis and the eastern bloc are strong, reminiscent of the links between Hitler and Herman Lundborg, founder of the Swedish Institute for Race Biology.
Today, first here and then in my blog I must return to the reality of even pre-Trump America: Failed infrastructure, persistent commitment to fossil fuels, belief that there is the racial order preserved by the USCB system for classifying us in which self-selected “whites-by-law” are at the top, medical care for the rich and richer.
I see no sign from the Democratic Party that it is can present a program before November 6 that could lead to the first check on Trump-Putin in the form of a Congress for a New America. Without that Congress, all that will be left will be some good people and natural, intellectual, and cultural worlds hanging on for dear life.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen USA SE
9
The US is now firmly embarked on a possible path toward authoritarianism. This is not an inevitable outcome, but Trump and his co-conspirators are working very hard to make it a reality. If the American people reject this path in November, or in 2020, there is a significant likelihood that Trump will reject the results of the vote. Then, the key factor in determining the outcome will be the reaction of police officers and military personel around the country. There are 800,000 sworn police officers in the country. Trump has been courting them, mimicking their values, embracing their world view, and playing on their worst fears of a society where they will lose control and be overrun by an tsunami of criminals and antifa protestors. A large number of these police officers are already overt and eager Trump supporters, and they may play a key role in helping Trump declare himself 'President for Life'. The same is true of the military which Trump has praised and richly rewarded with his budget proposals. If things turn nasty, the loyalty of these two groups to the people and to the Constitution will determine the outcome. Right now, it does not look very promising. Be afraid. Be very very afraid!
5
I am not a fan of Donald Trump, nor am I in favor of separating children from their parents if they are arrested for trying to enter the country illegally. But in the hysterical atmosphere that surrounds the issue of "immigration", we must never lose sight of the CRITICAL distinction between legal and illegal immigration. The difference is akin to giving someone a gift, versus having someone break into your house and steal that item.
Climate change, corruption, and over-population are making conditions more and more intolerable in many parts of the world. Millions, perhaps billions, of people see North America and Western Europe as a lifeboat, a way to survive. But an over-loaded lifeboat is in grave danger of sinking. We must maintain our borders, and have an orderly, merit-based vetting system to determine who gets in and who does not. If we cease to enforce our immigration laws, and our borders, we will cease to exist as a nation.
5
As well as demonizing immigrants as threats to the societies who buy in to the terrorizing rhetoric, it is allowing hate to flourish. The underbelly is now fully exposed and thriving in a new age of intolerance.
As an observer, the loudest voice of course is Trump, he has mastered and honed his ability to divide and conquer. The reasonable voices are not winning this, so where does this all lead? I could not take a full 8 years of this, it is soul-destroying.
I live in a country where there are different points of view politically, but we never lose sight of our common values, because we are one country united. There will always be clashes, but we work them out, we listen and now pray this never happens to our country. We know the signs, we watch every day to check ourselves, to ensure we stand strong together as a nation.
The fear for me is not the immigrants, (most fleeing corrupt, dangerous governments and societies), no, my fear is the like-minded Trump followers, and the followers of his dictatorial counterparts around the world. Vote.
7
The US accepts about 1 million immigrants every year, even though we are already over crowded. And that 1 million number does not count illegal immigrants, btw. Canada accepts about 300k, a MUCH smaller number, even though Canada has much more open land.
1
Xenophobia will not save us from ourselves. Our public education and health care systems are deteriorating, we are not effectively retraining workers in light of the rise of automation and globalization, and we do not begin to discuss the impending need for a universal basic income.
The Trump administration's current stance with immigration is appalling. Immigrants are essential to any country for the vigor, hard work, and diversity they bring with them.
When the dust clears from our foray into the world of Trump -- and it will clear, eventually -- we will have lost externally with immigrants and internally with our infrastructure, both tangibly and intangibly.
Indeed, we will never be the same again, and we may never recover.
5
Before demonizing the African migrants Italy was rescuing them at sea. Italy has absorbed about 700,000. It has reached saturation point. As a cab driver in Milan said to me, "There are not enough jobs for Italians. Why do they come here? " Most of Africa's billions of people would head to Europe if allowed. Bring jobs to Africa and make birth control readily available. The US needs some migrant workers: we rely on Mexicans to plant and harvest our crops. Migrants have enriched the U.S. That has yet to have happened in Europe, but possibly will in another decade.
7
Once upon a time there was much hand wringing and bourgeois horror about a McDonald’s opening in Paris and kids in Africa being spotted wearing Nike and Jim Beam t-shirts. Moscow lost its grip when young Muscovites were suddenly willing to spend hundreds of dollars on American blue jeans and black market rock and roll at a time when Russian housewives were lining up for toilet paper. This relentless cultural exchange was “the march of the monoculture,” the West, and specifically America, erasing the earth’s cultures, and it was vilified for it. Now Western culture is retreating behind moats and planning its defenses. Unless one has been paying very close attention for 50 years, it’s easy to miss the layers of hypocrisy and double-standards that muddy the process of valuing all cultures, but value them we must because we don’t have any one model suitable to replace them all. Certainly Trump has taught us that. We must work on seamless integration and willful assimilation because it is our only hope on this shrinking landmass.
2
Given the historical fate of Jews in xenophobic countries in the past, Roger Cohen should drop the use of the term "Judeo-Christian." In that formulation, "Judeo" is valuable only as a precursor to "Christian," not on its own. The term came into use precisely to express the integration of the Other over the course of the mid-20th century. As that commitment to inclusion collapses, let's be clear that America's openness to Jews still depends on our theological usefulness, particularly to evangelical Protestants.
3
Interesting column to compare Orban to Trump in their stands against illegal immigrations/immigrants. Hungary however had a more difficult time in the last big war, WWII, and suffered tremendous damage by being caught in the cross-fires and cross-lines of the Axis powers. They'd already lost 2/3rds of their territory as a result of being on the wrong side in WWI. With the end of the wall between the two Germanys, one Germany now w/Merkel at the helm has a delicate line to walk between their past and present. Are we in the same situation? We're not.
2
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. To all of Mr. Cohen's points.
But the question remains, what can be done about this situation?
It does not seem as if the standard democratic tactics of argument, persuasion, and voting are effective in turning back this tide, as they are being used by a group of decent people, within a certain set of rules, against a group of indecent people for whom there are no rules, other than to grasp and maintain power.
Attempt argument, and the indecent argue with completely made up "alternative facts". Attempt persuasion, and the indecent reject any sort of shared reality starting point, and denigrate those who cannot see their obvious righteousness. Attempt voting, and the indecent gerrymander, bribe, and suppress the votes of those who might not agree with them.
This, of course, is what happened in Germany and Japan last century. It's happening in a number of places now, including here.
And, the sad truth--Germany and Japan did not voluntarily give up the process of trying to make a world of "only us". They had to be smacked down--hard. 100 million people, or more, lost lives in the process. Hundreds of millions more had lives permanently disrupted.
Is that where we are headed? Is the only thing that will ultimately check this process, the only thing that will be understood by the indecent, total war and the death and destruction it will bring? Is this the way the world ends?
I have to say I'm not optimistic.
16
If you look at the statistics, there isn't a "wave" of illegal immigration. Numbers are significantly down since 2000.
The solution lies more in attacking the demand side of the immigration equation than the supply. I'll believe Americans are serious about real immigration reform when we start throwing employers in prison for hiring illegals.
It's dramatic and satisfying for anti immigration advocates and Trump supporters to see immigrants incarcerated, but it would warm my heart to see CEO's and owners thrown in prison for violating "the rule of law."
3
In 1886 the Statue of Liberty proclaimed "Give us..."and by enlarge the since 1932 a safety net has helped those in need.
In Nevada the voting ballots are in English and Spanish and the
US Social Security Administration follows the same two language policy.
Now people are gaming the system and have been for years. As dehumanizing as it sounds someone has to enforce the rules. The media existing in a bubble around Madison Ave and the blocks surrounding Zabar's on the Westside with the rest of the country. Not true. There is another country out there guys go live it.
Be part of the solution.
2
"To ridicule Trump will achieve little absent a compelling social and economic alternative that addresses anxiety. The Democratic Party, for now, is nowhere near that". The foregoing is a sensible quote from the article. But pundits like Cohen is not helpful. He is not helping to reduce people's anxiety. He is exasperating it. When pundits and democrats call Trump, a President elected by the people who had anxiety, a Nazi and racist, it is not helpful. Trump and his supporters want to stop illegal immigration, change the immigration system, stop Islamic terrorists coming to America, destroy violent gangs, human traffickers, and drug dealers, reduce crime, protect American culture and way of life, protect American workers from unfair trade deals, and stop others taking advantage of American generosity. Calling these people, Nazis, racists, Islamophobic, idiots, deplorables and nationalists is not helpful. It is counter productive.
8
It is always helpful to speak the truth. Without that we are truly lost.
1
Our current administration's response to immigration is a shallow, knee-jerk reaction. It's a defensive posture, with an artificial, inflated idea of the threats these immigrant pose. It's a response that's mirrored throughout human history, and it reached a high tide when it tore Europe apart this last century. It's nothing new; thousands of American lives have been lost fighting against proponents of such suppression and while it's difficult to implement solutions to the problems of immigration, the problems arising from blunt authoritarian actions are even more difficult to resolve.
More difficult, more expensive, more violent, more long-term and more costly in human lives.
All [People] are created equal.
They deserve complete, empathetic consideration.
Whatever you want to call them.
4
There isn't an honest bone in Trump's interest-conflicted body.
2
Trump doesn’t care about immigrants or aliens or anyone else except DJT, and he will say and do anything to create a Red Wave to avoid impeachment after the midterms. His latest ploy to MAHA (make America hate again) is to parade and praise the “angel families” who, while deserving of sympathy for their loss, are, to Trump, just another prop. Compare Trump’s treatment of “angel families” now with how he treated “gold star families” in 2016.
23
All of them just want to their countries to stay culturally calibrated, nothing wrong with that.
1,000,000 people that don't speak the language or have any skills?
No thanks. That's why we elected trump
5
"Culturally calibrated?" Interesting choice of words. So how would you characterize a place like Queens, NY? It's composed of the most diverse matrix of DNA in the world, with literally hundreds of "cultures" commingled in a relatively small area.
Care to enlighten us about calibrating culture, professor?
6
I would very much appreciate hearing about your immigrant forbearers. What language and skills did they have when they arrived?
My father didn’t speak English when he arrived in 1913 nor did my mothers parents when they arrived sometime earlier from Odessa.
Yet they had 3 children all of whom speak English. One became a successful businessman, one an elementary school teacher and one a lawyer (me). The three then had 8 children all of whom speak English, have been very successful and contribute to this country. Among the 8, 3 lawyers, 1 teacher, 1 nurse, 1 engineer, and 2 successful businessmen ( one of whom heads the commercial division of one the largest banks in the US). Many of my parents issue have made significant contributions as well in their volunteer work to help others and promote understanding.
You, sir, need to rethink your opinions.
6
There, there.
1,000,000 people who learn the language and work their tails off.
Sounds like 1,000,000 Americans to me.
2
Why is the public in general and Republicans specifically so indifferent to political moves that are so transparently totalitarian is beyond me. Trump and his European copy cats are checking off all the totalitarian boxes---fake news, demonizing the other, perpetuating the big lie. And there is no subtly to these moves: Trump is up close a personal about his intentions for this country---he would like to be President for life. In college I did read Hannah Arendt's, Origins of Totalitarianism, and thought a lot about how an educated public, like Germany, could permit the rantings of a right wing thug to take over the country---Sadly, I'm seeing this same scenario played out in real time in this country.
38
Your sneering at Hillary and Obama helped elect trump. Having learned nothing you now denigrate the Democratic party. So wringing your hands you help push the gop and trump to more power.
7
George Soros uses his enormous wealth to influence politics in the US and all over the world. He doesn’t try to hide that fact. That is his right and he should spend it wherever and whenever he pleases. He is spending large amounts of money in Hungary, a small country of less than 10 million people to essentially buy the kind of government he wants. Roger Cohen thinks this is OK. How is this different than Russian meddling in US elections? Why do Americans think Russian election influencing is bad while Soros does the same in Hungary. There’s a glaring contradiction here.
7
Padraig....you already stated one difference.
Soros - who is Hungarian by birth - is doing it out in the open...and Hungary's campaign finance laws did not prohibit Soros' Hungarian spending, although Viktor Orbán and his Whites R Us party just passed the 'Stop Soros' law this week to muzzle Soros.
If Putin and the Kremlin did things out in the open, then it would have been common knowledge to all American voters throughout 2016 that the Kremlin and Putin were Trump 2016 campaign co-managers and it's likely Hillary Clinton would have been elected given Trump's Treasonous campaign against American democracy.
Fascism and tyranny do not end well, Padraig.
61
Padraig--Then, you must feel exactly the same about Edelson, the Kochs, and the Mercers, who bought the U.S. presidency, and congress, yes? At least, George Soros is an humanitarian, and is interested in helping people, and doing good things for them.
31
Padraig--Then, you must feel exactly the same about Edelson, the Kochs, and the Mercers, who bought the U.S. presidency, and congress, yes? At least, George Soros is a humanitarian, who wants to help people make their lives better, and uses his great fortune to accomplish that goal. An laudable activity for a Holocaust survivor. Are you one of those people who thinks its okay if you get what you want, but not okay if you don't. (Just like the so-called "rigged" election." Not rigged, if he won.) Different rules for you, and your comrades, right?
10
"a compelling social and economic alternative that addresses anxiety. The Democratic Party, for now, is nowhere near that."
I am getting completely fed up with this uninformed repetitive talking point.
The Democrats have detailed policy proposals to address our economic challenges, but have consistently been blocked by Republican obstruction, diversion, and a media that ignores them, expecting simple-minded sound bites instead of thoughtful solutions to complex challenges.
Here are some links to constructive proposals:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?440922-1/house-democrats-unveil-infrastruc...
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/
https://www.democrats.org/party-platform
https://www.americanprogress.org/about/our-issues/
24
On the dangers of Trump,Cohen has consistently been the canary in the coal mine. Unlike most Americans, Cohen has seen and experienced ruthless authoritarianism around the world, with the most virulent strains emerging from democratic (albeit tainted) elections. In that context, Trump is just the latest epidemic.
16
Trump’s focus is not “immigrants” but illegal aliens. It’s true that cultural warriors on the congressional far-right seek to reduce the numbers of lawful immigrants, as well, but the truth is that this stance likely won’t fly since the resistance to it is quite intense among American businesses, that need the skills – and has been high for decades. Among lawful immigrants, the U.S. granted Lawful Permanent Residence (LPR) to 1,031,031 people in fiscal 2015 (2015-2016 – the latest year for which I was able to find certain numbers). And that cohort introduces immense diversity, as only 11.1% of them now come from Europe. Of that number, about 679,000 came in legally to reunite families (and here the Hispanic population below our southern border provided a large number) while about 144,000 came in for purposes of employment; and those proportions Congress and presumably Trump also wish to change – they wish to focus less on family reunification and more on skills. About 152,000 of the overall number were refugees and asylees.
Wikipedia, using various sources, estimates that there are about 500,000 illegal border crossings into the U.S. each year that keep ICE busy, particularly busy lately given Trump’s “zero tolerance“ policy, inaugurated this year. There are about 11.7 million people of undocumented status living in the U.S., comprising about 3.5% of the U.S. population. Now, Roger clearly …
6
… has an ideological axe to grind, but the dry facts simply don’t support the demonization. We have one of the most active and open immigration processes on Earth, that brings in large numbers of people year-in, year-out, quite legally and coming almost entirely from NON-white societies. Overwhelmingly, that immigration already currently consists of efforts to re-unite families, and a large part of that already comes from the societies to our south. Let Europeans defend their own policies with regard to legal immigrants, but they’re not anything like as exclusionary as he suggests.
Roger’s language is intended to incite in aid of the ideological objective of “open borders”: words such as “terrorists” and “criminals” are not applied to “immigrants” but to gate-crashers, to illegal aliens, certainly here but in most parts of Europe, as well. Immigrants here are welcomed and form an important part of our society. Illegal aliens make a mockery of our laws, severely complicate the security of our borders, and seek advantages over those who fill out forms, obtain visas, and with substantial effort over years legitimately become part of us.
Roger and his fellow “open borders” travelers have lost this argument at home and increasingly in Europe, as well. Based on the numbers here, it’s only “racism” and “xenophobia” as fright-images in a no-holds-barred ideological fight to eliminate borders and the coherence of distinct cultures that those borders legitimately protect.
3
Are you in denial of Trump's effort to radically cut back legal immigration too, Richard? I find you every bit as dishonest as Trump himself.
10
Steve:
You didn't read the comment, did you? I acknowledged excessive desire on the part of far-right conservatives to lower legal immigration, but opined that it wouldn't fly in the teeth of resistance from business.
Who knows what TRUMP actually believes? He's flogging views that he believes a base he needs through November of 2020 responds to.
A two term Trump presidency would be like great whites in swimming pools.
10
It's imperative that the United States never again see a race-baiting, white nationalist in our White House. We can start by taking back Congress and being one step closer to putting "Putin's Puppet" in our rearview mirror. He is a national embarrassment and disgrace.
42
Well said. We have a professional liar in the oval Office, with no compunction in distracting us from his venomous tongue, blaming others for his odious dictates, based on 'fear, hate and division'. This immature and irresponsible thug must be stopped before he destroys this democracy and our trust in each other. Dehumanizing immigrants before he 'shoots them down' is an outrage. Trump's rampage is an abomination. He must be stopped. Just discount the republicans, cowards and hypocrites all.
30
Just to be CLEAR...Trump does not CARE about his base. They are a means to an end. Not sure who owns him, but it surely is not the American people. As he keeps spewing his hate, I keep telling myself that the person hurt most by his rhetoric, in the end, will be himself. He won’t own it and he won’t change, but he will eventually crawl back into his hole.
19
Diana--In fact, he actually ENJOYS watching people suffer. This comes from the vicious, vindictive, self-dealing side of his incredibly sick personality. Current suffering, by innocent asylum seekers, lifted the spirits of the White House staff, and their glorious leader. They were absolutely ebullient, and viewed the proceedings as some kind of "victory."
2
The Nazis originally planned to deport Jews, but later decided to slaughter them. Trump, Orban, and their ilk now say they want to deport immigrants. What will they want next?
It's a slippery slope.
25
This commentary and several of the letters following it, correctly see the catastrophe ahead for western democratic countries if the Trump-Russia collusion keeps working to destroy the Atlantic Alliance.
Trump has a new pal in Orban of Hungary and his old pal, Steve Bannon is moving around Europe trying to build a racist and nationalist coalition.
Putin has to be smiling these days.
37
Thnk you, Mr. Cohen.
Where is the Democrat leadership? Do they have no message OR is the Dem’s message so drowned out by the narcissist daily spectacle ‘the Oligarch Show’, that we don’t hear it?
10
I guess we have to count our (small) blessings.
As children were being ripped from their parents and taken away, and Trump continued blasting Democrats for the "legal loophole" that made this outcome inescapable, it occurred to me: they've got Gina Haspel at the CIA now. And Trump always said he loved waterboarding.
So how long would we really have to wait before the evil triumvirate (Trump, Sessions, Miller) changed policy to involve waterboarding immigrant parents while their children are forced to watch?
And what confession would be sought by such torture? Isn't it obvious? That these immigrants came here to murder our men and children, rape our women, steal our jobs, or.....the most heinous thought of all...steal our welfare benefits! Ummm.....what welfare benefits? If they're seeking THAT, they REALLY picked the wrong country. And if they're seeking the chance to pursue the American Dream, they arrived a couple of years too late.
8
I supported Donald Trump back in 2016 and I will vote for him again in 2020. I am unabashedly a Republican and make no apologies. I am also educated with an advanced degree.
Tonight on television there were three mothers called angel moms whose sons were killed by illegal immigrants who had no right being in our country. These women spoke of the fact that they will never see their sons again. They were not even given the opportunity to say good bye. It was positively heartbreaking and it could have been avoided if these criminals had never been allowed entry into the US.
People are complaining about the temporary separation of children from their parents. What about the permanent separation of these mothers and fathers from their innocent children who are gone forever. Where is our sympathy for them. Through no fault of their own, these innocent victims were ruthlessly killed.
These illegals made a choice to come here when they were strongly advised not to do so. They came in droves and now we are seeing the results of this massive illegal immigration. Most of those coming are lawful decent people but you must have positive proof they are not coming here to destroy our country. We cannot have open borders like the liberals
are promoting. We must protect our citizens from the criminal element who also want to cross illegally into our country. We are a very generous nation and help whenever we can but we must think of Americans safety first.
4
The "choice" they made to come here, was a choice between being killed by guns trafficked thanks to you Republicans and your NRA/Russian gun-profiteering policies that enable gun running from Texas gun shows down to gangs in Central America. About 200,000 guns each year are smuggled across the border
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-link-between-americas-lax-g...
If Republicans cared about human beings, rather than talking points, they would use the billions (now spent to jail good people (who only aspire to work here and contribute to our communities) and their children, and $$$ snatching and jailing law abiding workers (like the pizza delivery man) away from their families) instead to stop gun running south and drug smuggling north (drugs bought by willing clients in the US, many of them Republicans)
24
You have conveniently missed the carnage your government has wrought overseas for the past 17 years, the millions of innocents killed by the United States of America in the middle east, in our endless war there.
But yeah, of course your focus on 3 people tragically killed in this country is reasonable---not.
India, or Hindustan as it was known, was enriched by absorbing invasive cultures from Greece, the Huns, the Persians, Mohammedans, and even the English who they had to fight off because of economic enslavement.
The ultimate lesson of the great Hindu political epic from more than 3000 years ago, the Mahabharata - including the Bhagvad Gita and the war between the Pandus and the Kauravs (today's Democrats and Republicans) - admonishes all civilizations to think of all the children of the world as one's own.
5
This article makes a really important observation. Trump, and Trumpism, are not some peculiarly American aberration. They are part of a wider retreat from the kind of liberal democratic values that characterised the west's response to the rise of Nazism and Fascism in the 1930s.
Orban is unashamedly racist and anti-semitic. He uses the same techniques as Trump to inflame hatred of foreigners by cloaking his xenophobia in the language of an anti-terrorist crusade. Ironic when Hungary, of all the EU nations, has one of the smallest immigrant communities relative to population.
More worrying is Italy. Unlike Germany, no real concerted national effort was made after WW2 to acknowledge and exorcise its fascist past, and a wide streak of authoritarianism and racism was allowed to persist. It didn't get much traction while there was growth and increasing prosperity, but was resuscitated by the aftermath of the crash in 2008, coupled with the migration crisis precipitated by the Syrian war and collapse of Libya (another triumph of western foreign policy).
We all, on both sides of the pond, need to understand that referring to people of other races as criminals, as vermin, as an infestation, is where Hitler started. In the 1920s he too was as absurd a figure as Trump, just as obviously too ignorant and clownish to pose a real threat. So they thought.
28
Wow! I would have named. This article “A Case Against Trump”’. It’s pure malarkey!
4
The only wave of violent, terrorizing immigrants threatening America consisted of white people in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
14
What do you expect from a white supremacist who has a personal preference for dictatorships? He constantly praises Putin and other dictators from around the world while largely ignoring our long-term European allies who share our values of freedom and justice and the inherent sanctity and dignity of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
10
The Make America Great/White Again forces may FEEL better because of Mr. Trump's bombast but they will not BE better for it. Just ask soybean or lobster or cranberry farmers if they are any better now because of Mr. Trump's "deals".
Furthermore, a larger and larger plurality of our citizens are persons of color. In many parts of this country mosques flourish; they are not unicorns but anchors for their communities of faith. If I were a citizen named Hernandez or Gonzalez or Rodriguez and lived anywhere near our southern border, checkpoints for CBP officers would give me the creeps.
Claiming hegemony for one race or one class or one locale only squelches our ability to work together, diverts our time, energy and resources to non-productive ends and caps our productivity as a nation well below its true or historical potential.
There's a good reason glass for doors, car windows and windshields are required to be tempered. If we break one of these, we produce cubes of less dangerous glass instead of lethal shards which can cut us to ribbons.
We need some way to "temper" the way we see the world and people around us. Night parades with Tiki torches and chants of "You/Jews will not replace us!" worked poorly in the 1930's and 1940's and will not serve us well today either.
6
Articles such as this remind us of why Trump was elected, and why he will be re-elected if he decides to run again.
The blatant anti-Americanism of the globalists on the far left is repackaged by writers like Cohen as some sort of patriotism. Respect for individual rights becomes un-American. Free speech is re-defined as hate whenever it does not suit the delicate sensibilities of the progressive left. Enforcing existing laws is re-characterized as terrorism. Placing the needs of American citizens ahead of our trade partners is re-invented to be terrorism.
The cocktail-circuit statist-collectivist elitists will never change their position, to be sure. They are playing a long game a la their European socialist ideological founders. Their goal is to overturn this unique repoublic and turn it inot another Euro-disaster. And, they will continue to find outlets like the NY Times, which long ago gave up all pretense of objectivity in reporting and opinion.
It is good. They should move even further left.
That way, they will be marginalized in the polls for decades to come.
6
We will surely need a truth commission someday, after all the lies, gas-lighting and corruption.
This is a shared American nightmare that will keep the therapists busy for decades ahead.
7
As a European and strong EU supporter it angers me to see Trump supporters like Steve Bannon coming to Europe and spread their populist propaganda together with Russia in order to split and weaken Europe. Stay home Mr. Bannon and Mr. Trump.
10
An unfortunate part of human nature is a tendency to categorize "us" or "them." Wariness of those seen as outsiders is unique to no people, place or time. But the approach of those in power does make a difference. Good leaders ask us to build bridges and remind us that we are all just people. Bad leaders emphasize divisions. The most vile leaders demonize others.
From demonizing, it is but a small step to dehumanizing. And if a group has been dehumanized, there is no end to what cruelty can befall them. Europe has experienced that on a massive scale. That continent was the site of unimaginable evil being inflicted on human beings. That was only last century. People who lived through it are still among us. Europeans should know better than to mainstream prejudice. And yet...
The United States has participated in truly villainous treatment of groups, too. From the slaughter of native people, to the horrors of slavery, to the rejection of certain immigrants, to codified racism, America hardly has clean hands. But there was a sense of trying to look forward, a belief in never hosting what Nazi Germany did, a push to making this country rise above the darkness of the past. And yet...
Fearmongering over outsiders is being promoted in both Europe and the US today. Xenophobia leads to bigotry; bigotry turns into hate. And there is no end of the evil forms into which hate manifests. There is no excuse for manipulating anxieties over other people. It won't end well.
6
Why does Trump constantly trash our system of government and attack our most important allies? Why has he never uttered an unkind word about Vladimir Putin? Why all the lies about contacts between his campaign and Russia, and the assaults upon the FBI and our intelligence professionals?
It all defies belief unless Trump is in fact acting as an agent of Russia and is under the control of Putin. Then it all makes perfect sense.
7
"Eighteen months into a presidency during which Trump has shown contempt for the truth, Republican support for him is overwhelming."
People need to read that sentence closely and let it sink in. The Republican party has not only become the cult of Trump, they are the party of liars, and they are just fine with that.
This is how enlightened civilization dies.
17
The other day the Times actually had an opinion piece which touched on the third rail of illegal immigration for American democrats like Mr. Cohen. It looked at the German experience and questioned how do Germans deal with the fact that their open door policy led to some German women being raped and assaulted.
The position of Trump and most Republicans remains that illegal immigration brings unacceptable costs to some American citizens in the form of murder, rape, child abuse and crime/gang activity not to mention the strain on public health services. This DOES NOT mean all illegals are bad but honestly deals with the fact that there are bad people who come into the country who shouldn't be here and already underfunded public services are strained further by the illegal population. Cohen and most democrats won't deal with the obvious collateral damage some US citizens suffer for their desire for open borders - until they honestly do and have a solution, Trump and the GOP can beat them over the head with the fact the liberals support illegals over American citizens.
3
Given that immigrants have a lower crime rate than American-born residents, people ought to be embracing immigrants. Yes, there are bad apples in any group, but there are more bad apples right here in the US and immigrants help to dilute them.
Trump only focuses on negative aspects of immigration. He says refugees are animals, criminals, etc. What about immigrants who become doctors, professors, etc.? No word from Trump.
9
Trump is simply a mendacious demagogue who uses the scapegoating of immigrants and a simplistic nationalistic economic agenda to stoke the angry and hateful sentiments of his base voters. Yet he also subscribes to or tolerates the extreme right Republican doctrine of tax cuts for the rich and corporations, deregulation of environmental, financial, climate rules, and budget cuts to the social programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, and Social Security. This agenda harms the economic interests of his base, but they overlook this in their ignorance and their hatred of liberals and minorities.
He also appeals to the Religious Right Evangelicals by
favoring their agenda of a religious state that is anti-abortion, anti-gay, and is for ending the separation of church and state.
To Trump it is all PR and facts and analysis are unimportant compared to spewing his slogans, lies, and propaganda about immigrants and his opponents.
In this he strongly resembles the odious Fascist leaders of the 1930s and the right wing nationalistic European demagogues of today. The Democrats should affirm a vision of Hope and Inclusion, with plans to invest in infrastructure, universal healthcare, jobs of the future, and leadership in a global world. They should reject the negative American carnage vision and tell Americans not to fear the future but to welcome the challenges with the American ingenuity characteristic of America at its best!
8
You only hear daily about the uneducated desperate folks who find away to get into the country. But hardly ever hear why the smart employers have not been arrested daily and put in jail.
3
I have no doubt that my fellow American citizens will right the ship of state by dislodging Republican's control of Congress in the mid terms. We now know what we are dealing with, i.e., a psychopath who is as dangerous an individual as has ever cross the threshold of the White House and held the reins of power, and a Republican Party in Congress that is enabling his ongoing offenses.
3
Attacking immigrants is a cheap political strategy employed by politicians lacking intelligence and principles.
6
The Times just loves throwing the word "Nationalist" around. In the past few months I read a lot about "Christian Nationalism" and "European Nationalism". Neither phrase means anything, because Christianity and Europe are not nations. "Nationalism" seems to be a code word for "fanatic" or something.
1
Aren't Hungary, Poland, and Italy "chithole " countries?
Trump’s stats on German crime were not just “wrong.” They were, to use Hannah Arendt’s term, another of his “big lies” and used by him to justify his racist policies toward immigrants. It is a mistake to use euphemisms. Significantly, when Arendt used that term, it was in her seminal work, “The Origins of Totalitarianism” which is as relevant today as when it was written.
5
Dear Mr. Cohen:
We in México, are living the unexplicable situation created by your White house leader. Why inexplicable, easy, there is a very clear, solution toward the exagerated position, the problem of 11 million ilegal immigrants can and will be solved, by just a litle consideration . Ask any one of your 50 states to accomodate that amount of people. Spread them with justice. Remember the mexican, laborers are without doubt excellent workeers,. Once educated and wisley situated, ALL will be self corrected, will offer tax providers and many , many unforseen adventages. , regards.
4
Ironically, you have expressed some very good wisdom. I have met a good many Mexican workers and my experience with them has shown them to be very hard working and friendly folks. These are very family oriented people. Yes, there may be the occasional bad apple but is that not part of the human equation? It is tragic that we do not have a guest worker program that would accommodate them legally. They are needed here as experience shows clearly.
7
I have yet to see anything to like or respect about Trump.
12
I'm not interested in cataloging the evils of Trump. He has parallels in other countries (Russia, North Korea, Turkey, and in history: Iraq, Cambodia, and yes, Nazi Germany).
What worries me about the future of America is "Republicans." I place the name in quotes because they are not the Party of Lincoln, they are not even the party of Eisenhower.
Recently the term "tribalism" has been used to help explain how our populace is divided; not so much along national policy differences, but along labels of Democrat and "Republican" and the vilification of the other. But I think we must be honest here; accusing both parties of tribalism to explain our national crisis is a false equivalence.
"Republicans" have grasped and held power not by winning elections in an open, democratic way, but by manipulating our elections, engaging in hostile vilification of political opponents and disregarding norms, values, traditions, institutions, even the Constitution itself.
They began that path with Ronald Reagan and they moved steadily lower and more egregious in their words and actions. They waged a vendetta against President Clinton well before his lies about taking advantage of Ms. Lewinsky. They disrespected and obstructed President Obama at every turn. Now they have Trump whom they worship. They are a cult.
But as Mr. Cohen points out, Democrats are no where near having an answer to the cult-worshiping "Republicans" and their new god. Can they ever be saved? Can we save America?
27
I see how the these racist based conspiracy theories are like an addiction to a lot of people. Trump was a minor celebrity and seen as a person who exaggerated his wealth in New York. The change was when Trump became part of the birther movement, about Obama not being born in Hawaii, which was totally false. From that point on Trump was actively on the side of racists.
This racist themed campaign appealed to the white working class in the Midwest. Lot of people are into this kind of misguided thinking for many reasons. I am telling you not a single person in New York who knows Trump is a self promoter bought his act. II don't think he could of gotten elected Mayor of New York with how people thought of Trump. He could get elected president where people didn't know him as well. Plus Russian influence.
This might be a untoward thing to say but I believe like Tom Arnold that Trump is an illegitimate president because of the Russian help. Clinton said several weeks ago that if there was a democratic Congress he would be in the process of impeachment. And I believe that Trump knowingly worked with the Russians to win. He is a liar and grifter and surrounds himself with other racists.
Trump is the King pin egging all these people on emboldening the racists in Europe too. Trump going with the racist birther movement brought us here, to making immigration a scapegoat. Plus of course Trump knew about the Stormy Daniel payment duh do we really believe Trump didn't know.
16
What if most citizens in western countries don't WANT to dissolve their borders? Do their wishes matter?
2
I voted for President Trump in 2016 and will vote for him again in 2020. I do think he will be reelected as many of us are very satisfied with the way he is running our country. We may not always agree with his style of manner but we definitely agree with his policies. Stopping those from crossing into our country illegally on a daily basis is one of those policies in which we strongly agree. Other presidents did not do anything to stop the flow of illegals but looked the other way. Here we have a president who not only talked about stopping illegal immigration but is actually taking action. How refreshing.
What is America supposed to do? Allow every single human being who wants to come here instant entry without any document or proof they are who they say they are? That is a bit dangerous don't you think. Some of those coming could be human or drug traffickers. They could be common criminals running from their own country's law enforcement, We owe it to our citizens to protect them and know at least s little bit why these people want entry. Other countries do not let immigrants just walk over their borders haphazardly. Why should America.
We want immigrants to come here. We are a nation of immigrants from many different countries. Is it too much to want to make sure these people are coming for the right reasons and not to create mischief? We are a very generous and wonderful country but we must protect our citizens from those who might do serious harm.
3
The absolute take away point from this beautifully incisive column is this: voters in Europe and here do have legitimate issues and fears not being addressed by elective officials. You go through that laundry list in your piece.
You also correctly excoriate our own loyal opposition party for not addressing the poisonous fruits of globalization and the real issues of wage stagnation, and economic displacement. You note that there are vast numbers of displaced persons and migrants in our world and the countries to which they seek admission have flubbed any coherent immigration policy.
We write off voters in Europe and here as all foaming at the mouth bigots and haters (though some fit that role) to our peril. Many are simply frightened by vast change and economic challenge. These issues need to be first acknowledged, and then addressed. These issues are the rocket fuel giving the nationalists their boost. As long as the hard left here and across the pond prefers to sneer, and assume the mantle of moral superiority instead of problem solver, the Orbans and Trumps will prosper to our destruction.
1
In response to the destruction of our democracy by the Republicans I often think of finding a "bolt hole," some place safe to escape to. It now seems that Europe is not that place. Maybe Canada.
1
The only people who can stop the evil that is being wrecked upon us by Trump and other dictators is to stand together and continue to fight that evil from spreading. It used to be that Americans were known for this and this is what gave courage to citizens of other countries. Now these countries look at our leaders and some of our citizens in disgust, as they should.
This country has two options going for it:
The Mueller investigation concludes that Trump et.al. are prosecuted for crimes against the country and that the voters turn out in huge number to right The Ship of State by voting out the Republican Party.
Maybe then the same will happen in other countries
"All it takes for evil to take over is for good people to do nothing"to paraphrase a famous statement.
This is howTrump got where he is. That and the Electoral College.
3
Trump has not finished his first term, let alone been elected to his second. Yet the damage done has already been incalculable, and even if the king is dethroned the residue will remain toxic for the foreseeable future. Two primary reasons: the country is still suffering from Supreme Court appointments that will be with us possibly for decades after Trump is removed from office, and every day spent ignoring climate change will render the planet uninhabitable at an even faster pace than now.
Believe me, folks, believe me. The situation is even worse than you think it is.
4
The Democrats have lots of good ideas and plans. They just need to be personified in electable national leaders, who do abound on the bench. The time is NOW for Pelosi and Schumer to do the patriotic thing and make room for them in the limelight.
4
Is there some reason the Democratic Party can’t take out a half-page ad in the paper and define their immigration plan? Their health care plan? Their education plan? Don’t make it complicated, and run it every week - we need the people who are thinking they might as well give Trump a second term to understand there is a better alternative. Trump is beating us to death with immigration, which is why he doesn’t want congress resolving anything before the mid-terms. DACA was great, but he needed something fresh. You might not like him, but his strategy is brilliant. By getting dragged into the skirmishes and failing to define a better plan, the Democrats are getting clobbered. The Democratic Party has offered Trump’s supporters (who are Americans that vote) nothing, and everybody else a vague assurance that Not Trump would be better than Trump. There is nothing complicated about this: the Democratic party’s failure to define their solutions to the problems we face iis exactly why Trump will prevail in November, and win a second term.
5
As Cohen points out, this is a global problem and therefore one that requires a global solution. More than ever, we need a strong United Nations to help address the crisis. And we need strong leadership from the world's liberal democracies to support a global solution. But instead we have the exact opposite—the liberal democracies that created the liberal global order and founded the United Nations now retreating from both.
Maybe the current global order will collapse. In that case we are headed for another dark age. Some future Gibbon will have a great book to write.
1
Trump treats children like watermelons and truth like an infectious disease. Horrifying enough but no less than presumption of his endurance. God help us if the Republican Party is not repudiated this November.
2
Does it strike anyone strange that we are witnessing this phenomenon worldwide? It's following on the heels of a worldwide financial meltdown in which the banks came out smelling like a rose as the majority, as in ninety nine percent, were left financially hurt and with no help from their own governments because of austerity economic policies. Trump is not an accident. Trump is a symptom.
The parallels with the early twentieth century are amazingly consistent. The rise of fascism was the result of corruption, trickle-down economic policies, wars and a clueless ruling class and politicians beholden to the rich.
We have to admit that neoliberalism and right-wing policies have logically brought us to this point where a Trump could actually sit in the oval office. That the fact that a large swath of the country felt compelled to vote for a Trump, or stay home given the dismal choices offered up by the establishment, should tell you that there is rot in our system.
Our democracy that was once for the PEOPLE and by the PEOPLE is now for the PLUTOCRATS by the OLIGARCHS.
Campaign finance reform can remove money from politics and we can institute publicly funded election. Yes, the Supreme Court has found this unconstitutional with their Citizens United ruling, but the Founding Fathers foresaw the need to overturn unjust rulings by the Supreme Court by using the amendment system. We have done it numerous times to make our democracy work.
Do it. Let's take back our democracy.
6
History is supposed to be a reminder of the beginning, middle, and consequence of events: Because A happened, then B, then C. In my lifetime, some seem to think “A” is completely different in their worldview (completely unrelated to historical A’s) and that “B” and “C” will, therefore, be different. It is no wonder humans keep making the same mistakes over and over. “A” is always change; “B” is always a reaction to “A”; “C” is the consequence to “B.”
Apparently, some have not learned humans have a choice when it comes to reaction to change. A constant is the powers that be, whether kings, queens, despots, dictators, leaders of rebellion, democratically elected politicians, or society itself, all want to direct reaction in a way that benefits them. History shows most of this direction by powers causes a lot of needless human suffering. Choices we make today should consider this valuable lesson because history also tells us those choosing to side with human oppression and suffering have usually suffered the same fate. We do live in a totally different world today than we did fifty years ago, but the choices of how we react to it are the same as they were 50 centuries ago. Today, however, humans have the tools and technologies, and historical lessons, to address any problems arising from making humane choices. We do not have to turn away refugees to certain death. We do not have to listen to the age-old demagogues appealing to our fears and fueling hatred.
2
I entirely support all work to stop immigration of all sorts into the USA and EU. Go Trump, Five Star, Marine Le Pen and Viktor Orban!
3
So, the biggest question that emanates from so many articles about the dangers of Donald Trump is "How?" "How" is he defeated? Are there forces beyond his opponents' cries that make it nearly impossible, or impossible, to achieve? Must history play out again, without any deterrents to potentially dark and even worse outcomes? It is rarely heard by this reader an approach, a strategy, for defeating him in 2018 or 2020. Do the Democrats - including strategists and pollsters - have a plan, or must we pray that Trump self-destructs?
It seems to this one reader the plan is clear and simple. It is to shine the light onto who Trump is with damaging attack ads.
Example #1: Show the campaign speech several times: "And who will pay for the wall? Mexico"...then play the recording of his weasal conversation with Nieto for Trump to avoid looking bad. Flash a sarcastic headline: Do we need "The Art of the Deal."
Example #2: Then, flash the words "Trump's lies." Show the headlines suggesting 3000+ lies from newspapers, and show additional examples of lies with clips from speeches.
Example #3: Show who the tax cuts benefitted with an attack ad, and show an unflattering image of Trump.
These kinds of ads, when done well, can be very damaging.
At least if a strong, aggressve campaign against him shines a clear light onto who he is and what he has done, we have created the best possible chance of cleansing this nightmare from office.
6
Great writing as usual Mr. Cohen, and the trends that should be alerting us all, that you have emphasized here are truly frightful.
With so many failed states now on the globe, and millions upon millions of desperate humanity on the move, hoping for anything, this shameful adoption of anti-immigrant racism as a strategic political tool is now a fixture.
And there is not fix for it.
We, the victims of terror, now terrorize.
We kill, maim and cage because some of us were killed.
It all seems to plead for a new international set of agreements and initiatives for the future that are beyond our powers to arrange, as of now.
One can hope, like the immigrants, for something better.
A new, Post-Trump era of aid and understanding.
And I fear that a two-term presidency for this creep is all but assured. When George W. Bush was preparing us for the Iraq invasion, I experienced an uprush of anger and frustration so great. I wanted to chuck my job and my life and go "underground" to help work against that administration. When will the nation's anger and heartbreak be put to constructive use now?? A second term for that sad example of a human being is., I fear, something I'll have to get used to. And just think of the young politicians waiting in the wings, taking their cues from this sad example; taking their cues from a man who loves to expose his anger by tearing things (and human beings) down to dust.
1
We the People of the United States are better than Trump, a minority president.
Now we ought to give control of Congress to the Democrats in November to put a check on Trump. Send him home in 2020.
5
Much of what you say here is true or right. But the most serious basic problem is being ignored: the effects of a possible mass-immigration from the Middle East/Asia Minor and Africa to Europe. We're talking about many millions or more. What do you think this would mean for the stability and quality of the European democratic systems? That's what a majority of moderate civilians meanwhile ask themselves and their representatives.
For many years European leaders have avoided to tackle this growing problem seriously. Now populist or whatever they are called take their chance. They are more or less the symptoms of moderate politicians failure. Like: remember developments in Germany between 1930-1933?
6
Long before Trump was illegitimately installed as America's Racist-In-Chief, the Republican Party paved the way for the rise of the radical right.
Decades of voter suppression, Republican-governed black box automated 'counting' of votes, and GOP-rigged Supreme Courts have now denied the election of a popularly elected Democratic President twice in sixteen years...in 2000 and in 2016.
Throw in the Republican gerrymander on steroids to rig the House and America's government is nothing less than a Grand Old Putsch, a very successful Republican coup d'tat overthrow of American democracy.
You may disagree with progressives and the Democratic Party on certain public policies, but the Republican Party disagrees with democracy and representative government and has disagreed with it for decades.
What America already has is tyranny of the right-wing minority.
The only way to fight this Republican cancer is for all patriotic Americans to register and vote in record numbers on November 6 2018.
We will need a supermajority to overthrow Republican fascism and tyranny of the minority.
And donate a few dollars to democracy to help register Americans that Republicans want to silence.
https://www.voterparticipation.org/support-our-work/donate-to-vpc/
This is a national emergency.
The reason America still has the greatest healthcare rip-off in the world, endless tax-cuts for the rich, collapsing infrastructure and multiple Morons-In-Chief is Republican nihilism and fascism.
Vote !
148
"This is a national emergency."
Absolutely!
It's not entirely a coincidence that between the wars after Germany the three most anti Semitic countries in Europe were Poland, Hungary and Austria and citizens of all three countries were active participants in the Holocaust. Poland recently passed a law making it a criminal offence to suggest any Poles assisted in the murder of Jews and is the only country in Europe not to have passed a restitution law. Meanwhile Orban's attacks on Soros' educational initiatives are full of anti Semitic dog whistles. In the postwar period Austria cast itself as a sort of Sound of Music victim but in fact was far from it.
It is not entirely a surprise that these three countries are among the most anti immigrant voices in Europe. They have form as the British say.
12
The world is lurching steadily toward a conflagration in which tens of millions, if not more, are likely to perish, and the impact of which will affect human civilization for decades. The spark that could set it off could come from anywhere: mass frustration after a series of natural (climate change-influenced) disasters; a global economic collapse; a new war in the Middle East; the political ramifications of a trade war.
This conflagration is not inevitable, but will be if more people start seeing past the lies and hate that are being promulgated by self-serving leaders and start choosing a different path.
2
As one of those immigrants from "socialist Europe" - Germany, I do not remember that any European country insisted of being a Judeo-Christian one, which by itself seems to be an oxymoron.
Neither do people running for any kind of office be they high or low have to wear their Christian bona fides like a shield of honor on their chest.
Over the almost three decades living here I only observed that in this country the most ardent nationalists were and still are the ones of the Evangelical-Christian kind.
That far too large group constantly picks and choses from their good book, Old and New, whatever fits into their antiquated world view, the very same way they pick and chose from The Constitution.
Proud to be an American? Hardly, seeing the history and language of the thirties in my native country repeating itself in the supposedly greatest country in the world.
55
"...that any European country insisted of being a Judeo-Christian one,..."
They do since ca. 5 years and Germany is among them.
But don´t take this serious in a sense of real influence of preachers, rabbis, Bible or Thora - or TV preachers in evangelical media. You can´t compare this with USA.
It´s used as a political narrative only with the purpose to defend European ways against coated efforts of radical Muslims to change these ways by excessive playing of all kinds of "cards". I think you know these "card games" very well from home also. It´s nothing but a defense line in this game.
Because the national news media doesn’t spend much time on Democratic ideas for dealing with legitimate economic anxieties doesn’t mean that they don’t exist.
The Clinton-Sanders approach would have centered on real solutions like education, fair trade, fair taxation, regional cooperation to deal with immigration, and global alliances.
Instead, we get fake solutions from the Great Faker: Trade Wars, increased commodity prices, costly, ineffective Wall, tax cuts for the wealthy, reduced services for the rest of us.
Globalization is the result of advances in technology, communication and transportation. That genie will not go back in the bottle. Splintering into fake ethnic identities behind contrived borders is absolutely the wrong way to go. Ebola doesn’t respect boundaries. Nor does climate change or nuclear fall out.
36
Mr. Cohen, your most salient point in your piece relates to the presentation of policy alternatives to our nation’s - and the world’s - most pressing problems. In the absence of measured, thoughtful, and workable solutions by the Democrats, voters will indeed continue to embrace Trump as the only one seeking solutions, however heinous they may be. Just being angry is not a platform from which to build a voting coalition.
11
As vile a first term of Trump is I fear that second term would be catastrophic. If there are any constraints on him now they would be removed with the elimination of consideration of another election. No need to satisfy any constituency other than the Trump constituency and if there is a Republican House there would be no hope for impeachment.
8
It's the third term I fear most.
1
The Republican Party, as it is presently constructed, is going bankrupt. Bankruptcy occurs when your products are bad, you have more in the way of liabilities than assets; your retained earnings are/may be declining, and your cash flow is running dry.
The Republicans have been lying for more than a half of a century; on economic policy (e.g trickle down that does not trickle), social policy (lying in order to deprive people of healthcare), and using code words in order to race bait. Trump is just the latest evolution of a lie.
Those are liabilities that now outweigh the historic assets created by the likes of Teddy Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Bankruptcy is imminent. Time to restructure.
I suggest that responsible Republicans get together and form a Republican Party 2.0; a reboot. Restate it's mission less around the one percent, and more around inclusion. Incorporate some of the best ideas of both political parties, along with some leading independents.
If I had a model to provide in this short piece it would be this: Go back and look at Dwight Eisenhower. Become more Eisenhower Republicans; less the strident nativists that divide America
Political parties usually start at the extremes and move to the middle. The comparative advantage here is that you could devise something from the center out; appealing to Independents, Democrats, and moderate Republicans.
Timing is everything in life. Doing this now marginalizes Trump, but allows a rebirth - for America.
11
Hungary, Poland, Austria and Italy were in our life-times part of the Soviet or Fascist regimes. None had the US tradition of democracy and the Bill of Rights.
Now during the reign of Trump, who so admires dictators, we need comparisons to more advanced democracies like UK, France, Netherlands. In their last elections they voted down their rw parties, which if they got more votes than previous, was still not enough take power.
Contrast the US----our rw extremist party dominates our 3 branches---exec, congress, court---and most states. They are supported by elite corporate mega donors, drowning out the voice of citizen majorities on most issues.
And the GOP has its own state--run media monopoly, Fox News to disseminate propaganda justifying Trump’s actions across the land. The rest of the free press is defined as ‘fake news left wing’ by Fox and its Friend Donald Trump.
In other functioning democracies, Roger Cohen could discuss how they were able to reject their right wing, to keep some balance in their politics, even if their center--conservative parties are elected.
While they keep their universal health care secure, our dominant party wants to destroy what progress Obamacare managed to achieve.
While they stay in the Paris Climate Accords and the U.N. Human Rights Council, the US has quit both, per Trump’s order. He rejects any organization which he views as setting unjustified limits on his whims.
Compare and contrast.
11
Well said, Meredith. Sing it sister!
1
The "infestation", to be precise, has been from Trump's ideas and notions about who we are as a people and the direction that our country should take.
He is often antithetical to our common beliefs and traditions that serve to define who we are as a people and a nation. He's a self-professed wannabe dictator that would prefer to hold the reins of total power. His preference for dictators is now common knowledge. He probably thinks he can do better than our system of government with three separate but equal branches. To him, they're more of an obstruction than a means to a more representative form of governance.
Personally, I'll be much happier when he is voted out of office. And the sooner, the better.
14
Cohen says "One may debate the reasons for the phenomenon" of Trump, Orban, nationalism. I.e, understanding the reasons for the right angle turn of Western politics is secondary, a "debate". Academic.
While dismissing their significance, he gets the first three reasons right: "the destabilizing impact of globalization on Western democracies; stagnant middle-income wages; growing inequality".
So, if discussing and settling on these as the reasons is an enterprise that distracts us from the primary task, what then is that primary task?
The rest of the column shows us that it is...complaining.
Trump commits one outrage after another. Look at his disruption of Western unity. Look at his buddying up to Orban. Look at his vicious treatment of refugees.
These atrocities and many others are true. But, why hammer at them incessantly? What new information is conveyed? Does Cohen think he's speaking in a kindergarten?
In the elite media, we have had an unremitting bombardment of consciousness-raising about Trump. OK. It's raised.
Now, what do we do? Do? Do, as opposed to complain?
Well, the starting point is to talk the problem over (debate), and settle on its genesis (reasons). How about that?---These are exactly the activities Cohen dismisses in his haste to show us that Trump is even worse than we thought. Not Bad-737, but bad-738. Gasp!
Instead, show us what the problem is. How to reach out to the alienated dangerous mass. Solve it rather than gripe.
5
Why hammer at him? Because if we are silent, the vacuum will be filled by right-wing lies and hateful propaganda. That would serve Trump's purposes. Why not settle causes first? Because while we wring our hands, Trump will keep destroying what it took a century to build. That would serve his purposes. Why not "reach out" to the alienated, dangerous mass? Because we'll waste time and get our hands bitten off. That would serve Trump's purposes. The only solution is mobilizing the MAJORITY of Americans who did NOT support him -- to register, vote, call their legislators, donate, volunteer, runv for office, and assemble peaceably by the thousands and the millions, to pressure our politicians into resistance. If you need guidance on what to do, go to MoveOn or Indivisible. But will you? I doubt it --because your reference to "elite media" (since when is a newspaper "elite"?) is a right-wing meme, and your proposed solutions -- useless action or inaction -- would seem to serve Trump's purposes, despite your claimed outrage.
3
We are a melting pot. Diversity is our strength. We believe that we were all created "equal". If Trump has a problem with that, then we have a problem with Trump. Hopefully, enough people have seen the man for who he is after the tragic events over these past couple of weeks. I have faith that he will not be re-elected. Just look at all of the damage he has done in his first two years. Incredible. His expressed preference for "dictators" should tell you enough about who this man really is -- a wannabe dictator. I'm expecting an overwhelming "blue tidal wave" in the upcoming elections. I think we've had enough of him, his party, and his supporters in Congress.
8
It is imperative for Trump to resist migrants in order to maintain his image as a strong leader, the protector of American society against an invasion by illegal migrants. To appease his base, the only cohort of voters he cares about, he must make as few concessions on this issue as he can get away with. This strategy was apparent in the earliest days of his campaign, with his declaration of war against the "rapists" from Mexico, and is still a vital plank in his carefully constructed image. In his shrewd way, he can stir the current outrage into a political advantage leading up to the next election. He won the presidency by exploiting anger and anxiety, and is now poised to apply those lessons to the current campaign, substituting migrants from South America for the terrorists from the Middle East as the number one threat to American prosperity. He has no greater concern than keeping himself at the pinnacle of political power.
5
The right Democrat will unseat Trump. It has to be someone who is conservative or moderate, like Mark Warner of Virginia. If the Dems go too far to the left, they have no chance.
4
Chris, at the moment, picking a 2020 candidate should be way down on the priority list. It's not about a magic ideal presidential candidate. It's about ALL of us working to change politics at the local, state and national levels through our personal participation. It's about ensuring elections aren't rigged by gerrymandering, voter suppression, or foreign manipulation. It's about making sure Congress is not in thrall to the President, or to donors or to party hardliners, or to bigots. As to "too far left," the political compass has skewed so far right that Eisenhower, Nixon and Reagan now look like flaming lefties.
3
The horror gets worse, incrementally. We cannot assume that the tide will EVER turn unless we force it ourselves!
3
My dad andch his parents fled Germany in 1932. They were foresighted or pessimistic enough to see from the early signs what was likely to come next. We are seeing those signs. Germany was one of the most civilized nations before it went fascist. My dad warned us not to be complacent, because there is no guarantee that madness will not take hold on a grand scale -- anywhere.
1
When I was growing up, on a grape ranch where they were turned into raisins, workers from Mexico were employed because those in the U.S. would not put up with the harsh conditions and hard work. At first the bracero program was used, then dropped. Then, illegal workers were hired. The rule was, if you made it across the border without getting caught there was a job for you. More and more people came. Politicians and employers turned a blind eye for the most part because if something was fair to the needed but illegal workers, they would get higher wages and that was not going to happen. However, so many people came to work and to live, many from other third world countries where they had been terribly mistreated or were the victims of wars - which we were part of - that the face of America changed. White people, especially older men, don't like that change but their greed and warmongering were a big part of it. Also, people were fleeing from Mexico and Central America as drug cartels took over those countries to push drugs Americans demanded. White men, who are supposed to have a vision of what America should be, have lost the American spirit and, over the years replaced it with greed. The very rich demand cheap labor but want only strong men with no families. Women and children should stay behind. You will be punished if you try to save your family. We are a pitiless society.
18
I've spent most of my adult life living abroad, and I've seen America's image fluctuate over the years, but even in the Iraq war, or for some older people, the Vietnam war, the sense was that the wars might be a mistake, even a criminal mistake, but at least wars force hard lessons and countries learn from these mistakes and or crimes.
I now live in China where, believe or not, the American brand still has some value, even in the midst of a putative trade war. It's hard to know what people really think here, because they don't want to talk politics to a foreigner.
But the moral currency of America is something that, however tarnished, was always something that felt valuable. People still want to learn English, desperately so in some cases. People still like the NBA and Marvel movies. This soft influence has a value that people who don't live abroad really underestimate. It surely benefits American exports.
And it's being trashed for no good reason, out of petty, juvenile spite.
11
Where are the Obama's ?
The Democrats do need a coherent message now to prevent 4 more years of demolition.
As mr. Cohen writes: "A two-term Trump presidency would likely corrode American institutions and values to the point at which they could scarcely be resurrected."
These are unothodox times, American democracy has never been challenged this way before.
Not exactly the right time to hold back and let your successor do his evil thing.
4
Obama and Eric Holder are working behind the scenes -- to end the redistricting that puts Republicans in control even when they don't win a majority. "Messaging" is kind of moot when the elections are rigged by voter suppression and gerrymandering.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/eric-holder-leads-democrats-w...
1
He counts on gerrymandered hovels of phobia to precipitate a "Red Wave" on the strength of an all-out campaign of terror based on deception this Fall. We know, his Party is all-in. What we don't know, is why the other Party thinks there is ANY greater issue.
5
If people would get off their devices, get out of their cars, walk to the public squares and talk to each other it would look so unfamiliar as to resemble a revolution. No banners, no screaming, no violence, only masses of people doing something unheard of. One can dream.
6
I think that it can be genuinely said that Trump is a threat to our democracy. It's pretty clear at this point that he favors dictatorships. He often acts like one, as is the case with the current dilemma that we now find ourselves in with the Mexican border situation where those seeking a new and better life had their children ripped from their very arms, not to be seen again...For this to be happening in America is stunningly shocking.
Trump is attempting to effect a change in our national identity -- from that of an open democracy to one of a closed society that is ruled with an iron fist where power is concentrated at the very top.
Never have I witnessed such an assault on our democratic institutions by a president who won an election with the help of our primary adversary in this world -- Russia's Vladimir Putin.
We must all stand united against this threat. The USA became the wealthiest, most powerful nation on this planet because of our open society where freedom reigns supreme -- from sea to shining sea -- where we welcome with open arms those individuals and families who wish to seek a better future. Trump, instead, wants to build walls while promoting fear, hate, and division.
I pray that America wakes up from this nightmare that we currently find ourselves in and thoroughly rejects those forces that seek to divide us. Let us not forget those who have paid the ultimate price on the field of battle defending our liberty. Do not let their sacrifice go in vain.
27
[The zero-tolerance border policy that left more than 2,300 children separated from their parents — a policy Trump has now rescinded after coming under enormous pressure — had broad backing until children’s desperate cries delivered what no atrophied Republican conscience could summon: moral revulsion.]
Republicans having a conscience is like an amoeba having a spine...nonexistent. Republicans only concern is keeping their grip on power of all three branches of government. So they rather wield issue of immigration as a cudgel to whip up their base to a frothing at the mouth frenzy than solve this hot button issue in a bipartisan fashion. Hence the tweet from the president telling the GOP to focus on reelection efforts instead.
9
Let's be even more excited about the election this November and make taking over the Congress as a majority our goal.
If we fail to focus on the next election cycle as the must win key for democrats, we will not have the momentum for overturning the cycle of destruction of our government and our way of life ¡
Having achieved that goal, we can begin to remove those who are destroying our country and styming the order of destruction this GOP congress is making kowtowing to Trump.
Please get out the vote in your states and support the same in others.
If we fail we will be stuck with Trump and his supporters.
19
The real issue is why people either voted for Trump or sat home in 2016. The Times article, "Veterans Owe Thousands for Survivor Benefits. Why Can’t They Opt Out?" is very instructive in that regard. Take the V.A./D.O.D. dysfunction and multiply it a hundred times across the board of people's daily lives, and you begin to understand why, in 2016, so many Americans voted for "not more of the same", placing Trump in the White House, the fact that he had no understanding, ideas, empathy, or ability considered relatively unimportant. The "reasoning": if all the people with understanding, ideas, empathy, and ability had created such a mess, why not just give the opposite a try?
Unless those who consider Trump a disaster understand this, we will be stuck with the new "more-of-the-same" come this November and in 2020. Democrats, especially, need to stop expending energy blaming Comey, the Russians, the Kochs, and a dozen other things, instead focusing on convincing Obama/Trump voters and 2016 non-voters, that they have something to offer other than "not-Trump" and a replay of how things were before Trump was elected, something other than the pre-Trump "more-of-the-same."
As the saying goes, stupidity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result the next time. Unless the Democrats have something new to say, the result will be the same.
6
You're assumeing that messaging is the biggest issue. Democrats already get more votes than Republicans, and not just in presidential elections. The Republicans have made sure Democratic votes don't count. In some states, even if 60% of citizens cast Democratic votes, they can win only 40% of their state legislatures, thanks to redistricting. Then there are the thousands of voter suppression efforts, the right-wing propaganda blitzes funded by domestic and foreign oligarchs, electronic and infiltration of local voter rolls by foreign hackers. You know, the best runner in the world won't win the race if you put fences up to block the way.
1
"...America's distinguishing essence--it's constant reinvention through immigrant churn". And, as we all know, Trump's grand-
father is a German immigrant. ( I use "is", because isn't it an
actual "fact" that Frederick Trump was a verified, tried and true, successful American immigrant). It seems, though, that some immigrants are more equal than other immigrants, are't they?
5
Merkel and the EU should throw out Hungary, Poland and warn Austria and Italy. Put them on a watch list. If they don't shape up they will go under the influence of Putin. Is that what they want?
The EU leaders are being too kind. These authoritarians want their cake and eat it too (to use an overused proverb, sorry.)
If they lose the handouts from the richer EU countries and hope for it from Putin, I have a bridge I can sell them. It is Golden and will shiny in their countries.
Or...I'll find a few Nigerian princes from my Spam folder who want to park a few billion dollars (USD) in their accounts for a small payment to effect the transfer...
5
"...in the absence of a compelling economic alternative that addresses anxiety." Is that alternative actually absent, or has it been effectively thwarted by money-fueled propaganda willing to utilize latent racism to achieve that end? I firmly believe the latter. The facts are readily available to refute cynical nihilists. We've been here before, in The Gilded Age, and we know what the outcome of that was. Must we go there again? Or can we recognize the factors and policies that led to decades of shared prosperity, and national achievements the likes of which the world has never known? That was when the majority recognized that we are far stronger when working together, and when media forcefully called out evils such as McCarthyism and the John Birch Society (which has reared its ugly head in the form of the Koch brothers and their "Americans for Progress" PAC), and when money had not captured our political process. We can get back what is nearly lost, but we will only do so by becoming fully engaged, fully informed, and elect only public-minded representatives. I hope it is not too late, but we have serious work to do.
8
I generally agree, but would make two points. First, in the Gilded Age and the Great Depression, there was a credible fear of violent Communist revolution, even here in the U.S. That fear drove a lot of oligarchs to accept some "leveling" of wealth, like income and estate taxes. The execution of Tsar Nicholas and his entire family served as a lesson to them. Second, your "majority" was really only the white majority. The New Deal reached consensus only by letting black citizens be excluded from the programs. So long as they held all the cards, the economically liberal white majority held together. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act, it fell apart. There simply are people who would rather have racial superiority than economic equality.
When Trump claims immigration (legal or illegal) threatens his vision of America, for once he speaks the truth. The primary sources of immigration today (Latin America and Muslim countries) will accelerate the process by which this country ceases to serve as a bastion of white Christians. Differential birth rates have ensured that transition for some time, but immigration will push forward the date on which it will occur.
Trump supporters fear that ethnic change will undermine American culture and isolate them as a permanent political minority. Similar anxieties galvanized the successful effort to terminate large-scale immigration after WWI. In both cases, the fears reflected a belief that our cultural and political institutions could thrive only in the midst of a population of white Christians. Our entire history refutes this notion about the fragility of American civilization, but it nonetheless persists.
In the 19th century, Jews and Catholics from southern and eastern Europe played the part of the "other," the alien threat to our way of life. No one would cast them in that role today, because experience demonstrated the baseless nature of the prejudice. Given a chance, the current generation of migrants, valuable as a resource to compensate for our inadequate birth rate, would prove once again the power of new and old immigrants to adapt to each other. This flexibility ranks as one of America's greatest strengths, but racism could destroy it.
9
Your comment is interesting, "isolate them as a permanent political minority"..."our cultural and political institutions could thrive only in the midst of a population of white Christians". So are our fears really the loss of the majority status, so than others cultural and political values reign supreme?
This is truly power, we wish the power to control the dialogue against all others. This is the reality with the American Black, forever the castrated slave class. We have been taught to be careful around the "dangerous" Black.
Jews only slightly removed from this dynamic certainly were considered infestation in Europe, similar to the Muslims.
Today's America, white lower class are fearful of those others usurping their minimal power. Evangelists want to control the Government so American policy is in accordance with their religious dogma.
1
Powerful stuff from a learned, thoughtful and wise intellect. “Cosmopolitan” translates to “globalist” in Trumpism. This is a scourge that will continue to diminish the country and lead the world into horrendous grief unless it is defeated democratically very soon. Thank you for the powerful warning.
4
To put a fine point on your two term proposition, I beg you, would be tantamount to fascism. Trump might be immaterial however it would be total corrosion of the hearts of citizen voters. Constitutional change would install a president for life and that would be the technical end of the empire and democracy.
Trump's primary mandate comes from Vladimir Putin who owns and controls him. The dismantling of Western Europe is a Russian dream come true.
8
Roger, who could disagree with you? ‘To ridicule Trump will achieve little absent a compelling social and economic alternative that addresses anxiety. The Democratic Party, for now, is nowhere near that.’
Please analyze why not? This is our alternative party. Anti Trumpism isn’t enough.
Care to stick your columnist neck out and debate a few ‘compelling social & economic alternatives? Not just to ‘address anxiety’ but address REALITY.
If Democrats don’t make America Decent Again, I hate to think of consequences.
Roger, see CNN and Washington Post on the new U.N. report --- “United Nations slams US inequality” and “U.N. Report shows America’s safety net was failing before Trump’s election. “ The NYT only has a brief AP sum up.
Trump plays to the hostility to immigrants of insecure Americans.
The report says “Among developed countries the U.S. has the highest rates of youth poverty, infant mortality, income inequality, and employee insecurity.
“The persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power”….. so “one of the world's richest nations and "land of opportunity," is fast becoming a champion of inequality."
CNN ran a crawl on screen tonight--- “Americans born into poverty are more likely than ever before to stay that way says a UN report.”
Easy to write criticism of our callous, authoritarian bully Trump and world dictators. Apply your international experience to a few concrete positive proposals to combat why Trump won.
11
This week has been the nadir of an angst-ridden, most disheartening and discouraging past year and a half under the Trump administration. To even anticipate or consider a second term under this vile and soulless creature seems unimaginable. Mr. Cohen writes that a "two-term Trump presidency would likely corrode American institutions and values" to the point that they would almost be irredeemable. I would posit, however, that the destruction of democratic principles, morality, and ethics will be on life support by if not before 2020. We are on our way, because this nation has lost its way under the ruthless, deceptive, and dishonest "rule" of Trump. There is no doubt that he is a racist and a bigot. And there is no doubt that his avid supporters are of the same ilk as he. No, Mr. Cohen, we can not let this man taint and pollute the soul of our nation any more than he already has. I, we, can not allow this, please. We MUST bequeath to our kids a world where hope, aspirations, and dreams become realities.
8
Scary, but sadly true. Still, given that Trump lost the popular vote the last time around; given his words and behavior since, there is reason to hope that he is beatable. If not, if he wins the Electoral College again, but loses the popular vote (2016 redux), then we must seriously consider whether our voting system needs revamping for the "will of the people" is then officially being thwarted.
4
Well said. Yet, though the danger could not be more real, nor more present, there are many politicians and many in the media who tut-tut this kind of clarion call as "incivility" arising equally on "both sides," as if being mild and polite about the threat of Trump's white nationalism to America and American democracy could make the danger go away. Now is not a time to hold back, to pretend normalcy in hope of normalcy. Voters, politicians, the wealthy and business interests that continue to support Trump for "yes but" reasons must be forced to face what kind of fire they are playing with.
Trump and everything he represents must be repudiated with every voice and vote that can be mustered. In particular, the Republican Party, which has been hollowed out and consumed from within, must be not just defeated but crushed in 2018 and 2020 that it may afterwards be reborn as something truly American again. The Democratic Party must abandon its quibbles and purity tests to accept ideological diversity alongside every demographic kind within its ranks and remake itself, in this emergency, a genuine party of resistance, a national unity party defending the America of Ronald Reagan as well as the America of Barack Obama.
5
I must agree with Mr. Cohen, the greatest danger is indeed within. Eric Weitz wrote back in March of 2016 "In America today, the major threats do not come from abroad. They lie within, from those who claim to believe in democracy yet undermine its substance by deploying great wealth in the political process and devaluing the diversity of American society. And the danger comes especially from those who perhaps should know better, but make anti-democratic, radical conservatives salonfähig. That is the real lesson to be taken from Weimar Germany."
salonfähig = socially acceptable.
16
I have a single question about this column and as an international columnist I don't think you could answer it but here goes? Who in the Democratic Party is the prospective leader who could take on Donald Trump and win? Readers are invited to respond.
7
Kamala Harris. Bright eloquent and very attractive and young
If the media would end their navel gazing obsession with Trump and cover other American politicians with the same attention they gave to Trump since June 2015 there would be plenty of them.
If the media had not created a cult of personality around Trump and had instead treated him like any other politician we wouldn't be in this situation today.
1
Biden with Kamala Harris, a winning team.
Biden was in the POTUS loop long enough to know the whole drill and he has he right instincts. Kamala is highly intelligent and has all the right instincts for governing in a democracy.
1
Thank you, Roger Cohen, for the strength of this piece. May it serve as a warning to as many as possible - not only readers of The New York Times, but also all their friends, relatives, and acquaintances.
And may all Trumpists get the message by November that the only way out of this fiasco is to vote for all Democrats on their ballots. This will get us back into the Paris Climate Accords (our greatest enemy IS climate change) and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, steps to bringing us back to the community of civilized nations.
7
This column by Roger Cohen and “Trickle-Down Trumpsters and the Debasement of Language” by Timothy Egan, which also appears in this edition of the Times, are two of the most important columns I’ve read in recent years. My thanks to both authors for their important thoughts. Both emphasize Trump’s campaign to dehumanize immigrants and to do so by whatever means Trump and his counterparts in Hungary, Poland, Austria and Italy think are necessary to achieve their goals. Making up statistics which paint all or most immigrants as criminals and repeating the same lies over and over again are both common practices. Both columns point out the danger of numbing the public to the point that it becomes difficult to know what the truth really is. To Trump and the leaders of the European countries with far-right governments, honesty and integrity have no significance. We are indeed at a dangerous point in our history.
12
"Let’s put this bluntly: Trump (whose stats on German crime were wrong) backs Orban against Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany in the continuing bid to make racism and xenophobia the new normal of Western societies."
Roger you do an excellent job of describing the danger the "feral" Mr. Trump poses to American values, already being torched daily.
But at the same time, you seem to imply that the real cause is the impotence of the Democratic Party that doesn't understand how to handle Trump, nor put together winning campaigns.
Frankly, I find that overly bleak. It's been a rapid rise to incipient dictatorship, made more powerful by a blatant propaganda machine in FOX News, that aids and abets a president who wouldn't know truth if he fell over it.
I think Americans do recognize how democracy here is hanging by a thread due to the hate, ire, and lust for power of an unhinged president driven by intense hatred of foreigners.
I think we do know how fragile our society has become and what the stakes are in November. I'm watching more and more people speak out, including Republicans aghast at the recent chaos and cruelty towards immigrant parents and children.
I think we do know democracy is hanging by a thread, the danger from within and how important it is to vote because it might be the last time we do.
104
Will GOP permit loss of the House? Hard to imagine how they'd stop it, but they are quite innovative. They could (and would surely like) Trump to declare 'temporary' martial law - a pretext could be arranged.
('temporary' of course lasting for the duration of Trump's life).
6
I am patiently waiting to get authorization to obtain a green card. Legally.
I follow the rules and laws of the United States. I will not be a recipient of welfare, food stamps, subsides housing, Medicaid.
English is not my first language, but am fluent in it.
So I should wait and be second in line after illegals?
America deserves people who love the country to the point that sneaking in should not be an option, that following its laws should be a sine qua non condition of being allowed in.
1
Today's American citizens have strong feelings against illegal immigrants and those feelings cross lines of ethnicity and heritage. Trump won in 2016 for many reasons, but one of the most surprising was that 28% of Americans of Latino descent voted for him - roughly the same percentage that voted for Romney and McCain.
Trump wins when he hammers the illegal immigration theme. He doesn't need overt racism. The word "illegal" does the work for him. The word is dehumanizing, but it is technically accurate and it is an effective weapon. Democratic attempts to sell the word "undocumented" do not help, but rather reinforce the notion that Democrats are for open borders.
If Democrats want to win (and our country desperately needs them to win), they need to support effective border controls. The simple, easy to understand and intuitive public policy position must be that people who want to enter this country must wait in line - skipping to the front of the line to enter illegally will not be tolerated (exceptions for asylum seekers allowed).
Further, while celebrating American diversity, Democrats can also endorse the self-evident proposition that American citizens should have more rights in their own country than non-citizens.
Democratic nationalism must be compassionate and respectful. But in these times, nationalism in some form is what the people want. Democrats must find a way of delivering.
14
"The simple, easy to understand and intuitive public policy position must be that people who want to enter this country must wait in line - skipping to the front of the line to enter illegally will not be tolerated...."
The thing that you do not understand is that for the majority of the people crossing the border illegally there is no line for them to get into. The situation is not the same with those who enter the U.S. legally on temporary work or visitor visas and then simply overstay their visit. But, for the most part, those people are white or Asian, educated, and likely to be middle class. They're not the people Trump is going after. At least, he isn't right now, although given his general xenophobia and desire to cut even legal immigration, it's entirely possible their turn will come.
In any case, right now the primary targets are people from south of the U.S. border. They cross the border illegally because with rare exceptions there is no other way for them to immigrate to the U.S.
I wish people would take the time to inform themselves. A place to start is with the articles "Why Don’t They Just Get In Line?" at https://americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/why-don%E2%80%99t-they-j... and "How the United States Immigration System Works" at https://americanimmigrationcouncil.org/research/how-united-states-immigr....
It's a complex problem, made worse by the anti-immigrant sentiments that exist in this nation of immigrants.
6
"Wait in line." Mr. Marks, you make it sound as if immigrants were buying tickets to the movies. These people are running for their lives from failed nation-states that are overrun with narco-traffickers and other gangs. They and their children don't have time to wait for the usual bureaucratic paperwork to be completed. Naturalization can take five years--or more. MS-13 isn't going to wait politely while these refugees get their documents in order.
Trump sees the desperation of these refugees as a useful political tool to whip up his base. It has nothing to do with "securing our borders." It has everything to do with the color of their skins--brown. Trump's call for a border wall and his "handling" of the immigration crisis is straight-up racism, neatly packaged by FOX News.
After all, why doesn't the United States want a border wall with Canada (a much longer border than the one with Mexico)? Because Canadians are WHITE.
5
First, you miss the larger point, which is that nations have a RIGHT to control their borders. Without borders, ultimately, you lose nation states, and I doubt if most Americans (or Canadians) want to dissolve their own country. Secondly, if the migrants in question today are running for their lives, why don't they run to Mexico or south to Colombia, Peru, Chile?
1
In November's election, it looks as though Tea Party and Evangelical voters will come out in droves and the economy is looking fine, so Trump may get a more compliant Congress in 2019.
It's too early to speculate about 2020, but a Washington Post story notes that the Republican propaganda media are ready to go with the biggest-ever storm of allegations. The cleanest, most honest, most courageous, best-spoken candidate will get slimed and ridiculed. I wonder who tried to run against Viktor Orban.
The chances are good that Congress is falling more or less permanently into paralysis and control by lobbyists while the presidency is more or less permanently handed over to people acceptable to the Koch Brothers or maybe Peter Thiel.
By 2020, the federal agencies whose professionals have handled everything from national defense to weather forecasts and food safety may have been permanently disabled. Not so much politicized (Trump can't be bothered with appointing effective officials) as crippled in various ways, difficult to undo.
Possibly most serious among the losses may be the relatively independent Department of Justice. I'm not looking forward to Jeff Sessions' successor, likely as not to be given a pass by the Senate whenever the time comes.
I wish I had a recipe for countering fear, emotion and lies with facts and good citizenship. I don't.
58
Oh, please. Enough of the comparisons of 1933 to 2018. The comparison is so outrageous that it destroys the credibility of your entire argument.
In case you haven't noticed, we have a major issue integrating about 15% of our population before we go adding yet another layer of socio-cultural groups that need special help. Let's solve our existing problems before we start adding more. 40,000,000 or so non-citizen residents is enough for a while.
10
The comparison to 1933 IS apt. Either you don’t recognize man’s inhumanity to man in this comparison or you accept and condone it. There is no statistical argument here.
6
Of the 20 prior comments only one defended Trump. This is admittedly a very small sample but it appears as Mr. Cohen is 'preaching to the choir.'
As he noted the Dems need to develop a coherent message that can appeal to the voters in those few counties which swung the electoral college Trump's way in 2016. They need to retake the House, make some gains in the Senate, and even win a few more governorships in some swing states. The specific counties will probably differ in 2020 but the dynamic will be the same. Can Trump get just enough support from disaffected, scared, and/or angry people to remain in the White House for another 4 years? Or will enough of these folks who voted for him in 2016 recognize what a danger he is and not do so again? If he loses the popular vote and the electoral college in 2020, be prepared for a Constitutional battle like we haven't seen since Watergate boiled over in 1973-74. It will probably make the Gore Bush battle over chads, etc look like child's play.
5
Time for all states to tell their delegates to the electoral college to vote for the person who received the most votes in their state. That’s for starters. Then voter suppression must be attacked by everyone, which means all who truly want a fair vote, including Republicans. Next hand counted paper ballots should be the rule everywhere. All these are possible.
Now the hard part: how to convince those who believe that the world stops at their front doorstep that if we don’t elect Democrats and get ourselves back into the Paris Climate Accords, we are committing suicide and taking the planet with us? Or on a smaller level, with Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA, clean air, clean water, and edible food will be fast disappearing? Of course some Trumpists have their own wells and gardens, but surely not all.
In the immortal words of Paul Krugman: “Be afraid. Be very afraid.” (The New York Times, 2016)
3
The current Trump term is survivable with the major nations assuming a holding pattern until the storm passes. A second term would be something worse than disastrous.
To imagine that a sufficient number of Americans voted for him again despite everything they knew about him and his Presidency on-the-fly would confirm that America, as the world knew it, had perished.
One can envisage the Democrats' slogan in 2024: "Make America again."
74
As an American, I do agree that our best hope is that those in Canada, the UK, the EU, Australia, NZ, etc., will see Trumpism as an aberration in this country's long history of global leadership and cooperation. If a second Trump term were to come to pass, it would utterly destroy America's global credibility and correctly brand us a "rogue nation" on trade and human rights.
Based on polling and the hard-headedness of Trump's base, it is not inconceivable in 2018 that he could win re-election. That statement alone is cause for grave concern.
4
Might just be the right slogan for 2018 and most certainly for 2020.
1
Or, "Make It America Again".
1
"A two-term Trump presidency would likely corrode American institutions and values to the point at which they could scarcely be resurrected."
A two-term Trump presidency is more real than most people realize. Trump, I worry, will not accept the outcome of the 2020 presidential race should he lose. You all know what he will say: Election fraud by a "corrupt Democrat". He is not one to concede defeat. Anyone who has been paying close attention to his behavior must know this by now. The question is: What will we do should he not accept the verdict of a democratic process; because this is more likely than not to happen?
116
"...What will we do should he not accept the verdict of a democratic process; because this is more likely than not to happen?" -- Impeach and deport him.
"...What will we do should he not accept the verdict of a democratic process; because this is more likely than not to happen?"
Ignore him...And if he fails to accept the will of the people as evidenced by the vote count, impeach him.
A question about 'Republican support for him is overwhelming.'
This means that those persons polled who identify as Republicans support Trump.
How many people continue to identify as Republicans? What do these numbers really mean?
7
Americans have never been against immigration only illegal immigration. We are currently seeing the results at our borders of what occurs when we have a tremendous influx of illegals and it has not been a pretty sight. Parents and children have been separated and there has been much sadness and confusion due to this chaos. It was only mounting and something had to be done before there was a point of no return.
We cannot blame President Trump for this immigration fiasco but that is precisely what the liberals and those who hate our president want to do. He promised us during his campaign that he would put an end to massive illegal immigration and that is what he is trying to accomplish. This is one of the reasons he was elected.
Liberals appear to favor open borders without any restrictions whatsoever as to whom enters our country. This is why we have been seeing so many trying to enter today because they knew that there were few repercussions if they crossed over illegally. They were able to freely move about with little chance of being detected. If caught, they often did not show up for their court appearance. This has been going on for years and past administrations did little to stop it.
We want people to come to America but they must follow the legal path to citizenship. They are cutting the line and that is so unfair to those who wait their turn. Many coming here also come from difficult circumstances but they do it legally as it should be done.
13
Actually, many coming to the border are asylum seekers. They were trying to come legally as asylum seekers but are being turned back at the border crossings where they can enter legally. There are several accounts out there the document this and are worth a read.
28
Ya, we prefer people who will stand in line and do as they are told rather than people who will risk everything for their families.
2
You can be against illegal immigration and still value each human life. What worries me about Trump is not so much his policies - they can be discussed - but his constant dehumanization of immigrants.
As for past administrations: they have all tried to find solutions, under Obama thousands of illegal immigrants were deported. But unlike Trump Obama never used illegal immigrants as scapegoats. Trump is creating an atmosphere of fear and hatred. And here in Europe there are too many politicians who try to copy him. It's sad and scary.
2
This:
"A two-term Trump presidency would likely corrode American institutions and values to the point at which they could scarcely be resurrected. "
And this:
"Eighteen months into a presidency during which Trump has shown contempt for the truth, Republican support for him is overwhelming."
Demonstrates this:
The Republican party has openly and enthusiastically abandoned American values as traditionally defined for an authoritarian nationalism with little room for democracy, rule of law, and any notion of an inclusive society.
Which mean this:
The 2018 and 2020 elections are EVERYTHING.
"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”
-- Martin Luther King Jr.
Vote accordingly.
323
Better vote as if 2018 is the last chance. It could be.
3
That's very well said. Please share that reasoning as widely as you can.
Thank you that, amidst all the gnashing of teeth and horror expressed in these comments so few others state the obvious: do something, vote, and get out the vote.
For a year and a half the unraveling of our country has been searingly documented through the eyes of Mr. Cohen and many other fine NYT columnists. Ever since 11/16 I've had the same sense of horrified disbelief as I did after 9/11, as monolithic American ideals, cohesion, and standing in the world commence a slow motion but inexorable collapse. As heartbreaking as it is to watch, I am glad you all persist in documenting what may well be the fall of America for the sake of those future patriots who might yet revive what's left of her.
176
The sad truth is that Eastern Europe never had a democratic tradition, it went from Habsburg or Tsarist absolutism to fascism or communism. Once communism fell, there was no empire to embrace, so they embraced fascism in one form or other instead, it's in their culture. It would be good if Trump, with his dependence and submission to Putin, would enable Russia to recover Poland and Hungary, which are only spokes in the wheel of democratic Europe, restore the status-quo ante, and reduce the pressure of ultra-right wing nationalism on Western Europe. The British-inspired widening of the EU, aiming to dilute the power of the original members, which Britain always disliked (see Brexit), was a disaster for the EU.
21
As a Polish American, who knows what the Poles have been through and what the majority of them fear, I am horrified at your suggestion. Thanks to the help of the EU and their own hard work they are only now recuperating from the destruction of 1939-1989. To return to Communism would be a blow equal to what is happening to the US with Donald Trump.
Have you spoken to any of the Poles who fled to England and helped your country survive World War II? I wonder what their response would be.
2
Stephens alludes to the essential question: it is not what is occurring these days but why is it occurring. In order to improve things, we must deal with the less-than definitive realities of what is human nature, how people behave in groups, and what may be essentially genetically coded "values." Too much of the energy objecting to the degeneration of our sociopolitical reality is spent documenting what is occurring, as well as the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth. For the most part this only leads to bumpersticker "analyses" and "solutions."
If we really want to make progress, to make useful change, we need to spend less energy engaging in moral posturing and more in figuring out why "the others" profess and act the way they do. Minds need to be changed, and we will only develop the understanding and credibility necessary to change "their minds" if we listen to what "they" have to say, thus giving "them" an opportunity to believe they might change "our minds."
It is far too easy to simply dismiss others. Essentially, it is the lazy way out, allowing one to feel smugly superior without having to get down and dirty, fighting in the trenches as it were, to make things incrementally better. After all, it is so much easier to fail at perfection than to succeed at improvement.
10
There is only one reality, not many shades of reality. One can have opinions about everything, and can argue the merits of their opinion against the opinion of others, but only when there are agreed upon facts of what is real and what is not. When you cannot agree on facts to base your opinions on then you cannot argue the merits of your opinion. A lie is a fact given as truth, it cannot be both. If you say water boils at 112 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level the rest of the educated world will call you a liar since everyone should know that water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit at sea level. About this there can be no argument.
1
Hopefully those of us who recognize just how much we stand to lose if Trump is reelected thereby sanctioning his beliefs show up on election day and vote. We're at a point where all of our ugliness that has been hidden beneath the surface has been revealed and we now know what lies beneath. I suspect that without 9/11 and the 2008 recession we likely wouldn't be dealing with any of these issues. Insecurity and fear allows our worst tendencies to rise.
We need to focus on the economy. Yes we have recovered from the recession but for many the wounds are fresh making them vulnerable to Trump's tendency to give them someone to blame. FDR focused on creating jobs and expanding the social safety net. We need to do that again because the boomers generation is ill prepared for retirement and the rest of us will pay if something isn't done to give them some sense of security.
Corporate America is doing great. To save capitalism they need to consider working with the Democrats on a marshall plan for America. Can they really afford 4 more years of Trump's protectionist tendencies. Greed is good when the country is thriving but it's deadly when it's not.
23
Greed is never good. Not for nothing was it on the long lost list of Seven Deadly Sins. Think of Midas. Does that remind you of anyone we are dealing with these days?
1
A spot on analysis by Mr. Cohen and, tragically, he is absolutely correct about the current state of the Democratic Party. With the country more at risk since its founding and an opportunity for Democrats like never before in its history, no coherent messages or policies come forth from the leaders Tom Perez, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
I believe Democrats think that the New York Times columnists and anchors on MSNBC represent their bench of national candidates for office. I only wish! When Democrats last enjoyed overwhelming success, Howard Dean effectively led a dynamic, coherent, charismatic party with Barack Obama as the standardbearer and exciting national candidates up and down the ballot. Democratic leaders were on television daily, especially Mr. Dean, hammering away at the folly of th Bush administration. Where is Tom Perez?
Today tired, old, ineffective career politicians who are, frankly, afraid of Donald Trump and the Republicans cower in the wings hoping that disgust with the President will lead to a "blue wave." They stifle the energy, enthusiasm and emergence of younger and more effective candidates who can better articulate messages of hope and formulate cogent policies to rally around. We don't need to watch Senators and representatives of Congress come on television and express exasperation. We need them to lead with energy, enthusiasm, hope and clear prescriptions for an end to the present danger and a successful path forward.
165
You're right. Democrats across the country should tune in to Cynthia Nixon here in New York. She's got the courage and the ferocity that most of the rest of them lack and even has Andrew Cuomo looking over his shoulder and trying to light a fire under himself.
16
The donor class owns the Democratic Party leaders just as much as they own the Republican Party leaders. Only when we elect independent representatives willing to vote against the Parties leadership will we begin to see change. Change will only come from the bottom, the voters, the top has calcified. Unfortunately, the Republican voters want to be lead, and will follow their leaders into fascism if the Democratic and Independent voters allow it to happen.
1
You need to follow Democratic politicians -- including the ones you call "tired, old, ineffective" -- on Twitter, where many times, every day they "articulate messages of hope and formulate cogent policies to rally around."
And Tom Perez, et al., appears regularly on MSNBC, "hammering away at the folly" of the Trump administration. But politicians can't demand appearances on TV, and TV news and news analysis shows -- as well as our newspapers -- must cover news of the day.
If you're desperate to know what Democratic politicians are doing and saying...Twitter.
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Immigrants; can't live with 'em, can't be born without 'em, eh Mr. President? Do The Donald's supporters even know that his mother was born outside the U.S.? Kind of like Barack Obama's father. So why hasn't anyone demanded to see his birth certificate? And what kind of human being with a mother born in Scotland (the Outer Hebrides no less!) disparages people who had the bad luck not to have been born here and yet sought a better life in the nation that this president pretends to glorify? Probably the same sort of human being who takes credit for the successful business his deceased father built and who sweeps that fact under the same rug (no, not the one on his scalp!) where his mother's place of birth is hidden. Anyway, if such patriots as Trump and Orban want to keep foreigners like Trump's mother away from their hallowed shores, they need to ask themselves if they can do a better job helping the governments of less privileged nations make life more bearable for the folks who have to live there. Considering the length of time in which the U.S. actively supported unelected Central American despots who robbed their citizens and shared the wealth with American CEOs it would seem like a reasonable trade-off: reduce poverty down there instead of waiting for them to migrate here. And another question these guys should consider: would either one really want the other "infesting" his nation?
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stu freeman -
Just to add to the fun of the Trump family saga, his paternal grandfather came here from Germany, had problems, and wanted to go back to Germany in, I think, 1912. Germany wouldn't have him because he hadn't informed the government when he left and had missed his mandatory military service.
Trump's granddad was declared persona non grata in Germany and given six weeks to get out and stay out. And Trump sneers at immigrants!
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Simple, the color of Trump's skin gives him a pass among his base. No matter how cruel, corrupt, and down right incompetent he is. We lowered the bar so low for one to be president that Trump had to crawl across it with his snake's belly. We raised the bar so high for Obama and Hillary on nearly has to do a somersault across it to be elected.
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Thanks for your comments Stu. It is so true that the migration problem can only be resolved by coordinated action between countries , and a massive help of the richer countries to the poorer ones to make bearable for people to live in their own country and not wish to escape to the west/north for a better life. If the wealth in the world was better distributed, education and healthcare made available to everybody - not just a few, and if such massive amounts of money were not squandered uselessly on defense and weaponry, certainly the world would be quite a different place. Utopia perhaps?, but without hope and a dream, nothing will ever be achieved.
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The irony of it. In 1924, the US government banned the immigration of Eastern and Southern Europeans because they were thought of as being undesirables. A big part of that undesirability were Jews. Now we have Trump allying with Hungary, Poland, Austria and Italy to oppose Western liberal democratic principles of inclusion and immigration. Nazi Germany thought of Eastern Europe as basically something that should be emptied out to make room for his master race. Those that were most oppressed and ignored in the first half of the 20th cent. are now leading the charge to oppress the weakest people of the 21st. What is this, some kind of reverse Karma?
The Jews of Trump's world order are the hispanic people of Mexico and Central America. If he could get away with it, we would see him round up the 11 million undocumented and put them on a train headed south of the border. Then he would build his Berlin Wall to keep them out and maybe keep us in.
Trump people are mad. They want to lash out. Tear it all down Steve Bannon says. They have been left out, forgotten.
Or, did these people leave themselves out. Did they reject modernity and cling to their old ways with the belief that they are culturally superior to the decadence of homosexuality and secularism? Did they reject higher education and cling to manual labor when their labor cannot compete on the stage of global capitalism? Did they miss the bus the rest of us climbed onto? I think so.
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Culture Shock in times of massive social change is nothing new. And vilifying its victims is not the answer. Somehow we need to find a productive way to help people accomodate our tornado of technology or it will be 1914 all over again. But this time with nuclear weapons.
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Both parties dismantled the manufacturing economy at the request of corporations. First they moved to the South where unions were banned, then offshore. That is what gave us Trump.
Until we get money out of politics it will not get better. Until we fix income inequality and greed it’s going to get worse. If this is fixable it’s a twenty or thirty year project, and we have not yet admitted it’s the problem.
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I have beat this same drum on this stage. Those using Trump to lash out at "people who stole my vision" is bologna. Those voters either have no vision or not enough mental acuity to chase their vision. They should be looking in the mirror for someone to blame and fear, but unfortunately they see a brown person staring back and so it's easy to rationalize their "victimhood."
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It is hard to imagine anything more damaging to the US than a reelected Trump. The US undergoing an unprecedented moral crisis. There have been ugly periods in US history, Jim Crow, isolationism, the McCarthy years, the Vietnam war, Nixon and the rise of unfettered greed since the 1980;s but throughout it all there was a sense the country was getting better, not just economically but more tolerant and culturally diverse. With Trump, following the fierce animosity by a large percentage of the population towards Obama, there is a sickening feeling that it is all crashing down. Most Americans see Trump as the poor human specimen he is and the opposition is having some effect but the system simply cannot remove him. The fact is that a determined minority has gamed the system to impose itself on the majority. 18 months of Trump feel like a bad dream but eight years will be an unimaginable nightmare.
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The US Constitution was the model for the world. Our Bill of Rights created the very core of what is now called Human Rights. The one thing our Const.and B of R does not do is guarantee that our system will endure.
For our system to endure and once again be a model for the world
YOU MUST VOTE.
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Really? No other country has copied the US Constitution.
Americans don't even understand that the document is strictly about the powers and organization of the federal government, and the "Bill of Rights" is a list of limitations of government power. No right, power or liberty of the people is recorded in it. The liberty we have from religion is a product of the first amendment ban on faith-based legislation by Congress.
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Yes! Our lives depend on it!
Roger Cohen’s opinion piece compelled me to revisit several dictionaries and history books the most commonly cited characteristics of fascism:
1) the exaltation of one nation above all others, and often one race above others through militant racism.
2) radical authoritarian nationalism led by a strong charismatic leader.
3) forcible suppression of opposition.
4) fascism regards both liberal-democracy and conservatism as obsolete, and usually leaning to the far-right political spectrum.
5) a positive view of violence, aggressive masculinity, and imperialism as virtues to attain national supremacy.
6) mass mobilization through rallies and propaganda networks.
7) utilizing a mixed-economy with extensive protectionist policies.
8) the obsessive preoccupation with humiliation, victimhood, and revenge.
Draw your own conclusions whether or not Trump and his minions fit the classical definition of fascism, and if they do, why are we not addressing them as such?
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Thank you. Wish the Times and lots of other papers would put your list on the front page. Those who think 1930’s Germany cannot come to US are sadly mistaken.
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@ Jonathan, Yes, Trump and his minions indeed fit the classical definition of fascism.
Yet, because one of the three European fascist governments at that time, Germany, had the word "sozialistisch" in their party's name, the minions insist that is was a far-left, aka commie, ideology.
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This is deep. It's all too applicable to current times. Thanks for the eye-opener.
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I pray that you are wrong, and that he only gets through this term, if he is not impeached.
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Is it true that the worst people seem to rise to power in many, if not most, countries both now and in the past? Or are they just a random sample of the population?
I fear it's the latter. People, it seems, are but vicious animals with big brains, constantly and relentlessly seeking domination to satisfy both their physical and psychological needs. You even see this violent selfishness in babies and small children: All they care about is getting what they want, when they want it.
Being socialized may just mean that you know how to cover up your bestial nature. America has the largest prison population on earth, our streets crawl with cops, and security cameras watch over us 24/7, yet I would be afraid to walk down most streets at night in any city, large or small. Most of us are very well-armed and practice with their weapons regularly, and sleep with them nearby, as our large dogs patrol our property and our burglar alarms keep electronic watch.
Maybe this is an insane planet, where UFOs, our jailers, watch us to stop us before we do something really stupid, like global nuclear war.
It's probably better not to think about the dark side of our human condition and, instead, just binge-watch TV or surf the internet watching porn and slip into a drunken stupor, eh?
Not a rose garden in sight either.
We need a charismatic, bold leader who has all the answers and can lead us out of the wilderness. A man of the people, but also fabulously rich. Oh, yeah, we've got one.
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You are right. Trump and the other fascists are merely a symptoms of cruel, bigoted, cowardly societies. From the genocide or the original inhabitants, to the kidnapping and enslavement of black Africans, to the turning away of European refugees fleeing Hitler, The United [sic] States has a long history of hatred, cruelty, and gratuitous violence. No amount of self-congratulatory flag waving will change that.
@Jim Muncy - I keep puzzling over your post. While a few things you write seem accurate, the rest is, well, weird. Do you really believe the things you say in your post or is it satire? If it's the former, then I can't imagine where you live that you have such a distorted view.
I've never been anywhere in this country where "our streets crawl with cops, and security cameras watch over us 24/7". I live in a city and I'm not afraid to walk down most of its streets at night, even alone. Yeah, there are places that I wouldn't go at night, but in a city--and sometimes other places--there have always been areas where it's not smart to go at night. That's true in many cities throughout the world.
"Most of us are very well-armed and practice with their weapons regularly, and sleep with them nearby, as our large dogs patrol our property and our burglar alarms keep electronic watch."
This is the part that especially makes me wonder if it's satire. Most Americans do not own guns and even many of those who do, don't practice with them regularly nor sleep with them nearby. Large dogs patrolling our property? Seriously? Just where do you live? Although I know such neighborhoods exist, I've only ever seen them on TV, never in real life. Yes, many people have burglar alarms, but from anything I've seen, not most--in spite of lots of advertising from alarm companies.
And your final paragraph? Trump, of course--but are for or against. Very strange post.
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The pedaling of hatred and vilification of "the other" is as old as the human condition. What is new is the American experiment.
Are we going to allow the molotov cocktail of the radical Trump presidency burn down our house? If he wins a second term, the American experiment will be over, and we will be just another fiefdom where the most ruthless bullies to lord it over the weak. It's not what our founders envisioned.
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And speaking of the founders, another irony here is that one of their grievances against King George, mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, was that he interfered with immigration:
"He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands."
What would they think of Trump?
6
When you mentioned the Molotov cocktails, it reminded me of the burning of the Reichstag. With his made-up immigrant crisis, Trump is figuratively burning down the American parliament, so to speak, and getting ready to justify the most intemperate and deleterious executive orders, with the aim to destabilize the institutions and country, and corrupt its morals, to the point that everything will be possible ( I mean the worst), and any opposition will be totally muzzled - so do start dictatorships...
4
There is a playbook for gaining power, political and commercial. First, tell people they are in trouble. Scare the heck out of them. Second, tell them it isn't their fault; they are innocent victims of powerful outside forces. Third, tell them who to blame. It is best to blame outsiders, minorities, and 'elites' who are pushing unwanted change. Fourth, tell them that only you can solve the problem because everyone is blind, has failed or is corrupt. Fifth, find others who crave power and get them to echo the message. If you look around, you will see this playbook in action constantly.
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Actually, globalization DOES harm millions of non elite working and lower middle class workers in the west. Mr. Cohen, being one of the elite, just does not care. Neither do most NYT readers.
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And that playbook is called "The True Believer" by Eric Hoffer.
This column should be required reading for every American, including the ones who don't read. They should have it read to them.
Trump is quite bad enough, but what makes him truly dangerous is the collective treason of pretty much every elected Republican in Congress. The conduct of Mitch McConnell, Devin Nunes, and quite a few others is, in my view, beyond disgrace. Before now, I simply couldn't imagine any American, even a Republican, so completely turning his coat in support of a president clearly elected through the machinations of a hostile foreign power.
I was clearly naïve.
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The Republican Party under McConnell and Ryan have been odious for years, representing moneyed interests and winning by appealing to the religious right with anti minority and immigrant sentiments. They have mastered obstruction techniques to sow their voter's distrust in government and then use this sentiment to enhance their electability with their love of limited government, meaning tax cuts for the rich, deregulation to benefit the rich, and cuts to all social programs. Trump is just the very ugly reflection of what they have sown and who they are!
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Paul Ryan is also one of the worst. His dereliction of duty is shameful.
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Demonization of the "other" is not a new tactic. It is in modern times associated with the 1930's rise of fascism and that particular variant Nazism in Europe. A set of political philosophies that had both worldwide sympathizers, and catastrophic results. We should not be afraid to call currently emerging political phenomena by their correct names, nor should we shy from resistance. It's an old song, and we know how it ends.
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It's easy to use immigrants as a political tool. They are different. A few of them are bad actors. They upset the balance of society in many ways. When people are anxious, they respond predictably to the stimulus.
The violence of war in the Middle East has uprooted a lot of people and many have headed for sanctuary in Europe. The violence and poverty in Central America has inspired people to seek sanctuary in the US. Yes, some are economic migrants who are "only" looking for good jobs and the chance to prosper, but others are making choices between life and death.
Peace and stability in the Middle East are elusive goals. It seems likely that the problems associated with refugees will continue to plague Europe and exacerbate problems in North Africa and Asia. The US could have a role in ameliorating suffering, but the current administration has rejected that possibility.
It would be difficult to develop policies that would fix what's wrong in the Western Hemisphere, but no one seems to be even trying to do that. Is the usefulness of immigration as a political tool the major barrier? Is the necessity for long-term solutions more than we can bear?
People who want to believe that there is no comparison to what happened in the 1930s need to wake up. Hitler's rise was incremental. He used fear and prejudice along with other tools to concentrate power. Ruthless people take advantage. Extreme nationalism was exploited then. It can be exploited now.
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With each new assault on America by Trump and his worshippers I am again reminded of my high-school teacher who said if you think the things that happened in Europe in World War II cannot happen in this country, think again.
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Immigrants pick our crops, they work in the restaurants that we eat in, they mow our lawns, they roof our houses, they take care of our aged parents and our sick, in short they do things most of us don’t want to do.
Just ask any farmer, chef, or trade, how they are getting along right now. Chances are you will get an earful about not being able to hire help. Prices will rise. I think the only thing that might make people actually think again is to be hit squarely in the pocketbook. And the way his trade wars are going, it’s not going to take too much longer.
This president’s language is despicable, but what is even worse is the people in this country who believe it, or who don’t care.
His lies are...beyond belief. Every time I think he can’t go any lower, he manages, without any effort to drop the bar further. And I’m astonished that I’m astonished.
Vote in November!
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KLK: [Immigrants pick our crops, they work in the restaurants that we eat in, they mow our lawns, they roof our houses....]
17% of elementary school children do not graduate from high school. There are millions of Americans who do not have a high school diploma. They are not going to become CEOs. These are the jobs for them. And dishwasher, car wash, etc.
The problem is that immigrants, especially illegals, work for low or below minimum wages and without benefits. Employers prefer to hire immigrants because it makes them more money. It's not because there are no American citizens available, but there are no American citizens who are willing to work under those salary/benefits conditions.
We have to raise the minimum wage and make sure that employers only hire American citizens. We have to sharply reduce the number of H-1b visas issued for employment; foreign workers are used to depress the wages of Americans in selective occupations.
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Yes, but we really have to think whether it is true that non-immigrants won't do the sorts of work mentioned here? True, they probably won't do it for the same wages.
So how about raising the wages, which would be of great benefit for ALL Americans.
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I don’t disagree with this but the company that mows my lawn here in NC pays $17.00 an hour and gives out bonuses. He can’t find adaquate help. And he doesn’t hire immigrant workers. He’s frustrated.
And guess who just applied for more H-1b visas for his hotels and golf courses. If you can’t figure it out, it’s trump. I’ll bet he gets his visas. And I don’t think he pays minimum wage.