Thomas: What you speak is the truth. But Trump doesn't have the attention span to get past the first sentence, nor would his supporters have the patience to read and absorb the content of what you've said. Rather, it fails because it can't be contained in a one sentence slogan. That's why our immigration policy has become a political hammer rather than an enlightened guidebook.
60
@kad427, that, and the fact that Trump really isn't interested in solving real problems - unless solving those problems accidentally overlap with stirring up his base.
10
Thanks. Well written and to the point. I have long believed we need to spend money south of the border. Otherwise, we will bear the costs in the U.S. due to walls, deportations costs, border agents, drones, etc. Population control in these countries is also very important. You cannot keep bring five, six, seven kids into the world you cannot take care of.
5
The sad truth is that the nature of the human animal is primitive at best, breeding itself into overpopulation of the planet, the ego of power, and corruption, that has pretty much decimated countries with war, and bombed out existence, malnutrition, and death. The fact that religion is in charge most places, hasn't allowed free, and easy access to both birth control, and healthcare for women, has set too many female's lives, for both a shorter life, and one burdened by males who choose for them. When both George W. Bush, and Barack Obama, had their personal philosophies about the middle east, we didn't know immediately that the region was doomed to further destruction, corruption, war, starvation, etc. That period of time has caused more deaths, millions, more refugees, millions, and more money, trillions since the second World War. Does anyone actually believe that either side of the aisle cares about all of the immigration issues, and wants to hold themselves, Congress responsible, for adult, and tech solutions, with business, those millions here undocumented, the added costs to cities, counties, and states, the need to both deal with the southern border, Visa overstays at a million a year, and legalizing all those here? Not on your life! Congress passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act in 1986, after Reagan gave amnesty to 3-4 million, and it failed miserably. Is it any wonder why Congress is inept, nor that DT can't function well, as he was born miswired?
2
Trump the perennial racist is still trying to play the us vs them card ,us decent wonderful white folks and those dirty poor brown folks polluting our blood pool. A black/Indian woman named Harris may be his wake up call as he tries to intimidate her at a debate and she lets him have it good and he starts crying like all bullies underneath they are cowards.
2
Yes improving the lives of latinamericans in their own country should be the goal of US policy, but this is impossible because of the US mandated "War on Drugs". Do an economic analysis of the value of drugs that travel north to the biggest consumer market verse the weapons (made in the usa) that travel south to drug gangs, para-millitaries, and represive governments. Is the US ready to stop that 2 way flow and think outside the box for ways to do it?
3
As global warming pushes people to migrate, climate change doesn't care what we do one way or the other. The specter of mass movements of populations certainly deserves to be treated with more sincerity than that of a carnival barker.
9
How many problems did Germany solve by building a wall? China?
I would love a President with solutions based in reality, not TV Ratings. I"m still waiting......
18
The premise of this thoughtful article is that the immigrant crisis is real and will become of reduced political importance if solved. As pointed out in the article, there are many forces that drive migration, and as we all know, migration will substantially increase in future years due to sea level rise and other results of climate change. Thus, it is not sufficient to point out that at present the US has a serious need for immigrants to maintain its economic edge. The manufactured hype of immigrant hordes, more real in Europe, but trivial in the US, will only grow over time, and this article discusses ways to minimize it. Hopefully we will eventually find politicians who want to deal with the problem, not simply use it to raise xenophobia.
4
It is not "explanation" if you talk about things that are not true. Here are the refutations for the five reasons it was previously a "great time to be a weak little nation-state." 1) Russia did not buy your cheap goods. 2) Climate change has always been moderate, and it is now. 3) Populations were not "under control [whatever that means] in the developing world" (a point that is made at the bottom of the article when he talks about Africa in 1900 having a population of 140 million). 4) People in the 1950s or 1980s knew enough about how great Paris was. 5) Not "every" poor country was in low-wage industries.
So, there's no explanation here.
There are also not any good ideas, and certainly not any better than the idea of building 200 miles more tall fence than Schumer is willing to see built.
The idea of the U.S. to get Mexico to rapidly build a wall on its Guatemalan border is preposterous. Further, we have spent millions on Central American aid, and we see the result.
Climate change has not been materially disrupting farming in Central America. Moreover, your plan for climate change is causing death in The Congo, and poisonings in China. Solar/Wind/Tesla use cobalt, tantalum and tungsten, and the extraction and refining is a disaster for human health and animals.
Try harder next time to winnow fact from imagination, and try harder to distinguish between what is practical and what is grandiose.
1
"...if we actually had a president framing the real border issue in a really honest way to come up with a real solution — not just one to energize his base."
That would require a constituency, in the districts with the most electoral votes to offer, that understood such things. Unfortunately, as evidenced in 2016, we do not.
3
I appreciated your offhand comment about not being able to govern itself effectively. The thought has also occurred to me that 40 years in the EU has left the country with an infantilized political system as big decisions were taken abroad. Nothing wrong with that - an astronaut needs to be carried and trained after prolonged journeys on the space station. Should be kept away from sharp objects.
Yes, the United States should do much more to aid countries in Central America, but there are sound economic grounds for increasing immigration as long as we also we decouple economic growth from carbon. The column accept the false premise that immigration is in itself a crisis.
1
After 2 Years Republican obstructionism in House Representatives congressman Nunes Ca. defied constitution of United States for impeachment proceeding High crimes and misdemeanors.
To President Donald Trumps one thing act of deal.
If all thing done why did ran for President.
Wait for Adam Schiff and Nancy, Muller investigation over Donald Trump there still hope for you in Rikers Island.
If Trump truly wanted to stop the "crisis" at the border, here is something else he could have said:
"My fellow Americans, when I was campaigning for President, I said that I would get Mexico to pay for the wall. Now that I am President, I asked Mexico if they would pay for the wall, and they said they wouldn't. And like Vladimir Putin, I believe them."
2
This a thoughtful, well-presented essay. The sad, hard fact is that America will remain in a precarious position to do anything about any of these plagues at least until late 2020. Even that is contingent on Americans continuing the self-education and governmental check-and-balance processes we began in late 2018 and, suppress more doggedly the alt-right that is the gravest short-term threat to our nation's survival as a fully participatory democracy.
America also must complete its transformation of the executive and legislative branches from the irresponsible and destructive policies and actions of the last two years to rational, balanced approaches which address the needs of all of our citizens. At the same time, we need to progress toward reclaiming the neutrality and objectivity which has been taken from our judicial branch in favor of advancing political agendas.
We must reverse the recent assault on our environment and on those who are in the bottom 90% of our socio-economic strata and restore the upward mobility features of America's post-WWII recovery prosperity. We need to revitalize our infrastructure and our reprioritize our educational systems.
Failing these minimal achievements, Americans can expect little other than an accelerated plunge into the abyss of self-destruction. America showed, in the 2018 elections, that she is capable of astonishing accomplishments. We need to keep muscling up and increase our pace between now and the 2020 elections and beyond.
44
Families uprooted by extremely hot weather have indeed made illegal immigration a problem for America, but to solve it, our political pundits need to focus on the problem itself, not just its consequences.
Mankind's greatest threat is the global warming primarily caused by the gas guzzlers being produced by automakers, yet I can find no discussion of this in the major media.
24
@John Q Americans are still at the level of arguing with each other whether human induced global warming is real, never mind addressing the real problems like you point out. We are headed for a disaster of one kind of another. It will take several years of repeated high frequency climate related disasters for the reality to impact the mind of those who refuse to accept the facts. But eventually they will get it, and by then the problem will be even bigger, perhaps even unsolvable. Basically, what needs to happen in this democracy is that the average American needs to get it. The smart and educated people have gotten it a long time ago; but the problem is the smart and educated are not in charge...
9
@Blue Zone, less than political will, we need public buy-in. Recently two University of Washington climate scientists advised politicians not to run on a climate change platform, because so many people are less frightened by climate change than by personal $$ cot to them. That financial sticking point has caused a lot of environmental initiatives to be defeated. I think similar ideas are the roadblocks to the kind of actions Friedman posits here. It seems more reasonable to just keep them out than to try to ameliorate the reasons they're coming. The cost is less, the implementation is simpler, and the results are more visible. The only difficulty is: it wont stop the situation.
3
Congressional Democrats reasonably need to know the particulars about Trump's demand for a wall. Trump, not one to be bothered by details, wastes his energy by attacking Pelosi instead of providing accurate documentation to support his demand. The timing of Trump's protestations is curious. Why didn't he get the wall done during the two-year Republican dominance of the executive and legislative branches? It's obvious that the wall is Trump's fabricated mission to pander to his base.
Please stop talking about $5.7bn as if that would be the cost of the wall. That is just what Trump wants from this year's budget. The wall, as he envisages it, would take years to build and cost about that much each year for the next so many years.
There was a good article in the NYT a few weeks back by a civil enginieer who described this very well.
29
What if Trump could explain as well as he inflames? Its a mind bender. When that day comes I will be rushing to the window to observe the flying pigs. Until then I will be expecting more inflammation. This infection will persist until November 2020 when America will finally lance the presidential boil.
2
Uh, to explain something, Trump would first have to understand something. See the problem?
5
Thank you Tom! I have been wondering for years why the press has not told the story of Mexican immigration having not only slowed, but reversed due to the forces you have mentioned here (reduced fertility rate, Nafta providing economic opportunities, improved (slightly) governance. This is what we need to be working towards, and not just in Central America, but in Africa and much of the Arab world too. Countries often experience what demographers call a "demographic dividend" when fertility rates fall, because families have fewer children, they then have more resources to invest in those children they do have including education, and their health and well-being. This sets up a virtuous cycle that can last for decades. One would think "conservatives" would embrace a pro-family, pro-development agenda like this, but instead they remain yoked to religious dogma pushed by patriarchal religions that seeks to ban even contraception, not to mention abortion.
2
If he could explain as well as he inflames . . . then he wouldn't be Donald Trump -- because Donald Trump revels in being outrageous.
1
"What if Trump Could Explain as Well as He Inflames?"
Seeing that inflaming had at least a 40-year head start and his current mental capacity seems resistant to anything but simplistic thoughts and explanations and is pandering to an equally simplistic base that responds to simple chants like "Build that wall" and "Lock her up," it'll always be a 'what if' with Trump.
3
Ahhh, too bad our hand are dirty. We played a role, rather we made sure that all the communist revolutions in Central America failed and got the fascist dictatorships we wanted down there. Now they are failed states and we want to build a wall to keep the refugees we are partly responsible for out. Now, if we had stayed out of it, and they all went communist, the result may have been the same. But we will never know. As it is we are guilty, guilty, guilty. So we screw them up, then we wall them off. That is pretty moral, right?
4
"a smart U.S. immigration policy would promote family planning in rural areas in Central America"
But, we can't because of Catholics and all the Churches of the Republican Way. Instead, our own country is threatened by white Christian nationalism - a form of fascism.
These self-righteous idolaters with their Bible morals, can't stand the test of logical ethics. They are irrational true-believers in hocus pocus. The definition of idolatry. They do not know the LIving Loving Lord.
7
No one seems to be mentioning the population explosion that is the real cause of most of these problems. A significant investment in world wide family planning sounds like a good investment.
5
The US labor market seems to be able to absorb 500K low skill illegal workers.
As Israel shows - walls are very expensive, but they work very well (along with strong point of entry screening)
Why not formalize the 500K low skill workers from Latin America through a legal immigration process , and provide a border security and zero tolerance for illegal immigration and the people that employ them.
If the GOP, and Trump, explained their policies clearly and unambiguously the voters would reject them in an instance. No, they must continue to lie and obfuscate. It's nonsense to believe anything else. They must brainwash and trick people into voting for them because they only represent the wealthy people who have purchased access and control.
1
The irony is Trump controls his base, not the other way around. If he had wanted to, he could have bridged gaps that no other Republican or Democrat could have. Instead, he chose corruption and the fake blanket of warmth from Fox and Friends. He will not go down as a treasonous president and a grifter with a cult of rubes.
What if Trump Could Explain as Well as He Inflames?
What if Broccoli tasted like a banana split?
What if I were 6'6, 180 pounds with 2% BMI?
What if it rained gold coins?
What if Elvis and the Beatles had a comeback concert?
...
4
Well said as usual. We're lucky that Trump's incompetence has saved us from accomplishing much of what he wants to do for his base.
1
IUDs are the answer to global warming, over population, drought, food scarcity, war...all of it. Having more than one when you cannot feed or care for yourself is a crisis. The very first executive order that Trump signed was the gag bill that stopped NGOs from providing family planning support
Our policies, aid and support increase migrants and create the desperation that lands at our and Europe’s doorstep
5
If the Trump preference is to dump on immigrants at our border, how about a catch, spay, and release program?
For these purposes long term contraceptives (IUDs etc.) would count for spaying.
1
Friedman writes "the biggest geopolitical trend in the world is all the people trying to get out of zones of disorder into the world of order."
Trump's apparent solution is to throw this country into disorder.
He can't. To explain you have to understand the other side. Everything Trump says or does must first pass the test : Is this about me ? Have I been slighted ? Will my base think I am a coward ?
If the answer is counter intuitive to any of these questions, get ready for inflammatory nonsense from Trump.
When did the Senate become a collection of "suits"? These guys/gals don't have a single idea as how to solve a problem. Our country will not get any better and probably continue to get worse until our poorly educated masses learn what a cost benefit analysis is, what lessons learned are, what the principles of systems engineering are and how to pick out a conman from an honest man.
Kiss America goodbye!
1
Explain ? He's vain, insane, inane, and very likely insane. To the sane, a royal pain. We're ALL circling the drain.
"What if Trump Could Explain as Well as He Inflames?"..that is similar to Dianne Feinstein's absurd comment: "Trump could be a good president if he could only change his personality."
What if up could be down and evil could be good?
1
No mention of the drug war? Nothing is going to change until we legalize drugs and take the profit motive away. The cartels & governments are ruining these countries. I work in a jail on the US/Mexican border. I see the consequences daily. Somebody should listen. Portugal, Switzerland and Netherlands are good examples of the fact that this approach works. 72,000 people died of overdoses in America in 2017 and 2018 is going to be worse. The "WAR on DRUGS IS AN ABJECT FAILURE.
"Building a border wall won’t solve our immigration problem."
Thomas, I don't believe Trump ever said it was the ultimate solution. However, a wall along certain parts of the border is certainly part of the multi-pronged approach of which you speak.
Many times when you write an op-ed, it's from some part of the world where you have taken the time to talk to various people in order to bolster your opinion. In this piece there are no such references - why not?
"Finally, we also need fences, drones and sensors to strengthen the border in places."
If you're OK with "fences", then why not with a wall, something a little more substantial? Have you bothered to talk with rank-and-file Border Patrol agents to get their opinion?
"So how the world of order collaborates to bring order to more and more of these places — Italy has basically created and funded the Libyan Coast Guard to protect itself from migrants crossing the Mediterranean — is going to become one of the biggest governing challenges of this century."
No, Thomas, it won't. If we cannot bother to manage our own borders effectively, then we no longer have a country worth defending.
Mr. Friedman. All what you re saying here makes sense, and exactly where the problem is.
We have been involved in two unnecessary wars - in Iraq and Afghanistan, having to spend billions of dollars, not forgetting the loss of valuable lives of our men and women. We still continue in these two locations, with no solution.
We have a different problem in Central America. The problem is very clear. The governments and the leaders in those countries are so corrupt, that do not allow their own people to live their peaceful lives? People - men, women and children are fleeing from their homes. They head to the US to seek refuge.
If the US has to provide economic aid to those countries in Central America, or invest on projects to help the people in those countries, is what the US should be doing. If that fails, other forms of action, including military action against those countries, should be the answer. This may not sound well. But, we have to find a solution, because, the problem is being created in those countries outside our borders. If there is terrorist activity in these countries, we would resort to action to arrest the problem, before they reach our shores.
The funds needed to construct a Wall, can be well invested to address more pressing issues - infrastructure, healthcare, education and other areas.
Excellent article. The combination of robotics and information technology, and climate change is likely to make population movement the major issue of the century. Robotics and info tech will allow work to flow back from developing countries not by moving the jobs but by allowing robots in developed countries to do it cheaper.
The flaw is to believe we have good ideas to deal with it.
Better questions are, "What if we had a president who cared as much about explaining as inflaming?" or, "What if we had a president who cared about governing more than campaigning?" or, even, "What if we had a president who cared about anything other than himself and his immediate family?"
2
This is a fantastic history of why the "hordes" are streaming up north. If only our president read history (or anything) this information might have an impact. The solution is a bit pie in the sky, but certainly states a good solution for stemming the tide. All we can do is wait out this administration and hope that the next is more globally focused on resolving the mass migration that is occurring on the planet due to a number of reasons.
Two huge problems facing USA that politicians and world leaders continue to ignore: global warming and the inherent inequalities of a globalized economy. Slavery was the bubbling boiling pot in the 1800s. The same can be said of global warming and the inequalities of globalization in the 21st century!
We defeat illnesses through prevention, not cure. Likewise, the immigration problem will only be solved by removing the cuase of the immigration: economic and social/political incentives. While a barrier may help alleviate the problem, it seems folly to consider it a solution. It may be a tool that has some role to play, but it certainly is only a partial tool. We should cease making believe a partial tool is a draconian one that will obliterate the problem. It will not.
Let the intelligent discussion begin.
Climate change and exploding population is resulting famine and anarchy in many regions in Africa, Asia and Latin America, and this will only accelerate in the future. As hundreds of millions of desperate people try to escape, the world will see unprecedented upheavals. We seem to be living in a more precarious world and are trying not to think about it, but it will be impossible to bury our heads in the sand much longer.
3
Look at history.No wall has saved civilizations in the long run.Only good and intelligent policies do.Excellent article Mr.Friedman. Thank you.
3
Yes Sir, You are absolutely right. However we feel that we are in a time warp and that the future is brighter. For example the combined anti-immigrant ratings of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham, show that they only reach a minority of the American citizens. No, their combined ratings are not near Walter Cronkite s.
And yes, we have to work hard in order to earn he future we want. Many thanks again for your wise words.
1
why aren't you in charge of our country??
We would move forward with great confidence.
When did we allow unqualified buffoons to lead such a great nation??
1
Imagining the current President laying out a nuanced and multi-pronged immigration strategy reminds me of the hilarious classic SNL skit when Reagan, played by Phil Hartman, speaks German and Arabic and is secretly a hands-on evil genius. https://youtu.be/b5wfPlgKFh8
1
Do what EU nations do. National ID cards for services, passports and visas for visitors, escort to border for violators.
2
Who's in charge here? Why it's Laura Coulbaugh!
If only the migrants knew how big a GAP our so-called Citizens United cuts in our already accelerating middle-class shrinkage, dystopian redundancy would render walls obsolete. Hence uniform disorder is MAGA's best stem on coveting the greener grass lest "Help Wanted" is our only solution to openings otherwise never filled.
Thomas wails: “Heck, Britain can’t effectively govern itself any longer!”
He could add the USA to his lament!
However, Thomas seems to think the issue can be resolved with more thought and information. That’s wrong. It will be remedied only when the 1/4% is removed from power over Congress and government BY THE PEOPLE is restored.
One aspect of putting the people in charge is the dismantling of the unimaginably successful disinformation apparatus run by a handful of billionaires that creates “reality” for almost half of Americans bamboozled by noise and alternative facts.
9
He absolutely knows a wall is not going to work. The thing he wants to learn is, what degree of cruelness his base will be going to support him. Hey, folks, he is just starting to warming up this is the beginning or end of the beginning.
1
I find it strange that Friedman talks about the glory days in Latin America and the Middle East, which he attribues in part to the largesse of the United States. Yet he manages to never once mention the other side of the coin, namely the coups of democratically elected presidents with the aid of the CIA, in places like Chili/ Guatemala, Iran and most recently Honduras. Perhaps if we had left those countries alone and not helped install right wing despots in their place, their own recent history would be very different.
4
Soon Venezuela can be added to the list of countries the USA has “saved from socialism”.
2
Immigration from Central America doesn’t have to be by land. The Gulf of Mexico can be crossed in barges, just like the Mediterranean.
1
So nice to see a light of reason in these dark times. Thank you Thomas L. Friedman!
3
Trump cannot explain as well as he inflames. Explaining takes some rudimentary level of knowledge of the subject at hand, some level of listener empathy, and some ability to grasp the listener's point of view. Trump has none of these qualities, and worse, does not want them, and worse yet, completely rejects any notion that he is not omniscient.
5
"(Heck, Britain can’t effectively govern itself any longer!)"
Hate to have to be so blunt about it, but the US has a similar problem with ineffective (or nonexistent) governance.
3
Dear Tom-
It took you until the third paragraph from the end of your op/ed to say that what we Americans really need is a real President. What we really have is a fraud, a con man, the most corrupt President in US history occupying the White House. He neither cares about formulating policy in order to serve the voters in this country, nor is he capable of exhibiting the concern, empathy, or decency necessary to drive such policy. Trump is nothing more than a lifetime hoodlum and thug, who has created the illusion of immense wealth by stiffing banks, employees, donors, vendors, and pretty much everyone he comes into personal contact with. However, he was able to read the speech, written for him by one of his staffers, to the delight of his Republican enablers. Yes, we need a real President to give a real State of the Union address. What we have a real criminal and a real bigot.
8
Explain? It'll never happen. The man can't even put a simple sentence together.
5
Instead of the sham called “The State of the Union Address,” I wish this could have been read and understood by All Americans.
In a few minutes, Tom Friedman was able to encapsulate most of the worlds problems in easy to understand language. Plus, it really makes sense.
With regards to the State of the Union Addresses, they should be abolished! That goes for Democrats and well as Republicans. You have Obsequious Sycophants on Both Sides performing. Do it the old way: Write it out, and then anyone who really wants to read the lies, over statements regarding truth, and floods of people in the stands handpicked for their accomplishments, can read it while falling asleep.
6
Rather than "explain as well as he inflames"...what if he could be truthful as eagerly as he lies...or be kind as eagerly as he's mean?
2
Thank you Thomas Friedman. As usual, very insightful. If only..........................
2
Mandatory E-verify and auditing business payrolls with financial penalties for businesses hiring illegals solves illegal immigration without guys with guns or walls.
5
We are an ungovernable plague, a pestilence destroying our environments, unaware, self centered, incompetently governed, polarized in camps of entitled elite and uneducated, impoverished mobs without any clue about what remedies might be pursued and negotiated. Armageddon is nigh...unless...unless...unless...we learn to listen and collaborate for the common good...so...who will lead us to find common ground and common purpose and comity and stability? We choose Trump? What lunacy and self defeat will finish us off? Obama and those like him who are sane and grounded and devoted to sober realistic strategies could do it but we chose instead a self absorbed incompetent braggart...what kind of fools are we?
6
Spreading the doctrine of open borders and lax immigration laws is what will give Trump a second term and the Dems are walking right into it.......again.
Sigh.....
5
The pope and the Catholic church forbids family planning.
1
Tom Friedman for president!
4
Mr. Friedman, will you run in 2020?
3
"It costs us anywhere from $14,000 to $38,000 to detain and deport a single migrant." -- Which is why need a Wall, no? You've just made the argument for the necessity of a physical barrier of some kind: the alternative is fiscally unsustainable.
Secondly, why are you distancing yourself from the proposition of a wall so energetically when much of it has already been built in the past 15 years -- by Democratic politicians, no less? If we already have hundreds of miles protected by an existent border wall, why contort yourself into a pretzel saying we should under no circumstance build a few hundred miles more?
Let me mention something you've omitted. Violent crime in the US is on the rise, after a long decline, for the first time since 2016. Did you hear about the incident on the NY Subway where there was a shooting by an MS-13 member? Have the courage to admit the following: Just because Trump says something doesn't automatically make it false. Trump talks about crime and gangs poring across the border (illegally) and you liberals pretend like it's all noise.
All the alternatives you mentioned -- culture, climate, etc. -- take time. You suggest that the country just look the other way for the time being, while these are being implemented, right? How long would these policies take to work? Which brings me back to your own numbers: Currently, a single immigrant, out of many, every day: $14,000 to $38,000.
21
@Eugene And I heard that the majority of these illegals don't come across wall-less borders but arrive with visa in hand and then overstay their welcome.
39
@CSchiotz
No one is concerned about the environment. Our country is already overpopulated. Birds are disappearing!
As for Great Britain unable to govern itself? Too much diversity, too many people with different attitudes: the recent immigrants want to be surrounded by people like themselves, the homogeneous countryside the same, but with different people.
Do we govern ourselves successfully?
4
@Eugene
No. The wall is a silly idea, and a waste of money. It would do next to nothing to address the problem you are concerned about.
Do you want a wall, or do you want fewer undocumented migrants in the U.S.? What is your goal?
The existing fences are near the established border crossings, and where there are roads etc close to the border. That is where migrants try to cross. The so-called "caravans" of migrants all walk towards the legal border crossings (where they try to request asylum). It makes sense to upgrade fencing and surveillance technology there. It doesn't make sense to build hundreds of miles of a destructive wall in back country areas where nobody tries to cross.
You will have much more impact if you penalize employers who hire undocumented workers. They come here to work. If there is less work available, fewer will come. Why are you not arguing for mandatory E-Verify?
The majority of undocumented immigrants come here with legal visas and overstay. Why are you not arguing for an overhaul of the visa system?
Immigrants, including the undocumented, have much lower crime rates than native-born Americans. If you are concerned about crime, why are you not advocating for better crime prevention programs? The wall will do nothing about crime.
93
"What if Trump Could Explain as Well as He Inflames?"
Is this supposed to be a trick question? For him to do so, he would have to, at minimum:
1) Tell the truth occasionally
2) Speak in a normal human cadence, with passable pronunciation
3) Be willing to educate himself enough to be able to explain to/inform others
In other words, if he could explain as well as he inflames, he wouldn't be Trump!
6
The only thing worse than the idiocy of the Wall is the nationalistic fury that makes it so attractive to those who favor its construction. The truth is that we live in one world now and unless we recognize the fact of our inter-dependency, we will all be doomed. The great threat of climate change with all the dire consequences that follow from it, are felt not only in the prosperous countries of the world, but are experienced even more severely in impoverished ones. Does anybody think that people who risk the lives and welfare of their children to cross the Mexican border do so because of the warm welcome they will find in America? The solution is not to open our borders. It is to take some responsibility for the conditions which make life so intolerable outside those borders.
117
I find it astounding to talk about South or Central America at ALL, and not talk about the failed war on drugs.
Aye, there are gangs and the like, but the VAST majority of people fleeing and moving up north (aye there are many that are economic migrants) are trying to flee strife, failed states and the total collapse of economies because of mismanagement, corruption and to some degree - meddling from the U.S.
As the U.S. moves between Democratic and republican governments, the stance has been pretty much the same as far as energy production and consumption. Climate change is ever increasing because of it. and as you say, affects more and more the economies, let along geography of the South and Central Americas.
I keep saying the same thing. We cannot just raise the drawbridge and think that the global problem(s) are going to go away. We need to work together across all countries, all governments, and all people's if we are to even have a chance.
We cannot wait 12 years. It has to happen now.
179
Why oh why aren’t we doing more to apprehend drug USERS, the end customers for which all this murder and mayhem is established?
1
@Nancy Rathke, but that has been the strategy for lo, these many years, with little success.there are hierarchies within the illegal drug world that make it hard to go after the ringleaders because they are protected by many layers of go-betweens. In fact, some of the people who profit the most are probably among the crowd condemning the drug trade.
2
As technology and globalization empower individuals around the world with more information and capabilities to move, the old world order of superpower and empires are dissolving at the same time. When Western countries preached free markets and democracy, some former authoritarian countries are falling into disorder and chaos. To many ordinary people, anarchy and lawlessness are worse than authoritarian government.
Who can bring order and in what form? Can the US continue to lead as the leader of free world or should the US lead (imperially) as the bedrock of world order and stability? Interesting thoughts to consider.
Excellent article, so insightful. What would be interesting to know is how much money the top one per-cent has made over the years by using illegals immigrants on their farms and in their factories. How did this class feel about illegals and how much money have they given to right wing politicians who have used this cause to help win elections.
2
What may end up calming Venezuela down is a revamp of its oil business. What could boost Nicaragua is a second cross-continent shipping canal parallel to the Panamanian one for easier exports of Venezuela crude oil to Asia. Those Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCCs) are a tight fit in Panama. As far as addressing climate change and economic instability, we're kinda in a trickbag. Unless, of course, there's more tech for surface flattening.
My father was part of a US army team that surveyed for a canal across Nicaragua as WWII was looming. The government feared that Japan would try to seize or destroy the Panama Canal.
All those things sound so sweet, but expensive. First, get control of the border, then maybe try some of those things. Thanks.
3
@Lee Irvine You make “getting control of the border” sound like a walk in the park. In reality it is not possible. Oh maybe. If you created a new branch of the Armed Forces and stationed all five hundred thousand of them on a line like beads on a string. The simple fact is that most of these people do not want to leave their homes and ache to return. An ounce of protection is more effective than millions of tons of useless concrete. What did the Maginot Line accomplish?
10
@Lee Irvine The point of these "sweet" things is to help us regain control of the border. Did you really not understand that? Why? Are you so fixated on "tough" things like a giant wall that you are incapable of considering the relative merits of different approaches?
Your condescending use of the word sweet speaks volumes.
Did you support Bush and love his reliance on his gut? Are you capable of learning from experience?
9
@Lee Irvine The border is under control. Also, the U.S. benefits mightily from immigrants. The best way to reduce the crisis of large numbers of people leaving their own country is to reduce the reason they do.
11
The wall, the wall and the wall. That's the only word the little voice in his head keeps repeating over and over again. He read a speech barely comprehending what it meant and then of course included his own ad libs. What happened to the really important issues, homeless veterans, hungry children, broken down infrastructure, global warming, climate change, health insurance, depriving 800,000 of a pay check for over a month, and more. It seems he cost the taxpayers 14 million dollars ( since he took office ) to fly down to his playpen. That, pure and simple is outrageous.
4
I disagree that 70 million people on the move worldwide is a big number, and represents a crisis. Just like saying "crisis" like Trump does not make it a crisis. There are almost 8,000,000,000 people on the planet, so 70 million is less than 1%. Most are not "fleeing", but rather they are "moving" from point A to point B looking for better economic opportunities. We used to do the same here in the United States, moving to get a better job, but that has now been reduced to less than half it once was in the 1960s. Now, we no longer move for a better job, and just stay set/trapped. That's a crisis.
The US has 330,000,000 people, and about 600,000 people get into the US illegally every year. Since 1986, we have amassed only 12,000,000 people who are here illegally. Meaning that in the last 33 years (since Reagan amnesty) the US has gone from approximately 0% illegals to a paltry 3.6% illegals, and in the last 10 years that 3.6% is coming down.
This is such a faux crisis. We live in the age of the faux crisis. You know what I would do with every single person that walks all the way from Central America with nothing but the clothes on their back and shows up on our border? I would let them in, and fast track them to becoming American citizens. People who risk their very lives and their children's lives to get to our country are a good investment. The real crisis is that we cannot even imagine doing something like this.
3
We need to document everyone who's here now, set a humane asylum policy and stick to it, and henceforth allow free and unfettered immigration from any country that has either reached zero population growth or is taking real steps to do so, and none or very little from countries that are not. - The problems of massively overpopulated countries can't be solved by migration to countries that aren't.
1
For Donald Trump, his base is everything. We don't need to be completely Trump-obsessed, but we do need to be Trump-concerned. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like bulls with nose rings - only instead of bullrings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a linguistic "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of all. When we understand this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
In order for Trump to give a speech that explains complex issues and reflects an understanding of them, he would need to be interested in them to begin with, and to be an integrated thinker.
What a silly notion. Like Jerzy Kosinski's Chance Gardner in "Being There," all Trump knows is the lines he sees on television, and like Forrest Gump's chocolates, from day to day, you never know what you're going to get.
1
One of Trump’s most frequent sayings is “...and we’ll see what happens.” He has no plan for the future and only adapts his ideas to the current situation.
This is like the cunning salesman who listens to the customer’s remarks and responds with whatever he thinks will advance the sale.
There's a difference between possessing 'knowledge' and 'wisdom'. And with Trump, there's a double whammy. He is devoid of both.
4
Ironically, Mexico probably *would* help pay for a wall – or at least radically improved security and processing capability – at its southern border.
An excellent read. Wish it carried a better title. For, like climate change, migration (both illegal and legal) is a global issue that requires nations to strategise together. Making it about Trump diminishes its importance. Cheers!
1
For Trump to explain anything he would first have to understand. So, I am not holding my breath.
2
Thank you for this Mr. Friedman. Very insightful and thought provoking column.
3
This president has his methods, as evidenced by last night's SOTU speech. They include falsehoods/exaggerations/lies, and demagogic appeals to fear and division. His approach to the immigration debate is further demonstrates of this.
It is thought and felt by his party and the president that you win elections by appealing to emotions - fear, insecuirty, greed, anxiety. Therefore, precious little discussion based on real facts - as opposed to fake ones - ever occurs.
We knew this was Trump's style and approach before he was elected, but we didn't care. One party wanted a bully, a wrecking ball, a destructo, and that excited the base. The other Republicans who went along with Trump were forced on to the ship, or else they faced abandonment - primaried by a base candidate, or ridiculed into nothingness.
The level of debate and discussion is exceedingly low, and this sows greater division and a lack of resolution of the immigration issue.
2
I cannot imagine a lower skilled american worker voting for anyone who gave Friedman's speech.
"My fellow Americans, we face a global crisis: More people are on the move today seeking [your] job."
"Immigrants actually contribute, on balance, to American growth. [However, some American workers lose their jobs to immigrants or see their wages decrease.]"
"We need an investment shock in Central America so more people can thrive there. [U.S. corporations can then relocate to Central America to take advantage of the lower costs. Some American workers will lose their jobs. Families will suffer while workers retrain or seek new employment.]"
President Obama realized he could not give Friedman's speech. It was not because he had a political problem with Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. His problem was with blue-collar voters.
Candidate Obama promised: “I can guarantee that we will have, in the first year, an immigration bill that I strongly support.” President Obama was called out on this by Jorge Ramos. “I want to emphasize ‘the first year,’ ” Ramos said. “At the beginning of your governing, you had control of both chambers of Congress, and yet you did not introduce immigration reform. And before I continue, I want for you to acknowledge that you did not keep your promise.” Obama had no response.
The problem is not as easy to solve as Friedman claims.
2
I agree broadly with Friedman's arguments. I found the shifting in point of view a bit confusing. Who is speaking in each paragraph?
The first four paragraphs are obviously Friedman's. The fifth paragraph, starting with "My fellow Americans" begins the speech of Friedman's hypothetical "real" president.
The first paragraph that I am sure is Friedman speaking for himself again is the one that ends with "Letting America’s religious right limit U.S. family planning assistance abroad is stupid." From then on, it's all Friedman. The last few preceding paragraphs might be either Friedman or his hypothetical real president.
Does it matter? Not much. But I would have been spared some unnecessary effort if he had marked the transition more clearly. Perhaps by ending the "speech" with "Thank you, and God Bless America." and following it with. "While I agree that Trump has a few valid points [insert example], I think he sidesteps the main issues."
Personally, I (ghthree) have the luxury of hindsight. I can post at my leisure. I'm not used to writing against a deadline.
All in all, well said, Mr. Friedman! The best discussion of the 2020 election issues I have seen in print so far.
What if he could learn, think, and empathize as well as he propagandizes?
2
Tom:
I’m a big fan of your work…and agree with much of what you state in this piece.
However, you fail to make little mention of illegal immigration. This is where the immigration debate begins for Americans; and, why/how Trump continues to flog the Dems with this issue.
For American workers, one real outcome of illegal immigration has been the globalization of jobs that really are local – i.e., service jobs and construction. Take away illegal workers and the wages of US citizens rise.
As illustration…in the mid-1980s, I was as a masonry contractor in Washington, D.C. At that time, my skill workers were making $21 an hour…which was typical, of the market.
I just had work performed at my home in Connecticut (similar market to DC) by a similar trade class (tile setter) who, as the top person in his shop, makes $24 an hour.
The difference is simply the cheap labor of undocumented workers in this industry and the extent to which they drive down wages.
America’s political class, media, and many citizens do not acknowledge this fact; and, would not tolerate it if they were on the receiving end of this kind of wage stagnation.
While denying family planning as a part of immigration policy is stupid, so, too, is our unresponsiveness to long-standing illegal immigration and its effect on American workers.
Start with legal immigration, the resources needed
to identify/process immigrants, enforce the law; and, help long-suffering American workers.
4
This column should be mandatory reading for all senators, representatives and border wall believers. It should also be broken down into simple bullet points so that the elementary mind of Mr. Trump might be able to grasp at least some of it.
1
What are the odds of Trump reading and understanding this column.
1
Great column. Unfortunately the a Democrat’s do not share the goal of reducing illegal immigration, smarter approaches notwithstanding.
2
Another column by Friedman that outlines a straight-forward, logically consistent, achievable path to solving a problem that both helps the US and humanity as a whole. Why has this man not been part of our government? How I long for such clarity of thought in our leaders
Remember we are dealing with a group of people that think the answer to being sick is to run to their doctor and demand antibiotics until it isn't. Or the smart thing to do is refuse vaccination for their children until it isn't. These are people who if they were in the immigrants shoes would do the exact same thing as the immigrants . In that situation they would view themselves as desperate innocents When it's someone else its a plaque of locusts. And while you are on the subject of inability to govern, why stop with Britain? How many real, fact based problems in America have even begun the process of being addressed? I would suggest to all the Trumpsters out there.....step back and look at your big picture: you despise these immigrants because they are trying to crowd you off the ladder. But you ignore the fact those above you on the ladder are actively kicking you down the rungs into their midst.
Yes, yes, and yes. Thomas Friedman remains an all-too-rare beacon of fact-based, superbly-reasoned, intellectually-rational, ethically-sound common sense.
Why, why and why are so many of our political leaders and an astonishingly large percentage of the general public so profoundly clueless?
This is weirdly neo-colonialist view of the world: The US should give more money to Central American nations, so that fewer people leave there. How would that work exactly? Do we just cut a check to Daniel Ortega and tell him to be sure to buy his people something nice with it?
By Friedman's own account, those countries are "weak." What assurance could we possibly have that our money will be put to good use? And why is it the responsibility of the US--which has plenty of its own poor and homeless citizens to care for--to care for people elsewhere?
1
Address overpopulation, climate change, disorder, the environment and relationships with other countries. What do we have right now? A nation in control by those who won't fund family planning, don't think the climate is changing, thrive on disorder, wreck the environment, and want us to leave important mutual relationships with other countries.
I wish you could distill all of your excellent words into five seconds of speech, Mr. Friedman, since that seems to be our attention span these days.
3
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for finally highlighting the need for family planning as the number one problem we face in the world today. The religious right should be using their heartfelt concern with helping local populations feed their citizens, grow their crops, dig their wells and heal and educated their children.
Not forbid them to limit the number of babies they have.
8
Combine these comments with Thomas Edsall's (see his op-ed) and alas, some of the thoughts behind Tucker Carlson's monologue (which Edsall critiques) and we actually have the basis for a reasoned policy on immigration, national identity and a more robust and inclusive economy. The missing element is some sort of moral compass, as religion has become passe, what is to guide us? There is an interesting commentary today of a woman teaching her children without explaining the concept of "sin" (as a reaction to her horrible upbringing by religious zealots), but then see the interviews of the surviving guards in Netflix's documentary on Auschwitz and you realize that without some higher order moral compass we won't be able to achieve the homogenous world envisioned in Star Trek, but will live in a world of expanding nihilistic governing seen in places like Northern Africa and parts of Central America.
1
Great column. The immigration crisis -- a result of the refusal and inability of small countries to govern combined with ineffective immigration law and policy -- is real and it needs to be addressed. The place to start is pass a realistic, humane immigration law. A majority of Americans support border security. But that majority wants truly effect border security.
We all recognize that the flow of harmful, illegal and illicit drugs should be stopped. We want border security that targets the importation of fentanyl from China just as doggedly as it targets the importation of prescription drugs from Canada. The majority of Americans, the Democratic majority in the House, the Republican majority in the Senate and the media ought to be asking why drug intercept programs work so well against cheaper prescription drugs and not nearly so well against fentanyl and other illicit drugs.
6
You don't think calls for nonwhite countries to lower their birthrates is going to called eugenics?
3
We need to export learning that bypasses all the defective autocratic governments. We need to provide the learning needed by poor people to solve their problems. Where we are the problem, we need to remove ourselves.
2
I have a less expensive more effective immigration reform proposal which will also lead to greater economic growth and save social security and medicare: let people live wherever they wish, let immigrants in through ports of entry, fingerprint them and give them an ID as they come in; a modern Ellis Island (most Americans don't acknowledge that their grandparents just showed up at the border without any sort of paperwork or prior application).
This is the free market freedom based solution.
4
@PNBlanco
Unfortunately, it's also a formula for destabilizing democracies, as we've already seen in Italy and Germany.
....and my grandfather was an immigrant who came through Ellis Island.
3
Brilliant summary of points you have been making for years showing how they directly impact the immigration issue. But these broad problems impact all of our nation's present crises - the economy, climate alteration, taxation, social and religious intemperance, defense, trade and virtually every other obligation of good government. We should not be focusing on the little picture presented by each concern, but should be addressing the planet's broad problems you have talked about for decades-increasing population, climate change, the impact of technology and international instability. Americans, however, are too foolish and too self-absorbed to ever do so.
10
But Trump's base doesn't want any explanations. They sense the 'truthiness' of what he's saying, and want him to fix it. Every single Conservative critic doesn't need an explanation, they can do the math and know of their coming minority status. And all of them are counting on the Supreme Court to back Trump no matter what he does.
4
Here's what I don't understand. Why don't you and your paper recognize and lend credence to the fact that Bernie Sanders offers the most comprehensive and common sense explanations for what needs to be done to improve conditions in our country and the world?
2
@Creager
Sanders bears a big part of Clinton's failure at the last elections. His voters who voted for Jill Stein are also responsible for the current state of our affairs.
2
Because he’s a crazy old man who rambles nonsense?
1
There is a huge group of Republican businessmen who don't want to solve our immigration "problem." For every liberal mayor in California declaring a sancuary city, there are a dozen agro- business companies with lawyers standing by, declaring their land to be a sancuary farm. Until the U.S. gets serious about E-verify, illegal immigration will continue.
26
A positive treatise, and worth considering. Mr. Friedman, the champion of neoliberalism, who forgets (or perhaps does not know) the US foreign policy (proxie wars in Central America, etc), as well as actions from the IMF, World Bank, etc that has helped devastate developing countries. The US that has contributed the most to the atmospheric CO2 situation. And the US that has had immigration policies of exclusion since 1790. We have never had a comprehensive immigration policy that was inclusive and fostered (made it reasonably easy to navigate towards citizenship) full citizenship for people of color. The ideas being discussed now by both parties is likely as narrow as they have always been.
Tom, read the true history of immigration in this country and re-write this piece and tell you readers what really should happen.
8
Five stars, Mr Friedman!
Fact-based solutions in today's political climate are beyond refreshing.
36
You’re best column Tom. I’m printing it and mailing to trump.
17
@Oliver oh thank you . .
A noble effort, Mr. Friedman, and well explained. Four unfortunately problems with your wish for our Dear President to clearly explain the issue:
1. He doesn't read or seek to gain information, so the notion that he would actually write or deliver a speech like yours, which is laden with facts, is a fantasy.
2. As you point out, his immigration "policy" is intended to please the right wing media fringe, as well as uneducated voters in his base who do not truly understand immigration issues and what causes them. There is no actual intention to solve any problem; it is about getting him right wing media love and votes.
3. Instead of trying to explain and bring order to an issue like immigration, Trump would never do so because he loves chaos and controversy. His entire life is built upon it--his finances (bankruptcies, loan work outs, complex tax issues), his business dealings (thousands of lawsuits, countless failed projects and businesses, countless hirings and firings), and even his personal life (three marriages, two divorces, children with three women, multiple affairs). He believes in chaos as a philosophy of life to gain an advantage.
4. Stephen Miller.
85
Trump and his base want to believe that a border wall will solve the immigration problem, because even if it costs ten times what he is asking this year, it will be less than the amount required to transform the economy to solve climate change, and support fair and just reforms abroad to solve the migration problem at its source, and work to stem population growth around the world, and all the other fundamental problems Tom mentions. Then secure behind their wall, they can ignore the plight of peoples elsewhere as “not our problem.” But just like the Brazilian dam that was breached two weeks ago, the wall will succumb to rising pressures outside, and when it does, the effects will be far worse than the economic pain of addressing root problems today.
10
I can see the “living standards” in Phoenix on my magic device, and I want no part of it.
Looks like a post- apocalyptic nightmare. I fear Arizonians crossing the WA state border more than I fear the entry of legal foreign nationals.
2
Trump will not make it as the fifth president on Mt. Rushmore as he believes he self-deserves, so he’s using American tax dollars to build a lasting monument to himself, the ‘Great Wall of Trump.’
Watch, next he’ll try to carry forward the the financial loss on his personal taxes for twenty years to pay no taxes again.
5
What we have is a global overpopulation problem that expresses itself in migrations and xenophobia. A really honest framing of our problems would begin with overpopulation, especially since automation and AI are increasing overpopulation and making it worldwide by eliminating jobs. We are going to be overpopulated even without immigration; the ironic thing is that we need our population to consume what we produce but do not need their labor to produce it. We have no idea what to do about this and prefer not to think about it even though it needs to be at the heart of our understanding and planning.
43
Fertility rates in Central America, South America and the Caribbean have been declining for sometime now. In fact Brazil's fertility rate is now below replacement level.
The world's highest fertility rates are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa.
While recognizing the need for sustained family p!anning/maternal health programs we should also be cognizant of the achievements made by many countries in this important development area.
2
Interesting argument full of buts and foreign govts should dos lacking in acknowledging the reality of the here and now.
Mr. Friedman where does the money come from to support these immigrants for the next several decades if not generations?
Europe is starting to take a less then open arms approach to immigration as the harsh reality of the cost associated with unrestricted immigration had set in. How can one blame Mexico for not pushing the problem on the US? It's a great deal cheaper to let people just pass through and not regulate their own borders.
1
?
Can the USA govern itself any longer?
3
Thomas Friedman has been pushing the same vision of the flat, integrated world for several decades now. The idea that the problems of one place become the problems of another place because of our interconnectedness is compelling and the need to react to these global challenges globally is also simple for most of the mainstream intellectual world to understand. Nationalism and “borderism” as a response to increasing global upheaval is the response of luddites who believe that strong borders can protect us from the most pressing human problems. Instead of working to mitigate the friction and upheaval caused by the rich/poor-ordered/disordered-safe/dangerous-healthy/sick interfaces, some of us would have us simply mark the line between us with walls and fences.
There was a time in our history when colonialism provided nations with the opportunity to invest in poorer nations. The goal of the investment was profit. Perhaps it is a time to invest in poorer nations again. This time though, our goal, as developed nations, would be a safer world with less friction along the developed/undeveloped divide. Instead of colonialism we need a program of national adoption or foster care. Instead of investing only in border security we ought to be investing in the development of strong institutions, social and physical infrastructure and functioning bureaucracies in underdeveloped regions.
22
Seems pretty obvious to me that countries in the West need to relearn how to effectively control their borders. Notice that almost no non-Western countries are having this problem. For example, illegal migrants know not to go to countries like China or Russia because they know those countries are serious about their borders.
There will always be a certain number of countries that have wars, droughts, crime waves, or what not. It simply can't be that whenever a country goes through a crisis, its entire population has a right to migrate to a Western country. Moreover, why would anyone struggle living in a third world country if they could simply move to the US and receive benefits?
I think governments in the West have two choices now: slow down migration to allow more time for assimilation or continue on and take a serious risk that a civil war breaks out. Diversity without any sense of unity is a recipe for war. The human brain is wired for violent tribal warfare--whether we like it or not.
3
Immigrants don't go to Russia or China not because they have strong borders but because they have the same terrible human rights abuses as the countries they are leaving. We are a nation of immigrants and we forget that at our own peril.
31
@John Chenango
I've worked with immigrants for 40 years in NYC. I have never seen one " take benefits"
I've seen them work hard for very little money. I've seen them
Pay rent . I've seen them make their bosses rich.
But sign up for welfare? Never.
33
There are thousands of Somali, Sudanese and Eritrean refugees in Israel (which is in Asia); there are millions of North Koreans escaping to China; there are the Tibetians in India. Your premise is false.
1
So two years into the Trump presidency, I don’t think we can pretend or hope that this kind of reasonable, educational speech or appeal will ever happen.
Secondly, nowhere in this appeal do we address the economic disparity and hurt in our own country -- among other things. We saw it with the government shutdown, people working hard but without reserves, unprepared for unplanned events, like the president using them as pawns in government shutdown.
My reaction is that there is no outreach or perspective or bridge here that links it to American workers. Intellectually, you can say these are separate issues or 'one does not preclude the other' but realistically when people are hurting here, these thoughts, however true, may get lost without out context to their own lives.
11
Tom is right on. Help these people in states South of Mexico. Encourage these people to have less children; i.e 2 rather than the current 5 or more. Teach them how to grow their foods more effectively. Also grow some edible & perhaps other fruits like Mexico does for the USA markets .
Improve their governments and make children attend school for 8th/9th grade. Pressure their leading Class to pay more taxes.
10
@Ralph Braskett So in countries that are already so food-poor that many people suffer brain damage for want of meat or its iron-rich vegetarian equivalents, your solution would be to ship even more produce to the Colossus to the north?
Here's a hint. The most egalitarian, stable and successful nation in Central America, by far, is Costa Rica, which maintains no standing army. This has provided a measure of protection from US-inspired coups, destabilizing military aid, and drug abuse. Every Costa Rican child's education and health needs are guaranteed through college.
21
I think this piece is right to focus on order in countries with out-migration. The elephant in the room? The U.S. has no real plan for supplying order, or even any new ideas to offer. Hold elections? Not working. Pursue human rights? Not working. Address climate change? We haven't offered a credible path to achieving this goal (or even achieving mitigation). Train and bribe and contract with elites from these countries? Definitely not working. Provide funds and training for lawyers and judges? Not working. Promote trade (in an international system that works to the benefit of those countries that already have money and industries)? Not working. Trump offers an emotionally satisfying, if ultimately unhelpful, response: fire the foreign policy elite and wise thinkers who have led us to this impasse. I am not a defeatist when it comes to "developing countries." China for example has a few ideas that work in the developing world (though China also contributes a lot of bads too, like even more corrupt local elites, more environmental degradation, etc.). China builds infrastructure in Africa; China respects a state's autonomy (kind of); China has a clearly expressed goal (build infrastructure, benefit developing countries, but benefit itself more); China prioritizes order over other public goods. Where is the U.S.? Asleep at the wheel. Why not look at what China has gotten right, point out its errors, and offer some new ideas?
25
@JK You mean like the dorms workers live in so they can work double 12 hrs shifts to produce product that supercedes US production to maintain the flow of US corps outsourcing there for their cheap labor and product?
3
Peru used to have its Shining Path Maoist guerrillas. Among other things that helped, an American managed to convince one single mill in Arequipa that first world knitters would pay far more per pound for alpaca yarn that was soft than what was being produced at the time--soft fleeces were ending up as alpaca hide rugs and stuffed animals and the mills were paying by the pound rather than by micron count for fiber that was to be turned into yarn. The thicker the hairs in the fleece, the heavier, but also the scratchier.
Why knit what you wouldn't want to wear?
One mill took that chance, and the baby alpaca yarn market came into being. There hadn't been anything like it before and fiber artists wanted more. What you can get now is far better than what you could get then and what you could get then was light years ahead of what came before.
Peru now has some of the best woolen mills in the world and the jobs to go with, and when was the last time you heard of that terrorist group?
40
The Guatemalan-Mexican border is much more porous than just two roads, and can be crossed anywhere along several rivers.
I've done so myself (along with Honduran migrants on their way to the US), and the Mexican immigration post in the next village had been "closed for lunch" for several days.
The Mexican army was patrolling the roads in force against the Zapatista uprising, however (this was 1996). They were not much more successful in that endeavor than in controlling immigration, though much more intimidating.
2
How about if the people in these countries figured out how to solve their own problems? After all, they're as intelligent and educated as we are, and far more familiar with local conditions.
The voters in El Salvador have just rejected both major parties, electing a newcomer who promises to clean up corruption. Yes, we've heard this before, but it's better than doing nothing.
8
@Jonathan How long are you willing to wait for them to solve their own problems (which, of course, are our problems)?
He is not capable of bringing the country together. It is not within him.
8
"...weak nation-states will be imploding...."
There's a role for "exceptional" America in that; provide assistance and (if necessary) force to restore the rule of law (tough if the citizens with the most clout are drug lords) and build civic institutions.
There is a way to be invincible - have no enemies. Perhaps we could work at that.
3
I just read only the title of this piece (I'll read the entire column shortly). But my gut reaction to the title's question is summed up by.. fahgeddaboutdit!
This 'Precedent' is long past the 25th amendment option. Thanks, Republicans.
5
Finally, an establishment voice recognizing population as a major contributor to the worlds destabilization.
Africa 140 million people in 1900, 1 billion in 2010 - heading to 2.5 billion in 2050. It is mind boggling.
Similar ratios apply in Central America. That is where climate change flows from and all the other destabilizing issues. And it is satanic the impact on other living things; something that isn't of interest to Friedman - whose curiosity doesn't extend to the natural world.
But let us hope that he will not get the same treatment that James Watson got for talking about population growth or does that only happen when you raise the possibility of there being differences between groups - which Watson raises in the context of how to get Africans to recognize the impact of population.
Sad really because this could be the best of times given our recently achieved knowledge and know how.
2
The inverse of crisis is opportunity. If an authoritarian China is such a rising threat (and I believe that it is), what a better way to diversify that threat than to begin to invest in Central and South America. That would take some strategic thinking. Unfortunately, you know that strategic thinking is in short supply in an Oval Office during "Executive Time", when our current occupant a) cannot pronounce Nepal and Bhutan correctly, and b) thinks that they are part of India.
4
And so of course part of the solution is also Thomas Friedman for Prez! Come on, why not. You have my vote after every article!
Thanks for your clarity.
1
With America’s financial support, Columbia went from a collapsed state to a peaceful and effective nation. Today we refuse to replicate the successful practice in other Central American nations. Republicans are unwilling to have the wealthiest pay a bit more in taxes. Instead, we try to wall off the poor in other nations by building a wall. The idea is not only ineffective but is penny wise and pound foolish. The irony is, Republicans claim they are following the Christ who says we’re to love one another- no exceptions.
8
I wonder if one day, in the not distant future, Canadians will try to “build a wall” to stop the flood of U.S. residents trying to cross the borders for more economic opportunities, affordable health care and, for women, the right to control our own bodies. I know I think about heading north on a daily basis. Oh Canada!
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@Kate Thanks for all the kind thoughts. A wall won't work given how long the Canada-US border is.
Canada's current worry are guns & "illegals" (the euphemism is "irregulars") coming across the border. A more treacherous cross-border import is "populist ideology". In Ontario the last provincial election ejected the Liberals, decimated the party and elected a mini-Trump from the Conservatives as the premier. He is currently working to privatize some part of the single payer public health system, after a draconian reduction of number of Toronto Councillors representing the citizens. So all is not as rosy as seen from afar.
6
@Observer
If the weather weren't so chilly, and "getting in" were easier, I'd be packing my bags for Canada now.
3
@Kate: "I know I think about heading north on a daily basis. Oh Canada!"
What's stopping you from going now?
And we hasddisplayed before us tonight a man totally unable to lead. He spent 90 minutes boasting about his accomplishments, all of which were basically by executive order or byRepublican senators. Not one bold policy on infrastructure, immigration, prescription drugs, healthcare or any other issue that bipartisan support could be brought about.Strictly an emperor speaking without any clothes on.
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If you're going to use barriers, controlling traffic across a 137 mile strip of land is a lot more practical than doing it on a 1954 mile border. On the other hand, the Tehuantepec isthmus isn't an international border. Interdicting traffic across that isthmus at the narrowest point would require dividing Mexico in two, north of five Mexican states. Maybe they'd be willing to do it if they thought it was in their interest, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Probably the United States would have to pay for it. Wouldn't that be ironic?
I'm glad you paid a lot of attention to the effects of climate change. I don't think most people realize what enormous refugee problems will be created if it's unchecked. Changing rainfall patterns, rising seas along low-lying coasts, combinations of heat and humidity making it impossible to work outdoors in the planting season and harvest time; any or all of these could create food shocks and water shortages that could put whole nations on the road. Nobody is remotely prepared for that.
16
You have many good ideas, Mr. Friedman. But the wall garners support from Trump's base, while the guy in the picture never will.
It is far easier for Trump to demonize immigrants, blaming them for America's problems, than to demonize those who really deserve it: Trump's fellow kleptocrats, the ones who have eviscerated the middle class, creating a bimodal distribution of rich and poor in the United States.
The election next year is not Trump's to win, but Democrats' to lose. And Democrats will lose if they put up another weak opponent.
Don't do it, Democrats. Your fellow citizens, and the rest of the world, are counting on you.
9
What nonsense. A few billlion dollars for a symbolic act. Let's compare with the trillions for the 18 years of war that Friedman has consistently pushed.
13
Mr. Friedman, did you miss the impact of world wide television in showing people elsewhere the general desirability of America? This could be called the "Seinfeld Effect".
During the 1990s and into the early part of this century, satellite television exploded around the world. Previously, people in many countries had one or two channels, both directly or indirectly controlled by the govt. Those channels might have shown one or two US programs but were filled otherwise with whatever boring content was available.
With the creation direct to the home satellites, started first in the UK and quickly here thereafter, American television programming penetrated more than 100 nations around the world. Every day. Every hour. 20, 30, 40 channels and more.
American movies have been seen worldwide since at least the 1930s and their influence showcasing our nation was huge. But, one movie a month is nothing like having television blasted into your living room. This was nothing less than a cultural invasion which encouraged millions to want to come here and helped to spawn a backlash that created terrorist intentions to attack us. (Without further study, the latter point is a matter of informed conjecture.)
Meanwhile, the nations of Central America are broken, most of them having seen decades of civil war and mass murder. The gangs are fighting murderously to get whatever small slice of pie they can. Our goal should be to assist them, and Mexico, in further economic progress.
5
I have an idea.
Why don't all those people living lives of desperation in places like El Salvador and Honduras simply use the "cloud" to "monetize their closets"?
Problem solved.
And the "world of order" is in a profoundly weakened, unstable state itself due to the spectacular and historic failure of Friedman's beloved globalization, which has decimated the middle classes in America, Britain, France, and beyond.
We've only just begun the reckoning with the consequences of the debacle that was globalization, and it's going get much, much worse--and more violent--before it gets better.
And his equally beloved, "innovative", "disruptive" "tech bros" in Silicon Valley are about to execute the biggest "disruption" in history with the AI Revolution, which will be the tipping point to global chaos.
7
First, Trump is not a real president; he is a sham, a flimflam man. Second, he has no interest in explaining anything. He is only interested in distorting things to fit his own version of reality. Third, he wants to inflame and, indeed, thrives on inflaming, because by doing so it distracts attention away from having to explain anything. Fourth, he has no grasp of - and no inclination to grasp - real world problems. And fifth, he has no capacity for collaborating (except, perhaps with Putin) on anything that he cannot profit from or does not fit his worldview.
54
I think you give him too much credit positing that he has the capacity to collaborate with Putin which would require more equal abilities.
I posit he is Putin's patsy wishing to be like Putin: A man who rules without real elections, controls great wealth through proxies, murders his antagonists, and who is able to have great popular support by playing the leader of a re-emerging downtrodden empire.
So on one point Trump is right, there is no collusion, he is not that competent, only a wanabe puppit in thrall to a psychopathic kleptocrat schooled by the FSB.
3
"What if Trump Could Explain as Well as He Inflames?"
Then he would write op-eds or be a teacher. He would not be president.
Mr. Friedman certainly writes far better and more coherently than Mr. Trump's communications in any form, even when vetted.
His ideas are expressed clearly and forcefully and make sense even if one disagrees.
But then Mr. Trump is president and giving the State of the Union Address.
Mr. Friedman is not. He is writing op-eds.
Life is funny; voters are fickle.
"That’s what a real president would offer. If only we had one."
Wake up Mr. Friedman. You indeed have one. "You" elected him.
4
There you go again Tom, proposing sensible solutions to global problems. Lets throw out all of the members of Congress, the president and the supreme court and appoint you and Gail Collins as supreme rulers; you for the brilliant solutions and Gail to make fun of you and us. Maybe add Bret Stephens for a conservation point of view - and he can be funny too.
1
As one of the coven of raging, die-hard, man-hating, Abortion promoting, Feminists of the comment crew, I applaud you. Yes, I’ve been called all those things. Big whoop. Guess what, folks, we ALL share the same grossly over full Planet. Encouraging and yes, even funding Birth Control in other Countries is in OUR best interests. Just maybe, with stable birth rates, there will be less immigration here. Not to mention less degradation of the environment, everywhere. Be fruitful and multiply. THAT is so last millennium. Change now, or there will be NO next millennium. Think about it. Please.
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@Phyliss Dalmatian — I really like your commentary and look for you every morning. In an act of avoidance I pretty much stick with Readers Picks.
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@The Iconoclast
Thank you. I’m trying to be “ nice “ and avoid the wrath of the moderators. It’s a tough job, but someone must do it. Cheers.
4
Understanding is a prerequisite to explaining.
6
A new meme: "Let me Trumpsplain it to you."
By this technique, one both inflames and explains at once. One explains that any failure in your life is the fault of someone else, likely someone who doesn't look or sound like you, someone not of your tribe. You have been treated unfairly (by the media, the elites, the "takers" who don't work as hard as you do). This explanation simultaneously creates a truth in your mind that is both satisfying emotionally and inflames you. Explains and inflames, thus "Trumpsplains."
2
Not an explainer.
Not going to do that.
Here is your Molotov cocktail.
So – why not just offer statehood to some of these folks...
And – stat...
Like before the next census and Congressional redistricting...
And save us all the wall-building and mass migrating and busting up of families...
Let them use the chitchat at their next Thanksgiving dinner to get that last one over the goal line, like real Americans do...
All of a sudden, that iron-clad looking 53-47 majority would be looking like a 53-57 minority, or worse...
Add just seven of these equatorial side-diamonds to the Super Bowl ring that is America (yeah, they’re already part of some America – but this one’s WAY greater) and there’s your 60 filibuster-proof votes and a window office, Chuck...
Unless GOP already reaching out to Guiado to run – having suddenly realized they’re not in Kansas anymore...
Don't expect Trump to explain anything.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/ct-perspec-chapman-donald-trump-dumb-20171103-story.html
2
The Wall is a bandaid. The economic and political forces driving people from Latin America are very powerful. Poverty, injustice, and lack of opportunity will drive anyone to vote with their feet. The calculation to seek asylum is a fundamental profit/loss calculation.
The Wall is a sideshow. We should be investing in resilience, education, and NASA.
16
Current World Population
7,682,092,373 (and exploding)
http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/
One of the most destructive American exports to the world is 'conservative' Christianity that effectively bans sex education and contraception availability in deference to medieval religious ignorance and 'be fruitful and multiply' demographics that are currently trashing the natural environment and creating mass migrations.
The world needs a massive Manhattan Project with free IUD implants, free condoms and other free contraceptive handouts to the world's entire population in order to stabilize the global population and the environment.
Instead, the current Administration administered a 'gag order' that defunded contraception clinics and defunded the UN Population Fund that aids the world's poor women with contraception.
It's an unconscionable Abort-The-Planet public policy that no sane group would ever support.
But we're talking about Party-First-Planet-Last Grand Old Psychopaths....sanity, coherence, and doing the right thing are not in their political playbooks.
One day, this country will have an adult President and adult leadership in charge.
Until then, let's hope we can survive the medieval, religious , fake-phony-fraudulent 'pro-life' instincts of the Party of Massive Overpopulation, Environmental Collapse and Mass Migration.
Nice GOPeople.
304
@Socrates: "The world needs a massive Manhattan Project with free IUD implants, free condoms and other free contraceptive handouts to the world's entire population in order to stabilize the global population and the environment."
Then you should go work for Planned Parenthood.
"One day, this country will have an adult President and adult leadership in charge."
I certainly hope so. It's just that most politicians currently occupying our nation's capital aren't adults. It's time to have term limits for members of Congress.
1
I absolutely agree with Mr. Friedman on all of his points here (especially the idea of establishing a joint border patrol at the nexus of Mexico and Guatemala). Worth noting, however: offering increased economic assistance to countries in Central America will not do much to address their problems pertaining to poverty and lawlessness if the governments of those nations remain as corrupt and graft-ridden as is currently the case. Which is to say, we need to ensure that our financial aid and investments reach the people who are genuinely in need of them. Second, can someone please explain why the people who are fleeing those countries always seem to migrate north? Even forgetting about Nicaragua (a nation with serious problems of its own), why do so few of them head down to Costa Rica, Panama or Colombia? Perhaps there aren't quite as many opportunities there as can be found in the U.S. but, considering the fact that our welcome mat has disappeared over the past few years, wouldn't it make sense for more of los miserables to head south for the time being?
12
Three things I believe are true:
The border crisis is of our own making because our immigration system is such a shambles.
We as a nation, depend on a steady flow of immigrants to fill not only low wage jobs, but also to bring new talent into high tech and research fields.
Cutting off either flow would damage our nation.
If we want to help our nation prosper and to rationalize the flow of new talent into our workforce we need to fix our immigration system. Verification of the right to work in our nation must be mandatory for every job. There must be a system for our guest workers to go home for holidays and be able to return to the US for their jobs. We need a way for people who have lived and worked in our nation without violating our laws to become citizens. At the same time if you are a guest worker and you violate our laws, you are out. Working here is a privilege, not a right.
Fixing our immigration system will stabilize the workforce our employers depend on. It will end the exploitation of workers because they need not fear reporting a violation work wage or work laws. It will also end the draw of people coming north because with out proper permits, there will be no work. It will also at last allow us to become a place of refuge and opportunity for those who seek to better themselves.
9
It would be fascinating to see a comparison of the extortion regimes of ISIS and MS-13 and other gangs, and what is likely to be required of the international community to free people from them.
4
Any U.S. trade agreement with Mexico- not NAFTA - has to be based on improved living standards for U.S. workers.
The problem with NAFTA is that it makes people like Tom Friedman's lives much better because it drastically reduces his cost of living, while putting out of work millions of U.S.workers who are displaced into lower-paying, usually dead-end jobs.
How is making an economy of haves and have-nots to the south of us doing anything but benefiting the haves in our own country at the expense of the have-nots?
11
Because he can't understand things, he can't explain them.
All he has is a dog-whistle, and he's done a lot with it. But that's all he has.
5
In your dreams, Mr. Friedman.
1
Trump doesn't even care about a Wall on the southern border except it was an inane promise made to his base and they are the only people he thinks he represents. He only fears the rightwing media telling him he is a loser, so rather than admit he was willing to move on, he will engage in a cage match to the death.
For Seinfeld fans, he is George Constanza pretending he has a house in the Hamptons, driving his dead fiancé's parents out to "see it" even though he knows and they know it doesn't exist.
115
@Doris2001
The Seinfeld reference is right on target since Costanza describes in detail "the house" pretty much like Trump has done with "the wall".
3
There is no evidence that extreme weather has been driven by climate change (gradual warming). Mr. Friedman should stick to things he knows something about.
3
@Jonathan Katz and you base that on what?
10
@Jonathan Katz Educate yourself and read reputable scientific literature with articles that laymen can follow, like Science or Nature. The fact that you are not aware of the evidence does not mean there is none.
9
@Jonathan Katz
There certainly is, but you won't hear it from your Fox and Friends. The repository of global warming is the ocean temperatures, which drive weather patterns that result in more extremes. The experts in this area have put forth reliable, convincing data. And the recent rates of change have been proven to be far in excess of the natural "gradual" pattern that you imply. Listen to scientists, not Sean Hannity.
7
Every human being is a potentially profitable resource, of future workers/taxpayers/scientists/friends...! Immigrants should not be treated as potentially costly problems, but treated as potentially profitable taxpayers... by welcoming them and investing in their education...! Immigrants are a far better, more potentially profitable, resource than oil or coal...! A future child of an immigrant could be the next "Einstein"...!
7
@Gandalfdenvite
The average Honduran, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan, age 15 and older, has less than a grade school education. Most of the unskilled and low skilled jobs they could fill have been lost to out-sourcing or to automation. The remaining jobs do not pay enough to create “profitable taxpayers”, but are desperately needed by our own citizens and legal immigrants.
The children of people with such little education generally need much more help than those with more highly educated parents. Who has the money to invest in their educations? Teachers across our country are underpaid. Many school districts lack the funding to maintain school buildings or to buy supplies and new books. We should be directing more money to the education of our own children. Yet, you think we can come up with the money it would take to educate the many children of poorly educated, non-English speaking migrants.
5
@ann It is very profitable to educate anyone regardless of age or previous education! It is not that difficult to learn to speak and read the English language, and an adult do not need as many years as a child to start from uneducated to graduate from high school, so it actually cost a lot less to produce a profitable taxpayer out of an uneducated adult than it cost to produce a profitable taxpayer out of an infant child! The problem is that we treat immigrants as costly problems instead of the profitable solutions they actually are! We are all human beings, and we all live on the same planet Earth where "national borders" should be irrelevant! "our own children", immigrants children become "our own children"!
3
@Gandalfdenvite
Virtually everyone would agree with your educational ideals. The problem is reality. See a 9/3/16 article on your country in the British paper "The Spectator” titled "How Sweden became an example of how not to handle immigration: We’ve taken in far too many people and we’re letting them down badly – especially the children” by Tove Lifvendahl, the political editor-in-chief of Svenska Dagbladet.
" ... when it comes to integrating those we take in ..., we don’t do so well."
"A parallel society is emerging where the state’s monopoly on law and order is being challenged."
"Integrating adults into Swedish society has been tricky enough, but a much more difficult problem is how to deal with all the unaccompanied children.
"Child refugees are sent to Swedish schools, but they struggle to integrate and are sometimes placed in separate groups, because of their vastly different learning needs."
"Sweden’s care homes have become a rich source of vulnerable young men who are full of frustration and hopelessness and lacking in direction."
"Last week’s murder of eight-year-old Yuusuf Warsame fits a pattern that Swedes have come slowly to recognise over the years. He was from Birmingham, visiting relatives, and was caught up in what Swedish police believe is a gang war within the Somali community."
"In response to the crisis that threatens to overwhelm it, Swedish politics has become more realistic, less romantic."
1
Dear Mr.- Friedman:
It looks that people irrespective of point of origin is not inconfortable becouse of their own enviere but rather due to own and self mind problems,
Let me tell you, not only south american but even US people are not happily living.
The same situation, world wide.
So.... a solution should be stablished through mechanisms of education by all existing comunication systems.
Once having established the reality, we, and not only we, but all could see that the neighbore garden is not, AND IS NOT, better. regards.
2
This isn't complicated. Democrats like Tom Friedman aren't against a wall because they think it is a waste of money. They oppose a wall because they are terrified it will work.
Business likes immigration because expanding the labor supply drives down wages. Democrats know the 80% of immigrants vote for them, so they want to bring in immigrants and then legalize them so they can vote.
Democrats also oppose a wall because they understand the trouble Trump is going to be in with his base if he fails to deliver on his number one campaign promise. Pelosi has no interest in helping Trump with that.
Trump has had two years of Republican control to get the wall built. He could have forced Ryan and McConnell to fund it if he had made it a priority, as Ann Coulter urged. He didn't fight for it, and it is now too late.
11
@Schrodinger couldn't agree more. Saved me the comment. Thanks!
4
@Schrodinger Let's consider a moment. Suppose you are right and Democrats fear that 'it will work'. I was not aware that Democrats were particularly in league with Business. True enough, Business that uses immigrant labor must like it. I understand it keeps wages lower, but that is precisely what keeps those businesses in business isn't it? $15 an hour to pick strawberries isn't going to sell strawberries.
Ask Trump why he hired illegal immigrants to work on his properties. Did they vote for him because he gave them a job?
If immigrants vote democratic there must be a reason. Is it possible that the anti-immigrant rhetoric is what keeps them from voting for Republicans? I understand that they work, pay taxes, send legally earned money home, etc. What is it about the Democratic position that would be attractive to them then? I don't think they are born democrat.
Democrats block the wall to humiliate Trump and infuriate his base? I am sure you are right on the former, but I would think Democrats would love to have Trump's base turn on him rather than stoke their anger at themselves. As for his failure to get his wall with the Republicans in control of both houses being a missed opportunity, perhaps the Republican congress saw the wall as a problem too?
26
@Schrodinger His campaign promise was that Mexico was going to pay for the wall.
23
Trump plays on the attitudes of his conservative base and that’s as much as he’s going to do. He has no concern for this country and it’s people. That base will give him his best shot for re-election. Once he’s re-elected he might just resign so as to avoid the responsibilities if the office. Being President is hard work. He could spend his time as a media star and avoid the trouble of the office. He cares about what he wants and what he wants is to enjoy himself and to be in the lime light. Do not expect Trump to give anything away.
7
@Casual Observer
...and defend himself against all of the lawsuits and indictments once he's no longer protected by Presidential Immunity.
...And his business reputation as a shrewd deal-maker having been shredded, and any assumptions of probity and honesty evaporated, his chances of building any more hotels with OPM (other peoples' money), in Moscow or anywhere else, are zilch.
For the limelight, he'll have to do another "reality" TV show...if he can stay out of Jail.
9
The gist is that the developed world cannot handle the population explosion of the less developed world. Indeed, the earth cannot handle it. Some developing countries, however, are controlling population growth. That is worth explaining.
46
If Trump could approach immigration in an honest way, he wouldn't be Trump.
Immigrants' motivations are indeed complicated, but Trump, since beginning his campaign, wanted only the simple talking point that they are dangerous and must be kept out.
The situations in the immigrants' home countries are certainly complex, but Trump, as policy, wants to reduce countries to desirable or shole ones.
And there are steps that the United States could take to try deterring illegal immigration, including a number offered to Trump by Democrats. But, no surprise, what he wants, no matter how impractical, is the fabled wall.
His 'solution' is an in your face, rude third finger pointing at the world; a symbol of the man himself.
32
@NM Agree! Keep the message simple and appeal to the fear and anger inside. Easy as pie for this man, a born natural persuader.
1
@David Greenspan -
"If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed." Adolf Hitler
1
Friedman wrote:
"(Heck, Britain can’t effectively govern itself any longer!)"
Thomas, I'm afraid the United States is in the same boat as Britain...we're barely holding on, in my view, for dear life.
225
We still look for a leader(s) to take us into the next chapter in our future. Few are willing or able to step up - thus leaving the void that Trump filled. Let's only hope we can look back and laugh one day. Because the alternative is frightening. Where are the TDRs and FDRs and Lincolns of tomorrow?
I do have hope.
3