Kaleidoscope
By Perry Diaz
By Perry Diaz
When I read what Vice President Mike Pence said on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I felt a visceral outrage at his callous attempt to compare President Donald Trump to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Honestly, you know, the hearts and minds of the American people today are thinking a lot about it being the weekend we are remembering the life and the work of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.,” Pence said. He added, “One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, ‘Now is the time to make real the promises of Democracy.’ You think of how he changed America, he inspired us to change through the legislative process, to become a more perfect union. That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do, come to the table in a spirit of good faith.” Whoa! There is a big difference between King and Trump. King died trying to unite the country from her policies of racial inequality. And Trump is dividing the country by promoting hatred among her people; thus, weakening the social fabric that has kept the country together -- strong and stable. Trump made it clear: he doesn’t want America to be what she is today. He wants to isolate her from the rest of the world. But isolationism is not the way to greatness; it is the way to mediocrity.
Secession
Indeed, in the past two years of Trump’s divisive presidency, several states are thinking of leaving the Union. In California, the “Calexit” movement has been growing. If the backers of the Calexit measure get enough signatures to qualify, it would result in a special election in 2021. However, a poll in 2017 showed that Californians oppose independence by more than 2-to-1. But that translates to about 11 million in favor of secession, which is substantial.
There are movements in other states as well. Texas wants to secede and become independent. Minnesota’s government – in what is being referred to as “Minnexit” – announced the state’s intention to secede from the U.S. and join Canada. Governor Mark Dayton said that the result of a recent survey show that the majority are disgruntled with Trump’s policies and values.
In the case of the territory of Puerto Rico, her people have always been pro-American. As a matter of fact, each time statehood is placed on the ballot, a vast majority voted for statehood. In a status referendum in 2012, only 5.5% voted for independence while 61.11% voted for statehood. In the state referenda of 1967, 1993, and 1998, less than 4.5% voted for independence.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz criticized Trump as “insensitive” and “disrespectful” for Trump’s remarks that he does not support the idea of recognizing Puerto Rico as a US state because the mayor was “incompetent.” This is typical of Trump who always places personal feelings above policy.
On the day before Hurricane Maria’s one-year anniversary, Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló – despite Trump’s slowness in responding to Hurricane Maria -- sent a letter to Trump, asking him to abolish America’s “territorial-colonialism” of Puerto Rico once in for all, and allow Puerto Rico to become the 51st state.
But the U.S. Congress had in the past disregarded Puerto Rico’s request for statehood. One theory that was being talked about was that the Republicans were not in favor because most Puerto Ricans were Democrats, thus giving them additional seats in the House and two in the Senate. Would it be suffice to say that if the US Congress continually rejects Puerto Rico statehood, the pro-independence movement would eventually grow?
Government shutdown
Today, Trump is facing the biggest challenge to his presidency. Now, more than 30 days since he partially shut down the federal government, there is no end in sight to the longest shutdown in US government history.
Obsessed with building a wall along the US-Mexico border, Trump threatened to shut down the government if the Democrats – now the majority in the House of Representatives – wouldn’t give him $5.7 billion to build a wall on a 234-mile section of the almost 2,000-mile long border. He then invited the congressional leaders to a meeting at the White House Situation Room. At the meeting, Trump offered to open the government provided that the Democrats would fund his wall within 30 days. Speaker Nancy Pelosi responded with a “No.” Trump threw a tantrum, pounded the table and stormed out of the room. In a press briefing after Trump walked out, Pelosi accused Trump of holding the federal employees hostage to get his wall.
A few days ago, Trump invited a few Republican Senate leaders and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to fashion a proposal to end the shutdown. In their proposal -- called the BRIDGE Act -- they offered a three-year extension of protection for the DACA “dreamers” and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for immigrants from some Latin American and African nations in exchange for $5.7 billion for the wall. The Democrats immediately responded, calling it a “non-starter.” Right-wing conservatives called it “amnesty.” The bipartisan opposition – for different reasons -- to Trump’s proposal, which Democrats call it a “ransom note” for the 800,000 federal employees being held “hostage,” is doomed.
What’s the wall all about?
With the border wall issue in limbo and the government is shut down indefinitely, it puts the country’s security at risk. Yet Trump continues his demand for his “wall” come hell or high water, which begs the question: What is the wall all about?
Of the almost 2,000-mile border, 690 miles are already fenced. According to the Federation for American Immigration, only 403 miles of fencing is intended to keep pedestrians out, while the rest just keeps vehicles out. For 36 miles, there is a second tier of pedestrian fencing. And for 14 miles, there are three layers of fencing. Last October 2018, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) unveiled the 2.5-mile-long, 30-foot-tall steel slatted barrier in Calexico, California; dubbing it the first completed “border wall project,” despite the fact that it just replaced existing fencing. That still leaves more than half of the almost 2,000-mile border uncovered, and there are gaps and dilapidated fencing in the barriers that are in place. The fight that has shut down the government is basically about 234 miles of new border wall that President Trump wants, according to the Trump administration's latest request. [Source: Axios, “What the fight over Trump's border wall is really about,” 1/17/19]
It’s interesting to note that Trump originally asked for $25 billion for his wall. Then he lowered it to $18 billion and then to $5 billion. Then Vice President met with Democratic leaders and offered $2.5 billion. Wow! Does Trump really know how much he wants for his wall? Did he commission engineers to design and draw up construction plans for the 234-mile wall? Or did a White House aide do all the estimating from a high $25 billion to a low of $2.5 billion? Hmm…
When Trump visited the border last week, he was told that the prototype of the “beautiful” steel slat barrier that he plans to build along the US-Mexico border could be cut with a saw. It must have embarrassed him. But he said it was Obama’s wall. But the truth is it was built in 2017 during Trump’s first year in office. It was a prototype that he selected himself. And he wants to spend $5 billion to build a penetrable wall? As Speaker Nancy Pelosi had said: there are better and more cost effective ways to protect the border. But to Trump, it all comes down to a promise he made during the 2016 campaign, which was to build a wall that Mexico would pay for. But Mexico already said that they aren’t going to pay for the wall, which effectively broke his campaign promise. He’s like a wounded bull in a bullfight -- he gets angrier and attacks until the matador delivers the coup de grace.
Conservative political columnist Ann Coulter, who has clashed with Trump over the wall in the past, told The Daily Caller that without the wall, the linchpin of his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump will “just have been a joke presidency who scammed the American people, amused the populist for a while, but he’ll have no legacy whatsoever.”
Does it seem then that Trump is indeed dividing the country and weakening the country’s security? If so, is he a threat to national security?
No comments:
Post a Comment