Another horror story about the racist ignoramus masquerading as our president has emerged, and this one has disturbing international implications.
Trump’s atrocious behavior at the recent G7 summit — at which he alienated and attacked some of our closest allies, while at the same time suggesting Russia should be readmitted to the organization despite their violent, expansionist annexation of Crimea — has already been widely publicized. It appeared to be a deliberate attack on the Western alliance and the global liberal order, something that Putin has a vested interest in overturning.
Now, more details have emerged about Trump’s embarrassing behavior at the G7 summit. The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump illustrated his regressive views on immigration and race in horrifying fashion to the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.
“Shinzo, you don’t have this problem, but I can send you 25 million Mexicans and you’ll be out of office very soon,” Trump said to Abe.
Beyond the obvious racist connotations, the comment is telling in a few ways. It shows that Trump is not concerned about undocumented immigration because of some deeply held, albeit incorrect, opinion on the economic effects of migration. No, Trump rails against immigrants, specifically Mexicans, because it’s a useful political tool. It helped rally the bigots and install him in office, and he continues to beat the drum because it continues to keep him in office.
The casual nature in which the statement dehumanizes Mexicans, presenting them as problems to be dealt with or shipped off rather than as people is deeply emblematic of how psychologically incapable of basic human empathy our president is. No compassionate person would make such a threat.
Trump is representing America as a nation full of backwater racists, stunning foreign leaders in the process and weakening the bonds between the United States and the larger international community. This kind of behavior can’t be allowed to be normalized. Presidents must be better than this and for that reason, among numerous others, Trump cannot be allowed to remain president.