Donald Trump has found a new inane talking point to distract his supporters from his controversy-ridden presidency and — as is so often the case with him— it’s racist to the core.
Several thousand migrants are currently moving through Mexico towards the U.S. border seeking asylum. These displaced people, desperate for some kind of better life, are being referred to as the “caravan,” a technically accurate term but also a buzzword that allows Trump and his media surrogates to distill these people into a fearmongering meme, with some of his supporters even referring to the mass of men, women, and children as an “invading army.”
It’s a delicate issue that must be handled with compassion and understanding, so of course, Trump has already proven himself not up to the task.
Today, he took to Twitter and unleashed a barrage of xenophobic tweets about the migrant caravan. He started off by making the unfounded claim that there are “unknown Middle Easterns” mixed in with the caravan.
The racist implication couldn’t be any less subtle. The president is trying to conjure images of Al-Qaeda and ISIS operatives infiltrating the group, a conspiracy theory with no foundation in reality. In other words, just in case anti-Hispanic bigotry wasn’t enough to incite his base, he decided to randomly throw in some Islamaphobia.
Since it’s Trump, there was also a typo thrown in as he spelled “emergency” as “emergy,” because apparently the President of the United States can’t be bothered to read over his messages before blasting them out to millions of people.
Sadly, it looks like Mexico’s Police and Military are unable to stop the Caravan heading to the Southern Border of the United States. Criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in. I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergy. Must change laws!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018
He wasn’t done there though and made the absurd claim that the migrant caravan’s very existence can be blamed on the Democrats as if they have any say over how people in other nations act or decide to move. Trump is attempting to tie his enemies to this issue, even though there’s no connection and anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the migrant issue will immediately recognize that. It’s pathetic, transparent partisan hackery.
Every time you see a Caravan, or people illegally coming, or attempting to come, into our Country illegally, think of and blame the Democrats for not giving us the votes to change our pathetic Immigration Laws! Remember the Midterms! So unfair to those who come in legally.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018
Finally, Trump ended his little rant by threatening Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. He accused them of failing to do their “job” of stopping the caravan and said that his administration will now be “cutting off” or “substantially reducing” U.S. aid to those countries.
It’s another example of Trump engaging in pathetic geopolitical bullying and does nothing except further weaken our relationships with these countries. He’s sacrificing diplomatic stability in the hopes of raising his poll numbers a few points
Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018
The Washington Post’s Kevin Sieff has been covering the migrant caravan and his Twitter offers some valuable insight into what’s really unfolding on the ground.
As the migrant caravan arrives in southern Mexico, a man calls out to me in perfect English. He was deported from Ohio last year. His wife and two daughters are still there. "What would you do?" he asks.
— Kevin Sieff (@ksieff) October 20, 2018
Covering the migrant caravan, I kept meeting people who spent years building American houses and working American farms. Then they were deported. Now they’re heading back towards their old lives and families. https://t.co/jLQlaOOg7Q
— Kevin Sieff (@ksieff) October 22, 2018
Hello from southern Mexico, where no one covering the caravan has met anyone from the Middle East, and there is no way to discern anyone’s criminal history. https://t.co/wKoCfhY0mO
— Kevin Sieff (@ksieff) October 22, 2018
This sordid saga is a reminder that Trump will even exploit tragedies and humanitarian crises to push his divisive, egocentric agenda. He and every last one of his Republican enablers must be voted out as soon as possible.