The American people still don’t know what’s really in Robert Mueller’s report or what possibly damaging information about the president and his associates it might contain, but the Republicans are claiming it as an absolute victory, based solely on the brief summary released by Trump’s handpicked Attorney General William Barr. The AG stated that Mueller decided not to make a decision about whether Trump committed obstruction of justice and also stated that Mueller did not find enough evidence of collusion to move forward with charges. That said, the summary also concedes that Mueller did not exonerate Trump.
Despite these details, the GOP is pretending that Trump is completely in the clear, which now appears to have calmed him down and freed him up to return to one of his most divisive pet topics: the Mexican border.
This morning, Trump unleashed a three-part Twitter screed. He blamed Democrats for saddling the United States with the “weakest immigration laws anywhere in the world,” an absurd fabrication completely divorced from reality. By most legitimate estimates, the USA has some of the strictest immigration laws in the world. Trump made his lie even more ridiculous by claiming that Mexico has the world’s “strongest” immigration laws, a statement which has absolutely no basis in fact.
The president went on to say that Mexico makes “$100 billion a year on the U.S.” As usual, Trump doesn’t seem to have any clue what he’s talking about. If he’s referring to the trade deficit, that number is closer to $71 billion, and even then that’s not “making money on” the USA, it’s just a metric of the trade flowing between the two countries. A trade deficit in and of itself is not a bad thing, it just means that there is a lot of demand in domestic American markets.
His foundational misinformation spreading out of the way, Trump went on to rant about how he wants Congress to change immigration laws and how Mexico must stop “illegals” from entering the United States. He repeated his line that Mexico has made a “fortune” off the United States, another naked attempt to rouse up resentment in his frothing base.
Trump then pulled out the nuclear option by threatening to close the border (or large sections of it) as soon as next week if Mexico doesn’t submit to his demands. He peppered the final tweet with some lukewarm fearmongering about drug trafficking before insisting that closing the border would be a “good thing.”
The sheer amount of idiocy and evil on display here is staggering. The President of the United States is threatening to close down the border with one of our closest allies and trading partners in order to deal with an “emergency” that he himself invented and to pander to his xenophobic voters.
Trump is poised to repeat the mistake he made by starting a trade war with China, which ended up devastating numerous American industries, lost a colossal amount of money, and caused some people to lose their jobs. Mexico is our 3rd largest goods trading partner and the 2nd largest market for U.S. exported goods. The USA needs the border open in order for many Americans to make their livings and feed their families. If Trump actually closes the border, the results will be disastrous for both countries. Congress must intervene.
The DEMOCRATS have given us the weakest immigration laws anywhere in the World. Mexico has the strongest, & they make more than $100 Billion a year on the U.S. Therefore, CONGRESS MUST CHANGE OUR WEAK IMMIGRATION LAWS NOW, & Mexico must stop illegals from entering the U.S….
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2019
….through their country and our Southern Border. Mexico has for many years made a fortune off of the U.S., far greater than Border Costs. If Mexico doesn’t immediately stop ALL illegal immigration coming into the United States throug our Southern Border, I will be CLOSING…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2019
….the Border, or large sections of the Border, next week. This would be so easy for Mexico to do, but they just take our money and “talk.” Besides, we lose so much money with them, especially when you add in drug trafficking etc.), that the Border closing would be a good thing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2019
