Immigrants bad, American bombs good

Roger Cohen at the Times is scathing.

Trump portrayed a dark and menacing world in which immigrants, who stand at the heart of the American idea, were equated with gangs, murderous criminals and “horrible people.”

In his 80-minute speech, the word “woman” did not come up once. Other words or phrases never mentioned included “peace,” “human rights,” “equality,” “Europe,” “multilateral,” “civil rights” and “alliance.”

Those are all bad, liberal concepts, not fit for a Real Man™.

If there was a theme, it was the demonization of immigrants and of the rest of the world, combined with an exaltation of American might.

So pretty much a fascist-xenophobic type theme.

In perhaps his clearest signal of contempt for the views of allies, Trump announced that he had signed an executive order revoking President Barack Obama’s January 2009 order to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. Trump’s order directs that “the United States may transport additional detainees to U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay when lawful and necessary to protect the nation.”

Guantánamo, where detainees may be held indefinitely as “enemy combatants,” is widely viewed around the world as a facility incompatible with the American principles of fair trial, human rights and the rule of law.

Which is why fascist-xenophobic types like it.

This was “Volk und Vaterland” in American guise, stamped with his speechwriter’s clunky and cliché-ridden prose: “If there is a mountain, we climb it. If there is a frontier, we cross it. If there is a challenge, we tame it. If there is an opportunity, we seize it.”

And if there’s a border, we build a wall. And if there’s a chance to display bigotry, we seize it.

And until we get rid of him, we’re stuck with it. The nightmare continues.

2 Responses to “Immigrants bad, American bombs good”