Take a minute to consider this. Trump knew for months these migrants would eventually present themselves at the border requesting asylum. He couldn’t shut up about it before the election. /1
But instead of sending additional judges, attorneys and agents to process the influx of people seeking asylum at the border, he used our tax dollars to send troops with little planning and a poorly defined mission wasting hundreds of millions of dollars /2
You see, being a calm, rational and prepared President does not make for good TV. If he were to handle these human beings fleeing horrendous violence and starvation in a competent and compassionate manner, it wouldn’t register with his mouth-breathing, brain-dead brethren.
Executing a cruel dance, Fox News and the Trump WH waltz across our nation’s dance floor - one fueling Trump supporters’ fears and grievances which, in turn, allows the other to deliver on his malicious campaign rhetoric. /4
Fox News feeds the airwaves dire warnings about an “invasion”. Trump, for his part, closes down the border, forcing desperate people to make desperate choices. Some careful video editing and selective social media posts and *bam* you got yourselves an invasion. /5
Except this isn’t reality TV. For these immigrants, it is fucking reality. They don’t get to take the weekend off to play golf after firing off a couple of ill-conceived and poorly punctuated tweets. /
Murder, torture, rape, starvation is reality. That is what immigrants presenting themselves for asylum are fleeing as is their legal right irrespective of their alien status.
So acting in the name of every US citizen, using our tax dollars, the President uses the power of his office to bully, intimidate, psychologically torture and physically endanger the very weakest among us - women, children and men with no voice, no power and no influence.
Because conflict makes good reality TV. If you have to lie and maneuver to fabricate a little conflict, so be it. Conflict makes the ratings and clicks go up. Not facts and laws. And certainly not kindness and compassion.
The cruelty of tear gas, threats and child abuse should shock us. But what should shake you to your very core is the sinister fact that these tactics did not have to be employed. They were *chosen* to be employed. That is the under-told part of the story, IMO.
