Thread by @Noahpinion

1/OK let's go through this @davidfrum article on immigration piece by piece.

Much of it is going to be totally wrong, but I want to give it its due...

theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

2/Frum starts with the good old Europe Bait-n-Switch.

He references an anti-immigration backlash in Europe as reason why immigration is dangerous. We're supposed to just assume America is like Europe.

3/But of course the real thesis here is that Trump's election in 2016 was actually a referendum on immigration, so we need to bow to the Will of The People and cut immigration. Even though popular support for immigration is at all-time highs.

4/Next comes nostalgia for a time that the left was anti-immigration (because I'm sure Frum is in favor of everything that Bernie Sanders was ever in favor of, right?):

5/Frum then points out that the Scary Scary Caravan was, in fact, a real thing.

He assumes that this means it really was Very Scary.

6/Of course, it wasn't scary, but whatever, right?

https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1054085360156700673

7/Frum DOES get something right when he notes that rising living standards in poor countries are partly responsible for increased migration pressure. This is something few people realize.

Migration pressure roughly tends to peak when a country reaches around $7000-$9000/person.

8/Frum notes that it's "the best-educated who yearn to leave" developing countries.

Is this supposed to scare us??!