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simpledinosaur's avatar

And Lordy did Trump "go there" on immigrants this evening. It was pretty much his answer to every question. I'm sure that nonsense will appeal to his base, but I don't see how it helps him with anyone else.

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CambridgeKnitter's avatar

My great-grandfather was one of those German-speaking abolitionists who helped found the Republican Party. I like to think he would have abandoned what it has become.

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Zyxomma's avatar

Ta, Sara. They love lying about everything, but immigrants, pregnant people, Blacks and Jews seem to top the list.

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Tosca's avatar

Considering that every accusation is a confession with this crowd, I'm scared about what scandal's about to break.

Did Eric finally crack and start chasing neighbourhood tabbies through the woods, howling at the moon? Did someone open Stephen Miller's freezer?

Or is it just another Freaky Dead Animal story from the Kennedy?

I'm concerned.

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Mick McKamie's avatar

Seriously, in a Red State, if your surname starts with "Q" or ends with "z," check to see if you're still registered

Seriously.

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CzechJournalists's avatar

hey, wait. my last name ends in z. . .

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Anaid's avatar

So does mine! And yeah, my dad is a naturalized citizen.

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CzechJournalists's avatar

but mine comes from German immigrants that came to Texas in the 1860s

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Anaid's avatar

Ah yes, you're on the 'acceptable' list for the Reoubs 😅

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PRW's avatar

"Tiny Baby Elephant Party that courted German immigrants during the 1860 election". Not the Irish, though; nobody but Tammany Hall would give us the time of day.

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Sojourner44's avatar

Vance=David Duke with an Ivy League degree.

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Ward From Cali's avatar

"Sepia-toned Ole Republican Party 1.0, the Tiny Baby Elephant Party that courted German immigrants during the 1860 election and eventually got around to banning the enslavement of human beings — yeah, okay, those Republicans were different."

Um, no. Sara, the Know-Nothings were there at the birth of the Republican Party, right alongside disaffected Whigs and Free-Soilers. It was kinda complicated, because as the Republican Party grew, it's leadership was increasingly opposed to Know-Nothing nativism. Abraham Lincoln privately condemned them, but he never said a word about them publicly, he badly needed their votes.

It's true that Republican leadership suppressed nativism within their ranks for a generation or more, but it was always there. It's in their DNA, there was never a time when it wasn't present.

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Liminal's avatar

It's been going on for decades. Remember GWB's huge hue and cry that there was a huge voter fraud problem? He wasted 5 years and gods know how much money trying to find some and came up with bupkis. You'd think that might settle the issue for a while. I guess nobody ever expected Stupid McIlliterate to come along https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html

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Trux Mint In Box's avatar

The pet stealing for food is real though right?

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Kobayashi Marooned's avatar

Yes, Mar-a-lardo and Bedbugmeister are cooking pets to serve their guests. I read it on the internet, so it MUST be true.

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Mike_Cramer's avatar

Doesn’t matter what the truth is. The MAGAts believe that there is a vast conspiracy to cover up the activities of the literally diabolical forces aligned against Trump, America, Christianity, and White people around the world.

Expect the story to mutate into claims these nonexistent animals were killed as part of “Voodoo” sacrifices. The Christian Right has long associated Vodún and Haitians in general with Satanic worship (e.g. Pat Roertson’s claims that the Haitians won their revolution through a Satanic pact.), so the Bible-humpers and QAnon kooks will lap that up with relish.

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El Duderino's avatar

Good grief. Immigrants are not stealing and eating your pets. You’re thinking of RFK jr

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subterrene's avatar

As Vice President Harris said, "Same old tired playbook."

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Mike_Cramer's avatar

It’s old. It’s tired. However, it works.

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GlazedHaim's avatar

There's a tendency in some corners to equate all immigration with the asylum process or assume that the majority of immigrants at the moment are from the global south. The media, even when taking one of those rare editorial moments to defend the merits of immigration, usually focuses on very specific types of story (they love a good "They Escaped an Authoritarian Shithole with Nothing and Now They Own So Many KFCs!"). The reality is that healthy migration has always been critical to society, going allll the way back to Ur (there used to be a great diorama at the AMNH representing how cultural exchange and trade allowed the city to prosper). Our economy absolutely depends on immigration and the trade and treaties that it inspires. It's not some weird new thing that just started to happen or is limited to a handful of countries. The media has done a shit job at normalizing immigration (which is dizzyingly varied and nuanced), or pointing out the biggest issue we currently face: when the right takes up the issue, they're almost never actually talking about immigration. Their focus is always limited on a handful of countries that have a majority non-white population. Before it was fine for them to just be openly racist, opposition to immigration was the only way they could limit the influence of anyone browner than warm Wonder bread or criticize minority populations with the cover of legitimate policy. There's a reason we never hear them talk about USCIS backlogs, CBP inefficiency, the merits of consular nonreviewability, or the billion other things that actually matter. Whenever the GOP talks immigration, it's just racism with better lobbying.

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Liz and Max the No. 1 Cat's avatar

The first European peoples to set foot in this country were illegal immigrants. We call them settlers today, but they didn't ask permission to come here, they didn't go through any immigration process. They just came and stayed. To quote a line from an old Steppenwolf song, "we bullied, stole and bought our homeland".

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haycorn's avatar

I am shocked, SHOCKED to learn that the woman searching for "ethnic names" is from a city whose lines were purposely drawn to exclude Black people.

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