What, It's Not Like He Called Them 'Rats' And 'Vermin' And 'Parasites'
Is Donald Trump saying something racist? His mouth is open.
The Grating Communicator held a round-table discussion of California's "sanctuary" laws at the White House yesterday, so he could hear from all the affected parties, as long as the affected parties were state and local officials who agree with Trump. (The table, we should note in the interest of accuracy, was actually rectangular.) There were no seats at the table for undocumented migrants, who are criminals, DUH, or for California officials who oppose Trump, because obviously they hate America and are advocating for criminality. After one sheriff complained she was pretty certain she knew of some MS-13 gang members who need to be deported, but the stupid laws won't let ICE come and grab them, Trump said something has to be done about these monsters. Wait, which monsters: MS-13 members or all undocumented border crossers? Pfft, is there a difference?
Trump strikes a Hitlerian note about immigrants: "You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals." pic.twitter.com/LpmgDMZ9RV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 16, 2018
Here's the official White House transcript:
SHERIFF [Margaret] MIMS [of Fresno County]: Now ICE is the only law enforcement agency that cannot use our databases to find the bad guys. They cannot come in and talk to people in our jail, unless they reach a certain threshold. They can’t do all kinds of things that other law enforcement agencies can do. And it’s really put us in a very bad position.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s a disgrace. Okay? It’s a disgrace.
SHERIFF MIMS: It’s a disgrace.
THE PRESIDENT: And we’re suing on that, and we’re working hard, and I think it will all come together, because people want it to come together. It’s so ridiculous. The concept that we’re even talking about is ridiculous. We’ll take care of it, Margaret. We’ll win.
SHERIFF MIMS: Thank you. There could be an MS-13 member I know about -- if they don’t reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it.
THE PRESIDENT: We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in -- and we’re stopping a lot of them -- but we’re taking people out of the country.You wouldn’t believe how bad these people are. These aren’t people. These are animals.And we’re taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that’s never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It’s crazy.
The dumbest laws — as I said before, the dumbest laws on immigration in the world. So we’re going to take care of it, Margaret. We’ll get it done. [Emphasis added -- Dok Zoom]
And now all sorts of liberal America haters are lying and saying that Donald Trump called all undocumented immigrants "animals," when he clearly meant we're deporting MS-13 members, who are animals and not even human. Of course, as Vox's Dara Lind points out, quoting Trump "in context" is almost meaningless, because Trump is happy to encourage confusion. He frames every single discussion of immigration in terms of how we have to deport everyone, to make sure we get rid of all the animals.
And as Slate illustrates today, the New Cruelty is all about eliminating such distinctions. Even if they have to straight out lie about a Dreamer kid whom ICE falsely accused of being affiliated with a gang. As we're always saying here, go read the whole thing. It's the sort of nightmare Franz Kafka would consider a tad over the top, and Yr Wonkette will do a stand-alone story on it later.
Meanwhile, back at the oblong table discussion, Trump was awfully sad to learn -- according to Lassen County District Attorney Stacey Montgomery -- that California's recent legalization of recreational weed has fueled an increase in "organized crime," and illegals are all up in THAT:
A district attorney tells Trump that the legalization of marijuana made "organized crime" worse in California. Trump seems receptive to the suggestion. pic.twitter.com/b9jaSSQ0Mq
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 16, 2018
Did Montgomery offer any evidence to back that claim up? Heck naw! She is a DA, so why on earth would she invent such things? Also, she was very proud to say she's not going to answer an ACLU request for documents on how her office is complying with one of California's "sanctuary" laws, because -- we shit you not:
[MONTGOMERY: ] We have nothing. Because this office will stand for the rule of law. Lassen County stands for the rule of law. And we have no policies to give you because we will not issue such policies from this desk and from this office.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Good job.
She believes in the "rule of law." But not the rule of state laws she doesn't believe in, because she's pretty sure the state's laws will eventually be overturned in the courts, maybe. GOOD JOB.
Then it was time for ICE director Thomas Homan to nearly come to tears over all the mean, unfair things liberals have been accusing ICE of doing, because don't you people understand ICE agents face death at the hands of those animals every day they go to work?
Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan nearly starts crying talking about how people are mean to ICE agents pic.twitter.com/MijqG9dlIb
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 16, 2018
Remember, it's unfair to accuse Trump of calling undocumented migrants "not people" or "animals," because he only meant MS-13, and ICE should be allowed to do whatever it wants in pursuing those animals. And if that includes lying in court and conflating all immigrants with criminals, well, you have to break some families if you want to make an omelette. Oh, and it's also the Democrats' fault that Trump has to break up families; we really have no choice, you see.
Also, Sarah Huckabee Sanders just explained to the press that Donald Trump was "very clearly referring to MS-13 gang members, who enter the country illegally and deportations are hamstrung by our laws," and also she thinks maybe "animals" is too kind for the likes of them:
"The president was very clearly referring to MS-13 gang members, who enter the country illegally and deportations are hamstrung by our laws," @PressSec says of President Trump's "these aren't people, these are animals" comment https: //t.co/duzSzJlvUC pic.twitter.com/Y5o6F2f496
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 17, 2018
No, she's not going to actually say the term didn't apply to migrants in general, because you should see it obviously doesn't. If conservatives think it applies to all immigrants, they're mistaken, but why bother clearing it up? And of course, anyone suggesting Trump -- and now Sanders -- was deliberately conflating all immigrants with the most bloodthirsty gang in the country, well then they're clearly just big fans of horrific gang violence: "If the media and liberalswant to defend MS-13,they're more than welcome to."
Christ, the entire country is being run by internet trolls. This is probably all Stephen Colbert's fault, for all those interviews where he reported a rightwing fib about a liberal position, played a clip of the perfectly non-controversial thing, then asked "So why do you endorse putting all Fox News viewers in concentration camps?"
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[ NYT / Vox / Slate / The White House / Aaron Rupar on Twitter]