I kind of feel bad for Melania Trump. I feel like the people who should be worried about her optics aren’t doing their job. Now, realistically, no one should have needed to tell her that it was inappropriate to wear a jacket that said “I really don’t care, do u?” in big white letters on the back while visiting a detention center holding kids separated from their parents. But fashion was previously a big part of her life, and I suppose that jacket is fashionable, and perhaps this was just a blindspot. But blindspot or not, as the first lady, especially in this administration, maybe putting herself in a position where her sincerity is put into question wasn’t the best of ideas.
So after weeks of claiming that the separation of families at the borders was both A) Out of his hands/Not his fault and B) A totally necessary thing, Donald Trump is signing an executive order to end the vile practice that has been the result of persecuting and prosecuting asylum seekers, hoping to find refuge from awful conditions at home. On a near daily basis, Trump has claimed that this practice was the result of legislation enacted by Democrats and that it was on them to fix it. He claimed with vigor that there was nothing he could do. Now, a number of high ranking government officials who know the logistics of this predicament have very vocally disagreed that this was out of his hands. That he could make this go away with a phone call. That this practice was part of a wider protocol to deter immigrant asylum seekers from seeking refuge. Trump vehemently denied this was the case. Then on Wednesday, he went and basically made the call he claimed he was incapable of making. If the weight of that ridiculousness gives you a headache, well, welcome to the United States of America!
I have to say, Donald Trump shows just how quickly a hot streak can end. He as riding pretty high on the end ride of his North Korea summit. Regardless of the criticisms you could throw his way regarding how he handled it, the fact is that it seems like, for the time being, tensions have been de-escalated. That is a positive development. Couple that with his already improving approval numbers, which regardless of your opinion on it, is undoubtedly true, and Trump is sitting kind of pretty at the start of the summer. Then his treatment of asylum seekers and families at the border comes to light, the separation of families at the border, the literal cages children are being kept in, the concentration camp comparisons, the blatant lies about who is at fault for this process, saying he hates it and is blameless while simultaneously defending it’s necessity….it’s been a real fiasco. Now he’s withdrawing the US from the United Nations Human Rights council, citing Israel’s treatment, but the sheer irony of that in the face of how we’re treating immigrants…Listen, I can’t give you approval ratings numbers, but spoiler alert, several polls have shown consistently that the MAJORITY of people are pretty damn nonplussed about this whole separation of families thing. The guy is very much playing a one step forward, 2 steps back kind of game.
The disturbing new trend amongst hardcore conservatives to try and keep you from empathizing with children in distress seems to be to accuse any crying child you see as being some kind of Crisis actor meant to manipulate people’s emotions. Multiple people seem to be trying to sell this theory with the children detained by ICE, those separated from their parents. It’s a similar situation to the situation where Conservatives and NRA advocates accused multiple survivors of bein paid actors. As ridiculous and baseless as those claims were, the ones spouted openly by people like Ann Coulter in this situation are (somehow) even less credible and even more disgusting. Kids who are practically toddlers, many who are detained in massive cages (Cage isn’t my word. Border patrol uncomfortably admits cages are used), are hardly equipped to be selling a fake show for cameras. Have you ever seen child actors perform? I would hardly call most of them THAT convincing. More realistically, the images and videos we are seeing are devastated CHILDREN being traumatized and devastated by their horrific predicament. I don’t know…maybe I’m just being naïve. But it’s far better to be naïve than a monster, so I’ll take it.
The more that I read stories of kids getting separated from their parents at borders, the more I read of the damaging effects it’s having, including a devastating story about a father who committed suicide, the more I and I think most of the country is wondering when this senseless cruelty will end. At a certain point, I’m hoping Trump won’t be able to hide behind the lie that he isn’t responsible for this, and will mandate this stop happening. I’m hoping that for once in his time in office, public pressure will force his hand to do something outside of his agenda against immigration. Cruelty should never be acceptable, and it should be even less acceptable when played in the name of politics. Innocent people are having their lives destroyed over the pride of powerful men.
Mind the Exit 