For Trump, Cruelty Is the Point

[babylonsister]

https://www.thenation.com/article/for-trump-cruelty-is-the-point/

April 9, 2018, Issue
For Trump, Cruelty Is the Point
The White House’s immigration policies are designed to maximize suffering.
By Julianne HingTwitter
Yesterday 6:00 am

snip//

The message is clear, and it’s being received: Immigrant families will have terrible choices imposed on them.

By March, The New York Times reported, immigrant families had already started to drop out of food stamps, food banks, and nutritional programs for pregnant women and their young children. “The rumor mill is rampant, and the fear is palpable,” said Lisa David, president and chief executive of Public Health Solutions, a food-stamp provider in New York City. “The stakes for what could happen in the future are incredibly high, and people just aren’t willing to take that risk.”

These programs are crucial lifelines, but this is how the Trump administration operates. The message is clear, and it’s being received: Immigrant families will have terrible choices imposed on them.

There’s a name for this approach: attrition through enforcement, or the enactment of policies that make life in the United States so difficult for immigrants that they choose to leave on their own. GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney called it “self-deportation,” which helped cost him the election. Trump said so himself. “He had a crazy policy of self-deportation, which was maniacal,” Trump said in 2012. “It sounded as bad as it was, and he lost all of the Latino vote.” Today, as president, Trump has made this same “crazy policy” the cornerstone of his immigration agenda.

“People aren’t going to stop coming unless there are consequences to illegal entry,” a Homeland Security official told The Washington Post, explaining the department’s rationale for separating parents and children at the border. But eight human-rights advocates and legal-service providers, in a complaint filed with the Department of Homeland Security in December, pointed out that such policies have no bearing on migration flows. They cited a study that examined the migration rates of children from Central America from 2011 to 2016. According to the complaint, the study found that “no U.S. policy—whether it be deterrence or not—has a statistical impact in the migration of a child. Instead, the study found that the single biggest indicator of a child’s migration was the number of homicides” in their home country: The more homicides that occurred, the more likely a child was to flee. (And bear in mind that homicides in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are a useful proxy for other kinds of violent crime that often go unrecorded, such as kidnappings and extortion.) The study could even quantify it: For every 10 homicides, six additional children would migrate.

Under Trump, the country has embarked on an enforcement policy that willfully causes suffering and that doesn’t even factor into the decisions of desperate people trying to escape dangerous situations. Moreover, its stated reasons—to protect national security and the rule of law—are a ruse. Like so much else with this administration, the US immigration agenda is now being driven by a disdain for the most vulnerable communities among us.

[mindem]

1. Well,

the NRA is working very hard to increase the homicide rates right here at home. People will be leaving the U.S. in droves.

[DemocracyMouse]

16. So the NRA is promoting unconstitutional policies which undermine a "well-regulated militia"

Nothing about guns in the US is well-regulated, and the tradition of immigration and constitutionally mandated "welfare" is no longer very sound either.

The preamble of the Constitution lays out the purpose of government which includes the promotion of the "general welfare" and refers to "welfare" in the taxing and spending clause. As Thomas Jefferson stated in a letter:

“[T]he laying of taxes is the power, and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised."
–Thomas Jefferson

So refugees fleeing violence in their own countries which suffer from near-lawless corruption are encountering a nation whose leader is fomenting unconstitutional and non-traditional policies. We are being torn apart in the utterly absurd name of greatness. The Republicans who support Trump and allow so much suffering of immigrants and the public alike (and we have indeed now dropped to 18 on the international happiness scale) are no longer traditionalists. They are self-serving oligarchs corrupted by NRA and big oil money and MUST be voted out this November 6.

We must EDUCATE Americans about their traditions and their rights – and NOT on the internet, but one calm, nurturing conversation at a time. (Try to avoid screaming!).

[scarletlib]

2. It is cruel and unusual punishment.

It is unConstitutional. The protections off the Constitution pertain to the People--not just citizens.

[Doodley]

3. It is sick that this is what America has become. My heart goes out to those affected.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. Sadism is often a part of malignant narcissism

as psychologist Sam Vakunin tells us in his studies on the subject

[G_j]

6. yep

[ehrnst]

5. He likes to see people suffer on his command. Especially those he thinks are defying him. (nt)

[SergeStorms]

7. He wants to treat them like terrorists.

About terrorists, he's on record as saying, “We’re fighting a very politically correct war,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “The other thing with the terrorists, you have to take out their families.” “They say they don’t care about their lives,” he added. “You have to take out their families.”

He's equating someone coming across the border to seek employment with a terrorist.

I sincerely hope Mr. Mueller goes after the Trump family with all the zeal and criminal contempt Trump has for Immigrant families.

[H2O Man]

8. Recommended.

I am in the middle of writing an essay on just this point.

[babylonsister]

10. Great! I look forward to that.

[dalton99a]

13. +1

[world wide wally]

9. Face it, America. Whether you are a deplorable or not,

Trump is EVIL.

[NRaleighLiberal]

11. He wants everyone and everything as utterly miserable as he is. He is a very sick man.

[dalton99a]

12. America is his personal torture chamber

Everyone is in it

[dlk]

14. Bullies Like Trump Often Have a Sadistic Streak

Trump has shown us all who he is. We should believe him.

[pangaia]

18. His cruelty has always been so evident.

But somehow I never thought of the term 'sadist.' Until you typed it.


He doesn't just have a sadistic streak. He is a mean, jealous, vicious, self-hating, evil, sadistic freak.

[Phoenix61]

15. He had the medical insurance on his

great nephew who has seizures and cerebral palsy terminated. Twitler's father had the entire clan covered under his business. When he died, there was a squabble that led to a lawsuit over the will because it left much less to that branch of the family. Twitler retaliated by ending their medical insurance coverage. "When a man shows you who he is, believe him."

[dalton99a]

21. +1

[malthaussen]

17. Now, extend this lesson to the GOP and other issues...

... you might discover that the desire to piss on people is the great motivator for quite a few of the people who yearn to govern, not just Donald Trump.

-- Mal

[Hermit-The-Prog]

19. damned Government Of Putin

Vote the fascist traitors out!
End GOP.

[PaulX2]

20. Trump And His Supporters Are Simply Evil People

Someone should just simply tell "the press".

[Old Enough 2]

22. Cruelty and Suppression Keep People in Check

I've noticed over many years that Republicans have a cruel or even sadistic nature. Giving to or helping those less fourntunate is not in their DNA. From personal experience many right wingers think the poor, the down trodden, elderly and infirmed are lazy and should not be helped in any way. Such people should work for their government benefits or be left out in the cold.

I've received many right wing propaganda letters from friends advocationg harsh measures for those less able to provide for themselves. There's a gleefullness when such letters sdvocate cruel and heartless treament for the poor, ill or undocumented.