Trump is blaming Democrats for separating migrant families at the border. Why this isn't a surprise

[DonViejo]

By Seung Min Kim
May 27 at 7:56 PM

President Trump’s attempt to blame Democrats for separating migrant families at the border is renewing a political uproar over immigration, an issue that has challenged Trump throughout his presidency and threatens to grow more heated as he imposes more restrictions to stem the flow of illegal immigration.

In one of several misleading tweets during the holiday weekend, Trump pushed Democrats to change a “horrible law” that the president said mandated separating children from parents who enter the country illegally. But there is no law specifically requiring the government to take such action, and it’s also the policies of his own administration that have caused the family separation that advocacy groups and Democrats say is a crisis.

In April, more than 50,000 migrants were apprehended or otherwise deemed “inadmissible,” and administration officials have made clear that children will be separated from parents who enter the country illegally and are detained. The surge in illegal border crossings is expected to continue as the economy improves and warmer weather arrives.

“I keep imagining somebody taking my kids from me. My kids are 2 and 4 years old, and that’s the age of some of the children that have been separated from their parents at the border,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), who is helping to organize a Thursday rally in San Antonio to highlight the issue. “When a lot of people hear the story, they get a similar reaction. They can’t imagine why this would be a standard government practice.”

Trump’s deflection offers a familiar playbook, critics of the administration’s policies say. In their view, Trump’s most recent comments are strategically similar to tactics he used when he ended the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and then insisted on hard-line measures in a bill to permanently protect “dreamers.”

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-is-blaming-democrats-for-separating-migrant-families-at-the-border-heres-why-this-isnt-a-surprise/2018/05/27/c07810d8-61d3-11e8-a69c-b944de66d9e7_story.html

[sharedvalues]

1. Headlines that repeat the lie amplify the lie

I know the headline is written by the Post. Somehow headline writers have become the worst at amplifying lies, even as individual reporters are starting to improve.


But this headline is a win for Trump. His goal is to get people to repeat “Democrats separate families”. And he repeats it, and the right wing propaganda media repeats it. And that repetition gets people to believe it.

Repetition gets people to believe lies. It’s subconscious. But it works.


If reporters and papers want to avoid being complicit in amplifying lies, they need to follow the Lakoff advice.
“Start with the truth. Note the lie. Return to the truth.”

A better headline: “Trump’s policy is to separate families at the border. Why he blames Democrats.”

Here’s a good start on the recent twitter debate about how to handle lies:

Link to tweet

?s=21

[DFW]

2. If it had turned out to be a wildly popular measure

He would have been crowing that it had been his idea all along.

[Gothmog]

3. Trump is responsible for the separation of these children from their parents

Link to tweet