With voting season right around the corner, it's time to evaluate what our candidates could really mean for all of us, that including illegal immigrants, legal immigrants and native-born American citizens. This week I'll be giving you the low-down on the man America loves to hate: Donald J. Trump.
Anyone who's researched Trump's platform a bit has heard about the Mexican Wall we're supposedly going to require Mexico to build, his plan to bring more American jobs back from China and his desire to send home every illegal alien on American soil, with shadowed confusion over the fate of American citizens born to illegal aliens in the U.S.
While Trump does touch on several other important issues, this week I'd like to focus on his proposed trade agreement with China, as well as the somewhat murky issue of immigration.
1. Chinese-American trade reforms.
His declared platform:
With Trump in a position of power, we'll see Chinese trade "reforms," starting with the declaration of China as a currency manipulator, in an attempt to "level the playing field" between Chinese and American workers, bringing more jobs back to U.S. soil.
If Trump follows through on this, what does that really mean for us?
The likeliest few outcomes of several:
A. China laughs us off, as they currently control $1.25 trillion of our debt. Talk about a clear advantage.
B. China follows through on recent threats to nuke L.A. (yikes).
or, my personal favorite:
C. They "respond with [unknown] strength" as they've threatened in response to the possibility of Trump in the White House (because even Communists like to give surprises every once in a while).
The conclusion:
America might go boom. Or face another Cuban *cough* Chinese *cough* missile crisis.
2. Immigration reforms.
His declared platform:
The breakdown of Trump's official proposed policy looks something like this: the number of ICE officers triple, nationwide electronic work-status verification, the mandatory deportation of illegal aliens, no more "catch-and-release" policy with illegals, cut government aid for cities that refuse to comply with such legislation, increased punishments for those overstaying their visas, the encouraged cooperation of ICE officials with regional gang task forces (in order to round up illegal aliens participating in gangs more efficiently) and the complete revocation of the birthright citizenship legislature for the children of illegal aliens.
Again, if Trump manages to slide each of these things past his counterparts in the judicial and legislative branches, where does that put America?
The likeliest outcomes:
A. Americans watch as the truly lowest pay-grade jobs become vacant with no new influx to fill them: fewer seasonal agricultural workers means food scarcity, fewer janitors means higher disease rates, fewer construction workers means more dangerous roads and higher cost of home ownership and rental.
B. Donald Trump gets angry because of outcome A and forces everyone that he thinks looks like an immigrant to do the aforementioned jobs in labor camps based in China.
C. Congress impeaches him for stupidity (a girl can hope, right?).
Conclusion:
Every way you spin this rubix cube, Trump seems less-suited to the presidency than a monkey in a suit.
It seems impossible to get a true rendering of Trump as a president (even with the above illustration) without also examining his behaviors, mannerisms and language.
His latest debacle is, without argument, his attack on the family of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, an immigrant from the United Arab Emirates and a war hero by American standards. His story, told first by Clinton in an attempt to polarize herself from her opponent then by his father is that of a Muslim man who died for our nation and his troops. Khan's father spoke out against Trump in a cry for a president who would build up the kind of nation his son sacrificed himself for. Trump retaliated quickly, making digs at Khan's interpretation of the story and his policies, and even the mother of the fallen soldier for her religious state of dress and lack of speech.
Since this outrageous outburst, Trump's lost several percentage points in the polls and is expected to descend even further.
Stay tuned next week for "Trump As President: Part II."
