General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe Worse Things Are, the Better They Are for Trump
The Worse Things Are, the Better They Are for Trump
The presidents latest moves on immigration and health care suggest his goal is not to fix the system, but to exacerbate turmoil for political gain.
DAVID A. GRAHAM at the Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/trumps-cynical-approach-immigration-and-health-care/586249/?utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_term=2019-04-01T18%3A53%3A38&utm_content=edit-promo&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
"SNIP....
But Trump and Lenin share a strategic instinct. Lenin reportedly said, The worse, the bettermeaning that conditions that were more miserable for the people were likely to help his political aims. Trumps approach to immigration and health care, both in the past few days and throughout his presidency, evince a similar understanding of power. My colleague Adam Serwer has argued that the cruelty of many of Trumps policies is the point. In some cases, however, the point may be making things worse to his benefit.
Last week, the president announced plans to end assistance to the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. No money goes there anymore, Trump said Friday. Were giving them tremendous aid. We stopped payment. The move affects about $450 million, according to The New York Times, including money to support law-enforcement efforts against gangs. The actual cash is a minimal amounta little less than 8 percent of the $5.7 billion Trump demanded for his border wall when he shut down the government in December, and less than 2 percent of the $25 billion the administration estimates the wall would cost overall.
Read: Trumps new red scare
The fact that the aid numbers are small doesnt justify spending them per se, but theres a strong consensus among Latin America experts that these cuts are counterproductive. Its common to talk about push and pull factors in immigration. Pull factors are things that draw migrants to a new country: the promise of better work, for example. Push factors are those things that drive migrants to leave home: unstable politics, high crime, poor economies. Trump has worked to reduce one pull factor by trying to make it harder to get asylum, but he has limited options beyond that, because no president wants to make the economy worse in order to deter immigration (though Trump has been willing to risk hurting the economy to install protectionist tariffs).
But Trumps decision to cut aid to countries that are major sources of immigrants to the United States seems likely to only increase the push factors, driving more people to attempt the journey as conditions in their home countries stagnate or worsen. As my colleague Peter Beinart writes, push factors have been badly overlooked in the U.S. political debate over immigration. Theres not much to suggest that Trump disagrees about the likely effects of cutting aid. Maybe he doesnt care, or maybe hes neglected to learn, which would fit with his general approach to policy.
.....SNIP"
Rhiannon12866
(202,986 posts)COLGATE4
(14,732 posts)but is possessed of a certain low, animal-like cunning which lets him zero in on topics that excite his mouth-breathing followers.