The Patriot Post Digest 7-15-2019

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The Patriot Post Digest 7-15-2019
From The Federalist Patriot
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The Patriot Post® · Mid-Day Digest

Jul. 15, 2019

https://patriotpost.us/digests/64283-mid-day-digest

THE FOUNDATION

“In disquisitions of every kind there are certain primary truths, or first principles, upon which all subsequent reasoning must depend.” —Alexander Hamilton (1788)

https://patriotpost.us/fqd/64282-founders-quote-daily

IN TODAY’S EDITION

Were Trump’s weekend comments “racist”? Not exactly.1
An update on sanctuary cities, deportations, and detention centers.2
Daily Features: More Analysis3, Columnists4, Headlines5, Opinion in Brief6, Short Cuts7, Memes8, and Cartoons9.

IN BRIEF

How Trump Is Uniting Democrats10

President Donald Trump ignited an outrage firestorm on Sunday with a series of social-media messages in which he called out “Progressive Democrat Congresswomen” for their “viciously telling the people of the United States … how our government is to be run.” Trump then asked, “Why don’t they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came[?] Then come back and show us how it is done.” While Trump named no names, it was clear that his message was directed at four radical-leftist congresswomen — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), and Rashida Tlaib (MI) — who have been engaged in a growing feud11 with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Tellingly, he concluded his message, “I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out free travel arrangements.”

Cue the outrage that quickly cropped up from all sides. Predictably, the Left responded in typical hysterics, yelling “racist!” Rep. Hakeem Jeffries called Trump a “racial arsonist.” Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bloviated, “When I call the president a racist, this is what I’m talking about.” And of course AOC chimed in, “Mr. President, the country I ‘come from,’ & the country we all swear to, is the United States. But given how you’ve destroyed our border with inhumane camps, all at a benefit to you & the corps who profit off them, you are absolutely right about the corruption laid at your feet.”

But by no means were Democrats alone in pulling out the race canard — some on the Right were too quick to see racism in Trump’s words. Matt Walsh wrote, “What absolute idiocy. This is a gift to AOC, Omar, and all Democrats. Anyone who thinks Trump is deploying some brilliant strategy, rather than just mouthing off like a child constantly, needs to have their head examined. … What’s worse is that he compels his sycophants to echo whatever dumb crap he says. So now we’ll be treated to three days of Trump fans explaining in all sincerity why non-white Democrats should indeed go back to where they came from. What a disaster. Again. Thanks, Trump!” David French bemoaned, “I can think of few worse things for the soul of the GOP or the health and unity of our republic than adopting a strategy of ‘be racist to own the libs.’”

To be fair, Trump’s wording was indeed (and intentionally) crass and provocative. However, to accept the Left’s narrative that Trump’s motivation was simply an expression of some deep-seated racist instinct is to miss the actual calculation. This is another classic case of Trump being Trump, by which we mean his uninhibited political bomb-throwing. As we have argued before, Trump plays politics like a Democrat, lobbing accusations against opponents that hit upon some grain of truth but primarily spark outrage.

Stepping back from the immediate emotion of the moment, Trump has now forced Pelosi into defending the very congresswomen who had just last week called her a racist12. Has Trump now successfully ended the “civil war” within the Democrat Party? Such is the worry expressed by conservative media pundits. But what if Trump’s move was strategically aimed at hanging the hard-Left albatross of AOC and her “Squad” around the Democrats’ necks? Was he seeking to force Democrats to circle the wagons around these leftist congresswomen so that the party en masse is viewed as the party of the extreme Left? It certainly is a possibility.

Furthermore, the sentiment expressed by Trump is only seen as “racist” when viewed through the leftist lens of intersectionality13. How many Americans have become sick and tired of hearing from the Left that the U.S. is a terrible country because it is racist, capitalist, or because it is strong and successful? How many Americans are tired of being declared “deplorable” for believing in Liberty and defending the Constitution?

While much of the mainstream media will declare that Trump’s words were racist, the fact of the matter is they express the resentment many Americans feel for being labeled by the elites in this country as “wrong” or “backwards” for being proud of our country, its founding, its history, and its laws. It is not racist to demand that America’s borders are secured and our laws are respected. It is not racist to declare that someone who enters this country illegally is by definition an illegal alien, or that anyone who enters should first love this country. Now, a majority of Democrats are once again seen actively defending those extreme leftists whose aim is to fundamentally change America into a socialist nation.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/64281-how-trump-is-uniting-democrats

Dealing With the Democrats’ Migrant Invasion14

While media pontificators were collectively losing their minds over another immigration-related social-media pronouncement from President Donald Trump, there was a lot of immigration stuff in the news. Here’s a brief rundown.

First, Trump won a rare court victory Friday regarding whether he can withhold certain federal funds from Democrat “sanctuary cities15.” George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin explains16, “In City of Los Angeles v. Barr, a divided 2-1 panel of the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit upheld the Justice Department’s policy of giving preferences to state and local governments that assist federal immigration enforcement efforts, when it comes to assessing applications for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) competitive law enforcement grant program.” In short, it is the *competitive" nature of these grants that resulted in a favorable ruling this time, whereas Trump’s other attempts to withhold federal funds from jurisdictions that flout federal law have been blocked.

Second, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began specific operations in major cities Sunday, targeting about 2,000 illegals who had already been ordered out of the country. These are the same raids Trump recently delayed “at the request of Democrats17.” These aliens are “not undocumented,” said U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Acting Director Ken Cuccinelli. “They’ve got a court order on a piece of paper — a federal order — that says they’ve gotten due process.”

Acting ICE Director Matthew Albence likewise explained, “These are individuals who have come into this country illegally, had the opportunity to make an asylum claim in front of an immigration judge, and most of them chose not to avail themselves at the opportunity, and didn’t even show up to their first hearing.”

Third, the Trump administration is about to implement a rule18 (that will be challenged in court) requiring asylum seekers to wait “in a third country through which they transited” — not Mexico and not the U.S. There would be exceptions, but not many.

Fourth, speaking of ICE, protesters at an Aurora, Colorado, detention facility removed and defaced an American flag, as well as a Blue Lives Matter flag, while raising a Mexican flag. We’d note that there’s a kindred spirit among law enforcement around the nation, and it’s astounding to see Dems vilifying these Patriots for sensibly enforcing the law.

Fifth, Vice President Mike Pence visited two detention facilities in Texas Friday. In an effort to play up Democrat talking points about these facilities being “concentration camps,” The Washington Post reports that “he saw nearly 400 men crammed behind caged fences with not enough room for them all to lie down on the concrete ground.” But Pence correctly noted, “That’s the overcrowding President Trump has been talking about. That’s the overwhelming of the system that some in Congress have said was a manufactured crisis. But now I think the American people can see this crisis is real19.”

And let’s be clear about where the blame for it belongs — at the feet of the Democrats who invited this invasion20.

https://patriotpost.us/articles/64279-dealing-with-the-democrats-migrant-invasion