USA Today (Op-Ed):
By Ruben Navarette
July 5, 2015
If
Republicans don't grow a spine and speak out against Donald Trump's
nativist sideshow, the GOP should change its mascot to the cricket.
With
just two exceptions — one that did more harm than good, and one that
was too cute by half — that's all we're hearing from other GOP
presidential candidates regarding
Trump's diatribes against Mexican migrants as the dregs of society.
Crickets.
According
to Trump, those who migrate from Mexico to the United States are
"people that have lots of problems" who are "bringing drugs" and
"bringing crime" and are often
"rapists."
Univision, NBC-Universal, Macy's and other companies have cut ties with Trump over the comments.
The
real estate mogul obviously flunked history. For more than 240 years,
America has been a beacon that attracted the cream of the crop. Sure,
some undesirables squeeze
through, as they always have. But for the most part, America gets the
risk takers and dream makers. The home countries are stuck with the
folks who didn't feel like making the effort.
In trying to explain his remarks, Trump has said one dumb thing after another.
The
scoundrel even hid behind patriotism, saying: "I have great respect for
Mexico and I love the Mexican people, but my loyalty is to the United
States."
Now
I'm really offended. As a Mexican-American, the first set of comments
ticked off the first half of the hyphen. Now Trump has infuriated the
second half.
How
dare this modern-day P.T. Barnum soil the reputation of my country,
which — while not perfect — has shown a remarkable capacity to redeem
itself? I don't know what
country Trump thinks he is defending with his offensive remarks, but
it's not this one.
In
his latest ploy, Trump is now trying to reboot his comments as being
not about immigration from Mexico but about trade with Mexico.
What would you call this? I have a few words, and they end in "-ism." Racism. Nativism. Protectionism.
Ted
Cruz, Trump's fellow GOP presidential candidate, called it "the truth."
The Cuban-American senator from Texas — who could be voted the Latino
most despised by other
Latinos — told Fox News: "I like Donald Trump. I think he's terrific, I
think he's brash, I think he speaks the truth."
Cruz
needs to get his hearing checked. He said on Fox and Friends that Trump
shouldn't apologize for "speaking out against... illegal immigration."
That's
not what Trump was doing. For one thing, Trump never mentioned the word
"illegal" in his original comments, so he must have been talking about
all Mexican immigrants,
even those who come legally. For another, if Trump wants to speak out
against illegal immigration, he can talk about building walls, hiring
border agents and increasing deportations until the cows come home. But
when he makes it personal and talks about how
a certain group of people are defective or dangerous, he's crossed the
line into demagoguery.
Insulting
immigrants fits a familiar pattern in American history where the
Germans, Irish, Italians, Chinese, Jews and others were all — in their
day — considered prone to
criminal activity, but it has no place in the modern immigration
debate.
Jeb
Bush did a better job of responding to Trump's remarks. The former
Florida governor, who speaks first-rate Spanish, borrowed a tactic from
Cecilia Munoz, the Obama
Administration's chief Latina apologist and director of the Domestic
Policy Council. Munoz will often take a soft approach to immigration in
Spanish, and then assume a hard line in English.
So
when he was asked about Trump this week by a Spanish-language reporter,
Bush blasted the businessman as not representative of the values of the
Republican Party. But
when Bush was asked roughly the same question in English, he dialed it
back and said: "I don't agree with him. I think he's wrong. It's pretty
simple."
Bush
is obviously reluctant to engage in a full-throated repudiation. Either
he's afraid that Trump will unleash a sharp-tongued response or that
Republican voters who
agree with Trump will turn against his candidacy.
Those
are likely the same concerns that have led the other GOP presidential
hopefuls — Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Carly Fiorina, Mike
Huckabee, Ben Carson,
et al — to cowardly take vows of silence on Trump's comments.
It's
a dangerous world. The next Commander-in-Chief must be able to stand up
to ISIS, Iran, Russia. So it doesn't inspire confidence in the GOP
field that they don't have
the courage to tangle with the likes of Donald Trump.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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