Donald Trump
and Chris Christie talk immigration at GOP debate last night.
Trump Endangers 'Everything' the United States has Achieved (Excelsior, Mexico)
"Born of a
dangerous combination of ignorance and intolerance, he seeks to recover the
greatness of the United States with public policy worthy of the Middle Ages. ... Donald
Trump has awoken the racism which has always been latent in U.S. society, so he
may continue to gain in popularity. For this reason, great attention must be
paid to this form of polarization. … U.S. society should take care not to fall back
into the extremist racial positions that caused such damage just a few decades
ago and must demonstrate to the world the legitimacy of the universal values which
give form to global coexistence."
A couple of months ago
when Trump announced his candidacy for president of the United States, his
fourth in the last 16 years, people considered it yet another of the multi-billionaire
entrepreneur’s extravaganzas and a desperate attempt to attract attention.
Today it has become a real danger for the United States.
The start of his candidacy was above all controversial with
a clear message against migrants – particularly Mexicans. Trump's chosen line
of discourse exalts racial hatred as a method of media positioning. Not only
did he call us drug traffickers and kidnappers, but a few days later he said we
were murderers to boot. He never retracted those statements. Little did people
know that this would be the beginning of an openly-racist campaign that threatens
everything his country has achieved.
The fact is - Donald Trump is offering failed approaches to political
leadership. Born of a dangerous combination of ignorance and intolerance, he seeks
to recover the greatness of the United States with public policy worthy of the Middle
Ages. Discrimination and populism - so attractive to the retrograde sectors of North
American society - are dead ends that huge sectors of that nation's voters have
systematically opposed in the recent past.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
As recently as 2012, the U.S. people said no to potential
abuses of power against the migrant population. After its presidential election
defeat, the Republican Party had to undertake a strategic repositioning toward
various target audiences which is now threatened with derailment due to repeated
statements by Trump aimed at ingratiating himself with the most reactionary
voter base in the country. This despite the fact that Republicans need at least
four in ten Latino votes in order to secure their return to the Oval Office.
Would a Donald Trump presidency be more of a threat to Mexico or to the U.S. body politic itself? La Jornada columnist...
There is no denying the attention generated by the way Trump
has positioned himself. Even now there are people who see him as the best 2016 Republican
election candidate. However, Trump’s ideas are echoing now only because the
election campaign in still in an early stage, the strong brand recognition the tycoon
possesses over other candidates just getting started, and because of his resort
to polarizing language in his primary speeches to win the support of primary voters.
All these factors explain the "bubble effect" Trump has so far
enjoyed.
Yet over and above actions to mobilize and repudiate his
efforts that the dynamics of the electoral contest may unleash against his
proposals, the Trump “bubble” effect faces institutional barriers that should
put the political figure in the place he deserves.
According to a
study conducted by Civis Analytics - a
consultancy founded by Obama campaign adviser Dan Wagner – Trump has an important
base of support from voters who don't regularly participate in primary
elections – so his popularity is overstated.
Nevertheless, his impact should not be minimized. Bubble or
not, Donald Trump has awoken the racism which has always been latent in U.S.
society, so he may continue to gain in popularity. For this reason, great
attention must be paid to this form of polarization.
There is still a long way to go. U.S. society should take
care not to fall back into the extremist racial positions that caused such
damage just a few decades ago and must demonstrate to the world the legitimacy
of the universal values which give form to global coexistence.
