I know it’s funny to act like Trump is a big dumb idiot oblivious to everything but that actually takes away intentionality from the evil shit he’s done. The policy that ripped migrant children from their families was done explicitly to discourage asylum seekers and to make them give up their right to asylum. Children were used as bargaining chips to deter migration. With the government shut down, he knows exactly what he’s doing. There was no formal tracking system in place to immediately identify the children that were separated not because they were inconmpetent but because they purposely did it in the most callous and traumatic way possible to harm both parents and child alike.
He knows that he’s hurting Americans and federal workers(including peoole who support him) because he wants the wall. He knows that forcing people into destitution by not paying them is good leverage that’s why republicans refuse to sign bills that would disconnect border wall funding from the rest of the government, a relatively quick fix for the issue at hand.
When Trump makes a patently false claim about crime and immigration, he’s not doing it because he’s too stupid to look up the facts. He’s deliberately storming xenophobic and racist fears to gain support from his base. His not just mindlessly lying because he’s a racist idiot, he’s using nationalistic rhetoric to strengthen his supporter base and also justify the ends to his means.
By saying that Trump is a fool that can be tricked or whatever is all good laughs but it makes it seem like he’s not deliberately doing all of this. I don’t believe in Trump exceptionalism because it obscures our ability to look at systems of imperialism and neocolonialism but what he’s doing isn’t just him having an unreasonable melt down. It’s all very specific and intentional strategies to get what he wants.
It’s not helpful or witty to be like “lol just lie and say the walls there!” Or constantly call him idiot in chief etc. He is purposely lying, purposely using heinous tactics to hurt people. We can’t tackle the problem of the Trump administration if everyone is convinced it’s just incompetence. No, it’s working exactly as intended.
(via thepersephonecabin)
