by John Stevenson
Remember, faithful readers , that I have never
yet written in support of our President-elect Donald Trump. And I do not do so here---although I might in
the future, depending upon what he delivers while in office. I write instead to point out the hypocrisy of
his critics on the Left. So I offer
this:
President-elect The Donald
promised us an end---or at least a reduction---of illegal immigration. Consider this statement:
“All Americans….in every place in this
country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering
our country. The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal
immigrants. The public service (sic) they use impose burdens on our taxpayers.
That's why our administration [will move] aggressively to secure our borders
more by hiring a record number of new border guards, by deporting twice as many
criminal aliens as ever before, by cracking down on illegal hiring, by barring
welfare benefits to illegal aliens….We will try to do more to speed the
deportation of illegal aliens who are arrested for crimes, to better identify
illegal aliens in the workplace….We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also
a nation of laws. It is wrong and ultimately self-defeating for a nation of
immigrants to permit the kind of abuse of our immigration laws we have seen in
recent years, and we must do more to stop it.”
Anti-Trumpers call such
comments racist, xenophobic, mean-spirited, even white nationalist. Did I leave anything out?---insert your
preferred insult. Hillary Clinton says
that those who harbor such thoughts are deplorable and irredeemable.
Whoa!
Hold your horses! Maybe it ain’t so
bad!
The quote is not from Trump. It’s actually from the Top-Dog Democrat,
President Bill Clinton, in his Jan. 24, 1995, State of the Union Address. Ooooops!
Well, If that’s true (google it), then what
we have here is a textbook example of a double standard and hypocrisy.
Did Democrats denounce President Clinton’s statement
as anti-immigrant, xenophobic, mean spirited, racist, and so on? Nope.
They gave him a standing ovation---as well they should have.
Although Trump’s rhetoric and tone have
been more blunt and harsh than President Clinton’s, their message is the same: illegal immigration is “self-defeating” and
“we must do more to stop it.”
To vilify Trump and his supporters for
taking essentially the same stance as President Clinton is hypocritical and indefensible.
Perhaps the reason for the criticism is just
plain old partisanship. Or maybe it’s
the fear that instead of just saying “we must do more to stop it” Trump might actually
do it.
