Politics XVI: Democracy In The Balance

[tabby]

Feb 10, 2006 17:47:02 GMT -4 Ladybug said:

Wouldn't migrant agricultural workers have H-2A visas? Is Trump going to suspend their visas or just deport people who've stayed over the 3-year maximum?

Sadly, I think it's going to be more of a "round 'em all up, throw them into camps, and (maybe) we'll sort them out later." It doesn't sound to me like minor details like "legal paperwork" mean a whole lot to this crew.

[Ladybug]

Nov 7, 2006 17:47:55 GMT -4 tabby said:

It doesn't sound to me like minor details like "legal paperwork" mean a whole lot to this crew.

I wonder if it means anything to the big agricultural companies and farms that rely on legal migrant workers. This plan is going to cause chaos and cost an astronomical amount of money.

It's still so interesting to me that the area of our state with the highest Latino population, and a lot of migrant farm workers, flipped red for Trump this year. This was solid democratic territory for generations and it will probably be significantly impacted by this plan.

[ikmccall]

Aren’t the logistics impossible. Where are the detentions camps being built? By who? Who will staff the camps? Etc etc etc

[cremetangerine82]

I did some research and I found a report of the costs of mass deportation. The study gives an estimate of $315 billion, so it's going to be very costly. The Center for Migration Studies has this take on the possible toll for mixed-status (combination of documented and undocumented residents) families:

• Removing undocumented residents from mixed-status households would reduce median household income from $41,300 to $22,000, a drop of $19,300, or 47 percent, which would plunge millions of US families into poverty.
• If just one-third of the US-born children of undocumented residents remained in the United States following a mass deportation program, which is a very low estimate, the cost of raising those children through their minority would total $118 billion.
• The nation’s housing market would be jeopardized because a high percentage of the 1.2 million mortgages held by households with undocumented immigrants would be in peril.
• Gross domestic product (GDP) would be reduced by 1.4 percent in the first year, and cumulative GDP would be reduced by $4.7 trillion over 10 years.

[bookishjen]

Nov 18, 2024 17:39:59 GMT -4 ikmccall said:

Aren’t the logistics impossible. Where are the detentions camps being built? By who? Who will staff the camps? Etc etc etc

Good point, but you know Trump has thought about that. He has a concept of a plan.

[cremetangerine82]

Nov 18, 2024 20:57:02 GMT -4 bookishjen said:

Nov 18, 2024 17:39:59 GMT -4 ikmccall said:

Aren’t the logistics impossible. Where are the detentions camps being built? By who? Who will staff the camps? Etc etc etc

Good point, but you know Trump has thought about that. He has a concept of a plan.

Hey, he wrote it in gold Sharpie on a greasy McDonald's napkin, so you know it's legit!

Sean Duff is a nominee for Secretary of Transportation.

As a former cast member of MTV's Road Rules, he's the most qualified Cabinet pick yet!

Are we in Hell yet?

[Marie De Salle]

Oh. My. God! As someone who was a super fan of The Real World from its inception in 1992 to like 2011ish, I am flabbergasted! I remember him so well from his Boston season. And I know Sean was Republican years ago but I never thought he would make it to the main stage like this. We are truly living in "Idiocracy" times....


Update: After really thinking about it, this is not an example of Idiocracy at all. Sean has been who he is for decades!

[ahah]

Sean Duffy served in congress for 4 terms. Just like Pete Hegseth was nominated for his military experience, not his Fox News anchoring experience, Duffy was nominated for his congressional experience, not his fights with Montana and Genesis.
Does that make either of them great picks? I'd say no. But I think the criticism of why they're not good fits is not about their time on TV.

[Marie De Salle]

Nov 19, 2024 7:54:05 GMT -4 ahah said:

Sean Duffy served in congress for 4 terms. Just like Pete Hegseth was nominated for his military experience, not his Fox News anchoring experience, Duffy was nominated for his congressional experience, not his fights with Montana and Genesis.
Does that make either of them great picks? I'd say no. But I think the criticism of why they're not good fits is not about their time on TV.

Agreed--which is why I updated my statement shortly after I posted that Sean has been who he is for decades now. It's just weird to think someone I watched on The Real World is a nominee now.

[prisma]

I dunno...I would tend to argue that their time on Fox is exactly what *Trump* likes about them but their related experience is how the surrounding Republicans justify their selection. Trump treats his picks like central casting. Remember how he picked Rex Tillerson because he looked like he fit the role? And how it was always a little excruciating to watch Sarah Huckabee Sanders glam herself up with smokey eyes and such (which totally did not suit her and she's since abandoned) when she was press sec because she was trying to fit into the prescribed "look" for women within the administration. Trump is 100% style over substance and being an attractive talking head on Fox is much more important to him than any relevant policy experience that they might have.

That's my opinion.

I'm truly interested to see how things play out with Musk. Musk is creepy and kind of morphing into Dr. Evil. Although he's had plastic surgery to look better, he's still not "attractive" in the way Trump defines it. But he's the richest guy on the planet, and I think Trump respects money more (?) than looks. However, Elon is also a narcissist and each will try to dominate the other and who knows how that will go. I don't see Elon being wrangled into a public display of submissiveness as easily as Trump was able to do with RFK Jr. and the McDonald's photoshoot.