The Trump "Anti-Immigration" Order: It Now Begins in Earnest
The weekend storm over Trump's so-called "anti-immigration order spilled over into this week. Media coverage has been extensive and, no surprise, largely inaccurate, feeding the fury of the protestors who popped up around the country's airports where some people with legitimate visas were being held after they exited flights from places foreign.
We're not going to get into the inaccuracies of these reports now, but you may want to do a little research before you buy into the propaganda being pushed by the media. What's important here isn't the Executive Order or the response to it. Rather, what we need to understand is that we're witnessing one leg of a comprehensive plan to oppose anything and everything Trump tries to do during his first hundred days in office. If you haven't figured this out yet, you need to. It's going to continue no matter what Trump does or says.
Traditionally, a President is given a bit of a respite from attacks or even vociferous criticism during his first days in office. This custom was both rational and civil. Rational, because candidates make a lot of promises during their campaigns which they ultimately abandon; so waiting, at least for a few months, to see what the President will actually pursue makes sense. Civil because it's simply polite to let the new guy settle in before you start barraging him with questions, complaints, etc. But when it comes to reason and civility, our society and culture have been in a downward spiral for decades. So the lack of these in Trump's first hundred days ought not surprise you.
Now add to this the stated objective of various "activist" groups to hound Trump out of office from Day 1, and you should see that immigration isn't the real issue here.
And if, for some reason, you're not an activist radical anti-Trumper but have been swept up in the emotion of moment, take a step back and ask yourself if and when Trump has ever stated that he was against immigrants. You'll likely find that all his rhetoric centers on illegal immigrants, as well as the legitimate concern that borders left open and unprotected make it easier for terrorists to enter the U.S. Is there anything irrational, hateful, fascist, or racist (just some of the epithets hurled at Trump) about that?
Unfortunately (setting aside those out to get Trump no matter what) people won't make the effort to either check the facts or think for themselves. They'll allow themselves to be swayed by propaganda, to be manipulated by those with an agenda that has nothing to do with immigration. This combination of laziness and emotionalism allows some of us to be used by others to get what they want. Will you let yourself be used in this way? I hope not.
Finally, how all this effects markets in the long run is anybody's guess. We suspect it will be year or more before markets and the economy sort all this out.
We're not going to get into the inaccuracies of these reports now, but you may want to do a little research before you buy into the propaganda being pushed by the media. What's important here isn't the Executive Order or the response to it. Rather, what we need to understand is that we're witnessing one leg of a comprehensive plan to oppose anything and everything Trump tries to do during his first hundred days in office. If you haven't figured this out yet, you need to. It's going to continue no matter what Trump does or says.
Traditionally, a President is given a bit of a respite from attacks or even vociferous criticism during his first days in office. This custom was both rational and civil. Rational, because candidates make a lot of promises during their campaigns which they ultimately abandon; so waiting, at least for a few months, to see what the President will actually pursue makes sense. Civil because it's simply polite to let the new guy settle in before you start barraging him with questions, complaints, etc. But when it comes to reason and civility, our society and culture have been in a downward spiral for decades. So the lack of these in Trump's first hundred days ought not surprise you.
Now add to this the stated objective of various "activist" groups to hound Trump out of office from Day 1, and you should see that immigration isn't the real issue here.
And if, for some reason, you're not an activist radical anti-Trumper but have been swept up in the emotion of moment, take a step back and ask yourself if and when Trump has ever stated that he was against immigrants. You'll likely find that all his rhetoric centers on illegal immigrants, as well as the legitimate concern that borders left open and unprotected make it easier for terrorists to enter the U.S. Is there anything irrational, hateful, fascist, or racist (just some of the epithets hurled at Trump) about that?
Unfortunately (setting aside those out to get Trump no matter what) people won't make the effort to either check the facts or think for themselves. They'll allow themselves to be swayed by propaganda, to be manipulated by those with an agenda that has nothing to do with immigration. This combination of laziness and emotionalism allows some of us to be used by others to get what they want. Will you let yourself be used in this way? I hope not.
Finally, how all this effects markets in the long run is anybody's guess. We suspect it will be year or more before markets and the economy sort all this out.
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