the difference between the man 30 years ago, when he took out a full page add calling for the execution of young black men falsely accused of a Central Park assault/rape, and the President today, is that now he's not even trying to disguise his racism.

His actions and words over the past month have clearly identified his motive to MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN. The Somalia rants, warning Europe it will be "unrecognizable in 20 years," removing Juneteenth and MLK days at National Parks, and, of course, the deportations, etc.. The veil has been lifted and the face behind it is lily white (and male, but that's another issue)

imo, the left made a critical mistake in getting on board the deportation train. Immigration has always been a complicated and difficult issue. But the only viable solution is, always has bee, and will be dealing with the mechanisms of poverty in the world rather than building a larger wall or an alligator filled moat to keep the needy out.

if you accept that enforcing immigration laws is the only solution, you get what we had -- forever. An endless, futile, mean-spirited and cruel exercise in human discrimination justified by an imaginary line in the sand.

it was a mistake to let a Lyin' King keep asserting untruths about people of color to justify his violent gestapo methods to separate families on American streets using military tactics. I don't know how accurate the statistics are below (posted by the MeidasTouch News Group) but common sense tells me those numbers have got to be pretty damn close.

we let the charade continue -- to our own peril

You nailed it, V. A few years ago, I got into it with a MAGA fellow senior citizen, at the local senior center, when he wore his red hat there, and I simply remarked to him that even tho he had the right to wear it there, same as some of the other guys who wear their NRA hats, and other right wing political apparel, that I found his hat to be deeply offensive, even tho I am white. Because, as I said to him, to me it feels the same as if he were wearing a confederate flag shirt, around black people. That the MAGA slogan was simply code for Make America White Again. He of course, exploded and started sputtering and shouting that he wears it "because I love Jesus and The Constitution", etc.. I told him he was full of 💩 and that those things had nothing to do with the MAGA slogan, even if he were sincere about those beliefs on his part, which I said I doubted was true. The staff immediately told us to separate and not talk to each other anymore, but after that, he went over to his MAGA buddy there, who watched me talking to another staffer, who was trying to calm me down, and the buddy then shouted to me, in front of everybody there, including the staff, that "I see you there talking about us, maybe I should go outside and kick your ass!" I then turned to the staff member and said to her, and everybody else there, " You all just heard him threaten me with assault, is anybody going to do anything about it? I think he should be banned from here for at least a week for that". Needless to say, since he was part of the majority where I live, in a red state and a red suburb, the center director did nothing to him, but did lecture me on how I need to keep my political opinions to myself there, since it was well known that she was a THE LYIN' KING supporter. All such favoritistic bull💩. I was told that they have the right to wear whatever they want and I can't comment, so I started wearing my Bernie shirts and they, him and his Trumper friends, wore their right wing stuff.

The center director retired about a year or so ago, and I don't miss that bitch one bit, and told the staff so at the time she left, but since then, I've got along fine with the staff since then, since there is no longer the favoritism practiced towards the Trumpers, and against me, which is all I was asking for from the staff, simply that they respect me and treat me fairly and according to the rules posted at the center, instead of one set of rules for behavior, if you're part of the Trumper, conservative majority there, and another for people like me, who are the minority. I hate hypocrisy and some being treated as second class citizens, by people in power, whether pols or senior center directors, and I won't stand for it. And between the change in leadership there, and the embarrassment and backlash towards THE LYIN' KING, his many supporters at my local senior center no longer wear their red hats and other MAGA gear, as well as not being as loud or vocal as they were a few years ago, and I count that as a victory that I enjoy and take some personal pride in having some part in tempering them a bit..

As to your points about poverty, being the real factor behind desperate people immigrating to the US, legally or not, you are right on. It's driven by global capitalism, destablizing the economies of the countries they flee from, directed by the trade policies particularly of our country, as well as other western countries. It leads to chaos and crime in those countries, and as long as global and corporate capital runs our country, as well as other western governments, immigration will be a divisive problem, fueling the racism that's already there. The cause and enemy, is capitalism run amok and having too much power in government policy, not POC from other countries, who speak other languages and have other religions and culture.. If only people would look deeply and radically enough to see the root cause, instead of blaming immigration.

I'm not sure how you define the left, but if you mean Democrats I think I understand your point. IMHO, the societal issue to overcome dealing with immigration vs poverty is overcoming fear of the other and there is no one-size-fits-all solution I can see. Even Evangelists have abandoned their savior’s words on this, only to embrace attempts at drowning their own fears with perceived power and money. Fears triggered by current events that remind us of past troubles are hard to spot and even more difficult to overcome once understood. And they are unique to each individual to a large degree, even though I assume there can be groupings. Dealing with anxiety is still a personal battle. Even the seemingly most simple person operates within a complex web of conscious and unconscious thought, whether aware of much of it or not. Unscrupulous actors prey on the unwary and the fearful in order to command mass movements. Poverty is a tool for them.  Even if a largely white population was made to happen in the US, all the ills we see now would still be here in full force. I suspect I am preaching to the choir with this view, no?

I think you are preaching to the choir here, Rob, but I still appreciate it, and you make some very deep, radical, and inspiring points. So, glad you're here, and feel free to continue to make them. Because I often feel that fellow members of the choir, who support Dems, are often ignorant or unaware of these deeper issues and points, that the lame Dem leaders almost always never bring up or go into depth with, instead of sticking to their simple, glib, focus group-tested talking points and bumper sticker slogans. And in that respect, they are often just as condescending and disrespectful to the voters as the Repubs..

And V3, the captain's Fact Check just proves that THE LYIN' KING's deportation 💩 has always been about race, division, and distraction from his other crimes, and nothing to do with public safety or protecting Americans, not even white Americans... And I would love to see all the ICE bounty hunters unmasked and then studied, to see the %s of them that have committed each of these crimes in the Fact Check. I bet it would be pretty damned high....

this is how i see this President's policy priorities:

1. what's best for him

   a. staying out of prison b. serving his ego desire for power and wealth

2. serving the interests of big biz corporations

3. sharing and serving the fear of "others" -- people of other races, gender, nationality and social class. You can add people of religions other than Christian, although his only real religion is himself.

no group, however, is as useful to him as White Americans
but father time is not on his side
and mother nature will rid earth of him
and his generation of old, angry ideas
if only nature would stop there

but, alas, we seem headed for planet earth's 7th mass extinction of life