You hate Donald Trump is the single most common comment I get when discussing Donald Trump and through my different social media channels. The fact is that I don’t hate Donald Trump. Hate is too strong a word for me. However, I have no respect for Donald Trump or the office of the president, he currently holds, because of him. I realize that is a strong statement to make, but it is what I feel. But, getting back to the notion of hate, immigrants have always been the scapegoats for US politics. Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are serious about immigration reform because their bases oppose a fair immigration process. As such, neither Democrats nor Republicans are immune from my criticism. But, Donald Trump’s words and actions have propelled me to actively oppose his hate-driven public policy agenda because it is no longer a case of immigration status-quo but of actual malice towards my country, and me, as in my paisanos.
Some readers insist that I am not being fair to Donald Trump, that I haven’t given him an opportunity. I accept the fact that I have not given him an opportunity. I also accept the fact that I have no respect for him, although some insist that my lack of respect for him is tantamount to hating him. I oppose his hateful politics and thus I oppose him is my answer to everyone. Some readers insist that I must be fair to him on my blog. As hard as I try, it is just not possible to write supporting posts about him.
Soon after he was elected, I received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) informing me that I must pay a penalty in my tax return for 2016, and “likely” for 2017 as well. The penalty is still much less then what health insurance costs me, by a substantial amount. As such, I am not purchasing health insurance because it makes no economic sense for me.
I realize that Donald Trump has embarked upon ridding the country of the health insurance mandate. I could applaud him for that because I believe that ObamaCare is a significant tax imposed on those of us who are self-employed and financially unfeasible for those in my tax bracket. In addition to the 20-to-30% tax burden, the social security and Medicare taxes, and the insurance mandate adds another 15-to-25% bite out of our income. It just makes no financial sense. More than 35% of my income in taxes is just not feasible.
I had planned on applauding Trump for ridding us of that misguided burden (yes, I know, now another big chunk of my readers is now mad at me!), but when I was about to publish that post, it was revealed that Trump threatened to deploy troops to México. That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Instead of writing pieces pointing out problems in Trump’s agenda, I decided it was time to actively oppose him.
This bring us back to the notion of being fair to Trump. I am, but not in the way Trump supporters believe I should be.
I have always extended an open invitation to those who want to post Donald Trump support pieces. Frequent guest writer, Barbara Carrasco, has done that. My invitation still stands and reiterate it again now. Anyone is invited and encouraged to write support posts for Donald Trump and I will consider them for publication.
For me, that is being fair. Expecting me to write Donald Trump supportive posts are not fair and would betray what I stand for. The fact is that, in my opinion, there is no redeemable quality in Donald Trump.
So, please, stop expecting me to write nice things about Trump. Other than him resigning there is just nothing I see that would compel me to write something nice about him.
Notice that I did not write fair because I believe I am being more than fair. First, I allow opposing viewpoints in my comments section and I publish opposing viewpoints. Second, I have not posted any information that is not backed up by other sources. In other words, I am not spreading fake news or false information. I comment on what has been verified or generally accepted as accurate.
Furthermore, this notion that Donald Trump should be given an opportunity is plain wrong.
Donald Trump has been in office for less than 20 days and in that time, he has put México and the United States on the verge of a damaging trade war. Trump has alienated a close ally, Australia and is the subject of official debate at the United Kingdom Parliament, another formerly close US ally, about whether Trump should be allowed to speak before them. He is being challenged by the judiciary over his recent travel ban. And, he has been the subject of significant and ongoing protests across the country.
There is no doubt that a significant portion of U.S. voters and, not to mention US citizens, oppose Donald Trump today. Trump has the lowest approval rating of any U.S. president during their first days in office. Trump’s approval rating nationally is below 50%. Clearly, Donald Trump has not only alienated other countries but he has also alienated almost half of the country. The unprecedented protests prove this.
The United States is a divided country – all thanks to Donald trump.
The Kindest Thing Happened to Me
Even through all of this, the kindest thing happened to me yesterday. Yesterday, as I was walking back from lunch, I encountered a group of protestors protesting Donald Trump and his public policy agenda. Normally, I look and move on, but I wanted to see who organized the protest. It was organized by U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (Florida-D). I introduced myself to the organizer of the protest as “a Mexican citizen currently living” in Orlando and was about to continue, when three-to-four people next to us, chimed together, and said, “welcome”.
Welcome, such a nice word that to me, meant so much during this difficult time of hate.
I was taken aback to the point that I stopped my introduction mid-sentence and looked back at them and thanked them.
It was the kindest thing I have felt since Donald Trump started to attack immigrants, México and me.
I know that there are many U.S. citizens that oppose Donald Trump’s continued hate. The airport protests prove that. I realize that Donald Trump does not represent the collective nature of the country, regardless of what he tweets or his surrogates espouse through the news media.
However, it has been a constant drain on my sanity to listen to all the hate against México and immigrants and those kind words renewed my hope in the United States is a country that I choose to live in.
So, to reiterate, no I do not hate Trump but I oppose all that he stands for. Those that support him are welcome to chime in through the comments section or by submitting editorials for me to consider publishing on my blog. But, please, stop trying to convince me that I must give him a chance. That is not going to happen.
Martin, let it go. Go back to writing about how CC can’t decide on an arena location. If America and its CEO have become that distasteful to you, go back to Mexico. Except, if you did that, we would lose a good American who just happens to be a Mexican 😀
I wouldn’t describe your attitude as simple as a “you hate Donald Trump” outlook. It’s more of a defensiveness, if you will. Perhaps I would describe it as a “complex” of sorts.
I still say that Mexicans would be better served by putting more demands on their own government than on the US. That would be true of people from all parts of the world. As my father asked, “Crees que nos quizimos cruzar? Era por necesidad que cruzamos?!” That is to say, most people would rather not leave the comforts of home. It is out of need that people leave their homeland.
Citizens of the world, demand more from your OWN government. Empower yourselves!
I would like to see the US create policy that would help create stability for ourselves AND our neighbors so they too can experience prosperity at home. Blaming each other won’t help anyone. Let’s work towards improving our respective governments so that we can ALL have success at home.
Feel free to call this the “Vegas Doctrine”.
Martin
You hate Trump because he want to shut down one of the bigger capital generators for Mexico that being the despicable practice and misery generating import and export of illegal immigrants.
Yeah, Martin. Yesterday City Council started discussing plans for a monorail system so that students from Juarez wouldn’t have to walk two blocks to the trolley to UTEP. Give Trump a rest for awhile and focus on the insanity of El Paso politics.
The Mexican constitution states that foreigners may be expelled for any reason and without due process. According to Article 33, “the Federal Executive shall have the exclusive power to compel any foreigner whose remaining he may deem inexpedient to abandon the national territory immediately and without the necessity of previous legal action.”
Laura Carlsen, director of the Americas Program at the Center for International Policy, said the plight of Central Americans fleeing violence back home “has revealed a deep vein of hypocrisy among Mexican politicians, who rightfully criticize the U.S. for its treatment of Mexican migrants as criminals and then do the same to migrants in this country.”
“Human rights violations, rape, murder and extortion of migrants in Mexico is rampant and authorities turn a blind eye or actively participate in it,” Carlsen said.
The National Institute of Migration, the Mexican agency that deals with Central American migrants, did not respond to requests for comment.
Rios, who runs the food kitchen, said most Central Americans who arrive in Mexico complain about mistreatment by police and state authorities. “There is a sentiment spread against them in this country, that they are a threat to society, that they are thieves,” he said. “There is no sympathy for many of them who flee deadly violence amid poverty in their countries.”
Amy and Esther Juárez were edgy with excitement as they boarded the bus full of seasonal workers heading for a farm at the other end of Mexico from their home in the poverty-stricken southern state of Chiapas.
Although their brother Alberto,18, had made the same journey the previous year, it was the first time Amy, 24, and Esther, 15, had left the tiny indigenous community where they had grown up.
But about half-way there, immigration agents boarded the bus, and after checking all the passengers’ papers, ordered the three siblings to get off.
The officials accused them of carrying false documents and lying about their nationality. Then they told the youngsters that they would be deported to Guatemala, a country none would have been able to place on a map.
The baffled youngsters – who speak the Mayan language Tzeltal but very little Spanish – were transferred to an immigration holding centre in Queretero city.
Alberto, 18, was taken into a separate room by four agents who told him that unless he signed documents admitting he was Guatemalan, would die there.
“One pushed me, another was kicking my leg, and a third who was very fat gave me an electric shock here, on the back of my right hand,” Alberto told the Guardian through a translator.
“I really thought I was going to die, so I signed lots of sheets of paper – but I can’t read or write so I didn’t know what I was signing.”
The three siblings were held for eight days before a lawyer from an activist group filed a legal complaint and eventually secured their release.
Carolina Jiménez, deputy director of research for the Americas at Amnesty International, said: “We have documented a truly disturbing pattern of very serious human rights violations against migrants travelling through Mexico. But seeing immigration officials involved in torture against Mexican nationals to make them ‘confess’ they are migrants takes this disturbing situation to a whole more sinister level.”
Concern over the conduct of immigration agents is rising. Advocacy groups were dismayed when Ardelio Vargas, a highly controversial police figure, was named head of INM in January 2013. Vargas was in charge of federal forces when peasant protests in the town of San Salvador Atenco were violently repressed by police in 2006.
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton suggested that Mexico was hypocritical in criticizing the State of Arizona for cracking down on illegal immigration when Mexico does the same thing.
Her May 20, 2010 email to one of her State Department aides said Mexico’s treatment of the undocumented was “Another example of ‘you should take the log from your own eye before criticizing the speck in your neighbor’s.'”
Clinton sent that email on the same day that then-Mexican President Felipe Calderon addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress, criticizing Arizona’s strict new immigration law.