The more I think about it the more I conclude that the President's administration is "defacto" white supremacist. Forget all the nonsense about the Klan support, the mess at Charlottesville, all the supposed "dog whistles" at his rallies or the rallies themselves. I would argue their policies make it obvious.
Their policy on immigration, both legal and illegal. they simply want to limit immigration, and when you look at who is immigrating it is mostly non-whites. Their desire for English speaking immigrants is also interesting. It points not to a racial bias but I would argue a cultural bias. Which goes hand in hand with the racial bias. If you are not white, at least speak English. Keep in mind that historically many first generation populations of immigrants did not speak English upon arrival.
These were the easy ones above. The bigger fish, which I am really after, are trade and diplomacy. Both international trade and diplomacy are deemphasized in this administration. Let us start with trade. The first thing he did was tear up the TPP. He has and continues to question NAFTA. Before he even took office he rescued several hundred jobs at Carrier, keeping them from crossing the border into Mexico. His tax reform is in part motivated by the desire to bring American companies and their bank accounts home. These are idea and goals expressed routinely by this administration. Each has its motivations, its reasons, but I would suggest that ultimately such rationales are garnish, the condiments or trimmings. I would argue he is far more interested in building a market in the United States as opposed to trading with other nations.
Likewise regarding diplomacy. I listed the trade agreements under trade, but they do go under this category too. Further, look at the massive cuts to the State Department. How many senior State Department officials have left? How many State Department positions have not and probably will not be filled? Further, there is North Korea. The President has largely asserted that there is no diplomatic solution there. Likewise, he questions the Iran nuclear deal and of course recently chose not to certify it this past week, leaving its fate in question. He has previously questioned our involvement with both the UN, and NATO. Time and again this administration has asserted in its first nine months in power that it does not believe in diplomacy.
Now of course he does preach America First. and he believes this is good not only for America but the UK and others. He fully endorsed Br-exit. Countries, of course, do have their interests and of course must act on them, must protect and defend them. He goes beyond that. No, regarding international trade in most cases he is found commenting routinely that America is getting the raw end of the deal, whether it be regarding China and the steel business, or Germany and autos.
I suggest that the underlying premise regarding his attitudes toward international trade and foreign relations is that they, those abroad, foreign powers, foreign leaders, and foreign companies cannot be trusted. They do not share our beliefs, our hopes, our aspirations. They desire to see their cultures, their families and their nations thrive and dominate. They do not wish the United States well. Their goals and agendas challenge and compete against us on the world stage. Two things are happening here.
One is that the world, including world trade and diplomacy are viewed as winner take all, or a zero-sum game. Meaning, there is only one winner. This administration does not believe that at the end of a negotiation both parties or both countries can be happy with the results. They do not subscribe to the idea that there can be two winners. With that, the winner will either be the US or not. Either we will win or we lose.
The second point and the one I am focused on is a distrust of the other. In this case this is anyone that is not an American. He routinely comments regarding domestic situations that we are all Americans. We should be able to recognize each other as Americans. That said, he did bring up at one point during his campaign that a US Federal Judge should not be allowed to preside over his case as the judge was of Mexican descent. Again the clash of culture, of race.
I would argue that this administration's positions on trade and diplomatic relations, treaties are driven by similar concerns. We are unable to communicate nor work with others countries and peoples. they do not understand us, now we them, and further we in fact are competing, This is not a cooperative project at all. It is purely a competitive venture. And when we do engage another nation, these are the assumptions this administration arrives with. If and when we do go abroad, we put ourselves at risk. And ultimately it is best to just stay home.
This is what America first translates to I am afraid. I hope that the next three years or perhaps seven prove me wrong, but based on my observations this is what I see. Is the Trump administration "defacto" white supremacists? To answer that one properly probably does require digging into domestic policy. Next time. . . Regardless, I would say that they seem xenophobic and have a sad view of business and foreign relations, which is disappointing considering their business background and history.
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