Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Wednesday is Trump Hump Day






D. Trump, T-GOP candidate for preznit of the U.S. of A. said he'd implement the same program President Dwight Eisenhower used to solve the illegal immigrant problem:



"Trump invoked historical precedent: 'Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower. Good president. Great president. People liked him. I liked him. I Like Ike, right? The expression, 'I like Ike.' Moved 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country. Moved them just beyond the border, they came back. Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn't like it. Moved 'em waaaay south, they never came back. Dwight Eisenhower. You don't get nicer, you don't get friendlier. They moved 1.5 million people out. We have no choice. We. Have. No. Choice.' "


For those of you who are not familiar with "Operation Wet Back:"



"The Eisenhower program Trump was referring to, if not by name, was called "Operation Wetback." Implemented by President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, the program was frighteningly simple: round up undocumented immigrants and drop them off in Mexico by the busload. The more obscure the location, the better. Dozens of the operation's deportees died. The program was initiated by then-Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr., who ordered his officers to shoot "wetbacks" trying to enter America. 

Ultimately, it wasn't even as successful as Trump claims: Some researchers consider the 1.5 million-deported figure to be highly exaggerated. 

White Supremacists picked up on the Trump's suggestion immediately:

Operation Wetback, f**k yeah!




On the  minimum wage issue:


Neil Cavuto asked Donald Trump if he was sympathetic to workers around the country who were demanding that the federal wage floor be more than doubled. "I can't be, Neil," Trump responded. 

"The reason I can't be is we are a country that's being beaten on every front, economically, militarily. There is nothing we do now to win." 

Those lines are consistent with Trump's running stump speech on American demise, but then the front-runner took a curious turn. In explaining his aversion to a minimum wage hike, Trump asserted that "our wages are too high." Not many Americans would agree with the billionaire business mogul on that front.

And this:


"Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Marco Rubio all said they opposed raising the minimum wage. But an August McClatchy-Marist poll found 68 percent of Americans in favor of raising the national minimum wage, while 29 percent were opposed. 

Big majorities of Democrats (92 percent) and independents (65 percent) also supported a wage hike, while 56 percent of Republicans were opposed. 

Those numbers are quite similar to other polls in recent years. The parties positions appear to have sunk in with the public. By 49 to 33 percent, more people in a 2014 Washington Post-ABC News poll said Democrats are closer to their position than Republicans on “whether to raise the minimum wage.”


Trump hopes to be the next POTUS by supporting another "Operation Wet Back" and keeping the minimum wage lower than other advanced western countries, because workers in low-paying jobs are making too much money.

That'll win him the Hispanic vote and the working-class vote.  Riiiiiiight.  Because nothing says "class warfare" like a billionaire loud-mouth telling poor people they make too much money.



13 comments:

Ducky's here said...

Dare we hope that was the end of Trump last night?

"Wages are too high". That got my attention but it didn't get so much attention in the post debate analysis.

All I heard last night was:

1. We need much more military spending to start really slapping around the Russians and Chinese.

2. A flat tax will pay for it all while lowering overall taxation.

3. The ACA is from the devil.

4. Stop lying about Ben Carson.

I was surprised that Ted Cruz was the first to offer the gold standard as a fix.

Third Watch Stickers said...


Another debate to show how out of touch and out of mainstream America the Clown Party is.

Donald is leading the polls and he wants to use Ike's Operation Wet Back? Oh boys! The HIspanics will just love him to pieces for that.

Shaw Kenawe said...



Fact checking:

Marco Rubio claimed “welders make more money than philosophers” to promote vocational training over liberal arts education. However, according to the salary database PayScale.com, the average annual salary for graduates with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy is $97,000 — while graduates with an associates degree in welding technology earn just $58,500.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Fact checking continues:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, during the early debate, claimed that Democrats intend to raise tax rates to 70 to 80 percent — although no presidential candidates or lawmakers have actually proposed doing that.

Donald Trump complained that China had outmaneuvered the U.S. in the widely unpopular Trans-Pacific Partnership — which the real estate tycoon and reality TV star said was designed to have “China come through the back door.” But, as Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pointed out during the debate, China isn’t part of that trade deal.

Ben Carson was asked a relatively benign question about the apparent inconsistencies in his memoirs, and he thanked moderator Neil Cavuto for “not asking me what I said when I was in the 10th grade.” However, the retired neurosurgeon published his unsubstantiated claims about stabbing a friend as an angry teen in multiple books, and he frequently tells the story during campaign events and during interviews. He also talks frequently about supposedly receiving a scholarship offer to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, although details of those claims also don’t stand up to scrutiny.

Ray Cranston said...

A multi-billionaire (Trump) and a multi-millionaire (Carson) both against raising the minimum wage on bottom-of-the-barrel workers.

PolitiFact rates FALSE Carson's claim that jobless rates go up after minimum wage increases are passed.

Trump hires immigrants to work on his billion $$$ buildings (doesn't have to pay them as much as American workers), and he out-sources manufacturing for his clothing lines to China and Mexico.

Trump is a silver spoon hypocrite, but what's Carson's excuse for not wanting to help people who were like him when they started out in life at the bottom of the barrel?

Trump's not religious, so we understand his selfishness and greed. What's Carson's excuse? He claims to be such a holy guy. Even had his picture painted with Jesus, The Son of God! And Jesus was put in the background!

Rank hypocrisy. And he's a phoney.


Dave Miller said...

Ducky... I heard that too... very early in the debate when the Donald said essentially, we need lower wages.

How does that work? How do conservatives defend that?

Les Carpenter said...

Dare we hope that was the end of Trump last night?

No, Trump and Rubio are considered winners in the view of some.

Steven B. said...

Gerard Baker, the editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, and one of the moderators of last night's debate asked:

"...in seven years under President Obama, the U.S. has added an average of 107,000 jobs a month. Under President Clinton, the economy added about 240,000 jobs a month. Under George W. Bush, it was only 13,000 a month. If you win the nomination, you'll probably be facing a Democrat named Clinton. How are you going to respond to the claim that Democratic presidents are better at creating jobs than Republicans?"

Carly Fiorina answered: "Yes, problems have gotten much worse under Democrats." The exact opposite of the point of the question. The moderator failed to follow up or correct her.
None of the Republican candidates went anywhere near this question. They don't have answers.
Because the Democrats are better for jobs and the economy and have been for 100 years.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Trump essentially argued is that we can’t compete with foreign labor if we pay our workers something approximating $30,000 a year. Maybe you agree with that or maybe you don’t, but it was jarring to listen to Trump argue that he’d make America great by making sure that people don’t get paid too much.

When Ben Carson was asked to respond, he immediately broke out the wrong statistic for black unemployment and argued that we shouldn’t make people “dependent” by paying them a decent amount for their labor. And, no, that does not make sense.

Rubio followed by saying that the big problem in this country is that people don’t get paid enough but we can’t pay them more or they’ll just be replaced by robots. His big solution was to encourage people to forego their majors in philosophy and instead pursue a more lucrative career in welding. The audience seemed to especially enjoy this policy prescription."

And there you have the "brilliant" T-GOP thoughts on the minimum wage increase.

Les Carpenter said...

Rubio is correct in that industry will continue to reduce reliance on labor wherever and whenever possible. Robotics and robots will be a significant part of this "progress" as technology continues its advances. Perhaps one day even welders will be replaced by highly programmed robots with artificial intelligence and decision making capabilities.

Anonymous said...

A significant part of welding is done by robots so there goes that punch line.
Philosophers make between 70 and 142k and that is in the PHD category. A skilled welder can earn around 100k. Being of the elite class we know you thumb you noses at people who have to work for a living.

What Rubio is saying is unskilled workers shouldn't get paid as much as skilled. The issue with minimum wage is it requires minimum effort and minimum chance of advancement. We need more skilled workers and fewer philosophy and LGBT majors.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Anon: "Being of the elite class we know you thumb you noses at people who have to work for a living."


Really, Anon, you show off your galloping ignorance in the above statement. Where is your evidence for suggesting I am of the "elite class" and that I "thumb" my nose at working people. My father was an immigrant from Italy and his hard work as a barber along with my mother working as a seamstress allowed them to make a very comfortable middle class life for their children. So you're totally wrong there.

Anon: "The issue with minimum wage is it requires minimum effort and minimum chance of advancement."

Another statement that shows your ignorance. I have first-hand knowledge of the EFFORT women who work as homecare helpers MAKE. They earn little to nothing while caring for elderly men and women whose children have abandoned them to strangers. These women I know, mostly Latinas, cook, clean, do laundry, change diapers, give medications, take the elderly to doctor appointments, do grocery shopping, and give comfort and companionship to the aged and infirm. As I said, these women make next to nothing doing this. And where would the wealthy children of these elderly people be without the exploitation of these homecare women? One woman I know is paid a paltry $300+ a week for doing all of this. Minimum effort. You couldn't do half of what these women do every day, and then go home and take care of their families.



Anon: "We need more skilled workers and fewer philosophy and LGBT majors."

That last remark is a beaut, and reveals that you must be of the older generation that still harbors resentment for not being able to discriminate against the LGBT community. Happily, our younger generations doesn't share that ancient attitude, and long after you and I are gone, people will look back and wonder how people like you who appear to think of themselves as "enlightened" or "superior" could still hold such outdated and bigoted ideas.

Jerry Critter said...

I suspect that if Anon had a degree on philosophy, he would have greater critical thinking skills and would not be making such ridiculous statements.