President Donald Trump has the recipe to rile up his base.
Mix equal parts racism and television theatrics with a heaping helping of dog whistling and a can of cream of mushroom soup (because man do they love some cream of mushroom soup), and bake at 450 degrees for 45 minutes, and what you have is Trump’s bland blend of the continued assault on the brown people of Mexico.
In the continuous loop of Avengers: Endgame that is playing out in Trump’s head, the war between Trump and people who are not at war nor know that a war is happening, Trump claimed Wednesday that Mexican soldiers “recently pulled guns” on American troops near the southern border, and accused the soldiers of “probably” doing this to create a distraction so that drug smugglers could cross the border.
“Better not happen again! We are now sending ARMED SOLDIERS to the Border,” Trump wrote in a post on Twitter. “Mexico is not doing nearly enough in apprehending & returning!”
This dude is out of control. Literally, out of control. First, the incident that Trump’s referring to happened on April 13, when Mexican soldiers on U.S. land mistakenly believed that the Americans were on Mexican land and held the border guards at gunpoint briefly before letting them go. It was a mistake, just a big misunderstanding, according to Newsweek, which first reported the incident.
Secondly, the news isn’t new to the United States. In a press release issued Wednesday, Mexico’s foreign affairs ministry wrote that the occurance was not unusual and that both governments were fully aware of the situation.
Thirdly, why bring it up now? Well, the president has a pattern of creating diversionary tactics when other things are heating up. Currently, the Night King (a shit ton of congressional committees) has descended upon the House of Trump’s Finances and Security Clearances, and they are ready to storm the gate, so Trump is looking for another conversation to bring up when he can’t use Hillary Clinton’s soiled name.
Also, Trump has been itching to start a damn war with Mexico, which might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever typed about the Trump administration, but it’s true. Since taking office, Trump has not only been aggressive towards the southern border country, but he’s been evil, vile and nasty. Also-also, Trump is a bully, who can’t fight. He’s basically the guy that talks a lot of shit and as soon as he’s hit in the mouth yells out, “Call the police!”
He thinks Mexico is easy pickings and knows his base (made up of a bunch of closeted bigots and racists, and not-so-closeted bigots and racists, and liberals who claim they like Trump’s outlook on budget and big business but really are bigots, and liberals and 53 percent of white women) like when he’s tough on brown people (except those who work at Trump’s golf courses).
This is nothing but a brown-herring that we’ve come to know from the Trump administration, and it’s dangerous. Currently, the United States is beefing with Mexico, and the president is sending ARMED SOLDIERS (presidential all caps) to the border to threaten a country that we haven’t had beef with since 1848.
Lastly, and most importantly, Trump did the thing where he perpetuates the myth that all of America’s white people’s problems are coming from Mexico by just randomly stating things without any proof at all, such as the stopping of American border guards was done as a diversionary tactic to allow drug smugglers to cross. This isn’t some wayward Twitter-spook kicking around conspiracy theories, this is the damn president of people who believe this kind of shit.
Sadly, this is the world we’ve come to know, and one that feels more absurd by the minute.