Dan Rather calls it like it is.

[Stonepounder]

https://www.facebook.com/theDanRather/posts/10157354317530716

Um. Wow. If anybody thought that Donald Trump would deliver a moderated speech on immigration, that ended pretty much in the first moments he walked onto the stage in Phoenix. He claimed it would be a detailed policy address, and yet from the start his tone was a seething, angry attack on what he described as a world of dangerous murderers and rapists who seem to be roaming “sanctuary cities.” Focusing on a few isolated and already well-documented tragedies, he painted the entire undocumented world with the casual brush of violence. This approach was punctuated by family members of those who have died paraded at the end. The crowd – nearly all white from the looks of the cutaway shots – ate it up with a hostility that seems in keeping with those who have flocked to Trump’s angry march through this campaign season. There was of course no mention of the de facto integration of millions immigrants already entwined in the fabric of our daily lives and economy.

I expected a law and order theme, but not this level of searing rhetoric. Of course, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Trump feeds off his crowds and they were giving it right back. It was ultimate in the “Us vs. Them” mentality. Real Americans vs. others. I frankly saw echoes of the George Wallace speeches from the 1968 campaign.

...

But any details are beside the point. With a raspy roar, leaning over the podium, Trump delivered his message with glee - This is our country and we are being overwhelmed by hordes not fit to be in our country. He suggested that “These People” are well known to law enforcement and could be rounded up with ease. It was a line that seemed more in keeping with the culture of the old East Germany than the United States. “We have got to have a county folks” he summed it up. “Under a Trump Administration it’s called America first!”

...

Make no mistake, this was a toxic mix of jingoism, nativism, and chauvinism. Many of you would like to think, not in America, not in our country could this type of rhetoric gain currency. But in other countries, and in other times in history, we have seen the impossible become possible to horrific effect. Trump is betting his political future on this idea – that there is a deep, tribal, and dark sea of the molten lava of hate and aggrievement. This volcano from below appeals to dangerous instincts- can it yield a path to the presidency and power?

Read the whole thing at link.

[sheshe2]

1. Trump

Is preaching the worst that America can be. His rhetoric and his followers scares me to death.

[Stellar]

8. Me too sheshe! nt

[sheshe2]

9. Hey you.

I can't even watch the man. I know all about Hitler and ethnic cleansing, that tells me all I need to know about Trump.

[Stellar]

10. Angel face!

[MBS]

33. You and me both.

Really, really disturbing and upsetting.
Dan Rather got it exactly right.

[alterfurz]

2. Triumph of the Swill

[malthaussen]

17. Good one!

I am definitely stealing that, since I've been drawing parallels between that flick and American political symbolism for this whole century.

-- Mal

[vlyons]

24. Excellent

[They_Live]

30. That's some great art.

Thank you!

[Blue Idaho]

3. We need a thousand more journalists

Like Dan Rather.

[Hekate]

4. I'm glad Dan Rather is still around

[yallerdawg]

5. Calls it like it is?

Not on that fateful night I lost my faith in broadcast journalism.

"Florida, Florida, Florida."

Rather called it - and it had to be a damn sure unquestionable thing since the polls were still open in half the state! That had to mean it was an overwhelming victory!

And then...

[maddiemom]

23. Didn't he call Florida for Gore?

And when all was said and done, he was right. True, it was unfair because all polls were still open, but then, it was called the other way by CNN while three quarters of the polls were still open. The entire 2000 election was a disgrace for all concerned. The Supreme Court topped it all off...and still no discussion of getting rid of the anachronistic Electoral College.

[Coyotl]

6. All built on the buffoon's lies too.

This is old news, so he has no excuse:

Net Migration from Mexico Falls to Zero—and Perhaps Less

[lark]

7. Yes, his hatred of the other, along with corporatism, nationalism and slavish love of the law

is following the well honed path cut by Hitler. We could have similar results if Drumpf wins. He represents a new fascism, not much different from the old one. Instead of gypsies and Jews, it's Mexicans and Muslims.

[Hortensis]

11. "this was a toxic mix of jingoism, nativism, and chauvinism."

Yes. Appalling. But best it be right out in the open, revealed for what it is. If Trump were half as competent as Hitler was he'd wrap himself in the flag, in Christian religion, in "family values," and he'd keep this stuff for dark corners most people didn't see. Those days people saw rallies on newsreels at theaters or they didn't see them at all.

[NastyRiffraff]

12. For the first time in any election

I'm scared. This would-be dictator actually has a chance to get into the White House. A small chance, to be sure, but the fact that we can even contemplate a Trump presidency is appalling.

I only wish all of the pundits were of Dan Rather's caliber.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. Meanwhile

Drumpf neglects the fact that his mother was "off the boat" as were all of his grand-parents.

[marybourg]

26. To say nothing of his wife.

In a manner of speaking, of course.

[BumRushDaShow]

27. Yup.

And in not quite a "legal" way either!

[MadDAsHell]

14. "Focusing on a few isolated and already well-documented tragedies"

This is where this prick is getting momentum, and where President Obama and Hillary can make a difference.

People are listening to this idiot because he's the only one (besides Faux News) even acknowledging that people are being hurt/killed by individuals whom are in our country illegally.

Obama and Hillary could stop his momentum in its tracks if they would even acknowledge people's real hurt/anger over this issue. Obviously they don't need to go all Trump and order mass deportations, but would it hurt so much for the President to acknowledge that some citizens are indeed dying at the hands of undocumented immigrants?

Is not even 1 death, 1 too many to ignore?

[Stonepounder]

16. And some are killed by Muslims and some by illegal immigrants...

and some by Active Duty Military and many by Christians and some by bikers and some by blacks and some by .....

Do we really need to acknowledge that people kill people without having to break down every single killing demographically? Do you think that we could defuse racial tensions by acknowledging that blacks sometimes kill? Or we could defuse BLM by simply acknowledging that sometimes cops needlessly kill blacks?

But God help us if we even dare to suggest that maybe guns kill people? Nah, guns don't kill people, people kill people.

[MadDAsHell]

18. False equivalence. Assuming you're referring to citizens, all those folks are already here.

Once someone is in the country, we've lost our best chance at preventing a violent crime committed by them.

Beginning to get control of murders by undocumented immigrants coming into this country is simple: stop letting in undocumented immigrants.

And hold them accountable when they do commit crimes.

[Stonepounder]

20. Any response I might make to your post would immediately be hidden by any reasonable

DU jury.

The only comment I will make is this: How do you propose to "stop letting (and a really question the word 'letting') in undocumented immigrants"?

[MadDAsHell]

25. The pro-open borders stance is easy when your family has never been a victim.

Kind of like the death penalty. Although I am 100% against it, it's amazing how many staunch opponents quickly change their mind when it's their family member that is victimized by someone.

I am not saying families of individuals murdered by illegal immigrants are right in there xenophobia, nor am I denying that the Trump campaign is using them for its own purposes.

But let's not pretend that President Obama and Clinton don't have some responsibility for the Trump phenomenon by their complete dismissal of the legitimate heartache of these families for what happened to their loved ones and how/why it happened.

[Stonepounder]

28. Sorry, I completely reject your hypothesis.

1. Nobody is 'letting' illegals into the US. I can remember it being an issue 50 years ago and 40 years ago and 30 years ago and 20 years ago. It is not something that belongs exclusively to Obama and/or Hillary. Add to that we have entire industries that depend on illegal aliens for a goodly portion of their workforce. "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" was written almost 70 years ago, when a plane carrying 'deportees' who had spent the season picking produce in California crashed and burned.

2. The number of illegal aliens crossing from Mexico to the US is right about equal with the number of illegals crossing from the US to Mexico, so Donald's 'wall' isn't going to do much.

3. It is many times easier to smuggle aliens in via water than via land. The Coast Guard simply cannot stop and search every single boat that goes out for a day of 'sport fishing'. It is also much easier for Europeans to travel to Canada and then cross the border into the US. (Or are we only talking about Hispanic illegals?)

Singling out 'illegals' as some sort of group that goes around killing citizens is just as distastful as singling out any other 'group'. It encourages the us vs them mentality that Trump stirs to a frenzy. What should Obama and/or Hillary say? "Folks, be careful of aliens because they might kill you?" "Folks, we're sorry we couldn't totally close our borders, keep track of every single non-citizen who entered the country legally and overstayed their visa?" "Folks, your loved one got killed by an illegal alien so we recognize that your pain is greater than someone who got killed by a family member or a citizen?"

Finally, illegal immigration is down under Obama according to Pew Research:

http://time.com/4167626/donald-trump-ted-cruz-ads-immigration/

According to a Pew Research Center study, there were 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants—about 3.5% of the U.S. population—in the U.S. in 2014. That’s down from 12.2 million, or 4% of the population, in 2007.

[MadDAsHell]

29. You seem to be confusing your personal political preferences with reality.

Half the country thinks the Obama administration is purposefully allowing illegal immigration on purpose to inflate the Democratic voting population. Your numbers about how many are actually here, how they got here, and why they are here are, frankly, completely irrelevant in today's political climate.

And you don't think the families should care that their family member was killed by an illegal immigrant. Ok, BUT THEY DO.

That's the reality we're living in. Putting your head in the sand because you don't think people should think a certain way doesn't somehow magically MAKE them not think that way.

[athena]

35. Please explain

Last edited Fri Sep 2, 2016, 07:56 AM - Edit history (1)

how "allowing illegal immigration on purpose" can possibly "inflate the Democratic voting population".

Your premise that President Obama is "allowing illegal immigration on purpose" is baseless, but it's very interesting that you think undocumented immigrants are able to vote. If you're going to make such claims, back them up with data and facts.

[MadDAsHell]

36. Read the post again. I don't think any of that.

But Trump is about to get tens of millions of votes from people that do.

[LanternWaste]

19. Is that simply another allegation, or do you have corroborative or objective evidence to support you

" he's the only one (besides Faux News) even acknowledging that people are being hurt/killed by individuals whom are in our country illegally..."

Is that simply another allegation, or do you have corroborative or objective evidence to support your continuing truthiness?

[MadDAsHell]

21. Listen LW, I don't know how you got my personal email, but if you send me another racist diatribe...

or continue to thread-stalk me on DU, I will absolutely submit this issue to the Admins.

[ewagner]

15. It was even angrier than usual...and I think I know why...

I think in private, Trump was dissed or humiliated by Mexico's President and he decided to take it out on Mexico in his Phoenix speech.

Were all the details already in place?

Maybe.

But then again, how much did Trump ad lib to add his own anger and person vendetta?

If this loon ever gets elected to a post higher than third alternate to the sanitation subcommittee of the zoo maintenance committee, he'll be absolutely dangerous.

[jovi]

22. My neighbor in Florida is a trump supporter and here's why

back in the 80's her husband was killed by undocumented men that were drunk driving. They were sentenced to prison. Every time they are up for parole she goes to the hearing. She has told others that if they are ever let out she will be there to shoot them. I don't know if she would but..... She is crazy!! When I say crazy I mean it. I use to take of her pets when she traveled but I had to stop years ago when the crazy came out. She has Trump signs everywhere. No one in the community talks to her anymore. Our yard company workers are from a latin country and they do a fantastic job but they are not allowed in her yard. These are the kind of people who are his supporters and it is scary. To even him as president scares the crap out of me. The crazies will just get crazier!!!

[GulfCoast66]

31. In the town north of me

A little girl was killed at a bus stop by an undocumented immigrant who was drunk. It was his 3rd time driving drunk and his 2nd wreck. The previous one has caused injury not death. Of course he had no license or insurance.

He should have been deported after the first DUI. But that is still not policy.

And had we had comprehensive immigration reform he may have been. The right wants the 'illegals' as it gives them a scapegoat.

But we cannot be seen as defending undocumented immigrants who commit a crime. If they commit a crime, they should go. Not just a violent felony.

[Stonepounder]

32. Unfortunately, our justice system is screwed up.

Life for marijuana possession. Probation for rape. And a slap on the wrist for DUI, regardless of who you are.

When I lived a California there was a 'road rage' incident back before they called it that. A dump truck full of gravel deliberately ran a woman off the road and ploughed into her, killing her. The dump truck driver was drunk, had something like 15 previous convictions for DUI, had his California driver's licence suspended, but managed to get a commercial licence from nevada and was driving for a gravel and cement company, because he showed them his licence and there was no requirement that they validate it was 'valid' in California.

So, yeah, there are lots of things that need to be fixed. And yeah, illegals who commit felonies should be deported after serving their sentence. But, again, you can't just single that one thing out of a totally screwed justice system.

[MBS]

34. K & R.

If there were a "10X recommend" button, I would click that.

So glad that Dan Rather is still out there, saying what needs to be said.
I really like his Facebook posts in general, but this one was truly eloquent. He literally put my fears into words.