Outsourcing the Pawn People

SUSPENDED BETWEEN THE INSANE AND THE SURREAL, we now go about the tedious task of attempting to discern, regarding president Trump, the usual. How serious is he? What, precisely, motivates him? Where on earth did he ever get such an ostensibly wacky idea? Actually, this business of sending all refugees and illegal immigrants, if there is a difference, to various and sundry sanctuary cities has a certain merit, and the leadership in these many American cities are openly embracing the idea, which is quite likely not at all what the president anticipated. Big cities tend, as a rule, to welcome people and population growth, and good labor is hard to find, even at today's still low but rapidly increasing wages. Sanctuary cities always had motives other than mere altruism. They need workers and bigger tax bases. When the idea first hit the street, a few days ago, having been under consideration off and on for several months, nobody was happy. The left saw it as a get even tactic intended to make their altruistic approach to needy immigrants look bad, to expose it as a sham by overwhelming them with numbers and logistical problems; conservatives are shell shocked at the prospect of their leader in immigrant hatred actually capitulating, and letting these people into the country, instead of building a will to keep them out. What happened to the wall, and to the law? Now the White House, an ever loquacious edifice, is claiming the the plan was intended all along as an "olive branch" as they put it, to Democrats, the intention being to put the incoming folks precisely where the progressive end of the spectrum has wanted them all along; in American cities which claim to welcome them. A clever ploy, but transparently faux. Bear in mind that Trump and his right wing ilk regard all refugees as criminals and sub human animals; he said so just the other day, and he certainly does no think he is doing anyone a favor. What the president expected was mass capitulation; a nation wide progressive throwing in the towel and offer of surrender; sanctuary cities, teeming with liberals and millions of unwashed, suddenly on board with the great wall of Trump and exclusion immigration policy. Trump, like most small mined folk, assumes that everyone thinks like he does; that all refugees are scum. Is the plan to simply hand a bus ticket to everyone standing in line, and with the luck of the draw determine who goes to what city? This ignores the fact that these desperate people, though desperate, are not stupid; they can envision the concept of the future, they already know where they want to go once in the United States. As soon as they arrive in the city chosen for them, they are most likely to begin making plans and efforts to get to the city or town of their choice, where friends and family and future await them. A scramble saga, in two parts. The other elephant in the room is this: if the United States really wants to discourage people from seeking to enter, you can think of better ways to do it than by offering a free pass to a life in the big city to anyone who simply shows up at the border. Has the president bothered to think of that? All the legal, logistical, and economic concerns are an entirely different matter, but very important ones. When Trump announced his little scheme, he made the mistake of revealing his honest attitude about it; there was spite, petty vindictiveness, and anger in his words. "They say they want these people, so we'll give them as many people as they want, and see how they like it". That sort of thing. What the Democrats should do is call Trump's sinister bluff and embrace Trump's madness, because, in a way, its not a bad idea from the point of view of the open borders crowd. But it is a horrible idea from the viewpoint of the Trump base, which elected Trump on the basis of xenophobic immigrant hatred. What Trump should do, for his own political sake, is get on his stupid smart phone, and tweet "April Fools!"