Last updated on July 17th, 2023 at 09:28 pm
*The following is an opinion column by R Muse*
Early in the laborious and disgustingly long 2016 election season, Republican presidential candidate and bigoted fascist Donald J. Trump strongly insinuated that his supporters are not the best and brightest America has to offer. It is true he only said they are “uneducated,†but he really meant they are painfully stupid by nature because he makes ridiculously outlandish statements that he knows only make sense to conservative imbeciles. Early this week he was at it again and his supporters embraced a comment that no sane or semi-intelligent human being would begin to believe, but not many accuse Trump supporters of being sane or semi-intelligent.
This column has, over the years, pointed out the endemic stupidity plaguing Republican voters and it is never pleasant to acknowledge that roughly half the American population is functioning cognitively at about a 2nd grade level. It is fairly safe to say Mr. Trump never reads this column, but it is also safe to say he is acutely aware that his staunchest supporters have no grasp on facts and are easily frightened, impressed, and incited to rage by big numbers; even if those numbers are complete fabrications.
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This week Trump threw out an incredibly big number to frighten the life out of his supporters and claimed that Hillary Clinton would be importing about 650 million immigrants a week if she is elected president. Now, any American with nominal cognitive abilities would comprehend that Trump just pulled that 650 million figure out of the ether, or whatever orifice he finds blatant lies to frighten his base.
Trump was warning his bigoted supporters that his opponent had a so-called open borders and amnesty policy and that Hillary Clinton’s immigration plan would nearly triple the current United States population, in a week. The sexual predator said:
“You know, it would be much easier working for Obama or working for Hillary because, frankly, when you’re working for Hillary, she wants to let people just pour in. You could have 650 million people pour in and we do nothing about it. Think of it, that’s what could happen. You triple the size of our country in one week. Once you lose control of your borders you have no country.â€
So, there are a couple of “real†numbers to cite that every American should be aware of if they aren’t illiterate, aren’t Trump supporters or aren’t typical Republican voters. First, according to the latest official census bureau report, there are about 324,916,938 people in America as of Thursday, November 3, 2016. Trump wants his nativist acolytes to believe that Hillary Clinton will bring in twice the current population in immigrants each week to take America away from Trump’s devotees.
The issue with Trump’s assertion is that Clinton never proposed “open borders†or “amnesty:†only Republican demigod Ronald Reagan believed in and granted “amnesty†to millions of undocumented immigrants. What Hillary Clinton has said she supports is something Republicans like George W. Bush, John McCain, and many others have advocated for; comprehensive immigration reform with a path to citizenship for currently undocumented immigrants.
In fact, Clinton’s proposal is not unlike that of George W. Bush’s that allows currently undocumented immigrants to pay back fines, and back taxes, just to earn a chance of becoming American citizens one day in the future; not amnesty. She has also said she would not strip away a temporary executive action that grants temporary work authorization and deportation deferrals to certain undocumented immigrants in demand because there are too many stupid conservatives to fill jobs that require a semblance of intelligence and technological prowess borne from valuing education.
Some other important numbers that Trump knows his moronic base will never grasp are that at most, America can only issue work visas for foreign workers in specialty occupations  like scientists, engineers, and of course Donald Trump’s wife’s former occupation as a fashion model. The quota for those “specialty†occupations is capped by federal law at 85,000 annually. Temporary workers in the agricultural industry are subjected to quotas set at 66,000 visas per fiscal year.
Although it is a mystery why any foreign tourist would ever want to visit a hateful bigoted country like America, the Department of State statistics puts the number of “visitors†who likely can’t wait to get out of crazy-land at about 65 million annually. Totaling up the temporary and specialty worker quotas, tourism, and alleged 11 million undocumented immigrants does not come close to Trump’s 650 million figure in a year, much less every week as he claims; but no doubt his idiot supporters believe him.
It’s obvious that his fabrication by Trump is not the most outrageous lie he has told during the campaign, but it is about all the proof any voter should need that Donald Trump really does think his supporters are stupider than dirt. Add to their endemic stupidity their deep-seated racism, xenophobia, and hatred of anything non-white, non-Christian, and non-nasty conservative and it is little wonder Mr. Trump would pull a number out of his ass to frighten Republicans into voting for him.
There is no reason for about half the population to be as stupid as they are, or to consistently vote contrary to their own best interests. America’s education system is exceptional, and even if it wasn’t the simple fact that the other half of America not supporting Trump was educated in the same system, the stupidity plaguing Republican voters is a trait that really has nothing to do with education and everything to do with the fear and hate that drives stupid people Trump has little trouble conning with big numbers that have no connection to reality or intelligent thought.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
