TUNE IN HERE TO-MORROW FOR A FIRST-HAND ANALYSIS OF PECULIAR THOUGHT PROCESSES AMONG THE MEXICANS CONCERNING TRUMP AND THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SCENE. HYPOCRISY, CONTRADICTIONS, LACK OF UNDERSTANDING ABOUNDS....ON BOTH SIDES....AND IT HAS BECOME A BIT BORING, QUITE FRANKLY. BUT, THE OROG COMMUNITY WILL HAVE A TRUE REPORT....SHORT AND SWEET.... ABOUT THE MATTER.
EL GRINGO VIEJO
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On the one hand we have a blowhard who begins by speaking off the top of his head, stating that the Mexican Government is sending people who ".....are all prostitutes, rapists, and criminals." It does not matter what Trump actually says or said, because in the function of all good "identity politics" the aggrieved group hears what it wishes to hear and the blowhard group says what it wishes to say, little difference that both sides are wrong on almost all counts. Days, hours, or minutes later Mr. Trump will assure whoever has been listening to him that the listener did not hear correctly what had been said correctly. Mr. Trump will assure the world that he never said any such thing even as the video is replaying it in the background.
So, now we have the spectacle of two different ex-Presidents of Mexico, Vincente Fox Quezada and Felipe Calderon Hinojosa trundling forth to take advantage of "the situation". It is all made immensely worse because both Fox and Calderon are National Action Party people....or the Mexican equivalent to what we know to be the the Republican Party in the United States. Fox has been more outspoken, being uselessly over-the-top with the worst possible profanity and expletives, in English. It seemed to me that his eyes were going to pop out and the top of his head was going to go volcanic. He was sputtering and stammering so much, it left the impression that he was either having a seizure or he was trying to do a bad imitation of Trump.
Calderon, on the other hand, was calmer although equally "injured" to hear and see an American presidential candidate call all Mexicans prostitutes, rapists, and murderers. While speaking in English during a visit to the United States to speak at an international trade convention of some sort he avoided the profanity and really bitter recrimination employed by his predecessor, Fox.
Both of these men referred to Trump's statement as a clear sign of Trump's racism. One big problem? There is no Mexican race, per se. There are Mexicans who are racially Negroid, Mestizo, Indian, or Caucasian, and there Mexicans who are a mixture of any and/or all of the above or of no mixture at all. In that sense, Mexicans and Americans share many similarities.
Ill-defined phrases, and melodramatic over-reactions are the rule. All sides strut around like winners, few if any really know what is being discussed, but they all know....all of them....that their own side is right.
Mexican professorial marxists, Hombre-en-la-calle, housewives, labourers, industrial magnates took offense at the specific spin of ".....they are all (degenerates and criminals) and they are being sent over by the government."
Fast forward to some later moment. Six guys at the saloon in Mexico...and they are discussing the "situation". Each is recounting how he or a close friend or relative who lives in the United States somewhere...usually in or near a sanctuary city....has been assaulted or suffered some offense of a substantial nature. And almost always it is at the hands of a member of the criminal element that used to practice his or her trade in Mexico, or Central America.
Even, or especially, the Mexican commercial or recreational tourist has to keep his eye peeled and practice a caution that was all but unnecessary 40 years ago. One is tempted, when the conversation pauses at that table, to turn and say, "I am not a Trump supporter, my lot was with Cruz, but perhaps you see what we deal with in the Southwest, in the bigger cities, and almost anywhere now. Most of the people causing problems are repeat entrants who have been deported , and yet come back to their old criminal haunts at the first opportunity. Most are either habitual criminals, violent criminals, or both. Some are children of unmarried women who bore a child on American soil, thereby qualifying for public assistance. Frequently there is no father in these homes....only an occasional "boyfriend". He stays around until he is run off or arrested because his profession is crime, or because he is in Texas or the United States illegally. This is not something made up. It is real. And once again, it did not exist before the extreme amplification of the public assistance programmes."
To be sure, few of Trump's proposals will function, but only as anticipated by this observer. Each, even if implemented will have unintended consequences that are easy to predict but difficult for a doltish, self-absorbed portion of the electorate to understand. Most of Trump's proposals are simply the ravings of a man who is waving his arms and pointing to the sky, bellowing pseudo-aphorisms, repeating himself incessantly, and promising the moon. Those vote for "Make America Great Again" will stumble into the dustbin of History that is adjacent to the "Hope and Change" dustbin. The Moon that was promised yesterday will be to-morrow's moldy, fungus laden cottage cheese.
Until the United States of America's running budget is cut in real terms by 20%, and all public assistance, subsidies, and taxes design to promote "social democracy" are abolished....there will be no "America Great Again" just as "Hope and Change" became "I hope I have some change to buy one last lottery ticket".
We shall resign for the night and start back in saving the world to-morrow, sometime.
El Gringo Viejo
It is best to simply state that we have a double dichotomy.
On the one hand we have a blowhard who begins by speaking off the top of his head, stating that the Mexican Government is sending people who ".....are all prostitutes, rapists, and criminals." It does not matter what Trump actually says or said, because in the function of all good "identity politics" the aggrieved group hears what it wishes to hear and the blowhard group says what it wishes to say, little difference that both sides are wrong on almost all counts. Days, hours, or minutes later Mr. Trump will assure whoever has been listening to him that the listener did not hear correctly what had been said correctly. Mr. Trump will assure the world that he never said any such thing even as the video is replaying it in the background.
So, now we have the spectacle of two different ex-Presidents of Mexico, Vincente Fox Quezada and Felipe Calderon Hinojosa trundling forth to take advantage of "the situation". It is all made immensely worse because both Fox and Calderon are National Action Party people....or the Mexican equivalent to what we know to be the the Republican Party in the United States. Fox has been more outspoken, being uselessly over-the-top with the worst possible profanity and expletives, in English. It seemed to me that his eyes were going to pop out and the top of his head was going to go volcanic. He was sputtering and stammering so much, it left the impression that he was either having a seizure or he was trying to do a bad imitation of Trump.
Calderon, on the other hand, was calmer although equally "injured" to hear and see an American presidential candidate call all Mexicans prostitutes, rapists, and murderers. While speaking in English during a visit to the United States to speak at an international trade convention of some sort he avoided the profanity and really bitter recrimination employed by his predecessor, Fox.
Both of these men referred to Trump's statement as a clear sign of Trump's racism. One big problem? There is no Mexican race, per se. There are Mexicans who are racially Negroid, Mestizo, Indian, or Caucasian, and there Mexicans who are a mixture of any and/or all of the above or of no mixture at all. In that sense, Mexicans and Americans share many similarities.
Ill-defined phrases, and melodramatic over-reactions are the rule. All sides strut around like winners, few if any really know what is being discussed, but they all know....all of them....that their own side is right.
Mexican professorial marxists, Hombre-en-la-calle, housewives, labourers, industrial magnates took offense at the specific spin of ".....they are all (degenerates and criminals) and they are being sent over by the government."
Fast forward to some later moment. Six guys at the saloon in Mexico...and they are discussing the "situation". Each is recounting how he or a close friend or relative who lives in the United States somewhere...usually in or near a sanctuary city....has been assaulted or suffered some offense of a substantial nature. And almost always it is at the hands of a member of the criminal element that used to practice his or her trade in Mexico, or Central America.
Even, or especially, the Mexican commercial or recreational tourist has to keep his eye peeled and practice a caution that was all but unnecessary 40 years ago. One is tempted, when the conversation pauses at that table, to turn and say, "I am not a Trump supporter, my lot was with Cruz, but perhaps you see what we deal with in the Southwest, in the bigger cities, and almost anywhere now. Most of the people causing problems are repeat entrants who have been deported , and yet come back to their old criminal haunts at the first opportunity. Most are either habitual criminals, violent criminals, or both. Some are children of unmarried women who bore a child on American soil, thereby qualifying for public assistance. Frequently there is no father in these homes....only an occasional "boyfriend". He stays around until he is run off or arrested because his profession is crime, or because he is in Texas or the United States illegally. This is not something made up. It is real. And once again, it did not exist before the extreme amplification of the public assistance programmes."
To be sure, few of Trump's proposals will function, but only as anticipated by this observer. Each, even if implemented will have unintended consequences that are easy to predict but difficult for a doltish, self-absorbed portion of the electorate to understand. Most of Trump's proposals are simply the ravings of a man who is waving his arms and pointing to the sky, bellowing pseudo-aphorisms, repeating himself incessantly, and promising the moon. Those vote for "Make America Great Again" will stumble into the dustbin of History that is adjacent to the "Hope and Change" dustbin. The Moon that was promised yesterday will be to-morrow's moldy, fungus laden cottage cheese.
Until the United States of America's running budget is cut in real terms by 20%, and all public assistance, subsidies, and taxes design to promote "social democracy" are abolished....there will be no "America Great Again" just as "Hope and Change" became "I hope I have some change to buy one last lottery ticket".
We shall resign for the night and start back in saving the world to-morrow, sometime.
El Gringo Viejo
_______________________
