Trump and his supporters happily embrace ‘big lies’ about Harris, immigration

Editor:

The Russians do not respect freedom. In the ’50s they researched Hitler’s “Big Lie.” Hitler and his propaganda machine persuaded people to go to war and commit atrocities. The Russians  determined it takes two months of repetition to convince people lies are true.

The many faces and uses of the Big Lie are partially enumerated by the conservative Hoover Institute. (Click here for more information.)

Trump apparently learned about the Big Lie from Mein Kampf. He kept the book by his bed, according to ex-wife Ivana. (Click here for more information.)

At the very least he knew enough to instruct aides to keep repeating known lies. (Click here for more information.)  Link.

(For those interested, check the testimony of his Jan. 6th Chief of  Staff Mark Meadows and see what Trump really knows. It tracks others’ testimony. Meadows came clean about what Trump knows about his lies when he, Meadows, was under oath in front of a grand jury. (Click here for more information.)

Two recent letters reminded me of the Big Lie. Both letters had points worthy of discussion but either had bad facts or conclusions which do not square with reality as I will document. They also help make a bigger point.

One said Harris did not have a distinguished career. I am familiar with her work as Attorney General and frequently saw her in  the wee hours of the morning when I squeezed in C-SPAN while she was in the Senate. She was just as impressive as commentators say. I thought the fact that Harris decimated Trump in the debate would make the point.

(At least I did not hear that writer claim Harris does not have an economic plan. I wrote about it. But for those willing to be bored by policy  and plans, minutia can be found on her web site.)

However,  Trump saying she is “dumb” and the writer, unexpectedly, claiming that Harris is not accomplished is part of Trump’s Big Lie.

In fact the national Republican Party has known she was on the horizon because Karl Rove, then in retirement, spotted her 15 years ago. He ran Bush’s campaigns and persuaded the national party to pour money into a State race to try to derail her AG run and inevitable rise. (Click here and here for more information.)

That letter also derided  Vice President Cheney with accurate research. But as I told a good friend who was horrified by VP Cheney’s inclusion, “Shut up and take the win.”

One person does not undo the impact of the hundreds of warnings issued about Trump from highly respected Republican officials and dignitaries. This wave of top conservative Republicans crossing ideological lines to support Harris due to the dangers of Trump’s delusions is historic and telling.

The other writer’s letter is trickier. For over 70 years we have haphazardly patched ever-changing and multiple immigration issues. They are not holding up well.

The entire world is now suffering from mass migration problems and our patches are blowing out.

The letter missed a few things. 1) Trump’s last year, 2020, was an all time low due to special Covid restrictions and not a typical year to look at. 2 ) In raw numbers, in 2024 Biden is indeed doing better than Trump’s worse years in ’18 and ’19.

But whatever the numbers – and for decades they are not great – the writer fell for lies about what the numbers on immigration mean!

One Big Lie is the claim there is now a flood of immigrant/illegal criminals. Not so! Cherry picking a few tragedies is not a flood or a trend. Immigrant crime is a disproportionately very small fraction of our total crime rate. (Click here for more information.)

I previously documented that for thirty years crime rates are sinking. With immigration each president sets priorities on how ICE allocates resources. Biden directed that ICE emphasize national security, border safety and public safety.

Here is a brief history by each recent president. Trump’s priorities you will recall resulted in tent cities and inability to process and admit or return detainees. Safety was not a high priority. Being Hispanic was.  (Click here for more information.)

There is a second Big Lie circulating that Hispanics are a drain on society.  In fact the US Latino population collectively has the 4th highest GDP in the world. The rate of increase in what they contribute to the US outpaces both India’s and China’s growth rates. (Click here for more information.)

They fill countless needed jobs and pay a ton of tax! (Click here for more information.)

We need immigration to fill jobs. Unemployment is near all-time lows and the investments in infrastructure and industry are finally ready after decades in the pipeline under the Biden-Harris Inflation Reduction Act.

On policy itself, Trump now says his immigration solution will be bloody. He is focused on the southern border – really on “brown” people.

Harris wants the fully written and very comprehensive bipartisan bill that was hours from passing last January. We need  to control our borders and immigration but it takes additional resources, as that Harris  Bill provides, to address all aspects.

Trump’s promise to use his Presidential immunity and shoot immigrants in the legs is an un-serious  solution. (Click here for more information.)

I pretty much ignore one repeat writer who strings lies together without pretense of research or analysis but buys into, inter alia, some whoppers which I call the Delusional Lies. Delusional lies – deep state, sovereign state, NATO as a dues paying club – must be addressed to.  See below for a prime example.

(Fortunately none of the writers fall into the recent and vile deflection which blames violence on the candidate who does not talk about violence, does not encourage violence, and does not pretend violence solves problems. That is use of a Big Lie to flip the script.)

In school, one axiom I learned is “Verbum sat sapienti est”. “A word to the wise is sufficient.” But as appears now in the face of Big Lies, a word of actual truth can no longer be expected to easily undo the damage.

That is sad. It’s not a sign of the intellectual and personal integrity true freedom is all about.

I keep wondering how to solve the dilemma. Maybe it’s impossible if people think they are in an exclusive club (cult) but for the rest of us one thought is to start out by applying common sense. Simply put, in the real world there is no way a hidden conspiracy, Deep State, with tens to hundreds of thousands to millions of participants could ever keep the conspiracy secret. That is a Delusional Lie!

I suggest if one sets aside conspiratorial delusions and checks all troubling claims (Big Lies) with actual facts (from sources which are not Trump captives)  the analysis if far different. Rethinking things, taking stock of what’s real, takes you back to days when government told the truth, advanced freedom and the common good. Things do fit logically and make sense.

Conrad F. Cropsey

Albion