Thursday, September 07, 2017

How Does One Make America Great?

Last weekend, Donald Trump went down to Texas and handed out hot dogs. It was part of his plan to Make America Great Again. This is an important distinction, since it tends to take at least a couple tries for "President" Trump to get anything close to right. On his first visit to the flood-ravaged Lone Star State, the Orange Whip managed to miss meeting with any of the victims of the disaster, preferring instead to laud the size of the crowd that came out to see him. 
It is all about him.
The size of the crowd. 
The tremendous amount of work he's getting done.
The great people he has working for him.
Or had.
Then there's the story of Alonso Guillen. Alonso drowned when a boat he and his friends were using to rescue folks in Houston last Wednesday. His father, Jesus Guillen, said he had asked his son not to go out during the storm but his son insisted on helping people.  The thirty-one year old disc jockey died saving other Americans in midst of a disaster. He died a hero.
Which is fortunate, since had he survived, he might have been deported. See, when the "President" wasn't in Texas pretending to help out, he was also busy preparing to terminate DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. This was the program that allowed Alonso to be in the United States, and hundreds of thousands of other who entered the country as minors. Now there is some question as to whether Alonso's mother will be allowed into our country from Mexico to bury her son. 
So, what makes America great? Siding with Nazis and handing out hot dogs, or saving lives while floodwaters rage all around?
This is a "President" who took the time to take shots at the media while he was supposed to be praising the Coast Guard, who saved thousands of lives, “by going into winds that this media would not go into… unless it’s a really good story in which case they will.” And to that we can only respond with the name Dave Griffin, a CNN reporter who along with his crew saved a truck driver who had driven his rig into twelve feet of water. Fake news? That's what a photo op "loading a truck" is. Dreamers? That's what Alonso Guillen was. Alonso is what makes America great. 

1 comment:

Kristen Caven said...

Right on