If you’re a big Trump fan, you probably don’t like me because I criticize him when I think he’s wrong. If you’re a big Trump hater, you probably don’t like me because I praise him when I think he’s right. I’m okay with you disliking me for either of these reasons, because I believe objective truth exists independently of my personal feelings about any particular individual. This puts me in a tiny minority in 2018 America, apparently, but I don’t mind too much. While it hasn’t been too great for my “career,” at least I can sleep at night.
When President Trump says something that’s objectively true, or is at least a reasonably informed opinion, I don’t feel the need to reject the truth just because he’s the one telling it. For example, yesterday he expressed his opinion about the international criminal gang known as MS-13, as he’s done many times in the past:
“These aren’t people. These are animals,” Trump says in response to a question about the MS-13 gang during his roundtable on sanctuary cities. “… because of the weak laws, they come in fast” https://t.co/FfO3D5ug97
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 16, 2018
MS-13’s motto is “mata, viola, controla,” which means “kill, rape, control.” And it’s not just hyperbole. That’s what they do, and they’ve been doing a lot of it. They’re drug traffickers. They’re rapists. They run prostitution rings, often involving children. They behead people. They prey on anyone weaker than them. And they’re a growing problem in the U.S.
Calling MS-13 “animals” is an insult. To animals.
But reality isn’t sufficient for our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters in the media. If Trump said something, then it must be wrong. If Trump insulted some people, then those people must be worth defending. That’s why we’re seeing reactions like this:
Trump lashed out at undocumented immigrants during a White House meeting, calling those trying to breach the country’s borders “animals” https://t.co/aQNeu29T6e pic.twitter.com/ogrFKaWyDZ
— The New York Times (@nytimes) May 16, 2018
Analysis: Calling immigrants “animals,” Trump evokes an ugly history of dehumanization https://t.co/EfkVryL4vE
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 17, 2018
A tough take down by the California governor after @realDonaldTrump calls people trying to get into the country “animals” not people. https://t.co/LPKiHPJaWZ
— Andrea Mitchell (@mitchellreports) May 16, 2018
this is disgusting. and his evanglical sycophants will applaud his utter dehumanization of men, women and children https://t.co/qYbl6avzL1
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 16, 2018
however repugnant their actions, MS-13 gang members are human beings IMHO
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) May 17, 2018
You Might Be a Liberal™ if you insist that a bunch of nerds who march with tiki torches and chant “Blood and Soil” and then post about it on Reddit are subhuman monsters who need to be punched in the street, but you feel compelled to defend head-lopping child-slavers because Trump was mean to them.
As the occasionally correct Sonny Bunch puts it: “The pro-immigration side has let itself be worked into a position where they’re forced to explain how the murderous rapists of MS-13 don’t behave like animals. That doesn’t strike me as a winning strategy.”
Especially when you’re so blatantly dishonest about it that you piss off even the RINO cuck NeverTrumpers like me. When you force me to defend somebody I really don’t like because you’re just plain lying about what he said, it doesn’t make me resent him. It makes me resent you.
This is why Trump won. It’s a cliche at this point, but it’s true. He ran against the media and he won, so now they’re redoubling their efforts and making even bigger fools of themselves. It’s not enough to go after him for all the stuff he has done. They have to make $#!+ up.
I’m looking forward to the administration of President Pence. But if the media keeps this up, that won’t happen until 2025.
I leave you with these words of wisdom from one of the last sane men in America:
I marvel at how Trump is one of the worst human beings I have ever seen and yet all legitimate criticism of him gets buried under dishonest freak outs.
— Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_) May 17, 2018
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