You See It Too

OK, my MAGA friends. Try to set aside the “Hillary did it too” what-abouts. Put away the Breitbart “21 Kamala lies: they didn’t fact-check” talking points. And please, for a minute, drop the “Biden economic catastrophe,” “plunging oil production,” and “open borders,” lies. Please. I’m talking about the country here.

 You’ve seen it with your own eyes. The list is long, but I’ll address just a couple items.

 Lately, he’s been focused on “migrant crime.” The dystopian nightmare our lives have become because of rising crime rates, our fear that stone cold killers will walk into our kitchen and slit our throat. These are all based on dangerous lies. We actually live in a country where serious crime is going down. All categories. Everywhere. And crime rates among immigrants are lower than among native-born. Lowest of all among illegals.

 Yet your candidate has called for a national day of violence. Another night of broken glass. Kristallnacht 2025. To protect us from a threat that he invented.

 Border crossings have dropped precipitously. They are largely made up of people like your grandparents when they came – fleeing war, poverty, or political oppression, hoping to land a job and the American Dream. And we have a labor shortage. We need immigration or we become Japan – aging population, stagnant economy, underfunded social services. Did you know that payments into social security by undocumented working with a fake social security card are extending the social security insolvency date by several years? From the Social Security Trust Fund: “earnings by unauthorized immigrants result in a net positive effect on Social Security financial status generally, and that this effect contributed roughly $12 billion to the cash flow of the program for 2010. We estimate that future years will experience a continuation of this positive impact on the trust funds.” Trump’s plan isn’t just xenophobic, it’s an act of economic suicide.

 The Trump mass deportation is dangerous to our liberty and our economy at the same time. You realize, if he follows through on his promise to deport 12 million legal and illegal immigrants (including many US citizens) that he will destroy the economy of Adams County? Oh wait, no, that’s supposed to only get “them,” this scary group of criminals, oh, somewhere else, out of sight. Not here.

 Yep.

 And what kind of invading force do you imagine he’ll use to round up a couple thousand of our fellow residents?

 The worst part of his xenophobic appeal is his invented “Springfield” problem. Haitian migrants have been a solution – easing a labor shortage, propping up the housing market, patronizing and starting businesses – and the Republican mayor and governor have repeatedly begged Trump and Vance to stop inventing a problem. Too bad, not your problem, you say? Well, the thing about Trump’s and Vance’s way of doing business I, what happened there can happen anywhere. And the death threats, bomb threats, closed schools and colleges, and legal immigrants under deportation threat he called down on Springfield can happen anywhere. You also realize, one of the dangers of a man totally unconstrained by facts is, what he did to Springfield he can do anywhere?  Imagine him reading some anti-immigrant rant on Borovent and summoning MAGA’s wrath on Gettysburg. But he’d never do that here; it’s not true that migrants are terrorizing the town, you say. And so what. Everything he said about Springfield was a lie and the Republican mayor and governor have both repeatedly begged him to stop. Now he promises to deport the legal residents of Springfield first.

 Speaking of economic suicide, how about them tariffs? All his life, Trump has shown a belief he can create reality (“My Trump University has the best business experts, my Trump steaks are the highest= successful businessman”) by repeating the lie often enough. But just like Mexico was never going to pay for the wall, China isn’t going to pay his 100% tariffs – you and I will, in higher prices. And when China retaliates, as they did against our farmers the last round, we’re left with the Hobson’s choice of subsidies or even more economic damage.

 One almost last thought: is every single national security official who’s worked for a Republican administration in the last 40 years a RINO? Doesn’t it bother you that almost everyone who ever worked for him has said he’s unfit to be president?

 Finally, six months ago, you were losing sleep about Biden’s supposed dementia. What now? Have you watched Trump recently? That senile babbling when asked about child care at the New York Economic Club? The huge faucet somewhere in California that sends water into the ocean? (I see he’s recently watched “Chinatown.”)  Given his deterioration over the past four years, do you want this man representing us at Summit conferences in 2028?

Leon Reed is a former US Senate aid and American history teacher living in Gettysburg. He is co-chair of Gettysburg Democracy for America.