14 NEWS Best of the American columnists
THE WEEK 24 August 2019Let immigrantslearn to fendfor themselvesJonathan S. TobinNew York Post“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The words etched
under the Statue of Liberty have long symbolised America’s approach to immigration, says Jonathan
S. Tobin. But Donald Trump now stands accused of dishonouring them, by introducinganew rule
under which immigrants who are in the US legally will haveaharder time obtaining permanent
citizenship if they’ve received food stamps or other public benefits. The Trump official in charge of
the policy, Ken Cuccinelli, appalled critics last week by jokingly declaring: “Give me your tired and
your poor who can stand on their own two feet, and who will not becomeapublic charge.” Yet the
outrage is unjustified. From the start, the US has always demanded that immigrants are able to
support themselves through work or other means. And the likelihood of needing government
assistance is already grounds to deny people citizenship. Trump has simply broadened the definition
of apublic charge to include more of the “myriad benefits available under the ever-expanding
welfare state that exists in the 21st century”. What’s so bad about that? “Our culture is rooted in
self-sufficiency and individual initiative. Our immigration system should reflect our national creed.”Biden’s failureto engage brainbefore speakingAaron BlakeThe Washington PostJournalists often make too much fanfare about political gaffes, says Aaron Blake.Given how often
they speak publicly,politicians are boundto say stupid things now and then. Nonetheless, Democrats
who see former vice-president Joe Biden as their strongest challenger to President Trump might want
to think again after his recent cringeworthy performance while campaigning in Iowa. In one speech,
the 76-year-old raised eyebrows by remarking that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented
as white kids”. For the second time in recent weeks, he referred to former British PM Theresa May
as “Margaret Thatcher”. He urged Democrats to “choose truth over facts”. He claimed survivors of
the Parkland school shooting “came up to see me whileIwas vice-president”, even though he wasn’t
vice-president on 14 February 2018–the time of the shooting. Yes, it may well be the case that
Biden isagreat public servant who has “shown an almost unmatched ability to connect with
audiences”. But this spate of stumbles isa“bad sign”. In the pressure ofageneral election campaign
against Trump, he could very likely say something so damaging it could torpedo his chances. If the
gaffes continue, Democrats may have to ditch their assumption of “Biden’s superior electability”.The recent massacre in El Paso has sparked an overdue debate about the double standard that applies
to domestic terrorism, says Max Abrahms. Why has America poured so many resources into fighting
Islamist terrorism abroad, many are asking, while largely ignoring the white supremacist terrorism at
home that has been responsible for “the lion’s share of attacks”? Some on the Left are calling for a
“massive, post-9/11-like counterterrorism response” against the American far-right; and it’s certainly
high time that somebody challenged the government’s inadequate response to the white nationalist
threat. But it’s equally certain that the post-9/11 reaction is notagood model to replicate. In the
emotional aftermath of 9/11, the US invadedacountry that had no connection to the attack,
tortured and jailed suspects without trial, and approvedavast secret surveillance programme tracking
nearly every phone call in the US and abroad. The upshot was the creation of more terrorists and the
birth of Isis. In the current climate, “a war on terrorism” here at home could have the same effect
–years of under-reaction leading toasudden over-reaction. This time we need to use smarter tactics.
We must ensure we target “only legitimate terrorists, lest we inadvertently spawn future ones”.The war onhome-grownterrorismMax AbrahmsThe Atlantic“For once,amajor Hollywood film
studio was about to releaseamovie
sympathetic to Trump voters,” said
Kyle Smith inNational Review.But
then “our film-critic-in-chief”, Donald
Trump, had it cancelled. Universal
Picture’sThe Hunt,originally due for
release next month, isasatire depicting
apack of “private-jet-loving Davos
globalists” who kidnap and hunt red
(Republican) state “deplorables”–the
people who voted for Trump–for fun.
“War is war,” saysamember of the
coastal elite as she shoves “a stiletto
heel through the eye ofadenim-clad
hillbilly”. It’s clear from the film’s
trailer that the urbanites are the bad guys, and that the audience
is meant to sympathise with the red-staters. But sadly President
Trump “doesn’t have the most finely tuned irony gauge”, and
after he denounced the film on Twitter, the studio pulled it.The president’s “misreading of the film doubtless reflects his
own persecution complex and television watching habits”, said
Noah Berlatsky onNBC News.Hedenounced it after hearing
Fox News pundits condemning it–they, too, having failed to
notice that the movie is “a persecution fantasy in which wealthy
liberal Clinton voters are shown to be as nefarious and blood-thirsty as Fox always suspected”.
The Right is so paranoid that in this
instance it doesn’t even “recognise its
own paranoid fantasies”. But the row
sets aworrying precedent, said Alissa
Wilkinson onVox.When presidents
can shut downamovie release
because of something they heard on
TV about the trailer, it marksamove
toward censorship that “flies in the
face of First Amendment freedoms”.This wasa“perfect storm of
disastrous timing”, not censorship,
said Owen Gleiberman inVariety.
The studio itself recognised that
releasingThe Huntin the immediate wake of the El Paso and
Dayton shootings wasabad idea. In today’s climate,amovie
about “Americans ritually shooting other Americans” over
politics would not feel like “megaplex escapism”. ButIsuspect
the movie won’t stay on the shelf forever. Universal spentalot
of money making it and will wait forabetter moment to put
it in theatres. “The Huntwill likely seemalot less incendiary”
next spring, when memories of the recent gun tragedies have
faded. Indeed, if the studio waits that long,amovie that was
originally titledRed State vs. Blue State“might actually seem
ideally timed for the presidential civil war of 2020”.Ascene from The Hunt: gunning for the “deplorables”How Donald Trump became the “film-critic-in-chief”