Trump Announces Plan to Pay for Border Wall: Extortion

April 11, 2016 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

A centerpiece of Donald Trump’s campaign is his vow that, as president, he would build a 1,000-mile concrete wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and make Mexico pay billions of dollars for it. This fascist demagogic pig recently said he would force the Mexican government to pay by threatening to block the money transfers (known as remittances) from Mexican people working in the U.S. to their families back home. If this extortion scheme was actually carried out, it would be devastating for the millions of people in Mexico who rely on these remittances to fend off starvation. And it would be a huge blow to the Mexican economy overall, especially at a time when other sources of revenue, like oil, have declined.

Trump’s threat is like the slave master demanding that the slave pay for the bullwhip.

Forged, like the U.S., through conquest and genocide of native people, Mexico itself was invaded by the U.S. in the 1800s. The theft of one-third of Mexico’s land strengthened slavery, as well as the rising capitalist system in the U.S. overall. The nation of Mexico today is thoroughly dominated by the U.S., its economy answering to the heartbeat of U.S. capitalism-imperialism.

For all the talk from Trump (along with Bernie Sanders and others) about how the “free trade” agreement the U.S. signed with Mexico (NAFTA) has been bad for the U.S., it has actually opened up Mexico to even more imperialist plunder and domination. This has been disastrous for the oppressed people of Mexico. The livelihoods of millions of small farmers have been crushed, while the transformation from self-sufficiency in food to Mexico's having to import most of its food has been intensified. Millions of Mexicans have been driven north in search of a means to survive, forced to endure the harrowing crossings through the border region that has been turned into a militarized zone by the U.S. Each year hundreds of immigrants, including children, lose their lives in horrible ways during the trek through desolate deserts. If they make it into the U.S., they are super-exploited in the most low-paying, back-breaking, and dangerous jobs, indispensable to the profitability of U.S. capitalism. They strive to send money to help their families back home, while not being able to see them for years or even decades at a time. Meanwhile, they are hunted down by immigration police—like fugitive slaves in the pre-Civil War U.S. And when captured, the immigrants are mercilessly deported, including parents forcibly separated from their children—as Bob Avakian has said, like how slaves in Virginia were “sold down the river” to plantations further south, ripped from their loved ones.

These are human beings that Trump demonizes as “criminals” and scapegoats for the serious problems in the U.S. economy. But as outrageous as Trump’s border wall plan is, the response from the other candidates, from the White House, from the media and other voices of power only compounds the outrage. Where are the clear and forceful statements denouncing Trump as a fascist, repudiating him as being totally illegitimate, and standing with the Mexican people? There are none. In fact, the other Republicans compete with him to be even more repressive and chauvinist, while the Democrats talk out of both sides of their mouths, but do not challenge the essence of his agenda—that any “reforms” (like Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, DACA, a policy that allows some young undocumented immigrants to receive work permits and exemption from deportation) must be accompanied by more repression. The net effect is the old “good cop, bad cop” routine—with the outright fascists setting the agenda.

So here we have Obama criticizing Trump’s plan as “impractical” and “something that’s not thought through.” Obama said, “They don’t expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House. We can’t afford that.” This comes from the mouth of the “Deporter-in-Chief,” who has deported more immigrants than any other president. What the fuck would a more "practical" and "thought through" U.S. government plan to further lock down, dehumanize, criminalize and deport immigrants and militarize the border mean?!?

The outrageous response to the Trump wall plan is a reflection of the role that Trump has been playing so far for the bourgeoisie (ruling class) in the U.S. as a whole. He has been allowed to spout his fascist shit all over, treated as a serious voice and given an extensive forum through CNN, the New York Times, and the rest of the media. While there are now concerted moves among some sections of the rulers to deny Trump the nomination, the fact remains that they do NOT go after the basic themes of his campaign—especially this one. The other candidates are promoted as a “more sensible” choice by contrast, including the Christian fascist fanatic Ted Cruz—while the whole political scene has been moved in an even more reactionary direction. Trump, with his call to “make America great again,” is not some unacceptable exception to this criminal system. He is an extreme concentration of what America stands for.

 

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