What's Wrong?

Crisis At The Mexican Border, Part Three: Gangs and Criminals?

With the massive and overwhelming invasion fiction dispelled in our last entry in this series on the border crisis, the next few entries will seek to provide you with a more comprehensive understanding of illegal immigrants as a people. Today, we focus on the claim that they pose a nefarious criminal threat to America.

Last time, we quoted Trump’s own words about the great host of horrible gang members, rapists, drug traffickers, and other nefarious criminals who wantonly invade our country through the southwestern border with Mexico.^[1][2] According to him, “large, well-organized caravans of migrants are marching towards our southern border” and “they have violently overrun the Mexican border… These are tough people, in many cases. A lot of young men, strong men.”^[3] He’s not alone in these statements. A quick search of Fox News and various Republican congressmen will reveal a plethora of claims about a rapidly growing crime rate due to criminal immigrants. As Representative Paul Broun once put it to an agreeable conservative host Laura Ingraham in an interview, “These illegal aliens are criminals and we need to treat them as such.”^[4]

That’s their claim. What does the evidence tell us? It tells us that Trump, Broun, Ingraham, and many other conservatives have grossly mischaracterized unauthorized immigrants; their claim is false.

To begin with, it is simply false to state that illegal border crossings are done by mostly young men. We can estimate the unauthorized immigrant demographics by analyzing the US Customs and Border Protection’s apprehension records. In Trump’s first year in office (2017), the CBP reports approximately 75,600 adults, children, and infants migrating as family units were apprehended along the southwestern border. An additional 41,400 unaccompanied children were likewise apprehended that year. This is out of a total of 303,900 apprehensions in 2017.^[5] Mathematics informs us that about 61% of border patrol apprehensions are therefore of single adults. Absent of an official gender record of the apprehended, we do know that the total unauthorized immigrant population in the US is about 52% male and 48% female.^[6] Reasonably assuming the unauthorized apprehended population has a similar gender makeup, we can estimate that perhaps 97,100 single adults were apprehended that year. Given that 41% of the total unauthorized population is between 16 and 34 years old,^[6] we can then estimate that about 39,800 young men were apprehended along the southwestern border in 2017. 39,800 out of a total of 303,900 apprehensions indicates that only about 13% of apprehended unauthorized immigrants along the border are young men. This is a small minority, and certainly not, as Trump put it, “a lot of” them.

As an aside, yet worth noting here, the total numbers of apprehensions is actually greater than the total number of apprehended individuals. The CBP reports that 10% of all apprehensions along the southwestern border are for repeat offenders.^[7] In other words, some individuals have made multiple attempts to gain illegal entry into the US. Therefore, while the total apprehensions is 303,900 in 2017, the total number of apprehended illegal immigrants is up to 30,400 fewer than this, or as low as 273,500 individuals including family members, children, and all genders and ages.

But we’re not done yet. How many of the unauthorized are in fact criminals? The assumption that most of them are violent criminals is simply false. To begin with, it is illogical to presume criminality on the sole basis of unauthorized entry into the US. One can be an unauthorized migrant and also be a criminal (i.e. assault, murder, rape, etc.), but one can also be an unauthorized migrant and not be guilty of assault, murder, rape, or any other crimes. Indeed, one can also be a criminal without being an unauthorized migrant. The two conditions are therefore not mutually inclusive.

Of the roughly 303,900 CBP apprehensions along the border, only 8,531 were of individuals with criminal records, illegal entry aside.^[7] We can therefore estimate using math that approximately 2.8% of all illegal immigrants along the southwest border have criminal records (since 8,531 is about 2.8% of 303,900). We might be tempted to assume that only the young men must be criminals instead. But that would be an unreasonable assumption, given that older men, women, and even children are all also capable of committing crimes.

What about gang members? Are there hordes of gang members coming into the US to murder and rape us? Again, according to the CBP records, there were a grand total of 538 apprehensions of gang members in 2017.^[7] 538 apprehensions out of a total of 303,900 is not even two-tenths of a percent.

Ok, but are we cherry picking the year 2017 for some reason? What about the years before and after 2017? While the total numbers of apprehensions, criminals, etc., goes up or down in each year, the demographics change very little. During President Obama’s final year in office (2016) for instance, the total apprehensions along the border numbered over 415,800 altogether, with just under 77,900 members of family units, just under 59,800 unaccompanied kids, and 702 gang members.^[8] The CBP’s 2016 report neglects to give the number of unauthorized with criminal records. But we might get a similar idea of that percentage of criminals by looking at ports of entry records (border crossings where goods are cleared and immigrants legally seek entry). Of the over 274,800 “inadmissible” immigrants, only 8,129 were arrested for serious crimes.^[8] In Trump’s second year (2018), the CBP apprehended a little under 396,600 along the border; over 107,200 were members of family units, just over 50,000 were unaccompanied kids, 6,698 were criminals and 808 were gang members.^[9][10]

So fewer than 3% of the people crossing the southwestern border illegally have criminal records. This only tells us about their past convictions, though. What about what these people are doing once they get into the US illegally? Good question. The facts show us that, contrary to popular belief, crime rates in communities along the border with large unauthorized populations are for the most part lower, not higher, than the national average. Unauthorized immigrants in fact commit fewer crimes than native US citizens on average, not more. Examining records from 2015 for instance, of the 23 border communities in the US, only five have higher rates of violent crime than the national average; and just one or two of the five have a comparable rate. Only three of the 23 have higher rates of homicide than the national average; only one of the three has a significantly higher rate.^[11]

In summary, the claim that most, if not all, illegal immigrants are all hardened criminals who are endangering our nation is unequivocally a false claim. That’s not to say that there are zero criminals crossing the border. Of course there should be appropriate law enforcement along the border, and of course elsewhere in the US for that matter. But this analysis of factual data has shown us that very, very few unauthorized immigrants are actually hardened criminals, that with few exceptions, we actually have more to be concerned about from native US citizens when it comes to violent crime.

What does this tell us then about Trump, Broun, Ingraham, and the many other notable conservative figures in both public office and in the media who have repeatedly and openly claimed that illegal immigrants are a massive criminal threat to the US? Logically, there are only two possibilities that explain their actions. The best we can say is that these are extraordinarily ignorant people. They’ve been speaking about a subject matter they clearly do not understand. Their inflammatory and fear-mongering rhetoric is worthy of neither your respect, nor are these people worthy of your trust. On a darker note, if Trump and other conservative figures do know the facts and have not been ignorant about the characteristics of illegal immigrants, then they’ve been purposely and repeatedly lying to us about them all along.

Why lie about unauthorized immigrants? Why baselessly demonize this group of people? Let us save the delving into the motivations of those who profess abhorrence to unauthorized immigration for another day.

In the next post in this border crisis series, we move on to answer a different question. Having resolved that the claim of hordes of illegal immigrants posing a massive criminal threat to the nation is a false narrative, the question remains: who are the unauthorized, then? Who are they in reality? And why do they really come here illegally?

Tune in next time to find out.

Sources

[1] Suzanne Gamboa, “Donald Trump Announces Presidential Bid By Trashing Mexico, Mexicans,” NBC News, June 16, 2015, https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/donald-trump-announces-presidential-bid-trashing-mexico-mexicans-n376521 (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[2] Joel Rose, “FACT CHECK: Migrants Are Not Overwhelming The Southwest Border,” NPR, Nov. 2, 2018, https://www.npr.org/2018/11/02/663532238/fact-check-migrants-are-not-overwhelming-the-southwest-border (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[3] Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump on the Illegal Immigration Crisis and Border Security,” WhiteHouse.gov, Nov. 1, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-illegal-immigration-crisis-border-security/ (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[4] Daniel Strauss, “Rep. Broun says some Republicans are ‘getting soft’ on immigration,” The Hill, Mar. 22, 2013, https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/289873-rep-broun-says-some-republicans-are-getting-soft-on-immigration (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[5] “Southwest Border Migration FY2017,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Dec. 15, 2017, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration-fy2017 (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[6] Randy Capps and Jeanne Batalova, “Profile of the Unauthorized Population: United States,” from “Unauthorized Immigrant Population Profiles,” Migration Policy Institute, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/state/US (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[7] “CBP Enforcement Statistics Fiscal Year 2020,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[8] “CBP Border Security Report,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Dec. 30, 2016, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2018-Mar/CBP-fy2016-border-security-report.pdf (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[9] “Southwest Border Migration FY2018,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Nov. 9, 2018, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration/fy-2018 (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[10] “CBP Enforcement Statistics FY2018,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp-enforcement-statistics-fy2018 (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

[11] Adam Isacson, Carolyn Scorpio, and Maureen Meyer, “Not a National Security Crisis: The U.S.-Mexico Border and Humanitarian Concerns, Seen from El Paso,” Washington Office on Latin America, Oct. 27, 2016, https://www.wola.org/analysis/not-national-security-crisis-u-s-mexico-border-humanitarian-concerns-seen-el-paso/ (accessed Sept. 27, 2020).

Crisis at the Mexican Border, Part Two: An Overwhelming Invasion?

In part one of this series on the southern US border crisis, we mentioned some of the nefarious claims made about illegal immigrants by Donald Trump that are believed to be true by his supporters. Over the next few entries of this series, we cast an objective lens on the situation through the exploration and analysis of the facts.

Let us begin by asking two fundamental questions. Exactly how many illegal immigrants are coming into the US from Mexico, central, and south America? And what kinds of people are we speaking about: good people, bad people, or what?

According to Trump’s own characterizations over the years, southern border migrants consist of an “invasion” of many horrible gang members, rapists, drug traffickers, and other nefarious criminals.^[1] There is “an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all types of criminals and gangs.”^[2] And if we don’t halt it, or so he claims, “The current influx… threatens to overwhelm our immigration system and our communities, and poses unacceptable dangers to the entire nation.”^[3] He’s also claimed that “large, well-organized caravans of migrants are marching towards our southern border. Some people call it an ‘invasion.’ It’s like an invasion. They have violently overrun the Mexican border… These are tough people, in many cases. A lot of young men, strong men.”^[4]

In reality, all of these claims are verifiably false. Let us address the question of population for starters. Must we fear a massive and overwhelming incursion of criminals at the border?

Hardly. The total population of unauthorized immigrants in the US has not only not increased, but has actually steadily declined over the last 13 years. From an all-time peak of 12.2 million in 2007, the total undocumented population dropped to 10.7 million in 2016, and again down to 10.5 million by 2017.^[5] Those from Mexico in particular accounted for just under 7 of the 12.2 million total in 2007, declining to about 5.4 million by 2016 and just under 5 million by 2017.^[6] An increasing number of the undocumented from the southern border includes central Americans, particularly from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. However, they account for only 1.5 million of the 2007 total, rising by only about 400 thousand by 2017 to 1.9 million.^[5]

With the total US population growing from 302 million to 324 million between 2007 and 2016, that means that, as a percentage of our total population, the unauthorized have in fact declined from a peak of 4% of us down to 3% by 2016. Only 1.5% (about half of that 3%) of America’s total population came here illegally from Mexico; or about 2% (two-thirds of 3%) if you combine Mexico, central, and south American migrants.

This only tells us the total population of unauthorized Mexicans, central, and south American immigrants in the US, though. The fact of the matter is that the steady decline of unauthorized immigrants indicates that more are leaving the US than entering.^[7] Counting the total population also does not tell us how they arrived in the US, or when. I will save the very interesting question of how for a later post in this series, at the answer is quite revealing in light of another common myth about illegal immigration to be discussed. But as for when, of the several million unauthorized immigrants here today, about two-thirds of them have lived here for more than ten years, while only 20% have lived here for five or fewer years.^[8] How many undocumented are actually crossing the border each year, then? In 2015, the total number of apprehensions made by US Customs and Border Patrol agents along the southwestern border with Mexico between ports of entry was 331.3 thousand.^[9] In the next three years, the number of apprehensions were 479.4 thousand (2016), 303.9 thousand (2017), and 396.6 thousand (2018).^[9] These numbers were considerably higher in the past, however, with the yearly trend showing a very significant decline since 2007 when the US CBP apprehended 858.6 thousand, and over a million in more years than not prior.^[9]

So, are we being invaded en masse by illegal immigrants? Apparently not.

It is crucial to notice that Donald Trump was not sworn into office as POTUS until January 2017. The decline of unauthorized immigration began at the tail end of President Bush’s second term in office, at the start of the great recession; and it continued to steadily decline throughout the entire administration of President Obama. When Trump started making his claims of an overwhelming invasion in May 2015 during his announcement of presidential candidacy, and onwards throughout 2016 and 2017, he was clearly contradicting the facts as they were known even at that time.

But what about our second question? Whether large or small in population, is it still true that the worst of humanity is coming in? We’ll answer that question next time.

Sources

[3] Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump on the National Security and Humanitarian Crisis on our Southern Border,” WhiteHouse.gov, Feb. 15, 2019, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-national-security-humanitarian-crisis-southern-border/ (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

[4] Donald Trump, “Remarks by President Trump on the Illegal Immigration Crisis and Border Security,” WhiteHouse.gov, Nov. 1, 2018, https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-illegal-immigration-crisis-border-security/ (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

[5] Jeffrey S. Passel and D’Vera Cohn, “Mexicans decline to less than half the U.S. unauthorized immigrant population for the first time,” Pew Research Center, June 12, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/12/us-unauthorized-immigrant-population-2017/ (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

[6] Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D’Vera Cohn, “5 facts about illegal immigration in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center, June 12, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/12/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/ (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

[7] Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, “More Mexicans Leaving Than Coming to the U.S.,” Pew Research Center, Nov. 19, 2015, https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/2015/11/19/more-mexicans-leaving-than-coming-to-the-u-s/ (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

[8] Jens Manuel Krogstad, Jeffrey S. Passel, and D’Vera Cohn, “5 facts about illegal immigration in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center, June 12, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/06/12/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/ (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

[9] “Border Patrol Total Apprehensions Fiscal Years 2000 to 2018,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Mar. 2019, https://www.cbp.gov/sites/default/files/assets/documents/2019-Mar/BP%20Total%20Apps%2C%20Mexico%2C%20OTM%20FY2000-FY2018%20REV.pdf (accessed Sept. 7, 2020).

Crisis at the Mexican Border, Part One: The Claim

A little learning is a dangerous thing.
– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism.

Since late 2015, then presidential candidate Donald Trump began pushing for the construction of a border wall along the southern border with Mexico. With throngs of supporters chanting “build the wall!” at his rallies, the border wall became an early iconic symbol for his campaign… in more ways than intended.

Trump’s stated aim was to curb the claimed tide of illegal immigrants crossing over the border into the United States. He broadly described them in nefarious terms when he accused Mexico, without evidence, of sending people who are bringing drugs and crime, as well as rapists.^[1] He also claimed he would make Mexico pay for it.

This stance has certainly touched a nerve with Republicans. The vast majority of them worried “a great deal or a fair amount” about illegal immigration in the few years leading up to the 2016 presidential election.^[2] Conservative media and popular opinions abound with widespread fears of criminal hordes from Mexico invading the United States. They’re taking jobs away from legal US citizens, and stealing by avoiding taxes and taking government benefits, or so the story goes. And, it is believed, the Obama administration has poorly secured the border and, along with liberals more broadly, all but invited the nefarious criminals to come here.

This series on immigration aims to shed light on border immigration with a fact-based revelation on the truth about illegal immigration and the border wall. It will bust the popular mythos that most Republicans believe to be true, revealing the truth behind both it and the right-wing propaganda which has aided and abetted their belief in this false narrative. Being thoroughly misinformed, they lack comprehension of the real border situation and a rational basis for determining what should be done about it. Instead of voting for a solution to a real problem, they’ve fallen for a con man with no understanding or competence at handling the situation whatsoever. As a result, instead of resolving an imaginary crisis, this administration and its supporters have created a very real and very dangerous crisis.

In the next article, I will begin to unravel the illegal immigrant mythos by starting with the basic facts about immigration.

Sources

[2] Jeffrey M. Jones, “In U.S., Worry About Illegal Immigration Steady,” Gallup, Mar. 20, 2017, https://news.gallup.com/poll/206681/worry-illegal-immigration-steady.aspx (accessed Aug. 16, 2020).

A New Start

Since my last post of over a year ago, a lot has happened politically. Unfortunately, I’ve lapsed in keeping up with this blog. When I write, I find myself compelled to write an enormous amount, and to very diligently research and source all of my information for hours upon hours. But I lead too busy a life to afford the time required to do justice to such an endeavor.

Deeply concerning events have recently spurred me to try blogging again. I honestly don’t know who is going to read this. But my conscience compels me to try and reach out to as many genuine American patriots as I can. That is to say, Americans who are genuinely concerned about preserving our constitutional democratic republic. Americans who are willing and able to hear well-reasoned arguments that may contradict their beliefs. Americans who are willing to change their minds based on where the evidence leads them.

For this blog, I will now endeavor to write a series of small posts for you. Time permitting, I will add deeper and deeper layers of detail, and link them all together into a comprehensive whole, citing quality sources to objectively cement my central arguments. For now, it’s most critical that I merely get as much of the main points up here as possible.

I also plan to write a primer on how you can objectively discern and analyze information and the quality of information sources for yourself, rather than rely on others to tell you “the truth.” That is to say, I will teach the two vital skills of critical thinking and information literacy here. For learning them is absolutely required in order to be a well-informed and responsible voting citizen.

The theme of this blog is to establish the comprehensive and compelling case against not only Donald Trump’s corruption of America into his personal dictatorship, but more broadly against the so-called “Republican” party’s leadership for its abandonment of Republican principles (indeed, of Constitutional principles) in enabling Trump to do so, and all to empower themselves. Ultimately, though, the aim is to save this nation from itself… For the source of our current political crisis, ultimately, simply comes down to one vital weakness: the inability of too many Americans to be well-informed voting citizens. Too many of us have been fooled into voting for the authoritarian schemers who are corrupting our country into despotism; had they known better, Trump and his cronies would not have been empowered to devolve our nation in the first place.

The Right Answers

On two occasions, I have been asked, “Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?” I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question.
– Charles Babbage (1791-1871), designer of mechanical calculators.

Last summer, I was asked by someone what I don’t like about President Donald Trump. This was asked, as if it were a reasonable question about a normal, competent person of interest. For a long moment, I could only silently stare back in pensive astonishment.

Dozens of answers flooded into my mind at once. I’d immediately related to what Mr. Babbage had once said when, I imagine, he found himself similarly astonished by the extraordinary confusion of ideas required to even provoke such an exceptionally benighted question in the first place.

Eventually, my astonishment faded enough for me to form a coherent response. I answered with another question:

“Where should I begin?”

Later that day, I wrote down dozens of topics one could cover in response to this question. It occurred to me that I could write a blog with this list. A blog would have the advantage of freeing me from the onerous chagrin I feel whenever the dreaded subject of politics comes up in conversation. I could instead explore my thoughts on this so-called presidency in written form, then simply refer others to it when asked my opinion.

Hence, welcome to my blog.

The Crisis We Face

The premise of this blog begins with the fact that Donald Trump is profoundly unfit for the office of President of the United States. It further asserts that, in order to protect their own power and wealth, most Republicans in Congress have joined with right-wing media propagandists to con Americans into believing a false narrative. They falsely portray Trump as a generally good president who happens to be the victim of false allegations. These traitors to the nation foster this collective lie, betraying even the very constitutional principles and institutions which protect America from devolving into tyranny.

This blog will satisfactorily demonstrate this premise with an evidence-based analysis in time. For now, let us begin with a summary of reasons why we must deem Mr. Trump so extraordinarily unfit for office:

He has shown strong authoritarian tendencies. He has repeatedly defied the constitution. He has abused his presidential powers. He has chosen cabinet members on the basis of personal loyalty to himself, rather than a higher loyalty to the country and the execution of their lawful duties. He has also engaged in nepotism. These are features we usually find in dictatorships and organized crime.
He has demonstrated extreme incompetence as President of the United States. He fails to understand even the basic facts of the issues he’s promised to solve, such as the fact that building his idiotic border wall neglects the fact that a bigger or wider wall would not obstruct undocumented immigrants from entering the country; the vast majority are either already here in the country (i.e. with expired visas), enter through ports of entry, or enter by airplane. Being so badly ill-informed, his solutions therefore tend to be absurd at best, if not outright dangerous. He furthermore has demonstrated a failure to comprehend how the job of president is supposed to work, or how the federal government works more broadly, such as by failing to understand that the attorney general is not his personal attorney (it is the chief law officer of the nation). He also lacks the maturity or temperament required to even adequately perform his duties.
He has demonstrably stated thousands of lies, falsehoods, and exaggerations during his presidency. A con artist, he repeats his lies over and over again, knowing that many people do not fact check information and will believe lies to be true if repeated often enough and with confidence.
He has threatened the constitutional rights of American citizens as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, including the freedoms of religion, speech, the press, and citizenship status.
He has infringed on humanitarian rights, such as by using the federal government’s agencies to commit child abuse, kidnapping, and child imprisonment at the Mexican border.
He has infringed upon American Indian rights, such as ignoring legal treaties to push for the construction of oil pipelines through their territories against their will, thereby breaking the law, poisoning their water supplies, and disturbing their cemeteries and sacred practices.
He has attempted to obstruct justice multiple times. He tried to halt multiple legitimate, independent federal investigations into the questionable activities of his own presidential campaign and administration. He has also repeatedly defamed those investigating him, in attempts to tarnish their reputations and cast undeserved doubt about their motives. The only reason why he was not criminally indicted for these or his other crimes (see next) is because a sitting president is constitutionally immune to being charged with crimes; constitutionally, he must first be impeached and removed from office before he can be indicted.
He has also attempted to solicit criminal actions from at least ten individuals on his behalf for his personal gain, including members of his administration and his own lawyer.
He has corrupted the office of presidency by unconstitutionally using it to benefit himself financially, including accepting bribes from foreign governments for special favors.
He has also been found guilty of committing multiple counts of fraud in a court of law before his presidency, and has been indirectly implicated in two counts of breaching presidential campaign finance laws.
He has repeatedly betrayed the United States, enthusiastically encouraging Russia, a hostile foreign power, to perpetrate cyber attacks against the United States and our electoral integrity for his own personal gain. He has repeatedly stated that he finds nothing wrong with breaking the law against accepting foreign influence into U.S. elections, and would do it again if it served him.
He has alienated our allies by breaking important agreements and treaties, by taunting world leaders with personal attacks, by making dangerously foolish and haphazard threats against other nations, by showing a curious favoritism towards dictators like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Kim Jong-un of North Korea, and thereby tarnishing our nation’s reputation around the world. He has destabilized international relations, has earned the world’s distrust towards our commitment to agreements and treaties, and has caused the rest of the world to regard the United States as dishonorable and unworthy of world leadership.
He has vastly destabilized relations with Iran, directly precipitating the current crisis and the potential for war by canceling a crucial deal that had at least guaranteed Iran would not build nuclear weapons for ten years; he destroyed all credibility and trust, failed to replace the deal, and essentially enabled Iran to begin building nuclear weapons immediately.
He has demonstrably shown an affinity for white supremacists and nationalists, including members of the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan. Leaders in the ANP and the KKK have repeatedly and publicly praised him for his support.
He is a racist, a misogynist, and a bigot. He has made numerous efforts to undermine equality under the law for all, and has made many racist, misogynist, and bigoted statements. Though yet to be proven in court, he has been convincingly accused of rape by multiple victims as well.
He has damaged environmental protections by negligently deregulating air pollution, water pollution, and other environmental and health hazards. His administration has buried studies on climate change and other environmental threats, even removing the language of climate change itself from the EPA’s discourse, and has drastically reduced its policing of violations.
His administration has severely undermined personal privacy by negligently deregulating communications companies for the sake of corporate profits. Internet and phone companies were made free to browse and sell your personal communications and data to other companies and governments, including foreign governments, without your consent.
Contrary to popular belief, he has shown a poor understanding of economics and business. In spite of falsely blaming President Obama for a bad economy and taking credit for the economic recovery, the evidence shows that it recovered in the final years of President Obama’s administration instead, though part of the credit goes to the global economy’s recovery more broadly. He also shows a failure to understand basic economic concepts, such as what a tariff is: in spite of his false statements which suggest the opposite, a tariff is actually a tax on Americans who buy products from other countries. His tariffs have actually had detrimental effects on the United States economy for the most part.

Dozens of additional points could be added for even more completeness. But, that all said, the crisis facing the nation right now is not really the president per se. The real crisis is the very unfortunate fact that around one in three Americans continue to approve of this reality TV celebrity’s horror show of an administration. And that ratio of support, above all else in American life, should rightly give us great cause for concern for the nation’s future as a democracy.

The root cause is therefore, in a word, ignorance.

The Antidote to Ignorance

I am a student of history, with a formal university education in the field. As such, I’ve learned the skills required to make me an information literate citizen. Information literacy is the antidote to ignorance. It’s the skill set required to conduct proper research, including critical thinking and the ability to locate and evaluate sources of information for their quality of content. Information literacy is required in order to arrive at the truth for yourself.

It’s a commonly believed fallacy that all news media sources are biased and lie. There are multiple faults with this falsehood that only a nuanced explanation can best break down. For now, simply understand that news media sources range from the reliable and trustworthy down to the highly untrustworthy. With a wide range of quality, the real question is how to know which are the information sources you can trust.

Yet I depend on my own independent research to inform my conclusions, which in turn inform my evaluation of the quality of news media sources. I do not simply rely on others to tell me what is true and false. I actually know how to critically discern the quality of information through identifying and accounting for factors such as author bias, confirmation bias, lies by omission to support false conclusions, and various other causes of falsehoods. And so rather than simply tell you what I think is correct, I will also teach you how to figure it out for yourself.

Hope

While my hope in writing this blog is to convince as many Americans as possible to abandon their support for the autocratic clown and his circus side show of horrors, I also have another purpose. The root cause of the election of President Trump is the ignorance of the American people, which is to say the failure of too many to properly understand or utilize information literacy skills.

Hence, I aim to teach my readers to be information literate. To encourage the abandonment of fictional narratives, subjective speculations, and spurious surmises. To arm you instead with the tools required to properly understand and identify the facts from the fictions for yourself. I endeavor to teach you how to properly evaluate the quality of sources of information for yourself, to arrive at the truth by yourself.

Ultimately, this blog’s true purpose then is to help to dispel the causes of American ignorance. To improve our ability to critically think and evaluate information, thereby reducing our susceptibility to the unprecedented populism, demagoguery, and con artistry that has been happening under this presidency. To diminish the potential unraveling and destruction of our democratic institutions that are beginning to give rise to autocratic rule in the United States.

This blog is for every concerned citizen who cares about our future as a democratic nation. It’s not only for those of you who agree with my premise. It’s for every registered voter and young potential voter who wants to become a better informed citizen, as the Founders intended. Facts are objectively true, and they’re true for everyone. I therefore assert that through learning the fact-finding tools of information literacy, you will inevitably and independently arrive at the same conclusions that I have. So regardless of your political ideology or party, I hope you will join me on this quest to restore sober-minded sanity to America.