Why immigrants aren’t afraid of Trump
By Victor Landa
There’s a reason immigrants in the U.S. aren’t attracted to the Trump political circus, regardless of what he might say about them. It has to do with fear.
That’s what Trump’s selling: dread, alarm, consternation. The people buying into his spiel fall into a slim set of categories – they’re mostly white, with only a high school education and they’re afraid. They aren’t the only ones, of course. There’s a growing number of educated Americans who are nibbling on his fear bait because, schooled as they may be, they’re also afraid.
[pullquote]… the formula of Trump’s success, a bravado dressed in cloaks of an America winning against a hazily described foe.[/pullquote] [tweet_dis]Trump sells a generic-size solace that fits whatever bogey-man people carry in their heads[/tweet_dis] – mostly it’s a fear of the unknown; immigrants, refugees, muslims, terrorists, Mexicans, danger in everything perceived to be un-American, whatever that is. And that’s the formula of Trump’s success, a bravado dressed in cloaks of an America winning against a hazily described foe. People will fill-in their own dread given the space.Immigrants are unafraid of the things that horrify Trump’s followers.
So Trump’s song and dance doesn’t entertain them.
A typical immigrant – authorized or not – has already faced their darkest fear out of need. They’ve left all they know to risk their lives traveling through untold dangers to a land where everything is unknown.[tweet_dis] An immigrant thriving in the U.S. is on the other side of what Trump is selling – they’ve been there and moved on.[/tweet_dis]
Trump is giving us a clear picture of two America’s – one where people who are afraid make the choices, and another in which the future rests on the shoulders of those who have traveled through their own fears and are going about their lives with energy and calm assurance.
Which America would you rather live in?
[Photo by Elvert Barnes/Flickr]
