Words Matter
The Trumpster has a problem with certain words, their meaning, their nuance., even their delivery. In many cases, the man uses words as targeted weapons. Fake News is one of the earliest phrases that has been repeated endlessly, the shot heard ‘round the world. The intended target? Our free press, of course.
The Word of the Day? Dreamers.
The Donald dislikes the word Dreamers applied to immigrants who were temporarily protected (until recently) under the 2012 DACA program. When I first heard The Donald whine about the word, I thought he might be angered by his own ignorance. What’s all this Dreamers’ stuff, anyway?
But now it’s obvious the man’s been clued in at least to the assignment of the word, an acronym for the initial DREAM legislation in 2001 (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act). Which unfortunately has supplied him with another weapon.
VOX pulled out the clip from the Trumpster’s speech last night:
“Tonight, I am extending an open hand to work with members of both parties — Democrats and Republicans — to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed. My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too.”
Because Americans are dreamers, too.
This is snake oil, the toxic brew that deliberately drives wedges between people. This isn’t a dog whistle; this is a God damn Trumpet blare. The essence is this:
Folks, we can’t have undocumented immigrants using the word Dreamers because it’s stealing the word from Real Americans. In the same way immigrants steal jobs and healthcare and welfare benefits, snatching money right out of the pockets of decent, hardworking citizens. And now they’re stealing our words? No siree, we can’t have that! Not here in River City.
Dara Lind at VOX believes this is akin to the Black Lives Matter/All Lives Matter controversy, a deliberate attempt to dilute the original BLM message. Which spills over to NFL players kneeling, then claiming the act is unpatriotic, dismissive of our soldiers. Again, diluting/distorting the intended message.
This sort of thing isn’t an accident; it’s intentional. In his rebuttal last night Joe Kennedy spoke about the Administration pitting Americans against Americans:
“They are turning American life into a zero-sum game. Where for one to win, another must lose. Where we can guarantee America's safety, if we slash our safety net. Where we can extend health care in Mississippi, if we gut it in Massachusetts. We can cut taxes for corporations today if we raise them on families tomorrow.
Where we can take care of sick kids if we sacrifice Dreamers. We are bombarded with one false choice after another. Coal miners or single moms, rural communities or inner cities. The coast or the heartland.
As if the mechanic in Pittsburgh, a teacher in Tulsa, and a day care worker in Birmingham are bitter rivals, rather than mutual casualties of a system forcefully rigged towards those at the top.”
Words matter. When Trump and his minions distort the language, we need to call them out. We know who the Dreamers are, what they represent. There is no threat to America, beyond the resident in the WH.
https://www.vox.com/2018/1/30/16953714/trump-state-union-immigration-dream-daca
https://www.npr.org/2018/01/30/580378787/fact-check-democratic-response-to-state-of-the-union
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