During today's speech to a Koch-funded group (NFIB), Trump blamed "the current law" for his cruel new policy aimed at separating children from their families and claimed the media are knowingly helping child smugglers to hurt him.
Trump's constant attacks on the American free press is at a high-pitched level since Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions ordered the change to policy.
Trump said, "Child smuggling, can you believe this in this day and age we are talking about child smuggling."
No, Donald's talking about child smuggling to defend his inhumane policy.
Let the gaslighting begin.
"The worst it's been in history because the Internet has led to this. You think back two hundred, five hundred, a thousand years ago. The worst it's ever been," Trump opined.
To say Trump's knowledge of history is lacking is being kind. To paraphrase Rex Tillerson, "he's a moron."
How quickly Trump dismisses our own 300-year history of smuggling and kidnapping Africans to support slavery to defend his heartless and destructive new practices.
Trump then recited the talking points their surrogates like Secretary Nielsen used yesterday.
"As a result, there is been a 325% in minors and a 435% in smuggling or attempted smuggling."
So, is that like 10,000 kids are now being smuggled in as sex slaves and MS13 members? Where are these numbers coming from?
The Washington Post got some answers:
A DHS representative provided The Washington Post with the hard numbers behind Nielsen’s statistic. There were 46 cases of fraud — “individuals using minors to pose as fake family units” — in fiscal 2017, the period from October 2016 through September 2017. In the first five months of 2018, there were 191 cases. That is an increase of 315 percent.
Say, what?
Even given the increased number of alleged smugglers this fiscal year and the decreased number of family units, those smugglers, those traffickers, those MS-13 members make up only 0.61 percent of the total number of family units apprehended at the border. In other words, for every 1,000 families that approached the border in the first five months of this fiscal year, only six allegedly involved individuals pretending to be a child’s parents. The percentage of alleged smugglers in fiscal 2017 was smaller, at 0.1 percent.
There is no lie the Trump administration will not tell.
And because the press and the public outrage is so shrill over his use of children and destroying families to get the money for his preposterous wall, Trump is also attacking the media feverishly.
Trump said, "Keep in mind those who apply for asylum legally at ports of entry are not prosecuted. The fake news media back there doesn't talk about that."
"They're fake."
"They are helping these smugglers and these traffickers like nobody would believe. (He points at the press) They know it. They know exactly what they’re doing,” Trump complained.
Trump's viciousness towards the press has been nonstop since he took office and it's been very damaging to our country, but what he's doing to these children is unforgivable.
