Tuesday, April 5, 2016

In First Detailed Policy Statement, Donald Trump Calls for Expansion of Patriot Act

Donald Trump has just supplied a memo to the Washington Post explaining how he plans to force Mexico to pay for the wall.

The details of his plan reveal for the first time clearly the authoritarian streak in Trump that many of us suspect would emerge in a Trump presidency.

His plan to force Mexico to pay for a wall between the US and Mexico involves blocking some money transfers between the two countries, via an expansion of the totalitarian Patriot Act.

From WaPo:
In a two-page memo to The Washington Post, Trump outlined for the first time how he would seek to force Mexico to pay for his 1,000-mile border fence, which Trump has made a cornerstone of his presidential campaign and which has been repeatedly scoffed at by cureent and former Mexican leaders...

In the memo, Trump said he would threaten to change a rule under the USA Patriot Act antiterrorism law to cut off a portion of the funds sent to Mexico through money transfers, commonly known as remittances. The threat would be withdrawn if Mexico made “a one-time payment of $5-10 billion” to pay for the border wall, he wrote.


“It’s an easy decision for Mexico,” Trump said in the memo, which was written on campaign stationery emblazoned with “TRUMP Make America Great Again.”

The idea that Trump is in anyway libertarian is laughable. Indeed, as each day passes, he exposes himself as a man with an extreme authoritarian streak which suggests he will use any means necessary, if he becomes president, to ensure his dictates are followed.

-RW

7 comments:

  1. Correctly me if I'm wrong, these wire transfers that Trump is referring to is just money people send to others in Mexico not foreign aid? (Granted all foreign aid should end anyway).

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  2. Yes, the remittances are money that flow into the country from individuals, but according to records I can find as of 2015, there was some 21 to 15 billion dollars sent into Mexico yearly. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexico-got-more-money-remittances-oil-revenues-2015-n510346
    According to this article, there is actually more money going into the country through remittances, then it makes off of oil right now, so Mr. Trump is right that stopping that money flow or a large part of it would definitely be a good card to play against Mexico.

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    Replies
    1. Trump would pick the pockets of working men and women to fund his useless monstrosity, the man IS a monster,

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  3. So Trump is a fool when he says that "Mexico will pay for the wall" and a authoritarian when he actually comes up with a plan to make it happen?

    Guess what - economics 101 is if you want less of something, you tax it. In this case, illegal immigration.

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    1. Matt,

      "So Trump is a fool when he says that "Mexico will pay for the wall" and a authoritarian when he actually comes up with a plan to make it happen?"

      Yes, he is foolish and authoritarian- do you disagree?

      "Guess what - economics 101 is if you want less of something, you tax it. In this case, illegal immigration."

      Sure, but you are leaving out important considerations! Have you read the article in the Atlantic about the cost of this policy?

      http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/the-conservative-case-against-enforcing-immigration-laws/387004/

      Mass deportation will cost "...quite a lot, both to taxpayers and the economy more broadly. Removing all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants, both forcibly and through Mitt Romney's infamous "self-deportation" policy, would take about 20 years and cost the government between $400 billion and $600 billion. The impact on the economy would be even larger, according to the study: Real GDP would drop by nearly $1.6 trillion and the policy would shave 5.7 percent off economic growth. Researchers Laura Collins and Ben Gitis also write that their estimates are conservative, since they do not include, for example, the cost of constructing new courts, prisons, and other buildings that might be needed to process and detain millions of immigrants."

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    2. Rick Miller, the study in your link is flawed and incorrect. Also why are you bringing up utilitarian considerations?

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