The Donald Trump presidential show is certainly mesmerizing, occasionally sad or darkly humorous, but nevertheless destructive for our democracy, human rights, and the environment. Previously, he orchestrated the lie that President Barack Obama may not have been born in the United States. Now he is perpetuating a dark fantasy about the southern border, manufacturing a national emergency in order to build an unneeded multibillion-dollar border wall based on a campaign promise.
I have been to the Mexican border area many times in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona and once lived for a season in the lower Rio Grande Valley. The border already has about one third of its length of 2,000 miles in high fence barriers where roads and commerce cross the border, aka "ports of entry." Long stretches of the rest of the 2,000 miles are river, mountains, or treacherous desert occasionally bisected by remote but controlled road crossings. Undoubtedly, illegal migration occurs in these places at a small, individual scale, but they are not where Trump rhetorically insists hordes of illegal human traffickers, drug smugglers, terrorists, rapists, and other criminals cross to the United States. Many border areas are places of wild, natural beauty which is why I have visited there.
The common sense of this country's electorate and politicians, hopefully, is strong enough to not let President Trump get away with another big lie to create a security emergency. Sending troops to the border and building a wall do nothing to solve the problem of many people from corrupt and violent countries asking for legal asylum in the United States. Instead, this lie subverts our nation's values, wastes lots of money, and takes an inordinate amount of time for a political discussion about a fantasy obsession.
Janet C. Green
Duluth
