Trumplandia: A Vision

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Paramedics tend to a protester who was stabbed during the KKK rally in Anaheim. Many people at the park were demanding to know why police did not have a larger presence at the scene before the violence broke out.: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

 
Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupts in violence: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

A protester lies on the ground after being stabbed in an altercation with KKK members. Klansmen were once the dominant political force in Anaheim, holding four of five City Council seats before a recall effort led to their ouster in 1924.: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

A Ku Klux Klansman, left, struggles with a protester for an American flag after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim on Saturday. Three people were treated at the scene for stab wounds, and 13 people were arrested.: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016
 

Night of the Walking Slime

Jennifer Lawrence on the red carpet: photo by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times, 29 February 2016

"The Martian" actor Matt Damon on the red carpet: photo by Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times, 29 February 2016

Taylor Kinney, left, and Lady Gaga arrive at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles: photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press, 29 February 2016


"Titanic" costars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet reunite on the red carpet: photo by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times, 29 February 2016

 

Charlize Theron on the red carpet: photo by Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times, 29 February 2016

Night of The Pretty Interesting Quotes Gathered by the Grandson of Friedrich Drumpf, Murikan Progenitor

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump signs autographs for supporters at the conclusion of a rally at Millington Regional Jetport on Saturday in Millington, Tenn.: photo by Michael B. Thomas/AFP via NPR, 28 February 2016

Trump Won't Condemn KKK, Says He 'Knows Nothing About White Supremacists': Camila Domonoske, NPR, 28 February 2016

On the Sunday morning talk shows, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump refused to condemn endorsements from a prominent white supremacist and former KKK leader, and said he retweeted a Mussolini quote because "it's a very good quote."

The extended conversation about white supremacists came on CNN's State of the Union, where Jake Tapper asked if Trump would distance himself from an endorsement by David Duke, former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Duke has told his radio that voting against Trump would be "treason to your heritage."

Trump refused to condemn that endorsement or say he didn't want the support of white supremacists -- four times.

"I don't know anything about David Duke. I don't know what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacist. I don't know. I don't know, did he endorse me, or what's going on?" he said. That prompted a back-and-forth that went, in part:

Trump: I don't know what group you're talking about. You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. ... If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow them if I thought there was something wrong.
Tapper: The Ku Klux Klan?
Trump: You may have groups in there that are totally fine and it would be very unfair. So give me a list of the groups and I'll let you know.
Tapper: I'm just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here.
Trump: Honestly, I don't know David Duke.

As several people swiftly pointed out on Twitter, Trump hasn't always claimed ignorance of David Duke.

In 2000, when he ended his presidential campaign, Trump cited Duke's participation in the Reform Party as one reason he no longer wanted the party's nomination.

"The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. [Pat][ Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. [Lenora] Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep," he wrote in his statement.

And as recently as Friday, Trump had disavowed Duke endorsement, without expressing any uncertainty about Duke's identity. On Sunday, he didn't reference that statement  or indicate he'd ever heard of Duke's support for him.

On MSNBC, Chris Jansing spoke to Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., about his father's comments on State of the Union. 

He said he wasn't a campaign spokesman -- but as a spokesman for his father, he was willing to say Trump's camp didn't want the support of a former KKK leader.

"I'm pretty sure we're not interested in those kinds of votes," Trump Jr. said.

Also on the Sunday show circuit, on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump declined to distance himself from a Benito Mussolini quote he had retweeted.

Gawker has since posted to announce that the account that first tweeted the quote -- unsubtly named "@ilduce2016" -- was a bot they designed with the express purpose of tricking Trump into retweeting a line from the fascist Italian dictator.

And the ploy succeeded.

When Chuck Todd pointed out that "it is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep" is, indeed, a famous Mussolini quote, and asked if Trump knew that, Trump said:

"It's OK to know it was Mussolini. Look, Mussolini was Mussolini. ... It's a very good quote. It's a very interesting quote."

When Todd asked if Trump wanted to be associated with a fascist, Trump said, "No, I want to be associated with interesting quotes."

He then pointed out he has millions of followers on social media, and that they appreciate his interesting posts.

"Hey, it got your attention, didn't it?" Trump said.

A protester tries to tear off the shirt of a Ku Klux Klansman. Six Klan members -- five men and one woman -- and seven protesters -– six men and one woman -- were arrested after the fracas, an Anaheim Police Department spokesman said.: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

The Proud Heritage of Friedrich Drumpf, Murikan Progenitor

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump 11h11hours ago

"@ilduce2016: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” – @realDonaldTrump #MakeAmericaGreatAgain"

Ku Klux Klan members ride in an automobile advertising a lecture at the Anaheim Christian Tabernacle in 1915: photo courtesy of Anaheim Public Library via Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

WARREN CRITICIZES 'CLASS' PARADES; Police Head Declares Neither Fascisti Nor Klan Had Any Place in Memorial March. KLAN ASSAILS POLICEMEN No Progress Made In Tracing the Slayers of Two Italians -- Seven Arraigned In Queens Battle: The New York Times, 1 June 1927

[ DISPLAYING ABSTRACT ] 

NYT June 01, 1927

Police Commissioner Warren announced yesterday that he was in favor of fewer "extraneous" parades in this city. He made this known in discussing the disorders incident to the Memorial parade when two Fascisti were killed on their way to join a detachment of black shirts in the Manhattan parade, and 1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen staged a free-for-all battle in Jamaica.

Maybe @realDonaldTrump inherited a lifetime #KKK membership from his Dad? @tedcruz @CNN: image via Scott Wooledge @Clarknt67, 28 February 2015  Brooklyn, NYx

1927 news report: Donald Trump's dad arrested in KKK brawl with cops: Matt Blum, Boing Boing, 9 September 2015

In an article subtitled "Klan assails policeman", Fred Trump is named in among those taken in during a late May "battle" in which "1,000 Klansmen and 100 policemen staged a free-for-all." At least two officers were hurt during the event, after which the Klan's activities were denounced by the city's Police Commissioner, Joseph A. Warren.

“The Klan not only wore gowns, but had hoods over their faces almost completely hiding their identity,” Warren was quoted as saying in the article, which goes on to identify seven men “arrested in the near-riot of the parade.”

Named alongside Trump are John E Kapp and John Marcy (charged with felonious assault in the attack on Patrolman William O'Neill and Sgt. William Lockyear), Fred Lyons, Thomas Caroll, Thomas Erwin, and Harry J Free. They were arraigned in Jamaica, N.Y. All seven were represented by the same lawyers, according to the article.

The final entry on the list reads: “Fred Trump of 175-24 Devonshire Road, Jamaica, was discharged.”

In 1927, Donald Trump's father would have been 21 years old, and not yet a well-known figure. Multiple sources report his residence at the time -- and throughout his life -- at the same address.

To be clear, this is not proof that Trump senior -- who would later go on to become a millionaire real estate developer -- was a member of the Ku Klux Klan or even in attendance at the event. Despite sharing lawyers with the other men, it's conceivable that he may have been an innocent bystander, falsely named, or otherwise the victim of mistaken identity during or following a chaotic event.

The name of Trump's grandfather, Friedrich Drumpf, was anglicized to Frederick Trump, but he died several years before the report. 

A person answering calls at the N.Y.C. Police Department's Records Section said that arrest reports dating that far back were not available in any form. We've sent a formal request in writing and will update if and when we receive a response. We've also left a message with the Trump Campaign requesting a callback. 

The article, published on June 1, 1927, describes police frustration at rowdy parades, the Klan's use of masks, and its growing presence in New York City. The Klan, originally founded in the 19th century, was reborn in 1915 as a violent supremacist organization associated with lynchings, white nationalism, and the distinctive white robes and hoods used by Klansmen to conceal their identity at parades and other events. At its mid-1920s peak, it had up to 6m members, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Fred Trump, who died in 1999, was a New York real estate developer and the father of mogul and presidential candidate Donald Trump. Born in the Bronx to German immigrants, Fred became a real estate developer in his teens; at about the time of his apparent arrest, he was constructing single-family houses in Queens, according to his obituary in the Times. At his death, his net worth was estimated at between $250m and $300m. A savvy businessman and real estate developer, his wealth enabled the junior Trump to start big.

If the man arrested at the riotous Klan parade was indeed Donald's father, it would not be his last tangle with the law over issues concerning minorities. A 1979 article, published by Village Voice, reported on a civil rights suit that alleged that the Trumps refused to rent to black home-seekers, and quotes a rental agent who said Fred Trump instructed him not to rent to blacks and to encourage existing black tenants to leave. The case was settled in a 1975 consent degree described as "one of the most far-reaching ever negotiated," but the Justice Department subsequently complained that continuing "racially discriminatory conduct by Trump agents has occurred with such frequency that it has created a substantial impediment to the full enjoyment of equal opportunity."

Donald Trump has made nativism a pillar of his campaign, describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and two Boston men who beat a homeless immigrant as "passionate" fans.

The events described in the Times' article took place 22 years before Donald Trump was even born, and he’s not responsible for any youthful sins his father may have committed. But given the racially-charged tone of the younger Trump's campaign, it raises questions about the values he was taught by the man whose fortune he inherited. 

According to a New York Times article published in June 1927, a man with the name and address of Donald Trump's father was arraigned after Klan members attacked cops in Queens, N.Y.: image via Boing Boing / The New York Times


A Ku Klux Klan member fought a protester for an American flag in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday: photo by Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times, via Associated Press, 27 February 2016 

Protesters taunt an injured Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim. Witnesses said the Klansmen used the point of a flagpole as a weapon while fighting with protesters.: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

 

People asking where #Anaheim police department was during #KKK stabbing, forgetting many were there wearing hoods...: image via immigrant @shushugah, 28 February 2016

  

Jorge Ramos: Trumplandia

No human being is "illegal" / Ningún ser humano es "ilegal": JORGE RAMOS @jorgeramosnews, 26 August 2015

Miami-based Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, left, asks Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a question about his immigration proposal during a news conference Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa. Ramos was later taken from the room: photo by Charlie Niebergall/AP, 25 August 2015

Trumplandia: Jorge Ramos Avalos, Univision, 26 Agosto 2015

Vamos a imaginarnos el país que quisiera Donald Trump. Trumplandia tendría un gran muro de 1,954 millas en la frontera con México. En una gigantesca operación de limpieza migratoria deportaría a más de 11 millones de indocumentados. Sus hijos nacidos en Estados Unidos no tendrían pasaporte ni país y, eventualmente, también serían deportados. Así, y solo así, Estados Unidos volvería a ser una gran nación.

Esa es la utopía que Donald Trump le está vendiendo a los norteamericanos. Pero esa utopía es una mentira. Los indocumentados no son responsables de los principales problemas del país. Lo que Trump propone es imposible de lograr. Trumplandia sería como una muy mala y tenebrosa película de ciencia ficción.

Para que Trumplandia se quedara sin indocumentados primero tendría que vivir el terror. Imagínense el horror de detener en casas, trabajos y escuelas a millones de hombres, mujeres y niños. Para lograr eso a corto plazo sería necesario usar al ejército, a la policía y a todos los agentes del servicio de inmigración. Las cortes quedarían paralizadas, desbordadas y habría violaciones masivas a los derechos humanos.

Tras las brutales redadas, sería necesario detener en estadios o en enormes lugares públicos a los indocumentados para luego ser deportados en autobuses –- a México -- y en aviones al resto del mundo. ¿El costo? Unos $137,000 millones de dólares, es decir, $12,500 dólares por inmigrante, según un cálculo de ICE. Los $10,000 millones de dólares que Trump dice tener no alcanzarían ni siquiera para deportar a un millón de personas.

Si Trumplandia cambiara la Enmienda 14 de la constitución y le quitara la ciudadanía a los hijos de indocumentados nacidos en Estados Unidos, primero tendría que deportar a 4.5 millones de esos niños que ya viven en el país. Pero ¿a qué país? Si el papá es de México y la mamá de Honduras ¿a dónde se envía un niño sin patria y sin pasaporte?

¿Qué pasaría con las madres indocumentadas después de dar a luz y con sus bebés? Sería patético meterse en el terrible e inhumano negocio de deportar bebés, niños y estudiantes.

El problema de Trumplandia, claramente, es con los mexicanos, no con los canadienses. Por eso Trump construiría un muro para separar a Estados Unidos de México. Pero, en cambio, no tocaría la frontera más grande del mundo, la que comparte por 5,525 millas con Canadá.

Construir muros es un mal negocio: cuestan mucho y no sirven. Cada milla cuesta, al menos, $16 millones de dólares (según reportó el NYT). De las 1,954 millas de frontera, ya hay muros, bardas y vallas en 670 millas. Pero en 1,284 millas no hay nada. Poner ahí un muro costaría, al menos, $20 mil millones de dólares. La fortuna de Trump alcanzaría solo para la mitad.

Pero construir ese muro sería una increíble pérdida de tiempo y dinero. Casi 40 por ciento de los indocumentados que entra a Estados Unidos lo hace por avión y, simplemente, se queda más allá del límite de sus visas. Eso no lo detiene ningún muro. Además, el muro es innecesario. La frontera sur está más segura que nunca -el número de indocumentados bajó de 12.2 millones en 2007 a 11.3 en el 2014- y tiene más de 20,000 agentes patrullándola. De hecho ya en el 2013 entraron a Estados Unidos más inmigrantes de China (147,000) que de México (125,000), según reportó el WSJ. ¿Qué piensa hacer Trump al respecto: construir otra muralla china?

Trump se equivoca. México no es parte de ninguna conspiración para enviar criminales y violadores a Estados Unidos. De hecho, su gobierno está bastante ocupado lidiando con sus propios problemas como el escape de El Chapo, la narcoviolencia, varios casos de corrupción y la acelerada devaluación del peso. Y es importante aclararlo: la mayor parte de los inmigrantes que vienen de México no son delincuentes. Todos los estudios coinciden en que los niveles de criminalidad entre los inmigrantes son menores que entre los nacidos en Estados Unidos. Punto.

Trumplandia –- esa utopía llena de muros y de odio contra los inmigrantes -- no es el Estados Unidos que yo conozco. Trumplandia sería el reino de la intolerancia, la xenofobia y la división.

Las grandes naciones se definen, no por la manera en que tratan a los ricos y a los poderosos, sino por la forma en que cuidan de los más vulnerables. Hoy, en Estados Unidos, los indocumentados y sus hijos son los más vulnerables. Y Trump decidió ir contra ellos.

Trumplandia es el horror.

  

A security guard for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump removes Miami-based Univision anchor Jorge Ramos from a news conference Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa. Ramos stood up and began to ask Trump about his immigration proposal: photo by Charlie Niebergall/AP, 25 August 2015

A security guard for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump removes Miami-based Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, left, from a news conference Tuesday in Dubuque, Iowa. Ramos stood up and began to ask Trump about his immigration proposal: photo by Charlie Niebergall/AP, 25 August 2015

In Trumplandia

 

A Ku Klux Klansman is subdued and handcuffed. All of the 13 people arrested could face charges of assault with a deadly weapon, though a police spokesman said “some people could have a self-defense claim.”: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

 

Protesters scuffle with a Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim. The event quickly escalated into violence.: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016

A Ku Klux Klansman is kicked in the face by an angry protester after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim: photo by Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times, 27 February 2016