Do We Have a Warped Set of Priorities?

Consider recent stories regarding Donald Trump.

Asylum seekers, including children, are being held in overcrowded and inhumane conditions.  The Trump Administration claims to have a third country agreement requiring all asylum seekers to seek and be refused asylum in Guatemala before coming here.  The Administration is making other plans to cut the number of asylum seekers admitted to near zero.  Steve Miller is also seeking a plan to greatly reduce the number of green card holders.  Donald Trump put out a tweet to four non-white Congresswomen who oppose him to "go back home" and led crowds chanting "Send her back!" about the only one of the four who is not U.S. born.

Which one of these developments gets the most attention?  The last, of course.  The first, asylum seekers held in inhumane conditions, has gotten some attention, mostly because of the Squad's attempts to draw attention to it.  But the changes in immigration policy have flown mostly under the radar.

Part of this is the media's Washington focus.  It is easier to focus on the President's latest outrageous tweets than developments taking place along the border, let alone prospective changes affecting mostly people in other countries.  But let's face it, We, the People, are not blameless here either.  It really is easier to focus on a story about a famous guy that lots of ordinary folks we never heard of.  Especially if those ordinary folks aren't even fellow citizens. 

On the one hand, to report the tweets without the policy is to strip them of all context.  It allows Trump supporters to portray him as harmless, just a little rough around the edges, and to dismiss objections to him as mere trifles of aesthetics.  Bigoted tweets look a lot less like a harmless blowing off steam when you see the bigoted policies that lie behind them.

On the other hand, let's face it.  There are people who are not bigots who support Trump's basic immigration policy, although they would prefer a more humane way of carrying it out.  And even more people simply can't bring themselves to care about anyone who is not a fellow citizen.  We should not make immigration policy outside the bounds of reasonable discourse.

And Trump's tweets show what sort of regard he has for a lot of fellow citizens.  And increasingly, the tweets and the rallies show that even Trump tweets are not a mere roughness of style, or a trifle of aesthetics.  The tweets and the rallies are active attempts to rile up the mob and inflame people's basest passions.  And such actions are very dangerous indeed.