Dem
47
GOP
53
With most politicians, even if one does not agree with their goals, one can understand those goals, and so evaluate the choices the politician makes. With the Trump administration, we think we kinda understand most of the goals. But then, they do something that only slightly advances one goal, while significantly undermining another, and we wonder if maybe we didn't understand, after all.
A prime example of this is the unbelievable series of events that unfolded at a Hyundai plant in Georgia, and that apparently began with a woman named Tori Branum. She is a former Marine, a conspiracy theorist (properly equipped with crazy eyes), a candidate for the House of Representatives (in GA-12, where she will lose in the primary to Rep. Rick Allen, R-GA), and she is so MAGA that she calls herself "MAGA Karen."
It appears that, taking a cue from Laura Loomer, Branum decided to blow the whistle, as it were, and to warn the Trump administration that her local automotive production facility was making extensive use of undocumented laborers. So, ICE swooped in and arrested 450 people, the great majority of them South Korean nationals. The 450 arrestees were largely led away in both handcuffs and shackles, and got to be a guest of Uncle Sam for several nights.
We are well aware, obviously, that the Trump administration ran on an anti-undocumented immigration platform, and that key members of the administration (ahem, Stephen Miller) are desperately trying to maintain some sort of crazy daily quota. Under such circumstances, grabbing nearly 500 people in one raid must seem very appealing. But—and this was surely obvious from the outset—the targets of this raid have nothing to do with the alleged roving gangs of fentanyl-smuggling criminals that Trump is ostensibly protecting America against. Some of the Hyundai workers were actually perfectly legal; others had visas that recently expired, or that were current, but not in the right category. These are basically red-tape issues, not criminal matters. Most importantly, most of them had no intention of remaining in the U.S. permanently. They are skilled, experienced workers who were in the U.S. to get the plant operating fully before returning home (and turning over those jobs to American workers).
So, at best, the White House struck a glancing blow against the "immigrant problem." And the tradeoff is that the South Korean government is hopping mad. Remember, Trump's trade deals, including the one reached with South Korea, call for foreign investment in the U.S. Well, this plant is foreign investment, and the reward was that South Korean citizens were humiliated and treated like hoodlums. Every time something like this happens, it's going to make foreign governments and business leaders think longer and harder about how much they really want to commit to the U.S., especially while Trump and his band of xenophobic fanatics are running the show.
It is evident, by the way, that the White House knows that it screwed up here. The South Koreans who were arrested were not only released from custody, they were taken back to their home country on a chartered flight. But now, that means that the plant is not operational, which means no money for America, and no new jobs, either. We simply cannot imagine that there is actually an overarching plan here. It's gotta be that this administration is really just a collection of fiefdoms, and that the lord of one fiefdom (e.g., Miller) often tramples all over the territory of another lord (e.g., Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent). Meanwhile, the fellow to whom they all answer, the Duke of Hazards, is basically asleep at the wheel. (Z)