False, racist immigration issue fueled Trump rise

Like any deviously brilliant demagogue, Trump exploited the twin tools of fear and ignorance to fuel his initial rise into electoral contention. His first and most frequent such tactic was stoking the lie that hordes of Mexican rapists and other criminals were pouring across our porous border to degrade American society. Proposing a giant wall was a simpleton's delight, solving the imaginary problem for millions of fearful, uninformed Trump supporters. The concrete wall became a mental wall insulating them from any disconcerting truth. Trump then put flesh and blood on his demagoguery, claiming only he could prevent the shooting death of Kate Steinle from a stay bullet fired by an undocumented Mexican already deported five times.

Yet Trump would never tell voters that the Obama Administration reversed the net annual half million increase of undocumented under Bush, bringing it to zero with increased border security and laser like focus on deporting only the criminal, leaving hardworking undocumented families intact to seek eventual citizenship. Trump shamefully exploited the real grief of the Steinle family to stoke xenophobia and offer delusional solutions. But hypocrite that every demagogue is, Trump never revealed he used the undocumented to build his Trump Tower; then threatened them with deportation after complaints about his lack of wage payments.

Now heading to the White House on the last gasp of aging white fear and resentment, Trump has already reneged on his signature promise; reducing the deportation of 11 million undocumented to the 3 million he falsely claims are criminals, and green lighting a 'fence' in some areas. And in the Great Carnival in the Sky, P. T. Barnum is smiling and likely offering: 'Trump...you know more about suckers than I ever did.'