I’ve spent virtually every day of the last fourteen years writing about American politics, and in particular about the horrible behavior of the American right. As a result, I find myself shrugging at a lot of outrageous hypocrisy, low-level criminality, and basic projection simply because I’ve written about similar stories hundreds of times already and it just doesn’t seem very newsworthy. My tendency to overlook things is even more pronounced in the Trump Era. When the president is basically the pawn of a foreign dictator, it’s hard to get worked up about a lot of the more mundane sins I see getting committed on a daily basis.
For whatever reason, however, I just can’t let this story go.
A group of undocumented immigrants who worked at Donald Trump’s golf clubs in New Jersey and New York met with members of Congress in Washington this week, hoping their personal stories can ultimately lead to a formal investigation into abuses and potentially criminal hiring practices by the Trump Organization.
One of the workers, maintenance worker Gabriel Sedano, had been employed at Trump’s Westchester, New York, resort as recently as this month. Sedano was among the number of undocumented workers dismissed during a mass firing on Jan. 18, in the midst of Trump’s government shutdown over his stupid wall. “It seemed unjust that they just call you and they fire you, when they knew we were good workers,” he said. Sedano had worked there for more than a decade.
Other good workers like him were subjected to horrific treatment. Former Bedminster, New Jersey, housekeeper Victorina Morales said she was verbally and physically abused by resort management, who also mocked her immigration status. She worked so close to Trump that she cleaned his clothes and made his bed. Their stories, said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey, “really speak volumes about the hypocrisy of the president who rails against immigrants, but uses their labor and does so in a way, and an in an environment, as I understand it, that was hostile to them and threatening to them.”
An indignant Eric Trump, who supposedly manages the day-to-day operations of his dad’s businesses (fact: Donald Trump is still involved in his businesses), blamed everyone but his organization for hiring undocumented immigrants and then abusing them.
The president who claims to be tough on crime and the best friend of the police is in fact a criminal. He claims that America is being invaded by Latino immigrants from Mexico and Central America who are committing crimes and taking American jobs. He’s on the verge of declaring this a national emergency so he can use extraconstitutional powers to build a border wall, but he’s been employing undocumented Latino workers in his hotels and resorts for decades, in violation of the law.
When stories like this fail to elicit the proper amount of outrage and get wall-to-wall media coverage, it permits people to proudly wear their MAGA hats and say that the message is “buy American, hire American.” In truth, Trump doesn’t hire American if he can help it. He’s running the biggest con I’ve ever seen.
It’s not like the con isn’t getting exposed. The problem is that there are so many examples of his hypocrisy and criminality that they all bleed together. To me, this story about his use and mistreatment of undocumented workers should be an exception. I’d like to see every Republican office holder asked about this on a daily basis. I’d like to see every person with a MAGA hat have to respond to why this is okay.
Yet, if I’m honest, I won’t be writing about this tomorrow or the next day. I’ll be chasing the next big thing like everyone else.
Daily I live in hope that one of the undocumented workers working for the Trump organization will be the one who finds the crib notes from one of the Trump/Putin secret meetings in his jacket and delivers it to the NYT or WaPo.
Of course, if Obama had done this, it would be 24/7 outrage and front-page news.
Meanwhile, coffee-man Schultz inexplicably gets gargantuan amounts of TV coverage. Our liberal media, folks.
There was 24/7 outrage when Clinton made two appointments, Zoe Baird & Kimba Wood, who both had hired ONE undocumented worker (each) as a nanny or housekeeper. The media and Republicans went NUTS.
Democrats have always been held to a higher standard. Always.
The media plays to its customer base to stay in business. Blame those who respond to this kind of reporting.
the media plays to its owners and advertisers, and is in the business of manipulating its customers. Blame those who pay for this kind of reporting.
I have a relative who was in the media for over 50 years. He was an investigative reporter for two major publications. I know exactly how it works. Owners/publishers, advertisers and customers/readers. In that order.
Even during the campaign, it was revealed that Trump routinely used undocumented workers for construction of his various projects over the decades. I’m sure this has long been known by other New Yorkers. Yet, Trump was never investigated or penalized. Weird.
I am so damn old I remember when employing a single undocumented worker to watch your kid was political death in Washington.
Does anyone remember how big a fucking deal this was at the time? It was insane!!!
You beat me to the punch. I was just about to mention Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, appointments from Bill Clinton, who had to give up their chance in office because of hiring ONE undocumented worker as a housekeeper or nanny.
If anyone can recall ANY Repubican EVER getting in trouble for something similar, please provide a link. Not saying it never happened, but I sure can’t recall it.
IOKIYAR always applies. ALWAYS.
At the time, Rush was THE prime voice of the right wing noise machine, and he pounded this non-stop on the airwaves. If you listened to him, it was as if Baird and Wood had hired Himmler to tutor their kids in the nuances of spreading the Nazi message.
It was one of the early examples of ginning up the RW faux outrage way beyond the propertions of the actual action that took place. Of course, it is standard procedure today on everything and anything that Democrats do.
Of course, now Republicans would be beside themselves with ENVY if they thought someone had managed to hire Himmler to teach their kids the finer points of Nazism. They’d like to hire him now for their own kids.
But yes, Lush Rimjob amped up the outrage machine as high as it could go. It’s where he got one of his big boosts in ratings, unfortunately. Because it worked. Ugh.
Here’s a little overview of a few instances for both Democrats and Republicans
It was well known, and even reported on, all during Trump’s campaign that he knowingly hired undocumented workers routinely both in the construction of and continuing work on his various properties.
That maid who made his damn bed and cleaned his clothes has been reported on many times even in the stupid M$M.
Yet what happens? A big fat old EFF ALL.
Trump’s rabid fan base could give a stuff about ANYTHING he does, just as long as Trump’s a bigoted, sexist, bullying, homophobic, white supremacist, nasty, low-life, xenophobic asshole.
As Trump, himself, said: he could murder people in broad daylight, and his deplorable (oh, pardon me for being SO UNCIVIL) base would fall all over themselves to vote for him.
I’d say that it’s beyond belief, but sadly, it’s not.
The fact that Trump is railing against the alleged murdering, raping brown hoardes supposedly streaming in droves across our border, while he knowingly continues to hire and employ these same undocumented workers, will mean NOTHING to his base.
They. Don’t. Care. Trump makes the Libs mad. Case closed.
If you’re posturing as a hard-bitten cynical realist who sees through what a shuck it all is, and understands How the Game Is Really Played. hypocrisy is a positive virtue, and you applaud when you see it in others.
It’s the outward sign of your wokeness.
The tribute vice pays to virtue, if you will.
As long as Donald continues “to hurt the people he needs to be hurting“, his most loyal followers will forgive every transgression.
. . . was hurting her, instead of those “people he needs to be hurting”? And wasn’t she giving that as the explanation why her support was at least wavering some? IIRC? (Saw that reported earlier, but didn’t double-check those details cuz NYT paywall.)
Sure, but this is why Trump goes back to the racist well again and again whenever he experiences some legal or policy setback that might make his terrible base question him.
NFL players kneeling, ooga-booga scary mexican rapists, BLM are the real racists who just hate cops, Muslims invading our country… he’s got one play in the playbook and he just keeps mashing the button.
If the Republicans’ hypocrisy is so monumental, the fact that they all voted to impeach and convict Clinton for obstruction of justice will make no difference at all when it comes time for them to decide how to act against Trump on similar (if not worse) charges … won’t it?