COMMENTARY: Donald Trump's abhorrent lies have perhaps permanently refashioned Americans' sense of immigration reality 鈥� and, despite the better economic vibes, they may still help him win.
It鈥檚 autumn, but in South Florida temperatures are still topping 90 degrees. We shrug; we know man-made global warming has dealt us our own eternal Third Ring of Hell. So we live with it, the way we live with the Miami City Commission.
Or the way we鈥檙e now living with lies 鈥� lies so brazen and toxic they鈥檇 appall a Salem witch trial witness.
Especially lies about immigration.
Like the combustion engine, social media is a well-intentioned man-made creation that initially benefited us but has now betrayed us. The grievance greenhouse gases of X, Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp have made monstrous lies like this month's outrage about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, a permanent aerosol in our civic atmosphere.
And for one simple reason:
They work.
READ MORE: If we demonize Haitians in Ohio, why do we still allow Ohioans in Florida?
In the case of former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance 鈥� the standard-bearers of the sinister Springfield lie 鈥� my hunch is that their immigration falsehoods may work just effectively enough to help Trump win his neck-and-neck race with Vice President Kamala Harris come Nov. 5.
Meaning: it probably won鈥檛 matter what Harris says or does during her immigration-policy visit to the U.S. southern border on Friday.
The Harris camp is betting the pumpkin spice aroma of good, inflation-busting economic news will put her over the top. In fact, a shows that in just a month, the share of Americans who like the economy has jumped from 35% to 39%.
But that same survey also reminds us how overpowering immigration 鈥� that is, Trump鈥檚 diabolical ability to make the immigration issue overpowering 鈥� could end up being the difference instead.
If you think Trump's vicious immigration lies repel voters, think again: a new poll shows 60% now feel migrants don't make America better in the long run.
Don鈥檛 forget Trump won the White House in 2016, and would have won in 2020 but for his erratic pandemic performance, because he鈥檚 tapped into a vast and primal fear: in 21st-century America, elitist liberalism is erasing the white, Christian, patriarchal, heterosexual hegemony of 20th-century America.
In other words: ruining America.
Demographic change 鈥� supposedly a natural, healthy consequence of the e pluribus unum ethos that makes America exceptional 鈥� is now half the country鈥檚 existential scapegoat. And no bogeyman channels that apocalyptic victimization vibe better than immigration does.
Doubling down
So, precisely because he sees voters鈥� attitudes about the economy improving, Trump in recent days has been doubling down more viciously than ever on the 鈥渋nvading, savage criminal aliens.鈥� They're 鈥渟tealing your jobs, stealing your life鈥� and 鈥渁ttacking villages and cities all throughout the Midwest鈥� and 鈥渞aping, sodomizing and murdering young American girls.鈥�
You think that鈥檚 repelling U.S. voters? Think again. In this week鈥檚 CBS poll, most voters do acknowledge the pet-eating claim is false 鈥� but only 40% of them, astonishingly, now feel immigrants make America 鈥渂etter in the long run.鈥� More astonishingly, 53% now favor Trump鈥檚 draconian (if not economically ruinous) plan to deport all undocumented migrants in the U.S.
Let me repeat: it likely doesn鈥檛 matter that Harris will remind Americans on Friday that illegal border crossings are down significantly this year after the Biden Administration took measures like tightening the asylum process.
Because Trump has so successfully conditioned Americans to demonize immigration, what does matter is the gaffe Harris made five years ago when she endorsed the decriminalization of those illegal border crossings (a stance she has now backed away from).
What does matter is that for most of the past four years, the Administration has allowed the perception of border crisis to win out 鈥� or, as I wrote back in 2021: 鈥淏iden and the Democrats did a lame job girding for the current mess when they knew full well the election of a more immigrant-friendly U.S. President would draw more desperate Latin Americans northward.鈥�
What does matter is that because, for example, Venezuela鈥檚 disastrous dictatorship is itself such a sinister liar 鈥� it just stole the country鈥檚 recent presidential election 鈥� Americans are bracing for even more desperate Venezuelan migrants to, in Trump-speak, 鈥渋nvade鈥� the U.S.
Voters essentially seem to be saying: Yes, we know Trump鈥檚 lying 鈥� and yes, we know October starts next week and it鈥檚 still 90 degrees out 鈥� but, as with global warming, we鈥檝e learned to let the lies refashion our sense of reality.
That may well be enough to make another Trump term a reality.
