Stand Tall, MAGA Trumpers -- Support the President, the Starving Venezuelans, and the Americans Held Hostage to the Democrat Party's Open Border

PRESIDENT TRUMP IS RIGHT ABOUT IMMIGRATION. And, he is winning over Americans from every group the slice-and-dice Democrat Party believes it owns. • • • LET'S START WITH HISPANIC AMERICANS. On Saturday, American Thinker editor Thomas Lifson wrote : "Careless, lazy, and racist stereotypes about Hispanics could be as big a threat to Democrats' 2020 prospects as their indifference to the plight of the white working class was in 2016. Steve Cortes, who helped lead Trump's Hispanic Advisory Council in 2016, reports on the rise in Hispanic support for Trump at Real Clear Politics : 'Get ready for the anti-Trump 'resistance' to go truly loco, because new polling data indicates Hispanic support for the President is swelling, a trend that could seal his 2020 re-election victory." • The good news came from a McLaughlin & Associates revelation that Hispanic approval for Trump in March jumped to 50%. Lifson states : "This number matched the January Marist/NPR/PBS survey that shocked cynics with its own 50% approval finding. Even if those polls are too aggressive, February's Morning Consult/Politico poll showed Trump's Hispanic approval vaulting to a still-impressive 45%. Richard Baehr wisely cautions that these numbers are based on a small sample -- Hispanic respondents who constitute a small segment of the total sample of a cross-section of Americans being polled. But the fact that results are fairly consistent across three polls indicates that they may well be correct." • Lifson draws a reasonable conclusion from these data -- that : "Looking state-by-state at the 2020 presidential race, the groundswell of Trump's Hispanic popularity solidifies the President's re-election prospects. A Trump gain to 40% of the Hispanic vote -- a very realistic goal at this point -- could effectively seal repeat wins in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Arizona. Winning those states means the Democratic nominee must clean-sweep the 2016 Trump states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Moreover, even that upper Midwest sweep would not be enough if Trump's ascent with Hispanics puts in play Nevada and Colorado, states with large Latino populations that Clinton won by low single digits last election." • The Democrat and #NeverTrumper assumption "that all Hispanics favor an open or laxly enforced border is at the root insulting to them. As Cortes points out, they tend to be preyed upon by rogue illegals more than other communities, for one thing. For another, Hispanics tend to have high rates of entrepreneurship and benefit from the expansion of the economy that Trump has brought about." • • • WHAT IS PRESIDENT TRUMP DOING THAT ATTRACTS HISPANIC VOTERS? American Thinker's Silvio Canto, Jr. gave one example on Saturday : "Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 280 employees at a technology repair company in Collin County, Texas, on charges of working in the United States illegally. It's the largest work site raid in the country in more than a decade, according to a Homeland Security Investigations official. 'ICE's Homeland Security Investigations division received tips that the company -- CVE Technology Group -- may have knowingly hired undocumented immigrants [sic] and that several workers were using fraudulent identification documents, said Katrina Berger, special agent in charge in HSI's Dallas office. Hiring irregularities found during an audit of the company's I-9 forms confirmed those tips....'Federal hiring laws require that employers have new hires fill out I-9 forms. The laws perform 'necessary and common sense functions,' Berger said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. 'They ensure US citizens and legal US residents are hired for jobs in the US....They also ensure that illegal workers are not preyed upon or paid less than the going wage or otherwise coerced or cheated or subjected to unsafe working conditions without any means of complaint. Businesses that knowingly hire undocumented [sic] workers 'create an atmosphere poised for exploiting an illegal workforce." • Silvio Canto explained : "These companies are a triple threat to the Hispanic community : First, they are exploiting workers ruthlessly, from human-smuggling to document fraud. Second, these companies avoid legal Hispanic workers. Third, they make it more difficult for Hispanic-owned companies operating legally to compete in the marketplace. In other words, you cannot compete with a competitor who has a labor advantage because of illegal immigration." • If ICE was sending a message, as Canot concluded, "More raids, please!" And, as an extra benefit, Hispanic Americans see the effort of President Trump to protect them because they are American citizens. • • • PROGDEM MEDIA TRY TO CREATE FAKE NEWS ON IMMIGRATION AND THE PRESIDENT. It didn't work. Victor Rantala -- Army vet, e- intel analyst, ecommerce company founder, NRA Life Member, and crisis preparedness guru -- wrote on Saturday : "The masterful media manipulation of the day on Friday occurred when a clip of President Trump from almost a year ago surfaced. In it, he talked about the MS-13 animals who the government struggles to keep out of the country. Of course, the MS-13 reference was excluded from the clip, making it to appear he was calling all illegal aliens animals." Here is the video < @realDonaldTrump on people asking for asylum "These aren't people. These are animals." pic.twitter.com/pTKY08Obm2— Mark Elliott (@markmobility) April 5, 2019." • As Rantala noted : "Leading the leftist lemmings over the cliff is easy if you talk their language. Don’t use big words...short, basic sentence structure is best. Details and context are ill-advised since they are quickly distracted." • The rabidly anti-Trump Ana Navarro tweeted : "This is journalist, @TifaniRoberts comforting a small boy on the border. He was shot in the throat by Ortega’s thugs in Nicaragua. This little boy is seeking asylum in the United States. His name is William. Trump calls him “animal”. pic.twitter.com/avGe5mWctH— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) April 6, 2019." • Rantala pointed out the tweets of Rosanna Arquette, and Dem Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg spreading the hoax to their followers : "This is Disgusting the only animal is you mr trump.— Rosanna Arquette (@RoArquette) April 6, 2019" /// "You do not refer to human beings as animals. You just don’t.— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) April 6, 2019" • Democrat presidential candidate Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) commented Saturday morning, “Racist language like this has led to violence throughout the world’s history. No human being is an animal. We have to be better than this.” • As Rantala said : "Clearly, there are those in power among Democrats who are using MS-13 for their own political advantage and when they are called out on it, they try like the dickens to defend MS-13 murderers as people, too. But since selling MS-13 to anyone who knows anything about the terrifying gang is a no-go, the preferred approach is to conceal facts and misdirect the lemmings." • The Gateway Pundit reports that senior White House official Mercedes Schlapp attacked the viciously Fake tweet of the year-old video of President Trump calling MS-13 gang members animals that the tweet poster, Mark Elliott, falsely captioned : “.@realDonaldTrump on people asking for asylum “These aren’t people. These are animals.” Elliott posted his tweet Friday evening as President Trump was in California inspecting new replacement border fencing. The video was picked up from a misleadingly edited C-SPAN tweet from May 16, 2018. Schlapp, an Assistant to the President serving as Director of Strategic Communications, posted Saturday afternoon, “Complete lie from @markmobility tweet. POTUS was talking about MS13 gang members as animals. Full context of Trump’s remarks shows he was responding to a complaint by Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims about California’s sanctuary laws protecting criminal illegal aliens including MS-13 gang members." • How do we suppose any American voter with Central American or Mexican roots would react to the propagandist ProgDem media trying to humanize MS-13?? • • • ABOUT THOSE "HUMAN BEINGS." BizPac Review's Frieda Powers reported on Saturday : "The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency slammed New Jersey’s 'limited cooperation' after a twice-deported man from Honduras was charged with brutally strangling a woman. Federal authorities called out the state for its stand on immigration issues in the wake of the brutal murder of a Jersey City nanny last month and the arrest of the twice-deported illegal immigrant who was charged with kidnapping, raping, and murdering her, USA Today reported. Carolina Cano’s body was found in a Jersey City lake in Lincoln Park where she was believed to have been jogging the morning of March 24, according to Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office. Jorge Rios was arrested and charged with felony murder, kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault of the 45-year-old victim, who was an immigrant from Peru living in the US for two years. According to ICE, Rios, identified by the federal agency as Jorge Alberto Rios-Doblado, was deported for immigration violations in 2003 and 2004. He could be deported a third time after serving his sentence if convicted, which could be 30 years to life for murder. • Powers tells us : "New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal issued a directive in November prohibiting state and local police departments from “assisting federal immigration on authorities with ‘civil immigration law,’ with some exceptions,' USA Today reported. ICE maintains that cooperation by local law enforcement is an indispensable component of promoting public safety,' the Newark ICE office said in a statement. 'ICE will seek taking custody of Rios-Doblado at the conclusion of his criminal proceedings, despite limited cooperation in the state.' Grewal argued Wednesday that the policy was prompted by 'overly zealous enforcement of immigration laws' that could discourage people from reporting crimes to the police. 'Our job as state law enforcement officers is to enforce the criminal laws of this state and that’s all we told our law enforcement officers through that directive,' Grewal told state lawmakers questioning New Jersey’s immigration policy. 'We don’t enforce civil immigration deportation orders.' ” • New Jersey radio host Dennis Malloy hit state officials for failing to protect citizens in the “sanctuary state” because they are “pandering” to a “crop of future voters, as reported by Powers : "Perhaps he was drawn to New Jersey due to the rhetoric of the governor and top state officials pledging not to cooperate with ICE in handing over illegal aliens in state custody,” Malloy wrote referring to Rios-Doblado in an opinion piece on New Jersey 101.5 FM. "Maybe he just thought it was a nice place to live. There are possibly hundreds, maybe thousands like Rios, who’ve been deported and have criminal records, that feel New Jersey is a safe place to hide in plain sight. Maybe leaders in this state should stop pandering to what they hope is a whole crop of future voters and concern themselves more with the safety and well-being of the legal residents of this state. What happened to Ms. Cano was horrific, despicable and totally preventable. One of the few and more important responsibilities of our elected officials both state and federal is to maintain the safety of its citizens. It’s sad that some of them have sent the message to dangerous criminals here illegally that New Jersey is a safe haven for them.” • How do we think Hispanic American voters feel about being labeled by a New Jersey Democrat Attorney General as not reporting crimes unless a 'sanctuary state' is provided for illegal alien criminals?? • • • THE CARAVANS NOW INCLUDE ILLEGALS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. American Thinker's Monica Showalter reported on Friday : "In its story about thousands of caravan migrants encountering a slow-walk for 'humanitarian' visas of passage to the US from Mexican officials, Reuters let out a doozy of a detail way down in its story about the matter : 'At the border town of Tapachula, near the southern tip of Mexico bordering Guatemala, another group included people from Sri Lanka, Congo and Haiti, a federal official said. Some migrants said Mexican officials had slowed down the process of awarding the visas or denied them outright without providing any explanation. A small group lashed out at border officials in Tapachula on Tuesday over the delays, throwing rocks and breaking windows of a local migration institute building." • Showalter note that it seems obvious that any illegal alien wannabes coming to Guatemala to join caravans heading to the southern US border must have a lot of money "for plane flights to places like Mexico along with cartel smuggler fees, therefore they are accustomed to such service. In fact, they are convinced they are entitled to it, same as they get at the Hertz counter. When they don't, they resort to road rage-style brick-throwing." • As Showalter rightly points out : "What it suggests is that the caravans have gone global. They've been marketed in the press and by its NGO allies and by the Catholic Church as a Central America thing, but they're now attracting far more than Central Americans. The world was watching closely as President Trump dealt with the border debacle with the arrival of the first Central American caravan late last year -- and everyone could see that leftist judges and congresspeople defeating him every time, unable to keep the illegal migrants out. And, with Europe cracking down on the big migrant waves and sending the boats back to Libya and elsewhere, the migrants with money have decided they'll come here through Mexico, too. They've concluded it's a can't-lose proposition. They represent a far bigger migrant market -- and cartel profit center -- than just the entire Central American bloc. So, instead of 1.5 million migrants from Central America expected to arrive here this year -- the number can swell enormously higher. These global migrants can see the loopholes that enabled people such as ungrateful Honduran 'Lady Frijoles,' recently charged with assault with a deadly weapon in Dallas, to come here scot-free. Asylum claims give any asker at least three free years of working in the US as they await a judge's decision about their claims, meaning being sent back still yields three free years of working in America, and with instant customer service from US officials, all at zero cost." • If we compare this approach to entering the US with legal immigration -- "ten years of waiting in line for service, thousands of dollars of costs, lots of lost paperwork from US officials, and no free time working in America as they await claims" says Showalter -- it is crystal clear that with : "Europe's pulling up the drawbridge," the best game in town is America that is "letting everyone in for free." • How do we think Hispanic Americans feel about being labeled as "open border" voters when they, like all Americans, see illegal immigrants using their tax dollars to hitch a ride on the Uncle Sam Express?? Anyone with a brain -- that excludes ProgDems -- can see that the Democrat stonewalling against any Trump-led effort to secure the US southern border, and the critically important cooperation they receive from Obama's Leftist judges, had to end with America taking up the destination slack left when Chancellor Merkel finally used her German brain to close the EU border she had opened. As Showalter says : "Build an open border -- and they will come." • • • VENEZUELANS AND PRESIDENT TRUMP. We note another American Thinker article by Silvio Canto, Jr., who wrote on Sunday : "Many years ago, a friend in school asked me about Cubans and the GOP. I explained that our attitudes toward the GOP and Democrats had a lot to do with the Bay of Pigs. It looks as if foreign policy may be once again creating 'Republicanos' -- or, in this case, 'Republicanos Venezolanos.' This is from Fox : 'For the first time in 60 years, South Florida's political magnifying glass is on a country other than Cuba. The unfolding humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has pulled it to the forefront of the political conversation not just in the Sunshine State, but across the country. As the country's problems worsen, Democratic Venezuelan-Americans question whether their party's actions go far enough. A growing number of exiles say they feel forgotten by a new generation of outspoken, progressive Democrats, leaving them less beholden to a party they had long supported. Issues that for years were hotly debated in an area of Miami known as 'Doral-zuela' due to its vibrant Venezuelan community, have made their way to the ears of some of the most powerful lawmakers in Washington, DC. The Venezuelans are angry that, as the country continues to spiral, some Democrats keep calling on the US to pull out of Venezuela and lift all sanctions against the government. 'This is where the Democrats have consistently dropped the ball...they have never felt like it was an important issue...it's very difficult to feel and coexist in the same party that is saying these things that are so ignorant about my homeland,' said Venezuelan immigrant Helena Poleo." • Silvio Canto honestly reports that he doesn't know "how big an electoral factor this Venezuelan vote is yet. Nevertheless, we did see Governor Scott and Representative DeSantis win close elections for the US Senate and the governorship. Furthermore, my guess is that any naturalized Venezuelan is going to show his support for President Trump in 2020. It's hard to see any of the current crop of Democrats inspire much confidence in South Florida. And if Senator Sanders wins the nomination, then all that the Trump campaign has to do is run those videos praising Castro and Ortega's Sandinistas. At one time, you could count on Democrats to stand against socialism. Not anymore, and that's something making a lot of Venezuelans very mad." • But, as Monica Showalter pointed out in a Saturday American Thinker piece on Elliott Abrams : "President Trump appointed the famously NeverTrump Elliott Abrams into his Venezuela point man job to scare the hell out of Maduro. Why is he helping the Venezuelan dictator sleep more soundly at night instead? The conservative-libertarian PanAm Post's Orlando Avendaño lays it out forcefully : 'Elliott Abrams, the United States envoy to Venezuela, has surrendered : 'I do not think Europe, Latin America, Canada and the United States are thinking, at this moment, of a military reaction.' It was his response to concern about whether interim president Juan Guaidó should request a military intervention, or cooperation, through the activation of Article 187, Section 11 (which establishes that the National Assembly can authorize foreign military missions in Venezuela). 'I think it's premature. I think it's not the right time...My advice would be that at this time it would not be very useful,' he stressed in an interview with Caracol Radio [Note: This is a major broadcaster in Colombia]. The United States has thus neutralized, with Abrams' statements, the credible threat. He has just uncocked a loaded revolver, pointing at Maduro. And the dictator can breathe a sigh of relief." • We all know Elliott Abrams as a GOP elite insider. Why President Trump appointed him to any post is a mystery. And, Abrams has repaid the President with a canon blast from the maindeck. Showalter calls Abrams' statement "positively Obamaesque." Abrams, affirms that Elliott Abrams is as we all know him : "a NeverTrump...initially rejected for a State Department job based on his record of neo-con nation-building and NeverTrump grandstanding. Yet in January, he was put there, seemingly incongruously, by President Trump, presumably to scare the hell out of Maduro. He was useful that way; there was no other reason to appoint him." BUT, says Showalter : "To be fair, it may not be him alone. We already know that President Trump is no fan of military intervention. Abrams spoke on Caracol Radio, which is a huge Colombian broadcaster, so these don't seem to be off the cuff remarks, for one -- they may have been well coordinated with President Trump from the top. Second, notice Vice President Mike Pence's words on Venezuela as he announces another round of sanctions on the Chavistas -- and they were made after Abrams' remarks : 'Those looking on should know this : All options are on the table. And Nicolas Maduro would do well not to test the resolve of the United States of America...The United States will continue to exert all diplomatic and economic pressure to bring about a peaceful transition to democracy." • Showalter gives one possible reason for Abrams' remarks : "[It] may be that the US has failed to rally the region's allies. As I noted on Trump's meeting with Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro, the latter looked rather glum and Trump didn't seem that happy, either. Was there a conflict of visions on whether to enact military intervention on Venezuela? Maybe there was. The same scenario seemed obvious in Colombia, the other pillar of Maduro resistance. President Trump made the seemingly bad move of calling out Colombia's new conservative president, Ivan Duque, for not solving the entire drug war in his first seven months of office. Was that based on Duque not being willing to militarily play ball on getting rid of the Maduro regime and just wanting the US to take care of the matter, or worse still, not offering logistical support? Maybe. Whatever it is, it's not a good look for us. Russia is strengthening its hand. The U.S. seems to be retreating. One can only hope that if we're going to take military intervention off the table, we have something even scarier in store for Maduro. I don't know what that can be, but that's the nature of surprises." • • • DEAR READERS, in a 1939 speech, Winston Churchill said : "Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war." That comment is also reported as “to jaw-jaw is always better than to war-war.” Whatever Churchill said, the message on the eve of World War II was clear -- better to talk than to fight prematurely. • I have to wonder if this is what is at work in Venezuela right now. However, in our last blog I said : "It seems incredible that the United States would be so passive in the face of Russian military and diplomacy threatening a South American nation with language that is outrageous coming from a Eurasian power -- 'The illegitimate use of military force against Venezuela by other states that support the opposition will be interpreted by the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation only as an act of aggression against a sovereign State and a threat to international peace and security...' This Russian diplomatic threat is accompanied by Russian military in Venezuela and Russian military jets overflying Colombia territory. If that is not a challenge to the Monroe Doctrine, there never will be one. Has the US decided to cede South America to Russian influence?? Has the US decided that South America is no longer part of the Western Hemisphere?? What is going on here?? On January 24, Moscow said external forces led by the US are fuelling chaos by supporting Guaido and the Venezuelan democrats and warned the US against military intervention in Venezuela, saying that if US officials had any sense they would withdraw their own diplomats from Caracas. On March 12, the US announced that it will withdraw all remaining diplomats from its embassy in Venezuela because of worsening conditions in the country. Then, on March 27, President Trump demanded that Russia remove its troops from Venezuela and said again that he was not ruling out military action to topple Madura. Russia is playing for keeps -- that is, to keep Venezuela and its petroleum as a Russian satellite. Is the US willing to step up and halt this Russian move before more of South America is lost to Russia?? " • If the US is letting the Russian military entrench itself in Venezuela as a diplomatic thrust against unwelcome Colombia policies -- it is, I fear, misplaced. No disagreement between any South American government and the United States is sufficiently important to serve as the vehicle for the permanent implantation of Russian military anywhere in South America. • This may be one of those times when President Trump is getting bad advice or letting his distaste for war overpower his need for military action short of war. • AND, perhaps, has always been the case in the past two years, President Trump is right and, as Monica Showalter says, the President has something "even scarier in store for Maduro. I don't know what that can be, but that's the nature of surprises." • Let's hold tight to our MAGA caps and pray for the President, for the suffering and starving Venezuelans, for the Americans who live on the southern border, and for all Americans who are being held hostage to the radical Democrat Party's open-border policy meant to cement their future election.