Alienated Nation

In the past week and a half, President Donald Trump has managed to alienate his Canadian and European allies at the G-7 summit in Quebec, jets off to Singapore to make nice with his new best friend, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and to threaten trade wars against anybody he thinks has ripped off the United States' economy.

Right about now, he's offending the sensibilities of most Americans, Democrats and the five living First Ladies (including his wife Melania) with his latest solution to the immigration problem:  Detaining, then separating, families at the Mexican border for the crime of crossing over illegally.  The men and women are being herded like zoo animals into cages, while the children (around 2000 of them so far) are taken to an old Walmart in McAllen, Texas, not knowing if they'd ever see their parents again.

The President has been ranting and raving ever since Campaign 2016 about building a wall across the U.S.-Mexico border, which would be designed to keep out the drug lords, terrorists and other riffraff who might do this country harm.  Unfortunately, it might also keep out those who want to escape the crime and poverty of their native lands, believing they can't afford to wait months for the proper credentials to enter this country legally.  So they just sneak in across the border.

Those who have seen images of children being ripped apart from their mothers' arms are demanding that Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who has quoted the Bible to defend all this) to reverse the policy, since it's really not the law they claim it is.  But the President would rather talk tough and blame Democrats than do the right thing.

This latest detention of human beings has everyone asking themselves, "Is this who we are as a country?".  Well, let's see . . .

• Our European ancestors arrived here to escape political and religious persecution, only to gradually exterminate tribes who were already on the North American continent and putting the rest in reservations.
• Africans were brought here through no fault of their own, and are still being mistreated long after slavery ended.
• Europeans who weren't WASPs (Italians, Irish, Russians, etc.) and Asians were routinely discriminated against once they got off the boat.
• Jews have been turned away, even if the alternative was a one-way ticket to a Nazi death camp.
• Germans and Japanese have been interned during wartime.
• Those of the Muslim faith have been viewed with suspicion since 9/11/2001.

And on it goes.

So yes, this is who we are as a country.  We can do better, though.

UPDATE (6/20/18):  President Trump has signed an executive order rescinding, at least temporarily, the administration's policy of separating undocumented immigrant families at the border while keeping the zero tolerance measures in place.  This, of course, doesn't help the families who have already been split up with traumatized kids scattered all over the country.  Now all Congress has to do is to pass a law that fixes the problem.  Good luck with that.