A promise to my readers: the following column will not include an analysis of the doomsday scenario surrounding President Trump’s firing of James Comey, special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s appointment to investigate the administration’s alleged ties to Russia, the Michael Flynn case or the farfetched suggestion that the president is on the verge of impeachment. Go to the mainstream media to read more of those overwrought, dramatically blown-out-of-proportion stories.
Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy analyzed coverage from 10 major television and print outlets during Trump’s first 100 days in office. Researchers found that coverage related to President Trump was overwhelmingly negative, as high in some cases as 98 percent. The major offenders are CNN, NBC and CBS. When subdivided into policy categories, stories about immigration, which helped propel President Trump into the White House, were 85 percent negative.
In a real head-shaker, Forbes agreed with Harvard that, well, yes, the media is biased against President Trump, but the fault is his. Mark Joyella, a Forbes contributor and former CNN reporter, pointed to President Trump’s historically low approval ratings as evidence that the media is fair, not biased against the chief executive. Those polls, however, were taken among non-voters and conducted in traditionally Democratic strongholds.
Today, let’s discuss the good news about President Trump that the media purposely suppresses. President Trump campaigned on returning illegal immigrants home, a promise that started to take effect even before he took office. In early January, more than half of the Mexican nationals that passed through Matamoros on the Rio Grande’s southern border told officials that they didn’t plan to return. President Trump’s commitment to immigration law enforcement had an immediate effect in Mexico. In anticipation of future U.S. enforcement, Mexico’s immigration officials developed a program, Somos Mexicanos (We are Mexicans) to repatriate returning nationals. Mexico will provide the returnees with job opportunities. Their American lives where they worked in construction, agriculture and hospitality will, the Mexican government assures them, provide an opportunity to prosper once they get back home.
Going home, getting a job and reestablishing ties with family and friends is not only a good thing for Mexican nationals but also for working Americans who have, because of unchecked illegal immigration, borne the brunt of open borders in the form of lost jobs and four decades of stagnant wages. Tighter labor markets are good for Americans. Just ask reliably liberal Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who, shortly after he announced his presidential candidacy, railed against open borders, and linked it to American poverty. Sanders reminded the webzine Vox that the U.S. is mired in a U.S. youth unemployment crisis – white high school graduate unemployment rate, about 33 percent; Hispanic, 36 percent, and black, more than 50 percent. Sanders said that those kids need jobs, not open borders that allow in low-wage workers.
The press has unfairly scorched President Trump over immigration. But when illegal immigrants return to a welcoming Mexican government, not only are they back home, but American workers get a much needed boost in job opportunities and increased wages. Write about that, mainstream media!
Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow. Contact him at joeguzzardi@capsweb.org and on Twitter @joeguzzardi19.
