Trump can keep a secret, believe me

Karen McDougal (Toglenn)

Blake Hounshell (Politico, Feb 18, 2018) doesn't believe Trump was guilty of conspiring with the Russians. He bases his entire analysis on an absence of evidence argument. The absence of evidence theory goes like this: Since there is no evidence that Trump conspired with the Russians, therefore he didn't. Hounshell knows Trump didn't do it because he didn't blab about it and he can't keep a secret. That's another argument from absence of evidence, like saying the criminal didn't do the crime because he didn't tell anyone about it.

Hounshell should understand that absence of evidence is not evidence. It's conspiracy fodder, like saying that because I can't see global warming happening, it must be nonsense, or else there's a huge conspiracy of scientists to trick us into believing global warming is a thing. It's particularly suspect when you base your argument on the idea that Trump can't keep a secret, and therefore there is no secret. That whole argument falls apart because Trump can keep secrets, and has done so on many occasions, when he believes it is in his interest to do so.

Trump kept his numerous sex adventures secret by elaborate non-disclosure agreements and "catch and kill" contracts, whereby a publisher buys an informant's story for a high sum of money, then kills the story. It's a way to keep the public from ever finding out what some powerful man (or woman) doesn't want them to know. Trump did this at least once, to keep one of his sexual conflicts from telling her story to the press. Karen McDougal sold her story to the National Enquirer, which promptly buried it so that it never saw the light of day. Until now.

Trump kept that secret for 10 years, because he understood that it would harm him if it became public knowledge. He also kept secret his sexual encounters with  an actress in pornographic movies. He kept these secrets because he understood the repercussions such scandals would have for his marriage and his public image.

Trump has also hidden his dealings with Russian oligarchs and the mob-controlled unions in the New York building trades. He concealed those things because he understood that they were illegal. On the other hand, he revealed top secret information to Russians because he didn't believe it was important to him, personally. He may have realized that describing espionage arrangements to Russian spies could result in serious damage to the people who obtained the information, maybe even their deaths, but he didn't care about that--because Trump only cares about what affects him personally.

That's why he refuses to release his tax returns. Because they contain evidence of his own criminal activity. He has concealed the contents for years, despite the demands of all and sundry to release them. Another secret he keeps is how much he is actually worth. He claims to be a billionaire, but some people doubt that. Trump himself, when asked under oath how much he was worth, said it just depended on his mood.

Trump can keep a secret. He knows that conspiring with the Russians to rig an election is a serious criminal offense. He's going to keep that secret until he goes to jail for it.

Immigrants are our great strength, not a source of weakness

In a response to a comment challenging an answer on Quora, I wrote the following comment.

My answer began with the words, “There is no DACA problem.” Apparently, you didn’t get the point, which is that the entire Trumpist critique of our system of immigration is flat-out wrong. If there is no problem, then I don’t need to spell out regulations to fix it.

Trump’s plan makes basic assumptions that are false. Your comment repeats those assumptions:

“So now we must secure the [border].”

This conclusion ignores the fact that no terrorists have come across the Mexican border since Pancho Villa did it in 1916. At that time, the US army easily repulsed the invasion forced and posted 100,000 soldiers to protect the border from further incursions. Given the current increased mobility of US military units and technical improvements for discovering fleeing adversaries, it would seem we have plenty of resources already available to protect our southern border.

Battle of Columbus (1916) - Wikipedia

Trumpists are acting as though Mexico had already declared war on the US, but this is not true. Our relations with Mexico had been completely peaceful and cooperative during the previous 100 years. Trump has antagonized the Mexican government and American citizens of Mexican heritage, thereby worsening relations with Mexico to build support for his southern border wall.
Even if we were at war with Mexico, building a wall along our Southern border would be a symbolic gesture at best. Walls were last an effective military measure during the 100 Years War.

How Castles Work

Trumpists apparently admire walls and believe that they have been effective at repelling invaders or keeping neighboring nations from entering a country illegally. They look at the Great Wall of China and believe that it served the purpose of repelling invaders, but it did not. The Mongol armies, for example, invaded China in 1276 and subdued the entire country, having passed through the area supposedly protected by the Great Wall.

Mongol conquest of China - Wikipedia

Trumpists don’t seem to care about actual facts. The 9/11 attackers were not Mexicans, nor did they attack over the Southern Border. Fifteen of the 19 terrorists were Saudi Arabians and the rest came from countries in the Middle East. None had entered the country by crossing the Mexican border. So the $20 billion wall Trumpists are proposing would have done absolutely nothing to prevent the 9/11 hijackings.

How the Terrorists Get In

Trumpists believe they can control terrorists by reducing immigration. But to do so would destroy what has always been a source of strength for the US. Furthermore, they believe that Muslims have committed most acts of terror in the US, but that is not even remotely true.

In Opinion: Terrorists do not come from the seven countries named in Trump’s Muslim ban order

Therefore, I do not support any of Trump’s proposals to exclude immigrants on the basis of race, religion, or country of national origin, primarily because none of these proposals address the actual causes of terrorism or the people who commit these acts. Trumpists’ rationale for these beliefs are based in large part on a flawed list of terrorists released by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

We have got to stop basing foreign policy decisions on blind prejudice and faulty data. We must start trusting immigrants to do what immigrants have always done, become good citizens and improve the nation in every way imaginable.