Does the world need another blog about this stupid wall? It might when a key point keeps getting glossed over.
Let’s start with this popular Maya Angelou quote:
When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time
Now, let’s consider this quote from Donald Trump (emphasis mine):
I will build a great wall -- and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me --and I'll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.
What does it mean to “make” someone do something? You might drive a hard bargain in a negotiation. You might try to make a very persuasive case for something. But “making” someone do something can only mean one thing: a threat of violence. In the case of countries, that’s called war.
You might dismiss this diary as a wild conspiracy theory. Here, the late great Marshall McLuhan is on point:
Only puny secrets need protection. Big secrets are protected by public incredulity. You can actually dissipate a situation by giving it maximal coverage. As to alarming people, that's done by rumours, not by coverage.
We’ve been hearing Trump talk about the wall, and making Mexico pay, for so long, that we’ve grown numb to it. Lazy. It’s become something for scoring cheap shots, and pointing out what a fool Trump is. Trump is many things — a liar, an opportunist, a male chauvinist, a racist, rude, a deadbeat debtor. But he is no fool. If you’ll allow to indulge in yet another quote, this time Lao Tzu:
There is no greater danger than underestimating your opponent.
It’s high time we start taking this guy at his word. The fun’s over. We need to be asking him one question, with one voice, bluntly and relentlessly. At press conferences, on social media, in newspapers and magazines, on radio and television, and rooftops. Don’t let up.
Mr. Trump, the last time the United States went to war with a neighbor, not counting the Civil War, was 169 years ago. Almost half the people who fought in that war died as a result. Do you intend, for the first time in over 150 years, to go to war with a neighbor?
And if he doesn’t give a straight answer, he needs to review his definition of “make.” With apologies to Inigo Montoya:
You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.