From "Kids in Cages" to "Do Not Come"
As anti-immigration rhetoric ramps up on the liberal-left and the right calls for mass deportation, where are the people who are supposed to give a damn?
Consider checking out the accompanying episode of the Royal Palace Podcast: US Election Special: Caught Between a Rock and a Hard Place
404 Media recently published an article about how an Elon Musk-backed super PAC is running fake ads on behalf of Democrats in an attempt to confuse voters by suggesting Kamala Harris doesn't believe in borders and wants to ban gas-powered vehicles. The campaign has even gone so far as to run contradictory ads, whereby Jewish voters are told Kamala Harris stands with Palestine, while Muslim voters are told that she stands by Israel.
There is a lot to be outraged about here, like the fact that this sort of "political speech" would be considered libel par excellence in practically any European country, or the fact that Democrats stood by as the Supreme Court, spitting in the face of American democracy, handed down Citizens United v. FEC, which opened the floodgates of dark money into American politics.
Yet, the fact that these campaigns stand even the slightest chance of working is a condemnation of a Democratic Party that has accepted the core tenets of right-wing politics and has categorically refused to defend a platform of any kind.
For all the hand-wringing about "kids in cages" during Trump's first term, the Democratic Party itself has shown little restraint when it comes to zealously pursuing draconian immigration policy—after all, President Obama still holds the record for most deportations in a single year. This fact is not only a condemnation of the Democratic Party's lack of humanity but is a strategic folly, since "cruel, but not as cruel as Trump on immigration" isn't exactly a compelling rallying call.
In an idea that could only have been conceived in the mind of a bumbling DC consultant, Democrats earlier this year decided to propose border security legislation, which has been described as a "wishlist" of backwards Republican proposals—in a confusing ploy to show voters how Republicans are greedy?
In its denial of the humanity of migrants it only pretended to care about while President Trump was in office, the Democratic Party has effectively endorsed anti-immigration narratives, while alienating those who still see migrants as human beings.
Perhaps if the Democratic Party had spent the years since the election of Donald Trump hammering home to voters the cruelty of our draconian immigration policies or humanizing the brave men and women who make the horrific trek that is crossing the Southern Border, then perhaps a fake advertisement like this would be seen for what it is: a slight exaggeration of what a humane immigration policy could look like—if only we had a little bit of humanity left to spare.
