Long ago, I worked for a large corporate chain (let’s just assume that I was a janitor) and I remember this time when our CEO was set to visit web site. The months leading up to that visit, we had hundreds of lower-tiered executives from all over the region we were assigned to descend onto our location. Countless hours, money, and man-power went into preparing for this visit so that everything would go off without a hitch.
Soon enough, the big day had finally arrived. The CEO waltzed in to take a quick tour, shook some hands and stood in for some photo-ops. Just as they planned: everything about that visit was spot-on perfect.
And all I remember thinking was, “what a fucking a waste.”
President Trump’s visit was as meaningless as he said it was going to be. That isn’t to say that NOTHING happened while he was here between Acosta and the GOP hilariously owning themselves, the endless stream of golden memes, Trump receiving a 10 cent or $50,000 (?) belt buckle, and this moron getting himself arrested posing as ANTIFA.
During his visit, Trump was joined by other officials, a mix of whom were members of his own party and his appointees such as Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers head, Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite, along with Texas Republican US Senators John Cornyn and the Zodiac Killer.
Also joining Trump at the McAllen U.S. Border Patrol Station were “angel” families of those who had been killed by illegal immigrants.
The problem with these kinds of visits is that they always turn into expensive, showy echo-chambers where Presidents can sit back and get sucked-off by people looking to please him with information HE wants to hear.
Whether or not there’s a “crisis” at our border is debatable (although you’ll get most of us who live here who don’t believe so) , Trump just simply surrounded himself with people who would all agree with him including government employees who all, ultimately, answer to the President. He didn’t meet with any of our local representatives (whether they’re Democrat or not really should be besides the point) or any of our other local leaders where there could have been an honest discussion about border security from people who actually live here.
Arguing with Schumer and Pelosi, who are just as clueless about our border as this administration, means fuck all if nobody has any insight as to what is actually happening.
Much like every one of his predecessors who go on these kinds of visits, he accomplished what he set out to accomplish while he was here: to take a quick tour, shake some hands and stand in for some photo ops.
