MAGA

Thursday July 18, 2019

July 18, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Thursday July 18, 2019

‘Send Her Back’: The Bigoted Rallying Cry of Trump 2020

December 9, 2015

On Wednesday night in North Carolina, Donald Trump agitated rally-goers with inflammatory rhetoric about Representative Ilhan Omar, a naturalized American born in Somalia, until his supporters began chanting “send her back”––as if a legal immigrant who became a U.S. citizen can or should be denied equal treatment under the law and extra-constitutionally deported by the president.

Burning a copy of the U.S. Constitution would show no more contempt for it than the crowd’s bigoted, nativist reverie about tyrannically deposing an elected member of Congress. No opinion expressed by the congresswoman, no matter how wrongheaded, could excuse the un-American mob.

The crowd’s authoritarian outburst and the purposefully divisive, irresponsible presidential rhetoric that prompted it portends an ugly Trump campaign for reelection. Like “lock her up,” the chant that Trump rally-goers directed at Hillary Clinton in 2016, “send her back” is poised to travel the country with the president.

January 13, 2018

Already, the civic poison of the chant has been televised and celebrated on social media by Trump supporters. Naturalized immigrants must have heard it and felt anxious. Racists must have heard it and felt glad. Children must have heard it, too, and felt uncomfortable, knowing in their gut that the chant is wrong. Some kids are surely being malignly influenced by its repudiation of the American creed.

Republicans know that more of the same is coming. Wednesday’s rally put them on notice: Trump intends to run a reelection campaign that stokes the ugliest impulses of his base, no matter how much damage it does to the civic fabric of America and no matter how much hatred it stirs up against immigrant populations. The overwhelming majority of the GOP and its electorate are sticking by Trump anyway, even though they could be working for a contested primary election.

That is shameful.

How many times between now and Election Day 2020 will Trump whip up a crowd of his supporters into a new frenzy of bigoted, unconstitutional nativism? Four more years of this would be devastating for America. (The Atlantic) 

MacKay’s Sci-Fi Gallery

February 26, 2008
April 30, 2009
July 20, 2009
May 9, 2012
February 21, 2013
March 19, 2013
January 31, 2014
May 7, 2014
November 13, 2014
January 16, 2015
August 19, 2016
May 31, 2018
November 14, 2018
November 18, 2017
July 18, 2019
July 17, 2019
September 22, 2012

 

Tuesday January 22, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday January 22, 2019

Indigenous veteran mocked by students in video says he tried to ease tensions at National Mall

Students at a Kentucky Catholic school who were involved in a video showing them mocking Indigenous people outside the Lincoln Memorial after a Washington rally could potentially face expulsion, according to the diocese.

June 6, 2018

In a joint statement, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington and Covington Catholic High School apologized and said they are investigating and will take “appropriate action, up to and including expulsion.”

The Indigenous Peoples March in Washington on Friday coincided with the March for Life, which drew thousands of anti-abortion protesters, including a group from Covington Catholic High School in Park Hills, Kentucky.

Videos circulating online show a youth staring at and standing extremely close to Nathan Phillips, a 64-year-old Indigenous veteran singing and playing a drum. Other students, some wearing Covington clothing and many wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and sweat shirts, surrounded them, chanting, laughing and jeering.

November 3, 2017

“We extend our deepest apologies to Mr. Phillips,” the diocese statement read. “This behaviour is opposed to the Church’s teachings on the dignity and respect of the human person.”

According to the “Indian Country Today” website, Phillips is an Omaha elder and Vietnam veteran who holds an annual ceremony honouring Indigenous veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

Marcus Frejo, a member of the Pawnee and Seminole tribes who is also known as Chief Quese Imc, said he had been a part of the march and was among a small group of people remaining after the rally when the boisterous students began chanting slogans such as “make America great” and then began doing the haka, a traditional Maori dance. In a phone interview, Frejo told The Associated Press he felt they were mocking the dance.

April 20, 2018

One 11-minute video of the confrontation shows the Haka dance and students loudly chanting before Phillips and Frejo approached them.

Frejo said he joined Phillips to defuse the situation, singing the anthem from the American Indian Movement with both men beating out the tempo on hand drums.

Although he feared a mob mentality that could turn ugly, Frejo said he was at peace singing despite the scorn. He briefly felt something special happen as they repeatedly sang the tune.

“They went from mocking us and laughing at us to singing with us. I heard it three times,” Frejo said. “That spirit moved through us, that drum, and it slowly started to move through some of those youths.” (Source: Hamilton Spectator) 

 

Tuesday November 27, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday November 27, 2018

USMCA not to blame for GM plant closures, but it’s killing all hope of exporting from North America

U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policies were likely just one factor among many that contributed to General Motors’ decision to shutter multiple plants in the U.S. and one in Oshawa in Ontario, analysts say.

April 29, 2009

But the closures will undoubtedly sharpen scrutiny of the White House’s “America First” trade agenda — a strategy aimed at preserving jobs in traditional industries through controversial measures including steel and aluminum tariffs that have ultimately squeezed automakers, analysts say.

“Only a few months ago GM said that the Trump tariffs were costing a billion dollars but they were going to wait until after the mid-term elections to take action,” said Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiersAutomotive Consultants. “It is now past the elections and they are taking action. Partial blame for this goes to Trump and his isolationist policies. It is much bigger than U.S. politics, but it certainly is part of the issue.”

January 13, 2009

GM will shutter its factory in Oshawa as part of a global restructuring as the company shifts to manufacturing electric and autonomous vehicles. The move will see 2,973 jobs cut by the end of 2019 at the Oshawa plant, which has been in operation since 1953. The Detroit firm will also slash a total of 6,705 jobs at plants located in Warren, Ohio; White Marsh, Md; and two facilities in Michigan.

Other Canadian manufacturing facilities in St. Catharines and Ingersoll, Ont. will not be affected.

“Trade headwinds” and, in particular, Trump’s tariffs of 25 per cent on imported steel and 10 per cent on aluminum, have also been identified as a key business challenge by more than one automaker as they attempt to make difficult transitions in their product lines and operations. In September, executives at Ford Motor Co. blamed the tariffs for taking US$1 billion out of company profits. (Source: Financial Post) 

 

Thursday June 14, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator  –  Thursday June 14, 2018

Will America Lose Canada?

The worst thing you could say about previous American presidents and their sleepy approach to Canada was that they took their polite northern neighbors for granted.

June 30, 2000

But as President Trump jetted away from the wreckage of the Group of 7 summit meeting in Quebec this weekend, he plunged American-Canadian relations into a dive so steep it provoked nosebleeds on both sides of the border.

He called the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, dishonest and weak. His advisers accused the Canadians of stabbing Mr. Trump in the back as he winged his way to a meeting with his new best friend, Kim Jong-un of North Korea. And one aide said a “special place in hell” was reserved for Mr. Trudeau, who had the temerity to say to Mr. Trump what the president likes to say to everyone else: Don’t push me around.

It’s not every day you see an American president trade a two-century relationship with a reliable neighbor for what could amount to a one-night stand with a ruthless dictator in Singapore. Mr. Trump may well think bullying Canada is cost-free. After all, three-quarters of its exports go to the United States, which makes retaliation risky for Canada. But having limited options does not mean having none. Reversals like these come with a price, although how and when the United States will pay depends on many factors. (Continued: New York Times) 

 

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