Detroit, Orange County, and “Murica”

There are no American nationalists.  They don’t exist.  There are people like Laura Ingraham, who present themselves as American nationalists.  But they are not at all convincing.  On the other hand, there are lots of American white nationalists, including our current president.  So how can we tell the difference?  First let’s look at how Laura Ingraham perceives “the problem”:

Ingraham said on Wednesday that “in major parts of the country, it does seem that the America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people and they’re changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don’t like.”

. . .

Ingraham said toward the end of Wednesday’s commentary that she was not talking about race and ethnicity, and complained a night later that the disclaimer was being missed.

On Thursday, she said she had “a message to those who are distorting my views, including all white nationalists and especially one racist freak whose name I won’t even mention, you don’t represent my views and you are antithetical to the beliefs I hold dear.”

Instead of race, she said she was talking about “a shared sense of keeping American safe and her citizens safe and prosperous.

We roll our eyes at her attempt to dig her way out of trouble.  Does anyone seriously think that Ingraham is horrified by blond immigrants from Norway (or Slovenia)?  Her concern about immigration is clearly linked to race, at some level.  But it’s also true that she fears crime, and that she associates crime with immigration.  The problem here is that the violent crime rate in many of the “American” parts of big cities like New York is dramatically higher than in the immigrant areas.

So let’s think about what it would take to avoid “massive demographic change”.  In America, blacks made up 14% of the population in 1860, and 12.6% today.  That ratio is now pretty stable, because the black birth rate is about equal to the overall birth rate, and the rate of black immigration as a share of the total is similar to the share of blacks in the US population.  You can think of recent immigration from Haiti and Nigeria as a way of keeping the black share of the population stable, i.e. a way of preserving traditional America. Is that how Ingraham thinks about Haitian immigration?

In this vision of “American” nationalism, Detroit is a red, white and blue, all-American city, while Orange County is a disturbing foreign place, where whites are only 41% of the population and blacks are almost non-existent.  It’s mostly Hispanic and Asian, many from first or second generation immigrant families.  Is that how Ingraham feels about these two places?  I think we all know the answer, one doesn’t have to be a dog to hear the hidden messages in the white nationalist rhetoric.

I claim there are no “American nationalists”, only “Murican nationalists”.  They believe in Murica, a mythical white country cleansed of the blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans who have lived here for centuries. Ingraham may see herself as an American nationalist, but I don’t believe it for a moment.

Those who believe in Murica blame inner city blacks for their plight (bad culture), while romanticizing the plight of opioid-addicted whites in Appalachia.  It’s all the fault of the Chinese, who stole their jobs.

When Trump asked why we should accept immigrants from “shithole” countries, many people focused on the insult to low-income countries.  That comment was certainly impolite, and not something an American president should be saying about countries we need to deal with; but the real problem was the implication that immigrants from shithole countries are not the sort of people that we want here.  Some whites have trouble seeing the implication of Trump’s comments, but African-Americans (and Central Americans) whose ancestors came from those exact countries certainly know what Trump was implying.  Trump was implicitly saying (to them) “we don’t like the fact that you are here”.  Interestingly, many of our most successful immigrants come from dysfunctional poor countries like India, and even immigrants from Nigeria do about average in terms of income.

Lots of Trump voters don’t care what Trump says about minorities.  But there are still a substantial number of people who vote GOP for tax cuts and Supreme Court nominees, but who would be very uncomfortable if Trump made explicitly racist statements.  Enough to swing a very close election.  These people would rather pretend that Trump’s not a racist, just being a bit politically incorrect on occasion.  So Trump continues to send out dog whistles to his white nationalist supporters, while the moderate, upper middle class Republican voters of Orange County can continue to look the other way.

There was recent speculation that Trump might have used the N-word in private conversation. (Admittedly not from a very credible source.)  Speaking for myself, the truth or falsity of this claim would in no way affect my view of Trump. I already know how he thinks about lower income minorities.  They are people that Trump doesn’t want in “Murica”.  I wish he’d just admit it.

PS.  I moved to Orange County a year ago.  Compared to Boston, it’s culture reminds me much more of the traditional (white) America I grew up in during the 1960s in Wisconsin.  Back then, if one saw an East Asian on the street (then called “Orientals”) the person seemed very foreign looking. Now they no longer look foreign.  Here’s a video from an Orange County 4th of July Parade last month, full of marching Chinese ladies.  Even Laura Ingraham might shed a tear.

PPS.  Play the video until it reaches a pop song, which starts out with rap, transitions to Christina Aguilera (I think), and then samples a Norwegian pop song from the 1980s.  Seeing the middle-aged Chinese ladies dancing to all of that is more than a bit surreal.


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37 Responses to “Detroit, Orange County, and “Murica””

  1. Gravatar of E. Harding E. Harding
    11. August 2018 at 11:40

    There are no American nationalists. They don’t exist.

    They do. Talk to any random American. About a third will be American nationalists. White nationalists are a much smaller minority.

    Her concern about immigration is clearly linked to race, at some level.

    Good, if true.

    Is that how Ingraham thinks about Haitian immigration?

    It’s no secret Nigerian and Haitian Blacks are much less crime-prone than American Blacks (though probably somewhat more so than White Americans). I think a bit of new Black migration is useful as a natural experiment, or a way to lead American Blacks by example. But it’s not preserving traditional America; it’s destroying it.

    In this vision of “American” nationalism, Detroit is a red, white and blue, all-American city, while Orange County is a disturbing foreign place, where whites are only 41% of the population and blacks are almost non-existent.

    Yes. That’s part of why the surroundings of Detroit generally swung sharply toward Trump, while those of Anaheim swung sharply against. Sumner, you have to realize that the days of racist Macomb County (back in 1984) are gone. There remains a suspicion of Central Americans and Muslims, but not of Blacks.

    https://www.greenbergresearch.com/macomb/2017/3/9/macomb-county-in-the-age-of-trump

    the implication that immigrants from shithole countries are not the sort of people that we want here

    Representative people from shithole countries are not the sort of people we want here. I have no desire to see a third of Russia emigrate to the U.S.

    while romanticizing the plight of opioid-addicted whites in Appalachia

    I don’t share that romanticization. I have pity for the Appalachians, and mainly desire them to move out of Appalachia. Meanwhile, I want Blacks to *not* flee Detroit (though I do want them to become less crime prone and more productive).

    Lots of Trump voters don’t care what Trump says about minorities.

    I do. Do you? I cared when Trump called diversity visa recipients the “worst of the worst”. Didn’t even hear you whine at all.

    So Trump continues to send out dog whistles to his white nationalist supporters,

    Uh, Sumner… Trump doesn’t do dog-whistles. He’s not politically savvy enough to. That’s Reagan you’re thinking of.

    Here’s a video from an Orange County 4th of July Parade last month, full of marching Chinese ladies.

    Yes; the Chinese are known for attending American civic festivities; e.g., the New Years’ Eve ball drop in New York. It’s also a good thing they don’t vote or run for office much. They’re corrupt, though, but at least pay their debts and express some opposition to Affirmative Blacktion. I don’t know if I want any more Chinese here, Sumner, but they’re far from the worst people to import.

  2. Gravatar of Lorenzo from Oz Lorenzo from Oz
    11. August 2018 at 16:06

    Let’s talk about the difference between patriotism — an emotional to your country of citizenship — and nationalism — an emotional commitment to your ethnic group conceived as a political project. As far as I can see, there are lots of American patriots, rather fewer American nationalists, because, as you say, that requires turning the US into a ethnostate, which it has never been. Particularly as there are quite a lot of American nations.
    https://medium.com/s/balkanized-america/the-11-nations-of-america-as-told-by-dna-f283d4c58483

    So, “white” (i.e. of European descent, whether via Latin America or not) becomes a meta-ethnicity. Which goes back to colonial history, and distinguishing the (from Europe) settlers from slaves and the indigenous locals by their “whiteness”. Hence the US obsession with “race”.

    Of course, there is a sort-of American nationalism–the Hamiltonian strong state tradition. Or the Teddy Rooseveltian “no hyphenated Americans” melting pot nationalism. (But, hey, assimilation is evil or something, so not so resonant nowadays.) But they are very specifically American concepts of “nationalism” because they are not about some continuing ethnicity. They are either about a strong state or ethnogenesis so, in different senses, about creating a nation.

    But all uses of ‘white’ and ‘black’ in the US are pernicious in various ways. By ‘black’ do you mean the local descendants of slaves, Afro-Caribbean immigrants or recent African immigrants? They are very different groups. ‘White’ is even less coherent.

    I have been keeping track for a while now, I have not come across a scholarly use of either term which is not analytically pernicious in some way or other (i.e. either conflating different groups, to directing attention away from key causal factors).

    But if folk go around rabbitting on about evil “whiteness”, then backlashes are more or less inevitable. Both identitarian progressivism and the Alt Right require identity politics. There is no form of identity politics which will stop the interacting infection, only the supplanting of it will do that.

  3. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    11. August 2018 at 16:13

    Lorenzo, Good point about the distinction between patriotism and nationalism.

    And yes, when the left engages in anti-white identity politics they are helping Trump.

  4. Gravatar of B Cole B Cole
    11. August 2018 at 16:26

    The Native Americans were xenophobic and racist in their reception to white settlers several hundred years ago in North America. The whites offered diversification and cultural enrichment— well, if the Native Americans were allowed to appropriate the culture of the white settlers. Would that be PC?

    Sometimes it is hip to sacralize immigration, but at other times it is not.

    The short story on America is the upper-class likes immigrants because they are cheap labor. The employee-class does not like immigrants as much.

    Perhaps there is a happy medium. America should allow the immigration of young good-looking women from all over the world. Except for embittered feminists, this might work.

  5. Gravatar of Hmmm Hmmm
    11. August 2018 at 17:02

    No American nationalists?

    I guess this is a quibbling about wording, or at least I hope it is. If so please say so.

    What do you call the Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, Black, and white combat veterans who served overseas in the last 18 years?

    Are we really going to throw them into the Nazi bucket because they feel that their (sometimes adopted, some soldiers are immigrants!) nation is a critical part of identity?

    Yikes

  6. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    11. August 2018 at 17:30

    Scott,

    you live in one of the most upper-class counties in the country. Every time you talk about certain topics it sounds like Maria Antoinette talking about bread. You don’t know much about bread, Scott.

    @ B Cole

    The short story on America is the upper-class likes immigrants because they are cheap labor. The employee-class does not like immigrants as much.

    Very good point.

    P.S. Scott, why are there only 1.7% blacks living in your county??? How black-deterrent and racist is your county? You talking about blacks isn’t even Maria Antoinette talking about bread anymore, it’s a caveman of Plato’s Cave talking about the sun.

    Typical white upper-class behaviour: You really love poor people, as long as they live miles away from you.

  7. Gravatar of Benny Lava Benny Lava
    11. August 2018 at 18:38

    Don’t forget that 150 years ago places like Germany, Italy, and Ireland were shithole countries. That is generally why people leave in droves.

  8. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    11. August 2018 at 18:55

    Another question: If the US can only build 1.2 million new units a year of housing (and that may be optimistic, it was less than that for the previous ten years)…then how much immigration can be embraced, given the housing infrastructure?

    Can the US overturn local and state property-zoning laws?

    Is there momentum in free market-right wing-libertarian circles for the Supreme Court to abolish property zoning? I see none. And the lefties are out to lunch, as usual.

    I can’t seem to find out how much housing each year becomes dilapidated, or located in regions where it is not longer needed, such as emptied-out neighborhoods in the rural Midwest or in Rust Belt cities (housing is really cheap in rural Missouri).

    Thus, the useful net addition to US housing stock may be less than 1.2 million a year.

    BTW, there are 138.3 million housing units in the US, per FRED. This number appears to grow somewhat in line with new housing starts, indicating (at least as measured) only a small amount of housing each year is considered to have become dilapidated.

    So, it appears the US housing stock is aging, nearly at a one-year-to-one year ratio—that is, if the US housing stock is and average of 60 years old now, it will be very close to 61 years old next year.

    Fascinating tidbit: The word “dilapidate” has as one root the Latin word “lapis,” meaning rock or stone. A lapidary is a stone works, to be lapidified is to be frozen like stone.

    So, a “dilapidated” house is one where the rocks and stones are falling down out of the walls, as might be seen in older structures of Europe.

  9. Gravatar of JG JG
    11. August 2018 at 20:18

    How does Scott conclude Laura is prejudice against minorities including Hispanics when one of her adopted children is from central or South America? I think Scott is dog whistling.

  10. Gravatar of Philo Philo
    11. August 2018 at 20:30

    So Laura Ingraham complains that “the America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore.” That makes her not a present-U.S.-nationalist but a past-U.S.-nationalist: a sort of reactionary. She should propose that the old-fashioned parts of America secede from the remainder, so as to form a nation in which she would be happy.

    But it is left unclear just how “old” is “old-fashioned.” I suppose we can draw the line at 1776, but even after that date parts of present-day America belonged to Britain, France, Russia, Mexico, and various pre-Columbian populations (Indians, Inuits, Hawaiian Islanders). Maybe we should draw the line at 1960, when Hawaii and Alaska were admitted to the union, making her a relatively moderate reactionary (though we might still wonder about Puerto Rico, Samoa, etc.).

    However, the alleged white-racist “hidden message” is awfully well hidden in this particular piece of rhetoric, since there is no past date when America was almost all white, and it is not plausible to suppose that her intended audience is unaware of this fact. I am surprised you couldn’t find a more convincing example—a piece of Ingrahamian rhetoric in which the white-racism was *only slightly* covert.

  11. Gravatar of jroll jroll
    11. August 2018 at 22:23

    Scott, Trump previously said he wants to keep talented people in the country, something he illustrated with a story of a guy who went to Harvard and wanted to stay in the country but returned to India and started a company there instead.

    It’s Richard Spencer who is opposed to “asian” (a too broad term) immigration.

    Trump just wants immigration that is beneficial to (most) Americans, which can easily be defined as the highly skilled, highly talented, or very smart i.e. merit based immigration.

    Nationalists are also reasonably concerned about religious (Islamic) terrorism and cultural practice, illegal immigration, border integrity (think breakaway territories), and English language adoption.

    Few besides Spencer are opposed to Chinese immigration, and if they are like me their major concern is that someday soon we won’t be able to attract them anymore. Or even that the one’s who are here will start to leave. (I feel the same way only more so regarding Israelis.)

    I object to your conflation of African-American (descendants of American slaves) and recent African immigrants. And think it makes little sense to increase or maintain the relative percentage through (non merit based) immigrant supplements. (The group could always try to increase themselves the old fashioned way.)

    I’ve also never heard, even from otherwise genocidal racists, a desire to cleanse America of Native Americans.

    Detroit/Orange County does not follow from merit based/random immigration. Try again.

    I grew up with Vietnamese Americans and if anything preferred them on average to anyone else. I’d be happy with open borders for Jews, Japanese, and Vietnamese. I’d also like to paperclip North Korea (and the EU and China).

  12. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    11. August 2018 at 23:51

    @philo

    since there is no past date when America was almost all white, and it is not plausible to suppose that her intended audience is unaware of this fact.

    There is a date. America was almost all white from 1870 to 1970. Around 85-90% of the population identified as white back then. It’s hard to be more white than that, especially when you import millions of black slaves. But I guess they “balanced” that by killing millions of Indians. The “decline” of white Americans happened only in the last decades since about the 1980s.

  13. Gravatar of Bob O’Brien Bob O'Brien
    12. August 2018 at 05:54

    Regarding:
    “There are no American nationalists. They don’t exist. There are people like Laura Ingraham, who present themselves as American nationalists. But they are not at all convincing. On the other hand, there are lots of American white nationalists, including our current president.”

    It seems to me that America has shown the world that the closer a country comes to the Jeffersonian idea that government should be created by the people for the people, then, the more successful that country will be. America has been prosperous in direct proportion to the level of freedom of the people in America.

    Talk of nationalism, white nationalism and racism is to focus on the noise and miss the big picture. Yes, we have a history of racism. But our freedom has enabled us to make huge progress in eliminating this racism. It was not government that made this improvement but the people. Once the nature of segregation hit American TV screens in the 1950’s and 60’s the people of America put a stop to it.

    Today I see a trend that is putting our freedom at risk. Government run by liberal judges and by socialist politicians is the reason I think our freedom is at risk. I like Trump’s appointments to the courts and he is not a socialist so I support him as I think he is on the right side of the big issue of our freedom.

  14. Gravatar of Robbie Robbie
    12. August 2018 at 07:26

    So prof Sumner think importing third-worlders is wonderful.
    But he won’t move there himself, no sir.

    Must be that white countries have magic dirt, while the third world has tragic dirt.

  15. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    12. August 2018 at 10:01

    Hmmm, You asked:

    “What do you call the Asian, Middle Eastern, Hispanic, Black, and white combat veterans who served overseas in the last 18 years?”

    Patriotic.

    You do realize that calling someone a “nationalist” was an insult until a few years ago, don’t you? (While patriot is a compliment). When I went to school in the 1960s, we were all taught that nationalism was evil, and was one of the causes of WWII.

    Christian, Did you even read my post? I pointed out that Orange County is immigrant rich. I am not advocating poverty (which I don’t want to live close to), I’m advocating immigration. The fact that you conflate immigration and poverty is quite revealing. Detroit is the poor city, and one with few immigrants. Orange County is affluent and full of recent immigrants.

    JG, You said:

    “How does Scott conclude Laura is prejudice against minorities including Hispanics”

    Umm, because I can read, and I’m not a moron? She’s explicitly not referring to high crime poor areas like Detroit, she’s referring to areas that look like they are full of immigrants. Is she referring to Norwegian immigrants? What do they look like? How would she know they are immigrants.

    jroll, You said:

    “Trump previously said he wants to keep talented people in the country,”

    Then why is he reducing the number of skilled immigrants allowed in? But even if that were true, there’s still racism in assuming that people from shithole countries are not talented.

    You said:

    “Few besides Spencer are opposed to Chinese immigration,”

    Oh really? Steve Bannon is opposed. And right after taking office Trump made Bannon one of this top three advisors. The alt right is not just a fringe group, it’s within the Trump administration.

    You said:

    “I object to your conflation of African-American (descendants of American slaves) and recent African immigrants.”

    I did not do so; I pointed out that Nigerian immigrants are relatively successful, which further undercuts Trump’s view of immigration from shithole countries. But if Ingraham is talking about preserving the ethnic make-up of traditional America, then black immigration does so.

    You said:

    “I’ve also never heard, even from otherwise genocidal racists, a desire to cleanse America of Native Americans.”

    I completely agree. But there are tens of millions of Americans who understand that would be wrong, while also privately wishing that America had many fewer blacks, Indians and Hispanics. As an analogy, not every anti-semite favored the Holocaust. My comment was that their vision is of a mostly white America as an ideal, not that they actively favor expelling minorities.

    Christian, Your second comment is also misleading, as during the golden age you refer to the dominant WASPs viewed lots of recent immigrants (such as Sicilians) as being just as culturally different as the alt right now views Asians and Hispanics. The unified “white” culture developed over time, as various European groups assimilated, and as Asians and Hispanics are now beginning to do.

    Bob, The only reason we still have freedom of the press is that Trump has not gotten his way. He’s on record favoring all sorts of government restrictions on press freedom (banning anonymous sources, tighter libel laws against criticizing officials, etc.), and Trump a high opinion of foreign leaders who restrict press freedom (Orban, Putin, etc.) Don’t do a deal with the devil. In the end, right-wing populist demagogues never end up favoring “freedom”, whatever their initial rhetoric. It’s not in their blood.

    And I’m someone who agrees with your criticism of the PC left.

    Robbie:

    “So prof Sumner think importing third-worlders is wonderful.
    But he won’t move there himself, no sir.”

    Did you even read my post? I just moved to a county full of recent immigrants from third world countries like Mexico, China, and Vietnam. How does that make me a hypocrite?

    I’m advocating immigration, not making America like Vietnam.

  16. Gravatar of JG JG
    12. August 2018 at 10:33

    Scott is the unceasing barometer of moral truth, but the funny thing is that he denies objective moral truth. I’ve never understood this. He contradicts himself by claiming there is no truth, but this statement is in and of itself a claim of truth. Am I a moron??

    He cleverly dismisses the reason for my rebuttal – that Laura is a closet xenophobe at the same time she adopts a brown baby from central or south America?

    I guess Scott has extra mental powers that can discern what is inside Laura’s head and mind when she spoke out. Scott is very smart.

    Perhaps, just perhaps, Laura was referring to consequences of 50 years of multiculturalism that have erased America’s common bonds based on creed – not race? Maybe or maybe not? Obviously, this has less to do with immigration and more to do with the propaganda taught at universities where Scott spent most or all of his professional life.

    But Scott is a very brilliant monetary academic who knows with little doubt, albeit he doesn’t believe in objective truth, that someone who adopts a brown baby is also racist towards those with brown skin.

  17. Gravatar of JG JG
    12. August 2018 at 10:51

    Many or most academics like Scott are atheists. They understand little about religious beliefs and they underestimate the impact of religion and culture on society. In general, they view people as economic units. Maybe scott isn’t in this category but most atheist academics are. One of the big reasons the USA is what it is is because of our Christian roots. If legal immigration is always a good, I wonder how Scott would embrace life under a form of sharia? if Scott didn’t want to live under sharia, is he a xenophone?

  18. Gravatar of Robbie Robbie
    12. August 2018 at 11:15

    So because prof Sumner happened to bump into one smart & civilized Somali, it must be that all Somalis are like that.

    And yet, Somalia is not quite at the forefront of civilization.

    Wonder why that might be ?

    And me calling you a hypocrite would be the charitable interpretation.

    The not-so-charitable would be me calling you a psychopath who uses “utilitarian” values as an excuse to hurt those around him.

  19. Gravatar of JG JG
    12. August 2018 at 12:38

    Scott says “My comment was that their vision is of a mostly white America as an ideal, not that they actively favor expelling minorities.”

    “I just moved to a county full of recent immigrants from third world countries like Mexico, China, and Vietnam. How does that make me a hypocrite?”

    what scott conveniently forgets to mention is that he resides in one of the most affluent cities in OC. The population is near 80% white and the average or mean family income is over $100k. That isn’t a lot of OC, but it makes the point.

    Scott embraces all immigrants and cultures save for those (hispanic, for instance) that have flooded communities, say in east LA or Santa Ana (orange county) over the past 50+ years and kept them poor. Scott would never contemplate living in these poor areas and understandably so. and by the way most of these blue collar communities are from violent hell holes. I know because I and my parents were raised in east los angeles and nearby.

    According to the Sumner sweeping generalization barometer, Scott’s choice to live in this prosperous OC city is evidence he is biased against those immigrant cultures that keep communities impoverished.
    But Scott is pure of heart and his detractors are racist. Go figure!

  20. Gravatar of Robbie Robbie
    12. August 2018 at 13:31

    Gonna copy-paste this

    When states become majority minority they become one-party states. California was 10% Mexican in 1970, 20% Mexican in 1980, 30% Mexican in 1990 and 40% Mexican in 2000. Today California is a one party state.

    When states like Texas and Florida become majority minority in the next 10-15 years, one party rule by the Democrats in those states will result in a numerical impossibility of Republicans ever winning the electoral college and attaining national office –the presidency. Thus the Republican party will cease to be a nationally competitive party. The US will have become a one-party democracy run by democrats.

    But hey, prof Sumner will be living comfortably in his price-segregated “diverse” community.

  21. Gravatar of Robbie Robbie
    12. August 2018 at 13:42

    I submit this.

    Racism is an anti-concept used to silence the conversation when the facts are stacked against you.
    To deploy it is to concede the argument.

    My proof – the concept simply did not exist until Trotsky invented it.

  22. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    12. August 2018 at 15:08

    Scott, your points are all correct.

    My point is that you are completely ignoring the negative sides of immigration. Just one example: Have you ever heard of MS-18 and MS-13? Are those kind of immigrants your neighbors, too? I doubt it. You live together with the very best people America has to offer, recent immigrant or not.

    Detroit is the poor city, and one with few immigrants. Orange County is affluent and full of recent immigrants.

    An odd point for an economist. Immigrants, and Americans in general, are usually moving to the counties with a lot of economic opportunities. Why would they go to Detroit, when they can go to Texas and California?

  23. Gravatar of jroll jroll
    12. August 2018 at 15:29

    Scott, FWIW regarding Bannon, Trump said that to Bannon (in an interview).

    Regarding “shitholes” my interpretation is that it refers to random as opposed to skilled immigrants from those countries, that he would still be in favor of merit based immigrants from those countries, but perhaps more open to random immigrants from nicer countries like Norway as I am regarding Japan. This seems perfectly sane and prudent to me. We could even reward less developed countries with economic aid in exchange for their high skilled immigrants (say in proportion to their earnings). (The missing context was he was negotiating with Democrats, I think he would say he only wants merit based, so Dems ask for (random) cutouts from places like Haiti and he says why should we take them? I’m personally not opposed to some (small) diversity green card lottery or something.)

    Regarding a reduction in the skilled, this is regarding H1Bs? Guest workers are not immigrants, no?

    I should have also mentioned birthright citizenship for the children of non-citizens (or permanent residents) above as something that is a reasonable concern.

  24. Gravatar of Jg Jg
    12. August 2018 at 19:22

    Forgot an important word – most communities in east LA are FAR from violent hell holes meaning that in most of these areas crime is greater than in affluent communities but not out of control.

  25. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    13. August 2018 at 08:58

    JG, Ingraham said:

    “in major parts of the country, it does seem that the America we know and love doesn’t exist anymore. Massive demographic changes have been foisted on the American people and they’re changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don’t like.”

    Demographic? Gee, I just can’t imagine what is bugging Ingraham, I guess I’ll have to engage in some mind reading.

    You said:

    “consequences of 50 years of multiculturalism that have erased America’s common bonds based on creed – not race?”

    Common bonds back in the good old days? I wonder how blacks felt about common bonds in the Jim Crow days.

    You said:

    “He contradicts himself by claiming there is no truth, but this statement is in and of itself a claim of truth. Am I a moron??”

    Perhaps not, but you might benefit from reading Richard Rorty.

    As for my choice of Mission Viejo, race was actually a negative–the city is boring. I’d prefer mostly non-white Irvine, but the sort of house we wanted is too pricey there. We often visit Santa Ana, which is 75% Hispanic, and more interesting than MV.

    Robbie, What makes your comment so funny is you don’t seem to realize that Texas is only 42% non-Hispanic white, not much different from California—and yet it votes strongly GOP.

    jroll, When Trump proposes a sensible immigration reform along the lines you suggest, I’ll take him seriously. For now, he’s trying to stop almost any type of immigration he can, including skilled immigrants.

  26. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    13. August 2018 at 09:00

    Christian, Immigrants are no more violent that average Americans; I’m happy to take a few bad apples along with lots of good ones.

  27. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    13. August 2018 at 09:35

    ‘Immigrants are no more violent that average Americans…’

    How about their children? I know the incarceration rates of second generation immigrants is a multiple of that of all Americans.

    Btw, what would happen to Israel if they had the same immigration policies as the USA?

  28. Gravatar of Willy2 Willy2
    13. August 2018 at 09:40

    – Laura Ingraham was also ranting against an “illegal alien”, “undocumented immigrant” (who has invented these horrible terms ??) who came from …. Denmark. Because he supposedly was responsible for starting a (large) forest fire in Colorado. Thank god, it was an alien and then FOX News was able to rant against “aliens” one more time.

  29. Gravatar of ChargerCarl ChargerCarl
    13. August 2018 at 12:32

    Scott why did you end up in South OC when you’re clearly a North OC/LA guy?

    🙂

  30. Gravatar of Robbie Robbie
    14. August 2018 at 05:27

    Immigrants are no more violent that average Americans

    Must be why cannibalism has returned to Africa after the whites left.

  31. Gravatar of Robbie Robbie
    14. August 2018 at 06:08

    http://akinokure.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-corporate-elitist-function-of.html

    In short, according to the neo-liberals, the purpose of the state is to make sure that the Jeff Bezos of the world get ever richer.

    As a humble employee of the indoctrination apparatus (also known as “academia”), prof Sumner does his part.

  32. Gravatar of msgkings msgkings
    14. August 2018 at 07:21

    @Patrick R Sullivan:

    Israel is very different from the US in almost every metric, why would you expect their immigration policy to have anything to do with ours?

  33. Gravatar of llisa2u2 llisa2u2
    14. August 2018 at 13:23

    that little video was great! Catches the moment! But, there’s a lot of irony to the “moment” too.

  34. Gravatar of Arilando Arilando
    14. August 2018 at 14:37

    >As for my choice of Mission Viejo, race was actually a negative–the city is boring. I’d prefer mostly non-white Irvine, but the sort of house we wanted is too pricey there.
    Irvine is even less hispanic and black than Mission Viejo (12,4% vs 18,2%). The reason the white % is lower is due to the high asian population. No one minds living around high IQ asians. The controversy in the US is not regarding high IQ asians, but low IQ immigrants from other parts of the world.
    >We often visit Santa Ana, which is 75% Hispanic, and more interesting than MV.
    Than why didn’t you buy a house in Santa Ana instead, with its significantly lower real estate prices? Could it have something to do with the fact that 77,3% hispanic Santa Ana has a homicide rate nearly 7 times that of Mission Viejo or Irvine?

  35. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    16. August 2018 at 07:03

    Arilando, I actually lived in Santa Ana briefly over 20 years ago. I was warned against it by whites living in Newport Beach, several times. The concern was the high violent crime rate. Though the victims of those crimes are almost always Mexicans, not Anglos. I found the lower prices on apartments an acceptable trade-off.

    ‘Israel is very different from the US in almost every metric, why would you expect their immigration policy to have anything to do with ours?’

    Nice dodge, but that classic logical fallacy (changing the subject, subtly) doesn’t work with me. I’m a veteran of usenet. What you’ve just conceded is that immigration can have profoundly negative effects.

  36. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    16. August 2018 at 07:05

    I should have pointed out that in that above quote, I was responding to msgkings, not Arilando.

  37. Gravatar of Tom Brown Tom Brown
    23. August 2018 at 14:28

    I claim there are no “American nationalists”, only “Murican nationalists”. They believe in Murica, a mythical white country cleansed of the blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans who have lived here for centuries. Ingraham may see herself as an American nationalist, but I don’t believe it for a moment.

    Bingo.

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