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Every time Trump talked about illegal immigration, it was a nativist dog whistle. Anti-immigration dog whistling has been a fairly standard tactic for right wi
by toomanybeersies 5y ago
Every time Trump talked about illegal immigration, it was a nativist dog whistle.
Anti-immigration dog whistling has been a fairly standard tactic for right wing politicians since the 90s, where John Howard referred to asylum seekers as illegals, railed against "queue jumpers", and called for immigrants to respect the "Australian way of life" [1]. Like Trump, Howard also constantly went on about how he represented "ordinary Australians", unlike the "elites" with their "vested interests".
[1] https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/DP96_8.pdf https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- robertlagrant 5y agoI know it was described that way, but I also remember a lot of legal immigrants getting very frustrated at illegal immigration, and even more frustration at left-leaning media constantly reclassifying any mention of illegal immmigration as referring to any immigration. To me it seems like a category error, and I can't believe it's an accidental one. Some people do some things that we agree on are okay. Some go too far. That doesn't mean all do. Slightly more broadly, I think there's a healthy discussion to be had on open borders, and whether immigration should be illegal at all, but constantly assuming someone means something they aren't saying is incredibly destructive to our ability to reason about topics.