Donald Trump catapulted to political infamy (and popularity) last summer with his remarks against Mexicans and undocumented immigrants. Unsurprisingly, he’s continued with similar remarks, specifically against the judge presiding over the Trump University lawsuit, who happens to be of Mexican descent. After bringing up Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage, and then following up repeatedly with “I’m building a wall,” when reporter Jake Tapper asked him if he was making racist remarks against the judge, public figures like Newt Gingrich had harsh words for Trump. Now, a congressman from Texas, who is also of Mexican descent, has followed up with an open letter to the candidate, blasting his stance on Mexicans and the wall he wants to build to keep them out.
Reprinted by the Dallas Morning News, Representative Filemon Vela’s letter energetically defends the contributions that Mexicans have made to the American economy and military, even as undocumented workers. He calls Trump’s rhetoric against them “despicable,” and then goes after Trump’s fixation on building a wall on the U.S.-Mexican border, with a nice little history lesson:
“The Great Wall of China is historically obsolete, and President Ronald Reagan famously declared, ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall … ‘ while urging the Soviet Union to destroy the barrier that divided West and East Berlin. Why any modern-thinking person would ever believe that building a wall along the border of a neighboring country, which is both our ally and one of our largest trading partners, is frankly astounding and asinine.”
Vela’s point seems to be that walls end up sowing divisiveness, as was the case with the Berlin Wall. Is that Trump’s intention? It sure helps to keep him popular with his base, even if it won’t actually work as an immigration policy and is poised to, one day, become “obsolete,” as well.
Vela also defended Judge Curiel specifically, writing, “Judge Curiel is one of 124 Americans of Hispanic descent who have served this country with honor and distinction as federal district judges.”
After showing how Curiel has contributed to American society, Vela dropped all pretense of civility, with one whopper of a closing line: “Mr. Trump, you’re a racist and you can take your border wall and shove it up your ass.” Writing that must have been cathartic, even if it doesn’t affect Trump’s popularity in the long run. Still, it gets one’s point across even more than an eloquent history lesson. It will also probably be the line that Trump responds to on Twitter later on.
(via The Dallas Morning News)