Trump’s Muslim Ban:

Seeing the Darkness, the Spider-Face Beyond, and the Great Web of It All

Rasa - These days the search for a scapegoat is the easiest of all hunting expeditions in Washington.

News ID: 426951

Date: 29 January 2017 - 23:55

RNA - Here, the best way for President Donald Trump to avoid becoming a scapegoat is to find one. Hence, his decision to indefinitely suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees and temporarily ban people from seven Muslim nations from entering the United States. It’s too easy for Trump to criticize Muslim immigrants and refugees when he's out of favor, and to make them shoulder the blame for his country’s foreign policy blunders.

There are however many domestic issues as to why Trump has made such a condemnable decision to detain and separate Muslim families, among them:

New data is available to strengthen the case that half of the United States is in poverty and that America is getting poorer. Trump’s fat cat cabinet members might try to say otherwise, that financial wealth is growing and jobs are returning to the United States. But the fact is, half of America is barely surviving and out of job.

According to a recent Bankrate poll, two-thirds of Americans have no savings at all. A new Pew survey suggests over half of American households have less than one month's income in savings, and that all their retirement funds amount to four months of income. This doesn't include millions of families that are out of job.

Nor is that all. Americans rank near the top of global ratings when it comes to being strapped for cash. Median wealth has dropped a shocking 40%, leaving the poorest half with rising debt and no future.

Further still, food costs have doubled, housing has more than tripled, and college tuition is eleven times higher. The cost of raising a child is up while health care expenses continue to grow. This is while median household income has been going down since 2000, with 95% of income gains going to the richest 1%. No wonder they support Trump's controversial presidency.

Growing income inequality is setting new records too. The number of part-time low-income jobs is rising while the number of full-time high-income jobs is falling. The Federal Reserve Bank reports that the jobs that could keep the middle class out of poverty have seen a decline since 2000.

Hunger remains high in the US, where child poverty rate is more than twice as high as many European nations. Over half of public school students use lunch subsidies. The number of children on food stamps has gone up by 70%. State of Working America reports that half of black children live in absolute poverty. The number of people going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 50%.

It is too easy for Trump to disregard these facts and statistics, and blame Muslim immigrants and refugees for everything that has gone wrong with the American dream. But the vast amount of evidence suggests that America is indeed becoming a nation deeply divided between the haves and the have nots. It is undeniable that America is getting poorer, poverty is spreading, and hopelessness and despair are rising.

All this and more says why the economy and not Muslim immigrants and refugees has to be the number one issue for the Trump administration. Millions upon millions of Americans are in deep pain and they want change. They are protesting across the nation because they know Trump doesn't have the answer to their plight.

They know full well that Trump’s Muslim ban is just a temporary distraction from much more important domestic issues. They can see the darkness, the spider-face beyond, and the great web of it all. In their minds, Muslim immigrants and Syrian refugees are the victims; Trump is the threat.

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