LOAD d matic! And forget Christmas, Election Season is upon us!
The first out of the gate, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar-Trump (KPBT… for the sake of my word limit) rallying against those blood-hungry, violent illegal Venezuelan migrants!
Like the man behind her newly adopted surname, KPBT knows nothing brings together an already fractured society like identifying a new enemy they can both turn on.
In a press release issued this week KPBT announced, “Every day for the last year, there were reports of violent crimes being committed by illegal Venezuelan migrants against our citizens.”
Everyday! Hot Toddy! I am sure KPBT would back this opening statement up with statistical facts?
Donald Trump
Nope, none. But she’s got our blood boiling! If she says Venezuelan migrants are committing violent crimes every day, then it must be true, because she is the leader of the opposition leader, former prime minister and Mother of the Nation!
KPBT continued, “Today I make it clear, if the Venezuelan migrant community do not get their act in order and desist from engaging in criminal conduct, begin assisting the TTPS in identifying Venezuelan criminals and integrate peacefully into our society, my incoming government will take aggressive action against ALL illegal Venezuelan migrants and deport every one of them to their homeland by any means necessary.”
Hear that! ALL allyuh illegal venes getting busted under KPBT!
But one must wonder, is this the same woman who up to 2023 was lobbying for the regularization of Venezuelan migrants and demanding they have better access to healthcare, education, getting driver’s licences?
The answer is, yes. This is the same woman, only this time she’s playing for votes. She is aware that illegal immigration is a great concern among Trinidadians, as is its connection to crime through the smuggling of guns, drugs and human trafficking.
Her release gave no statistics on crimes committed by migrants legal or illegal. No clear plan on how she would identify or deport all illegal migrants. She didn’t mention any plans to secure the borders to eliminate illegal migration. But taking a page from US President-elect Donald Trump, she didn’t need too to gain the confidence of the people.
By aggressively targeting this concern in an incredibly vague way, she’s buying the population’s interest by uniting them through a common problem.
Unfortunately, KPBT’s tirade has brought about the re-emergence of public xenophobia towards all Venezuelans living in T&T whether they are legally here or not.
Suddenly there was a big hurrah in the comments about migrants hiding their criminal friends from the police… we Trini’s don’t do that; everyone is a good child… running racket… Trini’s don’t partake in any illegal business activities… not paying taxes… all Trini’s dutifully fill out tax forms and declare all their earnings. These migrants just don’t know to transition into our peaceful, law-abiding society!
A day after KPBT’s original release, a newspaper ran a story about migrants building and farming on riverbanks, causing the community, which they settled into to flood.
Man did this throw gasoline into the fire. People were pissed, they had all sorts of examples of migrants building where they shouldn’t, constructing illegal structures and squatting on government land!
Oh, those pesky migrants! How dear they do such things. Don’t they know only we locals are allowed to squat, build unapproved structures and destroy riverbeds!
KPBT provided us with a new tool for cognitive dissonance. We allow or selectively ignore our own bad behaviour because this is our country, and demonise migrants, who are doing the same thing, as being even worse than us, because this is not their native land. She provided us with a new method of personal justification while creating an enemy we can project our frustrations upon.
Give Jack her jacket, she knows exactly what she is doing.
And I give homegirl this, it takes a lot of ovarian fortitude to refer to your political party as the “incoming government.”
This week we saw angry, Kamla. Give her the weekend. With the government having accepted the Salaries Review Commission’s recommendation for salary increases for members of government, I suspect we will see the kind, caring Kamla return. The ‘matic will be tucked away and she sit with us, empathetically relating to our struggles regarding the cost of living and reminding us all she objected to the pay raise.
Commentary: KPB Trump, It’s Election Season
LOAD d matic! And forget Christmas, Election Season is upon us!
The first out of the gate, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar-Trump (KPBT… for the sake of my word limit) rallying against those blood-hungry, violent illegal Venezuelan migrants!
Like the man behind her newly adopted surname, KPBT knows nothing brings together an already fractured society like identifying a new enemy they can both turn on.
In a press release issued this week KPBT announced, “Every day for the last year, there were reports of violent crimes being committed by illegal Venezuelan migrants against our citizens.”
Everyday! Hot Toddy! I am sure KPBT would back this opening statement up with statistical facts?
Nope, none. But she’s got our blood boiling! If she says Venezuelan migrants are committing violent crimes every day, then it must be true, because she is the leader of the opposition leader, former prime minister and Mother of the Nation!
KPBT continued, “Today I make it clear, if the Venezuelan migrant community do not get their act in order and desist from engaging in criminal conduct, begin assisting the TTPS in identifying Venezuelan criminals and integrate peacefully into our society, my incoming government will take aggressive action against ALL illegal Venezuelan migrants and deport every one of them to their homeland by any means necessary.”
Hear that! ALL allyuh illegal venes getting busted under KPBT!
But one must wonder, is this the same woman who up to 2023 was lobbying for the regularization of Venezuelan migrants and demanding they have better access to healthcare, education, getting driver’s licences?
The answer is, yes. This is the same woman, only this time she’s playing for votes. She is aware that illegal immigration is a great concern among Trinidadians, as is its connection to crime through the smuggling of guns, drugs and human trafficking.
Her release gave no statistics on crimes committed by migrants legal or illegal. No clear plan on how she would identify or deport all illegal migrants. She didn’t mention any plans to secure the borders to eliminate illegal migration. But taking a page from US President-elect Donald Trump, she didn’t need too to gain the confidence of the people.
By aggressively targeting this concern in an incredibly vague way, she’s buying the population’s interest by uniting them through a common problem.
Unfortunately, KPBT’s tirade has brought about the re-emergence of public xenophobia towards all Venezuelans living in T&T whether they are legally here or not.
Suddenly there was a big hurrah in the comments about migrants hiding their criminal friends from the police… we Trini’s don’t do that; everyone is a good child… running racket… Trini’s don’t partake in any illegal business activities… not paying taxes… all Trini’s dutifully fill out tax forms and declare all their earnings. These migrants just don’t know to transition into our peaceful, law-abiding society!
A day after KPBT’s original release, a newspaper ran a story about migrants building and farming on riverbanks, causing the community, which they settled into to flood.
Man did this throw gasoline into the fire. People were pissed, they had all sorts of examples of migrants building where they shouldn’t, constructing illegal structures and squatting on government land!
Oh, those pesky migrants! How dear they do such things. Don’t they know only we locals are allowed to squat, build unapproved structures and destroy riverbeds!
KPBT provided us with a new tool for cognitive dissonance. We allow or selectively ignore our own bad behaviour because this is our country, and demonise migrants, who are doing the same thing, as being even worse than us, because this is not their native land. She provided us with a new method of personal justification while creating an enemy we can project our frustrations upon.
Give Jack her jacket, she knows exactly what she is doing.
And I give homegirl this, it takes a lot of ovarian fortitude to refer to your political party as the “incoming government.”
This week we saw angry, Kamla. Give her the weekend. With the government having accepted the Salaries Review Commission’s recommendation for salary increases for members of government, I suspect we will see the kind, caring Kamla return. The ‘matic will be tucked away and she sit with us, empathetically relating to our struggles regarding the cost of living and reminding us all she objected to the pay raise.