[quote=@Penny]
[@mdk]

I'm hesitant to lay it all at the feet of the Campaign/Presidency of Trump. People didn't just wake up one day, see a speech and start thinking this way and its not like these sort of comments didn't occur during Obama's tenure. I does seem like there has been a sharp uptick since the last election cycle. It is always possible that the two are related, lifted on the same sort of rising tide we are seeing in Europe and other places.

From a personal point of view it certainly feels worse now. It was easier to laugh it off before the Trump campaign because you could tell yourself it was just an isolated few.
[/quote]

The reason I asked the (unfair, dirty-trick, leading) question is, I mean, he's married to Melania -- a legal immigrant woman is literally in the white house. I mean not literally, not right now, they're in Rome, but... I mean not to devalue your perspective, I've seen an uptick in weird people lately (well mostly just the one guy selling confederate flags to precisely nobody, making precisely zero dollars, but sticking to the effort). I'm just saying, the conclusion you're reaching is CERTAINLY the conclusion people are talking about all over, and I just wonder if that's fair. Not attributing unfairness to you -- talking about the broader premise.

From where I stand, my perception is that the right wing talks (CONNNNNNSTANTLY) about illegal immigration, and the left appears to skip the first part of that phrase when they respond in order to shape the conversation to ALL immigration. Speaking purely from personal experience, I have [i]never[/i] heard anybody argue to get rid of all the immigrants. Then again I don't spend much time at the confederate flag tent, so..... Anyway. Food for thought. We're swapping anecdotes, so the odds of reaching a productive dialogue are pretty low -- just thought maybe that could be... idunno, something.

Changing gears -- what would you say we ought to DO about the problem, from your perspective?