Sunday, November 6, 2016

Donald Trump warns that 650 million immigrants could come to the U.S. in a week. Let’s do the math!

By Philip Bump, The Washington Post
October 31, 2016

Twice on Sunday, Donald Trump told audiences at rallies that electing Hillary Clinton risked a truly spectacular shift in the composition of the United States.

"When you're working for Hillary, she wants to let people just pour in. You could have 650 million people pour in and we do nothing about it," Trump said. "Think of it. That's what could happen. You triple the size of our country in a week."

Well, no. For a lot of reasons.

Before we get into the important question of the mechanics of having 650 million people roll up to enter the United States, an exercise that will hopefully make clear just how hyperbolic this particular schmear of hyperbole happens to be, let's stop and consider the comment. Donald Trump uses hyperbole the way some politicians use touching voter anecdotes — to reinforce a broader political point. He says completely outrageous and completely untrue things because he feels as though they bolster his broader point: Immigrants are risky. Is it true? Not the point. The point is oh no, immigrants.[...]

Read the full article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/31/donald-trump-warns-that-650-million-immigrants-could-come-to-the-u-s-in-a-week-lets-do-the-math/

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