Taking Donald Trump Seriously

A few days ago, Donald Trump had one of the many successful Mexican immigrants in the U.S. – Jorge Ramos, the main Spanish-speaking news anchor in that country – thrown out of a news conference. “Sit down. You weren’t called,” the candidate said. “Go back to Univision!” His crime? Asking Trump how he is going to implement his immigration plan, which includes detentions and massive deportations by the U.S. army, a huge border wall (paid for by Mexico) and other illogical ideas.

When the Republican Party’s pre-campaign began, Trump’s discourse caused surprise, some anger and even laughter. Many saw him as a showman who would give flavor to the otherwise boring primary race. But opinion polls show that Trump’s discourse is striking a chord with a significant part of the U.S. electorate, and they keep putting him ahead in the polls: Trump is leading at 26.1 percent. The closest candidate is Jeb Bush with 10.3 percent. Neither Ben Carson nor Marco Rubio reach 10 points.

Every week, political analysts prophesy his downfall and explain why Trump will never win the candidature, let alone the presidency. But each week his support continues to grow, so he has decided to turn up the volume and aggressiveness of his racist and xenophobic discourse.

This already has had consequences beyond the media. A few days ago, in Boston, a defenseless homeless person, of Mexican origin, was unspeakably humiliated and savagely beaten by two men with a metal pole. When arrested, the men told the police officers that “Donald Trump was right; all these illegals need to be deported.” And Jorge Ramos himself also suffered this irate aggression when a Trump supporter said “Get out of my country!” after Ramos was removed by Trump’s security, despite also being a U.S. citizen.

These facts show that planting a discourse of hate and intolerance is always dangerous. Each statement, each insult, is poisoning the political and social atmosphere little by little. Trump can retract his racist or sexist comments, and he can refine them, but once said, the inoculated poison remains in the minds of those who think like him. This is a typical tactic among instigators of violence and hatred, those who know how to elicit people’s worst emotions.

This is why I believe we need to start taking Donald Trump more seriously. The strategy of ignoring and not talking about him is not working. Standing by to see how he offends Mexico every week and waiting for him to “deflate,” or for the U.S. people not to vote for him, is a very risky strategy. Mexican immigrants in the U.S. – whether they are a famous journalist, a single mother who is the head of her family, or a child who helps their parents with the tomato harvesting – deserve to be defended against this discourse that dehumanizes and attacks them. Major Mexican companies have shown one way of responding to Trump, who wants to turn hatred into his passport to power. This is why I think that, without absurd or fanatic nationalism, the U.S. must feel the power of the Mexican state and the rejection of Trump’s rhetoric by the entirety of Mexican society.

There is a famous phrase attributed to the writer Edmund Burke, which says: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Those who have doubts about this, who believe, at this point, that indifference is the best response to Donald Trump, would do well to visit the Museum of Memory and Tolerance (Museo de Memoria y Tolerancia) in Mexico City and verify what happens when the spokespersons of racism and hatred are not stopped in time.

The risk is big. Not taking him seriously leaves thousands, millions of Mexican and Latino immigrants on their own. It is true that we are talking about an eccentric millionaire, but he could become the president of the U.S., which, by the way, is a country of immigrants. Let us take him seriously and do something.