The Great Replacement Theory

The Great Replacement Theory is a sociopolitical concept asserting that native populations in a given country, are being systematically replaced by immigrant groups through demographic changes. The far-white-right in America are claiming the existence of an unchecked immigration plot that is being used to shift political power away from them. These fears are then used to justify exclusionary or xenophobic policies. We are seeing almost daily evidence of this with armed and masked police units, often of undeclared authority, trampling on the civil rights of immigrants and citizens alike.

When the original arrests of new immigrants were being made near the border, there was not much vocal protest. When those arrests began grabbing the friendly waffle house waitress in a hometown of over 80% Trump voters, that’s when people got upset. It seems that Carol, a local Kennet, Mo. resident of over 20 years and mother of three children, was not who the town thought would be the target of Trump’s vowed deportation of 20 million immigrants. Now, instead of wearing MAGA hats, they are wearing “Bring Carol Home” tee-shirts.

Much like his unwitting supporters, Trump’s act first and think later mindset is having consequences for everyone. He is having second thoughts about his ICE raids on farms, hotels, and restaurants and has now paused them. I say “second thoughts” when it is clear he never had the first thought. He now sees what most thinking people knew all along, America needs immigration. His pause of immigration enforcement in select industries began when he saw how it was hurting key industries. These industries are in blue and red states. Wow, who could have seen that one coming? Helen Keller, Mr. Magoo, and Stevie Wonder saw it, but not DJT.

It seems that Mr. Trump suffered the same problem faced by Rick Blaine in Casablanca who, when asked why he came there said that he came “for the waters.” He was then reminded that Casablanca was in the desert. Rick’s response, “I was misinformed.” Apparently, there is a lot of that going around these days. Trump didn’t realize that many key industries only function with the help of immigrants and their “green card status” is often of secondary importance. Some of these immigrant-dependent industries are are suffering substantial losses and those, in turn, have a domino like impact on other industries and businesses.

The Great Replacement Theory in America originated in white supremacist circles and like most conspiracy theories, has little foundation in fact. Widespread immigrant voting to the advantage of Democratic candidates was never found even after expensive and extensive investigations of recent elections. Trump saw this conspiracy as opportunity and he echoed the depiction of immigrants as “invaders.” This is all part of a much larger plan to erode basic civil rights using this “invasion” as an excuse to implement an American dictatorship. This is the same dictatorship Trump promised to only use on “day one.” If anyone is counting, day one ended months ago.

Immigration raids and the tariff roller coaster have created the distraction of chaos, now we need to be wary of his next diabolical moves. He was embarrassed by his faux military birthday celebration and blamed the low turnout on the weathermen predicting rain. Meanwhile, the rest of the nation turned out tens of thousands in cities across the country to show our discontent with King Trump and his clown car court of inept miscreants.

None of this is to say we should open our borders. We just need a sound and properly functioning immigration plan that meets the needs of this country and which is run with some thought to common decency. Carol of Kennett, Mo. is not alone.