Joseph Sabino Mistick: Like Nixon to China
There is not much we can count on anymore, but at least for now, Thanksgiving is a safe bet. In the race for the nomination for governor of Wisconsin, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidate Francesca Hong lost to a moderate Democrat after voters were reminded of a 2021 social media post in which she said that we should “cancel Thanksgiving.”
There was a time when politicians could get away with saying and doing incredibly dumb things. But the dumb or vile things a candidate says now are captured for eternity on social media or in email and text messages. And things like “cancel Thanksgiving” and “defund the police” live forever.
Republicans must endure the pronouncements of Donald Trump, an equal opportunity basher who demeans all comers — from disabled Americans to American war heroes. Everyone has had an early “I can’t believe he said that” moment. And no single group has been targeted more by Trump than immigrants.
When Trump announced his first race for the White House in 2015, he accused Mexican immigrants of being drug dealers and rapists. He has accused Haitians of “poisoning the blood of our country,” lying that they were stealing and eating their neighbors’ pets in Springfield, Ohio.
In 2024, Trump called immigrants “rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums. You know, insane asylums. That’s ‘Silence of the Lambs’ stuff. Hannibal Lecter. Anybody know Hannibal Lecter?”
We get it. Trump does not like immigrants, and not just the criminals he promised to expel. He especially does not like immigrants from African, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Asian countries. They have been hunted down, sent to camps and deported.
But Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, sees an opportunity for Trump to boost his legacy, even as his poll numbers hit an all-time low. Recalling that Richard Nixon’s rabid opposition to communism is what allowed him to open the diplomatic door to China, DeWine believes that Trump’s anti-immigrant bona fides give him the opportunity to pass meaningful immigration reform.
In a New York Times op-ed last week, DeWine wrote that Trump has the standing “to make changes that prioritize our work force needs while respecting our history of welcoming people fleeing oppression and humanitarian crises.”
According to DeWine, immigrants take on physically demanding and hard-to-fill jobs in agriculture, food processing, hospitality, construction and home healthcare. And 22% of Ohio’s physicians were foreign-born as of 2023.
DeWine wants us to staple green cards to the diplomas of foreign students with advanced STEM degrees and extend H-1B visas to foreign workers who are essential to American businesses.
And even though international students added $55 billion to the nation’s economy in 2024, he says that “the administration has drastically reduced our international student population,” ending the policy that supported research and spurred innovation.
As for the Ohio Haitian nationals that Trump had attacked, DeWine wrote that they “have played a major role in the city’s economic comeback. They’ve filled jobs, repaired homes, paid taxes, started businesses and supported their families.”
And he reminded us of President Ronald Reagan’s claim that “we lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people — our strength — from every country and every corner of the world.”
As it should be for every American, it’s all close to home for DeWine, whose great-great-grandfather escaped the Irish potato famine and settled in Ohio.
“With only big dreams and guts, he took a chance on America, and America took a chance on him. That’s the American story.”