The Real S--t Hole
The View from the Middle

It is absolutely ridiculous that in today’s world which presents us such real issues as a nuclear armed North Korea, Islamic terrorism and a $20 trillion national debt that we have people producing crocodile tears of rage (really, Cory Booker?) over the use of the expression “shit hole”. While I have to admit that I have used that term and probably worse in my life, let me suggest that it is not appropriate and commit to replacing it in this piece with the slightly less offensive term “crap hole”. But let me shine some light of truth on this whole ludicrous situation.
It all started with “the snake” Dick Durbin (Democratic Senator from Illinois) sharing confidential comments made during a meeting at the White House between the President and key legislators. This kind of tattle telling is hardly a strategy to build trust. Plus, I honestly reviewed every President in my lifetime and asked myself if they would have used similar language. The passionate John Kennedy would have definitely used that term. How about LBJ? Are you kidding me? He would have used that term while sitting on the crap hole. Clinton, Obama, even Reagan? Absolutely! Yet, back then it was an unwritten rule that members of Congress and the media wouldn’t report such insignificant and inconsequential slips.
But “the snake” Dick Durbin was looking for anything that could throw a monkey wrench in the immigration discussion, because he is terrified that Trump will actually solve this issue in a year when Durbin and the Democrats ignored it for the eight previous years. Then he went on to suggest that he could read Trump’s mind and said that this term was directed at the people of these countries. Well Dicky, let me correct your interpretation. A crap hole is, by definition, a place and not a person. And Dicky, when was the last time you vacationed in Somalia, The Congo, Mali or Sudan? In fact, when I looked up the 10 worst countries in Africa, the author actually used the term “shit hole” to describe Uganda. It is the governments that make these countries crap holes, not the people.
And then Chuck Schumer and the Democrats shut down the government ever so briefly over DACA, an issue that was already being debated throughout Congress and had a date-urgent in March. Why would they do that? The answer is very simple. They knew that a resolution to this issue was finally going to be reached under the Trump Presidency and they were desperate to figure out how to take credit for it. As I said before, they had eight years to solve it under Obama and they couldn’t. All they were able to muster was an unconstitutional executive order.
Love him or hate him, Trump did the right thing back in September by terminating Obama’s illegal executive order. This is forcing the Congress to do their damned jobs and finally develop a legislative fix for these DACA kids, who aren’t really “kids” anymore. These DACA kids should be praising this President for finally forcing the issue which I believe will be resolved by February 8th or at a minimum by March 5th, when the executive protection runs out.
All of the deception, political posturing and back stabbing that we witnessed over the last couple of weeks just reinforces that the real “crap hole” is Washington DC. Call it the “swamp” or call it a “crap hole”, it is the intransigence and dysfunction in Washington that is driving the average American to distraction. Even on the fate of these dreamers, which three out of four Americans sympathize with, we have one party that doesn’t want to solve this issue because they believe they gain political advantage when it is unanswered. Then you have the other party that needs to have a gun to its head to be forced to do the right thing. The lives of these young people protected by DACA seem to be a secondary issue at best.
Maybe the most important promise Trump can keep is to “drain the swamp”, or “crap hole” if you wish, in Washington DC. A DACA fix with border security, dramatic reforms to chain migration and the end of the visa lottery system would be a nice positive step to draining the swamp or flushing the crap hole, depending on your metaphor. My prediction is that a DACA fix WILL get passed and Washington DC will begin to smell a little less offensive. And the real winners will be – We The People!!!