The silver lining of Trump's vulgar immigration remarks

Thank you, President Trump, for forcing another frank discussion about who makes America what it is

A group of immigrants become naturalized as U.S. citizens.
(Image credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Americans never used to have "national conversations" — we only used to call for them. But, now thanks in no small part to President Trump, we get to have real national conversations — passionate, messy, even angry ones — all the time.

Though he is without doubt the most prodigious liar in American political history — The Washington Post's Fact Checker has counted over 2,000 false and misleading statements he made in his first year in office — Trump can't help but engage in his own brand of bracing straight talk. Not possessed of the filter of caution and sense most politicians work hard to maintain, Trump is unable to keep the contents of his brain from pouring out his mouth. When it happens, the media reports it, everyone reacts in shock, and before you know it, Americans across the land are having a vigorous debate on some vital social or political issue, like sexual harassment or immigration.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.