Donald Trump, DON'T SHOOT!

What in the world is Donald Trump thinking this time??? Yesterday, the man made some pretty intense threats against Central American migrants heading north towards the US right now, calling for possible military force to be used against them.

According to USA Today, President Trump said that 5,000 soldiers he has sent to the border to protect it should look at anyone who is throwing stones the same as someone using a rifle.

"They want to throw rocks at our military, our military fights back. I told them to consider it a rifle. When they throw rocks like what they did to the Mexican military and police, I say consider it a rifle."

Now, admittedly, it was rather scary to see the recent scenes of migrants at the southern border of Mexico get into a riot with Mexican police in their effort to get into the country so that they could pass through to the US. No one wants to see that. A group of angry young men becoming violent with police in order to get into a country? The optics are NOT good. And that has done little to alleviate any fears the fearful may already have. Bad timing. But threats of violent force from the army? Not good either.

Well, Trump has backtracked. He's very good at that. Today, the President insists that he didn't say "shoot." That's true. He didn't. Not DIRECTLY, no. Now he says they will just be arrested. That is a non-lethal improvement of sorts.

But if he does mean he actually wants people to be shot, this is a grim prospect and a concerning turn of events. You don't want people rioting at the border, but you also don't want people, many who are desperate and seeking a better life, being needlessly shot. That's NOT the way a civilized country handles difficult situations. In fact, why the heck are 5,000 troops at the border?? That's a bit of overkill, no? No, actually, it's not, seeing as Trump has even suggested, according to The Independent, that he would send up to 15,000 troops that would exceed the number of troops America has in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan... combined. Is this really the best use of resources??

Of course, Tuesday is the big election day in the US of A and the possibility of a blue wave coming and messing up Trump and the Republican's dominance of the government. These migrant caravans (there appears to be more than one) moving their way towards the US is coming at a perfect time for him to exploit by flexing his muscles and showing his supporters why the Republicans are their best option. Trump's going to handle this caravan and these dirty "invaders."

He insists that these people will not get in, no matter what. But that hasn't deterred those in the caravans. They are coming. And they are even trying to sue the Trump government. They insist that they have the right to seek asylum in the US and believe that Trump is stomping on the constitution in trying to prevent them from coming in. Trump insists that they should be seeking asylum in Mexico. Which one is right? Well, it depends how one interprets both American and International law, apparently.

Sigh.

So, Trump has called in the Calvary. He's portrayed the migrants as dangerous. He has called them invaders. He says he will stick them in tent cities. And his base is loving it. They do like it when plays the role of defender of the nation. They love it when he says he's going to protect the US from the big, bad, ugly outside world who has treated the US so terribly. This is all in an effort to, you got it, "Make America Great Again."