The case of the American people and Immigrants is similar, but very different at the same time. Many of the 345 Million Americans have had little or no direct contact with immigrants... legal or undocumented. Most have heard stories, watched news programs, seen articles on the internet, or heard from friends. One of the most ubiquitous set of stories comes from Donald Trump and his MAGA Misinformation Machine.

While the intention of the blind men is to accurately describe the elephant..... Trump and his followers have a different intention...... a politically motivated desire to describe immigrants as evil, dangerous, criminal, lazy, and generally undesirable ...... why is that?.... there are multiple reasons.

The biggest is that American Political scene has placed the Trump/MAGA/GOP right as anti immigrant and the Liberal/Progressive/Democrat Left as pro immigrant, so painting immigrants as evil and lazy supports the MAGA narrative.

Trump and the MAGA GOP have used their massive propaganda machine to spread half truths and outright lies about immigrants… exaggerating the number of immigrants (both legal and undocumented) in and coming in to our country, using their platform to shine a bright spotlight to make immigrant crime appear to be much worse than “Citizen Crime” when, in fact, all credible research indicates that immigrants (both legal and undocumented) commit crimes (both violent and non violent) at a rate measurably lower than people born in the USA.

They have grossly exaggerated and outright lied about the amount of money immigrants “cost” our Government (and therefore Taxpayers), when in fact, immigrants have paid Trillions more into our Country than they have received.

See the bottom of this article for details from Co-Pilot AI about Taxes paid by Immigrants and the net contribution of Immigrants to our economy.

Among the lies broadcast by the Misinformation Machine was “They are eating the pets” which referred to a false story that Haitians were eating dogs and cats in Ohio. When asked if he had any support for the story that he had broadcast as though it were true, Trump said no, he did not… that he just “heard it somewhere.”

What has changed since Trump took office?

About 2.5 Million Undocumented Immigrants have left, either by self deporting or by being deported. That is about 15% of the estimated 16 Million undocumented immigrants who were estimated to be here as of January 2025 (the range of estimates is from 14 million to 18.6 million, so 16 million seems like a fair number. That means 18 months in, with 15% of undocumented immigrants gone and the borders “closed”, a huge part of what Trump/MAGA/GOP describes as criminals… killers, rapists, thieves, etc who have been “poisoning the blood of our country.” Should we be seeing improvements in quality of life and economic conditions from the removal of 15% of our “problem”? Are we? Could the lack of change be because about 2/3 of the people deported by the Trump administration were not “the worst of the worst” and in fact, they had no criminal record at all? Could it be that many of them were model citizens whom had been here a decade or longer, working, paying taxes, becoming integral members of our communities?

When will we begin to see the positive results of the purge of all these evil people who Trump/MAGA/GOP blame for everything from inflation to unemployment to high medical costs, to unaffordable housing??…… or is this just another MAGA narrative designed to give conservative Americans someone to hate…. someone to blame for their disappointing life……. someone beside Biden or Obama….

DETAILS FROM CO-PILOT AI ABOUT IMMIGRANT TAXES PAID AND NET BENEFIT TO THE USA OVER TIME

Immigrants—both legal and undocumented—pay hundreds of billions in taxes every year, and trillions over time. Here’s the clearest, sourced breakdown from the most authoritative recent analyses.

🧾 Annual Taxes Paid by Immigrants (Latest Comprehensive Data)

Total immigrants (legal + undocumented)

• $651.9 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2023

• $382.9 billion in federal taxes and $196.3 billion in state/local taxes in 2022

Undocumented immigrants specifically

• $89.9 billion in total taxes in 2023

• $21.5 billion federal + $13.6 billion state/local in 2022

• Broader estimate: ≈$96.7 billion in 2022 (ITEP)

🧮 Long‑Term Total (Multi‑Decade)

The most rigorous long‑run estimate comes from the Cato Institute’s 30‑year fiscal analysis:

• Immigrants paid about $10.6 trillion more in taxes than they received in benefits from 1994–2023

• When reduced government borrowing needs are included, the net fiscal effect is ≈$14.5 trillion

This is not just “taxes paid”—it’s net contributions, meaning immigrants have been a major fiscal positive for the U.S. over decades.

📌 So what’s the total?

Annual total (current):

≈$650 billion per year in taxes from all immigrants.

Long‑term total (1994–2023):

Immigrants have contributed well over $10 trillion in taxes.

🧠 Why the numbers matter

• Immigrants (including undocumented) pay income, payroll, sales, and property taxes.

• Undocumented immigrants often pay higher effective state/local tax rates than top‑income households.

• Many undocumented workers pay into Social Security and Medicare but cannot claim benefits.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1986LCvRnE/

It was in the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, one of the sites of this year’s “Copa Mondial”. Thanks to that goal in the 51st minute, and the “Goal of the Century” scored by Maradona 4 minutes later after dribbling through 6 of England’s best, Argentina advanced past England in a quarterfinal match. Argentina then defeated both Belgium 2-0 in the Semi Finals on two Goals by Maradona, and West Germany (during the days of the Berlin Wall) 3-2 in the final to become World Cup Champions.

Only Mike Eruzione in a Fox Sports Commercial believes that the US has a serious chance to win this year’s World Cup, with or without Balogon against Belgium in the Round of 16, so the real issue is not the impact of the call in determining the 2026 World Cup Champion but how can a call this wrong be made with the finest of modern technology in play to assist the officials.

In 1986, the correct call would have been made….. no foul… but in 2026 the alternate reality of slow motion and the choice of viewing angle, created a red card and stole almost 2 hours of playing time from “accidental birthright citizen” Balogun whose Nigerian mother was on vacation in the US while 7 months pregnant leading up to his birth.

But in 2026, VAR made it possible for an incompetent referee and a VAR official who was dying for the spotlight to give us the WRONG ruling.

Anyone watching the play leading up to the collision between Balogun and BIH Defender Tarik Muharemovic, would see that the US controlled the ball and as Balogun made a lateral run with Muharemovic trailing by as much as a full stride.

When Antonee “Jedi” Robinson directed a pass toward Balogun, (who never looked at Muharemovic behind him, watching the ball instead) Muharemovic jumped into Balogun, putting his left leg in front of Balogun’s right. It was a good defensive move that initiated the contact and caused the two to become entangled as they fought for the ball. Part of the contact was Balogun’s right foot, while attempting to play the ball, coming down on Muharemovic's right heel.

There was no malice or excessive force by either player, just a routine, if high energy challenge, by two players playing the ball. If anyone initiated a dangerous situation, it was Muharemovic when he jumped into Balogun.

Playing National team level soccer is inherently dangerous and there is a risk of injury from even the cleanest of plays.

The error made by both the referee and the VAR official was focusing on the slow-motion clip of one view of the play. Even a casual look at the run up to the challenge, the “context” of the play, clearly shows that the proper call in this situation was “play on” after addressing the injury, which was not even serious enough to force Muharemovic to leave the game.

Not the level of officiating that should be expected and that the 2026 “Copa Mondial” has provided us for the most part.

Trump took office in 2025, he pardoned all 1600 J6 Insurrectionists, fired Inspectors General, stripped away Civil Service Protections, attacked/punished Attorneys who Challenged the Govt, threatened allies, turned the DOGE Chainsaw Clown show loose on Government, levied illegal tariffs that he used as weapons to leverage huge financial gains for himself and his family, pardoned major drug traffickers and fraudsters (and cancelled financial restitution to the victims), attacked Iran causing a huge spike in inflation and the price of gasoline, plus a long list of similar injustices to everyday Americans.

When sane, right minded Americans complain about Trump’s actions and the damage to our economy and the American people, the Trump MAGA response is that those Americans hate our country and if they don’t like what is happening, they should leave and go elsewhere.

Every Dictionary should feature this example as a case study of the Ultimate Hypocrisy.

But when he launched his tariff blitz during his second term it was impossible to ignore…… so I gave it some serious thought during early 2025.

My first thought was that Tariffs were a great way to add a new “hard to recognize “ highly regressive tax to the mix of taxes Americans pay.

A way to shift more of the tax burden off the rich and onto the “not rich.”

But that alone did not seem to warrant the excitement that Tariffs generated in Trump…. So I gave it some more thought and realized that having personal control of Tariffs could give Trump tremendous clout in negotiations with foreign countries…. Both allies and enemies.

He could use tariffs or the threat of tariffs to persuade foreign countries to make concessions to the US during any international disputes. That could be a powerful tool during any negotiation, and, potentially help our country in disputes with others………

But, he could also use Tariffs or the threat of Tariffs as a quid pro quo for personal or family gain. He could agree to make Tariff reductions waive Tariffs to any country that made favorable business advances to one of the Trump family businesses or to Jared Kushner or to Don Jr.

We have seen a number of examples of these “conflict of interest” transactions where Trump makes some kind of concession or gives some kind of economic benefit to a country as the President of the United States and in exchange the country gives Trump or one of his Family businesses money or a contract worth a great deal of money.

This is a truly valid reason for Trump to love Tariffs…… additional power and resources for Quid Pro Quo transactions that benefit him or his family.

I realized a third category of “Tariff benefit” to Trump when I saw the White House Announcement about Trump saving the American People more than a half a Trillion dollars. As I searched for details about how those savings are going to happen, I found virtually none.

But what I did find was this statement:

“In exchange, drug makers receive 3‑year protection from certain Section 232 “national security” tariffs on pharmaceuticals and ingredients.”

And this:

“Trump threatened up to 100% tariffs on pharmaceutical imports to force price concessions; letters went to 17 large firms warning of this.”

So Trump used huge Tariffs as a threat and Tariff relieve as a carrot to incentivize companies to agree to his demands.

PostScript

One might ask “Isn’t this good for Americans? Huge savings on drug purchases? Who cares if he uses Tariffs as a way to reduce prices?”

That would be a valid point if the projected savings were real and valid.

The scant details available fall seriously short of verifying the claims and the disjointed information that is provided conflates Industry Investment with actual savings to customers.

The “$500 billion” figure appears to conflate company investment pledges with price savings, and there is no independent scoring to support that number as realized or even likely.

Until more details are made available, I have to classify this White House Claim as just another of the many Trump exaggeration/misrepresentation/lie in his never ending string of cons, grifts, and scams on the American people

One of the unfortunate characteristics of life in the USA today is the pervasiveness of lies, misinformation, and half truths.

Much of this is a result of a well-organized campaign by Donald Trump and the MAGA faithful. The campaign featured massive numbers of messages from a wide variety of sources including Social Media, Bloggers, Influencers, Television, Radio, Clergy, Politicians, etc

The Trump/MAGA misinformation includes stories like.....

** Unfounded claims of 2020 election fraud (in spite of a total lack of evidence)

** Blaming Pelosi/FBI/Biden for the Jan 6 Insurrection/Day of Love/Innocent guided Tours of the Capitol

** Politicizing the Best in the World Medical Practices employed to fight the Pandemic

** Totally misrepresenting the criminality of immigrants when data shows that they commit both non volent and violent crimes at a rate lower than those who were born in the USA

Etc

Among the long list of misinformation stories spread by the MAGA network, the one that may be the most underappreciated is what Trump and his MAGA cultists like to call “BIDEN’S INFLATION”.

With the exception of scientifically flawed criticism of every aspect the Federal Government’s actions to fight both the human health and National economy effects of Covid, MAGA Nation basically pretends that the Pandemic never happened.... especially as far as effects on our economy.

Trump and the MAGA Misinformation Network blame both real and imaginary US Economy woes on the incompetence of Biden and his administration, totally ignoring any after effects of the pandemic.

Everyone with the ability to think understands that when a disaster like a pandemic happens the Government has a tradeoff to deal with........

**Taking minimal or no action will have minimal after effects like inflation, but will do little or nothing to address the short term negative effects like death, hospitalization and starvation/suffering caused by the effect on the economy..... loss of jobs and business failures.

**On the other hand, taking significant action like both Trump and Biden would save lives, reduce hospitalizations, and reduce the short term effects on the economy - both the loss of jobs and business failures all of which would have significant after effects on both people and the economy. The consequences of the aggressive approach include primarily inflation which can hang around for a year or more after the action is complete.

Politically motivated critics ignore the benefit of programs like the Cares Act, PPP, American Rescue Plan, etc and focus only on the increased inflation that followed, effecting every country on the planet.....

Which brings us to the two astounding revelations about the flaw in the label “Biden’s Inflation”

The first is the massive Government spending to combat the effects of the Pandemic......

Donald Trump authorized $3.5 Trillion during the last 10 months of his first term..... that’s $350 Billion per month

Joe Biden Authorized $1.9 Trillion during his entire 4 year term..... that’s 39 Billion per month.....

Considering the fact that Pandemic spending dropped significantly in 2023 and 2024 increases the monthly Biden spending in 2021 and 2022 to $70 million per month........ only 1/5 of the monthly spending by Trump.

So, we see this comparison between Pandemic Spending by Trump and by Biden

        Total           Monthly Avg

Trump $3.5 Trillion     $350 Billion

Biden . . $1.9 Trillion     $70 Billion

Whose Pandemic Spending fueled inflation the most?

The second major Trump contribution to Pandemic inflation came in the price of oil/gas.

As the Pandemic began to grow and expand around the world, its impact on businesses and economies around the world caused demand for gasoline (and therefore, oil) to crater and the reduced demand drove the price of oil down quickly. Some of you may recall that at one point in early 2020 the theoretical price of a barrel was negative.... effectively, oil producers had to ship cash along with each barrel of oil.

That was, of course, a disaster for oil producers and refiners around the world, and they faced tens of billions in losses if the oversupply situation continued, As the powerful US President and a close friend of many petroleum executives, Trump was approached for help in addressing the excess supply that was keeping the prices so low.

He used presidential pressure, telephone diplomacy, arm twisting and public dealmaking to come up with a plan and an agreement among the world’s major oil producing organizations. The deal included the 13 OPEC members plus 10 nonmembers usually referred to as OPEC +

OPEC Members

Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela

Non OPEC Members

Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Oman, Sudan, South Sudan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Philippines

Mexico hesitated but decided to join when Trump offered to add to the US Reduction Commitment so that Mexico’s Production would have a smaller cut than the original plan.

The total reduction in worldwide oil production was set as follows

May and June 2020 cut 9.7 million barrels per day

July- December 2020 7.7 million barrels per day

January 2021 - April 2022 5.8 million barrels per day

This amounts to a total reduction of more than 1 ½ months of worldwide output between May of 2020 and April 2022.

US Gas prices peaked at just over $5 two months after the agreement expired. The peak was influenced by Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, and actions like sanctions on Russian Oil caused the price of gas to plateau at around $3.50 for more than a year before it began to drop in late 2024.

Between Trump’s April 2020 Oil production reduction deal and the impact of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine, US Gas prices were $1.50 t0 $2.00 higher than they would have been otherwise. through 2024-2025 prices settled to under $3.00 per gallon until Trump’s attack on Iran drove prices up more than $1 per gallon which is where they are today.

Is “Biden’s Inflation” just another (major) bit of Trump/MAGA misinformation designed to mislead American voters?

Most of us are used to a world where the words “Definitely True” and “Definitely False” based on facts/evidence each apply less than 25% of the time, leaving more than 50% for “Gray Area” or “It Depends”.

Under the influence of the “Trump Effect”, facts are irrelevant, replaced by “preference” or “preconception” or simply “declaration” in making decisions.

During the coming weeks I plan to explore specific instances of the “Trump Effect”……. Including claims of 2020 Election Fraud, the rewriting of the history of slavery, novel interpretations of the Constitution, as well as many events in recent History.

I also intend to explore Trump’s use of constant and obvious lies to dilute the “truth content” of the “body of information” that makes up our country’s the daily narrative.

Watch for updates…… input and ideas are welcome

Al Genchi

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - George Orwell 1984

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