Opinion: An America where Trumps don't make the cut

View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, August 25, 2017 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( The guest writer of today’s newsletter is Roger Cohen, a columnist for The Times. Everyone knows President Trump has a mean streak. In fact, meanness and incoherence are core characteristics of his administration. Nowhere more so than on immigration, where Trump has betrayed anti-Muslim prejudice, as in his gratuitous [attacks]( on the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and in his proposed travel [ban](. Earlier this month, President Trump took to a White House [podium]( to announce his support for the RAISE Act, a plan to slash legal immigration and give green card priority to English speakers with advanced educations, high salaries and sophisticated job skills. The bill would limit the ability of newcomers to gain residency based on family ties here, a much-used current pathway for immigrants. Of course, the RAISE Act would have made it harder for a teenage barber’s apprentice with grape-picking experience and no degrees to gain admittance to the country, as Trump’s grandfather did in 1885. Friedrich Trump was met by his older sister Katherine, an example of the “chain migration” that White House adviser Stephen Miller says “has massively de-skilled the migrant flow into America.” Seventeen years later Friedrich brought over his German-speaking bride. More “de-skilling” there, I guess. So the United States would have remained unreachable to Trump’s immigrant forebears under the RAISE Act, a new points system supposedly inspired by Australian and Canadian models. In fact, it seems that a lot of Americans would not have become Americans if the system were in place. Only 2 percent of adult American citizens would make the cut, according to one estimate. The Times [posted a quiz]( on Wednesday that allows readers to see if they would meet Trump’s standard. Try it and then decide if this is the America — stripped of any more “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” — that you want for your children. On the news. I mentioned incoherence. Trump freewheels, detached from the State. Members of his administration and government departments try to make sense of it all. It’s tough sledding. The president hasn’t met a dictator who fails to elicit his sympathy — prominent among [them]( Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. But Sisi’s human rights record is appalling, to the point that the State Department has just announced that the United States is [denying]( Egypt $96 million in aid and delaying $195 million in military funding. Egypt is furious. Who knows? Perhaps Trump is, too. But it’s the right move. In The Times. Trump [pardoning]( Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who racially profiled Latinos, would set a dangerously tyrannical precedent, [argues]( Martin H. Redish, a constitutional law professor at Northwestern. “If the president can immunize his agents in this manner, the courts will effectively lose any meaningful authority to protect constitutional rights against invasion by the executive branch,” he writes. The self-doubt Hillary Clinton felt as Trump lurked behind her during a debate, which she recalls in her forthcoming book, is a familiar dilemma for many women, [argues]( Jill Filipovic. “Mrs. Clinton herself is now engaging in a particularly feminine (and particularly unpleasant) psychological turmoil — the hashing and rehashing of saying too little or saying too much.” The full Opinion report from The Times follows, including [Frank Bruni]( on L.G.B.T. rights across America and [Bryce Covert]( on Republicans and the deficit. Rosa Goldensohn and Ian Prasad Philbrick contributed research. David Leonhardt, the regular author of this newsletter, will return Aug. 28. Editorial [Say No to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Mr. Trump]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD By pardoning an official who showed contempt for a judge, the president would show contempt for American courts. Op-Ed Columnist [Donald Trump, ‘King of Alabama’?]( By CHARLES M. BLOW He doesn’t want to lead a country. He wants to rule a tribe. Op-Ed Columnist [This American Land]( By DAVID BROOKS The nation’s identity has been shaped by nature, by how our wilderness molds, inspires and binds us. OP-ED COLUMNIST [The Worst (and Best) Places To Be Gay in America]( By FRANK BRUNI If the Trump administration won’t protect gay people, we’re at the mercy of our ZIP codes. Op-Ed Columnist [Making Kim Jong-un Sweat]( By ROGER COHEN It’s time for some strategic impatience with North Korea, so long as “strategic” means something. Op-Ed Columnist [Trump and Pruitt, Making America Polluted Again]( By PAUL KRUGMAN Their environmental legacy will literally be toxic. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [What if Steve Bannon Is Right?]( By TIMOTHY EGAN The Democrats still in Trump’s camp are persuadable if the message is economic hope. ADVERTISEMENT Op-Ed Contributor [Why Trump Can’t Pardon Arpaio]( By MARTIN H. REDISH If the president can immunize government agents who violate constitutional rights, there will be no limit on his power. Op-Ed Contributor [Bush and Obama Fought a Failed ‘War on Terror.’ It’s Trump’s Turn.]( By MICAH ZENKO The president laid out his plans for Afghanistan and it’s clear that politicians of both parties have learned nothing after 16 years. [Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the October 10, 2016 presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri.]( Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump during the October 10, 2016 presidential debate in St. Louis, Missouri. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times [Contributing Op-Ed Writer]( [Donald Was a Creep. Too Bad Hillary Couldn’t Say It.]( By JILL FILIPOVIC Clinton did what most women do when they face harassment or intimidation: ignored it. Now she’s stewing in the what-if. Editorial [The Slaughter of Children in Yemen]( By THE EDITORIAL BOARD If the Saudis don’t want to be on the blacklist of forces that harm children, they should seek an end to the destruction in Yemen. Op-Ed Contributor [Republicans Learn to Love Debt]( By BRYCE COVERT Their concern about balancing budgets was really all about politics. Op-Ed Contributor [Why Is the Southern Poverty Law Center Targeting Liberals?]( By AYAAN HIRSI ALI Apple and George Clooney have both pledged $1 million to the civil-rights organization. But what does it really stand for? Contributing Op-Ed Writer [Good News for Young Strivers: Networking Is Overrated]( By ADAM GRANT Sure, networks can help you achieve great things. But the reverse is also true: Achieving great things helps you develop a network. Op-Ed Contributor [For the U.S. to Arm Ukraine Could Be a Deadly Mistake]( By MICHAEL KOFMAN This ill-conceived plan will suck America into a proxy war with Russia it is unprepared to win. Op-Ed Contributor [Can India Stop Its Children From Dying?]( By SAMAR HALARNKAR India’s crumbling health care system heaps repeated indignities on its people. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [opinionnewsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:opinionnewsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). ADVERTISEMENT Appreciations [Jack Rosenthal, the Man and His Words]( By ROBERT B. SEMPLE JR. Remembering the late editor of the editorial page. Letters [The Rift Between Trump and Congress]( Readers criticize the president for threatening to shut down the government if funding for a wall on the Mexican border is not approved. Letters [‘I’m Sorry I Voted for This President’]( Readers struggle to understand how a thoughtful person could have voted for Donald Trump, and some are reluctant to forgive. SIGN UP FOR THE VIETNAM ’67 NEWSLETTER Examining America’s long war in Southeast Asia [through the course]( of a single year. FOLLOW OPINION [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@nytopinion]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( Get more [NYTimes.com newsletters »](  | Get unlimited access to NYTimes.com and our NYTimes apps for just $0.99. [Subscribe »]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Manage Subscriptions]( | [Change Your Email]( | [Privacy Policy]( | [Contact]( | [Advertise]( Copyright 2017 The New York Times Company 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018