Opinion Today: When Trump rants, this is what I hear

His hostility has taught me more about myself.

View in browser|nytimes.com October 19, 2024 Trump began the first of his three presidential campaigns warning that immigrants were not the best. I would never presume to be the best of my old country, nor the best of my adopted one. I don't have to be, and I don't apologize for that. Photo illustration by Mel Haasch By Carlos Lozada Opinion Columnist I first arrived in the United States as a 3-year-old boy, the youngest child in an immigrant family from Peru. Over the past several decades, I've made my life here, studying and working and building a family. I'm still an immigrant, of course, but that label has moved lower on my drop-down menu. When Donald Trump declared in last month's debate with Kamala Harris that immigrants were "eating the dogs" in Springfield, Ohio, I was struck by an overwhelming sadness at his relentless diminishing of America's ideal as a nation of immigrants. The feeling prompted me to look back on his xenophobic cacophony, building so relentlessly over the past decade, in attacks that have narrowed the distance for me between immigration as a memory and being an immigrant as a present identity. When Trump started his 2015 presidential campaign by saying that Mexico was not "sending its best," he robbed my family of agency, implying that immigrants will passively go wherever a leader sends them. When he derided our homelands as "shithole countries," he bypassed the tragedies that compel immigrants to move and how leaving hurts, despite the hope that what awaits on the other side will be better. When Trump told four Democratic women in Congress to "go back" to their countries, he unknowingly trivialized how often I've gone back in my mind, wondering what that other life, that other person, might have been like. When he mocked immigrants for not speaking English, he ignored the interplay between native tongues and new ones and how demanding purity in language — and in people — is utterly self-defeating. How can immigrants "poison the blood" of the nation when we have always been its lifeblood? With his accusations, Trump is administering his own brand of venom, one whose cumulative effect is to disfigure a nation, not exalt it. READ THE FULL COLUMN HERE Carlos Lozada When Trump Rants, This Is What I Hear His hostility has taught me more about myself. By Carlos Lozada THE WEEK IN BIG IDEAS Rob en Robin Guest Essay Food Is What We Have In Common. Why Don't We Hear More From the Candidates About It? Food is the springboard to talk about a host of issues, including climate, economic justice, public health and labor. By Mark Bittman Isabella Bersellini Guest Essay I Froze My Eggs to Reclaim My Right to Rest As a Latina, I was taught that my purpose was to produce. But I needed a break. By Jean Guerrero Kristina Tzekova Guest Essay Ann Patchett: The Decision I Made 30 Years Ago That I Still Regret What was email but the chance for more friends, more love, more work? By Ann Patchett Illustration by The New York Times Guest Essay Can We Please Just Find the Aliens Already? NASA's Europa Clipper mission represents something bigger than just the study of an icy moon of Jupiter. By Claire Isabel Webb We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Games Here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here. Forward this newsletter to friends to share ideas and perspectives that will help inform their lives. They can sign up here. Do you have feedback? Email us at opiniontoday@nytimes.com. If you have questions about your Times account, delivery problems or other issues, visit our Help Page or contact The Times. Need help? Review our newsletter help page or contact us for assistance. You received this email because you signed up for the Opinion Today newsletter from The New York Times. To stop receiving Opinion Today, unsubscribe. To opt out of other promotional emails from The Times, including those regarding The Athletic, manage your email settings. To opt out of updates and offers sent from The Athletic, submit a request. Subscribe to The TimesGet The New York Times app Connect with us on: Change Your EmailPrivacy PolicyContact UsCalifornia Notices The New York Times Company. 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018