The recent leaks of the full transcripts of Donald Trump’s post-inaugural conversation with the prime minister of Australia has shed further light on the new president’s fundamental inability to see beyond his own narrow interests, let alone to allow facts to interfere with his judgments. As The Hot Screen noted back in January, early accounts of President Trump’s conversation with Malcolm Turnbull revealed the president’s opposition to a refugee deal with Australia that had been reached by the Obama administration. Under that arrangement, the U.S. would consider taking in over 1,000 refugees from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and other countries being held by the Australians. The Australian approach to these immigrants had been brutally efficient: essentially, to make examples of them so as to deter further migrants. And what better way to do this than to ship them far away from Australia, to purgatories on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus? Only these purgatories turned into hell for these unlucky refugees, as documented by New York Times writer Roger Cogen, as a combination of crappy conditions, hostile natives (no, really), and a sense of hopelessness decimated their physical and emotional well-being (Cohen has just published a follow-up piece that discusses the leaked transcript, his take on the conversation between the two leaders, and the refugees' current situation).
The U.S.’s planned acceptance of these refugees (following proper vetting) was an act of mercy, not to mention a way for Australia’s government to slip out from the shadow of such a ghastly, inhumane imprisonment of innocents. Alas, the transcript of the conversation shows Trump insisting, by a determined circular logic, that these refugees must be “bad” because they’re in prison. He demonstrates absolutely no understanding of their actual circumstances, no shred of compassion, no willingness to compromise for the sake of a shared humanity. Instead, he worries over the political repercussions of letting in immigrants when railing against this population in general was central to his campaign, and he frets that these wretched migrants might contain the next Boston Marathon bomber. These are chilling words to hear from the most powerful man in the world. We have seen nothing since January to change a general impression of the president’s meanness of spirit, obsessive focus on his personal fortunes above all else, and lack of any sober grasp of a president’s life-and-death responsibilities.
