"The Whole Thing Is Crazy" - Doug Casey On The Migrant Caravan

Hundreds of migrants have showed up at the U.S.-Mexico border. They’re part of a “caravan” that includes about 5,000 people from Central America. The rest of the caravan, as far as we know, is still in central Mexico. But make no mistake. They’ll show up at the border any day now.

And no one can agree on what to do with these people. Some say we should just let them into America. Other people, including President Trump, think we should keep the migrants out. In fact, Trump recently called the caravan an “invasion.” Not only that, he deployed thousands of U.S. troops to the border to keep these people from entering.

In short, it’s very controversial. So I called Doug Casey earlier this week to see what he thinks about this...

Justin: Doug, the migrant caravan has captured the attention of the mainstream media as well as Donald Trump. Why’s this such a big deal?

Doug: There are several things going on here. One is that the leftists believe that nation states shouldn’t exist. Now, I’m not a believer in the nation state either. It’s only been around since the 17th century; it’s not inscribed in the cosmic firmament. There are better ways to organize a society.

The United States, for one, is way too big to be a single country at this point. I’m pretty confident that over the next couple generations, the U.S. is going to break up into several different countries. But that’s a different question. The last thing it needs is another alien group trying to forcibly insert itself into the mix.

The Democrats and the leftists don’t really believe in freedom of movement and travel. That’s no more than a talking point, to make them seem righteous. They believe in State control of almost every area of life. Since when has the freedom to travel and cross borders been important to them?

Personally, I believe in freedom of movement and freedom of travel – but that doesn’t mean you can violate others’ property rights. If you have one person requesting legal entry, that’s one question. But if a group of 1,000 or 10,000 is looking to illegally and forcibly cross into a different political area, it’s a different question entirely.

The people abetting this migration are purposefully trying to force a confrontation.

Doug: Apparently, they presume that the U.S. government will roll over, and put the migrants up when they arrive. That’s not an unreasonable presumption. It’s well-known the U.S. government has no guiding principles.

The groups financing them are, I would say, trying to make a moral point with the gullible U.S. public. “These are poor helpless immigrants, like your own ancestors. So you have to do the right thing, and take care of them.” Of course that’s a lie from start to finish – except for the poor part. But it’s effective psychological warfare in today’s world.They’re also trying to demoralize the Trump administration, showing they have no real power or support.

The migrants themselves are acting stupidly. I don’t mean they necessarily have low IQs – although the caravan certainly isn’t full of rocket scientists and brain surgeons. Nor am I using the word “stupid” in a necessarily pejorative way. A definition of the word that applies here is “an inability to predict, not just the immediate and direct consequences of an action, but its indirect and delayed consequences.”

What do they really think is going to happen after they leave Mexico, and try to enter the U.S.? They’ll be arrested, fingerprinted, and charged with a crime. Which means they’re not likely to ever get legal entrance to the U.S. in the future. The poor fools are just tools being used by the people organizing and financing the migration, to prove some points.

It’s very bold for thousands of migrants to show up and ask to be fed, sheltered, and clothed. But also occupied, employed, given medical treatment, and have their children cared for. They’ve done zero to deserve any favors. But it’s not only an economic problem. It’s a moral problem.

These people – or those who are encouraging them – think they have a right to impose themselves. And the U.S. government, and the U.S. public, never even question the ethics of all this – so they’re foredoomed to failure. The Americans, idiotically, just say it’s against the law. But laws are arbitrary, and can change. It’s really a question of what’s right and wrong. The leftists, however, cleverly say that they have morality on their side.

It’s said that these people are from Honduras and El Salvador. But who knows? The quality of reporting in the media is so poor, that you can’t really know where they’re coming from or who they are. It’s said that they’re “families fleeing from violence.” That’s irrelevant. But from looking at video feed, they seem to be mostly young males, with a few women and children for cosmetic purposes. One report I’ve heard, from a man that was actually there, is that over 90% are young men.

The whole sideshow is full of unanswered questions. How is it that these people from Central American countries were able to cross the southern Mexican border? Did the Mexicans try to keep them out? How do poor people expect to march all the way up Mexico? We’re talking well over 1,000 miles. Who’s paying for their food? Are they just sleeping in the bushes on the roadsides every night? What happens when one of them gets sick? These are questions that need to be answered. The whole thing is crazy.

Justin: Do you think the migrants might be receiving outside help or funding? It wouldn’t be the first time that something like that’s happened. Non-governmental organizations [NGO] have transported migrants by the boatload from Africa to Europe.

Doug: Well, if I was really that interested, I would get on a plane, fly to Mexico and start interviewing these people to find out what the facts are. But there are about a hundred other things that are more important to me. That’s the job of a reporter, or a news organization. Where are they? They should be all over this. But whether you could trust the reporting is another question.

But the big question is how did these thousands of people get the idea that they could leave their homes in Honduras and El Salvador, walk up through Mexico, and enter the U.S.? Did they expect to be received with open arms, and get free food, shelter, and clothing for however long? Where did this idea come from?

I hate to bring up George Soros, who’s justifiably the bête noire of the right wing. But he, along with Hillary Clinton, has been quoted as saying that it’s time for a “Purple Revolution” in the U.S. “Purple” comes from a merging of the red and the blue. A Purple Revolution in the U.S. might be similar to the Arab Spring revolution and the colored revolutions of Eastern Europe – very unpleasant, with unpredictable results. Perhaps it’s already underway; there’s plenty of antagonism, actual hatred, and irreconcilable views in evidence.

I believe the migrants are being led and financed; they have to be. It takes money to turn theory into practice. Whether it’s Soros and his NGOs or a bunch of other NGOs is irrelevant. Elements of the Democratic Party could be financing this stuff, helping the peasants organize, and just seeing how much it embarrasses Trump. It’s definitely not a spontaneous movement.

But suppose this is just a test run. If 5,000 – what’s guessed as the current number – people show up at the border, you could stop them. What if 100,000 well-financed and well-organized people show up at the border next time? How are you going to stop them? You couldn’t, unless you shoot them. They’ll just walk across as a human wave.

It’s the same problem that Europeans are going to face with the Africans in the years to come. Over the next generation or two, the population of Africa is set to double and triple. At the same time, Europe’s population is shrinking and getting very old. More important, Europeans no longer have any backbone, or belief in the value of their civilization. When the Africans – mostly Mohammedans – show up it won’t be just 100,000 or 200,000 as was the case a couple summers ago. We’re talking about a million… two million… or tens of millions. It’s going to change the whole character of the continent.

Justin: So what do you make of Trump’s handling of this situation? He’s reportedly sent more than 5,000 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to defend what he’s calling an “invasion.”

Doug: As I mentioned a moment ago, embarrassing Trump is undoubtedly one reason why this march was organized and financed. They realize that it presents Trump with a real conundrum. What are the troops going to do? Are they going to be issued live ammunition? And at what point will they be given the orders to fire? Rifles don’t even have bayonet attachments anymore. Will it just turn into a pushing and shoving contest?

What the caravan may do is put their token women and children up front because it’s very bad PR to shoot or club women and kids. Perhaps they’ll try to push the fence down and then walk across the border. More likely they’ll try to walk through the border station, where hundreds of cars are lined up.

How are you going stop them? Well, if there are only a few thousand, you can arrest them. But then they’re in the U.S. And you don’t want them in the U.S. Now, you have another problem. How are you going to get rid of them? In any event, soldiers are completely ineffectual and unsuited for the job.

How can you get them back into Mexico, once they’ve crossed the border? At most of the California official crossings, there’s a “no man’s land,” a neutral zone. You’re out of Mexico, but not really in the U.S. The Mexicans don’t want them back. So, either the U.S. will have 5,000 people milling around, or it’s going to have to incarcerate them. Then they’re definitely in the U.S.

Justin: What would you do if putting troops on the border isn’t the answer?

Number one, there should be absolutely zero welfare benefits to anyone. Ideally that includes U.S. citizens – however that’s totally impossible at this point. But certainly for non-U.S. citizens, so there’s nothing to draw these people in. Benefits draw in the wrong kind of person. That’s the most important difference between today’s migrants, and the legitimate immigrants of the past. Before the 1960s, they had to pay their own way to get here, and support themselves once they arrived.

Number two, all property in the U.S. should be privately owned, so there aren’t any bridges for them to sleep under, or unowned sidewalks where they can panhandle. No government-owned parks where they can camp out. If you can’t pay the rent for wherever you are, or if the owner of the sidewalk or road doesn’t want you on it, you’ve got to go elsewhere. That would solve the problem. But neither is feasible in today’s America.

It should be up to individual property owners to defend their property. In other words, they should be the ones making the decisions. And if they need to use force to defend their property, that should be perfectly acceptable and within the law. Of course, you want to minimize the use of force. But we simply cannot let people, in effect, confiscate your property.

What I’m saying is this shouldn’t even be a government problem. The government is no better at solving this problem than they are at solving any other problem. As a result, it’s just going to get worse.

I suspect this caravan is just a trial balloon. The next time they’ll make sure there are 50,000 or 100,000 people at the border. We’re not going to be able to keep them out. And once they’re in, unless you just let them go anywhere they want, they’ve got to be incarcerated. And once they’re incarcerated, what are you going to do with them? You can’t send them back across the Mexican border. The Mexicans aren’t going to want them. How are you going to sort them out and fly them back to whatever country they came from? I doubt any of them have passports.

The present system is totally incapable of coping with the problem of mass migration, and the problem will get bigger. Once Trump is out of office in 2020, some hardcore leftist will be elected. Presumably they’ll welcome these people. Or maybe not. They’ll see them as a real welfare burden – penniless, devoid of skills, and unable to even speak English. On the other hand, they’ll be a boon to MS-13 and other gangs.

At that point, we’re going to witness a major change in the demography of the U.S. We’re already in the middle stages of the transformation. As late as the ’60s, the U.S. was about 85% people of European extraction, and 15% “other.” Now it’s 60-40. Soon the U.S. will be truly multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. They’ll all be voting, to garner bennies for their own groups, at the expense of others. It will make for a highly unstable situation, with lots of resentment. Explosive, actually.

Justin: Doug, I read that the bulk of the caravan is in Mexico City now and headed for Tijuana next before crossing into San Diego.

Do you find it interesting that the caravan would head for California rather than taking a more direct route into Texas? Supposedly, this is the safest route available.

But I can’t help but wonder if California was chosen because it might be a more welcoming environment. What are your thoughts?

Doug: That’s an interesting point. I suppose it ties into Trump’s idea of building a wall, because there is actually a serviceable fence at Tijuana. My guess is that they’ll attempt to get arrested at the Customs and Immigration booths and get into the U.S. that way. California won’t use the state troopers to arrest them, nor will the local municipality use their police. It will be up to Washington.

It would be too hard to have this motley crew of migrants try to walk through the Mexican desert to swim across the Rio Grande. Which is why they aren’t choosing Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona.

Maybe their intention is just to go through the actual border crossing, and just push their way through there. I can’t wait to see what their strategy is. Again, it’s a sign of how bad the reporting is that no news man, no journalist has gone down there to ask these questions and get the answers from the horse’s mouth. All we can do is speculate.

You speak the truth. During the Civil War the Army was doing all sorts of things. Like occupying entire cities and then doing the day to day administration duties. Why they even did some unpopular things in those cities and free blacks and tell women that if they were not polite and civil to the troops, they would be treated as women of the night.

I suppose it’s a good thing Lincoln didn’t know the Amy couldn’t be deployed on US soil. hahaha

right now Nicaragua has lots of problems, economic violence and dictatorship..the people are protesting, some have even been killed. many are seeking asylum in costa rica which is overwhelmed with the number of Nicaraguans seeking asylum or just plain entering illegally. don’t be surprised if they head north to the usa instead of south to costa rica. I have more empathy for those folks who truly want a better country and a democracy. the government reportedly imported military personnel from cuba and venezuela and hundreds of nicaraguans have been killed...
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A few months ago, July I believe, one of our cousins who works for a Honduran pharmaceutical company had to make a distribution run to Nicaragua. He and his driving partner took their truck across the border at Las Manos, into Nicaragua. They made their way through Ocotal, and headed for León. They notice many burned out villages and ruined buildings as they approached the city.

Before reaching León they were stopped and detained by a large group of rebels who confiscated their truck and held them prisoner. They were kept in custody for nearly a week before being released. He said the rebels treated them kindly, giving them food and shelter as best the had. The rebels were armed with whatever they could find, including home-made shotguns and mortars called “chimbas”.

Evidently hundreds of the rebels have been killed, and they sorely lack medicines, arms and ammunition. They are losing this war at the moment for lack of popular support, probably due to fear, and the influx of Cuban, Venezuelan and Russian “advisors”.

My point is, THESE are the people who need help from the US, and refugee status if sought, but they are not likely to get it. The US is ignoring this conflict like the plague because it doesn’t want to get embroiled in another Latin American quagmire against the Russians. Meanwhile, these other bums are at the border knowing it’s only a matter of time until most will be sitting fat and sassy somewhere in California on the gubmint dole. It’s hard to look out my window and see Nicaragua in the distance, knowing that good people are suffering and dying there with no help while the dregs of Honduras will soon be on that great Gravy Train up north.

exactly that is what asylum was meant for like one student protester who was arrested and facing 10-20 years in prison for speaking out non-violently..not to be abused as a loophole in our immigration laws..congress and the judiciary has failed us...
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Thank you for recognizing the plight of the decent Nicaraguan people. I know a few Nicas personally, and most I’ve met are good people. I’m very afraid they will lose this war against Ortega’s regime, and when they do come to the bitter end they will be rounded up and thousands will simply “disappear”. Hardly anyone in the US even knows this is happening, and fewer care. A little food, medicine or ammo would mean a lot to these people, but they won’t get it. The Russians and Chinese are not on their side, and the US is ignoring them. Another lost cause.

Rural Nicaraguans are a naturally happy people, but behind the smiles is an abiding fear. No one knows if their neighbors or even their own family members are government informants. Back in the days when the Monroe Doctrine actually meant something, the United States had the grandiose, if also a bit self-righteous, idea of being the de facto protector of all Latin America. Now I see a nation crumbling before my own eyes, and I can do absolutely nothing. And those who COULD do something, won’t.

You’re right: our immigration laws..congress and judiciary have failed us... We spend our time, money and military might in far off places like Syria to prevent a Russian pipeline, or Afghanistan protecting the world’s opium supply, while throwing to the dogs those closer to home who would be loyal and willing allies.

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