Quote · The Rest Is Politics: US
200. Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Will Backfire
Where this was said
The Demographic Case for Immigration
At 10:40 · chapter starts 8:30
The conversation pivots from legal ruling to long-term consequence, with Katty Kay marshalling the demographic case. She asks whether America wants to become Japan, South Korea, or ageing Europe — and argues that's exactly the trajectory the immigration crackdown sets. For the first time since the 1930s, America faces simultaneously low migration and near-record low birth rates [1] — Katty Kay "For the first time since the 1930s, America faces simultaneous low migration and near-record low birth rates. That combination shrinks the …" 10:30 . That double compression shrinks the tax base, reduces the worker pool, and heaps the costs of an elderly population onto fewer young shoulders. The idea that young migrants drain social services is, Kay argues, a misnomer: they pour billions in tax dollars into the system while older Americans are the real consumers of social services. Scaramucci frames the question through a historical thought experiment: Einstein wrote to FDR offering to help build the bomb — America said yes. Will an increasingly xenophobic America still attract the next Einstein's letter in the next global crisis? He invokes The Man in the High Castle as a reminder of what happens when that openness disappears. Both hosts acknowledge that the Obama and Biden administrations contributed to the crisis by failing to control the narrative around border crossings, ceding the argument to those who saw only chaos.
For the first time since the 1930s, America faces simultaneous low migration and near-record low birth rates. That combination shrinks the tax base, reduces the workforce, and heaps the cost of an ageing population onto fewer young workers — exactly the opposite of what the immigration crackdown's cheerleaders promise.
For the first time since the 1930s, America is simultaneously experiencing low migration and near-record low birth rates, threatening to shrink its tax base and workforce.
Einstein wrote to FDR offering to help build the atomic bomb — and America said yes. Anthony Scaramucci asks whether an increasingly xenophobic America would still attract that letter. If the next global crisis produces an Einstein, where will he or she write?
Megyn Kelly told Haitian migrants to 'go back to fucking Haiti' on her show. Meanwhile, factory managers in Springfield were begging for more Haitian workers — punctual, drug-free, harder-working than native-born Americans, they said. The gap between the pundit class and economic reality on immigration has never been wider.
