Thomas Friedman makes some reasonable points in his latest New York Times column:
Some things are true even if Donald Trump believes them!...
We can't take in every immigrant who wants to come here; we need, metaphorically speaking, a high wall that assures Americans we can control our border with a big gate that lets as many people in legally as we can effectively absorb as citizens.
• The Muslim world does have a problem with pluralism — gender pluralism, religious pluralism and intellectual pluralism — and suggesting that terrorism has nothing to do with that fact is naïve; countering violent extremism means constructively engaging with Muslim leaders on this issue.
• Americans want a president focused on growing the economic pie, not just redistributing it....
• Political correctness on college campuses has run ridiculously riot. Americans want leaders to be comfortable expressing patriotism and love of country when globalization is erasing national identities. America is not perfect, but it is, more often than not, a force for good in the world.
I probably am more sanguine about America's immigrant absorption abilities than are Messrs. Trump and Friedman, in part for reasons explained in this Eduardo Porter column, also in today's Times, which is also worth a look for those interested in these issues. But aside from that it makes some sense.
