Recent Reuters coverage by Emily Flitter of the 2016 campaign was asking Donald Trump supporters why they liked and supported Trump. Many of the answers were “he’s not Politically Correct”, that he “says what he thinks, I like that, he’s not political [sic] correct”, “he’s not afraid to say what he thinks”, and “he’s speaking for a lot of people … who have been hindered to say anything because of how political [sic] correct we’ve become as a nation … Trump’s made people feel like they can ‘voice out'”.

From there the comments went on to The Wall™– “there needs to be something done about our border, he got right to the point”, “we need to just not let any more people in. Their values are different than ours. Are we allowed over there without a visa?”, and “he says what we’re all thinking”.

The phrase “he’s not politically correct” seems to be the politically correct term for “openly racist” to me. Certainly among parts of his base. They feel they can “voice out” their racist opinions. (‘Racist’, ‘Dangerous’, and ‘Un-American’ -U.S.News.)

I’m sorry if they didn’t feel they can always voice an opinion. I’m also sorry they feel it’s acceptable to voice out their racist views in public.

I think even more of his supporters aren’t necessarily racist, but ignorant of the overall economic necessity of the flow of people, for everyone but, in this case, specifically for the U.S. We do need to fix immigration policy. But it needs to be changed so that we can track and manage those in our country supporting the lower tier of our economy.

Yes, there’s something we need to fix. No, the solution is not a wall.

Aside: travel, with or without a visa, is not particularly the issue here. In response to the supporter asking “are we allowed over there without a visa?” …

Yes. Yes, we are allowed to travel “over there” (by which I suspect you mean “south of the border”) without a visa. American citizens can enter 166 countries visa free. They include most of Central and South America, most of Europe, Southeast Asia, and large parts of Africa.

Take them up on it. Please travel. Perhaps your xenophobia will be tempered after you do.