President Trump allegedly made some of his more absurd and racist views known last Thursday during a meeting with senators as they discussed immigration. It was during this session where Trump was reported now infamously, as to have referred to the countries of Africa and Haiti as "sh*tholes" and became angry that so many Haitians and other predominantly black and brown people were immigrating to America.
Lost in the chaos of Trump’s racist rhetoric and his ignorant belief that immigrants from these developing nations don’t provide a massive benefit to our country was the fact that Trump couldn’t quite comprehend why more people from countries like Norway aren’t immigrating here.
We have little to offer Norway
Trump doesn’t seem to understand that people come to America to flee hardship, and of all the adjectives one could use to describe Norway - picturesque, affluent, a Burberry catalog come to life - downtrodden is not one of them. Norway has low crime, excellent healthcare, and according to the United Nations, they are the happiest country in the world.
Wondering why Norwegians don’t leave Norway for America is like wondering why Eva Mendes doesn’t leave Ryan Gosling for John Goodman. Come on Eva, wouldn’t you rather date a guy with a CPAP machine?
The reason Trump can’t understand why Norwegians aren’t flooding our shores is that he believes America is the greatest country on earth. And in a way he is right: America is the greatest country on earth if your name is Donald Trump. Trump’s entire life has been a never-ending series of green lights and cutting lines. He grew up wealthy, inherited a fortune from his father, and despite being what many people perceive to be an ignorant loudmouth with zero experience, he convinced just under half the country to make him their leader.
If that were your story, it would be hard to argue America’s greatness. Of course, Kim Jong Un could make a similar argument about North Korea.
Our dear leader isn’t alone in the belief that America is the greatest country in the world. Millions of American’s are willing to declare this without sarcasm despite the fact that it is provably false. Tribalism undoubtedly plays a part in this narrow view: We are from here, it’s all we know, so therefore it is the best. A similar phenomenon occurs when you ask someone from Southwest Ohio which football team is the best, and they respond, “Why, the Cincinnati Bengals obviously.”
Recognizing the problem
Loving your country is perfectly fine, but only if you are willing to acknowledge its shortcomings and strive to make improvements.
Alcoholics don’t get better until they admit they have a problem, and right now America is stumbling around with a lampshade on its head trying to contact an ex-girlfriend. The United States is not even close to the greatest country in the world, and this isn’t just opinion, it’s an irrefutable fact. Among industrialized nations, America fails to crack the top ten in critical categories such as education, healthcare, life expectancy, infant mortality, and overall happiness according to rankings by the World Health Organization and Pearson. And the areas where we do top the charts -- incarcerated citizens, mass shootings -- aren’t exactly flattering.
America’s descent into mediocrity isn’t something that will improve anytime soon, especially with Republicans running the show.
Rather than admitting problems and working to fix them, Republicans pride themselves on their ability to not only ignore significant issues but actively make them worse. Their answer to climate change is to deny its existence and burn more coal. Their response to gun violence is to offer thoughts and prayers and make silencers legal. And although there are plenty of good Americans who are fighting to better our country and its image around the world, we are currently being led by a man with the social media restraint of a recently dumped teenager.
In other words, we probably shouldn’t be expecting a massive influx of Scandinavians anytime soon.