Imagined Borders Through Rhetoric

In the last few days we have witnessed an odd phenomenon. The President of the United States made several remarks about changing tariffs on trade goods, specifically steel and aluminum. There was also a markable increase in rhetoric about the abilities of the United States to not only survive but ‘win’ a trade war against some of its global economic and trade partners. This sent global markets into a brief crisis, required counter threats from several foreign leaders, and forced white house and congressional staffers to scramble to clarify political positions. However, all of this came without any formal policy change, discussion of how or when these tariffs could be enacted, or concrete action from the President or legislature. Which brings about the quandary of if rhetoric is powerful enough on its own to significantly change perceptions even if a change in actual policy is nonexistent. And, perhaps, what sort of impacts and implications this could have not only on the current administration, but also on the way future administrations may confront global issues.

I soon came to the conclusion, that a single brick of something like a promised border wall would not need to be placed to have a real and significant impact on refugee populations. Rather, the existence of the rhetoric, and the political support for the concept alone is a symbolic deterrent possibly more effective than any physical barrier could ever become. This then creates both global and national impacts without the need for monetarily and politically costly actions on behalf of any specific party or government.

There is little need for me to simply speculate about this aspect. An ethnically Turkish friend, a permanent resident of the United States, who teaches at a small private university in Virginia recently reached out to me. During our conversation she confided in me that she currently feels more trapped in this country than she did while visiting her family in Turkey during the failed coup attempt in 2016. In a way the rhetoric of the far right, in association with many ultra-nationalist movements have created a furthering of isolationist era divisions among the population.

This story is not unique. We as academics and professionals don’t exist in a singularist vacuum. Rather everyday we witness people’s fear of not knowing if they should travel to their familial homes to visit family because of the threat of being turned away at our borders. This includes academics, artists, and entrepreneur from imagined shithole countries, being entombed within the border walls of rhetoric without actual political action or major shifts in enforced policy.