The Chart That Saved Trump's Life
Chart of the Week #29
I don't usually do these more than once a week unless I come across something particularly timely or pressing that I want to share with you. But with Trump's victory still fresh on everyone's mind, I figured this chart deserves special attention - for two reasons. Spoiler alert: it's about immigration.
Now, as you well know, immigration has been central to Trump's "Make America Great Again" message from day one, even more so than fixing America's "horrible trade deals" (which I discussed in yesterday's piece).
But there's another reason why today's chart is such a special one for Trump and America. During his July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, this very visualization literally saved his life. While discussing illegal immigration and gesturing toward a chart projected on screen, little did Trump know how significant this moment would become.
It was then that Trump turned his head - and at that precise instant, a bullet whizzed by, merely grazing his ear. The rest is history... Since then, he's developed quite an attachment to the chart, saying he'll "sleep with it for the rest of my life." And honestly, who could blame him?
As for the data in this now-famous chart, it shows exactly why it resonated so powerfully at Trump's rallies. Take a look.
As you can see, under Trump, border encounters stayed below 60,000 per month on average for most of his presidency. Under Biden, they've exploded to over 250,000 monthly crossings.
Several key policy inflection points stand out.
First, the 2018 "Remain in Mexico" policy, or MPP, made asylum seekers wait in Mexico for claim processing. Then, Trump’s 2019 tariff threats led to more cooperation from Mexico, which helped keep numbers steady.
But everything changed when Biden took office in 2021, reversing previous policies and pausing deportations. The impact was immediate and dramatic. Border encounters skyrocketed, even with new tools from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), like faster asylum processing. You can see this clearly in the graph above.
Now, “border encounters” don’t necessarily mean border crossings, since they also include expulsions. In other words, not every encounter ends in a crossing. Although, under Biden, most have. The Border Patrol has reported about 7.1 million arrests since he took office, numbers that, regardless of media spin, would’ve been unimaginable during Trump’s first term.
Have a great rest of your Sunday!
Lau Vegys
Mexico had a responsibility to stop this massive movement across its border.... so just drop them back on their side andl et them food, cloth, shelter them until they decide what to do with them
The American people truly came through with the vote. Totally offset all of the cheating and illegals voting. Lots of great work by patriots monitoring the voting as well and stopping mass voter frauds.