Robert Scheer SI Podcast SI: Justice & Injustice SI: Politics

Bill Blum: Bill Clinton Laid the Groundwork for Donald Trump

The attorney and author talks about how the Clinton administration played a role in Trump's current immigration policies.
The attorney and author talks about how the Clinton administration played a role in Trump's current immigration policies.

Bill Blum is a lecturer at USC and UCLA as well as a contributor to Truthdig. In this week’s Scheer Intelligence, Blum discusses his recent article which delves into how the Clinton administration’s policies enabled Donald Trump to become even more extreme on issues including immigration. Blum says Clinton had wanted to appear tough on crime, and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, which he signed into law, changed the deportation process and authorized construction on a border wall. Blum also talks about the long history of scapegoating immigrants for crimes, which is misplaced, because immigrants as a group have a far lower crime rate. And finally, Blum says in the coming months and years, we will see a new federalism emerge, which emphasizes states’ rights.

Credits

Guest:
Bill Blum – USC / UCLA / Truthdig – @blumslaw

Host:
Robert Scheer

Producers:
Joshua ScheerRebecca Mooney