Nightmare on Martha’s Vineyard

Based on MSNBC’s recent special, “Martha’s Vineyard v. DeSantis,” even award-winning documentarians cannot produce a propaganda film about Gov. Ron DeSantis’ “political stunt” of sending illegals to this wealthy liberal redoubt without the residents coming across as clueless, entitled douchebags.

The documentary is the celluloid equivalent of stepping on a rake and having the rake hit you in the face.

I will dispense with correcting the usual immigration lies scattered throughout the documentary. (No, the Venezuelans did not enter our country “legally”; and no, Venezuela’s economic disaster isn’t something that happened to them — they did it to themselves. Can’t wait to have these Aristotles voting here.)

I’m more interested in the prodigious entitlement of the Martha’s Vineyarders.

The documentary begins with a bunch of New Englanders bustling around a dock, and a ruddy-faced woman holding up a fish for a picture (the closest liberals ever get to the working class). She is then introduced as Lisa Belcastro, director, Harbor Homes Shelter.

Belcastro: “So I get a call at around 4 o’clock and I was like ‘What? We have about 50 Venezuelans in the parking lot? And I … why? What do you mean?’”

Her befuddlement was echoed by Geany Rolanti of Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, who said, “I saw them walking across from the high school to the bus stop. I was confused. I was confused. Because, I was like, how did you get here?”

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a place where the sight of unkempt Third Worlders is confusing? Not too long ago, that was America. But by now, there aren’t many towns left where it would be considered unusual.

I envy their utter obliviousness to what’s happening in the rest of the country.

The Biden administration has dumped nearly 4 million illegals on the U.S. in the past three years alone. Martha’s Vineyard — which voted 80% for Biden — got 49 of ‘em and immediately called the police. Within 36 hours, the National Guard had removed the unsightly newcomers.

Could we put Martha’s Vineyard in charge of border security?

Venezuelan illegal: “They didn’t know what to do with us. We arrived unexpectedly.”

Unexpectedly! Whereas the hundreds of thousands of illegals showing up in other people’s towns were totally expected!

No, I’m sorry. That’s incorrect. Biden has been furtively sending planeloads of illegals on late-night “ghost flights” to U.S. airports with absolutely no advance warning, no resources and no right of refusal. Even in response to Freedom of Information Act requests, the Department of Homeland Security redacts the names of the luckless cities. Martha’s Vineyard: 80% for Biden.

The Democratic sheriff in San Antonio, Texas, Javier Salazar, perhaps hoping for an invitation to the Vineyard someday, is all over the documentary, making hilariously obtuse comments based on his expertise of having the 49 Venezuelans pass through his town first.

“If I want to make a point by inconveniencing not just the people I’m dumping, but inconveniencing the people I’m going to dump them on, that’s a perfect place to do it.”

Imagine the cheek of DeSantis inconveniencing Martha’s Vineyard! Salazar should be the keynote speaker at the next Democratic National Convention to elaborate on this point: Do NOT inconvenience the rich!

How did this nitwit get elected anywhere, much less in Texas? Oh, I see: San Antonio: 67% Hispanic, who vote about 70% for “D,” no matter what. (You’re definitely going to win the Hispanic vote, Republicans. Just keep trying!)

Most bizarrely, Salazar demanded to know, “What business is it, quite frankly, of the governor of Florida or anybody in Florida, what’s going on in my county?” The sheriff seems sublimely unaware that illegal immigration is affecting the whole country, not just his county.

Weirdly, Salazar — so proprietary about “what’s going on in [his] county” — flew to Massachusetts to oversee the illegals’ new accommodations after they got booted off the island.

Singing their praises, he talked about what great housekeepers they were. “They cleaned the barracks from top to bottom.”

Any engineers or surgeons in there, or are the rich still clamoring for more maids?

In a total coup, the documentary producers somehow got a living, walking, hectoring exemplar of “Karen” to participate in the documentary! Rachel Self, Martha’s Vineyard resident and immigration lawyer, keeps popping up, screeching about “crimes,” “victims,” “survivors,” “grooming” (isn’t that word a hate crime?), and people being “kidnapped.” I said, salad dressing on the SIDE!

Her immediate response to 49 illegals on the Vineyard was to call the chief of police to report a kidnapping.

— A governor sending 49 illegals to Martha’s Vineyard: KIDNAPPING.

— Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas dumping millions of illegals on towns throughout America (not Martha’s Vineyard): a Democratic hero!

— Ms. Self loading illegals onto a bus and personally ushering them off the island: Good Samaritan … and I’d like to speak to the manager!

Perhaps realizing that their blind hysteria about 49 illegals sounded a little Trumpy, the Vineyardites kept making excuses for their rush to get the illegals off the island.

First, they bragged about how wildly “diverse” Martha’s Vineyard is. Did you know the year-round population is one-quarter Brazilian?

That’s not true, at least according to any liberal’s definition of “diverse.” Only 0.19% of the population moved from abroad. Eighty-six percent of the year-rounders are American-born U.S. citizens. The median household income (off-season) is $74,000 — and $1 billion during summer — compared to $57,000 in Florida and $68,000 in Texas.

Next, the put-upon residents kept insisting that they bent over backward to help their beloved Venezuelans — “my 49 people,” as Self put it.

Massachusetts State Rep. Dylan Fernandes: “I hopped in and started blowing up air mattresses.”

You’re right, Dylan. No one could have done more.

Belcastro: “People wanted to help. People wanted to give. People wanted to donate.”

Yeah — donate to the buses to get them the hell off the island.

Rolanti: “They got hugs, they got kisses, they got clothing, they got food, we did everything we could, but unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of resources. … We have a lot of people who need food, who need shelter.”

Luckily, no one else in the entire country needs food or shelter. Only Martha’s Vineyard.

Fernandes: “It’s a very small island.”

Yes, small, but somehow big enough accommodate an extra 180,000 people during the summer — unlike the hundreds of towns and cities in less well-connected parts of the country that have been compelled to accommodate 4 million illegals just in the last three years.

I’ll let Karen write the epitaph to this column, as she seems so eager to do for the country.

“Martha’s Vineyard,” Self said, “has a year-round population of 17,000 people total, so 49 people for us being dropped here was the equivalent of 24,000 people being dropped in downtown Manhattan. That is not my America.”

See? Clueless. In the last year, more than 113,000 illegals have been “dropped” on New York City, with no end in sight.

That’s not our America, either.

     COPYRIGHT 2023 ANN COULTER