Trump, Obama, Language, And Assimilation

Current President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama have very little in common from a political standpoint; however, there may be a certain exception when it comes to the issues of language and assimilation.

President Trump frequently has stated: “We have a country where to assimilate, you have to speak English.”

President Obama, in a recent speech in South Africa, observed that “newcomers [to a nation] should make an effort to adapt to the language and customs of their new home. Those are legitimate things….”

President Trump and former President Obama agree on almost nothing else politically; however, given Trump’s frequent statements about assimilation and speaking English, and Obama’s recent comments about immigrants making an effort to adapt to the language and customs of their new home, then perhaps these issues of language and assimilation may serve as an area of common ground.

The best way to build on this potentially bipartisan common ground concerning language and assimilation would be for Congress to embrace English’s historic role as America’s common, unifying language, and to adopt English as the official language of governmental operations by passing the English Language Unity Act.