Has He Ever Done Anything Ever?

    Corporate control and exploitation in “Sweat” by Lynn Nottage is reflective of Donald Trump’s rise and fall as a president. Just like Tracey, Trump believes that Latinos in America are stealing jobs and are, in turn, harming Americans by making them lose jobs and money. The irony of the situation is that he has created jobs for the same people that he is allegedly trying to get rid of them for by using their same cheap labor. This not only went against the very racist promise he made when running for president, but also harmed Mexican and American workers alike. Tracey tells Oscar that the “gibberish” (47) on the Oldstead’s flyer was the reason she and the other fieldworkers would lose their jobs because “they gonna be laying people off” (59) for cheaper labor in Mexico. This is a place paying their fieldworkers even worse than America, shown when Cynthia retorts that “a [Mexican] woman like you will stand for sixteen hours and be happy making a fraction of what they’re paying you” (72) when Tracey complains about her own mistreatment in the company. Trump saw this as a business opportunity rather than a concern for the American people, and from this point came his famous motto that “we [Americans] need to build a wall...” (Donald Trump). He plans not only to exploit Mexican workers, but to shun them away once he is done with them. Trump being a businessman aided in his election because he wasn’t deeply associated with government before his election, so people felt they could trust him because he was “one of them,” someone of the working class. Ironically, he had shown through his actions that he is anything but. 

    Trump planned to “keep Mexicans out” of work and the country, but his plans are being carried out “very inexpensively” by “…making Mexico pay for it.” The only way he could get unreasonably cheap funds for this wall is if he paid people badly, like hiring minimum wage workers looking for a bit more. This is reflective of Oscar’s exact situation as a bartender versus an Oldstead’s field worker. For regular people like Tracey, a bar with cheap drinks within her field worker budget is perfect after work. These services are sold by a Colombian man paid minimum wage. The whole reason these drinks and services are so cheap is because he is being paid so little, something she should relate to, but instead resents him for being like her and wanting more. In this way, corporations have pitted people against each other to fight while they gain from the losses they cannot avoid. This is reflective of what Trump has done in America, with American workers hating Latino workers for wanting the same decency they do.

People voted for Trump because he promised that Americans would have more jobs. But he is an unwavering businessman at heart, benefitting only himself because he is at the top of the grand scheme. Just as Oldstead’s cut wages from field workers for the “top dogs” of companies to make more money, Trump payed people for the cheap labor Americans wanted him to get rid of. Although Tracey’s racism against Oscar was an unrealistic conclusion so she could have someone to pin the blame on, many Americans think the same way, since she is representative of the white lower class of workers. This frustration built up in the white American working class, and the only light at the end of the tunnel was a man promising to get rid of it, leading to Trump’s election in 2016. Although nothing good came out of it, their pent-up frustration had to be released, and the way they did that was voting in someone that left them in the dirt, just like the rest. However, Jason and Chris let out this frustration not by voting, but by attacking Oscar (a Hispanic man) because he was going to apply to Oldstead’s when they got laid off without warning. Both were wronged but let their frustrations out in the wrong ways. In this way, corporations prove they are able to and will continue to control their workers.

He was not Kenough

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