THE POLICE STATE IS HERE

 

During the first Donald Trump term, his administration carried out child separation policies at the border that were so cruel that even Trump himself first tried to blame them on his predecessor Barack Obama before ending them.  Sadly, the American public seemed to have forgotten this terrible policy when they voted him in for a second term in 2024, even as his supporters at his rallies held signs reading MASS DEPORTATIONS NOW.  That extremist desire has lead to Trump acolyte Stephen Miller pushing  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents into making more and more arrests.

Right now we have masked, armed government thugs grabbing people off of our streets because of the color of their skin or the accent that they use.  Gone are the words about getting out all the gang members or drug dealers, now we're seeing law abiding people who have been part of their communities for years being brutalized and held against their will.  American citizens wrongfully swept up have been released after suffering through days of tortuous treatment, with no recourse to sue for false arrest.  And while this all may be done in the name of throwing out" illegals", a recent chart in the New York Times shows that the arrests have focused on states like Illinois and California, states that did not vote for Trump in 2024.  If all the Trump administration wanted to do was deport undocumented immigrants, they would have focused on a border state like Texas, but this really more about revenge than deportation.  (The same could, of course be said about his sending National Guard troops to "protect" blue cities, which has been thankfully halted by the courts).   

Things really came to a head a few days ago when an ICE agent shot and killed Minneapolis resident Renee Good, a 37 year old mother.  Just hours after the shooting, the Trump administration tried to justify it by saying that she had tried to weaponize her car; they even  branded her as a domestic terrorist.  But the videos that have been released of the shooting clearly show that she was just swerving her car to avoid the agent, and at the very least she did not deserve to be shot three times at close range.  But this is Trump's America now, where this woman is called a terrorist by the same president who pardoned over 1600 January 6th protesters, 200 of whom had been convicted of assaulting law officers.

We should have all seen this coming; a few months ago, when Trump signed a budget bill that gave billions of dollars to ICE, which has been recruiting for new members with blatantly xenophobic advertising, it was obvious that it would lead to an increased crack down in blue cities that would inevitably lead to unnecessary violence and death.  For Trump, this is nothing new: remember how he encouraged his followers to attack protestors at his rallies, or cheered a congressman who assaulted a reporter?  Or how about the reports that he watched the rioting unfold on January 6th with more delight than horror; obviously this is a man who loves the idea that his loyalists are so faithful that they would fight and kill for him. So not only does Trump not care about the shooting of Good, he sees the protests against it as an excuse to increase the number of troops in Minneapolis, even threatening to declare Martial law, although he thankfully hasn't done that yet.

America's slide into what can only be called fascism, with Trump's private army doing his bidding, has been accomplished in only a year.  It's amazing how national ideals can crumble when one leader with a cult like hold over his followers, a docile congress and a mostly obliging court system can run rampart over things that once would have seemed unthinkable.  But here we are.  I've never felt more ashamed to be an American than right now.

WE WILL RUN THE COUNTRY

It was just weeks ago that I asked the question, is America stumbling into a war with Venezuela?  Well, today I got my answer: Venezuelan Prime Minister Nicolás Maduro and his wife were taken into custody by the US military this morning.  They are soon going to face drug related charges. Before the attack  President Donald Trump  gave no acknowledgment to congress, nor any real explanation to the American public about it.  It could be seen as an illegal assault, given that only congress has the right to declare war on another country.  At the very least, Trump could have looked at the polls that showed strong majorities of Americans opposing military action in Venezuela and addressed the people's concerns before the attack.  But instead he just acted without warning or approval, behaving like the king he thinks he is.

After the assault, Trump did address the nation, but he was frustratingly vague in both his explanation for the attack or what happens next.  Ominously, he said that  the United States would “run the country” until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” could be made.  He even mentioned the possibility of sending American troops to Venezuela. 

Clearly, the taking of Maduro was a relatively easy thing to do, but what lies ahead will almost certainly not be.  Venezuela is a country of almost thirty million people, and is around twice the size of California. Just what will it take for America to be able to "run the country"?  If we do send troops to the country, will this be seen a major betrayal from a president who ran on a platform of not starting wars?

The important thing to remember here is that, despite what Trump says, Maduro was not taken out because of his ties to drug dealing (most of the drugs from Venezuela go to Europe instead of the US), he was taken out to give the US access to Venezuela's massive oil reserves.  Although one other reason is that Secretary of State Marco Rubio may see  removing Maduro as a stepping stone towards eventually overthrowing the Communist government of Cuba, an ally of Venezuela.  Also, Homeland Security Advisor and raging xenophobe Stephen Miller reportedly sees  a war with Venezuela as an excuse to use the 18th century law, the Alien Enemies Act, a way to legally deport hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans currently living in the US.  So perhaps it's no surprise that Trump wanted this attack, as it allowed him to look tough on drugs, Communism and immigration while also gaining access to more oil for American oil companies, all at once

Look, now that the die is cast, I hope that everything goes the way that Trump says it will; that an orderly transition to a democratically elected leadership takes place without the need for American troops to occupy the country.  But I don't think it's likely.  Just how bad this all turns out remains to be seen.