One of the not-so-subtle dangers of living through the transition to an authoritarian society is falling into the trap of “at least I’m okay.”
We are all going to be tested in this regard soon, apparently on “Day 1” of the Trump administration, when his promised mass deportation of immigrants gets underway.
Probably no one reading my words will be affected directly at first. The initial target of Trump’s immigration czars will be specific members of the Latino community, ostensibly those alleged to have criminal records, but the roundups will quickly spread to encompass undocumented individuals living peacefully on the margins of affluent white society.
The Myth of the Hardened Criminal will quickly be discarded because there will be hardly any of those to be found. But this has never been about criminals anyway.
Meanwhile, many of us will start to lose a gardener here, a housecleaner there, or even a beloved nanny when one day they just don’t show up for work. We won’t know why; nobody will tell us. Most will just disappear
So what will be happening to the deportees?
The architects of Trump’s policy — Stephen Miller, an overt racist, and career border agent Tom Homan — are the same guys who created the “family separation“ policy during Trump 1.0. That is the policy of deliberately ripping children from their parents in order to create mass terror among the Latino community. They’ve vowed to do it again, now on a much greater scale.
And these architects of terror will not stop with the “illegal” people Trump has so effectively demonized.
They’ve already explicitly promised to round up certain American citizens as they forcibly remove millions of people from their homes. These are the children born here to undocumented parents; they are now to be deported as well, which is a violation of the very essence of a society based in law. While immigration judges will theoretically be required to evaluate the legality of such cases one by one, that guardrail will fail when Trump appoints ‘judges’ who support his initiative..
So what choices do we have as this racist spectacle proceeds before our eyes? Again, it won’t be happening to you or to me, for now. But it most definitely will be happening to “we,” as in “We the people.”
This is precisely how a democracy dies.
Despots always divide and conquer, picking off the weakest and most vulnerable at the start. Next will be the persecution of dissidents, political opponents, those who in Trumpian terms, compose the “enemy within.”
History is clear on what will follow but less clear on how this will all turn out. Democracy’s odds will be much better if the resistance starts on Day 1.
HEADLINES:
Dead Last — Authoritarian rule always entails corruption. With Donald Trump in office, watch your wallet. (New Yorker)
Ruben Gallego defeats Kari Lake in Arizona Senate race (NPR)
Trump expected to announce Stephen Miller as deputy chief of staff for policy (CNN)
Trump Expected to Choose Marco Rubio as Next Secretary of State (BBC)
Trump prepares immigration crackdown with Miller, Homan posts (WP)
President-elect Donald Trump said he wouldn’t be a dictator — "except for Day 1." Here’s a look at what he has said he will do once he takes office. [AP]
Trump Adviser Sends Ominous Warning to Justice Department Lawyers (TNR)
As Trump Returns to Power, Allies and Adversaries Expect a Wave of Revenge (NYT)
Round 2 in the Trump-vs-Mexico matchup looks ominous for Mexico (AP)
Spirit Airlines and JetBlue planes struck by gunfire in Haiti (ABC)
Afghanistan attends U.N. climate talks for first time since Taliban return to power (AP)
“Energy transition” has been profoundly misunderstood (Economist)
Aid to Gaza falls to lowest level in 11 months despite US ultimatum to Israel (Guardian)
US carries out second consecutive night of strikes in Yemen, defense official says (CNN)
A new era dawns. America’s tech bros now strut their stuff in the corridors of power (Guardian)
Why AI could eat quantum computing’s lunch (Technology Review)
How a stubborn computer scientist accidentally launched the deep learning boom (Ars Technica)
Mentally Broken Nation Starts Dressing, Speaking Like Frank Sinatra (The Onion)
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