The Grand Illusion
As regular readers of my blog doubtless know, I try hard to look at the facts in a given situation, all of the facts, if possible, rather than just those facts that support my beliefs or values. This can be difficult when you’re evaluating actions by Trump and his followers, because they have a continuing tendency to misrepresent facts, or to ignore those which are inconvenient or which conflict with their objectives.
I won’t use the terms “beliefs” or “values” with regard to Trump and company because either term implies a consistency which appears lacking in Trump and most Trumpists, with the exception that everything that Trump does or supports appears designed to increase his own personal power. Add to that the apparent fact that Trump has no fixed beliefs or values, except narcissistic self-interest, and the fact that a large segment of his followers appear to accept whatever he says as fact, even when hard and/or visual evidence contradicts what Trump has declared to be true.
When federal law enforcement agents, such as those in ICE, ignore due process, Constitutional rights, and shoot individuals who have not threatened them or who have questioned the legality of ICE actions, and Trump supports those actions as legal, it should be clear to all Americans that the basics of law and order are being trampled.
When Trump uses federal investigations as a weapon of intimidation and effectively repudiates the Constitution and the right-wing-dominated Supreme Court finds ways to support Trump or to avoid addressing the underlying issues, it becomes more and more obvious that Trump, his lackeys in government, and his supporters have little interest in either law or morals.
The great danger of this situation is that those opposing Trump may decide that facts and words – and even votes – are insufficient in stopping his erosion of legal process and human rights, and that they will have to resort to force in order to preserve those rights.
Doesn’t anyone recall the results of the past attempts of arrogant white males to impose and maintain power through various forms of dubious legal inequality?
Just wanted to add:
– Opposing law enforcement officials on Jan 6 2021 = “good.”
– Opposing law enforcement officials on Jan 7 2026 = “bad.”
“…it becomes more and more obvious that Trump, his lackeys in government, and his supporters have little interest in either law or morals.”
Ain’t that the truth.
I suspect Trump and some of his advisors have decided to adopt a two-pronged strategy. 1) Train a force willing to repress the public using violence —ICE—while cementing their loyalty through cash and alienating them from the public, and 2) Encourage greater and greater violence until the left, or anybody, fights back enough to serious injure or kill an ICE agent ,using that as an excuse to further escalate.
The problem I see is that it’s not clear adopting a purely peaceful response to escalating provocations is much of a better option. ICE appears perfectly willing to escalate and what happens when they start deporting Trump enemies wholesale, regardless of legal status? When is the right time to pull out all the stops in resistance? It’s hard to stomach the thought of waiting until rich white males are being deported before putting up a real fight. Like a lot of serious oppositions to rulers, coordination issues plague the mass public, which is why elites are usually the ones that dictators intimidate and crack down on first. I think in the short term, elections are still the only answer, but if ICE starts to show up in polling places, that could be the last straw.