434 Comments
User's avatar
Tom's avatar

I'm with Woke Bill Kristol - and Dems have the perfect opportunity to use the shutdown leverage to attack ICE hard. What are Schumer and Jeffries doing? Making it publicly known how much they don't actually want to use that leverage.

Kotzsu's avatar
3hEdited

G. Elliot Morris has the polling details that this is again a winning issue for Dems. He wrote a great piece today, but this is one of the best bits at the end of what he wrote:

"If you are data-driven about public opinion, the political opportunity now is clear. By expanding ICE’s use of force, Trump has tied together 'immigration' and 'shooting American citizens.' Democrats can now attack the former without appearing to defend the Biden administration’s record on immigration, and especially asylum. Democrats can attach visceral images of ICE abuse to the word 'immigration' in voters’ minds — and in doing so, erode Trump’s advantage on the issue and push back more effectively against his agenda in and out of Congress. I spent much of 2025 pointing out that political pundits were misreading immigration and effectively ceding ground to Trump. This argument was controversial when I started making it. Now it is undeniable."

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/ice-is-a-70-30-issue-against-trump

Tom's avatar

Great data, thanks for sharing

Christine Knowles's avatar

Woke Bill Kristol is my man. ICE is being used to move forward an agenda way beyond immigration control. They want to destroy us, the opposition. Trump wants a civil war.

Timothy M Dwyer's avatar

That, THAT!!! That is the point. That is where this is headed. Make no mistake on the intent of these policies. What was initially cloaked as a deportation effort has morphed into an armed attack on ‘Blue’ America’s cities. This isn’t the end point. It’s only the beginning

Christine Knowles's avatar

It IS the beginning. I firmly believe this attack on us has been the point all along. Stephen Miller just got extra thrills by torturing brown people as they've been setting this up.

Timothy M Dwyer's avatar

Much more to come in the next phases of the operation to subdue the inhabitants of the new Reich

Rich Wingerter's avatar

They don't want a civil war. They want a police state. How better to strip the country of its assets than to create a police state where the criminals can extract our wealth at their will?

Kate Fall's avatar

Schumer is my Senator. I gave up. What is the point of continually contacting his office? He won't listen to Bill Kristol, he won't listen to his voters, he won't listen to his fellow Senators. What. Is. The. Point. If you don't have a million in crypto, don't bother is the message I got loud and clear. It's embarrassing and infuriating.

Anyway, all I have to say to my NY Senators is LISTEN to what Bill is saying today, but I know perfectly well they won't.

Schumer refuses to believe that the middle class he courts on Long Island wants immigrants to suffer, and supports concentration camps. If he keeps going down this road, he'll be enabling American concentration camps. How does he keep stopping himself from seeing it?

Daphne McHugh's avatar

Kate sad to say that Schumer seems to be the better of our two senators, since Gillibrand is invisible. Recently I got the feeling that Schumer isn’t going to last much longer he looks bad. How Schumer has managed to hold onto his position in the senate is a mystery to me.

Dave Yell's avatar

You mean NY has another Senator?

Paul K. Ogden's avatar

Gillibrand is too busy going after Senators who made a joke when they were acting as comedians. I will never forgive her for driving out of the Senate one of the best Senators the Democrats had, Al Franken.

Jeni's avatar
2hEdited

Minnesotans sorely miss him in this moment too.

Lady Emsworth's avatar

Oh, yes - God bless Al!

Sorely, sorely missed. . .

Mark D. Garfinkel, Ph.D.'s avatar

"The middle class he courts on Long Island" are, for the most part, right-wing Republicans whose tastes in clothing, hair, and politics never left the 1980s. Many are descended from immigrants whose national origins were despised in the late 19th & early 20th centuries. LIG's hypocrisy about modern-day immigrants rivals that of Herr Miller, whose great-grandparents came from a similarly reviled ethnic/national group.

PXLM1728's avatar
1hEdited

The Republican middle classes on Long Island have pulled up the socioeconomic ladder behind them. Their ancestors were able to leave the outer boroughs of NYC in the post-war era thanks to the GI Bill for education, FHA and VA for mortgage funding, GSL and Pell Grant educational loans. You can take the folks out of Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, but not the mid-century, outer borough, racist attitudes out of them. Their prejudices were transmitted to their children and grandchildren living in single family homes on Long Island. These descendants have made socio-economic gains but hire off-the-books "help": home health aides, handymen, lawn care workers, and house cleaners. Everyone knows that many of the help are undocumented immigrants, but that's OK as long as it benefits the hypocritical, middle class homeowners.

Left in WashState's avatar

Schumer is giving heavy Neville Chamberlain vibes. Sad.

Katherine B Barz's avatar

Know the feeling. My Representative is Richie Neal. Useless unless you have bucks. They don’t call him “Pay to play for nothing.”

Luke's avatar

The two worst “leaders” in recent American history.

Charles's avatar

Oh common! Trump and his clown show exceed Schumer and Jeffries in poor leadership by magnitudes! Can we ask for more effective leadership from the two of them. Absolutely! Worse than Trump and company? Not in my book.

Paul K. Ogden's avatar

I'm assuming Luke meant to modify his comments by talking about "congressional" leaders. Obviously, Trump is on another planet.

bitchybitchybitchy's avatar

Yes, let's focus on Schumer and Jeffries when the real problem lies in the White House and a GOP that is totally fine with destroying America.

Thr GOP owns this mess. Stop blaming everyone else.

Rich Wingerter's avatar

So why are Schumer and Jeffries siding with "the White House and a GOP that is totally fine with destroying America"? Shouldn't they be on our side, the side of the American people?

This is a real opportunity to rein in ICE, at least until we can get a Democrat in that White House. But I'm willing to bet they cave in on healthcare and they don't even mention deportations.

Ben Gruder's avatar

What the scaredy-cat contingent of the Dems don't get is that these days you only get support if you are full-throated and unapologetic. The revealed preference of voters shows that projecting confidence and conviction is the current political aphrodisiac. And it means don't just say it once. Rinse and repeat.

julia dream's avatar

"Stage-share." WWF production qualities. Anything else, lost in the noise of the louder voices.

Joshua Scholar's avatar

And the Bulwark has been platforming Lauren Egan all day to argue for not using this.

The moderates continue to have their imaginations utterly fail!

This is all 100% predictable, but they're all pretending that the US isn't doomed to either Putinism or Balkanization.

And they want us to avoid protecting lives, just in case that means that Trump won't kill as many or will forget to impose tyranny.

They need to step up!

David's avatar

These comments assume that this Administration will follow the law, they won’t. They will not stop because Congress stamps its pathetic feeties. They are beyond that. They have crossed the Rubicon.

julia dream's avatar

I hate to agree with you, but I do. They'll shoot first and then let the courts sort it out ... but people will be dead and our rights lost. Pardons for them: autocracy for us.

ScottG's avatar

As if most Americans think that masking to hide identities, not presenting warrants, and full immunity to horrific acts is OK. Most reasonable people oppose these policies and actions.

Even some Republicans don't think this is OK (at least some can relate due to being told exactly the same jack-booted thugs, only from the UN, were coming for them all of these years).

Janine Bennette's avatar

I’m also with Woke Bill Kristol. I responded to Lauren Egan’s post yesterday saying something like, are we Dems really going to wring our hands over wording again, freeze and do nothing?

Anne's avatar

So hoping we get the Democratic Party we deserve. With some exceptions, this one is ... asleep in a long-past era.

Not only do we not have a cavalry (or Marines!) coming to save us, but the horses haven't even been let out of the corral.

Are we the horses? AND the cavalry? AND the Marines?

I'm no better than our Democratic leaders, because I also don't have an answer, but they have the position and, supposedly, the means to actually lead, and they're flailing.

Katherine B Barz's avatar

Will Rogers said it beautifully almost one hundred years age. “I do not belong to any organized political party. I’m a Democrat.”

Bryan Fichter's avatar

Nobody does a better job of negotiating with themselves and preemptively conceding than Democratic "leadership".

Cassie Brayman's avatar

As a lifelong dem I will say this either we get new leadership or we need a new party we can’t have 2 fascist parties in government!

Rich Wingerter's avatar

This is why Democratic leadership in Congress needs to be replaced. We need leaders who will stand up for the American people.

Maybe after we clear out some deadwood in this primary they'll get the message.

Chuck Eagle's avatar

If the Democratic Party had any balls and any reason to still exist in 2026, it would be shutting down the government funding until every single ICE officer hired in 2025 to the present is fired and Noem steps down.

They'll spin their cowardice as "hurrr we can't punish the federal workers and SNAP recipients!" Yeah, it will. The alternative here is being complicit in giving money and therefore greenlighting an American Gestapo that was just told it can crack skulls with total immunity, which will only increase its aggression and be further emboldened by the fact that it just killed a citizen, got away with it, and you gave it money anyway despite all your rhetoric about it being evil. They refuse to see the world and reality for what it is - this being an American extinction level event that intentionally seeks to destroy what America was to replace it with a Russian style oligarchical fascist and lawless hardcore right wing permanent government. SNAP and federal jobs in the moment are irrelevant in this context. If this administration is allowed to continue with its destruction and total dereliction of written rule of law, then they will eliminate all federal jobs in question and SNAP and Medicaid sooner or later anyway.

Stop being naive. Take aggressive action. Walk out en masse the first word he says at the State of the Union. Don't sit there legitimizing it like it's normal. It isn't.

Schumer and Jeffries, of course, are useless suits. Schumer is the perfect example of why the Senate needs a two term limit. If you got to represent a state for TWELVE years, that is more than enough for one individual. All unlimited terms does is enable incumbents with sufficient party clout to do nothing but sit and get rich, fat, and old while feeling no pressure to take a single risk for the greater good.

The party should also be engaging in messaging along the lines of "Republicans/Trump hate America" because they obviously do. They hate what America has been since WW2. They hate its rich immigrant history and multiculturalism dating back to the colonial era. They hate its role as global stabilizing force as the leader of NATO and being the economic hub of the world. They hate its freedom - look no further than their efforts to eliminate free speech and commerce through attacking and extorting schools, states, cities, law firms, private businesses, and media. They hate the USA and seek to simply slap that same name on a totally different zombie version of the country which used to bear it.

Call them out for what they are. America hating, freedom hating, angry, sad, whiny babies.

Mike Lew's avatar

The President has fantasized about the Insurrection Act since he came down his gold escalator. Of course he's going to use it!

The only "amusing" part will be listening to how surprised his enablers are.

JF's avatar

His enablers will cheer it on. They think the Insurrection Act will be applied selectively and they are probably correct.

Linda Skinner's avatar

But some MAGAs and Trump voters will be affected. Donald J Trump is so organizationally impotent that he has no idea where and how to apply his punishments.

JF's avatar

In broad strokes, Trump is going after blue states and “sanctuary cities”. It’s the best slicing they can do, but obviously imperfect.

Kate Fall's avatar

We know that but MAGA doesn't think he makes mistakes.

Left in WashState's avatar

Like maybe the folks of color who voted for him? Or maybe the young men, from lower to middle-class families who voted for him, who will be sent to fight in some new forever war? They WILL be affected, some of them on purpose by Steve Miller, as he is a twisted man who hates POC.

I'm not trying to say white people aren't a big part of MAGA land, BUT they are the last who will be hurt by his policies. The people of color and young men who voted for him were the voters that put him over the top and life is going to become much darker for them.

Timothy M Dwyer's avatar

If by ‘selectively’, they mean, ‘anyone who gets in our way’ and, ‘anyone who looks {Thanks Boof Kavanaugh!} like they aren’t white’, then they wont be disappointed.

Katherine B Barz's avatar

It does. Renee Good was white middle class. Didn’t protect her. The irony of going after blue cities and states is that red states depend on blue states to fund their budgets. In 2016 33% of Texas’s state budget came from the Feds. Kentucky $3.55 from the Feds for every dollar it pays. California overpaid $82 billion to the Feds. By crippling the blue state’s, what are the red states going to do? Starve, but they will “own the lib’s.”

Timothy M Dwyer's avatar

Which will fill their growling stomachs with joy and fill the dreams with orgasmic ecstasy!

Robert Jaffee's avatar

Very true, except the day it would have actually been appropriate has come and gone: J6th, a day that will live in infamy!

But of course, let’s not forget that “one man’s terrorist, is another man’s freedom fighter!”

And clearly, we are living in topsy-turvy world, where the terrorists are our government and the freedom fighters have become the terrorists: For Now! IMHO…:)

OJVV's avatar

One person's terrorist is another person's Renee Nichol Good.

Timothy M Dwyer's avatar

Kind of like, ah, er, Venezuela!

Maribeth's avatar

Don’t forget Iran!

Karl's avatar

It's clear that Trump salivates at the possibility of applying the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, charging and arresting local officials. ICE is there to provoke opposition that will become the justification. And MAGAts WANT civil war, assuming that their side is far better armed and will prevail. It's going to get more bloody, to satisfy the lust of Trump and his cult.

Kim Nesvig's avatar

You’re absolutely right. This is the fulfillment of Trump’s most cherished fantasy.

Cristine Carrier Schmidt MA OT's avatar

and he's probably unhappy over just how long he's having to wait so far to have even a thin veneer of a justification for it....

OJVV's avatar

Mike, he's essentially already announced it. I'd have pegged it happening a little later in the year, but I'd say we're but days away.

Katherine B Barz's avatar

Depends on what his MRI shows, or whatever test he took that nobody is talking about.

Manon Banta's avatar

Yeah, that trigger finger has been itching since 2020.

The Blockhead Chronicles's avatar

Adding to CBS’ cravenness, they were the only one of the broadcasters who DIDN’T cover the WaPo reporter whose house was invaded in search of “classified” docs. ABC, NBC, and PBS had stories, according to sone journo friends.

Oh, and Bezos has said zero. Kay Graham is spinning in her grave.

suzc's avatar

CBS and WaPo dig their own graves. We can shovel in the dirt.

MAP's avatar

And AP. Their coverage is increasingly slanted towards the admin as well. That's where I first saw reference to the "after being hit with a shovel."

suzc's avatar

It seems the "legacy media" has chosen appeasement; I do not think it increases their chances of survival.

sunbirdie93@gmail.com's avatar

Yeah, I noticed that the Venezuelan immigrant is called an "attacker". Pretty sure that ICE acted first and the guy was trying to save himself. Justified or not, he didn't go out and "attack" ICE first.

suzc's avatar

Independent media?

Dave Yell's avatar

Along with Bill bradlee

Dan Leithauser's avatar

"Jonathan Ross, “suffered internal bleeding to the torso following the incident.”

Did Jonathan Ross go to the hospital as reported by spokespeople? We are as likely to have any kind of confirming information as seeing the Trump "not my head, I passed a cognitive test" MRI that he promised to release. This is the most absurd administration in history.

Cat in Colorado's avatar

My guess? They’re playing semantics. A bruise is internal bleeding. You know, the kind you may get from gun recoil.

Linda Oliver's avatar

Ross was internally bleeding the way Trump’s ear was shot off.

Maribeth's avatar

Are you talking about the ear that’s not missing any cartilage?

Jeri in Tx's avatar

Whenever they try to clean up the fecal matter from their dumb-butt mistakes they just make things worse. vance is one they should never send out to be cleanup man.

It's almost comical that they keep this in the news. Renee Good is dead and you, Ross, murdered her. You had the gun. Quit asking for our sympathy.

Mickey Marshall's avatar

10,000 like for you Cat for pointing that out.

B Breivogel's avatar

That is actually a possibility!

Janine Bennette's avatar

Exactly what I was going to point out!

Hortense's avatar

Grok will be used to generate a medical report.

Dan Leithauser's avatar

I asked ChatGPT to generate a hospital report for internal bleeding. The entire form to be filled out was provided, including this: "Diagnosis.... Confirmed Diagnosis:

Acute internal bleeding resulting in hypovolemia / hemorrhagic shock (as applicable)." and "Treatment and Management.... Patient stabilized with IV fluids and blood transfusion as required. Continuous monitoring of vital signs. Surgical consultation obtained. Emergency surgical intervention performed / planned (if applicable).

So yeah. You are correct.

In most rational beings, there is a recognition that credibility and integrity are central to one's identity. Nothing is providing that level of confidence in Trump communications.

Paul K. Ogden's avatar

Wasn't Ross in the military? A slight bump by a car going 2 mph, even if that happened, caused "internal bleeding." We're supposed to believe that?

Think of all those football players and all the internal bleeding they must suffer from after every game.

Of course, technically a bruise is internal bleeding, though nobody in the medical profession uses "internal bleeding" to refer to a bruise.

Dave Yell's avatar

Funny how the smart phone kept working after getting"run over".

OJVV's avatar

Or, possibly, Jonathan Ross now has an "ulcer" from the stress of being a globally known murderer...

Paul K. Ogden's avatar

It was never an MRI. A reporter asked him if it was an MRI, and Trump said "yes". In Trump's defense, he's too stupid to know what an MRI is. Doctors later confirmed it was a CT scan not an MRI.

rlritt's avatar
4hEdited

Whats happening in Minneapolis is a warning. What happens in Minneapolis will happen all over the country.

steve robertshaw's avatar

Yes, but....only in major cities in states that don't have Republican governors, >80% Repub state legislatures, and Repub mayors. Trump has declared war on half of his country, while simultaneously declaring war on the rest of the world. The fat fuck is clearly insane, and you have to wonder about Miller and Vance's clinical diagnoses.

Linda Skinner's avatar

oh definitely. Miller is evil. Vance has literally lost his mind.

OJVV's avatar

Vance lost nothing. Vance made a choice and his choice was fascism.

Jeri in Tx's avatar

vance is one of the most transparent losers ever. Wants to be on whatever team he thinks is winning - no loyalties, no shame. Shat on his fellow hillbillies (he ain't no hillbilly) to make a buck.

Was a pudgy, dumb kid back then. Is a dumb man now.

MAP's avatar

No. Stephen Miller isn't driven by politics. He's driven by hate. Right now it's the low hanging fruit. But it will eventually trickle down everywhere.

Timothy M Dwyer's avatar

If we view the invasion of cities in ‘blue’ states as the initial phase of subjugation of the country, and if they are successful, only a fool (Read: minimum 50% of Americans) would think that is the end point of the operation. Every ‘Red’ state has cities where there is a ‘blue’ majority. Even Florida has blue cities. Think of cities like Little Rock AK. Think Huntsville AL. Think Austin TX. Think Omaha. Phase two will involve subjugation of Red State-Blue Cities. Please remember that Trumps ICE Army will number around 100,000 psychopaths with automatic weapons and body armor. Trump may invite Republican Governors to “clean up” these locales with their own National Guard or accede to limited invasion by his private army of ICE and CBP. Then comes individual ‘radical leftist Marxist Communist’ Democrats to fill the gulags. Interim actions will likely be making US Citizens eligible for deportation to places like Eswatini (formerly ‘Swaziland’) where more than 25% of the general population is HIV positive and the prison population HIV rate is a little higher than that. If you aren’t looking beyond the initial phase of this operation for what comes next, you’re not being rational.

Geoff Anderson's avatar

Correction: In blue cities in blue states

Kate Fall's avatar

I wouldn't bet money on that. New Orleans and Charlotte, NC have been raided. Other cities should be aware: your Republican governor won't protect you. I suspect they know that quite, quite well, though.

Geoff Anderson's avatar

Those are bright blue cities in red states (or purple) and the Rural MAGA will cheer it on

Fake American's avatar

Can confirm on NC/CLT.

Linda Oliver's avatar

ICE is in Memphis, a blue city in a red state, but they aren’t being as spectacularly brutal.

OJVV's avatar

This. Kansas City and St. Louis are in a state where the Republican Governor and Republican controlled legislature don't consider either city as having "real Missourians"...they will actively court ICE invading our cities.

Linda Skinner's avatar

And purple states. I am in Arizona. I live in Phoenix with Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, Governor Katie Hobbs, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and other people Donald J. Trump hates, because they are blue and they are good people. We are not safe from him.

Michelle Togut's avatar

Exactly. Where are the ICE hordes invading Miami? Or Houston? Both cities likely have far more undocumented immigrants than Minneapolis. But ICE isn't terrorizing them. Wonder why?

Dave Yell's avatar

Miami does have a Democratic mayor now. Just sayin".

Mike Lew's avatar

Which is where most of the country's population lives. This will impact most of the people.

Mickey Marshall's avatar

I live in the Houston area. A blue county in a red state. While there has been some ICE activity, it is no where near what I have seen in other places. I am going to guess the same is true of the Dallas area and Austin/San Antonio areas. All of the aforementioned areas can be considered blue and I would guess have a high number of immigrants, legal and undocumented. Why the disparity between these areas and other parts of the country like Chicago, Minneapolis, etc.? My theory is that our red governor (Abbott) has made a deal with Trump to limit ICE intervention in the blue counties of Texas for economic reasons. Harris, Dallas, Travis and Bexar counties are the biggest economic engines in the state. They pay the bills. Counties like Jasper, Smith, Concho and other rural counties don't. Despite what we are being told it is still all about the money.

Steve Spillette's avatar

Maybe so, but you have to think there's a lot of Republican politicians that would like to see some action on the City of Austin. Remember, there's been bills filed in recent legislative sessions for the state to take it over. (Those bills went nowhere, like a lot of ridiculous message bills, but it does indicate the mindset.) You have to think San Antonio is also high on the possible list.

Jeri in Tx's avatar

Ice is running small raids in smaller, quiet neighborhoods here in Garland, very close to Dallas.

They haven't been flashy. Our neighborhood is immigrants of all kinds.

Dave Yell's avatar

in blue cities

CE's avatar

Tell your elected folks, no money for ICE. Shut the government down if we must. Apparently at least 7 dems must vote to pass the budget. The elderlies are waffling, and then there’s Fetterman. If we don’t draw a line in the sand now,we may have no mechanism to do it later.

TomD's avatar

I wonder whether dialing back to a level off funding prior to Trump's huge influx of money would not be a better idea. That way, being accused of being against enforcement of the law would be less possible.

CE's avatar

Indeed. We do need Immigration and Customs enforcement. But we need to cut off revenue, redefine the mission, and then apply funding proportionally. Nothing short of stopping them cold in this moment will stop the madness. And if course a DHS secretary who is not a bloodthirsty puppykilling, goatmurdering Trump acolyte would be necessary as well.

TomD's avatar

I would say impeach Noem, fire Holman and the little guy Greg who dresses like the SS.--for a start.

CE's avatar

All good thoughts!

Paul K. Ogden's avatar

Yes, and you know why they need 7 votes? Because there is the filibuster rule that essentially requires a super-majority (60 votes) to pass most bills. I could never understand why Democrats, given the party's structural difficulties in winning the Senate, wanted to do away with the filibuster. It was madness. Of course, Democrats used to also be dismissive of federalism, saying states and local governments were just administrative units of the federal government. Not saying that anymore.

max skinner's avatar

"Of course, Democrats used to also be dismissive of federalism, saying states and local governments were just administrative units of the federal government. Not saying that anymore." Times have changed. In the Jim Crow years, the states were violating the federal Constitution. Now the federal government is violating the federal Constitution. The solution has to change to respond the change in behavior.

suzc's avatar

COULD PEOPLE PLEASE STOP CALLING ICE "AGENTS" LAW ENFORCEMENT PLEASE!!!!????!!!!

ICE is in no way "law" enforcement -- ICE is mercenaries and Proud Boys masked and armed and told to murder Americans! That is NOT "LAW" enforcement! Border Patrol is also NOT LAW enforcement when they are not patrolling the border. Like the US Military is NOT a military when it is acting like a paramilitary or pirates.

Words matter! Let's start calling these creatures what they are, in fact!

TomD's avatar

I hear you, but they are law enforcement. It's right in the the acronym. And the USBP is a different branch. That they've been perverted by the Nazis in the White House does not change their status in law.

suzc's avatar

I can call myself Queen of America but it doesn't make it so. It doesn't legitimize it either. Calling them the law does legitimize them. They are not a legitimate democratic force of any kind!!!!

TomD's avatar

But if there is a federal statute anointing you Queen Suz, you are.

Paul K. Ogden's avatar

TomD, I agree. They meet the definition of law enforcement. That this branch of federal law enforcement has been perverted doesn't mean they are not law enforcement.

suzc's avatar

We clearly have different definitions of "law" and "law enforcement." I do not consider thugs whose mission is to kidnap, terrorize, disappear, and now also clearly murder (and who knows what else), as in any way "law"ful or "law enforcement." If they are not enforcing the actual law, passed by the actual Congress, then they are not doing law enforcement.

KMD's avatar
1hEdited

Joe Rogan has called them "our Gestapo"

Kate Fall's avatar

They are not the police, but they are supposed to enforce immigration laws. It's frustrating because they are not doing that.

JF's avatar

Until now, I hadn’t realized the incredible strength required by non-violent protests in our past, in the face of violence being perpetrated by the state upon your community. I run mental scenes repeatedly, trying to imagine my response to witnessing violence upon an innocent. It would require suppressing our own humanity. I run my own practice reels, because I’m not sure I can stay suppressed in such a situation. It’s agony just to imagine it.

Andrew Joyce's avatar

We should all take a few moments to reflect on the violence that the State meted out to MLK, Ghandi, Mandela, and their supporters. Non-violent protest works, but it takes tremendous self-restraint and courage to live by when people are being brutally repressed. Something to think about when celebrating MLK's birthday on Monday.

JF's avatar

Thank you for that reminder. Very timely. As a retired person, the upcoming “holiday” of remembrance escaped me.

suzc's avatar

Suppressing people's humanity is precisely the goal of authoritarians everywhere.

OJVV's avatar

Think of John Lewis and all of the others Civil Rights protesters. Ghandi. It's doable, but not pleasant.

JAMES ROY LEE's avatar

We have seen some of this before. I grew up during Vietnam. The US had no real idea what they were doing there, and no clue how to achieve whatever stupid idea of the moment someone had. The result was predictable. Shit happened, and the administration lied about it. Lyndon Johnson lied about it, over and over again, every day. And every day, he sent Robert McNamara and the rest of his crew out to repeat his lies. Every single day, they would be on the evening news, lying, until no rational person could believe anything they said.

But a solid 40% of the country believed the lies, or they wanted to believe them, or they acted like they believed them even if they didn't. Mostly, they hated the hippies who were out protesting in the streets, and the Black people who were protesting about civil rights, and the uppity women who were protesting about how they were being treated. And they supported police and the national guard bashing the heads (and sometimes shooting) the people they hated. They said these people deserved what happened to them. While many of us knew what was going on, a lot of people (especially our parents and grandparents) were simply impervious to reality or to rational discussion.

Now it is happening again, except now they are lying about things happening in the streets of America and recorded on video. They are lying about things we can see with our own eyes. And a solid 40% of the country believes the lies, or they want to believe them, or they act like they believe them even if they don't. And they do it because of the people they hate.

John Joss's avatar

It should be clear by now that the ICE goons were chosen because this is the kind of 'work' they like to do. And their supporters in the cult-regime of the orange narcissist-felon, from the top down to the grass roots, enjoy what they see. "Let them eat pepper spray" is their motto. They are a sad but true reflection of 'who we are:' lowest-common-denominator thugs and ignorati, all scraped from the floor of humanity but . . . loving it.

Cristine Carrier Schmidt MA OT's avatar

I'm thinking a campaign of Three R's:

Release the Epstein files

Restructure ICE

Rollback the tariffs

MillennialExistential's avatar

You can't "restructure" a paramilitary force designed to subvert democracy.

Cristine Carrier Schmidt MA OT's avatar

ICE didn't used to be a paramilitary force. Having everyone have to be reinterviewed and rehired with actual background checks and reviews of their records during their time as ICE agents, along with a change in all the top leadership would go a long way here...

Linda Oliver's avatar

Did Germany restructure the Brown Shirts after WW2?

Cristine Carrier Schmidt MA OT's avatar

Respectfully, this question doesn't even make sense. Hitler himself did away with the brownshirts in 1934 in the "Night of the Long Knives" to eliminate the threat of a political challenge from their leader Rohm.

Linda Oliver's avatar

You’re right. Sorry.

Cristine Carrier Schmidt MA OT's avatar

and to be clear, when I imagine a reinterviewing and rehiring process, I anticipate like 90% of them won't pass and won't be a part of the restructured agency...

Reagan Pratt's avatar

Wonder why Greenlanders might not care to become Americans?

Steve Spillette's avatar

Especially since most of them aren't Anglo...

Leslie dybiec's avatar

MAGA will push until the people boil over, then proclaim a national emergency, just in time for the elections to be cancelled.

Mike Lew's avatar

Here's the thing,if they keep pushing, there will be a regime change. It's better for everyone if that happens via elections. If elections aren't held, the change will be a horror show and no guarantee of a positive outcome.

TomD's avatar

Look what happened to the Syrian resistance once they turned in their smart phones for rocket launchers. Plus, in our case the same data mining technologies that were perfected in the War on Terror would be turned inward.

Fake American's avatar

What did happen? I'm unsure of the point you are trying to make.

TomD's avatar

What happened was a disastrous civil war that killed or displaced many hundreds of thousands. Hindsight is easy, but it sure looks like fighting rather than resisting in other ways was a loser.

Nancy's avatar

I would bet that way! We need a clear way to avoid that, and I'm not sure what that is. People are mad, and some are expressing it. The administration will keep pushing past the boiling point and revel in it!

Sumeeta's avatar

He cannot force 50 states and >1000 municipalities to cancel their elections. I don’t just mean he can’t legally, I mean he literally does not have the manpower to enforce such an order across the whole country.

(The more plausible risk is of refusing to seat the winners of the elections, but an emergency declaration has no impact on that. And people are preparing ways to defend against it)

James Richardson's avatar

The Nobel committee should take a cue from the NCAA and "vacate" the peace prize. Just declare that 2025 had no winner. And try to get the money back.

They should have done so the day Machado suggested sharing it with Trump.

Diana E's avatar

She can’t. It can only go to the person who was named, the Nobel Committee has made that very clear.

Jeri in Tx's avatar

But she can give the orange fool her prize money. Which I don't doubt she'll do. The fat orange may like gold-plated trinkets but he loves him some cold, hard cash

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Diana E's avatar

Wow, how far down the rabbit hole do you want to go to stay angry and see a conspiracy in everything and by everyone?

MAP's avatar

I lost all respect for her for that.

Carol Bachmann's avatar

To me, the whole idea of peaceful protest is to display your disapproval of the actions of the other side as well as to make it clear who is out of control. These untrained ICE thugs will still react with pepper spray, tear gas, verbal abuse, pushing, etc because they have already done so. But if there is a clear difference in the confrontational behavior of one side as opposed to the other side, the impact of protesting will be greater. And the MN police will be able to help citizens, and maybe even arrest some ICE who use unnecessary force/brutality against peaceful protesters. Keep filming, keep whistling, keep honking, but keep your cool. And call for police assistance when ICE fire back.

Mike Lew's avatar

Non-violent resistance is powerful. It stopped Jim Crow and got the British Empire out of India.

Mary's avatar

If these guys aren't "brownshirts" by another name, I will eat my hat. At what point do we get to really acknowledge that we are on the German path of the 1930's. Trump hasn't created mass death yet, but if you still believe this administration wouldn't do that, you are kidding yourself. (becasue that reality is too much to bear)

Kristallnacht is coming....

Keith Wresch's avatar

We are clearly on a path similar to 1930’s Germany, but ICE is playing a slightly different role than the Brownshirts did. The Nazi party used them as street fighters against other political parties who had their own paramilitary groups as well. Once those fights were over the government didn’t have much use for them, and the military was not about to integrate them either which is why they were ultimately liquidated. What ICE is doing now reminds me a bit of Argentina during the 1970’s when the junta basically declared war on anyone who was a *leftist*, but they are also filling a role not dissimilar to the KKK though that was parastatal rather than fully authorized by the state. Certainly the boundaries of what ICE is allowed to do and what is their legal remand are being blurred for the administrations overall goals.

MAP's avatar

They are the gestapo acting like brownshirts wearing the uniforms of the Wehrmacht.