Donald Trump, the convicted felon fascist guilty of sedition against this country, in thrall to his uber-fascist advisor Stephen Miller, has set out to deport every "illegal" in this country. Never mind that doing so would bring American agriculture to its knees. Never mind that doing so would bring the American construction industry to its knees. They ignore, or deny, the truth that our contemptible immigration laws are in place not to continue the American tradition of welcoming people from other parts of the country who come here seeking a better life but to bar the gates and keep what is "ours" ours, the rest of the world be damned. Never mind that everyone who is here without proper documentation is still constitutionally entitled to due process of law. Never mind that no president has ever nationalized the National Guard for the purpose of suppressing people's constitutional rights, both those the ICE detains and those who protest ICE's unconstitutional actions and has done so without the consent of the governor of the state in which the president has nationalized the Guard. (Kennedy did it without the consent of racist southern governors to protect civil rights not to enforce violation of them.)
How are we to understand what's happening in our country? Here's how. Look at what Hitler did toward Germany's Jews right after he came to power in early 1933. There were actually very few Jews living in Germany. They were not the cause of any of Germany's problems. Yes, some of them were successful in business, academics, the arts, and other areas of human endeavor, but that was a good thing not a bad one, for these good people had found ways to use their abilities for their own good and for the good of their country.
Now, translate what Hitler did into an American context. Trump surely knows that using the Jews for his fascist purposes wouldn't work in this country. But using immigrants in the same way just might. It is, after all, true that there are a lot of people present in this country without proper immigration documentation. It is also true that a great many of them are people of color whose native language is not English. Attacking "illegals" plays into American racism and xenophobia. Those great sins of American culture will assist Trump in his effort to because an authoritarian fascist ruler. Trump hasn't actually enacted new laws against America's immigrants the way Hitler did against Germany's Jews, but he hasn't had to. He can use the bad law we've got, and he can ignore and violate the good, constitutional law we've got, to accomplish what he wants basically with the law be damned if it gets in his way. Trump's tactics aren't exactly like Hitler's, but that's not because he isn't trying to do the same thing Hitler did. It's because Trump is operating in an American context not a 1930s German one.
One thing is certain. Trump doesn't really give a good God damn about people being here illegally. Legality has never meant anything to him. It does matter to him that most of the people he attacks aren't white and aren't native English speakers. But mostly what matters to him is that he can use immigrants and Americans' bigoted fear and dislike of them to advance his goal of becoming an un-democratic dictator just as Hitler used Germany's (and Poland's and Hungary's and Austria's) historical anti-Judaism to advance his goal of becoming an un-democratic fascist dictator.
That's what he's doing, folks. We have to stop him. I wish I know how to bring the entire federal government to a screeching halt to force him to knock it off, though of course I don't. And I will never advocate violence as to way to make him stop. But we need to start, nonviolently, throwing sticks into the spokes of the federal government. Trump will bring American agriculture to its knees if he can, though that may be a consequence of what he's doing that he isn't smart enough to see. We need to bring the federal government to its knees--nonviolently of course. Doing it would get lots of well-intentioned people arrested and attacked. It would provoke violence on the part of American fascists the way the nonviolent civil rights movement provoked violence from American racists.
So be it. Something has to be done and waiting for the next off-term and presidential elections isn't enough. Trump's actions call for massive, nonviolent civil disobedience. It's the only solution we have. I'm a writer and a speaker not a protestor. I'm 78 years old, and I must confess that I almost certainly won't do anything to get myself attacked or arrested. But civil disobedience is what we need. I just hope and pray that enough Americans will do it to stop the American fascist Donald Trump from destroying our country.
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