The photos of the "crowds" at the tank parade remind me of when Bill Hicks would come on stage in an almost-empty club, scan the room slowly, and announce "I've had more people in bed than this" ...
When the president sends a cabinet member on TV to announce "We are using the military to liberate an American city from its elected leaders," where do you go from there. What is left to say. The idea of that being anything short of a near-universal "Wait, what the fuck is going on" moment proves how far we've backslid.
This is from 2022 but it was absolutely right. The practiced buffoonery of Trump 1, all the "just kiddings" and "seriously but not literallys" absolutely succeeded in desensitizing people who are hardly paying any attention to the harder stuff they always intended to do next. ...
The basic fallacy in chasing votes by being "tough on immigration" is that the modal American's position on the issue is "Deport the Bad ones and keep the Good ones," and they alone know who is which, and that simply does not translate into workable policy. So this kind of gestapo stuff horrifies some of the same people who cheered when Trump promised to do it. There are true sociopaths who love this, but "No, I meant only the BAD immigrants! Not my coworker/friend/neighbor!" is as likely a reaction as enthusiasm. You cannot do immigration policy that satisfies these people because what they want is nonsensical.
So by the time center-left parties fully commit to chasing the far right by "getting tough" on immigration, the backlash has already begun to build and they walk right into it. "I thought you people wanted this!" No, they want something impossible and convinced themselves they'd could have it - the "eat whatever you want AND lose weight!" of immigration policies.
It is hard to grasp but large masses of Americans are both racist/xenophobic AND not racist/xenophobic enough to applaud what Trump is doing. It's goldilocks shit, they want a level of racism/xenophobia calibrated exactly to their personal preferences, and you just can't make that policy. Don't try. ...
AP: Trump extends olive branch, invites Musk to White House cellar to taste some brand new amontillado ...
sombra says:
Strong academic article, pithy, accurate.
Probably best to just count me out though.
Art says:
Done what they can. It depends. How ideological and shameless can they stand to be. Asking about citizenship is just the start.
Administrative insiders could alter the standards for vehicle markings to demand that all vehicles used by census-takers and administrators have a large confederate flag on each door. Because reasons.
They could alter the dress code of census-takers and demand they all wear white robes and pointy white hoods with eye-holes. SS uniforms might also work.
I wouldn't put it past the Trump administration.
satrap says:
They won't do anything that would indicate the presence of a spine. The GOP agenda will be alive and well.
montelbomb says:
I don't remember who, but I was watching MSNBC and they had a Dem House member on, and the Census was his first priority come January. Or at least questioning Wilbur Ross about the Census.
MS says:
Democrats think that "questioning Wilbur Ross" is the start and finish of what needs to be done about the Census.
Almost certainly, the Republicans are going to deliver a massively biased Census that will cut a couple percent off of Democratic representation, and that will be the law of the land for the next ten years.
CharlesIcege says:
What we have here is , a goodoffers
To qualify click on the link below
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-K7dFBygWWObrn7XIQI558ENTAw6CGj-/preview
Noskilz says:
Nice article.