By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
Example number infinity that F(elon)OTUS can do or say whatever he wants and he’ll get no resistance from the MAGAfied, much less congressional Republicans: Speaking of Rosie O’Donnell, Trump said, on unTruth Sociopath, “I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!” You’d be excused if you thought that can’t possibly be true, even considering the sort of bizarrity he bleats hourly (tinyurl.com/noRosie4u).
As dismissive of the Constitution as he is, Trump might believe he has that right. We know he wouldn’t be informed otherwise by AG Pam Bondi, whose only legal concern is doing whatever Trump demands, unlawfulness notwithstanding and immaterial. Nor would his base stop to think about the implications, if a Democratic president were to assert that power. They hate everything O’Donnell is as much as Trump does. It’s a major motivator for their votes.
Thinking of thinking, think how much better off America would be if Trump hadn’t hired, and congressional Republicans hadn’t bent over to them, nothing but arrogant incompetents. According to him, it’s “evil” to ask questions about Kristi Noem’s requirement to get her permission for FEMA expenditures over $100,000 and how it delayed critical responses to the devastating Texas flood. That’s but one of many accouterments of dictatorship we’re seeing: suppressing probing questions, demonizing dissent. Inklings of a nascent police state have become inkblots, but MAGAs see only butterflies (tinyurl.com/butter4u).
Under Trump’s Bogus Belligerent Budget Bill, ICE will soon have more funding than the FBI, making it America’s largest and most well-financed “law enforcement” agency. Unlike the FBI, which requires college degrees and puts agents through months of training, including teaching what the law does and doesn’t allow, ICE, by rapidly increasing its numbers, will require practically nothing; not even a high school degree (Bulwark: tinyurl.com/ICEvFBI). With those enthusiastically brutal arrests by masked, anonymous ICE agents so widely publicized, people who apply must picture themselves doing it, and want in.
In addition to personnel, ICE’s budget includes billions for building new “detention” camps, modeling MAGA’s new objet d’amour, “Alligator Alcatraz.” And what of the hoped-for millions of undocumented residents to be incarcerated, who, according to law, are entitled to bond hearings for release until adjudication? Not under Trump. Millions, his acting ICE director says, must now remain incarcerated until trial, which means months or years (Washington Post: tinyurl.com/nobond4u). To that end, he just fired 17 immigration judges (WGME: tinyurl.com/nojudge4u).
Other than arriving illegally, fleeing mortal danger, many are law-abiding, productive contributors to society. Until Trump’s supremely obedient courts allow him to disappear the 14th Amendment, they’ll have children who are American citizens. But maybe they’ll be allowed out during daytime to join Medicaid recipients working as slave laborers on farms (Instagram: tinyurl.com/2Bworking4u).
The reason Trump, his henchfolk, and MAGAfied Americans countenance these outrages is simple. They see non-white migrants as less than human. They’re “the other,” and othering is a time-proven method that dictators use to sneak their way to unchecked power. If “sneak” is the right word. Trump and MAGA’s lack of empathy, their penchant for undisguised cruelty, couldn’t be more obvious.
What people with any claim to righteousness would stand by as the Trump administration orders the incineration of 550 tons of food intended for children starving in war or disaster zones, as part of their heartless ending of USAID? (Daily Beast: tinyurl.com/2burnfood) They couldn’t let another organization distribute it? How confident is Trump that his base of believers will never push back? The White House, no joke, recently posted this: (X: tinyurl.com/heissuper). Why is House Speaker Holy Mike Johnson, who waves his so-called Christianity like panties at a rock concert, silent on any of this?
Since it’s an increasingly hot topic, let’s not ignore those Epstein files which disappeared from AG Bondi’s desk so thoroughly that they never existed. It’s not speculation to say Trump was in them. For years, by both of their accounts, they were bromantically involved. Because I’m not into conspiracies, I’m just asking. Which is more likely: Epstein hung himself to avoid trial and just happened to do it when cameras weren’t working, or that word got out that he was ready to tip over the bean jar to get a light sentence? Kowtowing to Trump instead of doing what’s right, per usual, House Republicans just voted down a Democratic effort to require release of the files. Might they know there’s there there?
Which makes the MAGA revolt over Bondi’s claim of nothing there puzzling. One assumes they expected dirt on the Clintons, the Bidens, and more. Because all lefties are pedos. MAGAs must assume Trump is featured, too, but, like everything else Trump, they’d manage to excuse it. He’s playing 4-D checkers. But he sure wants it to go away (USAToday: tinyurl.com/2goaway).
But wait! Evidently the files do exist. Trump, fonda Bondi, is now saying she should release “whatever she thinks is credible.” Because that’s how transparency works; his yes-lady will tell us what to believe, and Drump the rest. Pure as the melting glaciers.
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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