Called It!

'Terrorized': Expert says Trump is relying on fear to fulfill his biggest campaign promise https://t.co/7IrKJjoWib

— Raw Story (@RawStory) November 21, 2024

Starting “day one”? I don’t think so.

Trump will also need facilities that have yet to be built, staff yet to be hired, and the compliance of foreign nations willing to accept the millions of people he's planned to deport — and who may not grant it, Lind argued. 

Such serious problems plagued deportation efforts mounted in the 1930s and the 1950s that purported to remove masses of people but, according to Lind, relied on public relations to create the illusion of success. 

"Both entailed horrific conditions for those caught and deported, and the tearing apart of families with claims to both the United States and other countries," Lind wrote. 

"But in both cases, the federal government ultimately took credit for 'deporting' some people it never actually laid hands on — those who had been pressured or terrorized into leaving."

Yeah, we’ve been down this road once or twice before. Trump will deport “millions” the way he built his wall.

Emptywheel used to call people who reposted Trump’s lies “data mules.” The same criticism can be leveled against taking Trump’s schemes at face value and fretting about “autocracy.” This isn’t Russia; we don’t have the culture of Tsarist Russia that propped up Stalin and now Putin.

Instead of wringing your virtual hands and whinging about election outcomes, do something helpful:

This is also why Lind urges those who condemn Trump's campaign of mass deportation do what they can to support undocumented people in their local communities. 

Document cases when the government breaks the law, pressures local officials not to collaborate, objects to armed forces being deployed in the states and support legal representation for immigrants, Lind urged. 

"[It] starts with a committed and cleareyed understanding of what is actually happening, and a willingness to treat abuses of power as a rupture and an aberration — something that can, and should, be fought," Lind wrote. 

"This work will require, particularly for those who are not themselves immigrants, a promise not to let pessimism do the Trump administration’s job for it."

Trump’s “border czar” says he’s going to punish sanctuary cities. How? Give him the middle finger. It’s our right and duty as Americans! (Seriously. Trump threatened that last time. He literally couldn’t do a thing about it.)