Thursday, January 26, 2017

Revenge Politics

Donald Trump just issued an executive order to the Department of Homeland Security, part of which requires them to publicly shame municipalities that refuse to deport illegal immigrants by listing the names of such individuals in those communities (and only those communities) who have committed crimes. Meanwhile, Ill Douche also wants to do whatever he can to make it more difficult for any illegal immigrant to earn an income... and nothing motivates criminal behavior quite like the desperation of poverty.

See where this is going?








These lists will continue to expand in their inclusivity, not only providing Trump with repeated opportunities to say, "Hey, America. I told you so! See... my brain works good!" but it also tells redneck vigilantes who to look for and where they can find the "least American" among us while denying these individuals their basic human rights. Trump has also vowed to give more authority to local police to gather these immigrants for deportation, which may very well mean bringing on some wildcard deputies who are just in it for the bullshit patriotism and the opportunity to shoot people who don't look and think like them.









Of course, it's only a matter of time before somebody decides that any illegal aliens deserve to be on this list simply by virtue of their illegal status. This is how it starts. First it's just the bad [insert ethnic group here] people. Then once this becomes normalized, it becomes anyone who even looks like that, and on it goes until we wake up in some shitty dystopian future where lists of accused dissidents are made public and their punishments are enforceable through the intervention of ordinary citizens. You see, by turning people against each other, they are far less likely to unite in opposition to the policies that divide and oppress them. Every dictator who has ever won an election knows that.









But let's take a step back from this and look at how specifically targeted this executive action is. Not only is it aimed primarily at Muslims and Latinos, but it also targets certain cities which have refused to deport illegal immigrants. You see, Trump has vowed to cut off all federal funding to these cities unless they comply with the new rules. This goes back to that idea of turning people against each other, but it has the added bonus of legitimizing their bigotry. How do you make non-racist working-class citizens support this kind of socially regressive policy? The answer: by punishing them for even "allowing" these illegal immigrants to live and work in "their" city and nation. Trump is using the same playbook as plenty of tyrants before him, updated for the age of reality television and instant media.








Here is a map of "Sanctuary Jurisdictions," according to the Center for Immigration Studies:






And here is a county-by-county map of 2016 US Presidential election:








Maybe you see a pattern here. No, I'm not saying that this is one of those pictures that if you stare at it long enough, you're supposed to see a 3-D image of the Statue of Liberty, but you might notice some interesting similarities between these two maps.






Some will say that there is no image,
or that the emperor wears no clothes.



Here's another map that someone made from the election results to indicate the United States of Trump:


Dark red indicates the areas in the country where it is most difficult to find a decent falafel.



And according to those same metrics, here are the liberal strongholds:


See, media doesn't exist in bubbles. It exists on tiny islands. 




Just for fun, here's that map of sanctuary cities again:





Weird, right? It's as though the Trump administration is trying to punish the same communities that nearly cost him the election, while turning working-class people against each other so that they don't notice their government being sold off piece-by-piece to the highest bidder. It seems that he is trying to wipe those liberal islands off the map -- in addition to all of the real islands that will disappear as a direct result of his terrible environmental policies.

If we let these things become normal, then the situation will only continue to deteriorate until these States are no longer United.





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