Trump waged this war against immigrants, stirring up hatred and fear of them, just to dominate our cities

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Last edited Fri Aug 29, 2025, 12:04 PM - Edit history (1)

...most prominently against cities and communities with high numbers of black and other minority Americans who he's falsely denigrating as criminals and drug addicts, even as he's claiming to be protecting them.

Now he's poised to invade and occupy Chicago under the same false pretext of an 'emergency' that he says gives him authority to send military forces into a state to ostensibly fight these made-up threats he's invented to cover his display of authoritarianism.

A major immigration enforcement operation could arrive in the city as soon as next week, CNN and The New York Times both reported on Aug. 28, citing unnamed administration sources. The Chicago operation could involve as many as 200 Department of Homeland Security officials, armored vehicles, and the use of a naval base outside the city as a staging area, the outlets reported. Chicago's violent crime is reportedly down 22%, compared to the same period a year ago.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/08/28/trump-immigration-enforcement-chicago/85875506007/

The most insidious part of this, for me, is the way in which republicans, and even some Democrats have for years advantaged their politics by playing into the immigrant fear game, having tired I guess of the 'fear black people' game politicians played at election time by using 'fighting crime' as their campaign appeal, which they know most Americans equate with minority Americans; mostly black youth who get all of the policing, but little to none of the things other communities provide their constituents to educate and grow their children toward opportunities rather than consequences.

Now, through almost a decade of harassment and politically directed derision, as well as acquiescence by our own party to falsely representing immigrants in this country as a threat, we're now being subjected to the real aim of it all; the domination of Americans by their government at the behest of the entire republican party and president.

Whatever whinging people have allowed themselves to become engaged in about immigration and crime have been acquiescence to this tyranny; this totalitarianism; and I'm really not certain if Americans fully realize the way their own fears and anxieties about their own lives have been deliberately deflected to a class of people in this country who, on the whole contribute greatly to the nation in the money they spend and pay in taxes; and the value and experience they bring to this country in expertise, innovation, and determination to succeed; none of those ever associated with anything wrong in America, all celebrated and valued attributes.

There's nothing about these ICE raids on homes, schools, hospitals, churches, farms, firefighters, and even courthouses which enhances communities. Like everything else in Trump's effort and ambition, this is about taking away important resources from these cities and communities which have enhanced America, not degraded it in any way.

I'd bet there are more than a few people reading this for whom those words of support are crashing around in their heads with a whole host of 'ifs, ands, and buts' derived from things both anecdotal and experienced. But it doesn't take a minute to look it up and recognize that the vast majority of both documented and undocumented migrants in this country are workers and folks raising families.

There hasn't been an invasion of 'gangs' of Venezuelans or from any other foreign nation. The men, women, and, children most of interact with everyday - the very same people being abducted from the streets and their homes by masked, armed thugs and jailed in U.S. concentration camps - aren't distinguishable from the rest of Americans, except in the deliberately propagandized antipathies many express toward them; negativity and animus which they know can be highly infectious and contagious.

One of the solutions to this tyranny spreading from the Trump White House is for Americans to let go of these false resentments they've been encouraged from the highest levels of our government to harbor and act upon. It's as simple as recognizing who in this equation is threatening bondage and control over the people of this nation, and reacting and responding to those very real and present dangers right in front of us.

The only armed gangs threatening to invade our communities are being directed by the President of the United States against our own people; disrupting commerce and free movement, all for the sake of control under the false pretext of an 'emergency' triggering this contrived authority of the federal government which is being exercised against ALL people in this country, not just those among us Trump opportunistically and cynically claims are part of a criminal invasion without a wit of self-awareness.

[Nigrum Cattus]

1. It's all project 2025

https://www.project2025.observer/en
https://www.statementonchristiannationalism.com/

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4. it's Hitler's collected speeches

... in the book, 'My New Order' in a cabinet by Trump's bed.

[markodochartaigh]

2. To control the population

of a country a leader can either unite them, if the leader's ideas are popular enough, or divide them. And slicing off one group after another and turning them against each other is a very effective way of controlling the population.

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5. in this case

...he's slicing off support in the nation as he swipes at immigrants and black people.

I get that the latter has always found favor in America, more or less, depending on the decade, but these invasions and occupations of cities encompass everybody in these communities, not just the people he wants Americans to share antipathies and fears about.

It's a miscalculation, I believe, which will rally communities against him and instill fear in everyone - the end result being a rejection of that control by Americans with equal or greater determination than I think this regime is prepared for.

Note that this is a construction of a dictatorship which relies on the political balance of power (and accountability) remaining the same to sustain it, absent of any mass support among the population.

In that pursuit, I'd note that Trump is merely firing experts at this point, sending them out into the communities, instead of killing them off as actual repressive regimes consolidate power and influence.

So this is is a bid for power which would intend for the people to give it support over the institutions and conventions that most of us still look to as legitimate arbiters of law and order.

In that aim, Trump's plans to invade cities and occupying them under the pretext of capturing a percentage of a fraction of the population is inevitably, if not immediately, going to be perceived by residents and those in other communities across the nation as an affront and attack against themselves - not invisible, invented 'criminal gangs of immigrants' which Trump is claiming have 'invaded the U.S.' to justify the emergency powers he intends to invoke.

[Iwasthere]

3. It's in the playbook (Germany)

This is exactly how it was done in the 30s.

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6. this time it's more cosplay than actual repression

...at this point.

But if we allow it now, we'll never shake it off again.

[B.See]

7. It was ALWAYS about this...

as some (of us) have long been saying. And it's only "cosplay" for now because they're still testing the waters... seeing how it plays out... getting America used to the idea. Undermining a people via disenfranchisement, dehumanizing rhetoric... via demonization... via stealth.

Like President Biden said. HE'S JUST GETTING STARTED.

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8. it's cosplay aided by the republican majority

...it's a usurpation of democracy.

An exercise of totalitarianism which depends on the present balance of power to prevail.

That's a little different from the outright imposition of an intractable authority. I get that there may well be insurmountable obstacles to the vote that thwarts democratic action to check these mostly autocratic actions; or that voters might not meet the moment.

Even though there are all indications that the people are ready to assert themselves over this administration, it's still a year and a half until we get to vote.

What I find interesting and disturbing is the way the higher courts are stalling on rulings that go to the heart of what they should be deciding. Yet Roberts dithers and stalls, hoping, I guess, that Trump gets as much unconstitutional action under the wire that he can so they can leave some of it in place with more made-up interpretations of clear constitutional language.