So, we’re looking at a new GOP that’s chosen to torture children for their political profit. That’s weird. Did they always do that, or is this something different? Trump, of course, is a coward who lies about the weather, for god’s sake, so he’s no measure. He denies the policy he announced earlier that day. His administration follows their deity and hysterically lie about every action they’re taking under Trump’s orders. They’re not trying to lie sensibly, but then, they don’t have to. It’s not like anyone’s going to call them on it. Funny, right? America has laws about refugees and asylum that Trump and the Republicans instructed ICE and CBP not to follow. Nobody will admit on camera that they’re above the law, but why do that if they didn’t know they’re in the clear?
Trump and his administration are abusing refugees and torturing children. They’re pleased with the result. To justify their torture, they even misquoted Christian scriptures. You’d think the Republican party would try to minimize the political damage, but they’re all in and abuse and torture. The GOP helps hide Trump and his racists as they fuck with kids, and make sure nobody asks embarrassing questions.
The scariest part is how rank and file Republicans voice their approval for Trump’s extralegal actions. They don’t just repeat the dehumanization lies dutifully; they do it gleefully. Hell, they happily exaggerate the contradictory lies, repeating anything that punches their buttons. Talking about children, they insist that these people aren’t really, fully human, like, say, people from Idaho. And we’re not torturing them. But if we were abusing them, it would be OK. Separation isn’t Trump’s choice, and it isn’t his policy, although they’re proud of it anyway, and hell yes. And they’re not putting kids, toddlers and even infants in internment camps, but if they were, it was the kids’ fault. And so on.
I haven’t written much about America torturing refugees because every time I try, I start screaming wordlessly. Trump and his racist idealogues are deeply wrong and openly doing the work of the devil (who I don’t believe in). Why doesn’t America see that?
Mistreating refugees is evil. Refugees are desperate people faced with impossible choices and nowhere else to go. If they stay in their countries, they face death, assault, rape, and kidnapping. If they flee, they lose everything material and have to cross some of the most dangerous countries on earth. And yet they do, often with children, just for the chance of throwing themselves on American mercy.
America has laws that allow refugees to apply for asylum. We weren’t perfect about it, but we used to at least aspire to mercy and generosity. Maybe we say ‘no’ a lot, but we let them in and listen. We do this because we’re not heartless, or we weren’t.
Trump even lied about Jesus. I mean, how obvious does a lie have to be? Did his vile Christian base not know scripture? Jesus was pretty clear about how he expects us to treat a stranger in need. Hundreds of religious leaders explicitly decried harming refugees, and yet the rank and file Trump supporters seem unruffled.
Trump and the Republicans are terrified of brown people. Almost everything they say about them are easily disproven lies. Point that out, and they only get louder. Even when the lies are contradictory, Trump’s supporters repeat each lie with spittle-inflected gusto. The truth doesn’t matter as much as the memes that give them that racist woodie.
Screaming demonstrable lies about murderous brown people? That’s open racism. I hope that’s not news to anyone. Confused? You don’t hear any of the same fuss about all the Irish citizens who overstay their visas, do you? Same for England, or Germany, or Norway, or all the other nominally white countries. (What? Did you think that number was zero? Or maybe you want to suggest Central American refugees have higher rates of criminal behavior than illegal European immigrants?)
Getting rid of brown people was one campaign promise that Trump truly stands behind. He promised his base that he’d do something to stop all those horrible, terrorist, murderous, raping, drug-running brown people. Especially Muslims (Trump hates himself some Muslims), but right now he’s focused on brown Central Americans. Almost everything Trump says is a lie, but the “Scared of brown people,” part sure looks deeply held.
In the first five drafts of this, I tried to address Trump’s new lies. That’s a fool’s game these days. Trump spreads fresh atrocities faster than anyone can react. It’s on purpose, and it works. The gist is easy enough, though. Only white people. Never allow anyone who isn’t gorgeously white into the country. Don’t trade with anyone who has compunctions about crimes against humanity. Wrap yourself in the flag while working against everything that flag stands for. Wrap yourself in religion while doing the opposite of what Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all require. Wrap yourself in righteous indignation as the only honest people while you ignore the reality of everything you don’t like.
Protect big corporations against individual rights. Make sure small people don’t matter in any fight. Protect rich people against consequence and justice. No ordinary courts, at least for your friends. Strip anything out of the public domain that doesn’t directly support rich people, no matter how much it helps the general public. No, scratch that last one. Strip out everything that benefits the general public, period. It’s a Republican principle. (I’m sure Ayn Rand wrote something about it.) Side against individuals in every case that isn’t about rich people.
You can hear the Republican base cheering.
And now they’re hurting children. Not just older kids; they deliberately harmed toddlers and infants, too. And after a momentary pause, the Trump base found their moral compass. And they cheered Trump even louder. No evil can pry them loose from Trump.
So I’m done with them, too. The GOP is the new Nazi party. I tried not to believe that, but it’s hard to avoid these days. Next, the Jews!
Oh, wait. Jews. Trump supported neo-Nazi’s who chanted “Jews will not replace us!” at Charlottesville. I forgot. Trump and his Republicans are already well into their antisemitism. But I’m sure the real Americans – hometown conservatives who pride themselves on how they honor World War II veterans – they’ll object to the evil those good men spent so many lives fighting to end!
[The sound of crickets on a summer evening. A car passes down the next street. A bird chirps. Somewhere in the distance, a dog barks.]And now their Republican heroes decided to hurt children: kids, toddlers, and even infants. Infants! I’m stuck on all of that. It’s bad enough that Trump and his racists are hurting innocent people because they’re brown. That they lie about every part is just history repeating itself. And, of course, they’re crowing about it, enjoying the result.
I don’t care. It’s a whole new category of evil that the GOP decided to hurt children deliberately. It’s their policy!.
I thought there was a rule about this. ‘Don’t hurt kids,’ you know? Wasn’t that something we all agreed on? Did that change? How can we have Republicans justifying fucking goddamn chain-link baby cages! Anyone going to suggest just shooting refugees? Bueller? Anyone? How about that?
Sorry. It was getting away from me again.
We live in Trumpland, so there’s a new scandal every couple of hours, but the core doesn’t change. Trump still hates brown people. Trump, a known liar, says whatever pops into his mind that feels good. He swears this newest Executive Order stops child separation. Is the EO a good thing?
No, of course not. But Trump wins anyway. He’s distracted people and the endlessly gullible media once more. No, the Trump administration is still running their refugee trap full bore. Refugees are still waiting on concrete bridges for asylum hearings we won’t give them, waiting day after day without food, water, or shelter from the sun. Republicans blocked every immigration bill from bi-partisan to hyper-Republican nonsense bills. So, still horribly evil.
Internment prisons for indefinite detainment. Still running chain-link kiddie cages. No, this is not a debate; it’s a mortal sin. The only question is whether it’s Trump’s sin, a Republican sin, or an American sin. If we allow this as a nation, then it will be our mortal sin. It will be the death of America as an idea.
Vote out every Republican. I’m a Democrat, sure, but I’ve voted for lots of Republicans in the past. No more. Not a one; not after this. The Republican party I knew is dead and gone, replaced by neo-nazis and miserable, frightened drones. They are deliberately destroying everything that’s good about America.
We have to vote out every Republican: all of them. Maybe we can grow a real conservative party. That would be nice, even though I disagree with most of them.
But the current GOP is a cancer on the body politic and the American spirit.
