Wonder why Trump sends his SS troops–aka ICE–to cities? And why the people who live in those cities can be counted on to mount a resistance?
The nation’s cities are Blue, of course–studies show that every urban area over half a million people votes Democratic. There’s evidently something about density, about living near other people, that makes folks more likely to be “woke”– a term that actually denotes a degree of humanity and tolerance utterly lacking in the MAGA base. (There’s even data showing that people who live in more dense areas of America’s small towns tend to be more liberal than those in the more sparsely populated neighborhoods of those same towns.)
The American Prospect recently addressed the administration’s hatred of America’s cities. Harold Meyerson writes that
For leaders in search of uniform compliance, cities are inherently troublesome. They are, by their very nature, diverse: It’s cities to which both foreign and domestic immigrants flock, because it’s cities where there’s work. Worse yet, most successful cities foster some level of cross-group tolerance, or even, in the best cases, cross-group solidarity, as a necessary modus vivendi for keeping a city up and running. Partly in consequence, cities develop distinct cultures reflective of their diversity and their urbanity.
That’s why the current generation of our planet’s autocrats often lack support from their nations’ cities. Budapest has never voted for Viktor Orbán; Istanbul is a thorn in the side of Recep Erdoğan. A Muslim Labourite has been mayor of London since 2016, even as no major American city can be found that’s voted for Donald Trump in any of the past three presidential elections.
Of course, as Meyerson points out, Orbán hasn’t sent troops into Budapest, and Erdoğan hasn’t tried to subdue Istanbul. Our mad would-be king is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act and to send the Army into Minneapolis to protect his SS troops while they seize people who, as Meyerson says, “look suspiciously brown.”
If there was any doubt that ICE is a recreation of the Gestapo, its recruitment materials –rife with retreads of Nazi slogans–should disabuse us of that doubt. The administration is clearly aiming to attract white nationalists who share a hatred for the diversity that characterizes the nation’s urban centers.
Meyerson says comparisons with the Gestapo and the Klan are incomplete– that a glance through history provides other apt comparisons: Trump as a 21st-century version of Attila or Genghis Khan,
heading a horde that is defined by an exterminationist loathing of cities and all that they stand for and promote. Their diversity, their toleration, their culture, their solidarity across racial and other lines—all are threats to the horde’s and its ruler’s autocratic monoculture.
That attitude goes a long way toward explaining the administration’s inhumane response to the murder of city dwellers, and its immediate, blatantly dishonest characterizations of these victims.
The pictures coming out of Minneapolis–the videos captured by cell phone cameras and photojournalists– are mind-blowing. The reactions of the legitimate, elected officials of the city and state have not only been entirely appropriate, they’ve echoed the reactions of those of us who never in a million years anticipated that we would live to see such things happen on the streets of an American city at the direction of an American president. Neither the Mayor nor the Governor has held back–both have “told it like it is.”
And “like it is” is shocking and heartbreaking.
For years, the extremist fringe on the political Right has lusted for a race war. Most rational Americans have gone about our businesses ignoring that fringe and its threats, dismissing the White Supremacists and Neo-Nazis as mentally ill and assuming that these deranged folks represented a small minority. Thankfully, they are a minority, but a majority of Americans failed to vote in 2024, and they were able to elect one of their own.
And he has assembled an administration composed of people who are just as profoundly sick and malevolent as he is.
In the absence of a functioning Congress and an honorable Supreme Court, it increasingly looks as if it will be up to those of us in the cities–the urban folks Trump hates– to power the resistance and reclaim the America that respected and obeyed the Constitution and the rule of law.
Minneapolis is leading the way.
I would say that the people Trump has surrounded himself with are much more malevolent and ignorant than he is because that’s the point of an autocrat.
And yes, in a normal country, people like Trump would never have ascended to the highest position in our country. If you heard part of his rant at Davos, his racist self talked about how open borders (allowing brown people to migrate into your country has destroyed the US and Europe. He said Europe was “unrecognizable.”
I’ve heard Miller and Vance make the same racist comments. If Trump doesn’t want to see people coming to our country, he might want to stop destroying their countries with bombs and economic warfare.
And, because brown, red, and black people prefer the cities over avoiding “those people,” the racist authoritarians want to destroy those cities. And, “strategists” like Steve Bannon are counting on liberals in the cities to resist and protest, which sets the stage for declaring the Insurrection Act and cancelling elections. And, they will blame the “out of control, violent leftists” like Tyler Robinson, who murdered Charlie Kirk. The patsy had a purpose.
Good information, Sheila, and more solid proof that racism informs the very heart of maga and the right-wing GOP. It also inspires the horrific actions of ICE, which fits in perfectly with what trump is accomplishing – has been accomplishing for several months now – and that is to foment major distractions in order to force Epstein files news off the screen. ICE’s unlawful actions, and trump’s irresponsible and probably illegal social media and speech content, threatening to take over Greenland (Iceland?) and possibly Canada, all this after a raid snatching a sovereign nation’s leader (who is a criminal, but the snatching violated international law) and his wife to take over control of that country while directing all of its oil and oil revenues to himself in a private account in Qatar. Stupid actions with one purpose (ok he also is satisfying his ego’s rapacious appetite for attention) and that is DISTRACTION, distraction from the Epstein files, where evidence of his frequent dalliances with monster Epstein over the years is documented. I only hope to god that those sycophants of his in the DOJ haven’t completed redaction of any mention of him in the millions of pages of evidence, or completely destroyed the evidence. Will someone, anyone, in the DOJ or anywhere else with access to these documents please stand up and reveal what’s there? Or someone who can do what Daniel Ellsberg did for America with the release of the Pentagon Papers?
Trump has created himself quite the goon squad. Any Democrat willing to extend and raise monies for said goon squad will be complicit to the goon squad’s activities. It’s gut check time.
It’s interesting Trump has created a gestapo as Israel is engaged upon a genuine genocide. Coincidence? A well noted zionist donated $10,000 to the Go Fund ME of Jonathon Ross.
Does the donor-class now think of everyone simply as Palestinians?
The hatred for the urbanites, those who cherish their diverse cities, appreciate the role of cities in the success of immigrants and the prosperity of the nation…..will not find a home in much of America despite the historical reality of the rural/urban divides.
What I imagine in those moments when I seek possibilities even in the face of the realities before me, I see ICE recruits who may now believe they are on a mission that serves America, realizing that they are being consumed by the same hatred that is driving those who give them their assignments and resist.
Colleges and universities in cities, with their striving populations, are at the heart of much of the resistance, unsurprisingly, and they are the places where freedom is so evident, so frequently displayed. For these reasons, and so many more, cities constitute a danger to those who seek control.
hopefully we will see a surge in primary education of the moment. and then compare with the world movements and its final outcome. trump can yell and scream and throw his rattle. but its the 2025 gang whos provided the brains.
then its brewed via media and then spit out like a disease. over and over again its hate. we still havent been able to pass along the history,and its consequences. but now throw in some money,land,grift,takeovers,threats,
murders, and exploitation,and general stupid. you get the present admin supported directly by congress. tell the kids to open their eyes, they now will be economic slaves for the rich. and if they dont like it, tell em otherwise steve miller will cut off their ATM/apple cards. you know where this is going eh?
when we lose cash freedoms we will all pay.like germanys money after 1933..think about it..
Obsma and Biden never had much if a tussle with deportations. the news mainly was folloowing course. until trumps made it loud and clear,were here to take over. yea, take over.. sieg heil MFs
I don’t think we can wait for the 2026 elections. As the season progresses, it will become increasingly evident that Republicans will lose everywhere and the Trump agenda will be neutered, defunded and criminally pursued.
Does anyone really think that the monsters will allow this to happen without creating even more murder and mayhem? He/it must be stopped somehow, some way before it’s too late and an actual civil war breaks out.
“Malevolent,” as in barely breathing Miller.
“Cities,” where one might actually run into someone, rub elbows with someone, who does not look exactly like you!
Jack, Obama and Biden are not delusional, not sick, not Malignant Narcissists…big difference.
I do not know what name shifting Vance’s problem is, but he is going to be part of the problem, big time, when Trump has left office.
Well, part of it is the fact that cities are target-rich environments for xenophobic bigots. Always have been. Cities are not just where most of the people are, they’re where new arrivals find the largest number of entry-level jobs and entry-level entrepreneurship opportunities, as well as communities of people from similar backgrounds who help cushion the novelty of being a stranger in a strange land.
But there’s a larger strategic purpose as well. It’s not a coincidence that the regime is targeting cities in Blue (Democrat-voting) states. They are deliberately creating chaos, distrust, and dysfunction as part of the runup to the fall midterm elections. Picture ICE “warriors” encircling urban polling places on Election Day and “detaining” or assaulting anyone they don’t like. Picture the “Justice” Department going through voter rolls looking for anything they can paint as a “discrepancy”. (“Look! Look! There’s more than one Jose Martinez! Voter fraud!”) Picture Mr. Trump, and his Republican puppets in the current legislature, announcing that because of “very bad people” and “voter fraud”, the election results from places like Minnesota and California and Oregon and (???) are “fraudulent” and won’t be counted.
It Can’t Happen Here? Wanna bet?
Yeah, every time I hear people talking about the 2026 midterms, I keep wondering how it is that they think those elections are going to be free and fair and that the results will be reported accurately. Think about how quickly this is all moving, and what it’s going to look like in another ten months.
What else can we *do*?
Interesting note that the very first Congressman to question Mr. Smith this morning began by attacking his professionalism, not addressing the legal issues, trotting out a single “law professor’s” characterizations of Mr. Smith’s professional reputation. No facts, opinions only. Why am I not surprised. Also interesting to note that I had to stream the testimony because no major network, including PBS is broadcasting live, not even CSPAN.
RESIST.
I have multiple concerns–I worry that ICE will be employed to terrorize certain urban areas when people go out to vote. I can see them pulling people of color out of the voting lines under some ‘trumped’ up charge.
I heard how countries are no longer seeing us as a ‘safe’ financial bet and so are now not investing their pensions, etc.. in our bonds which will hit all of us economically. If they wanted since European countries (most who were our Allies) they could cash in and financially really injure us since they own a significant percentage of our debt. The petulant child has pretty much pissed off every ‘friend/ally’ we ever had–the damage to our reputation is soo bad because ‘we’ the people voted for this nut and his corrupt cronies and so they are seeing something wrong w/ the American public at large–watching what is going on in my country–I would not trust us either. If we get our country back—it will take decades upon decades to repair the damage that has been done.
I am waiting for ICE to enter some of these cities where the Black Panthers preside–I mean the GOP has ensured that every American is armed w/ military style guns. A bumpy road ahead