Given the fire hose of illegality, unconstitutionality and immense stupidity coming out of the Trump administration on a daily if not hourly basis, people might be forgiven for failing to notice the effort to access and amass all kinds of data.
But control of data is important–and the nature of the information the administration is stockpiling is chilling.
As the Bulwark recently reported, the administration isn’t just compiling lists of immigrants in order to unleash ICE on them. It is busy collecting a wide variety of other information– lists of people with developmental disabilities, lists of “dissidents”—and lists of Jews.
The administration’s effort to collect such data may seem counter-intuitive; after all, it has been busy deleting and censoring any information that it finds inconsistent with its efforts to promote White Supremacy. (As a political science friend recently pointed out, the only campaign promise Trump has kept is his promise to MAGA to re-institute racism.) In addition to its ideologically-motivated elimination of statistics on climate change, hunger, trade and sexual orientation, it has methodically deleted photos of nonwhite people who have excelled in various areas, and even photographic evidence that nonwhites have served in the military from government websites.
But now it’s becoming clearer that some of the most disturbing developments don’t involve data the administration is suppressing, but rather data it’s collecting—in some cases illegally—and the ways those data can be weaponized against perceived enemies.
It isn’t only nonwhite folks who are being targeted, it’s any group that MAGA fears and/or hates. The administration has actually sued the University of Pennsylvania because that institution has refused to hand over a list of its Jewish faculty, staff, and students. (Penn quite correctly has refused, but last year, Barnard complied with a similar demand.)
As the Bulwark article points out–and as every Jew knows–there are good historical reasons to worry when an authoritarian leader is trying to compile a registry of Jews–especially when that leader has referred to Jews as “disloyal,” and that leader’s coalition has many outspoken Jew haters and Holocaust deniers.
It isn’t simply an effort to compile a list of individuals that MAGA considers “Other.” The administration’s war on diversity–on people and places that aren’t lily-White “Christian” enclaves–extends to entiire Blue states–states that Trump obviously considers enemy territory. The AP has recently reported that executive branch agencies have been ordered to compile a list of monies being sent to Blue states.
President Donald Trump’s budget office this week ordered most government agencies to compile data on the federal money that is sent to 14 mostly Democratic-controlled states and the District of Columbia in what it describes as a tool to “reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.”
The order comes a week after Trump said he intended to cut off federal funding that goes to states that are home to “sanctuary cities” that resist his immigration policies. He said that would start Feb. 1 but hasn’t unveiled further details.
The obvious purpose of these lists–the only reason to acquire this data–is to differentiate between those MAGA considers “real Americans” (Whites, certain “Christians,” residents of Red states) and those who must be considered enemies. Other.
There are a number of recent “remakes” of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “I have a little list…” In all of them, the chorus is the same: “They never will be missed”….
Shades of Joe McCarthy.
Professor-as POTUS Trump continues to bring Christian Nationalists to his team, does anyone ever see him attending a Christian Church? Just curious.
I would say it’s a sign of coming extortion. Everything about Trump’s presidency is about extortion e.g. tariffs, lists, targeted bombings, etc. He threatens people to get what he wants.
As for compiling lists of Jews, that wreaks more of Stephen Miller than Trump who is literally owned by Zionists and Israel. He even confessed in a speech that whatever Miriam Adelson wants, she gets. The Zionist billionaires have pushed Trump into another attack in Iran.
Also, he just added another Jewish negotiator to the Kushner and Witcoff team. He’s the head of the purchasing department. What does he know about high-level diplomacy?
An interesting side note is Russia’s chief diplomat, Sergei Lavrov has NOT been mentioned as part of the negotiating team for Russia. That tells me that Putin is not quite serious about Trump’s team.
Trump is now facing MAGA splintering into individual factions with the original MAGA and MIGA (Make Israel Great Again). As a result of ICE shooting the “terrorist” Eric Pretti, now the gun rights folks have splintered from MAGA. Next we’ll see the Christian Nationalists splinter.
Has anybody else noticed that Stephen Miller gets way too much enjoyment over killing people. He gets excited when talking about the death of “others.”
I’m glad I read this column today on an empty stomach. Otherwise, I surely would have up-chucked my breakfast.
It CAN happen here. It IS happening here. The recapitulation of 1930s Germany is HERE and NOW. Gosh, and speaking of numbers … it would only take 23 Congressional Republicans to impeach, convict and oust this cabal of Nazis from the White House. TWENTY THREE. That’s only 3 more than my fingers and toes.
He is not competent to carry out the duties of a US President. A competent President puts the actual interests of the nation ahead of their own personal agenda.
If the CEO of Coca-Cola, IBM, or any other publicly owned company acted like he does, their board would have them hogtied in a heartbeat, lest the company stock suffer a substantial loss. How’s America’s stock looking, world? Anything like his approval ratings here?
It’s time for Congress to invoke SECTION 4 of the 25th AMENDMENT. Once they decide to declare him incompetent, he would be removed in less than a day. This does NOT require the Cabinet’s support.
If you agree, contact your Representative and your 2 Senators today, and tell them so.
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/amendments/amendment-xxv
No Dennis, no one sees that, because he is not a Christian, has no religious sense, uses Christianity only to further his personal agenda. And, the fools just don’t see it. Some, reportedly, still see him as God-sent, like many Brazilians did Bolsonaro.
When one starts from a faulty premise, one can so easily go astray.
Floyd, my congresspeople are totally useless, coming, now, from Florididia.
McCarthy would have loved to have today’s electronic capabilities, not that he didn’t doctor some photos as it was.
How many of us would trade an evil, incompetent leader for a more evil, competent one? Under the heading “Be careful what you ask for,” I submit that we’re better off with the incompetent leader than we would be if the triumvirate – Miller, Thiel, and their little puppet, JD (the Three) – were put in charge.
At our local No Kings rallies there has been a heavy police presence. As long as most of us are white, they leave us alone. If the Three are in charge, that would change. At the very least the deputies would be taking pictures of attendees. (It’s reasonable to assume that Palantir has facial recognition software.) At the worst they would be trying to provoke a fight, so they could arrest as many as they choose. I was in protests in my younger years and witnessed this kind of activity. Don’t think it can’t happen here and now. Deja vu all over again.😉