Opinion: Let Us Not Waiver

Love, Justice and Climate Change

I have often been frustrated that Donald Trump and Fox News combined have been able to get huge numbers of USers to believe things that aren’t true. Misinformation seems to have played a big role in getting many voters to choose Trump in last November’s election.

Now, Trump has an administration full of sycophants eager to mislead the public on his behalf; he has continued to lie to the public prolifically; he has succeeded in intimidating Republicans in Congress, multiple media outlets, some universities, and some big law firms. Yet with all the power of the presidency behind him, he is not succeeding in convincing a majority of the public that his policies are good ones.

The Majority of the Public Is Not Following Trump
Although, Trump is accumulating power and moving us rapidly into authoritarianism/fascism, he is not succeeding in bringing a majority of the population along to back his policies. I’m not naïve enough to think that our current government will respond to polls that show their policies are unpopular, but I do think that it is significant that the whole country is not joining the fascist movement en masse. I think it is a sign that our resistance movement is having more of an impact than we realize. I think this is hopeful and that we should be encouraged to keep speaking up, showing up, and listening and talking with people at every opportunity.

A recent poll found that only 38% of registered voters approve of how Trump is doing his job of President, while 54% disapprove. The big bill that the Republicans just passed was opposed by 53% of voters compared to 27% in favor. While the bill cut almost $800 billion out of Medicaid over the next 10 years, only 10% of voters think Medicaid expenditures should be reduced. Heather Cox Richardson summarized the poll results this way.

“More voters disapprove than approve of Trump’s handling … of the economy (40% approval to 56% disapproval), trade (38% approval to 57% disapproval), universities (37% approval to 54% disapproval), the Israel-Hamas conflict (35% approval to 52% disapproval), and the Russia-Ukraine war (34% approval to 57% disapproval).”Heather Cox Richardson, reporting on a Quinnipiac poll

A new Gallup poll, just out, finds that the public has “grown markedly more positive toward immigration over the past year.” Only 30% want immigration reduced (compared to 55% a year ago) and 79% of adults say “immigration is a good thing for the country.” The percentage of the public supporting allowing undocumented immigrants to become U.S. citizens has increased to 78%.

While I take some reassurance from this data, it still horrifies me that Trump and the MAGA movement are able to enact bills, policies, and practices that are diametrically opposed to the views of the majority of the public. They continue to trample the Constitution, the laws, the courts, reasonable climate action, and what people need for health, safety, and economic well-being, all in order to grow their vastly unjust wealth and power.

ICE to get 10,000 More Agents
I could go on forever about all of the horribly damaging provisions of the “big betrayal bill”, but I want to draw attention to one in particular that has been keeping me up at night. The Republican Congress put $170 billion dollars over the next four years into detaining and deporting immigrants– making ICE the highest-funded law enforcement agency in the country. There’s talk of concentration camps for more than 100,000 additional detainees and hiring 10,000 additional ICE agents.

Who will these new ICE agents be? We can be sure that they will be selected based upon their willingness to put loyalty to Trump ahead of loyalty to the law or the courts. It seems likely that these positions will attract applicants too often motivated by anger or grievances. Those willing to join an agency that is consistently sending heavily armed men in ski masks into situations where one of their key missions is to intimidate, are unlikely to be those deeply committed to justice.

During the campaign, Trump led voters to believe that he would have ICE round up criminals and deport them. According to ICE data, 71% of all ICE arrestees have no criminal convictions and many of the 29% with criminal records have only been charged with minor offenses such as traffic violations.

Stand Against a Police State or Martial Law
My biggest fear is that the vastly expanded numbers of ICE agents will become a way for Trump to implement a police state or a form of martial law, with only limited use of the military. He will have his own personal police force not constrained by the legal limits on the domestic deployment of the military. ICE is probably not big enough to do all Trump wants, but it can be the opening wedge to implementing martial law. However, more and more justice organizations and Democratic political leaders are speaking up against current ICE tactics, and have proposed forbidding ICE agents to conceal their identities.

Trump can only succeed in his diabolical plans if we stop standing up against him and waver in our commitment to each other and to the Earth. Let us not waver.

Russ Vernon-Jones was principal of Fort River School 1990-2008 and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now-Western Massachusetts. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.