Trump Admin Should Be Call to Arms for Decent Americans

Another perceptive commentary on Trump and the Nuremberg-lite State of the Union comes from Roger Cohen in a New York Times op-ed column.

The piece entitled, Trump’s Volk und Vaterland, explains and denounces the mocking, racist call for nationalism, more walls, prisons, police, military against the dark enemies within and without our glorious borders.

Cohen's use of the German words Volk and Vatherland refers to mythical and virtuous German people, the Volk, propagandized as beset by foreign, Jewish, Communist and other unclean agents of evil despoiling the fatherland, Vaterland.

Writes Cohen:

President Trump declared in his State of the Union speech. 'There has never been a better time to start living the American Dream.'

But which American Dream? Trump portrayed a dark and menacing world in which immigrants, who stand at the heart of the American idea, were equated with gangs, murderous criminals and 'horrible people.'

In his 80-minute speech, the word 'woman' did not come up once. Other words or phrases never mentioned included 'peace,' 'human rights,' 'equality,' 'Europe,' 'multilateral,' 'civil rights' and 'alliance.' The Constitution flitted onto Trump’s radar chiefly in the context of appointing his kind of judges.

If there was a theme, it was the demonization of immigrants and of the rest of the world, combined with an exaltation of American might. ...

He spoke of building a 'Great Wall' on the Mexican border, but it may as well have been against the rest of humanity. Trump once again put the world on notice that the rules-based, post-1945 world order founded on alliances like NATO and American-backed multilateral organizations is one he would rather shred than bolster. ...

Trump spoke of American grit, of 'total American resolve,' of American heart and American hands, whipping his audience into chants of 'USA! USA! USA!' Trump’s America is, in the end, a reflection of himself: male, militaristic, white, mean and macho. ...

This was 'Volk und Vaterland' in American guise, stamped with his speechwriter’s clunky and cliché-ridden prose. ...

In the place of hope, Trump needs fear, a lot of it, to build the cult of his personality. His so-called American Dream is made up of the nightmares he imagines and that now hang over the world.

Like all dictators, Trump remains a frightened, immature child, not capable of perceiving humanity in other people.

Classical liberal values were never learned, so Trump concluded his address with his partisan slogan:

[I]t is the people who are making America great again.

As long as we are proud of who we are, and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail.

Our families will thrive.

Our people will prosper.

And our Nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and mighty and free.

Thank you, and God bless America.

Fuck Trump, this white supremacist human garbage is an continuing assault.

Any member of Congress who legitimized this crap by attendance owes his or her constituency a long list of explanations why.

Only 12 members of Congress boycotted the State of the Union.

None were from Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

David Duke: Thank you President Trump. Americans are "Dreamers" too

America's first white supremacist president* hit his applause lines well last night.

Fascist overtones, explicit demonizing of immigrants, calls for increased militarization and policing of our country, this repulsive display by Trump continues.

David Duke, Stormfront and myriad other white supremacists were listening.

The reviews are in:

Thank you President Trump. Americans are "Dreamers" too.

— David Duke (@DrDavidDuke) January 31, 2018

Charlie Pierce in Esquire offers words of sanity, commentary that is succor roughly one year before we declare war with Iran.

It was the most elaborate of charades, the most sophisticated of masquerades, that played itself out in the chamber of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night. The amount of pretense required to keep all sensible people—which is to say, any person who was not a Republican—in their chairs must have been heroic.

All involved had to pretend that Donald Trump makes sense as a president, that his administration makes sense as a government, and that his first State of the Union address made sense as either a description of national policy, or as a rhetorical summons to national unity. All involved had to pretend that his thoughts were coherent, that his words made sense, and that the complete and universal collapse of civic responsibility that propelled him onto the podium was not the most singularly destructive event in the history of American democracy since the Civil War. Everyone had to pretend that a freak show was Shakespeare, and that a rumbling, stumbling geek was Lincoln, and that the whole tableau unfolding before the Congress was somehow made noble despite the obvious fact that the whole event was an endless procession of lies and half-truths, and that the only truly remarkable thing about the speech was that it was such a perfectly round and complete crock of shit.

I don’t know how long the institutions of the republic can sustain this much pretense. Over my lifetime, the American presidency has tested what were believed to be the outer limits of counterfeit grandeur, but now we see that there is a vast universe of untruth and malignant fantasy of which we were painfully unaware. It is a burden to maintain the masquerade. It is beyond the strength even of the sturdiest democracy to be led by such a vanguard of unreality. Why anyone showed up on Tuesday night is a mystery to me.

Yes, Trump is happening, right now. Norman Cohn would have been impressed.

Trump Was Detached from Reality, then Let Loose with Vindictive Shot at Children

Bernie Sanders delivered multiple responses to the fear-
mongering Trump in SOTU address, (Twitter)

The only serious question in President* Trump's first State of the Union address was whether the smirking psychopath was going to reveal himself amid the unity rhetoric and his basking in the valor of Americans receiving SOTU nods.

Following Trump's hollow assurance that he would "protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed," the racist garbage promptly took a shot at the children and young adults who were protected by President Obama's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order, the Dreamers.

"My duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans -- to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too," said Trump, (CNN).

Not just those immigrants, but Americans too.

The address was predictable, including near-constant fear mongering and race-baiting from this white supremacist garbage,

Fuck you, Trump.

President Trump: “African American unemployment lowest ever recorded....”

CBC members: A picture is worth a thousand words. 👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/b2Hp96C4J9

— Nina Turner (@ninaturner) January 31, 2018

Kudos to Joe Kennedy and Bernie Sanders, needed tonic after the lunatic:

“Bullies may land a punch. They might leave a mark. But they have never, not once, in the history of our United States, managed to match the strength and spirit of a people united in defense of their future.” #SOTUResponse

— Rep. Joe Kennedy III (@RepJoeKennedy) January 31, 2018

President Trump’s State of the Union needs a response. Here’s mine. https://t.co/8YZW8JCl2V

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) January 31, 2018

President Obama Delivers Remarks on Immigration, Moves Forward

President Barack Obama delivers remarks
on the Department of Homeland Security’s
immigration announcement in the
Rose Garden of the White House, June 15, 2012.
(Official White House Photo by Sonya N. Hebert)


.

The great 20th century jurist, Robert H. Jackson, would be proud today.

Jackson, a prodigious and rare serious writer, famously said in 1940: Those who have been subjected to the criminal justice system by the prosecution and law enforcement ought see a just process, a process in which the prosecutor sees as a moral "asset [his] profession recogniz[ing] that his attitude toward those who feel his power has been dispassionate, reasonable and just."

WASHINGTON— Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano today announced that effective immediately, certain young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety, and meet several key criteria will be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings. Those who demonstrate that they meet the criteria will be eligible to receive deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal, and will be eligible to apply for work authorization.

By the Dept of Homeland Security

  “Our nation’s immigration laws must be enforced in a firm and sensible manner,” said Secretary Napolitano. “But they are not designed to be blindly enforced without consideration given to the individual circumstances of each case. Nor are they designed to remove productive young people to countries where they may not have lived or even speak the language. Discretion, which is used in so many other areas, is especially justified here.” DHS continues to focus its enforcement resources on the removal of individuals who pose a national security or public safety risk, including immigrants convicted of crimes, violent criminals, felons, and repeat immigration law offenders. Today’s action further enhances the Department’s ability to focus on these priority removals. Under this directive, individuals who demonstrate that they meet the following criteria will be eligible for an exercise of discretion, specifically deferred action, on a case by case basis:

1. Came to the United States under the age of sixteen;
2. Have continuously resided in the United States for a least five years preceding the date of this memorandum and are present in the United States on the date of this memorandum;
3. Are currently in school, have graduated from high school, have obtained a general education development certificate, or are honorably discharged veterans of the Coast Guard or Armed Forces of the United States;
4. Have not been convicted of a felony offense, a significant misdemeanor offense, multiple misdemeanor offenses, or otherwise pose a threat to national security or public safety;
5. Are not above the age of thirty.

Only those individuals who can prove through verifiable documentation that they meet these criteria will be eligible for deferred action. Individuals will not be eligible if they are not currently in the United States and cannot prove that they have been physically present in the United States for a period of not less than 5 years immediately preceding today’s date.

Deferred action requests are decided on a case-by-case basis. DHS cannot provide any assurance that all such requests will be granted. The use of prosecutorial discretion confers no substantive right, immigration status, or pathway to citizenship.

Only the Congress, acting through its legislative authority, can confer these rights. While this guidance takes effect immediately, USCIS and ICE expect to begin implementation of the application processes within sixty days. In the meantime, individuals seeking more information on the new policy should visit USCIS’s website (at http://www.uscis.gov/), ICE’s website (at http://www.ice.gov/), or DHS’s website (at http://www.dhs.gov/).

Beginning Monday, individuals can also call USCIS’ hotline at 1-800-375-5283 or ICE’s hotline at 1-888-351-4024 during business hours with questions or to request more information on the forthcoming process. For individuals who are in removal proceedings and have already been identified as meeting the eligibility criteria and have been offered an exercise of discretion as part of ICE’s ongoing case-by-case review, ICE will immediately begin to offer them deferred action for a period of two years, subject to renewal.

For more information on the Administration policy reforms to date, please see this fact sheet.