They’re Manufacturing a Crisis to Justify a Crackdown

Let’s be real for a second.

Of all the issues in this country right now (housing, healthcare, the climate crisis, the gun violence epidemic, reproductive rights, billionaires looting the economy) you know what’s not an issue to me?

Whether someone is here “legally” or not.

This country was built on settler colonialism and white supremacy. The only people who were actually here first, and didn’t need a visa, are Indigenous. And they didn’t even believe land could be “owned.”

So miss me with the moral panic about the border. This isn’t about law and order. It never has been. This is about power.

And what Trump and the far-right are doing right now?
They’re manufacturing a crisis.
They’re stoking fear.
They’re trying to set the stage for martial law.

And here’s the thing: this isn’t new. It’s the oldest play in the American playbook.

In 1798, John Adams signed the Alien and Sedition Acts. Translation: “If you’re an immigrant we don’t like, we can deport you, no trial needed.” And that was barely a decade after the Constitution was ratified. (It DID lose Adams re-election in 1800)

Fast forward:
WWI? Immigrants labeled “un-American” and detained.

WWII? 120,000+ Japanese Americans locked in internment camps, most of whom were citizens.

1954? Operation Wetback deported over a million Mexicans. Due process? Nope

This was never about safety. It has always been about distracting the American people and also scapegoating.

Every time the system starts cracking, the people in power point to immigrants and scream “invasion” to distract from the real threat: them and their inaction.

Now Trump is taking the playbook and lighting it on fire.

He’s talking about using the National Guard without even asking governors. He wants migrant detention camps. Mass roundups. Raids.

This is authoritarianism, in plain sight.

And while they flood the zone with fear-mongering, Trump and Republians are distracing us from his Twitter war with Elon Musk last week and his “beautiful for billionaires” that will hurt most Americans.

They’re trying to break the system, blame it on the most vulnerable, and then claim only they can fix it, as they put us under martial law and dismantle our democracy.