President Trump has signed three more executive orders, further cracking down on the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers. One order seeks to compile a list of so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with Trump’s mass deportation policies.
A second order further militarizes local police departments, while providing legal resources to officers accused of abuses; it also seeks to undo federal consent decrees for departments that have committed civil rights abuses and seeks to punish local officials who “unlawfully prohibit law enforcement officers from carrying out duties.”
A third executive order requires professional truck drivers to be proficient in English. On Monday, staffers placed signs on the White House lawn showing mugshots of immigrants, linking them to crimes with the word ”ARRESTED” written in all caps.
This comes as House Republicans have proposed a bill that would charge people arriving at a U.S. port of entry $1,000 in order to file an asylum claim — and a $3,500 fee for those sponsoring children. The right to seek asylum is a fundamental human right enshrined in international law, and the U.S. has never before charged petitioners.
I think this is hard for people from other countries to understand. Our Democrats are not an opposition party. We don’t have that concept in our system. I’ll admit I was naive to it before Trump started Trumping. Even after the first Trump I was thinking, “Well, that was fucking dumb. Glad we found our sanity again.” And I was wrong.
I wouldn’t have been able to articulate this before. I credit my time on Lemmy for some of it. But in reality you can’t explain any of this shit show UNLESS you accept that our entire political system is now structured to serve the rich at the expense of the peasants. Universal healthcare is a no brainer. Infrastructure like rail and renewables is a no brainer. Affordable childcare and reasonable wages is a fucking no brainer. UNLESS the incentives for those in power are not aligned with the good of the people.
Democrats don’t care that they’re not in power, as long as the establishment keeps getting paid.
Now, of course, there can be those like AOC and Sanders who buck that trend. Leaders with those types of values do tend toward the Democratic party. But those are the exceptions. And they can’t save us.