There are many happy possibilities now that the Age of Trump has a 2028 expiration date. Tariffs might be rolled back, and our long-held friendships with Europe, Canada and Mexico restored. Maybe the U.S./Israeli alliance will be further re-balanced. Maybe Congress will muster the strength to refocus the Ukraine War on Russia, the actual baby killing bad guys. Perhaps Congress will get around to policing itself by outlawing insider trading in stock and betting markets. And lest we dare to dream of a truce with Iran, a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a consequent drop in gas prices.
However optimistic Trump’s defeat leaves you, the issue that will never be resolved to every American’s satisfaction is immigration. It destroyed Joe Biden’s presidency and ironically Donald Trump’s as well, leading to a historic trouncing at the ballot box, voters repulsed by his racist policies.
Heeding the draconian advice of immigration hawks like Stephen Miller, of whom more later, President Trump not only sealed the southern border, he also made our nation writ large a cruel and inhospitable place for those who came here without proper documentation. Even American citizens and legal permanent residents have not been immune from the violence of ICE. The masked, semi-trained, ‘Papers Please’ immigration cops killed Alex Pretti, Renee Goode and over fifty others, according to the ACLU.
How much immigration is necessary to keep vitality in our factories and fields, our meat packing and poultry processing plants, our restaurants and homes? Surely, it is more than zero. A buddy of mine from Afghanistan, now living here in Cleveland with his family and five children is one of the lucky ones. When he arrived here in the States a couple of years ago, he worked for an immigration agency that aided refugees who had worked to support our war efforts. He tells me the only refugees his agency is allowed to process these days are white farmers from South Africa. The Republicans paid a sore price for their hard-nosed immigration policies. It cost them the Latino vote in states ranging from Texas to Kansas, Michigan to Ohio.
The policies also brought us the new Age of Miller. The survival and elevation of Stephen Miller to White House Chief of Staff is a signal from President Trump that he is undaunted by the rejection of his policies and party by a hefty majority of Americans. The promotion of Miller of the dead eyes and implacable attitude toward minorities and immigrants is the clearest signal Trump could possibly show that he is not listening to the electorate.
As a marker of a person’s character, looks are of questionable reliability, but this guy could be Adonis. What is self-evident is his ugly lack of compassion. Miller has consistently taken the harshest possible position. He has advocated tent cities, cheerleading grotesque facilities like Florida’s Alligator Alley. He champions extended, indefinite incarceration for even non-criminal aliens, and his policy is to force immigrants to choose between staying together with their citizen children or being separated and forced to leave the country.
His policies are dreadful, and Trump has just made him his right-hand man.