Electile Dysfunction (Current students plz look!)

[G.Irish]

Gerald do you care to cite your source for immigrants that are getting murdered in today's society? Congress members getting murdered? and how it relates to Trump/this administration? I sincerely hadn't heard about that if it is happening.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Con...l_shooting

Https://www.cato.org/publications/policy...-1975-2017

Hate crimes against immigrants are usually anti-Muslim, and have been happening from before Trump came along, but there are a number of examples since he was elected:

Man shoots 2 Indian men (killing one) after yelling 'get out of my country':
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018...eer-in-bar

Man deliberately runs over 8 people he thought were Muslim:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sunnyvale-d...019-05-30/

3 Men Convicted of Plot to Bomb Somali Immigrants
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-sou...arden-city

Man Shoots and Kills 3 Hispanic People in Walmart
https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017...vated-hate

There are a number of other incidents where there were injuries but no deaths.  Then there was that MAGA bomber guy who sent package bombs to members of Congress, Hillary, Obama, CNN, basically everyone Trump hates.

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Well it's nice to know I'm not alone, anyway.

A few things:

1: The comparisons to Nazi Germany aren't entirely out of place, though maybe WW2 Italy is a better comparison. Mussolini was basically "Make Italy Imperial Again", and used violent communists as a justification for power. The big difference, however, *IS* economic prosperity. Which is one of the reasons I harp on it so much, rare is the brutal dictatorship that sprung from wealth and prosperity. (Frankly Venezuela is the only one I can think of, and that didn't come from far-right ideology...)

I think there are a number of factors with the United States that are different from countries that have gone authoritarian.  US institutions are far stronger than most companies that descend into true autocracy.  The president can't just dissolve one of the other branches of government, we have a very professional military that swears an oath to the Constitution (not the president), and our base level of corruption isn't as high as countries that go authoritarian, although we've been slipping badly on that front.

I think WWII Italy is a better parallel, but either way the road we're on leads to a bad place, that may not be like some historical examples but will still be awful.  Thankfully Trump is undisciplined and inept, but I worry about what would happen if a more cunning aspiring dictator got elected.

2: Yeah man, maybe ICE and CPB do start shooting first and asking questions later. Maybe after, I dunno, someone tries to firebomb their offices or something?

Yes the thing about all of this dangerous rhetoric is that it is seeding society with explosives and you never really know what the spark will be that sets them off.  There's actually a term for that: stochastic terrorism.  The more incendiary rhetoric you put out there, the higher the statistical probability that someone will commit a terrorist act (or acts) as a result.

I mean the detainment camps are bad news, but I think pretending that Trump is where this problem started and ends is extremely shortsighted. Immigration (especially from latin america) has been a disaster for an entire generation now. Probably 50 years or more it's been in need of a resolution with almost nothing happening. We need to press congress to work together on a bill that is compassionate while still serving security interests. Right now it's neither.

The immigration problem didn't start with Trump, but the heavy-handed and cruel response to it absolutely did.  We can address immigration with a number of strategies without taking toddlers from their mothers and making them sleep on the floor, or making 8 year-olds take care of 3 year-olds.  These kids are going to have life-long problems from this treatment.

I get that some people want action of immigration policy, cool.  But this ain't it.