Don't Lose Sight of What Matters
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It’s easy to get caught up in the bromance meltdown
going on in real time on social media. The taunts and threats being lobbed back
and forth between Trump and Musk today are as hard to look away from as a
schoolyard confrontation between the two kids everyone wants to see get taken
down a notch. We all need a good laugh to lighten the load, but I worry that
when this is all over, the joke is going to be on us.
DOGE is still inside of our government—and our personal
data. We are going into Hurricane season, during climate change, without a
functional FEMA. A generation of scientific research is at risk. We are not
preparing for the next pandemic; at this rate, we won’t even have updated Flu
or Covid shots for the next season. The Justice Department is taking orders
from the president to exact revenge on people he thinks of as his enemies. Pete
Hegseth is still running the Department of Defense.
We are watching live as DHS, headed by cosplay-loving
Secretary Kristi Noem—who is apparently increasingly desperate to meet the
president’s deportation quotas—going after the easiest people it can find to
deport. They’re not violent criminals. They’re people who work in our
communities, our neighbors, and your kids’ school friends. They are people who
are regularly reporting for scheduled meetings with immigration authorities—law
abiding, tax paying, noncitizens.
And yes, school friends, because there is reporting
from multiple cities that ICE is seizing kids and separating them from their
families.
Today in the Oval Office Trump met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz,
who was there to ask Trump to show more support for Ukraine in its war with
Russia.
As they sat before the cameras, the Chancellor said:
“May I remind you that we are having June 6 tomorrow. This is the D-Day
anniversary.” Trump, showing absolutely no understanding of history or
modern-day Germany’s stance on Naziism, responds, "Not a pleasant day for
you.” As the Chancellor breaks in, he continues, “That was not a great
day." Clearly taken aback, Merz collect his thoughts, and then, looking
straight at Trump says, "This was the liberation of my country from Nazi
dictatorship."
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Merz gives Trump a framed copy of his grandfather
Friedrich Trump’s German birth certificate
Apparently, there is room in the president’s world to
have sympathy for Nazis. But not for little kids, whose only sin was being
brought here by parents who wanted them to grow up in a place where they would
be safe. Nazis, too, separated children from their parents for no legitimate
reason. And of course, they did far worse. But it starts with this kernel of
inhumanity. There is no telling where it can end once it takes hold. These ICE
roundups are quite a policy for a president who doesn’t unambiguously view the
end of Nazi rule in Germany as a good thing.
Ten-year-old Martir Garcia Lara “simply didn’t show up
for school” one day. He is a fourth grader at a California elementary school.
The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting tonight that ICE arrested
15 people, including a three-year-old child.
And ICE deported three U.S. citizen
children back in April, claiming their noncitizen mothers wanted to take them
with them when they were deported, a claim that later fell apart. The children
were two, four, and seven years old.
I’m told by friends working on immigration cases that all across the
country, people are being called in to meet with immigration authorities and
then, with no warning or opportunity to prepare, being taken into custody. Just
like what happened here, in Birmingham.
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So yes, I get and share the fascination with Trump and
Musk hurling taunts at each other. But please, let’s not let the kids who are
sleeping in ICE detention, separated from friends and family, be there alone.
Let’s commit to stay by their sides and speak for them when they cannot speak
for themselves.
We can stand up for the people who are being
disappeared and refuse to let their names be forgotten. Our government is doing
this in our names, and we need to tell them they can’t. And no sideshow is
going to distract us from this.
If Civil Discourse helps you navigate today’s
challenges with clarity and confidence, I’d be grateful if you’d consider a
paid subscription if you’re able to. Your support lets me devote the time and
resources necessary to this work, and it means a lot to me.
We’re in this together,
Joyce