ICE As American Gestapo

 Theda Skocpol notes that the massive resources given to ICE in the OBBB as being an opportunity to create a sort of stormtrooper/Gestapo force in America. The billions of dollars lavished on ICE will allow them, presumably, to hire and resource themselves in ways that might overwhelm other institutions that might otherwise check them.

Richardson notes that ICE showed up for a media-centered raid on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles that seemed designed more to send a message to both LA and anyone whose skin tone is lighter than Trump's makeup. The combined idea is that most law enforcement is trained to, you know, follow the law. While there were always breaches of that covenant, the majority of LEO see themselves as custodians of the law.

By giving ICE all this money, it could enable them to create a cadre of shock troops to overwhelm and cow existing law enforcement agencies.

I suppose it could and we should all be on guard and watch this. I do wonder, however, how many people really want to be a part of this? The number is not zero, I know. I remember the election. But to staff the new Brownshirts, you need to accommodate the following facts:

- If you were already so inclined, I would wager you'd already joined ICE. They were already the law enforcement agency most tolerant of abusive persons.
- A lot of the online Nazis that flood Twitter are lazy, cowardly losers who can't be bothered to go out and do work like this. Or they have a job, and joining the Brownshirts seems superfluous. I mean, after all, they've already poasted Pepe the Frog, what more do you want?
- The masking of ICE agents seems blatantly illegal, but the rationale is that they face threats from doxing. More likely, they are masked so that they won't face doxing or prosecution in the future. Is that a work environment you want to join?

The OBBB and the various Trumpist goons and fascists can appropriate the money to hire people, but who are they going to hire who hasn't already signed up? We are already seeing opposition to Trump's mass deportations from Trump voters who wanted to rid the country of MS13, not Maria down at the bakery or Manuel at work. It was always a stupid choice, but it does represent the idea that an American Gestapo isn't going to be super popular.

I'm reading a biography of John Lewis, and his commitment to satyagraha and nonviolence - not as a tactic, but as a governing philosophy - led him and others to shame the forces of  Jim Crow. I would argue that Jim Crow was a lot more popular in 1960 than Trump's pogroms are today, and it could be that we could see principled nonviolence return as a way to thwart Trump's malignant attempts to destroy American civil society and social cohesiveness. 

Of course, in the end, SCLC and SNCC did rely on a sympathetic federal government to protect them. That ain't happening. Still, I believe there are more of us than there are of them, even if there are far too many of them. 

UPDATE: I mean stuff like this is brilliant.

UPDATE II: I should have added: Every fucker who joins ICE basically outs themselves as a fascist and that makes identifying and marginalizing them easier, when we finally defeat these Children of Darkness.