It seems the current administration surprises us every day with decisions and statements that range from the absurd to the unrealistic—not to mention the illegal.
Trump is advancing on his plan to completely control power, both at the personal and political levels, while he continues to conduct business from the White House.
Operations against immigrants are carried out with excessive and abusive force, without regard for whether those targeted are citizens. The goal is to arrest anyone who “looks” undocumented.
Now the victim city is Washington, D.C. To justify the militarization of the nation’s capital, the government spoke of the prevailing high crime rate there—even though statistics show otherwise.
The Trump administration isn’t concerned about crime, but rather with politically controlling cities and important areas of the country. And it talks about extending this militarization to other cities, mostly those controlled by Democrats or Black local leaders.
At the same time, Trump and the Republicans want to redraw the country’s electoral districts to increase their power, something that is illegal as these changes occur every 10 years, after the Census results are known. Those results show us the changes in the population and the consequent need to increase—or decrease—the number of representatives in a particular state and redraw electoral districts.
But the Republicans are not concerned about this legality. In any case, the majority of the nine Supreme Court justices are pro-Trump and will give everything their leader proposes the stamp of “legality.”
The government’s actions are not discussed or questioned. Trump wants to rule like a king in a country that until recently boasted of being a generous democracy. Major support for this purpose comes from fanatical religious sectors that support Trump’s plan, mainly evangelical groups.
For example, as reported by The Guardian, Pastor Joshua Haymes, a member of the Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship (PHRF), aligned with the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, a congregation of evangelical churches, and a well-known podcaster, has displayed his extremist positions.
Haymes proposes public executions for those who are unfaithful or have abortions (he seems to be referring only to women), a position similar to that of the Taliban in Afghanistan. He also claims that the Bible supports the actions of ICE. Moreover, he proposes drowning those who march in Pride parades.
But the most troubling aspect of these far-right positions is that Pete Hegseth, secretary of defense, participated in several of Haymes’ podcasts. Haymes now claims he is no longer the pastor of the PHRF. However, Brooks Potteiger, the current pastor of PHRF Church, regularly participates on Haymes’ podcast and is known as Hegseth’s spiritual advisor.
Many members of the Trump administration and Republican members of Congress, as well as the conservative majority of the Supreme Court, want to take the country back to the Middle Ages, where rulers acted “by the grace of God.”
This historic regression is unfolding before us. We are not dreaming; it is an unstoppable reality (for now) that will leave deep scars on our society for years to come. We are experiencing a socioeconomic and cultural backwardness of historic proportions.
Till next month.
