The Carny and the Carnage

“President Trump’s sweeping effort to tamp down illegal immigration, using masked federal agents who film their interactions with cellphones and often question American citizens about their legal status, has set off a surge in confrontational activism fueled by both large liberal advocacy groups and hyperlocal neighborhood networks. In Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, established groups representing labor and immigrant rights have provided funding and organized downtown rallies against the Trump administration. But fierce opposition to ICE and the Border Patrol has also sprung up through block clubs, neighborhood group chats, school Facebook groups and Catholic parishes, stretching beyond the typical Democratic voter base.” And with that, one of Trump’s more popular issues became one of his least popular. NYT (Gift Article): How ICE Crackdowns Set Off a Resistance in American Cities.

+ That’s not to say the resistance is bothering Trump. The chaos and violence have long been his aim. “The goal all along, it appears, was something like what’s happening today in Minnesota: a street-theatre carnival of violence, mostly instigated by the federal government itself, in an effort to create a genuine security crisis that Trump can then step in to resolve.” Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker: The Minnesota War Zone Is Trump’s Most Trumpian Accomplishment. “Minnesota is his legacy. It is American carnage made real.”

+ People don’t seem to be as likely to buy the lies about the Minneapolis shooting as they were during past scandals. Even if the org formerly known as CBS News is trying to help. “Some CBS News employees expressed concern after the network cited two anonymous ‘US officials’ on Wednesday to report that the ICE officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis suffered internal bleeding to the torso after the incident.” (The only thing suffering from internal bleeding is the Constitution.)