Just Asking Questions
And a note about extrajudicial rendition
It’s weirdly convenient for Elon Musk that the tariffs the Trump administration is putting on cars and car parts are going to hurt just about every other car manufacturer and dealer in the country besides him, isn’t it?
It’s also weirdly convenient for Elon Musk that all the programs that provide food assistance, medical care, and recreation to working people are beset with inefficiencies, but the ones that give him $8 million a day are not, isn’t it?
How exactly is RFK Jr. supposed to make America healthy again if he’s cutting thousands of people from the workforce of the Department of Health and Human Services?
Why is RFK having so much fun cutting our health care and depriving us and people around the world of life saving vaccines?
If the Trump administration is all about merit hiring, why don’t any of the people they’ve hired know how to properly work Signal?
If the Trump administration is so concerned with efficiency and competence, why do they have to keep hiring back people they’ve let go? And why are they struggling with it?
If Republicans care so much about working people, why did they provide a huge gift to big banks and reverse the Biden administration’s rule that limited overdraft fees to $5?
If the Trump administration cares so much about working people, why are they getting rid of the Consumer Financial Protection bureau which has saved consumers billions of dollars since its inception?
If Republicans are so concerned with free speech why are they arresting and deporting people who say things they don’t like?
If Trump and Elon Musk think their policies are so popular, why does he feel like he has to spend millions of dollars in an attempt to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court?
If Trump and Elon Musk think their policies are so popular, why did Trump have to ask Elise Stefanik to remove her name from consideration for U.N. Ambassador so that Republicans in the House could keep her seat?
What specifically is so efficient about letting drug resistant tuberculosis get stronger and infect more people so that not only are more people getting sick and dying, the disease is harder to cure?
If vaccines are so problematic, what did getting the full complement of vaccines do to me, specifically?
What’s the point of giving the government our tax dollars if there is no one to respond when we have emergencies and natural disasters, because the Trump administration shut down the agency that’s supposed to respond to those crises?
Why on earth do we even want Greenland??
Does Trump know that not only was there a Gulf of Mexico, there’s also a state named New Mexico in this very country? Also that there are at least 20 different cities named Paris?
How are we all supposed to breathe comfortably if the Trump administration is rolling back all the rules that are supposed to protect us from air pollution?
If Biden’s policies against the Houthis in Yemen were such a failure then why is Trump continuing the exact same failed policies?
If protesting at a Tesla dealership can lead to charges of domestic terrorism, what else could lead to those charges? What if you make a joke about Tesla’s stock prices? Is comedy going to be illegal again?
Why does the Trump administration think we need a cryptocurrency reserve when the government doesn’t actually use cryptocurrency for anything?
If Trump was elected because people thought he was going to lower prices, why does he keep doing things that are going to raise prices? And why doesn’t he care?
What if the people coordinating a bombing campaign that is literally going to kill people actually took that seriously instead of using emojis on a texting platform like a bunch of frat boys?
Why does the Trump administration think that a PhD student signing onto an op-ed in a college newspaper is more dangerous to national security than canceling all programs that are meant to engender goodwill towards Americans around the world while simultaneously antagonizing all of our friends and enemies alike?
What is so efficient about canceling research into a cure for cancer or Alzheimer’s?
If the government is so sure that every single person they are sending to the El Salvadoran mega prison known for human rights abuses is a violent criminal as well an undocumented immigrant, why won’t they prove it? What are they hiding?
Make Some Noise
I’d like to stick with the conceit of this edition of the newsletter and end on questions, but I can’t - because the last two on that list get to one of the scariest parts of the Trump administration’s current policies. They are using the Alien Enemies Act to round people up and deport them to a mega-prison in El Salvador that is known for starving people as well as other human rights abuses, and they are doing so without any due process. While the Trump administration claims that they are deporting violent criminals, it appears from reporting that they are mostly rounding up hispanic or latino men with tattoos and then refusing to prove that those men are violent criminals and gang members in a court of law.
Refusal to honor the right to due process means that the government has deported people that its own paperwork says are no threat to the country. It means they’ve deported people whose tattoos are just elaborate abstract designs or are of ribbons in honor of family members. They’ve deported barbers and professional soccer players and people just trying to live their lives and contribute to their communities. And because there is no due process, there’s no process for reversing any of this. Hundreds of people have been imprisoned in a foreign country with no way of communicating with loved ones or getting home.
The Trump administration is also arresting and deporting, or arresting and revoking visas and green cards for students who have spoken out against Israel’s bombardment of Gaza. Plainclothes officers are ambushing students on the street, ripping them away from their schools and their communities for the crime of saying something the government doesn’t like.
This is all deeply disturbing for the people involved, who have experienced violence and terror at the hands of the state in spite of their constitutional rights. But it is also deeply disturbing for each and every one of us. If the Trump administration succeeds in suspending due process for one group of people, there is literally nothing stopping them from applying it to all of us. They could say that anyone has been harboring or helping gang members. They could say that anyone is a violent criminal who needs to be sent as far away as possible. They could say that about you. They could say that about me.
Not enough people are talking about this - and part of that is, of course, that the Trump administration started with the people they did on purpose. Criticism of Israel and of the war on Gaza has always been divisive and fraught. And with all the fears of rising crime, and the demagoguery around immigration they expect us to be more permissive if they tell us that the people they are deporting are violent gang members.
But the whole point of due process is that it applies to everyone, or it applies to no one. We all have the right to free speech or no one does. Because once our criminality becomes a matter of the whims of one man or one administration, we no longer have a democracy and we no longer have free speech.
So what do we do about this? Good question! Here are some ideas:
Make sure people know about this. In my group chat action memo that I made on this issue has some posts you can share. You can also forward this newsletter on.
Push back when people say that we should be deporting these people because they are violent gang members, or because of what they’ve said about Israel. Make the point that due process protects all of us. Ask questions about what the government is hiding by not proving they are deporting the people they think they are.
Call your Representative and Senators and demand that they investigate these deportations, that they stand up for due process and free speech, and that they support legislative efforts to protect all of our civil rights.
Get ready to attend a protest on April 5 - either in DC or by finding one near you. Make sure people around you know about the protest and are getting ready to turn out as well. Not only does the Trump administration need to know that there is a mass movement against their actions, but others around the country, like universities and law firms, that have capitulated to Trump’s anti-democratic actions also need to know.