You keep hearing this shit from some Democrats, often unnamed: the denial of due process for and the United States government's kidnapping of Kilmar Abrego Garcia is some kind of crafty "distraction" that Donald Trump and Republicans have conjured up. Just this morning, on CNN's State of Dana Bash's Concerned Face, Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, after stating that what happened to Abrego Garcia is fucked up, said, "They're doing it because they want to distract people from the fact that our economy is in a tailspin thanks to them, their tariffs, the fact that you have got businesses that are looking at closing down or not investing, that costs are up, chaos is up, corruption is up, and the market is down."
And she added, "So, for the most cynical reasons, this is the case they have picked to not obey the law. Maybe one -- they will. All of a sudden, they will just send him back. Or maybe they will be held in contempt. I think it's really important for people to realize they're following the law in other cases. They have just decided not to follow the law with this guy."
Except she's completely fucking wrong. They're not "following the law" in other cases, and it's very much not just "this guy." Every single man who was sent to El Salvador was denied due process for removal from the country. In fact, it was so much not only "this guy" that the Supreme Court stepped in to say, "Whoa, whoa, motherfuckers. You can't send another planeload of people to another country without giving them their day in court." So I honestly don't know what the fuck Klobuchar is talking about.
That aside, I can't begin to comprehend where the fuck this hesitation to jump into the fight on Abrego Garcia and the rule of law is coming from. Perhaps they fear that some magical thing will show up that proves Abrego Garcia is a human-trafficking leader of a terrorist gang and not an apprentice sheet metal worker raising three American kids with his American wife. But he would still have the right to due process, so what the fuck?
There's a strain of Democrats so devoted to making the battle over tariffs the main thrust of an attack on Trump and the Republican Party that they actually seem to believe that the White House cannily created this situation with the alleged "criminals" and "terrorists" they rounded up and shipped off to a hell hole in order to intentionally distract from the tariff madness. They can't see that what really happened is that Trump bumblefucked into a situation where his deluded cabal of moronic goons and dim, drooling racists stepped on their dicks repeatedly, shit the legal bed, and now are trying to hide that they bruised their dicks themselves.
So, no, Gov. Gavin Newsom, it's not "the distraction of the day. The art of distraction," as he said. It's not "a mistake to focus Democratic opposition on border and immigration," as one of those anonymous "operatives" told NBC News. In fact, it's not even about the border and immigration, and that's why it's a winning fucking subject.
Let me make this as clear as possible: People don't fucking understand the tariff situation. They just don't. Until prices start climbing and as soon as there are shortages of shit in the stores, most people won't get it. And, frankly, it's pretty goddamn complicated to explain. Yes, polls show that voters are concerned and believe it will hurt the economy, but until it does in a more obvious way than it has so far, they won't get it. And then, absolutely, go ape shit, Democrats.
But you know what most Americans do understand on a gut level? Denying someone their constitutionally-guaranteed due process rights. We're talking a country where half the shit that everyone watches is some variation on Law and Order or true crime, all of which are about putting someone through the criminal justice system and getting a conviction or proving their innocence. Hell, when it comes to due process for legal immigrants, including those here on visas, the vast majority of Americans, including Republicans, are for them receiving a fair trial. A majority also supports due process for undocumented migrants, so, yeah, people do get this.
It's basic shit for Americans. We were all raised on pop culture of one sort or another that showed evil dictators or kings or queens condemning people without trial (Game of Thrones, anyone?). If this nation of historical idiots knows anything about this country, it's the Declaration of Independence, with its list of offenses against the people of this land committed by the British king, many of which Trump is literally committing or promising to commit again. You can see the discomfort in the face of Republican members of Congress, even some of Trump's most loyal ball-lickers, when they're asked about the disregard for due process and especially no due process followed by imprisonment in another country. Most everyone knows that's fucked up, but Trump is arguing in court and in the media that he should be allowed to disappear whoever the fuck he wants whenever the fuck he wants.
Man, if a meatloaf like Joe Rogan understands how fucked up it is, then everyone gets it.
Trump and the ghoulish, sadistic Stephen Miller contingent want to pretend that this is about immigration and crime. But it very much isn't. It's about consolidating power in the president so that he can be a king or a tyrant or a supervillain or some such bullshit. It's about getting away with it with non-citizens so that he can unleash it on citizens, and that's so fucking easy to comprehend that it's a rhetorical gimme for Democrats.
Sure, keep up the attack on tariffs. But if Democrats take a stand on the principle that everyone, even Donald fucking Trump, even an immigrant with real (not photoshopped) MS-13 tattoos that also say, "I want to rape and murder you," even you and me, deserves due process, deserves to be able to defend themselves in court, deserves the things that have been the very foundation of not just this country, but of modern civilization, then people will get it. And, not for nothing, but they also get it if Trump defies the Supreme Court or, really, any court, and they don't fucking like it.
The party needs to unite around leaders like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who went to El Salvador, met with Abrego Garcia, and came back to tell every fucking network today, including Fox, that we are supposed to guarantee constitutional rights, not strip them away at the whim of a mad king. And, for good measure, Van Hollen dick-punched Gavin Newsom by saying, "I think Americans are tired of elected officials or politicians who are all finger to the wind… Anybody who can’t stand up for the Constitution and the right of due process doesn’t deserve to lead." Fuck yeah.
