The burden of change is now on us

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"Now that Trump has disregarded the García ruling, I don't feel safe enough to go outside for walks anymore. I'll put the same thing onto my walking journal. Until either Trump is removed from office or the country destroys itself, I will be taking no more walks around my neighbourhood. My health will deteriorate and I'll die, but that's the point isn't it? Of course, I'm not really worried about myself. I'm worried for all the people with Latino names, all the people who take their phones with them to protests, leaders of socialist guilds, people who Trump feels are a direct challenge to his authority."

I wrote this on my unlinked diary page yesterday. It's easy to look at this and shut down, go into panic mode, leap into a half-baked attempt to leave the country, all sorts of things. Like any animal, we're starting to feel trapped and we're looking for a way to fight or flee. That's how it works! So don't feel bad if you've done any of the above, it's a natural reaction.

However, the protests are working. More people than anyone ever thought possible are turning out to protest Donald Trump's continued attempts to convert the United States of America into an authoritarian empire (I know about Guam and the Virgin Islands and Samoa, yes, we're already an empire, I know). The fact is, there are too many people to ignore anymore. I'm glad to see so many people taking such an active interest in civil rights, for themselves and for everyone else.

I guess, what am I guggering on about, then? Back on April 10th, the US Supreme Court ordered Kilmar Abrégo García, a man whom Trump's Schutzstaffel had deported for being undocumented, returned to the country. However, Trump had already sent him to the CECOT in El Salvador, the supermax prison for terrorists where ICE has been dumping everyone they round up, and said "Well, it's out of my hands. Can't do anything about it now." By openly defying this court order, he set the precedent that his authority is absolute and he can have anyone arrested, anywhere, and shipped off to an ICE detention centre forever without any kind of oversight and no recourse for the incarcerated except die.

At this point, I should mention again— this was an order from the US Supreme Court that Trump defied. The very same Supreme Court where he sent ultra-rightwingers Amy Comey Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh; people who supposedly pledged their undying allegiance to Trump. These were the same people who ordered García returned without delay to the United States. Unanimously. Even doddering old Clarence Thomas could see that Trump had circumvented the law. Why is it important to mention the Supreme Court, then? Because it signals a fundamental shift in the Republicans' view of the Trump Administration. He has almost no genuine support within the House or Senate, US residents turn out by the tens of thousands to rebuke Trump's claims of absolute power, and his most loyal follower-base is limited to a few disgraced celebrities and a scattered handful of toolshed vigilantes.

I know Kilmar would probably prefer to just be at home with his family rather than being a symbol of anything, but this is the turning point. What we do now will determine whether the country becomes an authoritarian regime that deports political dissidents without warning or warrants, or if everyone comes back to their senses and at long last realises that Trump is a villain.

Every one of my USAmerican readers must call your representatives. That link will take you to 5calls.org, where you set your location by inputting your ZIP code, and it tells you who your reps are in the House and Senate. Even though it will provide you with a script for this, I've streamlined it somewhat to make for a shorter call. Copy this text and fill in the blanks, then get to calling. If you get diverted to voicemail, bookend your message with your name, phone number, and address.

The reason it's called "5 Calls" is because ideally you should call 5 times— once each on 5 separate days. I know, a lot of us have trouble talking on the phone because we don't want anyone to answer, but if they do, just remember to open the call like this: "My name is ___, and I live in ___. I have a concern that I want to share with the congressman/senator." And then carry on with the message. After "Thank you", you can say "That's all."

Personally, my first instinct was "oh, it's the corporate feudal state; you can't advance any agenda without impossible stores of money." But the point here is this: most of our elected officials are millionaires in their own right, and Trump has been threatening their fortunes by manipulating the value of stocks and putting hefty taxes on exports and imports. They're waiting for any public uproar at all so they can rid themselves of the guggering old orange man with the corn smut on his head. Obviously, this one action will not fix every problem all at once, but it'll help remove this huge knife from our side so we can start healing.

Donald Trump has now announced his intent to declare a state of emergency at the southern border today. This will permit him to override nearly all checks-and-balances and mobilise the United States Armed Forces, the National Guard, and Reserves to not only descend upon the border, but to conduct raids on businesses, industries, schools, and even residential areas at his pleasure. In case you needed any more indication that Trump is behaving dictatorially, here it is. Not only has he decided to press the Monarchy button, he's doing it on Easter Sunday, 2 days before any congresspeople or senators will be able to mobilise any sort of resistance; and it just happens to be Adolf Hitler's birthday. His intentions are now clear: he plans to cleanse the country of all dissent. To this effect, I've modified the message from its original form. More than likely Kilmar Garcia cannot be returned to the United States because he has been executed. It's not about that anymore, now it's about saving our country from the clutches of a military dictator.