THE PURE CRUELTY OF THE TRUMP/MAGA DESTRUCTION-FEST
Dr. Common Good
What is it that drives the vile cruelty of the Trump/Musk/MAGA horde? Really. So much that is just shockingly inhuman, unnecessary, and very little that has anything to do with increasing government efficiency. It is a sociopathic rampage. Just consider the following examples:
- The deportation of Venezuelans to a Salvadoran gang prison, with no notice to families or loved ones, no due process of law, and no justification, under the false pretext of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Armed ICE officers, storming into houses at any time, even late at night, yanking away anyone suspected of being associated with the Tren de Aragua gang, with no evidence whatsoever. It could be that someone simply has a tattoo. They are being taken to El Salvador’s infamous “Center for the Confinement of Terrorism” (CECOT) under a paid outsourcing agreement. CECOT is a mega-prison designated for the most serious gang members under the harsh regime of President Nayib Bukele. No visitors are allowed, no prisoners are even allowed outdoors. There is often no communication allowed, so loved ones have no idea what is going on. Imagine your brother, son, husband or whomever being snatched like that in the night. This is what happened under former dictator Augusto Pinochet in Chile, what happens in Russia, what happened in Assad’s Syria, what has happened in countless dictatorships throughout history. It is the “disappearance” redux. This is not the US as we knew it.
- The arrest and deportation of legal residents and scholars, like Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University and Badar Khan Suri, a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, with no criminal charge, just unsupported allegations of terrorist ties or expressing views in support of Palestinian rights. Again, the same brutal pattern – armed ICE agents, arresting people in their homes, without due process. These individuals are taken to a prison in Louisiana, again, often without access to communication. This is not the US as we knew it.
- Musk’s DOGE bullies are forcibly entering even non-government nonprofits like the US Institute of Peace and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (which receives a tiny amount of funding from the US government), to gut them or shut them down. Why? There is no, absolutely no justification related to efficiency or fraud. These actions are brazen and illegal. It is more of the same cruel, petty crusade to decimate any person or institution that does not fit under the MAGA authoritarian diktat. This is not the US as we knew it.
- Funding is being threatened and cut for so many government services that provide support for Americans who need help, including those on Medicare, children who only get meals through school lunch programs, students with disabilities, and veterans, to name a few.
These and many other similar actions are taken with a certain public relish, a certain vengeful desire to inflict harm on those outside the MAGA orbit. It is a twisted revenge-fest fed and nurtured by the sociopathic victim fantasies of Trump, Musk, and what can only be described as the cult of MAGA. It is way beyond anything associated with traditional political parties or positions. It is not the US as we, or the world, knew it.