"democracy" we are becoming

But while we all watch, mouths agape, as a spellbinding political thriller unfolds in Washington in real time, we must stay focused on the "democracy" we are becoming in the process: A once-proud nation of immigrants turning on the very people who have time and again brought new energy, fresh resolve, and continued promise to our shores.
In a span of just two short months, this is now a country where immigration agents are operating with unbounded impunity, where a 22-year-old undocumented immigrant brought here as a child gets targeted for speaking at a rally, where citizens like Muhammad Ali's son are being detained for hours of questioning at airports, and where authorities are forcibly checking passenger IDs as people exit their domestic flights.
It is the making of a police state that establishes a new normal by first training its sights on the defenseless and then expands its ambitions outward, group by group. It also follows the pattern of Trump’s campaign, in which he first attacked Mexicans, then Muslims, then all foreigners and also the press. 
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American institutions are built to withstand an attack from the president alone. But they are not so well-built as to withstand an attack from a conscienceless president enabled by a hyper-partisan Congress.

That is what I am worrying about.
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At CPAC, last week, Trump said, "As we speak today, immigration officers are finding the gang members, the drug dealers, and the criminal aliens and throwing them hell out of our country."
He neglected to add that his deportation force is conducting searches without probable cause, detaining and deporting people for old traffic violations, separating native-born American kids from their undocumented parents, falsifying evidence to support their arrests, and deporting young adults to Mexico who don't even speak Spanish because they’ve lived here most of their lives. How many "gang members, drug dealers, and criminal aliens" are among those who have been arrested is impossible to know at this point amid that frenetic activity of ICE agents over the past couple months.

 What we do know is that President Obama had already been aggressively detaining and deporting violent criminals—expelling more people than any other American president—so the idea that Trump's DHS is magically uncovering the real criminals at a feverish pace is suspect at best. Closer to the truth, they are arresting people who are easy pickings precisely because in the course of their everyday lives they do not operate like criminals. Instead, the predictably go to work, pick up their kids from school, or attend school themselves.


 Now Trump tells us Homeland Security is planning a new vehicle for vilifying the undocumented: an office called VOICE, Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement. DHS is also toying around with separating kids from mothers in detention or seeking asylum in order to deter people from crossing the border. Additionally, we learned late Friday that DHS is reportedly planning to expand immigrant family detention by 550 percent, from some 3,500 beds to about 20,000 beds.




Frankly, that sounds one step short of internment.
At the same time, perpetrators of domestic violence are going free because women who fear deportation are refusing to testify against their abusers. That fear will inevitably extend to witnesses of other crimes, making our communities less safe—exactly as many local law enforcement officials have warned.
Meanwhile, back in Washington, journalists are racing against time to dismantle this beast before it can fully execute its vision. They may aim to simply uncover the truth, but they are indeed in a fight for their very existence. If the force of what they reveal moves the investigations beyond the clutches of partisan hacks, our democracy stands a fighting chance. 
As former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum observed in a notable tweet storm: "American institutions are built to withstand an attack from the president alone. But they are not so well-built as to withstand an attack from a conscienceless president enabled by a hyper-partisan Congress."



We are starting to see some hesitation among Republicans about aligning themselves too closely with Trump. A palpable silence fell over much of the GOP caucus as the new Russia contacts surfaced this week. Some Republicans even joined the call for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to recuse himself from the investigations into Russian meddling.
But profiles in courage are still in short supply. And Republican leaders Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell appear to have bargained away their American souls in service of partisan gains. Despite the warning signs, they persist.
 So as we follow this thriller to what we all hope will be a swift and satisfying conclusion—or at least one that preserves our republic—keep in mind the wreckage that ensues while this ordeal tests the limits of our institutions. In some ways, our fate hinges on the competence, or lack thereof, of Trump and his henchmen.