Trump's War

First They Came for Home Depot

“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested,” an official told the newspaper. Miller, the official said, asked, “Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?”

—Washington Post

Well, here we go. We are heading into what may be an important week in the life of the Republic—or not. There is the situation in Los Angeles and another potential situation in Washington, when Trump has his military birthday parade on Saturday. It has been widely noted that California is the fight Trump wants. It is. But why are Democrats giving it to him? There are some good reasons, and we should give them respect before dismissing them:

1. Trump’s immigration policy is brutal and foolish. An attempted raid at Home Depot? A successful raid in the L.A. fashion district? Trump is going after people who may be here illegally, but also provide great value to our society. They are hard-working, tax-paying, law-abiding (except for being here) non-citizens. We need more of them.

2. Then they came after the Janitors’ Union. Trump is using a chainsaw, like Musk, casting a ridiculously wide and irresponsible net, going after responsible labor leaders and government officials. Including David Huerta, a beloved leader of SEIU—the service employees union, which includes the janitors’ union—who was beaten and arrested during a non-violent protest in Los Angeles. There is no reason for that, only bile and spite. Huerta’s union, SEIU, is mostly about low-income workers, like janitors, who deserve representation and all the help they can get. That should be a moral imperative.

3. This may be a popular issue for Dems, especially in California:

Recent polling from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that 7 in 10 Californians see immigrants as “a benefit to California because of their hard work and job skills.” That’s up dramatically since February 2024 — probably in part because of a backlash against Trump administration policies.

4. Some would argue, with historical precedent, Trump’s military deployment on American ground is yet another step in his attempt to curtail democracy. “We are going to have troops everywhere,” Trump said on Sunday, a quote to send shivers up the spine. If it is not time to stand up now, when will that time come? You may not be able to micromanage a mass opposition. You let it happen. At least, that’s the left’s argument.

On the other hand

1. Violent protesters waving Mexican flags and setting Waymo taxis on fire are exactly—I mean, precisely—the people Trump wants to have rioting in the streets. They confirm his theory of the case. Their violence gives Trump an excuse to overreact and put troops in the streets. This is the bright line: martial law gives Trump an excuse to move toward authoritarianism. I have no sympathy for people throwing chunks of concrete or Molotov cocktails at the police. The use of tear gas against such people is not an overreaction. The arrest of such people is a necessity. Even the nonviolent versions of these protests will fail until American flags far outnumber Mexican ones. I haven’t seen a single American flag in the clips shown on TV. That is not just disgraceful, it is very stupid.

2. Immigrants, legal or otherwise, may be popular in California, but nationally this is Trump’s strongest issue…and many of them are here, well, illegally. You can’t be for “due process,” as most Democrats are and everyone should be, and against the rule of law. The illegals are violating the rule of law.

3. This is a classic case of misdirection. Trump’s other policies are failing. Prices are about to rise on a wave of tariff stupidity. Activity at the port of Los Angeles was down 35% in the month of May. Fewer goods mean higher prices. Overseas, Trump is showing weakness in Ukraine, the Iran negotiations, the Chinese negotiations, the inability to influence Netanyahu. Those are things Trump doesn’t want you paying attention to. When we focus on what have been small demonstrations, so far, in California, Trump wins.

4. Democrats yet again find themselves in support of an unpopular cause—in favor of the appearance of anarchy. This is not the way to claw back toward credibility as a party.

5. This is so easy, so obvious for Donald: He wants this. He wins.

And so, where does Sanity lie?

Arrgh. My heart is with the immigrants who are being rounded up…and with the hymn-singing interfaith groups protesting peacefully at the plaza downtown—but against the anarchists who are causing mayhem in the streets. My head says this is not the time to confront Trump—that will come soon enough, when the various policy travesties he has promulgated take their toll. Furthermore, I remain convinced that you can’t beat something, even a very terrible something, with nothing: Where is the Democratic alternative to Trump’s authoritarian shift? Good politics would dictate a campaign to support the Republican immigration bill—negotiated by Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma—that Trump trashed last year. Yes, it’s flawed. Yes, we need a lot more legal immigrants, especially skilled ones. Yes, we need a seasonal migrant system. And yes, we need to lure a lot more students to U.S. colleges (while culling those who might be here for ulterior motives). A campaign for passage of the Lankford bill—by a bipartisan coalition, including a few courageous Republicans—may be the place to start.

Do such Republicans exist? The Dems don’t need more than a handful to create a Congressional majority. And here’s one: Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who rightly opposed Biden’s lax ways on the border…and who rightly opposes Trump’s lax ways with Putin. Bacon is a former Air Force general. He was the only Republican to vote against the bill to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico. “I thought it was dumb,” he said. He is an honorable man. He is talking retirement; he shouldn’t.

There are other sane voices from the heartland. Admiral William McRaven is one:

“Mr. Trump has no self-control. These are things a disturbed 15-year-old boy would do, not the commander in chief, not the man who holds the nuclear codes, not the leader of the free world.”

Retired General Mark Hertling is another. Recently, he spoke against Trump’s May Day in Red Square birthday extravaganza, his parade in Washington this coming weekend:

"A lot of countries have histories of longtime military conquest and the power and strength of the military supporting the government, but since our inception that has not been who we are... to say we’re going to strut our stuff with tanks and rocket launchers and things like that, is just not a good representation of what the military does in a democratic nation.”

In the past Retired General Jim Mattis said he’d rather “swallow acid” than watch the parade. And Retired General—and former CIA Director—Mike Hayden said, elegantly, that Trump’s parade is “not our style.”

I made a mistake a few months ago when I posited that the Silicon Valley wing of the MAGA movement would win out over the January 6 populistas. Elon Musk had beaten Steve Bannon. Trump had given the pops what they wanted—a closed border and the end of DEI programs—and he seemed prepared to give over the substance of his administration to the DOGEy, low tax, regulation-hating libertarian Billionaire Bros. But, four months later, the Bannon wing—including, especially, the hateful Stephen Miller scion of unwanted Jewish immigrants, rules.

And, it turns out, Trump still has much more to give the Bannon Wing and the haters. ICE raids and martial law, for example. The fantasy of a Made in America industrial revival. A Red Square parade in Washington. And yes, a TACO foreign policy: Ukraine, Taiwan—who cares? Trump seems preoccupied with Scalding America First, especially his enemies—real and imagined..

It is an enduring irony that some of the most effective voices against Trump’s fake-militarism are military people like those I’ve mentioned above. It won’t be until they are the ones leading the national protests—along with farmers and sales clerks and small businesspeople and religious leaders—that Trump will be damaged. Until then, every Mexican flag waved, every chunk of concrete and Molotov tossed is a weapon he can use against democracy.

Right now, profoundly wrong as he is, Trump is winning.