From fascism-lite to the full-bodied brew
How desperate are Republicans to distract voters from the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the GOP’s proposed national abortion ban, extremist threats to democracy, and criminality by Donald Trump and his Jan. 6 co-coup-plotters?
Pretty desperate. The cruelty of it is just a bonus for them. Republican governors Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas are shipping human beings across the country as pawns in a political stunt aimed at changing the subject. They have no qualms about dehumanizing foreign migrants at their (lack of ) mercy. DeSantis and Abbott used planes and busses instead of railcars, at least for these “shipments,” in an attempt to change the national dialogue from the GOP’s fascism-lite to brown-skinned asylum seekers.
The tactic has been used before (1963), notes the JFK Library Foundation.
Republican Govs. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Greg Abbott of Texas are turning migrants into political pawns — quite literally — by moving them to liberal areas to try making a point about border security. DeSantis on Wednesday flew dozens of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, while Abbott on Thursday announced that he had bused yet more of them to the vice-presidential residence in Washington.
Amid claims that some of those migrants might not have participated willingly or might have been misled, critics are raising questions about the legality of these efforts, likening them to human trafficking.
Abbott shipped other migrants to Chicago on Wednesday. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) indicated that state and local authorities were looking into whether Abbott’s actions could involve “criminal liability.”
“Victims of kidnapping”
Progressive messaging expert Anat Shenker-Osorio drew the obvious parallel Thursday evening:
Rachel Self, a Martha’s Vineyard attorney, “issued a statement saying that she is looking at potential legal avenues after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took credit for sending the 50 people to Martha’s Vineyard on two planes.”
“We believe they are victims of kidnapping,” Self declared, “and the perpetrators of this breathtakingly cruel political stunt should know that it may well result in every individual who was induced onto those planes by fraud becoming eligible for a U visa” that protects them from deportation.
The fish rots from the head. One obvious conclusion from these governors’ stunts is Republicans feel no laws can touch them. Donald Trump spent his entire life evading the law, dodging taxes, and litigating people he cheated until they gave up trying to get justice. He survived two impeachments and drew no obstruction charges from the Mueller investigation. He’s accelerated the rot in his party.
Trump and his MAGA cult now see the law not as a tool for seeking justice — certainly not equal justice — but for punishing political adversaries and for evading accountability themselves. Until justice finds, the slide towards fascism in this country will continue. DeSantis and Abbott just demonstrated they don’t care whose bodies they use or abuse along the way.
It’s a short walk from fascism-lite to the full-bodied brew. Perhaps a single election.
UPDATE: A longer video of Rachel Self. DeSantis is a sadistic monster.
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