Guest Post: Trump's Rally at Madison Square Garden

Déjà vu all over again

I am out on the road, traveling across the state of Montana for Get Out the Vote from now until Election Day. So I’m grateful to my friend Ellie, aka The Panicked Unpaid Writer, for letting me share her analysis of Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, and the dangerous, familiar rhetoric Trump’s campaign uses. Please subscribe to Ellie’s Substack for more work like this.

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"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from it." - Joseph Goebbels

I'm sure most of us got at least a taste of Donald Trump's rally at Madison Square Garden, which included a whole host of speakers railing against what they perceive to be "threats against democracy."  Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe described Puerto Rico (a U.S. territory) as a "floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean."  Republican politician David Rem referred to Kamala Harris as the "devil" and the "antichrist."  Radio Host Sid Rosenberg said, "You get homeless and veterans - Americans, Americans - sleeping on their own feces on a bench in Central Park.  But the fucking illegals, they get whatever they want, don't they?" and then "...out of character for me to speak at a Nazi rally."  Did he really say the quiet part out loud? 

But the rhetoric feels pretty familiar, I mean, if you read history.  I hope we all do.  But the concept of picking one, two, maybe three different minority groups and pitting them against us as the "enemy" is a little déjà vu.  In fact, in 1940 Joseph Goebbels, a German Nazi politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda wrote in his newspaper, Das Reich:

"Every Jew is our enemy in this historic struggle, regardless of whether he vegetates in a Polish ghetto or carries on his parasitic existence in Berlin or Hamburg or blows the trumpets of war in New York or Washington. All Jews by virtue of their birth and their race are part of an international conspiracy against National Socialist Germany. They want its defeat and annihilation, and do all in their power to bring it about. That they can do nothing inside the Reich is hardly a sign of their loyalty, rather of the appropriate measures we took against them."

What if we rewrote this to include a few of Donald Trump's comments from tonight's rally?  It might sound a little something like this:

"Every illegal immigrant is our enemy, the greatest enemy in American history, regardless of whether he lives in Springfield, Ohio, or steals your jobs in Arizona or Texas, or arrives with his violent gangs in Los Angeles or Aurora, Colorado.  All illegal immigrants by virtue of their birth and their race are part of an international conspiracy against the United States of America.  They want its defeat and annihilation, and do everything in their power to bring it about.  That they could not cross our borders during my administration is not a sign of their conscience, rather of the immigration crackdown against their invasion on American soil."

Trump declared that he would invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.  "Think of that. That's when they had law and order...think of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.  You hear that, Mr. Speaker?"  Now, I don't know about you, but invoking a 200-plus-year-old act is an immediate red flag for me.  We didn't exactly uphold equality and human rights in the late 18th Century.  Under the Alien Enemies Act a President can "authorize the arrest, relocation, or deportation of any male over the age of 14 who hailed from a foreign enemy country." [Wikipedia]  An example of this is FDR's removal of Japanese immigrants during World War II, imprisoning them in American internment camps under Executive Order 9066. 

James Madison also invoked the act against British nationals in the War of 1812.  However this act only refers to immigrants from "foreign enemy countries," not criminals themselves.  What Trump likely meant was the Alien Friends Act (also of 1789), which allowed Presidents to deport illegal immigrants involved in criminal activity deemed "dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States." [Wikipedia]  The problem is, the Alien Friends Act expired two years after it was enacted, Thomas Jefferson referring to it as "a most detestable thing...worthy of the 8th or 9th Century."

So that leaves the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a much more dangerous act that has never expired and allows for a President to deport even immigrant children if he or she deems their homeland to be an "enemy" of the United States.  Who decides which countries are our enemy?  Well, that would be good old DT.  So if Duck Duck Go says you're munching down on Grandma's new Shi Tzu, congratulations, you've just made it to the top of the list. 

We have 9 days left to decide this mess, 9 days left to forge a path for what could be the next 100 years in our country's history.  And I've had enough of people talking about "policy over character," because no one is paying attention to Donald Trump’s policies.  Banning sanctuary cities are his policies.  Why?  Because they don't allow deportation without a criminal history, thus making the Alien Enemies Act inapplicable.  His policies are "On day one I will launch the largest deportation program in American history...we're going to kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible."  His policies are 1000 children yet to be reunited with their parents, six years after attempting to cross the border into the U.S.  His policies are publicly floating the idea of extending presidential term limits, spinning the American people in an infinite loop, closer and closer to autocracy.

As of today most states have opened in-person early voting.  I ask you, nay, implore you to take the time to make your voice be heard.  Read, listen, look, pay attention and vote not because your friend, or family, or neighbor, or church community group votes one way or another, but because you know in your gut what is right, what is wrong, what is truth, and what is fiction.  Shut out the noise, and go to the polls.

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Onward, Democracy Defenders!