There’s nothing quite like waking up to a steaming-hot mug of lies, racism and violence-inciting rhetoric from the president of the United States—but then again, welcome to 2018. Donald Trump can’t quite keep California off his mind, a state that has been working to put up a blue wall against his mass deportation policies, and a state that he lost by over four million votes to Hillary Clinton:
What the liar in chief is referring to here is San Diego County’s Republican-controlled Board of Supervisors taking a “largely symbolic” vote to back the administration’s politically motivated lawsuit against the state’s so-called “sanctuary state” law. Orange County’s Board of Supervisors, also Republican-controlled, made a similar move last month. Not exactly “soooo many” in a state where he lost in 61 to 31, but whatever.
Of course, so-called “sanctuary city” policies don’t encourage crime—they do quite the opposite. “Crime rates in CA decreased from 2010 to 2016,” Congressman Ted Lieu tweeted. We know this, Trump probably doesn’t, nor does he care. What he’s interested is whipping up hysteria, and anti-immigrant and extremists groups—already prone to violence—are energized by his National Guard stunt. “We should exercise our second amendment rights and meet them at the border, guns in hand,” according to a member of hate group Stormfront. So when Trump talks “revolution,” it’s clear who he’s talking to.
And it’s clear what he’s talking about when he uses “crime infested” and “breeding” language—this is how you dehumanize people. This is how you turn them into animals, and make it easier for racist supporters to verbally and physically attack them, and for the government to chip away at their rights, to lock them up and to eventually deport them and their families. This isn’t a dogwhistle, it’s a bullhorn.