Donald Trump says he “won’t be extorted” by Democrats to reopen the government, making clear that he has no plans to negotiate as the government shutdown will soon enter its sixth week.
In an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired on Sunday, Trump said that Democrats who are demanding an extension in health care subsidies “have lost their way” and predicted that they will eventually capitulate to Republicans who have said they won’t negotiate until they vote to reopen the government.
“I think they have to,” Trump said. “And if they don’t vote, it’s their problem.”
Trump’s comments signal that the shutdown could continue to drag on for some time as federal workers, including air traffic controllers, are set to miss additional paychecks and as there is uncertainty over whether 42 million Americans who received federal food aid will be able to access the assistance. Senate Democrats have now voted 13 times against reopening the government, insisting that they need Trump and Republicans to negotiate with them first on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at the end of the year.
What resistance? Not joking. Countless of videos of people being kidnapped by men in unmarked military lookalike uniforms, while the double amount of people standing by; filming, not doing anything (filming is good, but helping a fellow human being that is being kidnapped in front of your eyes, is what you should do, we do not see that happening).
That would probably get you arrested at best, shot dead at worst. On the spot resistance means the beginnings of civil war. The only way you’re successfully stopping the literal kidnappings by ICE that are in progress is with armed resistance. And I say success with a beachload of salt. Because what happens next is probably a war the lay public cannot win.
The way people are resisting though, and it seems really quite inspiring that it’s lasted this long without an escalation (i.e. shooting), and that’s posting to social media that ICE are coming and where they are, and doing everything they can to disrupt ICE activities with protests and such, wearing silly costumes (which help to reduce anger toward those protesting).
I believe the only militaristic way out of this situation with any chance of “success” is that state leaders order their local militaries to insubordinate and refuse to carry out federal orders including refusing to assist ICE. In the event ICE fire on an American citizen they could even expel ICE, and set up state border control to deny access to any federal troops.
Hopefully, nobody wants to shoot each other and it doesn’t result in civil war, but this is the civil war local states have a chance of winning.
The only political solution is that the Republicans insubordinate against Trump, Vance, and everyone else who has clearly violated the constitution and the law. Impeach the lot of them and reassert the power of the house and congress over the executive branch, and the supreme court too. But… I don’t see even a hint of this possibility occurring.
It’d be a miracle if Trump capitulates to the democrats’ demands and they can’t fold now either or they lose all credibility.
So yeah, fuck me if I can predict how this escalates next. But the way I measure “success” is that this situation returns to some kind of normalcy without mass loss of innocent life.
Forgetting about the potential collateral damage of the current food stamps situation, and the hundreds of thousands of lives uprooted already by ICE… It’s also obvious the sociopathic right want to be rid of the externalities of the poor, or those who can’t or won’t work, and anyone who supports them.
They do of course need young people to work the shitty jobs though, and their own youth don’t want to do that work, so, that could be their undoing unless the war propaganda is successful and they succeed at motivating a new militarized working class. Don’t want to work in the factories? Off to bootcamp with you. Are you ready to become a citizen? I’m doing my part!