People from all corners lately have denounced Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and others in the GOP who have signed onto this sudden practice of shipping asylum seekers to sanctuary cities. These critics rightly have condemned the deceptive movements as cruel. Jonathan Capehart said on The Sunday Show today that the cruelty may have been the point. Indeed, many people have said that about conservatives in general, especially the past 5-7 years.
But the moving of these people like game pieces struck me right away, and I at this far remove felt the dehumanization inherent.
“When we got on the plane, they told us they would give us jobs, a place to live, everything,” Dela Hoz said through a translator. “The whole group is pretty upset. But they did take us to a nice place.”
"I simply feel misled because they told a lie and it has come to nothing," Pedro Luis Torrelaba, 36, said Friday.1
Who is this audience for such a “stunt”? (It’s worse than a stunt, but that’s how it’s being described in the press.) It’s not us, the ones who are outraged. It’s not independents who might currently be on the fence in the wake of the January 6 committee hearings and Trump stolen-document investigation—if anything, these scenes will drive those independents away from the GOP at this time. It smacks of opportunism (perhaps, as Mayor Eric Adams said on Capehart’s show, conservatives want to change the topic from their wrenching away of fundamental rights from women and others). It’s a repellant situation to watch.
So who is the audience? The base itself. MAGA eats this up. Why?
Because it’s a clear demonstration of raw power. Ability, execution: these are on display.
These governors and their allies have the ability to pick human beings up bodily and put them in another geographic location. That it’s done with deception can be explained away as part of the game: all’s fair in love and war.
The fact that the movements have angered and appalled liberals is only icing on the cake for MAGA folks. That’s gravy. What they really want—the meat underneath—is the exhibition of power.
Flex flex flex flex.
Conservatives conflate dominion (i.e., a belief in a birthright of stewardship over the earth) with domination, which is a complete and forceful eclipsing of another person. In this way, some believe that dominating others is holy, that it perfects them.
To see “their guys” bully someone clear across the country excites and thrills them. The power to have a divine hand come down and pluck an Other between thumb and forefinger out of their communities, their enclaves, is an awesome power that they wish they had themselves.
1 USA Today, September 17, 2022.