There once was a modicum of decency stitched into the threadbare pretense for those who couldn’t care less about the suffering of others. School shootings, political violence, natural disasters, and the like would be acknowledged with a downcast face and furrowed brow that indicated some semblance of a social norm expressing sorrow and regret. Thoughts and prayers have become cliched ‘safe words’, code for CYA. The words mock their intent. Their insincerity hurt more than silence.
Rene Good’s murder at the hands of an out-of-control ICE agent did not even spark that bit of faux sympathy within the administration. Instead of allowing an objective investigation of the facts surrounding the shooting, the administration has unleashed the FBI to investigate the victim. If this sounds unhinged, consider the reaction on the right to even the most obscure victim-blaming following the Charlie Kirk murder. Don’t bother yourselves with equivalence arguments because there are none. The Federal Government under Trump has gone full fascist— they have removed the “law” from law enforcement. There is, for example, no evidence of a warning before the ICE officer decides to shoot. No, “Stop, or I’ll shoot!” No warning shot. Not a moment of hesitation to consider alternatives that might de-escalate the situation. Just excessive force and a distressing disregard for human life.
It should not be lost on us in this situation that Good was a woman who, moments before the shooting, was in a conciliatory conversation with her killer. It included her trying to calm the situation and the ICE agent’s hateful response. This agent, hired and supposedly trained by Federal authorities before he was set loose on the streets of Minneapolis, fit a profile for this administration and its autocratic goons meant to send messages and not to serve and protect. The lack of empathy, the cruelty, and the inhumanity serve as a valued trait in lockstep with its equally inhumane president.
The past week has seen a progression in the administration’s autocratic bent. We are now hurtling toward a Pox Americana that threatens the world order, just as dangerous as the run-up to World War II. Venezuela, next Greenland, then Europe, is, by definition, the fever-dream of a madman. We once marshalled the free world to put an end to a fascist takeover. Now, we must marshal an electorate to end our homegrown lunatic.
There will come a time when this era in American history will be recorded and evaluated— when we will be judged as citizens. A slim majority of us voted for this with eyes wide open. The time has come for a reckoning for those who have supported this administration— both in Congress and at home. Those who chose to allow it to continue are either fools or accomplices.
