On a totally separate note, I bemusedly read Yarvin, AKA "Mencius Moldbug," for a time maybe fifteen years ago or so. He was what I would call "usefully wrong," in that he challenges your views and makes you defend them. He was most cogent when describing the current power structure of the American ideological hegemony, which I know is a preoccupation of Elon "Mind Virus" Musk.
(I might be weird in that I seek out the heterodox—Trotsky, Graeber, etc. If I can't identify why my views are superior to theirs, it means I have homework to do.)
I like Graeber and need to read more of him - that Bullshit Jobs one has grabbed my attention before and I need to get to. I also have his book on the origins of civilization. The anarchists are generally much more interesting and thoughtful (though of course often wrong) than the authoritarians it seems.
Something I've never gotten a clear answer about from everyone who claims they just want immigrants to do it "the right way":
As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong), hiring a coyote to smuggle your family across the border can run anywhere from $1k-$10k per person. People who go that route often have to empty their life savings for a dangerous crossing with no guarantee they'll even survive.
If it's that difficult and expensive to do it the illegal way, how much more difficult must it be to go through the legal process, which (again, correct me if I'm wrong) includes a years-long vetting process for not only the people actually trying to enter, but everyone they've had even the briefest contact with in their lives (okay, that last part is a slight exaggeration, but you get my point)?
Further, how can we seriously expect people fleeing crime, oppression, economic collapse and other dangers to life and limb to just stay put while going through this process, which might end with them being denied entry if someone in their child's third-grade class has a relative in a gang, with no refund on the time and money they've already spent jumping through flaming hoops suspended over shark tanks?
I've come to the conclusion at this point that right-wing immigration restrictionism is really just an expression of white supremacy. They don't want more brown people in the country. "Make America Great Again" actually means "Make America White Again."
I mean this as an honest question: supposing that the United States decided to enforce its existing laws about illegal entry and to expel illegals, not out of racial animus but purely for economic reasons or to promote the rule of law, and then implemented measures to do so—what would those measures look like, and what would be the practical differences between that and what we see today?
In other words, what aspects of what we see today are best explainable by racial animus?
****
So as not to be coy or hide behind feigned-neutrality "just asking questions," here is what I believe:
1. Trump himself is not a racist in any functional sense, but is willing to dog-whistle to racists for their electoral support. But he has zero loyalty to them (or to anyone else). (Recall how disappointed the racists were by his first term.)
2. Illegal immigrants are presently counted in the Census, which directly increases the power of the Democratic Party through its effects on redistricting. The converse is also true.
4. While racists are going to racist, the main reasons that much of the Republican Party supports tighter enforcement are economic and partisan, per the above.
5. The most objectionable parts of the current enforcement push, particularly "Alligator Alcatraz," are deliberately designed to scare illegals into leaving by themselves—which is much cheaper and less traumatic than roundups.
Edited to add: Also, even if one believes that alt-right racism is an ascendent force, we cannot allow ourselves to forget about the rise in racism on the left—particularly of the antisemitic variety. That might reduce us to "a pox on both your houses," but that would be better than uncritically throwing support to a party increasingly infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and its adherents.
The cruelty. The cruelty is what's explained by racial animus.
There's a way to put people up in, like, a Days Inn or a Best Western, where they have light and dark and food and water, where it's reasonably clean (I still wouldn't use the kettle 😅) and they maintain a shred of human dignity.
Typically when someone is found to be here illegally, but they haven't done anything here to create a criminal record or legal trouble, it's treated as a misdemeanor and there's no jail time. (That means right-wing douchebros who have ever been too rowdy leaving the bar and gotten dinged for public intox, or who forgot to renew their licenses and get dinged running a necessary errand before the new one arrives, etc., are the exact same kind of heinous criminals as someone who enters the country without authorization.)
So what *is* done is to put those people into an ISAP, or Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, whereby they have to check in locally every six months or so while an actual, legal visa application is begun for them. They get to live and work legally, but without the built-in path to the green card.
I consider it racist and bad and just ... utterly evil that so many folks have been kidnapped (not "arrested," as it's not legitimate) while they're at the courthouse, checking in, upholding their end of the deal.
When non-citizens are following the law more closely and with more care than an entity of the government, we've got big trouble.
He and I also have something important in common. We were both David Horowitz protégés groomed to become his operatives. Miller stayed on the train for 20 years and it took him into a position into the Oval Office where he could begin constructing a network of concentration camps in America. (Gee, what’s going to happen as arrests keep rising but the rates that immigrants can be processed through the courts doesn’t increase along with it?)
Meanwhile, I got off the train after 3 years, and here I am now out in the desert, publishing provocative things, supporting authors I care about, talking to spirits, and about to be married to the most amazing woman @Sally Shideler.
So there’s a bit of a “paths not taken” mentality here and also a knowledge of what the Horowitzian spirit unchained really means—and that is what Miller is now.
The policy question of whether or not many more illegal immigrants should be deported is not the real question. The practical question is. How exactly could a “mass deportation” be done in a way that does not turn into a human rights atrocity?
And I’ve never seen a real answer to that question because there isn’t one.
The only way to do this is the way they are trying to do it - by building concentration camps where people are going to suffer and die for what qualifies as a misdemeanor. By using terror to try and scare people into “self-deporting.” This isn’t what America is supposed to be.
Trump will either have to gain some morals or he'll be like in Hannah Arendt's book Eichmann in Jerusalem. Of course Trump isn't a doctrinaire Nazi. I used to laugh whenever people called Trump a Nazi. Now I don't assume he is but I withhold judgment. He's a narcissist and being a narcissist will lead you to be a Nazi if you don't stop it. If he doesn't get some principles he'll be led around by Nazis. Kamala was funded by Peter Thiel too so I don't think she was necessarily any better. America might just be doomed for geography-related reasons.
On a totally separate note, I bemusedly read Yarvin, AKA "Mencius Moldbug," for a time maybe fifteen years ago or so. He was what I would call "usefully wrong," in that he challenges your views and makes you defend them. He was most cogent when describing the current power structure of the American ideological hegemony, which I know is a preoccupation of Elon "Mind Virus" Musk.
(I might be weird in that I seek out the heterodox—Trotsky, Graeber, etc. If I can't identify why my views are superior to theirs, it means I have homework to do.)
I like Graeber and need to read more of him - that Bullshit Jobs one has grabbed my attention before and I need to get to. I also have his book on the origins of civilization. The anarchists are generally much more interesting and thoughtful (though of course often wrong) than the authoritarians it seems.
Indeed! I would also commend to your attention James C. Scott, particularly "The Art of Not Being Governed."
Something I've never gotten a clear answer about from everyone who claims they just want immigrants to do it "the right way":
As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong), hiring a coyote to smuggle your family across the border can run anywhere from $1k-$10k per person. People who go that route often have to empty their life savings for a dangerous crossing with no guarantee they'll even survive.
If it's that difficult and expensive to do it the illegal way, how much more difficult must it be to go through the legal process, which (again, correct me if I'm wrong) includes a years-long vetting process for not only the people actually trying to enter, but everyone they've had even the briefest contact with in their lives (okay, that last part is a slight exaggeration, but you get my point)?
Further, how can we seriously expect people fleeing crime, oppression, economic collapse and other dangers to life and limb to just stay put while going through this process, which might end with them being denied entry if someone in their child's third-grade class has a relative in a gang, with no refund on the time and money they've already spent jumping through flaming hoops suspended over shark tanks?
I've come to the conclusion at this point that right-wing immigration restrictionism is really just an expression of white supremacy. They don't want more brown people in the country. "Make America Great Again" actually means "Make America White Again."
I mean this as an honest question: supposing that the United States decided to enforce its existing laws about illegal entry and to expel illegals, not out of racial animus but purely for economic reasons or to promote the rule of law, and then implemented measures to do so—what would those measures look like, and what would be the practical differences between that and what we see today?
In other words, what aspects of what we see today are best explainable by racial animus?
****
So as not to be coy or hide behind feigned-neutrality "just asking questions," here is what I believe:
1. Trump himself is not a racist in any functional sense, but is willing to dog-whistle to racists for their electoral support. But he has zero loyalty to them (or to anyone else). (Recall how disappointed the racists were by his first term.)
2. Illegal immigrants are presently counted in the Census, which directly increases the power of the Democratic Party through its effects on redistricting. The converse is also true.
3. Illegal immigration depresses the employment of the poorest segments of American society, and the current enforcement push is associated with significant increases in native-born employment. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-trump-is-starting-shape-job-market-2025-07-03/
4. While racists are going to racist, the main reasons that much of the Republican Party supports tighter enforcement are economic and partisan, per the above.
5. The most objectionable parts of the current enforcement push, particularly "Alligator Alcatraz," are deliberately designed to scare illegals into leaving by themselves—which is much cheaper and less traumatic than roundups.
Edited to add: Also, even if one believes that alt-right racism is an ascendent force, we cannot allow ourselves to forget about the rise in racism on the left—particularly of the antisemitic variety. That might reduce us to "a pox on both your houses," but that would be better than uncritically throwing support to a party increasingly infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and its adherents.
And I do take a “pox on both their houses” position - advocating for an independent affiliation rather than aligning with either party.
The cruelty. The cruelty is what's explained by racial animus.
There's a way to put people up in, like, a Days Inn or a Best Western, where they have light and dark and food and water, where it's reasonably clean (I still wouldn't use the kettle 😅) and they maintain a shred of human dignity.
Typically when someone is found to be here illegally, but they haven't done anything here to create a criminal record or legal trouble, it's treated as a misdemeanor and there's no jail time. (That means right-wing douchebros who have ever been too rowdy leaving the bar and gotten dinged for public intox, or who forgot to renew their licenses and get dinged running a necessary errand before the new one arrives, etc., are the exact same kind of heinous criminals as someone who enters the country without authorization.)
So what *is* done is to put those people into an ISAP, or Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, whereby they have to check in locally every six months or so while an actual, legal visa application is begun for them. They get to live and work legally, but without the built-in path to the green card.
I consider it racist and bad and just ... utterly evil that so many folks have been kidnapped (not "arrested," as it's not legitimate) while they're at the courthouse, checking in, upholding their end of the deal.
When non-citizens are following the law more closely and with more care than an entity of the government, we've got big trouble.
There is a 2 word answer to all this: Stephen Miller
Acknowledged. He is a bit of a toad, isn't he?
He and I also have something important in common. We were both David Horowitz protégés groomed to become his operatives. Miller stayed on the train for 20 years and it took him into a position into the Oval Office where he could begin constructing a network of concentration camps in America. (Gee, what’s going to happen as arrests keep rising but the rates that immigrants can be processed through the courts doesn’t increase along with it?)
Meanwhile, I got off the train after 3 years, and here I am now out in the desert, publishing provocative things, supporting authors I care about, talking to spirits, and about to be married to the most amazing woman @Sally Shideler.
So there’s a bit of a “paths not taken” mentality here and also a knowledge of what the Horowitzian spirit unchained really means—and that is what Miller is now.
The policy question of whether or not many more illegal immigrants should be deported is not the real question. The practical question is. How exactly could a “mass deportation” be done in a way that does not turn into a human rights atrocity?
And I’ve never seen a real answer to that question because there isn’t one.
The only way to do this is the way they are trying to do it - by building concentration camps where people are going to suffer and die for what qualifies as a misdemeanor. By using terror to try and scare people into “self-deporting.” This isn’t what America is supposed to be.
Trump will either have to gain some morals or he'll be like in Hannah Arendt's book Eichmann in Jerusalem. Of course Trump isn't a doctrinaire Nazi. I used to laugh whenever people called Trump a Nazi. Now I don't assume he is but I withhold judgment. He's a narcissist and being a narcissist will lead you to be a Nazi if you don't stop it. If he doesn't get some principles he'll be led around by Nazis. Kamala was funded by Peter Thiel too so I don't think she was necessarily any better. America might just be doomed for geography-related reasons.
They are building concentration camps.