Mandates, Myths, and Manufactured Fear

With the current unrest in Los Angeles, most news reports have recently begun by implying in some way that Trump received a mandate to enact mass deportations.

First and foremost, that is patently untrue, starting with the fact that Trump did not receive a mandate; he did not win by a simple majority, but rather a plurality. To define a plurality as a mandate is a distortion of the language, a betrayal of democratic clarity, and a dishonest political strategy to falsely claim broad public endorsement.

Beyond that, Trump’s stated reason for mass deportation was supposed to be to “restore law and order,” and that he would only deport the most violent and dangerous criminals.
According to The Daily Beast, Stephen Miller explicitly ordered “ICE to conduct raids targeting undocumented day laborers at Home Depot parking lots” and stressed arresting all undocumented individuals, not just criminals, setting quotas of about 3,000 arrests per day and threatening to fire officials who didn’t comply.

This is not law and order. This is not a rational or targeted immigration policy. This is state-sanctioned fear, built on the false claims of public approval.

A true mandate requires not just electoral victory, but clarity of purpose and consensus of the people. Trump has none of these.


... I'm just saying

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