(politicsusa46.substack.com)
Don’t anyone try to tell me that this profound haunting image by the photographer PHILIP HOLSINGER is not reminiscent of the treatment of new arrivals at Auschwitz in 1941. The look on this man’s face, a man with no criminal record, is one of a broken human being. It’s hard to even begin to articulate the sense of helpless resignation etched on his face. All for a MAGA propaganda moment.
There is no economic or intellectual case to be made for mass deportation in the US. I don’t intend to repeat the facts that led to this conclusion; you can find them in my three-part series on economic slavery and its central role in the American economy. The whole mass deportation strategy is merely a dogwhistle to the underbelly of racism that has bubbled beneath the surface of society throughout the American experiment. Right-wing populism has always thrived in low education, low-income segments of the population, and parts of society seeking relief from lives blighted by the perception that they have been left behind.
Where populism gets distorted is when opportunism is mistaken for populism. What we see is that struggling families are far more susceptible to propaganda because what it aims to achieve is to sell the illusion that were it not for the ‘other’, be it black, brown or asian, there would be no barrier to social mobility. In a society where 54% of the population has a literacy level at or below the 6th-grade level, propaganda finds fertile ground in which to incubate. In 2025, however, it flourishes like never before, driven by the digital fertiliser that is social media and the rise of ‘alternative facts’ and ‘designer political truth narcotics’.
Trump’s rise to power will be studied for generations to come, hopefully to learn how to guard against malign actors ever being able to be elected to power again. The romantic idea that a constitution written in 1787 is a document fit for purpose in 2025 is, I fear, nothing more than misguided wishful thinking. It has, as with most historical texts, fallen victim to that dreaded word ‘interpretation’, primarily driven by political ideology. As a foundational document, it is nothing short of remarkable. It is unquestionably intended to provide a lasting framework for building a just and equitable society.
The only thing it did not account for is human nature and a corrupted Supreme Court in the service of a malign executive. This was never what the founding fathers intended, having lived under a British monarch. We can talk about how we got here all day, but it won’t change a thing. What we are seeing is the results of political actors operating outside of long-established norms and rules of engagement. They always say money is the root of all evil, and there is no better example than US politics. Once you allow money to become speech, you are forced into damage limitation because the chances of putting the genie back into the bottle are close to zero.
There’s no question that the majority of American people are rejecting the actions of this corrupt regime. Trump’s favourability rating remains at historic lows compared to other modern-day presidents. As noted by Kinsey Crowley and Kathryn Palmer in USA Today News:
A new two-week poll from Gallup released on Dec. 22 shows Trump's approval rating for the last month of the year is weak, standing at 36%, though it's buoyed by a strong 89% level of support among Republicans.
The report continues:
A historical analysis by Gallup shows Trump's approval ratings in December of his first years in office − both as the 45th and 47th presidents − are lower than any other modern president at the same time in their administrations.
This really tells the story of how, despite what those capable of critical thought can see, Republican devotees refuse to accept what their own lying eyes are telling them. The crucial number in this poll relates to independents, with whom he is at just 25%. Truth is, despite the loud MAGA narrative, Americans do not naturally lean into cruel, racial and social persecution. The problem for Democrats is that their failure to pay attention to an ever-growing number of illegal border crossings has persistently handed Republicans the ability to weaponise immigration against them.
I believe Trump’s behaviour has been abhorrent when it comes to the treatment of immigrants, and I condone none of it. However, it has halted the surge in border apprehensions, which are reported to be 93% lower than in 2024. Those apprehended are no longer being released into the US pending the processing of asylum claims. The change of administration and the high-profile mass deportation campaign have unquestionably affected the numbers of those attempting to cross the border illegally. It’s difficult to assess the economic impact of raising the drawbridge because it will take time to determine the extent of any damage.
Had Trump been satisfied with simply sealing the border and adopting a more structured approach to deportation, there is little doubt in my mind that he would be facing one fewer political problem right now, and the polling numbers would look very different. I suspect his favorability ratings among independents would be much higher.
The primary problem Trump faces is that his administration is cowardly. They know that what they are doing by abducting people from the streets using an army of masked thugs is unpalatable to many Americans. Still, it serves as a deterrent for those thinking of trying to cross the border illegally, while also providing a dopamine hit for the bigots and racists who helped get Trump elected. They can’t escape the optics of ICE, but what they can do is control the narrative more tightly when it comes to detention centres. They may now have failed to sell the false narrative, painting all those detained as “the worst of the worst”. What they can do, however, is work hard to ensure that any ill treatment is well out of public view. This way, they can freely indulge in their racist and misogynistic abuse, with little public scrutiny.
The problem occurs when they start deporting victims of their abuse to overseas prisons like CECOT. It’s this that begins to resemble Nazi Germany. They have learned the lessons of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal by creating an environment to send a deterrent message, in the knowledge of having plausible deniability when it comes to torture and abuse. The only problem with this is that international journalists can do in El Salvador what they can no longer easily do in the US in terms of investigative reporting. Take a moment to think about that. It’s a real indictment of the lack of transparency when it comes to US detention centres, leading to what is slowly becoming state-controlled media, the likes of which are enjoyed by Trump’s buddy Putin in Russia.
When around 240 Venezuelan immigrants were rendered to CECOT in March 2025, the administration did this without any of the detainees having a trial or due process. Democracy Now reported on 26th November 2025 that:
‘The Justice Department has admitted that it was Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who made the decision to deport a group of Venezuelan men to the notorious CECOT mega-prison complex in El Salvador, ignoring a judge’s order to keep them in custody in the United States.’
This was just one among many examples of the administration ignoring the orders of the court, despite only 16% of those deported having any criminal record. The US Secretary of Homeland Security, by her actions, became complicit in the torture and sexual assault of many of those deported. This is, of course, a crime for which she must be held accountable once this tyranny is over. If you want to take a deeper dive into the injustice of the actions taken by DHS, this piece by PBS in association with ProPublica gives you a better insight into what 60 Minutes was reporting
I would also recommend this linked piece by Human Rights Watch, published on November 12th 2025, entitled: “You Have Arrived in Hell”, Torture and Other Abuses Against Venezuelans in El Salvador’s Mega Prison.
“The nightmare began the moment they took me off the plane.”—Gonzalo Y., a 26-year-old from Zulia State, Venezuela, July 31, 2025
In addition a piece by David J. Bier for the CATO institute published on December 23rd 2025, noted:
Only 16 percent of CECOT deportees had any US criminal convictions of any kind, based on DHS data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by the Deportation Data Project, a collaboration of UC Berkeley Law School and the UCLA School of Law’s Center for Immigration Law and Policy. Moreover, just 4 percent (nine people) had a conviction for a violent crime. Property crimes accounted for only 2 percent of the total. According to Human Rights Watch, which analyzed the same data, DHS’s data left out some Venezuelans sent to CECOT.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who reported on the CECOT segment pulled by CBS, rightly criticised the decision to prevent its broadcast, saying “Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices.” She was absolutely correct when she went on to say, “[The segment] is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision; it is a political one.”
Every road leads back to government control of media, which is why, in this moment, independent media has never been so important. If you would like to view the original CBS segment as it appeared in Canada, click here. (with thanks to Blue Georgia for uploading the video). We MUST push back on all attempts to hide the truth, because this administration has turned lying to the American people into an art form. From lying about who pays the tariffs to the actual value of inward investment. The whole narrative is a fairytale.
These are cowards who are gleefully persecuting immigrants and ANYONE who stands in the way of their crusade to reimagine America as a white theocratic autocracy. On the eve of when Christians around the world celebrate the birth of Jesus, I’ll leave you to watch my thoughts on the story so far. For those who celebrate Christmas, let me wish you all the best, and hope you are lucky enough to be able to spend time with those you love, as I will be.
I’m taking a couple of days rest because I’m operating on fumes right now. I’ll conclude by saying a big thank you for your support this year, I could not do what I do without your help.