The Calculus of Fear

As of this writing the  infamous Presidential executive order banning entry into the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries has yet to get a final judicial ruling. But whether it succeeds or fails, its main purpose will have been achieved: to instill fear in those deemed undesirable by Trump, Bannon, & Co.

From that perspective, it’s all the worse if the ban is eventually determined to be constitutional. You can do more than just scare helpless undesirables, you can lawfully inflict pain on them. The undesirables could be any group—Muslims, Mexicans, Arabs, etc.—for which you can find some pretext to justify barring them from entry, throwing them out, or jailing them.

Much was made by Republicans that it was only a “temporary” ban. But of course once you have a “temporary” ban, what’s to keep it from being extended in the name of national security? The point is not about temporariness or permanence, the point is about power and intimidation.

This weekend’s unannounced raids on immigrants  in six states also appeared calculated to sow fear rather than to protect the public against  dangerous criminals. Certainly, dangerous criminals were swept up in the raids, but others were either not criminal, or were nonviolent offenders. Such was the case for Guadalupe Garcia del Rayos in Phoenix, who was arrested and deported after having annual report to ICE agents. Her crime was criminal impersonation by using a fake social security number, technically a felony. She had been warned by the ICE that she might be deported, although she had lived in the U.S. for twenty-plus years.

On Garcia del Rayos, see http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/09/us/arizona-guadalupe-garcia-de-rayos-deported/

The Trump administration is sowing fear on both sides of the nativist divide. They frighten ordinary Americans by exaggerating the threat of terrorism from outside infiltrators; they punish illegal immigrants by  arresting and deporting hundreds of people whether or not the deportees are dangerous criminals, and whether or not they have families in the U.S..  They frighten refugees who are fleeing terror in their own countries by shutting them out. They frighten those outside the U.S. who may not be able to visit friends and relatives here, and conversely those legal permanent resident aliens here who fear their friends and relatives may not be able to enter the country to visit.

For African-Americans, amped-up intimidation has a familiar face, going by the name of Law and Order. Trump never apologized for his very public insistence on the death penalty for the Central Park Five after their exoneration by DNA evidence and a confession by the original perpetrator of the crime. Instead, he turned his guns on the City of New York for agreeing to a multi-million dollar settlement with the wrongfully incarcerated. The Trump version of Law and Order is callous and punitive toward the disadvantaged; it simply reflects his contempt for the less powerful. The Trump version of Law and Order, in fact, if carried to his full satisfaction, would amount to nothing less than a police state.

To these specific fears, we can add the generalized anxiety that many Americans feel, from seeing that the President is emotionally unstable and unpredictable, and his attitude toward foreign states and foreign leaders could turn on a dime. It’s not just that the President has immediate access to the nuclear codes. It’s that he might not have much compunction about starting a massive conventional war if he felt disrespected  or insulted by some leader, nation, or faction. Iran is the most probable flash point, since he thinks the Iranians hoodwinked Obama into the “disastrous” nuclear deal, and he wants to give them a hard kick to show them Who’s Boss.