Not that we need a reminder of the irreducible connection between the U.S. domestic and foreign policy, but the Trump administration provides repeated examples, each more horrifying than the previous.
When you also consider the onslaught of agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security across the country, and the ceaseless attack on vessels in the Caribbean and sometimes on the Pacific Coast — an indisputable violation of human rights, the policies take on tragic proportions.
While the domestic militarization may be experiencing relative calm, the annihilation of presumed narco-traffickers continues, with an estimate of more than 80 people killed and some 20 boats destroyed. These numbers, as troubling as they are, could easily be eclipsed if the current 5,000 troops in the Caribbean theater, recently expanded by the arrival of the USS Gerald Ford, unleash their firepower. The only thing preventing such a calamitous outcome is the reluctance of the nations in the region to repel the advances — but all that is needed for Trump to step up a renewed version of manifest destiny is one military outburst of resistance.
Of course, as we know so well, Trump needs no provocation to impose his domination in this territory, or any other region of the globe. In the neighborhoods of America, we have witnessed the presence of what many are now calling the “Department of Deportation,” which gels perfectly, if ignominiously, with a “Department of War,” presently deemed the Department of Defense.
Caught in the calipers of this desperation is what many once called democracy. How terrible it is to speak of this dream in the past tense.