Ms. Rachel's Viral Call with Deiver

Children's educator Ms. Rachel, boasting 19.2 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 5 million Instagram followers, shared a video last week of her call with 9-year-old Deiver Henao at Dilley. His family was detained during an El Paso check-in.[4][1]

Deiver expressed missing friends and school, stomach pain from food, and a desire to attend a spelling bee, saying "nothing's good here" and "I wanna go."[1][4]

DHS Restricts Community Video Calls

On March 18, 2026, DHS banned video calls in Dilley's community areas, citing live streams that shared "law enforcement sensitive information," undermined security, and triggered false emergencies diverting resources.[4][1]

Private room calls persist, alongside phones and visits, but access details remain vague, limiting families' outreach to lawyers and media.[1]

ProPublica Exposes Letters and Raids

ProPublica's February 2026 investigation featured children's letters and drawings from Dilley, detailing sadness, depression, poor food/water, and extended detention beyond the Flores agreement's 20-day limit.[3][12]

Examples include 7-year-old Mia wanting school after 70 days and 12-year-old Ender sick from water after 60 days; over 300 kids held over a month.[12]

Guards then raided cells, destroying artwork, seizing crayons—even non-protest items—after publicity and a House hearing; DHS limited it to "protest-related" materials.[11][13]

Ongoing Conditions and Legal Battles

Reports cite self-harm, suicidal ideation, contaminated food, algae-filled water, constant lights, minimal education, and 1,000+ medical complaints; 911 logs note seizures and assaults.[9][3][12]

The National Center for Youth Law sues over neglect, including a child's hearing loss from an untreated earache; RAICES logged 700+ care issues.[9][12]

Over 3,500 cycled through since reopening, half minors.[12]

CoreCivic's Role and Expansion

CoreCivic profits from ICE contracts, with Q4 2025 revenue doubling to $244.7 million amid "bed demand" growth; ICE eyes massive expansion.[14][12]

DHS and CoreCivic deny mistreatment, affirming medical care standards.[3][1]

Hundreds of children were recently released amid scrutiny.[11]

*(Note: Terms like "concentration camp" appear in advocacy posts but not mainstream reports; facts align across sources.)*[4][11][12]

Sources

[1] DHS restricts video calling at Dilley ICE facility after live stream - Chron https://www.chron.com/news/article/dilley-ice-children-videos-22083880.php

[2] DHS restricts Dilley detention video calls after viral social media ... https://www.reddit.com/r/texas/comments/1rxcbdl/dhs_restricts_dilley_detention_video_calls_after/

[3] Children Describe Life Inside Dilley ICE Detention Center - ProPublica https://www.propublica.org/article/life-inside-ice-dilley-children

[4] Dilley immigrant prison camp clamps down on video calls in further ... https://www.sacurrent.com/news/san-antonio-news/dilley-immigrant-prison-camp-clamps-down-on-video-calls-in-further-censorship-of-detainees/

[5] Video calls inside a Texas detention center are being restricted ... https://www.facebook.com/chroncom/videos/-video-calls-inside-a-texas-detention-center-are-being-restrictedafter-widely-sh/906114169084346/

[6] Sick Detainees Describe Poor Care at CoreCivic ICE Facilities https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/14/business/ice-health-care-corecivic-immigrants-detention.html

[7] Miss Rachel the famous children's teacher is able to speak to a 9 ... https://www.instagram.com/reel/DV1Mn5VkTAn/

[8] ️ The Department of Homeland Security is tightening rules at a ... https://www.facebook.com/chroncom/videos/breakingnews%EF%B8%8F-the-department-of-homeland-security-is-tightening-rules-at-a-texas/1853105796078241/

[9] Life inside the ICE Dilley detention center | TPR - Texas Public Radio https://www.tpr.org/podcast/the-source/2026-02-10/life-inside-the-ice-dilley-detention-center

[10] I can't express how it felt to talk to a 9 year old who is in ... - Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVzUzozj19K/

[11] ICE Released Hundreds of Children from Immigration Detention https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/us/children-ice-detention-decrease.html

[12] DHS restricts Dilley detention video calls after viral social media ... https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/dhs-restricts-dilley-detention-video-194027991.html

[13] Parents Describe a Clampdown at Dilley Detention Center as Kids ... https://www.propublica.org/article/dilley-detention-center-kids-art-removal

[14] The three young kids watched with their mother as guards swept ... https://www.facebook.com/amightygirl/posts/the-three-young-kids-watched-with-their-mother-as-guards-swept-through-their-cel/1348679573956378/

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Oh wait, it could’ve been any of the crowd of agents that were collectively beating, pepper-spraying, and stomping on Alex Pretti for standing up for a woman who had just been shoved to the ground by a government agent. And for using his phone to record the government’s abuses of power.

Multiple angles of the atrocity have made it very clear what has happened there.

But, is there any accountability? Any promise of justice for Alex? Not that I can’t tell.

The exact same agents that murdered Alex yesterday could be on the job and on the Minneapolis streets again today, looking for another reason to “defend themselves” by slaughtering human beings.

This is tyranny. It just hasn’t gotten far enough along yet for everyone to realize there are no off-ramps left.

Demand justice.

Any one of us could be Alex.

I tried to post this to Substack notes and it kept blanking out the word N a z i so I’m hoping it doesn’t also blank it out in this post. I’m including a screenshot from my notes in case it blocks the word from viewers.

But, NAZI.US links directly to the official government website for DHS.

Personally, this is very alarming.

The Department of Homeland Security has spent Thanksgiving weekend calling for the removal of non-white residents in a process called “remigration”. Ironically, they posted this ethno-nationalist and racialized tweet the day after posting this on Thanksgiving:

The fact that an official U.S. government agency used a word with deep far-right, xenophobic connotations is a serious issue. It suggests that within the immigration arm of the government there is a push for ethnic-cleansing style politics, a.k.a. “mass deportation”.

In case you aren’t totally aware of what remigration is because you don’t traffic in far-right extremism, here’s a breakdown. “Remigration” is a far-right policy concept that calls for removing immigrants and their descendants from a country, including people who are legal residents or citizens.

It frames entire communities as unwanted populations and seeks to reshape a nation along ethnic lines.

This isn’t breaking news about the current administration. WIRED reported about the desire to create an “Office of Remigration” months ago in May, 2025.
The Trump Administration Wants to Create an ‘Office of Remigration’ | WIRED

And, Time Magazine reported on the department’s embrace of the word on October 26, 2025.
Trump Administration Embraces Word Used By White Nationalists | TIME

The difference between May of 2025 and today?
The Trump administration’s DHS is now repeatedly using the term as a slogan or a brand. It’s a rallying cry.

They really want you to blame people based on their skin color for your problems instead of the pedophile-in-chief who is desperate to distract from the Trump/Epstein files release, their obvious and widely reported trajectory of starting a war in Venezuela for the oil and gas industry and the failing economy amongst the many other scandals such as the president’s failing health and cognitive decline.

They are ramping up their violent attack on Americans and we need to spread the word.

Remigration is NOT patriotic or in line with American values.

It’s time for our leaders in power to pull all of their levers and fight back against this tyrannical, authoritarian government and its sycophantic followers, before it’s too late.

#abolishICE

You think you’re safe.
You think your life is too boring for anyone to care about.
You think being broke protects you.
You think having nothing to hide means nothing can be taken from you.

That belief sits in the back of your mind because it gives you a little comfort in a world that already takes too much from you.

You tell yourself you are not a target. You work. You pay bills. You stay afloat. You repeat that story because it keeps the fear quiet. If you admitted how exposed your digital life really is, the panic would hit fast.

And you do not have space for panic.

You barely have space for the life you already live.

Here is the truth you try to avoid:
Your information has already been stolen. Your identity has already been copied into systems you did not choose. Your medical details have already passed through companies you never agreed to trust. Your location has already been tracked. Your habits have already been classified in ways that predict what you might do next. All of this happened quietly. It happened while you were working. It happened while you were stretched and tired and trying to get through another week.

You may already be arguing with me in your head.
You might think none of this affects you.
You might think your income makes you invisible.
You might think you have lived long enough without trouble.
You might think you do not have the time or energy to fix any of this.
You might believe the risks are exaggerated because this has been the internet for a long time and nothing catastrophic has happened to you yet.

Stop and look at your life the way you look at your bank balance the night before payday. You know exactly how fragile things are. You know how fast a single problem can derail everything.

If your main email went down for a week, you would lose access to your bills, your bank, your insurance, your kids’ school accounts and every service that treats your inbox as proof that you exist.

If your leaked data gave someone enough information to open an account in your name, you could lose months cleaning up paperwork you never created.

If your medical history ended up in the wrong file, a computer could label you differently and you would carry the cost.

If your address ended up in a dataset tied to something malicious, your family would deal with the fallout.

You do not protect your digital life because you enjoy it. You protect it because you cannot afford one more crisis. You cannot afford to lose access to things you depend on. You cannot afford to spend your limited time repairing problems created by systems you do not control. You do not have assistants or lawyers or savings accounts waiting to catch you. You have yourself. You have the people you care for. That’s it...

I am not telling you any of this to scare you. I am telling you because no one warned you how much of your life has already been absorbed by surveillance. I am telling you because you deserve to know the truth about the systems you rely on. I am telling you because there are simple ways to protect yourself that do not add more stress. There are tools that give you a little control in a world that strips control from ordinary people one click at a time.

Think about the last time you walked into a public library. You could explore anything. You could pull books off shelves. You could follow your questions wherever they led. No one recorded your choices. No one built a file on what you touched. You had the freedom to be curious.

The digital world is more like a library where someone shadows you. Every book you touch goes into a record. Every hesitation becomes a datapoint. Every subject becomes a category tied to your name. These records are sold. They are shared. They are used to judge you, predict you and influence you. This is the opposite of freedom. You would never tolerate this in a real building with real shelves. Yet this is how your life unfolds online every day.

At some point I had to ask myself who I was trusting to help me out of this. Every company claims to care about privacy. Every site uses the same words. Every service insists it is different. I did not want promises. I wanted systems that could not betray me even if they tried.

I asked what happens to my information once I hand it over. I asked how much access these companies have to my private life. I asked how they make their money. I asked what I would lose if their protections failed. Those questions shaped everything.

I realized I needed something built on encryption that locks information before it ever leaves my hands. If a company cannot read what I store, then there is nothing for them to misuse. That became the first requirement. I looked at where companies were based because the laws in some countries have real power and the laws in others mean nothing. I paid attention to business models because a company that survives by selling ads will never put the user first.

One solution that I found that seems to be trustworthy is Proton. It’s NOT the only solution. But, I feel like I should share at least one solution if I’m going to spend all this time telling you about a problem you can fix.

They encrypt everything by default. They cannot read your email. They cannot unlock your files. They operate in a place where privacy laws actually function. They rely on subscriptions instead of surveillance. Their structure aligned with the criteria I had built.

This does not make Proton perfect. It does not make them the final answer for everyone. It means they made sense for me after I followed my own questions all the way through. You might answer those questions differently. You might pick something else. That is fine. The point is not that you use what I use. The point is that you stop pretending your digital life is too small to matter.

You live in a world where exposure creates real consequences. A world where the smallest digital disruption can push a working family into chaos. A world where privacy is not a luxury or a hobby or a political stance. It is a form of protection for people who cannot absorb another hit.

So take the time to ask yourself what you want protected.

Ask what it would cost you if your access disappeared. Ask what would happen if your personal information ended up somewhere you did not expect. Ask what you need in order to feel steady in a system designed to keep you vulnerable.

Choose whatever tool fits those answers. Proton is one example. There are others. What matters is that you stop trusting a world that has not earned your trust and start building a little insulation around your life.

You are not powerless. You are not invisible. You are not as safe as you think, but you are not trapped either. You can protect the parts of your life that keep you going. You can do it without money. You can do it without expertise. You can do it without changing who you are.

You just have to make the choice before something happens that you cannot undo.

That is how you survive the surveillance world the Oligarchy has quietly caged us into.
That is how you stay steady in a country built on instability.
That is how you protect your future when the system refuses to protect you.

Anger, fear and disappointment set in this morning when I heard the news that I.C.E. would be conducting their operations in my city. We all know why. We’ve all seen the videos. We’ve all heard the stories. We know about the abuses of people and the abuses of power.

We all know what the result is going to be from their presence.

Children will be left at daycare, school, and bus stops wondering why their protector isn’t there. Why their source of stability is suddenly missing. Wondering if they suddenly were abandoned by the person that is supposed to love them the most.

Families will wonder if their loved one isn’t answering their phone because they’ve been taken by the federal government.

They’ll try to find the victims and then run into a wall of secrecy and legal problems.

They’ll be left wondering if their loved one has been sent to a foreign country to be tortured in a third-world prison or if they’re just being unlawfully detained and tortured here.

Make no mistake. This is torture.

Torture is the intentional infliction of severe physical or psychological pain or suffering by a state actor (or someone acting with state consent) for the purpose of punishment, intimidation, coercion, obtaining information, or discrimination.

That’s the core definition used by The United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT), International human rights bodies, and most modern legal frameworks.

Community members will be left to pick up the pieces. The people who have NO power to stop this state-sanctioned violence will be left to care for the child who was left behind. To care for the family who just lost their loved one and their source of income at the same time. To help find legal remedies for the atrocities our government is committing against its own population.

And yet, the comment sections of these ICE videos are a cesspool of racist and bigoted support for this trash.

I noticed just yesterday where my local news station posted the news of ICE causing problems in Charlotte, NC. The reaction from people online in the comments section was filled with schadenfreude. They were reveling in the pain and suffering of people who are doing things like shopping for groceries, dropping their children off at school, or buying supplies they need to do their jobs.

“They should’ve come here the right way.” They’ll snort.
Just take a look for yourself.

It makes me wonder who these people are. Are they bots as so many commenters are? Are they a troll farm? Are they foreign actors in foreign countries stirring the pot and influencing opinion? Or, are they just assholes who live amongst us that support this abhorrent agency and its mission to round up 3,000 people per day from our communities without any specific reason other than they “look” like an immigrant. And, by that I mean they have brown skin.

These ICE agents are acting with impunity. They have zero accountability to the constitution or the public. Even when sitting governors and attorneys general express public disdain and call for the government to stay out of their state, these assholes still follow the orders of the federal government to roam parking lots, neighborhoods, grocery stores, hospitals, and places of worship to find their victims.

And now they are here.
In my town.
Looking for people to harass and “detain.”
Inciting chaos and feeding their fragile egos.
Paying tribute to a tyrant while feeling righteous.

They are indecent, incompetent, and violent.

In my opinion, it is state-sanctioned kidnapping and human trafficking. It’s violence ordered by the government leadership against the population. Cruelty sold under the banner of public safety and law enforcement.

But it goes further than that.

There are reports of ICE using tactics and technologies to spy on all of us without a warrant or a cause. Tapping into our phones and other devices to monitor, without repercussion, what we say and do. Surveilling communities against their will. Freedoms guaranteed by the constitution trampled in an “act first and ask for forgiveness later” fashion.

And when it’s brought to the attention of the Justice Department and the Supreme Court? Nothing but support for the government abuse and corruption but not for the victims or the constitutional rights we all live by.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that lower court judges and attorneys general are fighting and standing up for the constitution. Law firms like Elias Law Group LLP are working around the clock to monitor and file the legal suits where needed. Independent news outlets are reporting from the scenes on livestreams. Communities are banding together and using different outlets to notify and warn the vulnerable populations. Non-profits and faith communities are finding ways to protect the vulnerable and stranded.

There are hundreds of apps and websites for reporting and warning the local communities of the whereabouts of ICE or any government officials causing chaos and using violence as a tactic against the population. OjoNC.org is one such website… but I’m certain there is one that is local to you. Please find it, share it, and support it.

OjoNC.org

So, ICE is in my town and threatening to upend the lives of regular, non-violent people using violence and force. What do we do about it?

What do we do when we see the state-sanctioned violence and ICE agents harassing and kidnapping people in our local coffee shop or restaurant?

What do we do in the moment when we are faced with the decision to fight or flee?

Make a plan in advance so that you know that you have rationally decided what to do when this happens. Because, it WILL happen.

This isn’t going to just stop today.

The government and it’s stooges aren’t going to wake up tomorrow and just suddenly realize what they’re doing is wrong and then show any sort of contrition.

So, be prepared. Document the violence. Spread the word about their whereabouts. Don’t get violent because that will not help anyone except the government. Build community defenses like legal funds, pro-bono attorneys, neighborhood watch style shifts, and plans for who will care for children when they’re left stranded.

Remember, they will eventually have to face the shame of what they’ve done and who they’ve hurt. But, that doesn’t take away from the trauma they have caused and will cause in the future.

#AbolishICE

“You either have an extractive elite — an oligarchy — or you have a productive elite — an aristocracy — in every society.” - Chris Buskirk

A few years ago, a small group of wealthy conservatives rented a resort near the tiny town of Rockbridge, Ohio. They met there in 2019 at the invitation of Peter Thiel and JD Vance. People who attended later confirmed that Rebekah Mercer, Tucker Carlson, and Oren Cass were among the guests. That weekend became the starting point for something they named the Rockbridge Network. There is no official site that explains what it does. There is no public list of members. The only reason we know anything about it is because reporters have spent years following the people involved.

The network started with a simple idea. The donors at that Ohio gathering were frustrated with the Republican Party. They believed the institutions on the right had grown stale. They said the party was unprepared for a political era shaped by digital influence, organized donor blocs, targeted lawsuits, and voter databases built outside traditional campaign structures. They wanted something faster. They wanted something more aggressive. They wanted something that did not rely on party committees or legacy think tanks. The answer they built was an invite-only donor network that would create its own political infrastructure.

Rockbridge formed later that year. It began as a private fund where conservative donors invested money into groups that promised to reshape the political landscape. It had no interest in operating visibly. It directed money into new voter-turnout groups, new media projects, legal advocacy organizations, and researchers who specialized in persuasion and data modeling. These were not separate efforts. They were guided from the same network of donors and strategists.

The numbers tell you what kind of scale they were planning for. By 2024, the network had an election budget of roughly seventy-five million dollars. That money flowed into a super PAC that hired thousands of canvassers, a documentary film project, several dark-money nonprofits that focused on church turnout, and a data operation that used outdoor clubs and religious groups as entry points for voter targeting. What makes this stand out is the structure behind it. Everything connected back to a single donor consortium that set the priorities.

Chris Buskirk eventually emerged as the figure who shaped the network’s identity. He had already built connections through the conservative media world and through projects that had been backed by Thiel. He later partnered with Vance to structure Rockbridge. He also became the one who explained its purpose. He said that every society ends up under the direction of a powerful group of people. He pointed to moments in history where small clusters of ambitious individuals drove major changes. When he described his vision for Rockbridge, he used the word aristocracy. He meant a group of high-achieving elites who see themselves as builders. He argued that this kind of leadership is necessary during times of national disorder.

That idea now sits at the center of the network. They raise money from investors who want to influence the country’s political direction. They fund organizations that bypass the traditional conservative establishment. They work with media strategists who can shift narratives at scale. They build voter operations that can be deployed in states where the margins are small. At the same time, the network has deep ties to the Trump administration and to the office of the vice president. JD Vance helped found Rockbridge. Members of the network regularly attend gatherings where Trump, Vance, Leonard Leo, David Sacks, Marc Andreessen, and other influential figures appear.

There is also a financial branch that lives next to the political side. Buskirk co-founded a venture firm called 1789 Capital with Omeed Malik. It now manages more than one billion dollars in assets. Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. The fund targets investments in defense, artificial intelligence, and energy. The sectors line up closely with the priorities of the administration. This is part of the reason critics describe Rockbridge and 1789 as pieces of the same structure. Donors influence political direction. Political direction influences the value of their investments.

Ethics experts have raised concerns about this arrangement. They say it creates the appearance of a closed network where donors pay to be included, where elected officials speak at donor retreats, and where public policy appears to benefit the business interests of the same people funding the network’s political work. Rockbridge rejects this framing. Its leaders say their donors are supporting a national renewal project and backing groups that can deliver results the Republican National Committee has failed to produce.

Rockbridge’s members are now positioned inside the political bloodstream of the country. They played a role in helping elect Trump and lifting Vance into the vice presidency. They are preparing for the next cycle with more money, more conservative media projects, and a larger circle of tech investors. They have the freedom to act because most of the country has no idea they exist. They do not show up on ballots. They do not appear next to the laws their work shapes. They live behind closed doors in a space that is neither a political party nor a public institution. They are simply a private network that influences the direction of the country from the shadows created by donor secrecy.

This is what happens when America’s wealthiest actors decide to build their own political engine. A resort meeting in rural Ohio becomes a project that reaches into the White House, venture-capital portfolios, churches, state legislatures, digital ad firms, documentary producers, and the people writing the next wave of conservative policy.

The goals are clear to anyone paying attention. The people inside the network believe they are the ones who can guide the country through conflict and instability. They believe they form the circle that can shape the future. They do not say this publicly. They do not need to. Their work already explains what they think they are building.

FACT APPENDIX: ROCKBRIDGE NETWORK

1. Rockbridge’s formation and purpose

• The Rockbridge Network is a conservative political advocacy group founded in 2019 by JD Vance and Chris Buskirk. It describes itself as a “kind of political venture capital firm” that aims to replace the existing Republican ecosystem with more effective institutions focused on winning.
  Sources:

  • Reuters – “Tech donor network co-founded by JD Vance seeks to push America to the right”
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tech-donor-network-co-founded-by-jd-vance-seeks-push-america-right-2024-08-20/ (Reuters)

  • Rockbridge Network overview (Wikipedia, summarizing documents and reporting)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

2. The 2019 Rockbridge, Ohio meeting

• In 2019, JD Vance and Peter Thiel convened a small group “at an inn in rural Ohio, located just outside the tiny town that would become the organization’s namesake,” to address what they saw as a coordination problem for MAGA-aligned donors and activists.
  Sources:

  • Washington Post – “The secretive donor circle that lifted JD Vance is now rewriting MAGA’s future”
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

  • Rockbridge Network overview (History section referencing the New York Times)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

3. Rockbridge as a centrally controlled donor network

• Reuters describes Rockbridge as a donor organization that “seeks to influence U.S. politics through a centrally controlled network of right-wing political groups backed by some of the same deep-pocketed tech investors who helped bankroll Vance’s political rise.”
  Source:

  • Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tech-donor-network-co-founded-by-jd-vance-seeks-push-america-right-2024-08-20/ (Reuters)

4. Size of the 2024 election budget and number of groups

• Internal Rockbridge documents reviewed by Reuters showed “its roughly $75 million budget for 2024” and that it “oversees five political groups and one super PAC.”
  Source:

  • Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tech-donor-network-co-founded-by-jd-vance-seeks-push-america-right-2024-08-20/ (Reuters)

• The Rockbridge Network entry, citing the New York Times, says Rockbridge “steers eight organizations, including four dark-money 501(c)(4) organizations, two super PACs, a donor-advised 501(c)(3) fund, and the Rockbridge Network umbrella LLC.”
  Source:

  • Rockbridge Network overview
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

5. No public-facing websites for Rockbridge groups

• The Washington Post reports that, as of November 2025, Rockbridge’s groups have almost no public presence and that none maintain their own standard websites.
  Source:

  • Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

6. Key donors and tech/finance backing

• Reuters reports that donors include Peter Thiel, Rebekah Mercer, Blake Masters, and Omeed Malik, and that many back both Rockbridge and Vance.
  Source:

  • Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tech-donor-network-co-founded-by-jd-vance-seeks-push-america-right-2024-08-20/ (Reuters)

• The Rockbridge Network entry lists major donors including Rebekah Mercer, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and Peter Thiel.
  Source:

  • Rockbridge Network overview
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

7. Membership levels and size of the network

• As of late 2024, Rockbridge membership tiers ran from $100,000 for a “limited partner” to $1,000,000 for a “principal partner,” with roughly 150 members by November 2024.
  Source:

  • Rockbridge Network overview (citing NYT and other reporting)
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

8. Role in Trump’s reelection and Vance’s rise

• The Washington Post describes Rockbridge as a “secretive donor circle” that helped re-elect Trump and “lifted JD Vance” into the vice presidency via coordinated media, turnout, and organizing efforts.
  Source:

  • Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

• Reuters confirms that Rockbridge’s 2024 budget and apparatus were geared toward influencing the presidential election and that many donors are also major backers of Vance.
  Source:

  • Reuters
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tech-donor-network-co-founded-by-jd-vance-seeks-push-america-right-2024-08-20/ (Reuters)

9. Rockbridge’s projects and strategy

• A Rockbridge brochure, summarized in the wiki, describes projects such as:

  • building a “new conservative ecosystem” of media

  • “lawfare and strategic litigation” to target “bad actors, including the media”

  • a “Transition Project” to build a “government-in-waiting” for the next Republican administration

  • a “Red State Project” to coordinate groups at the state level and influence redistricting
    Source:

  • Rockbridge Network overview, quoting the internal brochure
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

10. Use of churches, outdoors networks, and membership funnels

• The Washington Post reports that Rockbridge built “online sales funnels” around social groups like small-business owners, outdoors enthusiasts, and church attendees, instead of traditional last-minute political outreach.
  Source:

  • Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

• Reuters describes specific Rockbridge-linked entities like “The Faithful in Action” whose mission is to recruit churchgoers into political activism.
  Source:

  • Reuters (via wiki summary)
    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/tech-donor-network-co-founded-by-jd-vance-seeks-push-america-right-2024-08-20/ (Reuters)

11. Turnout for America and swing-state canvassing

• The Washington Post notes that Rockbridge’s affiliated super PAC, Turnout for America, was one of several groups canvassing swing states on behalf of the Trump campaign, employing around 3,000 canvassers. Internal data cited in the article claim they targeted low-propensity voters in seven swing states.
  Source:

  • Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

12. Chris Buskirk’s role and ideology (“aristocracy”)

• The Washington Post profile identifies Buskirk as Rockbridge’s co-founder and central organizer and quotes him on the need for “talented, high-agency people working together in high-trust environments.” The same piece and commentary around it summarize his argument that societies end up either with an “extractive” oligarchy or a “productive” elite, an “aristocracy.”
  Source:

  • Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

• Additional commentary summarizing the WaPo piece and Buskirk’s “aristocracy” framing:

  • Puck / secondary analysis
    

Pascal’s Substack

By merging populism with plutocracy and national revival with technological nationalism, Rockbridge and its affiliates illustrate how democracies can be hollowed out...

The Global Significance of the Rockbridge Network and the Rise of “Aristopopulism…

Read more

7 months ago · Pascal Hetzscholdt

• • (P4sc4l)

13. 1789 Capital’s size, mission, and ties to Rockbridge

• Reuters reports that 1789 Capital, co-founded by Omeed Malik and Chris Buskirk, surpassed $1 billion in assets after Trump’s return to office and Donald Trump Jr. joining as a partner. It describes 1789’s mission as “patriotic capitalism” and details investments in defense, AI, and other sectors exposed to federal policy.
  Source:

  • Reuters – “Trump-linked venture fund 1789 Capital tops $1 billion in assets”
    https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trump-linked-venture-fund-1789-capital-tops-1-billion-assets-2025-09-08/ (Reuters)

• The Rockbridge wiki notes that discussions at a Rockbridge meeting at Mar-a-Lago between Buskirk, Omeed Malik, and Rebekah Mercer led to the founding of 1789 Capital.
  Source:

  • Rockbridge Network overview
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

• The 1789 Capital entry aggregates additional reporting on its portfolio and role in the “parallel economy.”
  Source:

  • 1789 Capital overview
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1789_Capital (Wikipedia)

14. Ethics concerns and “pay-to-play” appearance

• The Washington Post quotes former White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter describing Rockbridge, 1789, and associated clubs as creating the appearance of a “pay to play” environment where access to administration officials and the Trump family is linked to donor participation.
  Source:

  • Washington Post
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/11/04/chris-buskirk-maga-vance-post-trump/ (The Washington Post)

• Reuters quotes multiple ethics experts expressing concern that 1789 Capital’s structure and Don Jr.’s role create potential conflicts of interest because portfolio companies may benefit from Trump administration policies.
  Source:

  • Reuters – 1789 Capital investigation
    https://www.reuters.com/investigations/trump-linked-venture-fund-1789-capital-tops-1-billion-assets-2025-09-08/ (Reuters)

15. Rockbridge conferences and high-level attendees

• The Rockbridge Network entry lists numerous high-profile speakers at Rockbridge summits, including Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Tucker Carlson, Marc Andreessen, David Sacks, Leonard Leo, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Palmer Luckey, and others, citing the New York Times and other outlets.
  Source:

  • Rockbridge Network overview
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockbridge_Network (Wikipedia)

• Watchdog reporting confirms Leonard Leo’s appearance at a Rockbridge summit at Mar-a-Lago.
  Source:

  • Accountable.US – “Leonard Leo Makes Mar-a-Lago Appearance for MAGA Rockbridge Donor Group”
    https://accountable.us/leonard-leo-makes-mar-a-lago-appearance-for-maga-rockbridge-donor-group/ (Accountable US)

• Additional narrative on Rockbridge’s conference circuit and its role as a tech–GOP nexus:
  Source:

  • New York Post business feature
    https://nypost.com/2025/04/18/business/inside-political-vc-firm-rockbridge-and-how-its-united-gop-and-tech-united/ (New York Post)

The masked bastards at ICE who are using state-sanctioned violence and perceived impunity have federal government backing, a LOT of money, and legal power. Their actions are outrageous, provocative, and harmful.

It’s important to remember that violence or illegal action is not an option this article will consider.

So, what do we do?

Do we just hide and wait them out?
Just hope the abuse doesn’t happen to us?

Let them keep kidnapping and abusing people?
Let them keep sending people without due process wherever the hell they want?

Keep trashing them online and sharing videos of their actions?
Hope that enough people will see it and eventually take their power away via the legal system?

These options don’t appear to meet the moment of crisis we are in with these people, this agency, and the federal government.

Each day that passes, more and more people are hurt. More and more families are torn apart. More and more outrage about their abuses builds.

We’re told that we’re not supposed to just let it run its course.
You know… just take cover, wait, and let the bad guys do the bad things they’ll do until someone else steps in to stop them and hold them accountable.

So, then what?

I’m just a regular American citizen with a family, a home, and a life to protect. I can’t just go out and begin taking down a rogue government agency that most likely has more money and firepower than the militaries of most governments on earth.

I can’t go up to the ICE officers and tell them to stand down.
I can’t go take on the government in any shape or form whatsoever without expecting to be either treated brutally or kidnapped and imprisoned myself… My life ruined by the people with serious weapons and enough arrogance and egotism to believe they’re heroes on a righteous mission to save a nation.

Normally, if a group of people acted like this, we would just rely on the government’s law enforcement and justice system. We’d call up the law enforcement and let them use their state-sanctioned power to squash the criminal activity. But both of those have been corrupted and appear to be doing nothing to stop the violence.

I personally don’t trust interacting with the government if I’m not being forced to because they have been given the authority to remove our bodily autonomy without consequence. Hell, they even occasionally execute people in our streets, our homes, and abroad with impunity.

So… all of my research points to this direction:
You stop violence WITHOUT violence by making violence more costly than it’s worth

Make their violence cost them politically, legally, economically, and socially while protecting people in the moment with de-escalation, accompaniment, and rapid, visible solidarity.

Below is a practical playbook you can use immediately, with the most effective nonviolent tactics, why they work, and the exact, low-resource steps you can take.

Practical playbook (what to do, in order)

1) Immediate protection and de-escalation (hours → days)

Goal: preserve life, reduce immediate harm, and preserve evidence.

Actions:

• Move people to safe locations if possible. Prioritize children, elders, and anyone at medical risk.

• Use calm language and nonprovocative body language. Short script: “We will not resist. We are calling our lawyer and a legal observer. We want everyone to stay safe.” (Say it calmly, while filming.)

• Record safely from a distance; one person films, one person watches for safety, one takes witness contact info. Upload clips to at least two encrypted cloud accounts and hand copies to a trusted NGO/journalist.

• Call trained de-escalation volunteers or crisis teams if available; they can speak calmly and redirect tension. Training programs and curricula exist for community de-escalation and should be taken in advance. crisisprevention.com

Why this works: preserving life is primary; de-escalation reduces the chance of force being used and recorded evidence fuels later accountability.

2) Accompaniment and rapid-response visibility (days → weeks)

Goal: make operations politically and morally costly to carry out.

Actions:

• Build a small rapid-response node (6–12 people): legal observer(s), live-streamer(s), media contact, drivers, and an intake lead. Use an encrypted phone tree or Signal group for alerts.

• Train volunteers on rights, what to film, how to safely accompany people to check-ins or court, and how to document chain of custody for evidence. Groups like the New Sanctuary Coalition run accompaniment trainings you can model; accompaniment has been used successfully to deter deportations and add oversight. New Sanctuary Coalition

• Publicize your presence in the neighborhood so agents can’t plausibly claim surprise; visible solidarity raises PR and legal risk for abusive action.

Why this works: persistent public presence changes the cost calculus for those considering coercive action; NGOs and journalists are likelier to respond when a community is organized.

3) Convert incidents into leverage (days → weeks)

Goal: escalate one incident into legal, political, and reputational cost.

Actions:

• Centralize all footage, witness statements, timestamps, medical records, and complaint numbers in a secure shared folder and give access to one lawyer/NGO and one journalist.

• File immediate complaints with DHS OIG/CRCL and your state/county oversight bodies. Keep confirmation numbers and forward them publicly.

• Push a local reporter with a tight hook: “here are three similar incidents in 60 days; you have footage and 5 witnesses.” Local narratives shift policy quickly.

Why this works: a viral/verified story + official complaints force oversight and can trigger FOIAs and court involvement.

4) Target choke points (weeks → months)

Goal: cut the infrastructure that enables violence.

Actions:

• Identify one contractor, insurer, or jail that enables the violence (e.g., technology vendor, transport company, or local detention contractor). Run a focused campaign: worker outreach, petitions from customers, public protests at board-meeting times, and targeted letters to major clients/insurers.

• Build or support a bond fund to collapse the detention system’s throughput. Even small bonds free people quickly and create immediate stories to press into public debate.

• Prepare a civic pressure campaign aimed at the elected official who controls local cooperation (sheriff, county commission): petitions, public records requests, organized turnout at meetings, and voter pledge drives.

Why this works: institutions and elected officials respond when a narrow, sustained cost is applied to a decision they control.

5) Ongoing nonviolent escalation ladder (months → long game)

Goal: sustain pressure until policy changes or contracts end.

Sample ladder:

1. Public records + complaints + local reporting

2. Sustained daily/weekly visibility (accompaniment, vigils)

3. Targeted economic/brand pressure on one contractor

4. Litigation and FOIA-driven exposures with partner NGOs

5. Electoral pressure: vow campaigns, candidate support, and turnout operations

Gene Sharp’s taxonomy offers many legally permissible escalation tactics you can choose from; pick a ladder everyone signs onto so the group is disciplined and predictable. wri-irg.org

Concrete, low-resource tools to start today

• Encrypted intake form (Google Form + Boxcryptor or Signal link) to collect witness info and upload media.

• Binder with local legal contacts, NLG legal observer signup, and your nearest immigrant rights NGO.

• One-page rapid-response roles sheet (driver, filmer, legal observer, press contact, social media) and a 24-hour rota.

• $25–$100 seed to a local bond fund and a pledge drive to scale it.

Resources/training to seek: legal observer training from the National Lawyers Guild or local mass-defense groups; accompaniment training from New Sanctuary or similar groups; de-escalation courses for community responders.

Scripts (short and usable)

• To journalists: “Hi [name], I have verifiable footage and 5 witness contacts from an operation on [date]. We’ve uploaded all media and filed a DHS OIG complaint (confirmation #____). This matches two other incidents in the last 30 days; can I send the folder?”

• For accompaniment teams (spoken calmly): “We are here to observe and ensure everyone’s safety. We will remain peaceful and document everything. Please identify yourself and your supervisor and step back while we comply.”

• To elected officials: “I’m [name], a constituent. Our community is witnessing repeated coercive ICE actions. Will you publish all agreements with ICE, reveal the county’s records about detainers, and place cooperation with ICE on the next public agenda?”

Safety, ethics, and limits

• Nonviolent tactics are powerful but they are not risk-free. They can result in arrests or retaliation — prepare legal observers and bail funds.

• Do not cross into doxxing, harassment, or plans for bodily harm. Those actions undermine public support and invite criminal liability.

• Nonviolence is not passive; it is strategy. It wins when it’s disciplined, targeted, and combines protection, documentation, and escalation.

• Don’t obstruct law enforcement or attempt to physically stop a raid. That risks arrests and undermines public support.

• Use trained legal observers to reduce liability; they know how to document without interfering. nlg.org

• Keep all actions nonviolent and lawful.

  ---

Got any additional advice or ideas? Have steps you’re already taking to legally fight these bastards? Let us know in the comments below so that more people can find the way they can fight back and take meaningful action.

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Do YOU fit into any of the descriptors of NSPM-7 as a potential domestic terrorist?!
Anti-Capitalist?
Not a Christian?
Have some criticism of American Exceptionalism?

Are you going to the NO KINGS Protest?!

You’re probably going to be targeted.

THIS is what they’re going to be doing TO AMERICAN CITIZENS… YOU AND ME… for the next 3 years if we don’t REMOVE THEM FROM OFFICE!

―John Lennon

It’s called “Praise Donald Trump”

You know how fascists like to have their face on everything…

Well, fuck Donald Trump and let’s flip that shit on its head.

It’s a series of ugly portraits of him

I’m going to put them in really gaudy gold frames.

It started as just seeing if I could replicate him from memory.

Then I started feeling the  rage that he is living rent free in my head because of all of his bullshit.

Then, I thought, if MAGA asshats are going to hang his portrait in their houses like the idiots they are and post his name all over shit… then everybody should. We should all show how we feel about him since he’s the ONLY FUCKING THING anyone wants to talk about.

Then I thought how Christians have that framed picture of Jesus over their tv 😂

So… here we are.

This one is drying so that I can layer things on top of it. But this is it so far.

The inspiration piece:

What if someone decides that I deserve to have an Apache helicopter hover over my house or a group of militarized government agents break down my door or the glass on my Kia Carnival?

What if my kids are with me?

What if I’m targeted because I write social media posts that are critical of the government?

Should I be worried that I’m being surveilled? Or that my data is being purchased by God knows who? And for what purpose?

What about my friends and family who don’t look like a “traditional” American family?

It is pure insanity that we, as regular citizens, are having to ask ourselves these audacious questions. It’s angering.

And it’s in our face on a daily… even hourly basis.

I’m going to be real vulnerable here for a second. I used to have a drinking problem. It started as binge drinking in college and then went off the deep end for a bit right after my mom suddenly died. And there was only one thing in this universe that could get me to stop cold-turkey years ago. It was one night when I got too drunk to hold my son and he was crying and saying, “Daddy! I want daddy!” and I had to leave him like that to go upstairs to sleep.

I NEVER want to have any reason for him to have to look at me like that again.

That is my “why?” My why is my son. My love for him is stronger than my love for myself or for my desire to drink. It’s as simple as that.

I’m telling this story because that same feeling my son had of not being able to be held and comforted by his dad is the same response these children are having as their parent’s apartments, jobs, and their school playgrounds are being raided by the military… as the government forcefully ZIP-TIES everyone and loads them into vans. Scared. Confused…

They don’t understand what’s going on. All they see is the person they are the most attached to in the world being taken away from them.

Imagine how traumatizing that must be.

Then, instead of waking up to breakfast, watching cartoons, going to school and playing on the playground… instead of their biggest concern being that math is boring…. they’re locked in cages or deported to a different country without any regard for their wellbeing.

Videos are flooding the internet of the Gestapo-esque ICE treating people brutally and indiscriminately. Traumatizing citizens and non-citizens alike.

I JUST SAW A NEWS ARTICLE YESTERDAY WHERE AN ICE AGENT REPORTEDLY SAID “f—- THEM KIDS.”

Seriously?! That’s the level of dehumanization we are on now?!

Additionally, the president and vice-president seem to be operating outside the law. With a judicial system and congress who appear to be in cahoots. They’re all apparently involved in what they perceive as a righteous war. A war against being too “woke”, progressive, or for being one of the people who attempted to hold them accountable for the crimes they committed.

The crimes and the overreach don’t stop there. But one question just keeps haunting me. And I think it should haunt everyone in America.

What if I’m next?

What if the president’s order to treat people as domestic terrorists if they show certain ideological indicators like being “anti-capitalist” or “anti-Christian” comes to our front doors, our HOA-managed neighborhoods, and our places of worship?

What if YOU’RE next?

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Everything we are watching is training the state to seize power when the time comes, and the cost will be our elections, our voices, and our safety.

Every ICE raid. Every loyalty test at the Department of Defense (or, the Department of War). Every attack on mail-in voting. Every call to seize voting machines. These seemingly isolated events are really just rehearsals for something bigger: the day Trump refuses to give up power.

This is not how democracy works.

This is how authoritarian regimes prepare the ground.

They normalize the unthinkable.
They test institutions.
They condition the public to accept fear and force as part of civic life.
Finally… by the time the final performance arrives, the shock has worn off.

This five-part series tracks how Trump is building his playbook in real time and where it all leads.

Part 1:

Trump’s scattered domestic moves look chaotic. In reality, they’re test runs for how far he can push the boundaries of military and police power inside the U.S.

Part 2:

ICE raids have a deeper and more insidious nature than just immigration policy enforcement. They’re drills. Each one conditions the public to accept federal shock troops in American cities.

Part 3:

Mail ballots can’t be intimidated by federal agents and right-wing militia members. That’s why Trump wants them gone: they disrupt the theater of fear he’s building around Election Day.

Part 4:

The obsession with seizing machines has nothing to do with glitches in the machines or software. Nothing to do with finding alleged hackers. It’s about normalizing federal control over the count itself.

Part 5:

This is the pattern. Rehearsal. Wake up before it’s too late.

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Trump has already said it many times.
He wants the military in American cities.
He wanted voting machines seized.
He wanted “his” generals, not disloyal ones.

It’s ALL on the record.

And what’s happening now is a rehearsal for 2028.

Authoritarian leaders don’t wake up one morning and pull off a coup in broad daylight. They run drills. They test boundaries. They learn what the public will tolerate, what the courts will block, and which institutions will bend. Every ICE raid, every loyalty test at the Pentagon, every attack on mail-in voting. They’re practice for the 2028 election.

Think about the way the ground is being prepared. Each time Trump floats the idea of sending troops into a city, each time his allies call for taking over elections, each time “fraud” is invoked to chip away at voting access, it plants a seed. They are no longer trying to win any debates. In fact, they refuse to discuss anything at all with the Democrats. They are illegally redistricting and gerrymandering their way to power. And they are attempting to normalize the presence of police, agents, and soldiers in places where ballots are cast and counted.

This show is a rerun.

Erdoğan in Turkey used “emergency” powers against protestors long before deploying them to secure his grip on elections.
Putin tested loyalty in Chechnya before relying on those same generals to crush dissent at home.
Viktor Orbán in Hungary reframed police intimidation as “public order” until his voters barely noticed security forces at polling stations.

The playbook is always the same: rehearse repression under one justification, then recycle it later for elections.

Trump is walking that path right now.

ICE raids are being ramped up to project dominance, with local police folded in under federal direction. It’s about immigrants today, but it builds the machinery for turning any community into a target tomorrow.

Governors are being baited into “cooperation” with federal forces, conditioning states to accept top-down orders that look more like martial law than partnership.

Judges are being tested with fringe legal theories until one sticks.

Each step is an experiment in power.

And it works. People are tired, distracted, overwhelmed.
Everyone I know is, at least.

Deploy agents in camouflage on the streets of Portland and the Governor and local leaders put out a statement the first time, but the second time it barely trends. Talk about seizing voting machines and it sounds insane in 2020, but by 2028 it may sound like just another proposal in the partisan brawl.

Repetition is the weapon.

Shock dulls into background noise.

Mail-in voting is the one piece that breaks the pattern. You can’t easily intimidate someone who votes from their kitchen table. You can’t flood their polling place with police. That’s why Trump’s war on absentee ballots is so relentless. It’s about control of our bodies. It’s about keeping voters in physical spaces where fear can be manufactured. Shrink the system down to fewer polling places, make the lines unbearable, surround it all with “security,” and you’ve built a stage where intimidation is part of the process. Mail-in voting disrupts that theater, so it has to be discredited.

The rehearsal is both tactical and psychological.

Trump needs to prove to himself and his movement that these maneuvers can be carried out without sparking enough resistance to matter.
He needs the public to grow accustomed to seeing armored vehicles on their streets, ICE agents storming neighborhoods, and the military talked about as if it’s just another partisan tool.
He needs everyone to internalize the idea that elections are messy, dangerous events that require the heavy hand of law enforcement.

Once that belief is rooted, the stage is set.

The mistake would be to view each move in isolation.

People ask, “Why is he obsessed with ICE raids?” or “Why is he still ranting about mail ballots?” or “Why is he testing generals with loyalty questions?” The answer is that they all connect.

They’re pieces of a larger rehearsal.

They’re the dry runs for the moment that really matters. The 2028 election, when holding power will no longer be about who wins the election with votes.

That’s what makes this so dangerous.

We’re watching the construction of a playbook that leads directly into the heart of democracy.

What looks like governance is really practice.

What looks like law enforcement is really conditioning.

And what looks like chaos is actually rehearsal for the day when Trump decides leaving office is NOT an option.

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Next in the series:

ICE is being rapidly weaponized into something even more dangerous than a loosely managed immigration enforcement agency.

It is ballooning into a domestic paramilitary force that blurs the line between immigration control and urban policing. With armored vehicles, tactical gear, and the green light from the government to raid homes, businesses, farms, schools, hospitals and even courthouses, it is a standing rehearsal for occupation.

Every raid is a drill.

When ICE storms into a city and rips dozens of people from their lives, it’s about conditioning the public to accept the spectacle of armed agents flooding their neighborhoods.
It’s about showing how quickly fear can spread when uniforms and badges descend on a community.
It’s about proving that an American city can be turned into an occupied zone at the snap of a finger.

Immigrants are the chosen targets because they’re politically convenient. They’re dehumanized and cast as outsiders, stripped of sympathy by constant propaganda, and used as props.

But the real function is broader.

These operations test how local police will cooperate, how mayors and governors will push back, and how the media will cover it. They reveal where resistance lives and how strong it is.

In other words, ICE raids are reconnaissance missions for future crackdowns.

There’s a reason ICE has been fused so tightly with local and state police.

Deputization programs hand over federal authority to sheriffs and officers who are already embedded in their communities. This blurs accountability and creates a seamless enforcement network that stretches from Washington to the smallest county. It means that when Trump wants to flex power, he doesn’t have to wait for the military. He already has a ready-made force of local police, backed by ICE, ready to move under the banner of “cooperation.”

The brutality is not accidental.

Throwing a gray-haired peaceful protestor to the ground. Raiding someone’s home at dawn. Holding kids in cages! These are messages from the current administration.

They tell the public that resistance will be met with overwhelming force, that fear is the price of standing in the way. This is how authoritarian regimes operate: use the harshest measures on the most vulnerable groups to establish the principle that no one is safe.

Look at the patterns.

ICE agents showing up outside courthouses.
Families ripped apart in front of their children and cameras.
Entire neighborhoods destabilized overnight.

The cruelty is the point!

These are demonstrations of capacity. They show that Trump has a loyal enforcement wing that can operate inside the United States with near impunity. And they show that when the time comes to intimidate voters or disrupt elections, the machinery is already built and tested.

The architecture of fear matters more than the number of deportations.

Trump doesn’t need ICE to remove every immigrant. He needs ICE to remind everyone watching that federal power can reach into any home, any street, any community. He needs it to feel inevitable and unstoppable.

That’s the kind of fear that changes how people act when they walk into a polling station.

That’s the kind of fear that convinces some not to show up at all.

ICE is the testing ground where the playbook of domestic control is being written and practiced for the United States of America, and the first victims are the proof the playbook works.

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