Tenchu's Thoughts - The Return of the Mexican Flag (or Making Nationalism Great Again)
The last time pro-immigration protests waved their Mexican flags, they experienced a "jump the shark" moment, where they forever tarnished public opinion against immigration in general. People don't like seeing "foreigners" waving flags of other nations on American soil. "You're in America. Wave an American flag, or GTFO," the sentiment goes.
So they quickly learned not to do that. Instead, they waved American flags, either in lieu of the Mexican flags or alongside them. This fits better with the notion that America is a nation of immigrants, which most people (outside of white nationalist circles) can agree with.
Making Nationalism Great Again
But immigrant activists waving the American flag didn't work. Brandon screwed up immigration policy, "sanctuary cities" figured out that they can't afford to be so generous to "undocumented migrants," and many voters got pissed off at how the "woke" was opening up the borders. As a result the Mango Mussolini was elected.
And Trump, of course, is pursuing a white nationalist policy driven by authoritarianism and a demand for "real results" over that due process thingy. And he's being richly rewarded for it, both in the polls and the way Congress is bending over and grabbing their ankles.
In other words, this MAGA shit is working all too well.
And now the protesters are jumping into the nationalism trend with both feet, which of course will play right into Trump's hands.
Assimilation is Dead?
The idea behind immigration used to be that people who come here should want to be Americans first. They left their old country. Why should they stick to their old values? Instead, they should assimilate into American society, which also means adopting American cultural values.
That's old school.
Now we need to wear our unique cultural, racial, and ethnic identities on our sleeves. Whether it be Latino, or Chinese, or Indian, or Native (different from Indian, for those of you who are part of MAGA), or whatever, the sense of a unique American identity got lost.
To make a long story short, being American no longer means what it used to mean. You can thank the "woke" left for that, but you can also thank MAGA for twisting what it means to be an American into a white nationalist mockery of itself.
Fukk It, We're All Mexicans Now
That's what's driving protesters to wave the Mexican flag again. America voted to kick out all the colored Latinos, so why should they still be proud to be Americans anymore? Even that song, "Proud to be an American" by Lee Greenwood, has been usurped by the white nationalist movement and has turned into a MAGA theme song.
So instead they wave the Mexican flag as a symbol of solidarity amongst themselves. They feel the rest of America, including Democrats who are too chickenshit to oppose Trump, and including the "woke" liberals who screwed up big time, has abandoned them.
In other words, they're telling themselves, "Fukk it, we're all Mexicans now." And I'm pretty sure the non-Mexican Latinos are also saying it in solidarity with their Mexican amigos.
Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
Of course Trump is loving this shit. The Orange asshole wants nothing more than for immigrants, both legal and otherwise, to confirm his bullshit notion that the nation is being iNvAdEd.
He loves the division. He loves the violence. And no matter who comes out on top, Trump will always benefit because that's the nature of his egotistical crusade.
Now if he were smart, he would leave it at that and continue pursuing his policies uninterrupted.
But Trump will do Trump things, and he will overplay his winning hand. How?
He will further militarize law enforcement.
Not only that, but he will also "law enforcementize" the military despite the Posse Comitatus Act and despite over a century of military reluctance to get involved.
He will tell ICE, the FBI, the National Guard, and all the other men with billy clubs and tear gas canisters to detain anyone and everyone that they feel like.
And if these protests continue to spread, and I have no reason to believe that they won't, Trump will finally declare nationwide martial law.
Will Trump Fail?
That's where I believe Trump will ultimately fail, because the seeds of chaos that he has sewn will finally bear fruit, and he won't be able to handle it.
The economy is already in the midst of a recession thanks in large part to Trump's tariff disaster, which is still going on.
No one except the MAGA cultists think that government serves them anymore. Trump has already shown that he only cares about himself. The $400M Qatari jet, the Trump meme coin, the blatant pardons of confirmed criminals, his inner circle of North Korean-style loyalists, and pretty much everything else coming out of the bacchanal of corruption, will come back to bite Trump in his big fat ass.
Many Americans will just give up on politics and retreat, which is what Trump wants because that's exactly how PooTin, his object of affection, took over RuZZia.
But to me, it's going to happen too quickly for Americans to take it lying down.
The TACO Factor
Now there's a good chance that Trump won't be so st00pid, but it all hinges upon him declaring nationwide martial law.
Most likely is that Trump will succeed in putting down the protests, but that can only happen if Trump tells ICE to stop being so aggressive.
The reality is that, if there really is 20M illegals in our nation (I think it's around 11M, but whatever), deporting ALL of them like the bald Goebbels wants is next to impossible no matter how much the Trump regime tries.
Even in Los Angeles, where there is an estimated 1-2M illegals along with many more millions of sympathizers, forcibly deporting all of them, or even a significant portion of them, is going to be met with resistance. And sometimes that resistance is going to turn violent.
Trump could overcome these challenges if he REALLY wanted to, but that takes courage, and not the kind that is driven by ego.
The more likely outcome will be that Trump Always Chickens Out.
How he will chicken out, I can't tell. One likely outcome will be that he will declare "Mission Accomplished" and tell ICE to not be so aggressive. This is hard to imagine in the current political environment, but nationwide martial law is also hard to imagine.
Another outcome is that Trump focuses his martial law only on California and other havens of illegal immigration. Then it'll become a pissing match between Trump and Newsom, and I don't believe Newsom has the balls to push back on Trump. But if violent protests break out in other states such as Texas, New York, Florida, and other states where the Latino presence is strong, singling out California won't work.
Bottom Line: No one but MAGA wants to wave the American flag
Wrapping this all up, I believe the Mexican flag is being flown again because no one, other than MAGA, is proud to be an American these days.
Latino immigrants want to rally around a symbol, and the Mexican flag serves as a convenient and all-too-effective symbol of "fukk you" resistance. They have nothing to lose anymore.
Will it work? On the surface, obviously not.
But it could bait Trump into an overreaction, even though I really doubt any of the rioters are thinking that far ahead in this political game of chess.
And I say this because Trump always always always commits unforced errors.
Tenchusatsu |
