WASHINGTON, Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to combat antisemitism and pledged to deport non-citizen college students and others who took part in pro-Palestinian protests.
A fact sheet on the order promises "immediate action" by the Justice Department to prosecute "terroristic threats, arson, vandalism and violence against American Jews" and marshal all federal resources to combat what it called "the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and streets" since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
"To all the resident aliens who joined in the pro-jihadist protests, we put you on notice: come 2025, we will find you, and we will deport you," Trump said in the fact sheet.
"I will also quickly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before," the president said, echoing a 2024 campaign promise.
Rights groups and legal scholars said the new measure would violate constitutional free speech rights and would likely draw legal challenges.
You and people like you are more at fault for allowing the Democrats to get away with the absolute fucking minimum ("they wouldn't deport protestors!") for election upon election upon election upon election. If you and all of the other do nothings joined the voices trying to keep at least one of the two parties from being complete and utter shit, that would be more impactful than your 5 minutes of political action every 4 years to tick the less bad box.
Turn your attention towards making change instead of feeling smug ffs. You're the problem.
Friend, I vote in primaries, I spout third parties or wings of the Democrats or even Republicans, and how rigged the primary system is, every chance I get. I am not a Biden apologist.
But November 2024 was too freaking late. When your country is getting Hitler or half Hilter, you vote for half Hitler, not whine about them and try to get other half Hitler voters to stop when it’s not going to do a thing.
Does it entrench the system? Sure.
And so you see people that couldn't stomach genocide support as your enemy? As with the trolley problem, the positive action diverting the trolley can mean active participation in the outcomes. I feel the same as you about the "correct" choice in the last election, but I'm not going to mock and belittle people who were losing their loved ones as a result of Democrat policies choosing not to partake in the election.
If your choices are Hitler and half Hitler you should have been throwing Molotov cocktails years ago.
I am.
Many seemed to think that Trump and Biden/Harris had roughly "equivalent" Gaza policy, as evidenced by their surprise at Trump's actions. That is dangerous misinformation, and it deserves to be called out as a mistake, no matter how tragic the consequences are.
I view our election system as a rigged game, and not participating in swing states as a protest is all but choosing a side, in my eyes. Especially when the consequences are so personally important. The opportunity cost is Democrat votes, and Trump's gain. In that spirit, I actually registered as a Republican in my home state, only so I could vote against Trumpist politicians wherever I can, as there's basically no hope for Democrats and my vote would be "thrown away," relatively speaking. And I can still vote against Republicans in the general election and some other offices that have a shot.
At least try to understand the mental space of the American voter in 2024.
Children being dismembered and burned alive in front of your eyes and Matt Miller’s skeletal frame wearing a tight skin suit ghoulishly grins at you. Pulling weathered old journalists out of the white house press corp room like gestapo.
American voters had a right to be depressed and feel hopeless. And in that moment they had no sense of more right and more wrong. It is all wrong.
In the words of Elizabeth Wurtzel, "That's the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it's impossible to ever see the end.”
You can blame all you want but the hopelessness people were feeling and have been feeling was across the board and deserves to be understood and noted. Because if you mock it now and today, it’s going to bite you tomorrow.
• Young voters (18-29): Support for Democrats dropped significantly, with Harris winning only 54% compared to Biden's 60% in 2020.
• Latino voters: A striking shift towards Trump occurred, with support for Democrats declining by over 20 points in states like Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Michigan.
• Black voters: While still largely supporting Democrats, there was a notable decrease in support, particularly among Black men.
• College-educated white voters: This group, traditionally moving towards Democrats in recent elections, shifted away from Harris in several swing states.
• Urban voters: Harris received two million fewer votes than Biden in predominantly urban counties.
• Suburban voters: Harris got approximately 940,000 fewer votes than Biden in predominantly suburban counties.
• Middle-aged Black women: This traditionally reliable Democratic voting bloc showed decreased motivation to vote.
• Jewish voters: This group demonstrated decreased participation for Democrats.
• Voters under 45 in Pennsylvania: Harris faced significant declines in this age group1. Gen Z voters: Overall turnout for this group decreased from 53% in 2020 to an estimated 42% in 2024.
At least try and understand the headspace Biden’s team created for the democratic party.
(ps an also consider the issue of ballot swapping that seems to also have been a problem in swing states. would any of it have mattered at all? for ref: https://sh.itjust.works/post/31593696/16377502)
edited because my bullet points weren't pointing
If anything, so far at least, Biden's crimes vastly, vastly outweigh Trump's in regards to Gaza. Trump is threatening, but still hasn't yet, deported protesters. Biden is complicit in the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people. Trump, admittedly through crooked means, actually managed to get a cease fire passed.
It's possible that in the future Trump's crimes will outstrip Biden's. But Trump promises a lot of things that never actually end up happening. He says he would like to ethnically cleanse Gaza, but until he actually follows through on that, Biden's crime in regards to Gaza are objectively far, far worse than Trump's. Trump has the potential to eventually end up the greater villain. But right now, on January 30 2025, in terms of Gaza, Biden objectively has a far worse record than Trump.
You're judging the two men based on Trump's rhetoric, bluster, and what he might do. The people you're reacting to are judging Biden based on the things he actually did, not the things he promised to do.