NEW COMIC TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS AND WHEN THE MOOD STRIKES
Back in September—about 72 scandals ago in TrumpTime—the Trump administration ended Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, the program—often called the DREAM Act— begun under Obama which allowed a very narrow category of undocumented immigrant to live, work, pay taxes, and so on in our country without worrying about being arrested and deported all the time. Trump's base was thrilled with dismantling this program: After all, it was only supposed to be temporary (kind of true); it was going to end soon anyway (not true); these people broke the law (technically true); and also RACISM but they'd never say that. "Let them go back to where they came from and get in line!" they crowed, even though there is no line they can get into. "Just like my grandparents did!" is often bandied about, as if immigrating to the U.S. eighty years ago is comparable to modern times.
After screwing around a lot Trump finally came out and put the DREAMers on the negotiating table. Because nothing says Deal Maker like threatening to upend the lives of millions of young people. Why the fuck not? Now Trump is saying he wants to give DREAMers and another 1.5 million or so undocumented people a path by which they can become citizens if he gets his $25 billion to build his stupid border wall.
What's amazing to me about this is it shows Trump has zero ideology regarding whether DREAMers should become citizens or not. His base is batshit crazy about making sure these people aren't "rewarded" for "breaking the law". "What laws can I break and get rewarded?" is a common enough sentiment from these assholes. Because a failure to file the proper paperwork is reason enough to be hounded, rounded up, incarcerated without access to counsel, and shipped off somewhere you might not even speak the language. These right-wing Trump fuckwits truly lose their shit when they think anyone is getting away with something, so long as that anyone is beneath them on the socioeconomic ladder. (Trump and his cronies can get away with whatever, all that's okay, that's just business.)
Trump's made it clear with this he's perfectly okay with so-called illegal immigrants "earning" citizenship or whatever so long as he gets what he wants. The law doesn't matter. What's right doesn't matter. It's purely transactional. And he doesn't care how many people are hurt. At all.
