The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Listening to Border Czar Tom Homan defend the military deployment to suppress protests in Los Angeles, you'd think he had no other option. He’d have you believe that, despite opposition from the governor down to the local police, the real culprits are the protesters. Further, anyone who challenges this narrative, including the governor, must be one of them.

As Homan said on CNN Monday evening: "Yes, it all depends on the activities of these protesters – I mean, they make the decisions. I keep hearing reports that they're rioting because President Trump sent National Guard here, it's just ridiculous.”

From a psychological perspective, this is a classic abusive mindset. Men who beat their partners often say the same thing: It’s her fault I had to hit her.

I’m currently watching The Handmaid’s Tale, and I can see this same abusive logic play out repeatedly. In one pivotal scene, June, the central character, is forced to look at the hanging body of a man who tried to help her escape Gilead. In a stern and sinister voice, Aunt Lydia said, “Look at him! You did this! It’s your fault that this man is hanging here.” And sure enough, June—renamed “Offred” by the regime—repeats the words: “It’s my fault.” This is how abuse warps the mind. It forces victims to accept blame for the cruelty inflicted on them. But the truth is obvious: In this particular scene, June didn’t kill that man. The state did. Yet in Aunt Lydia’s world, the state is innocent. They “had no choice.”

This is where Tom Homan’s words sting especially hard. We’re expected to overlook the presence of heavily armed federal forces detaining people without identifying themselves or presenting arrest warrants. Numerous reports confirm that individuals are being swept up in operations under the banner of “maintaining order,” blatantly denying them their constitutional rights. And yet, we’re being asked to believe it’s the people’s fault.

The real tragedy is that our government is beginning to resemble those “failed nations” we love to criticize—regimes that detain people without accountability, deny their existence, and pin the blame on the populace.

So, I have to ask: Are we still a government of, for, and by the people? Or is our government turning on us?

Stand up! Resist! Fight for the freedoms that so many before us have sacrificed so much to secure. History is watching. It is now our turn. If we don’t fight for our sacred Constitution, who will?