Well, that didn't take long. A week into this shit and we're already talking about internment camps. On Wednesday, a Trump surrogate made the case for creating a federal registry for immigrants from Muslim countries, citing the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as "precedent."
Japanese American internment is 'precedent' for national Muslim registry, prominent Trump backer says
How the hell did we get here? Carl Higbie, a spokesman for a major pro-Trump super PAC, appeared on Megyn Kelly's Fox News show to argue that a national database of Muslim immigrants would be legal and necessary, reminding everybody that the United States did it before with the Japanese during World War II.
He neglects to mention that it's considered one of the shittiest, darkest moments of trampling civil liberties in our nation's history. "Come on," Kelly prods back. "You're not suggesting that we go back to the days of internment camps? That's the kind of stuff that gets people scared, Carl."
Higbie insists that he's not proposing that at all. "I'm just saying there is precedent for it."
"The president needs to protect America first, and if that means having people that are not protected under our Constitution have some sort of registry so we can understand -- until we can identify the true threat and where it's coming from -- I support it," said Higbie. Maaaaaan, fuck that.
Earlier this week, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who is a key member of Trump's transition team, said that the president-elect's policy advisors were considering implementing a national registry of immigrants and visitors from Muslim countries. (Kobach, by the way, is a possible candidate for attorney general.)
You may remember that during the campaign, when Trump was asked if he would require Muslims to register in a database, he said he "would certainly implement that -- absolutely."
What could possibly go wrong? What could possibly go wrong with singling out and profiling an entire racial or religious group for the sake of national security? Lest you forget, this is not a hypothetical, imaginary situation. We have several (and not so far removed) obvious historical precedents of exactly how this can all go horribly wrong, when justice and equality get thrown out the window.
Again, during the campaign Trump actually said that he might have supported the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. "I would have had to be there at the time to tell you, to give you a proper answer," Trump told TIME last year. "I certainly hate the concept of it. But I would have had to be there at the time to give you a proper answer."
You "had to be there"? The proper answer is no. The proper answer is hell no. But now this guy is President of the United States of America, his top policy guys are talking about a registry, and are you honestly unable to imagine the short leaps it would take to go from a registry to internment camps?
I'm not waiting for shit to get that far. The time to act is now, my friends.
More here: Trump Supporter Cites Japanese Internment As 'Precedent' For Muslim Registry
