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Trump shuts the border on the pretense of disease

Stephen Miller has been thinking for a while about how to bring back Title 42 expulsions along the border, which were imposed during the COVID epidemic and then lifted when the emergency was declared over. But no matter how hard Miller looked, there were no suitable diseases around. So apparently he just gave up:

President Donald Trump is preparing to send 10,000 troops to the southern border, and Border Patrol agents have been directed to deny entry to asylum seekers if they “traveled through a country with communicable disease,” according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefing document obtained by The Washington Post.

The order does not list any specific disease, essentially closing the border to anyone attempting to exercise the right to seek humanitarian refuge under U.S. law.

That should do the job, since every country has some communicable diseases. As with so much of Trump's activity, however, it has a fatal flaw: It's illegal. But I guess he doesn't care. I suppose the idea is to shut the border until a judge orders him to open it back up, in hopes that the confusion by itself will scare everyone off. Who knows? It might work.

But that's true of lots of things as long as you don't care about the law.

88 thoughts on “Trump shuts the border on the pretense of disease

  1. Justin

    And then he’ll ignore the judges orders. Really, this isn’t that difficult. It’s going to be the most interesting part… seeing trump and his whole administration tell the judges to drop dead. Eventually they will just all rule in his favor. Hilarious.

      1. memyselfandi

        That approach is actually quite common in US history. Why patent law has no connection to how it is supposed to operate.

      2. Justin

        My view is rapidly becoming conventional wisdom.

        “You might think that an argument too lawless and racist for James Ho to stomach would be DOA, but that underestimates how quickly the wingnut legal industrial complex can invent ad hoc justifications for any policy outcome it wants to reach. It’s already happening with Ho himself! These arguments are not serious legal or constitutionally but should be taken very seriously politically.”

        https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/01/what-the-attack-on-birthright-citizenship-means

  2. Jimm

    He promised theater, here it is.

    Not accepting asylum refugees for a period of time is not going to end the Republic, and the real question will continue to be competence, which Republican administrations have not been able to show since Reagan (and Bush I), and people will continue to vote their pocketbooks (and slowly grow disillusioned with the nonsense and other incompetence too).

      1. Jimm

        Oh they definitely do. Most people don't care that much about immigration or other culture war issues, as long as times are good, and when times aren't good, they're not really focused on those things either (tho obviously a lot of MAGA is), but getting times to be good again, which was the case in this election.

        1. jdubs

          Voting results seem to have proven the opposite. People cast their vote for a variety of reasons, but there's just no evidence for your assertion.

          1. Jimm

            I wasn't intending to make an evidential case in the comments here, but there definitely is evidence for this (including historical), and I've not seen any evidence supporting a more important factor than high prices.

            The game here as always is to claim the election is about everything the winner wants it to be about, as if in this case everyone suddenly changed how they prioritize culture war issues (note "prioritize" here not that opinions didn't shift a little bit), when what we really heard about across the board, especially in the demographics that Trump gained in, is that this was about the economy aka high prices stupid).

            Trump is also a charismatic character running against someone who is relatively not as well (in comparison at least), so that also likely played a smaller role (along with Biden being the butt of a lot of old age jokes).

            I would have put a very large wager that Michelle Obama would have wiped the table with Trump, even with inflation, but never had any sense that Harris would win (but saw it as a possibility even up to the end, even with the unusual rollout and campaign length).

      2. Josef

        I dont think DEI and the other culture war bs would have had as much an effect if it had not been for inflation. Get people angry over high prices and keep them angry or a bit more so with the culture war shit. It made for a good combination. For Trump and the GOP.

    1. Solar

      People don't vote their pocket books, that's just the excuse they give because saying "I voted for Republicans because I'm an asshole and a bigot", might be frowned upon, while everyone can relate to voting to improve your economic situation.

      If people voted their pocketbooks Republicans would never win a single election.

    2. memyselfandi

      If people voted their pocket books they wouldn't have re-elected the man who holds the record for 2nd worst real gdp growth record in all of US history and 2nd worst job creation record in all of US history. The man defines gross incompetence when it comes to his economic record.

  3. Joseph Harbin

    And within 90 days he'll decide whether to invoke the Insurrection Act allowing him to deploy US troops for domestic law enforcement.

    Will he or won't he? (Don't think too hard about that one.)

    Like a lot of people, I've been struggling to understand where we're going. Some people seem to assume we just need to hold on till the courts, or the elections in two years or four years, get the country back on track. But I don't think we ever go back to what we might have hoped for this country for our entire lives right up until November 4.

    I think we need to understand we are living in a modern parallel of the 1930s. The Nazis have taken over our government without firing a shot. We live in occupied territory. Media and other institutions operate under Vichy rules. Democratic opposition, with a few exceptions, is MIA, confused. or overwhelmed. Der Führer's approval ratings are near all-time highs. The market is heading up. The party is on as the world burns.

    It's been nice knowing you.

    1. Jimm

      Stay calm my friend, exaggeration and/or hysteria does no one any good, and makes a wreck of sound reasoning and thinking.

        1. Jimm

          This has nothing to do with post-WWI Germany, and the political context, culture, tradition, institutions and most importantly people are vastly different.

          Facile comparisons to forecast our doom are always lame.

          1. Joseph Harbin

            ...the political context, culture, tradition, institutions and most importantly people are vastly different.

            So that's true, and Germany is not a perfect parallel for where we are now. But if the differences between our situation and theirs is going to save us their fate, how do you account for where we are now? Germany could blame its descent into tyranny on the desperation of the worst economy in history. What's our excuse?

            Our heritage as a free and open society, with a long history of being a stable democracy, helped us prevail through far worse hardships in our past. Whatever strengths we once had seem shockingly absent today.

            1. Jimm

              We had a little inflation, which people here get pissed about, so the incumbent party in the White House lost, and not by much, so you're on the right track about Germany, our economy overall is not anywhere near where they were, and our people not feeling further humiliated from a war defeat either.

              1. OldFlyer

                Yup and when you refute all the economy gripes, it comes down to our "fundamental" freedom to gaslight election denial and proudly villainize poor, immigrants and gays.

                50+ per cent of Americans are fine with that

                1. Jimm

                  People hyperfocus on inflation aka high prices because complicates their life and ability to maintain their consumer lifestyles, and having to give things up is psychologically much worse than arguments about the overall economy doing pretty good, or even their retirement accounts growing nicely from stock market gains (that's money for later).

            2. painedumonde

              Maybe, we sat on the shelf too long, we've gone sour...

              Information at our finger tips, myths everywhere about everything, gotta hustle either to eat or to make the best Insta, siloed propaganda channels on legacy TV, newspapers owned by sociopaths, a hardening of a religious movement started in the '70's, the system working to push money into the hands of people who already have it at faster rate than ever before, a state of forever war...

              It's us, we're poisoned, we hate it, blame everybody around us, and now we gotta drink that vinegar.

          2. memyselfandi

            Sorry but your claim the people are different is entirely the result of you being a dishonorable liar. The people are exactly the same.

      1. Joseph Harbin

        Hysteria? No doubt it's early and the worst that may come is not certain.

        But where do we look now for realistic hope that this ends in a good way?

        1. Jimm

          The history of Republican incompetence when in power since Reagan, and that Americans nearly always vote their pocketbooks first.

          1. Joseph Harbin

            I expect incompetence. So he doesn't get everything done he wants to do. That doesn't remove him or his party from power. They'll stay at it.

            Don't count on the economy taking him down. There are tailwinds that could last for years. And keep on eye on voting rights too.

            1. Jimm

              The economy is a house of cards right now, per usual, and never underestimate Republican ability to screw things up when in charge (usually through patronage and deregulation), Trump is already soiling his own sleeping area and getting distracted on the culture war over actual leadership.

              1. Joseph Harbin

                I guess I don't see the house of cards. The business cycle is his friend right now.

                How things go in the future no one knows. I see a lot of predictions of boom or bust ahead, but to me it seems like the wishful thinking of partisan observers.

            2. Yehouda

              The main "trick" that Putin used to gain power when he started was to intimidate away any serious potential opposing candidate.
              The main danger for democracy in the US is Trump scaring all serious democrat candiddates from running.

                  1. realrobmac

                    Trump can't run for election again. And if he could that is 4 years away. I don't think any Dems will be too scared to oppose him. And he'll be 82 in 2028. The man is not immortal.

                    1. Yehouda

                      What do you think will stop him harassing democrat candidates, up to and including killing?
                      Health issues certainly may stop him, and maybe a large blue tsunamy in 2026. Otherwise I don't what will stop him, and you don't either.

        2. go-grizzlies

          Only chance is if they get that Mars-bound rocket ready quickly & the prez rides along w/ apartheid bro (& others pls). Sad that this is my one “realistic” hope. But here’s hoping . . .

      2. jdubs

        Your response also sounds straight out of the early Nazi days when many gave the same reasons not to worry about the new Nazi party.

        It's not a big deal, don't worry about it, they are incompetent, it's the economy stupid, the real problem are the people worried about the harmless nazis, we must pay no attention to what the man says or does. just assume he is harmless...

        A response straight out of the 30s. You might be right, but there's no reason to assume your bad recollection of history is a good guide to future events.

        It's strange that these responses don't address the fact that the guy actively tried to overthrow the US election results. We aren't told to ignore this for reason X, we just pretend it didn't happen because it's hard to fit into the desired narrative. C'est bizarre

        1. Jimm

          Do you even know what they were saying and experiencing in Germany after WWI, from their perspective (not ours), you've done this research and know that I'm saying the same stuff?

          I'll go ahead and answer that for you, no you haven't, and no I'm not.

          We are a completely different country, in a different contextual situation, with much different culture and stronger democratic institutions and tradition (in some ways designed to slow democratic populism), with an apparently strong economy and on top of the world (not humiliated), there is very little comparison (including Trump who bears little resemblance to Hitler).

          1. Solar

            "with an apparently strong economy"

            Yet you keep claiming people vote based on this. With a strong economy Trump shouldn't no have won if that is what people base their voting on.

            1. Jimm

              I didn't say voters are very well informed on the state of the overall economy, and did say they generally can't and don't miss high prices, especially those that impact regular expenses (pocketbook).

              Voters are generally not economists, or trained in economics, and honestly no one made a great case to the voting public that the Democrats were doing a great job with the economy, which however strong in the overall trending is less important to voters than short-term perceptions (as almost none of them frequent here).

          2. Marlowe

            OK, continue to deny the parallels between January 1933 and January 2025 and you're either a liar or a fool. And before you start your condescension, I was a European history and know quite a bit about Germany between the wars. (Yes, it was a while ago and no, I'm not an academic expert, but I know enough to know that it's your denial of the similarities that is facile not the assertion of them. You don't need to a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. Certainly Elon Musk and the goosestepping denizens of the online gutter think the US is heading down the route of Nazi Germany and are utterly delighted. But you'll probably tell me Elon was only awkwardly tossing his heart to the crowd. Twice.

            1. Jimm

              No, I'm not, looked like a Roman salute to me, and not going to bother responding to the rest of that either, I said my peace, and definitely not lying or a fool.

              1. Joel

                "looked like a Roman salute to me"

                Which is *exactly* what the Nazi salute was based on. It's a distinction without a difference, and you know it.

                Smarter trolls, please.

                1. Jimm

                  Roman salute is the Nazi salute, I wasn't posing a difference, calm down, your anger is very apparent, causing you to attack me as a troll and liar when my long history in the comments section of several of Kevin's blogs/sites clearly suggests otherwise.

    2. aldoushickman

      "Der Führer's approval ratings are near all-time highs."

      Meaning: still underwater. I really wish more people would talk about Trump in terms of his historic (and historical) unpopularity; nearly nobody has entered the whitehouse so despised by the public.

      Reporting on Trump should reflect his erratic, flailing attempts to curry the public favor that he so desperately needs, and not characterize what he does as strong, resolute, etc. (looking at you, gray lady, with your talk of Trump "Embrac[ing] the Trappings of a Perceived Throne" or calling his illogical and frequently illegal EOs "muscular.")

          1. Joseph Harbin

            That's a great issue to attack him on. The media and Democratic opposition ought to be making a ton of noise about it.

            Are they? Will they? Will it really make an impact on voters?

            Trump pardoned 1500 J6ers and it got a small mention on the front of the LA Times today. The impression is that it's not that big a deal. It sure should be.

            Which brings us to the longstanding issue of the the Dem side having a weak infrastructure for reaching voters with their message. That had a big impact in the election. Unless Democrats find a way to control the news cycle, nothing Trump does will hurt his standing much.

        1. aldoushickman

          "Poll out today has Trump at net +14 approval. He's not underwater. We are."

          Individual polls are noisy. It's better to look at aggregates and trends.

          https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/donald-trump/

          Even with a holiday-and-inauguration-bump, Trump is still underwater. It's pretty close, but even that indicative of how unpopular the dude is, as basically all presidents go into office with their best numbers, since (enough) Americans are hopeful about the future that they tend to think better of presidents on day 1 than they do on, say, day 100.

      1. orion

        Along these lines it always bothers me when people say half the country voted for Trump. While it's true he received nearly 50% of the ballots cast, only 64% of registered voters voted. So, in reality he was elected by less than 32% of the eligible voters, and therein lies the problem with our elections, and how we interpret them.

        1. Jimm

          Considering there's only ever two serious candidates, saying someone won half the vote isn't saying much.

          Trump maintained his support from 2020 and the Democrats lost 3% of Biden's total, which looked to be just enough to get Trump over the top in the battleground states.

          1. Jimm

            And with inflation as bad as it was, pretty much explains it, despite how unpopular Trump was with so many.

            Get those votes back and MAGA goes the way of the Tea Party (which is really still MAGA).

          2. Joseph Harbin

            FTR, Trump gained 3 million new voters and 3 points in his share of the vote.

            I'm not being hysterical but there are some pretty damn shocking things going on right now that ought to disgust anyone who claims to love this country. I am not exactly thrilled with the response I see so far. That needs to change. It's early, but now is the time to engage.

            There's no use in arguing what happens in the future. We don't know now. We'll find out. I think Dems hold the edge in '28 (assuming Trump is not allowed on the ballot). He has no one in the party to follow in his steps. But that is a long way away. Even with a Dem win, I suspect the damage to the Republic (not to mention, the world order) will be considerable and long-lasting.

            That's what I consider among the more-favorable possibilities.

            1. Jimm

              I'll have to check into where I saw the Trump holding % support and Harris dropping 3%, but in lieu of that:

              https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/the-size-of-donald-trumps-2024-election-victory-explained-in-5-charts

              "In both percentage and raw votes, Trump's margin is on pace to be less than half of what Biden achieved four years earlier.

              Meanwhile, there is ample evidence that Trump's strong performance at the top of the ticket didn't boost down-ballot candidates much."

            2. Jimm

              Ya, my apologies, was confusing some analysis before final vote count that I remembered being a net Kamala -3% in terms of previous vote counts, but just did my own calculation and the net change is actually -4% (Trump's vote tally increased 4% and Harris was down 8% from Biden in 2020).

            3. memyselfandi

              Trump[ had the same percentage of the eligible vote in 2024 as 2020. The 3 million more votes was solely due to population growth.

    3. MrPug

      While I'd like to get closer to Jimm's view, I am, in fact, much closer to yours and mostly because so far the Democrats are showing no signs of understanding the fight the country needs to be fought. That fucking Laken Riley bill vote was a disgrace. And Trump's just summary pardoning of (pretty much) every J6 rioter including the violent ones and at least one convicted of seditious conspiracy. Not good starts for getting any indication of a restrained Trump or the opposition party stepping up.

      The scariest part re the German parallel is that the Allied forces saved Europe and the world from fascism. Who's going to save us from fascism?

    1. Art Eclectic

      Everything I've read says "southern". His support base is not in a lather over the Canadian invasion, and no sane Canadian is coming our way at this point.

  4. akapneogy

    "President Donald Trump is preparing to send 10,000 troops to the southern border, and Border Patrol agents have been directed to deny entry to asylum seekers if they “traveled through a country with communicable disease,”"

    If communicable disease were the real concern, wouldn't sending a team of doctors make more sense?

    1. Art Eclectic

      We could vaccinate them and then they'd be under Bill Gates mind control so we just turn them around and point them south.

  5. Josef

    Trump is the metaphoric gorilla throwing his feces at the wall to see what sticks. Expect tons more shit before it ends.

    1. Art Eclectic

      I feel like he's just throwing stuff at the wall to placate all his various support groups, knowing that a bunch of it isn't going to stick. What fails in court can be passed off as entrenched deep state and used as justification for rooting out more disloyal employees.

      1. Josef

        He's very good at changing topics and or direction. It doesn't hurt his base has the attention span of a teenager or worse.

  6. Josef

    Another pressing issue caught the Orange Turds attention once again. "Trump vows to shine light on New Jersey drone mystery." More distraction for his base to get all worked up about.

  7. DudePlayingDudeDisguisedAsAnotherDude

    Very interesting, given that his HHS nominee, RFK Jr., doesn't believe that there are such things as communicable diseases.

  8. OldFlyer

    as bad as immigration, environment, homophobia and equality is, short of a Dem landslide, we've traded democracy for an autocracy for four years followed by an oligarchy

    Plan A- GOP quietly "amending" voter registration and vote counting laws.

    Plan B- Via vetting, no GOP VP will ever (ever!) again certify an electoral vote count where Dems win

    Plan C- Call up the Jan 6 "Patriots" for a sequel

    Not sure if that's worse, or that 50% of Americans knew it was coming, and were still okay with that

    1. Yehouda

      Harassing democrat candidates in the most dangerous thing, and it is clearly what Trump is trying to do (e.g. Patel). He tried it in 2019 against Biden, but didn't have enough control on the administration to pull it off. This time he will try harder.

  9. D_Ohrk_E1

    We're the ones with the growing numbers of communicable diseases: Lyme, malaria, and zika thanks to climate change; chicken pox and measles thanks to stupid people; STDs because, well, the folks aren't as pure as the religions they purport to cling to.

    But do these folks realize just how much money they're wasting? This deployment is not free. Did they appropriately name the mission Operation Burn Cash?

    Oh, and are you still confident that the mass immigration arrests won't happen in a blue city?

  10. lawnorder

    So entry is denied to asylum seekers who have travelled through a country with communicable disease, but no restrictions are placed on other travellers. It seems to me that an American citizen who has spent time in Mexico is just as much of a public health threat as an asylum seeker who has spent time in Mexico. The same "logic" used to deny entry to asylum seekers applies equally to everyone who seeks to cross the border, whatever their reason may be.

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