On Thursday, Trump posted on X/Twitter demanding that “The CIA must get involved, NOW, before it is too late,” presumably in reaction to the New Orleans New Years Eve massacre, which rightwing activists have declared to be an act of terrorism committed by an Islamist from an immigrant family. In the same post, Trump says “This is what happens when you have OPEN BORDERS,” tying the issue of immigration to terrorism, and then demanding that the CIA become more active in domestic spying.
Trump has already given a number of hints as to what will be used to justify the continued drumbeat for police statism under his second administration. Just prior to his post calling for an expanded CIA, Trump declared that “Radical Islamic Terrorism, and other forms of violent crime, will become so bad in America that it will become hard to even imagine or believe.” This is Trump’s version of the “communists under your bed” hysteria of the 1950s, which, of course was used to justify the growth of the American security state during the Cold war.
War is the health of the state! Trump needs some sort of war to keep the state healthy, after all, he is going to be the top gangster new head of state and a war against the “immigrant invasion” works just as well as the war against Russia in Ukraine and is a lot less expensive. Makes one a little cynical, doesn’t it?