Afternoon all. Sharing a new conversation I had this afternoon with Mexican-American journalist and commentator Leon Krauze. Leon just spent a week among the protestors and the people of Los Angeles, and came by to share his first hand account of what he saw. He put some of his observations into a new essay that ran in today’s Washington Post, The Real Siege Of Los Angeles.
It has been a long week and I know many of you are getting ready for the big No Kings protests this weekend. So get to this interview when you can. It is one of the most important conversations I’ve ever hosted here at Hopium. Leon is able to bring home the inhumanity, the cruelty and the terrible reality of what immigrants are now facing in America better than anyone else I know. We also reflect on the assault on Senator Padilla, the most prominent Mexican-American elected official in America, and the signal it sent to immigrants of all kinds across the country.
Related Hopium Materials
Trump Is Weak, Not Strong (Post and Video)
An excerpt from this morning’s post:
So here we are. A ridiculous place. Madness. Trump needs the military because it’s clear DHS/ICE is not equipped, trained or capable of removing all “those people.” And so the domestic terror campaign escalates. Communities are under siege. Families torn apart. People literally disappeared to foreign gulags. Domestic law enforcement has spun completely out of control. Businesses all across the US are being disrupted and hurt. Many could fold, causing mass layoffs and extraordinary economic pain. Prices for our food, health care, child care, and travel are all going to rise, doing further harm to American consumers. The damage being done to the country, to people, to families is incredible, jawdropping and beyond the pale.
This damage is only a piece of Trump’s agenda of sabotage, plunder and betrayal. His tariffs have raised prices on everyone, slowed the American and global economies and alienated governments throughout the world. His reconciliation bill would put the fiscal integrity of the US in danger, and cause serious hardship for tens of millions of Americans. His attack on science, research, academia and public health is wrecking our greatest driver of prosperity and success, reducing opportunities for all young people today and doing enormous harm to the public health of all of us. We are in the midst of an unprecedented attack on everything that has made America great, and the “life, liberty and happiness” of the American people themselves.
Good luck tomorrow everyone. It’s a big day!
Onward - Simon
Share this post