The Nativist Delusion and The Letter

If you ever watched The X-Files when it was on back in the day, you will be very familiar with the poster that hangs in Agent Mulder's office of a UFO hovering over the landscape with the bold caption: I WANT TO BELIEVE. 

In our current time of nonsense, I find myself drifting more and more to the position of I DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE, because every time the internet gets all riled up over some sign that our populist fever is breaking or some indication that there's a scandal that might finally have the current President dead to rights, it never seems to go anywhere. But very quietly, I'm starting to wonder about the following:

1. The Nativist Delusion: Real Or Cope? Illegal immigrants have become the Right's answer for every social ill, in much the same way that structural racism was blamed for every social ill by the Left at the height of Woke. We can slice and dice Medicaid and Medicare because it's costing so much because of all the illegals on it. Can't find a house? That's because the illegals took them all. Can't find a job? The illegals took those as well. [Insert Requisite South Park Reference Here. IYKYK] But here's the thing: as a first-generation immigrant who did it legally, I can assure you there is a core group of immigrants in this country that resent illegal immigrants for not following the rules and waiting patiently in line like they did. Immigrating legally to this country is about as pleasant as I imagine a daily rectal exam would be, and it takes a long, long time. The hoops, the bureaucracy, the paperwork, the checks, the compliance rules, the mild panic when they tell you about a rule that you're out of compliance with that you knew nothing about because they didn't tell you. It would chap the ass of anyone who went to the trouble of doing it legally to see illegal immigrants getting a free pass, just because.

But you start to lose that core when you send masked and non-uniformed ICE agents into random neighborhoods, medical centers, schools, courtrooms, and you start taking people into custody because 'they fit the profile' (i.e. they're brown) and don't bother to check their citizenship status at all. You can only say, 'well to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs' and unacceptable shit like, 'mistakes are gonna happen' before people start saying 'thanks, but no thanks' and multiple rounds of polling are starting to reflect that. And the Nativists know that, because the number of Tweets saying that elected officials should only be natural-born American citizens at every level of government is increasing by the day. (There's also a disturbing resurgence of good old-fashioned blood and soil old-time-y racism on Twitter. Delightful rants from neckbeards about interracial marriage, that sort of thing. That weird subgenre of Tweets that pretends that white rule in Rhodesia was actually pretty fucking cool, brah. The thinly veiled racism of 'Black Fatigue' Tweets as well, they just need to bring back phrenology, and the whole shitty bingo card will be full again.)

Republican Congresswoman Maria Salazar from Florida and Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar from Texas introduced the Dignity Act, which would provide a pathway to citizenship or legal status for folks who have been here doing work and have kept a clean criminal record. It's mild as hell, all things considered, and I think the majority of the country would be largely okay with it, but the Nativists online instantly proclaimed Congresswoman Salazar a traitor to the party. I saw bold statements saying that 'she's in a Republican +20 District and can be replaced by whomever we want', and so I was curious. Where was Florida's 27th Congressional District?

Turns out, that's Miami, and how Hispanic is it? 73%. 

As the kids say: Bet. I wanna see that primary, I want to pop the goddamn popcorn, because if I'm betting anything, it's that Congresswoman Salazar ain't dumb. She knows that the people she represents (a lot of whom look like her) probably have some concerns about the Nativist ICE Agenda, and she's trying to respond to those. 

This is emblematic of the problem a terminally online Administration is going to have. You can get very high on your own supply, and that's a potential problem heading into 2026. Twitter is not real life. I don't think that's where the American people are, and if we start running into economic headwinds in the last two quarters of 2025 and into 2026, they might find out just how small a minority they actually are.

I am no fan of the current President, but if he's serious about securing his legacy, he'll shoot Steven Miller out of a cannon, replace Homan, actually secure the border, and focus on criminals and shove the Nativists back in the box where they came from for another 80 years or so. Secure the border, secure the ports, tax remittances, make immigration legal, limited, and lawful, and that's a decent formula. Secret police in masks and no uniforms grabbing randos off the street just because they can? Not so much.

2. The Letter: In general, I am not disposed to conspiracy theories. The internet is absolutely awash with them these days, and in general, I long for the days when those people didn't have a global reach, just a poorly produced newsletter that had a mailing list and swirled around on the fringes of actual discourse. But damn it, this Epstein Shit is making it hard not to believe in the conspiracy theories. The Letter the WSJ dropped yesterday seems to have had the effect of uniting the MAGA clans, at least for now, but it's also a transcript of the letter and not the actual letter itself. President Trump has a unique signature to say the least, and the easiest way to clear this up: release the actual letter.

Do I think this is the smoking gun, the silver bullet? Honestly, no... he's wriggled out of so many things before, I feel like the chronic venous insufficiency they conveniently dropped yesterday is probably more likely to get him more than any of this Epstein mess. Do I care who is on the list? I do not. Do I expect that Trump is probably in there? And Bill Gates? And Bill Clinton? Yes. I don't care at this point, the only way to get everybody to shut up: release the list. And the very quick heel turn on this issue looks frankly suspect and either indicates that the President is up to his eyeballs in this mess or that the Intelligence Community doesn't want their connections to Epstein exposed, which raises even more questions that need answers. (They haven't cited national security... at least not explicitly, but if you're going to convince me that Trump is blameless here-- a hard sell, given that purported letter-- but let's say he is. The only explanation for the quick heel turn is that someone, somewhere, said, 'Hey, Mr. President... you can't release that list. It will screw us.')

It would also explain why the Biden Administration didn't release the list either. At this point, I don't think anyone in the general public cares about who is on the list. They don't care if they're Democrats or Republicans. They just want the list, and if justice needs to be done, it should be done. 

We'll see what happens, but if the WSJ has more, they should release it and the easiest way to shut people up: release that damn letter.