On the Banks of the Rubicon

The Los Angeles protests against ICE and the rapid escalation to violence by the Trump administration is a point of no return

I have a tendency to walk backward into a point I want to make, which can be frustrating for readers, but I think it’s important here so just hang with me for a hundred or so words.

Back in what most people would consider my “radical” youth — my time with ACT-UP/DC and Queer Nation — I wasn’t quite as radical as some people thought. I was the ACT-UP guy who wore a tie to raise money; I did a whole campaign about “Action Through Unity.” I was the middle ground, my libertarian and rural-American-conservatism blending with my libertinism and newly awakened leftism combining into some effort to just try to make everyone get along.

So, keep that in mind as I’m arguing to fucking burn it all down. I am fully radicalized.

One thing has been clear since Trump 2.0 took over the White House and installed Stephen Miller as the emperor’s right hand: they want violence. That’s why they’ve deported people, undocumented and citizens alike, to an El Salvadoran slave prison without due process. It’s why …