What ICE is doing in US airports today, it will be doing at US polling places in November.

[pattyhanson@mastodon.social]

@ben People (not anyone specific) say "this has to end" but most are unwilling to do what's actually required to make it end. The general consensus from the public & from our great members of congress is that street protests are going to do the trick & that's wrong. In the past during more "normal" times, protests could be effective. So were petitions. But so many refuse to acknowledge we aren't in normal times. The Kings Protest actually serves as flattery for Trump. It recognizes him as a king

[voteeveryelection@mstdn.social]

@ben agreed

[joeace967@shakedown.social]

@ben As a practical matter, people of many political stripes fly. Even a Kool-Aid drinking MAGA person showing up at an airport must think having ICE instead of TSA employees is a stupid way of doing this.

[freyjfreyj@mastodon.social]

@ben I agree with you.
I have a friend who has a theory that having ICE at airports is good, because then the clueless white people will become uncomfortable and begin to understand how people of color have been feeling.

[stonykark@mstdn.ca]

@ben @msbw it ends when you, personally (with a few thousand friends), end it. So many americans claim not to like any of this, but never enough to actually do anything about it. You have to DO something.

[phoenixserenity@beige.party]

@JoeAce967
Unfortunately, that's not the case. I saw several news vids of travelers being interviewed at various US airports where ICE was sent. There was several MAGA interviewed & almost all of them said that they don't have a problem with ICE in airports, that ICE is helping make the airports safer & that ICE aren't a threat because they're just standing around & talking to each other.

You can't cure some MAGA loyalists.

@ben

[geonz@mathstodon.xyz]

@freyjfreyj @ben It might not "be good,' but that could be a good side effect.
I think the goal was for people to feel *safer* -- these folks will protect them from those foreigners at the airport!!!
but honestly I don't think they know the posture to do that.

[dougiec3@libretooth.gr]

@freyjfreyj @ben
Also, my understanding is that ICE agents cannot wear masks in the airports and are subject to being photographed and their images posted.

[malstrom@metalhead.club]

@PattyHanson @ben Regardless, protests like No Kings still bring people together, boost morale, and help people make new connections and get more involved within their communities. On a local scale, these events have significant positive impacts, and they are by no means mutually exclusive with actual systemic change.

Frankly, I don't care whether Trump is flattered or not. He'd be flattered if he dropped a turd that resembled himself. And he's flattered by yes men in power every day.

[cassandra_complex@beige.party]

@dougiec3 @freyjfreyj @ben
Isn't it interesting how much better behaved they are in the airports without their masks than they've been on the streets? (At least according to the recorded images/videos - it's easier to delete the ones that paint them in a bad light too)

[bebadefabo@mastodon.social]

@ben document the ice agents without their masks now so we can cross reference their atrocities when they put the masks back on

[sharoncrockett@toot.community]

@ben@werd.socialhttps://toot.community/@SharonCrockett/116280953733978402

[alice@lgbtqia.space]

@stonykark I agree, but that's a lot easier to say than to do.

And folx *are* doing something. Millions of us are protesting, aiding the communities that ICE is attacking, posting to keep the stories alive, donating to causes that are fighting our government, doing mutual aid, filming and tracking ICE, voting, and a million other ways of resisting.

Everyone has a different threshold for "well, I guess this is worth dying for now". Usually that threshold is when they have no other option left.

@ben @msbw

[starlily@mastodon.social]

@ben Congress, who has the literal power to end it now, arent doing anything at all, because they are complicit.
Dems are controlled opposition, doing just enough to provide the illusion of resistance.

So what do you suggest?

[kitkat_blue@mastodon.social]

@ben

November, December, and January next year will be the most historic months this nation has ever seen, including the civil war era.

Why? Because the republic will either be preserved --or it will fall.

Gonna be a eventful, historic year anyway it goes.

[effariwhy@theforkiverse.com]

@ben we've had so many elections in the past 10 years which could have prevented this had people shown up to vote AND used their vote strategically. People couldn't be bothered to do that. This is the police state their idiocy brought down on us. I don't expect them to save us now and the people who have been doing the right thing are exhausted. We could end this if voters would get their heads out of their asses and make a plan to show up in November. History tells us how that will go.

[crazyeddie@mastodon.social]

@freyjfreyj @ben I hate to break it to you, but your friend is an idiot.

[six_grandfathers_mountain@mastodon.social]

@PhoenixSerenity @JoeAce967 @ben
RE
#MAGA folks say...#ICE is helping make the #airports safer...just standing around & talking to each other

#WOKE folks say #Trump is making a distraction because he stopped pay for the #TSA

Stuart Stevens of the Lincoln Project says, (45sec point) ...

"an incoherent mind at work..."

@Isnotgood
Thx 4 orig Ben boost

#MSNOW Tue Mar 24 2026

[crazyeddie@mastodon.social]

@rightsprung @ben I think you're wrong, but we'll see.

My guess is they disband the TSA and put CBP/ICE in charge of all airports.

We're going whole hog Nazi here. This isn't "practice".

That's my assessment anyway. I hope you're right, but I think you're wrong.

[kierkegaanks@beige.party]

@skoombidoombis @ben and being a barrier between her and voting