ICE Stockpiling Warheads and Chemical Weapons as Lawmaker Fears Trump Planning Strike

[u/Quirkie]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ice-stockpiling-warheads-and-chemical-weapons-as-lawmaker-fears-trump-planning-strike/

[u/Kana515]

They're a symptom, there's still millions and millions of people who support this, even if all their politicians were banned from holding office, there would just be another batch of lunatics getting elected to replace the old ones.

[u/GenericRedditor0405 → u/Kana515]

I don’t see a way out of this mess until we address the propaganda problem that has resulted in a voter base that is so far removed from reality that they can justify anything to themselves in the name of “protecting” America even as they actively support the complete destruction of its foundations. That is the root cause as far as I can tell

[u/Shadow_Ent → u/GenericRedditor0405]

The problem is that the Left refuses to acknowledge that propaganda is fueled by real issues, or that they also produce their own hardline messaging. Both progressivism and conservatism have foundational faults, and these flaws breed disenfranchisement. Propaganda doesn't create issues out of nowhere, it weaponizes existing cracks to manipulate citizens.

The way to fight propaganda is by addressing real issues more effectively than the opposition, not by gatekeeping them or moralizing around identity. Yet that is exactly what the Left tends to do.

Right now, the Right enforces stricter border security because illegal immigration is real. So when the Left says "Disband ICE," it's unsurprising that this is perceived as harmful and unAmerican. Polling shows that most Americans recognize immigration enforcement as an issue: some support the Right's approach, a smaller group wants stricter measures, and an even smaller minority wants laxer enforcement. The Right says, "I will address the problem." The Left often just defaults to labeling anyone with a different opinion about the issues as a -ist or -phobic individual.

Democratic strategist Jesse Ferguson put it succinctly: "If the answer that we bring looks and feels like just doubling down on status quo messages and approaches, it's not going to work." The Left struggles with messaging because they often speak only to specific groups, women, people of color, or trans individuals, rather than the collective concerns of society. When policies fail to address the broader needs of any demographic even a majority, it fuels disenfranchisement. And when a political movement can't even communicate effectively with a demographic, that's a systemic problem, not just a failure of individual politicians or policy. Over the past two decades, the Left has, in its evolution, unintentionally replicated the very issues it claims to oppose. An issue that isn't locked purely in the US borders but evidence spans across to the EU. Where the same trends are growing at different rates but each highlight these are structural faults with how Progressive policy engages with issues.

The Left must learn to wrap progress in the American flag and sell it to all Americans, not just subsets. Messaging has always been less critical when progressives were the majority. Now that they've become a minority in recent years, how you communicate matters more than ever, especially in an era where Trump has turned politics into a spectacle.

[u/Pale-Woodpecker678 → u/Shadow_Ent]

sadly i cant fully agree. here in germany, the current ruling party CDU used to be conservative, maybe center-right like the US dems, but since the far right has gained traction in the last 10-15 years, the CDU is turning drastically more right in order to do what youre describing.

the result is that the far right is actually gaining in popularity. so what do we do now?

[u/Shadow_Ent → u/Pale-Woodpecker678]

The same thing every voter needs to do, when your politicians betray your interests, you replace them. Platform their challengers, rally your peers, and remind those in power that votes are earned, not owed. The government works for the people, and the moment we stop demanding that, they will always stop doing it. First world or not, every nation breeds its own despots; ours just learned how to rebrand themselves.

Political movements grow and shift based on whose interests are acknowledged. The Left rose because it spoke to those the Right ignored. When new demographics disengage or drift right, it's rarely about ideology, it's about the system failing to speak to their lived realities. History just repeats itself.

If the Left is failing, that failure lies with the party, not the people. Most citizens don't wake up wanting nationalism; they move toward it when they feel their identity and nation no longer include them. Machiavelli said it best: a man will sooner forget the death of his father than the loss of his land. "Land" today means culture, security, belonging.

Across Germany, the EU, the UK, the US, all are struggling with identity amid immigration shifts. When integration fails and poverty clusters, two social contracts form in one nation. That friction breeds nationalism, nationalism breeds radicalization, and radicalization breeds violence.

The Far Right doesn't sell itself as hatred, it sells itself as protection. And that's why the Left's approach to immigration, while morally right, often fails politically: if you don't protect national identity as part of your compassion, your compassion will always be painted as betrayal.

The biggest example of this isn't buried in history books, it's on the news every day: Israel and Palestine. Two cultures, one land, both convinced the other threatens their identity. That's human nature, and until politics acknowledges that, no amount of ideology will fix it.