Saagar Enjeti (87:16)
Yeah, I'm, I'm not going to go there yet because it is still a possibility. But I will say I think that this is, I think it's dangerous and really defeats the purposes, you know, for everything of the stated goal. And I don't know, though, because at the same time, it seems to me like that's what the Trump administration wants. I have been thinking, you know, quite a lot about this. I don't understand the strategy. And, you know, look, I think people who have watched the show know my feelings about immigration. I think they know my feelings about sanctuary cities. I think it's crazy. You know, part of the argument from the administration is about lack of cooperation from local jails, authorities, etc, for part of the reason of the justification. But the point, I think that belies this broader point where the confrontation that they appear to see week here is with these blue state governors for a sense of control. And a lot of it, you Know, kind of ties back to this fundamental theory which goes back to, let's say, BLM or after Los Angeles, where that this was something that the public sees as restoring order. And looking now at the track record here over the last. What? Yeah, it's January 19th. Wow. So it's actually been a year. It's been a year now. So it's been exactly a year or 364 days of how this has played out. What we have watched is that the administration went from extremely high polls coming in on immigration, around the border approval in the initial days of closing down the border, effectively stopping illegal migration to the United States, to then a shifting of the strategy here, not only with ICE race, but with specific ways of conduct in blue cities, a sort of like retribution. And what has happened is that has dramatically polarized the issue of immigration on the left, number one, because it makes it about something much bigger than, let's say, deportation around, let's say, people who are here illegally and who are criminals to a bigger story about the role of the federal government in the streets here of the U.S. now, if we take it back to BLM, it was actually a very popular decision, this idea, idea of sending in the National Guard federalization, because it felt like things were totally out of control here from local authorities. Part of the problem, and this is why I actually do think the Democratic messaging appears to be hitting, is about this, this notion about ICE and chaos, right. Is that if those two things are tied together, let's say with the shooting of Renee Good or all of these other videos which is going viral here, everywhere, they are seeing that as more chaotic, let's say, than the tens of millions of people who are currently present in our country illegally. Now, I accept and have said, I think that ignores a certain level of chaos of what that means to have tens of millions of people who are here illegally and that the entire societal breakdown that I think that comes from that part of the reason I support it, deportation or any of these initiatives. What we are watching here, though, I think is moving past that and is instead largely about confrontation with a theory. A theory backed on something that came in the 2024 election, which, again, was about control. But I think it misreads how much of the public, first of all, has fuzzy ideas around, you know, various different things. But it also makes it, you know, distasteful, maybe the wrong word, but it is one where, you know, individuals like myself, many. I mean, there was that fe famous clip going around of a guy who, in Minneapolis, he was like, listen, I'm right leaning, but this seems crazy, right? And I do think that what that ignored is that there were two different choices that the administration could have chosen to go about this type of thing. One is actually the initial Florida approach, which was E verify. E Verify punishes businesses, employers, and makes it structurally and financially impossible to operate illegally in the country. This incurred just self deportation. It doesn't require, let's say, guys with masks going door to door asking about your neighbors. The other which they chose was ice. And then they publicize, you know, much of this action as like a show of strength, a show to Americans that they're, like, in control. I think that they're really losing the country and the message on this one. And I think the more, though, just like in international affairs, that's what the first hour and a half of our show has been about. The more that they lose some of the support, it actually kind of ratchets things up in a more dangerous direction because the administration always doubles, triples, quadruples down. And that's where. That is where I have fear. I don't. I'm not afraid of a civil war. I still have relative faith in our justice system. Remember that a judge ruled multiple times against the Trump deployment to Los Angeles and ruled Italy restored state control. Yeah. I'm not gonna even. An insurrection act, by the way, this. Sometime this week and the next month, the tariffs are likely going down at the court. There has been maybe, although I don't.
