[Photo: “Amber Alert”, Steve Sack, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune.]

By Rowan Wolf

If there are any doubts in anyone’s mind about whether or not we are in a dire situation, quit doubting. Trump has reshaped the Justice Department, and after endlessly harassing Jeff Sessions and then firing him, he has found his Roy Cohn in Bill Barr. He has the Congressional Republicons in his pocket to both run interference – and block anything coming through the Senate – and perpetuate/amplify whatever lie he is spinning at the moment. He has a conservative majority on the Supreme Court with two Justices who may have sworn fealty to him. Now he is purging the Department of Homeland Security which may be the most sweeping bureaucracy in the US government because they weren’t tough enough, or willing to break the law for him, and there lies the most worrisome thing of all – Trump’s active disregard for the law and his desire that his will IS law.

There is a maelstrom of issues and changes going on right now, all with Trump at their center. They are all part of the same dynamic. On one hand they are tightening the control of Trump and his white nationalist agenda that is critical to his political base. On the other they are aimed at deflecting consequences, threats, and financial risk from Trump (and possibly his children and Jared Kushner). The number of balls in the air, and the severity of the actions taken, are almost certain to increase. I believe that Trump is fully capable of a full court surge that scatters opposition as they attempt to deploy to stop the hemorrhaging, and that he is capable of barbarous actions which will blood his base and horrify the rest of us.

At least six top administration positions at the Department of Homeland Security are now standing open: Homeland Security Secretary and Deputy Secretary, FEMA Director, ICE Director, and  the Secret Service Director. This is being called a “purge”, and I believe it definitely qualifies as that. It is clear that DHS is being restaffed with folks Trump feels are an ideological fit with him, and willing to act regardless of the boundaries of the law. Given the purge across the top administrators of DHS, it is insightful to look a little further across the component agencies of DHS (below) where at least 1/3 of critical administrative positions are “acting”.  “Acting” means that they have been directly appointed by Trump, but have NOT been confirmed by the Senate. Essentially, they are private employees of Donald Trump at this point.

The question we need to ask is “Has Donald Trump found his Oskar Dirlewanger in Stephen Miller?”.  Dirlewanger was a known sadist, and apparently had no moral compunctions in following the orders of his leader. He joined the Nazi party in 1923, long before the WWII. After various arrests for violent crimes (rape and assault) and theft, he enter the SS from a friend who has connections to Himmler. Dirlewanger was given a brigade of brigands – mostly violent criminals –  and they became among the most feared SS groups and were notorious for their brutality:

“The Dirlewanger Brigade, also known as the SS-Sturmbrigade Dirlewanger (1944),^[1] or the 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (German: 36. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS), was a unit of the Waffen-SS during World War II. Composed of criminals expected to die fighting on the front line, the unit was led by Oskar Dirlewanger. Originally formed for counter-insurgency duties against the Polish resistance movement, the unit was used in the Bandenbekämpfung (“bandit fighting”) actions in German-occupied Europe. During its operations, it engaged in raping, pillaging and mass murder of civilians.

The unit participated in some of World War II’s most notorious campaigns of terror in Belarus, where it carved out a reputation within the Waffen-SS for committing atrocities. Numerous army and SS commanders attempted to remove Dirlewanger from the SS and disband the unit, although he had patrons within the Nazi apparatus who intervened on his behalf. His unit took part in the destruction of Warsaw, and the massacre of ~100,000 of the city’s population during the Warsaw Uprising; and participated in the brutal suppression of the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. Dirlewanger’s formation generated fear throughout Waffen-SS organizations, including the SS-Führungshauptamt (SS Command Headquarters) and earned notoriety as the most criminal and heinous SS unit in Hitler’s war machine.”

Nielsen, the face of the child separation policy (one of the cruelest immigration policies in the modern era of US history), is fired because she’s not willing to be cruel enough. One has to wonder what the hell Trump (and his partner in terror, Stephen Miller) wanted her to do. The firing of Neilsen and subsequent “house cleaning” at DHS, has pundits asking what could Trump possibly want to happen at the border. From various appearances made by Stephen Miller and is off the cuff acceptance of the “zero tolerance” policy and consequences, he likely has the requisite “cruelty” and lack of moral compass Trump seems to be seeking.

I’m afraid that my imagination does not fall short of what actions he likely wants to take. He craves a show, blood and circuses. He wants to instill terror into those he considers prey (primarily non-whites and particularly migrants), and horror for his “enemies” (the Democrats, press, and anyone who disagrees with him). I would not be surprised to see live fire at the US-Mexico border, or at the borders of the “Northern Triangle” – Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador-  where many of the asylum seekers are fleeing.

Notes:

Agencies of DHS

• DHS: Immigration and Naturalization
• Office of Operations Coordination
• Office of Intelligence Analysis
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Citizenship  and Immigration Services
• Homeland Security Investigations
• U.S. Border Patrol
• U.S. Customs Service
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
• Transportation and Security Agency
• U.S. Secret Service
• Federal Protective Service
• Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate
• Management Directorate
• Science and Technology Directorate
• Federal Law Enforcement Training Center
• Federal Emergency Management Agency
• U.S. Coast Guard

Roy Cohn got his chops as Joseph McCarthy’s counsel during the McCarthy “investigations” and purge of suspected Communists. He later became a lawyer for Donald Trump. He has a reputation as a no holds barred lawyer who would go to the mat for Donald Trump. Trump has felt that is the Attorney General’s job to do the same for Trump – protect him from political and legal harm. It is becoming all too clear that Bill Barr is readily embracing that task.

Rowan Wolf, PhD

I am a sociologist, writer and activist with life long engagement in social justice, peace, environmental, and animal rights movements. My research and writing includes issues of imperialism, oppression, global capitalism, peak resources, global warming, and environmental degradation. I taught sociology for twenty-two years, was a member of the City of Portland’s Peak Oil Task Force, and maintain my own site Uncommon Thought Journal. I may be reached by email at [email protected]. On a personal note, I am also a survivor of pulmonary hypertension by the gift of a donor’s lungs in 2011. I do my best to honor that gift by trying to be my best self and give to the world what small gifts I have. Among of those is a deep passion for life, and the lives of all those with whom I share the planet.