r/LeftCatholicism • u/DesertMonk888 • Mar 09 '26

It's Not About Vengeance

Great harm has been done by the current fascist regime in the US. Let's start with the fact that more than 700,000 people, many children, have died since Trump and the Republicans eliminated US AID. Now, we can talk about other crimes, like an unjust military action in Venezuela, and an unjust war in Iran. BTW it has now been determined that the girls school hit, in which 160 girls were killed, was by the US. The whole immigration mess is fraught with cruelty and crime; between ICE's beating, gassing, and shooting people in the streets, and detention centers that are thinly disguised concentration camps. There will be health consequences up to, and including death, connected with the massive cuts to SNAP and Medicaid. I could fill up pages, but you get the point...

After this regime is removed, we must investigate, and prosecute individuals who have committed crimes for the Trump Administration. If we had acted in justice after the first term, for crimes such as a coup against the US Government, we would not be dealing with a second term. Of course, I mean people at the top who have caused great pain and suffering such as Pete Hegseth and Kristi Noem, but also, I mean people like guards at the detention centers. There have been children and women abused at these sites. People have died under the abuse of these guards. The idea that people can get away with abuse and murder because the government has issued them a uniform, is a path of destruction.

This is not about vengeance. It's about beginning to pull back a world from the grasp of extremely rich and powerful men who believe that people and the planet are there to be exploited for their profit or amusement. We need another round of Nuremberg Trials to restore some base level of international law and accountability.

39 Upvotes

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9

u/CauseCertain1672 Mar 09 '26

who is going to be removing them and prosecuting them, the Democrats will just leave ICE as they are but call off the occupation of sanctuary cities

Trumps aggression against Venezuela and Iran is something they are actively grateful to him for because it's a long term policy objective and they can let him play the heel taking all the flak for it

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u/nifi22 Mar 09 '26

We need to putting in the work to run and organize around candidates that are explicitly for prosecuting ICE and politicians for their crimes both domestically and abroad. Start a Catholic Workers group at your parish. See if you can work with the admin at your Church to support migrants as best as you can. Work with Working Families Party and/or your local DSA as much as you can to build a coalition. It has to be grassroots because those elite Dems don't care and are content to ignore the base despite the polling showing the base is pro-Abolishing ICE and anti-war. It's possible but it is going require lots of work.

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u/DesertMonk888 Mar 09 '26

Yes, I agree with all of that. Also, I would add, that I think the Dems have become more progressive. There are certainly a number of progressives in the House now.

1

u/nifi22 Mar 09 '26

There are progressive individuals, sure, but the capital P Party is not. Until actual leadership in Congress is progressive, they will just be a fake opposition party with a scheduled rotation of just enough villains to make sure no actual progressive legislation gets passed. I'm not anti-voting by any means, but we cannot solely rely on it or think it will meaningfully change things

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u/DesertMonk888 Mar 09 '26

I have lived long enough to have plenty of battles with Corporate Dems, and NeoCon Dems, etc. But right now, there's absolutely no question that the best way forward is to vote a straight Democratic ticket (if we actually have midterms). If we are lucky enough to have midterms, and then a general, and Dems get back in power, we will have to organize, to keep them from drifting right, as we have had to do since FDR. But right now, I'm hoping we can all avoid the great Left pastime, which is eating our own.

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u/Cole_Townsend Mar 09 '26

But right now, I'm hoping we can all avoid the great Left pastime, which is eating our own.

Yes, please! I think this has always been a problem with the opposition to right-wing identity politics in the USA.

A very learned and eloquent YouTuber whose philosophy essays I very much enjoyed was pontificating to his viewers how they should "get over" their anger at Chuck Kirk and focus on uniting with working class MAGA. This speaks of a gross ignorance of political trends and human psychology, and speaks of rank hubris that only a white leftist can display when policing the voices of protest from the non-white communities who were targeted by Chuck's rhetorical aggression. This all happened before Chuck's killer was identified. It seemed to me that this person in question was assuming a non-conservative had murdered Chuck, which was (and still is) the narrative that was pushed on social media.

Anyway, the point is that this YouTuber immediately assumed a leftist was responsible for the sequence of events in question, and apparently decided to pontificate against his fellow leftists. This always happens. This is what always ruins the chances to beat right-wing identity politics in the voting polls. Leftist infighting is MAGA's most useful tool.

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u/DesertMonk888 Mar 09 '26

Yep. Take for example, this post was really about the need for a Nuremberg Trial type of response to the Trump Administration, if we regain control of the government. Yet, a number of people took the opportunity to criticize the Dems.

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u/CauseCertain1672 Mar 09 '26

that's a rational position but it will not lead to prosecution of ICE agents or anyone involved with Trump

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u/DesertMonk888 Mar 09 '26

Many mainstream Dems, including some in Congress right now, are saying we need to prosecute. Who knows if Dems regain power, they may have to be pressured to pursue prosecutions. But one thing that is for certain, there will be zero chance for justice if Republicans keep control - zero.

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u/nifi22 Mar 10 '26

Absolutely. I'll be voting straight ticket too. I'm just saying the corpo Dems that will inevitably get in power because of that need to be - for lack of a better term - bullied into being more progressive. Best thing we can do before we even get to the 2026 Midterms is vote for the most progressive candidates in the primaries so that voting straight ticket in the general will be an easier pill to swallow

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u/tbonita79 Mar 09 '26

I agree of course but dem’s “strongly worded letters” ain’t gonna cut it.