Updating “First They Came”

While you are probably unfamiliar with the name Martin Niemöller you have likely seen his most famous work. Niemöller was a Lutheran pastor who initially supported Hitler and was an admitted antisemite in 1930s Germany. However, when he opposed the Nazification of protestant churches he was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He is best known for his 1946 poem, “First They Came.” It goes like this:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.

There is now another version playing out in America today. Slightly different in form but certainly the same in spirit and substance. Today, it sounds like this:

1. First they came for the aliens who were here illegally, and I did not speak out — Because I was not here illegally.
2. Then they came for the aliens here legally, and I did not speak out — Because I was not an alien.
3. Then they came for the citizens who were naturalized, and I did not speak out — Because I was a native born citizen.
4. Then they came for the natural born citizens — and there was no one left to speak for me.

It should be noted that numbers 1 and 2 are already well underway. They have already happened. Aliens here legally have been imprisoned, effectively disappeared, without cause. German national Fabian Schmidt has been imprisoned with no explanation.

Tufts University doctoral candidate Rumeysa Ozturk was snatched off the streets and remains detained apparently for nothing more than a peace advocating editorial she wrote in the student newspaper.

UK citizen Becky Burke, who was simply a tourist, was arrested as she filled out visa paperwork in an ICE center and detained in harsh conditions for three weeks.

Ambrego Garcia, under a court order to be in the United States, was “mistakenly” transferred to an El Salvador concentration camp for terrorists and now our government claims there is nothing it can do. There are many more examples.

As for #3, there are no examples yet, but the current Regime is working on it. If you doubt Rolling Stone, read Trump’s own EO. When he says to take appropriate action to enforce 18 USC 1451 that is the provision to denaturalize naturalized citizens. That provision allows revocation of citizenship where it was “unlawfully procured.” But the same EO views as unlawful anyone who entered the nation with “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles.” Further, as we have seen “hostile” to the government means hostile to this Regime.

So that leaves only the fourth one. The final test where since no others are left it cannot be resisted. We see the Regime testing the waters on this too. Trump has issued an executive order declaring that even natural born citizens born in America shall not be regarded as citizens at all. Further, in the Ambrego Garcia case Trump argues that once anyone, if even illegally sent there by the Trump Regime, is put in a foreign prison, nothing can be done about it.

This Regime believes confining even natural born citizens is untouchable by the courts so long as the Regime offshores it. As Martin Niemöller discovered, no one is safe, even those who originally supported the Regime. Niemöller’s experience now matches that of many who voted for Trump only to see his Regime go after their family members.