This is where Mahmoud Kahlil is being detained, one of a string of erstwhile private prisons known now as "Detention Alley," most in Louisiana, the home state of the Speaker of the House. In the icy chill of this multi-pronged move to becoming a xenophobic police state (military bases are to be used as detention centers too, and then there's the terrifying offshore ones), I am cheered a little by Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid's sense that the new administration has swiftly used up its political capital. The already exaggerated "vibe shift" of November is over, as everyone is now realizing the only value of this administration is "domination."
The Khalil case — and all the cases after it — create an unexpected opening to reframe the entire debate. As long as Republicans insist on being the party of “domination,” Democrats can reclaim the mantle of unabashed patriotism. What would this look like in practice? Over the past 10 years, progressives soured on the American idea. In a 2022 New York Times-Siena poll, only 37 percent of Democrats said they thought America was “the greatest country in the world” — compared with 69 percent of Republicans. To shift would mean embracing American symbols and traditions without irony or qualification. It would mean celebrating institutions such as an independent judiciary, free speech and unfettered debate as uniquely American strengths rather than obstacles to progressive goals. And it would mean explicitly calling out the Republican Party for becoming what it currently is: the anti-American party.
I won't do the "greatest country in the world" thing, but it's clear that we're important enough that we can do great good or, as now, great evil.
