Trump isn't destroying our 'democratic norms.' Progressives are. | Opinion
I see Democrats, much of the mainstream media and other progressives downplaying and even excusing violent protests, illegal immigration and other actions that threaten Americans' security.
When Donald Trump ran for president a second time, Democrats repeatedly cried that he would dismantle and disrupt "democratic norms."
Trump certainly is an unconventional president. But I've found no evidence that he is, as charged, destroying democracy.
Instead, I see Democrats, much of the mainstream media and other progressives downplaying and even excusing violent protests, illegal immigration and other actions that threaten Americans' security.
Take, for example, the storylines involving Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who entered the United States illegally and who is accused of affiliation with a violent gang.
The Trump administration was harshly criticized for wrongly deporting Abrego Garcia without due process. He is now back in the United States and faces human trafficking charges.
Abrego Garcia faces human smuggling charges
Where are the acknowledgments from progressives and the news media that perhaps this isn't a person we want to remain in the United States, after all? If turning an alleged human smuggler into a cause célèbre isn't a disruption of norms, what is?
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, protesters are setting fire to vehicles, hurling rocks at law enforcement officers and looting businesses. All because U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained people who are in the country illegally.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, incapable of restoring order in his state's largest city, has attacked Trump and others for sending in the National Guard and Marines to stop the violence.
If excusing violence in the name of protecting illegal migrants, and at the expense of law and order, is not a disruption of norms, what is?
Democrats are selective in upholding the rule of law
When the Trump administration wrongly deported Abrego Garcia, Democratic leaders were quick to embrace him. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen even traveled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia.
What Van Hollen and many others ignored were the criminal accusations against Abrego Garcia. Recently, a federal grand jury indictment was made public, accusing Abrego Garcia of “conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain” and “unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain.”
Prosecutors say Abrego Garcia “knowingly and unlawfully transported thousands of undocumented aliens” for profit between 2016 and 2025.
Progressives seem to have a selective bias on when to ignore or champion the law. That has been the case since violent protests have erupted in Los Angeles. Progressives have portrayed efforts to enforce immigration laws in California as the "first stages of a Trump police state."
Yet, most Americans support enforcing the law. A Reuters/Ipsos poll in May found that "55% of Americans support increasing deportations of immigrants without legal status." Only 42% oppose increased deportations.
Progressives' excuses for illegal immigration and violent protests are more damaging than anything Trump has done in his second term.
They want us to ignore not only what we are seeing with our own eyes but the rule of law as well.
What we truly must not ignore is how dangerously wrong they are.
Nicole Russell is an opinion columnist with Paste BN. She lives in Texas with her four kids. Sign up for her newsletter, The Right Track, and get it delivered to your inbox.