Bill Kristol Slams Trump For Promising to Revive The Law Behind Japanese Internment: ‘Wrongs We Hoped We’d Left Behind’
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
Former President Donald Trump spent much of the weekend discussing how he plans to make good on his promise to conduct mass deportations, including by using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 – a part of the infamous Alien and Sedition Acts.
Trump told the crowd during a rally in Arizona on Sunday, “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. Can you imagine? Those were the old days when they had tough politicians, have to go back that long. Think of that, 1798. Oh, it’s a powerful act. You couldn’t pass something like that today.”
Trump also posted to X on Friday after speaking in Aurora, Colorado, ‘I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered—and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail or kick them the hell OUT OF OUR COUNTRY.”
Trump added, “In honor of Jocelyn Nungaray, Laken Riley, Rachel Morin, and all of the others that are dead and mortally wounded at the hands of migrants who should never have been allowed into our Country, I am announcing today that upon taking office, we will have an OPERATION AURORA at the Federal Level. To expedite removals of this savage gang, I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American Soil.”
Trump has made headlines in recent weeks for pushing widely debunked claims that a migrant gang from Venezuela had taken over parts of Aurora – claims that the Republican mayor publicly refuted in order to try and reassure his community was safe.
Trump’s promise to revive the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 has stunned many pundits and observers as the law was behind one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history – Japanese internment during World War II.
Longtime conservative pundit Bill Kristol shared Trump’s remarks and wrote, “It’s like a bizarro version of U.S. history. Trump is nostalgic for all the wrongs we hoped we’d left behind—from suppression of free speech to internment of American citizens, from nativism to racism, from the corruption of a spoils system to the blindness of America First.”
Below are some additional reactions to Trump’s rhetoric:
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