Turns out the majority of the country thinks that ICE sucks. I’ve got people with whom I agree about very little writing things like, “[ICE and CPB are] doing exactly what this administration has trained them to — impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up, root and branch.”
That was posted on Bluesky by conservative Bill Kristol on Jan. 24, 2026.
This is the guy who, in 1993, denounced President Bill Clinton’s healthcare bill (which was called “Hillarycare” because Hillary Clinton headed the task force that came up with the plan) which would have done things like protect people with preexisting conditions, entitle people to preventative services and provide subsidies so poor people could buy insurance. You know, like Obamacare but nearly two decades earlier. The number of lives Hillarycare could have saved and the amount of suffering prevented is unknown, but it sure as hell isn’t zero.
Kristol was also a big cheerleader of the 2003 Iraq war. You know, the one the Bush Administration lied to the American people about because war in the Middle East was Dick Cheney’s kink? He wrote a book about it and everything.
Speaking of books, Kristol also wrote the introduction to a 1999 book called “Homosexuality and American Public Life” in which an “imposing array of experts make the case that homosexuality is both a moral and psychological disorder.” Kristol has also argued that it was “perfectly reasonable” to discriminate against homosexuals because it was not a “desirable lifestyle.”
Today he calls himself an “ex-Republican.” But as much as Kristol hates Donald Trump, he is still a part of what led the Republican Party, and the United States, to where we find ourselves today.
It’s not like all of a sudden Republicans decided that transgender people were abominations, abortion should be criminalized, Black and Brown immigrants were bad and poor people were lazy. Guys like Kristol helped shape these perceptions.
And look, considering that ICE publicly executed another person in the street in Minneapolis a few days ago, Kristol is hardly worth expending much energy on.
In fact, Kristol is to the left of many elected Democrats. But I don’t say that to praise Kristof. I say that to shame Democrats.
Watching ICE kidnap, assault and murder people with impunity over the past year has been horrifying. But I would argue that watching Democrats staying largely silent and/or voting to fund this domestic terrorist agency has been as well.
It’s difficult to make a direct comparison between action and inaction. After all, killing someone is inarguably worse than not stopping someone from being killed. Unless, you know, you absolutely had the ability to stop someone from being killed. And you just watched and let it happen.
And let me stop you before you say “but Republicans have the majority in every branch of government right now!” Yes, they do. But the government didn’t just start in 2024.
We didn’t get to the place we are because the Democrats just opposed fascism too darn hard over the years.
ICE has only existed since March 1, 2003. It has always been bad. It has shot and killed people before. There were times between then and now where a Democrat was President. Where Democrats had Congressional majorities. And ICE never went anywhere. In fact, there was never any serious talk of abolishing it.
Even after the two latest murders of innocent people in Minnesota, Democrats are just now coming around to the idea that ICE might be rotten to the core. That they don’t need “better training.” That ICE needs to be destroyed. “Root and branch” as a person who is no friend of mine once said.
This feels wildly naive and, frankly, embarrassing to admit. But I thought the “opposition party” would really get its opposition act together in the face of facism. Not that I thought the Democrats would save us. But I thought they would at least try.
Instead we have a bunch of Stepford Democrats who are loath to offend the pundit class and only speak in carefully vetted consultant talking points.
And let me stop you before you say, “But not all Democrats!” Because, no shit. The majority of the Republican Party is all aboard the fascist train. They think that Trump is the almighty and that ICE is doing the Lord’s work.
The majority of Democrats are, at the very least, “troubled” and “very concerned” and “demanding answers.” Frankly, that’s not good enough.
Democrats need to look to the people of Minnesota who are literally risking their lives to protect their communities. To every Democratic elected official: Put on a coat and some fucking mittens and get out there with the people who are literally risking life and limb to defend this country or get the fuck out of the way.