As Immigration and Customs Enforcement terrorizes cities and literally murders people, a tycoon-funded Democratic think tank is criticizing those saying lawmakers should reduce the agency’s funding — all while Democrats provide enough congressional votes to keep ICE flush with cash.

This may seem like an exaggeration — but that’s what’s happened in the last two weeks:

• ICE murdered a Minneapolis woman and then murdered another person in the same city yesterday morning.
• Meanwhile, the Searchlight Institute — bankrolled by real estate moguls and run by former John Fetterman staffers — pumped out a memo criticizing those calling for abolishing ICE. The memo declares that the past “furor over ‘defund’ diverted attention from other reforms . . . sucked all the oxygen out of efforts at reform” and then concludes that “Democrats should embrace an aggressive plan to rebuild ICE.” As polling data show a plurality of Americans now want ICE abolished, Searchlight insists that cause is “at odds with the American public.”
• Days later, congressional Democrats provided enough votes to continue funding ICE. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries refused to whip votes against the measure.

It’s difficult to come up with the right metaphor to describe this dynamic. I usually revert to the Cheeto lock: authoritarianism is at the door, Democrats should be a thick Kryptonite Lock keeping it closed, but are instead a flimsy Cheeto.

But at this point, that metaphor understates what’s happening. The Harlem Globetrotters-Washington Generals comparison is more apt.

MAGA are the high-flying Globetrotters posterizing everyone on the court. The Democratic professional class — politicians, pundits, think tankers, and operatives — are the Washington Generals, paid a lot of money to be pantsed.

And somehow — even as this all reeks of staged kayfabe — many rank-and-file liberals lobotomized by social media and cable TV remain card-carrying members of the Washington Generals Fan Club, rather than angry sports fans demanding that their team make wholesale ownership and roster changes.

To know that it doesn’t have to be this way, just consider how Republicans would be acting in the counterfactual. As Matt Stoller reminds us:

If a Democratic president were occupying and harassing red states as Trump is doing, Republican governors would put up bitter, fierce resistance. They’d investigate the Feds. They file lawsuits. They’d threaten jail. Greg Abbott fought with Biden over shutting the border!

Instead, a powerful Democratic faction is still working hard to prevent a unified opposition. Take a look at this Politico story detailing what Democratic US Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and Michigan Rep. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) are throwing at Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed after he called to abolish ICE:

El-Sayed said in an interview that calling to abolish ICE is “not saying there is not a responsibility to secure our border and even to undergo certain kinds of immigration enforcement — but this ain’t it.”

Stevens hit back in a brief interview Thursday, saying Trump’s immigration tactics are “clearly an abuse of power. ICE is out of control, and we need to get answers and rein it in.” But as for abolishing the agency, she said, “I don’t believe that.” McMorrow, meanwhile, told Politico that Congress should use its budgetary powers to “reform the agency.”

Even if you perceive yourself as a “moderate” Democrat, you should at this point be able to imagine a different, better reality than this dystopia.

Even if you don’t support abolishing ICE, you should be able to admit that it’s not great that a well-funded Democratic think tank is spending its time sh–tting on those trying to create a vanguard against the agency. You should be able to admit it would be better for those resources to be spent on fortifying a real opposition.

Similarly, even if you believe in “law and order,” you should be able to admit that it’s pretty bad that Democratic lawmakers are providing votes to help fund Donald Trump’s chaotic and lawless assault on American cities. You should be able to admit it would be better for there to be a truly unified opposition to what’s happening.

But that better reality will not happen until rank-and-file Democratic voters relinquish their membership in the Washington Generals Fan Club, start holding their team accountable, and force them to be a real opposition.

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