On the same day that the Trump administration removed Temporary Protected Status (TPS) from 9,000+ Afghans and their families who had put their lives on the line working with U.S. forces against the Taliban, President Trump welcomed 59 white South African Afrikaners into the United States under the refugee program that he has closed to the rest of humanity.
Among the countless barbarities perpetrated by his repellent regime, this one is arguably even worse than pardoning 1,600 violent, traitorous insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 intent on overturning a free and fair election. Both are shameful, reprehensible and intolerable.
Trump claims, falsely, that white South Africans are suffering “genocide” in their home country, a lie of gargantuan proportions. They are not. Moreover, according to multiple sources, not a single square inch of white farmer-owned land has been confiscated by the South African government. What our racist dictator-wannabe President is really saying is that white Christians are welcome to come here; black and brown people “stay the Hell out.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem justified the removal of TPS from the Afghans by claiming that “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country." This is total, complete and utter hogwash. If these people are forcibly returned to Afghanistan, their best hope is imprisonment and torture. Many will face death at the hands of the Taliban that Noem’s nonsense claims have suddenly been transformed into civilized beings sensitive to human rights. Some lies are just that. Some kill people.
We owe an enormous debt to these U.S. allies who opted to side with and help us during our 20-year war in Afghanistan. Allowing them admission to our country and help settling in is the least we can do for them. I suspect that Trump views their service and sacrifice in light of his contempt for our military as “suckers and losers,” not worthy of special consideration. Not to mention that they are the “wrong” color.
Taliban-run Afghanistan is a horror show of abuse. Women cannot leave their homes unaccompanied. Girls are barred from secondary and higher education. Women cannot go to parks or gyms. Free speech, fair trials and due process don’t exist. Religious minorities face violence and persecution. Afghans who worked with the U.S. but could not escape the Taliban are either in prison or have been murdered. The place is a Handmaid’s Tale of subjugation and horror. Trump and Noem, however, shut their eyes to this brutal reality and perpetrate the colossal falsehood that Afghanistan today is a garden of earthly delights.
Trump is rolling out the red carpet to assist his Afrikaner refugees, who hardly need any help. They are receiving expedited reviews for refugee status, allowing for quicker processing compared to the typical refugee. The government is assisting them in finding work, housing, and other essential services. They are immediately eligible for government benefits. They have already been granted a path to U.S. citizenship. Meanwhile, our Afghan allies are being sold down the river, a river of blood.
As with all Trump illegalities and norm-shattering, this too gets lost in the daily torrent of appalling issuances and outrageous behavior from the White House and uniquely unqualified cabinet heads. The fact that lives are at risk is also of no interest to congressional Republicans hot on the heels of wresting healthcare and SNAP food benefits from the most disadvantaged among us. What are a few white South Africans added to the American melting pot, or 9,000 Afghans facing deportation compared to prostrating themselves before Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill?
Meanwhile, both the media and Democrats have moved on to the next Trump transgression. The Afghan-Afrikaner story is already history.
One of the worst ironies of this disgusting display of favoring white supremacy over human decency was that the Afrikaners were greeted at Dulles Airport by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who gushed over them with over-the-top shamelessness worthy of Trump. Landau’s father and grandfather were Austrian Jewish refugees who barely escaped the Holocaust with their lives and found a permanent haven in America.
The America that said to the world: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” has descended into a Hellscape of overt racism and naked cruelty. When my Austrian Jewish refugee father’s ship passed by the Statue of Liberty in 1938, he wept. Today he would be weeping for another reason.
Corrupdate (cont.)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, always in the forefront of creative weaseling, has now come up with an entirely new theory of criminal justice: When asked by a reporter if he was as concerned about Trump’s corruption as he was about his oft-stated allegations against Joe Biden, he responded that he is not because the “Biden crime family” did their dirty deeds behind closed doors, whereas Trump’s are all out in the open where everyone can see them. Prosecutors take note: It’s not a crime if you are openly shameless when you commit it.
Dick Hermann
May 23, 2025
Among the countless barbarities perpetrated by his repellent regime, this one is arguably even worse than pardoning 1,600 violent, traitorous insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 intent on overturning a free and fair election. Both are shameful, reprehensible and intolerable.
Trump claims, falsely, that white South Africans are suffering “genocide” in their home country, a lie of gargantuan proportions. They are not. Moreover, according to multiple sources, not a single square inch of white farmer-owned land has been confiscated by the South African government. What our racist dictator-wannabe President is really saying is that white Christians are welcome to come here; black and brown people “stay the Hell out.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem justified the removal of TPS from the Afghans by claiming that “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country." This is total, complete and utter hogwash. If these people are forcibly returned to Afghanistan, their best hope is imprisonment and torture. Many will face death at the hands of the Taliban that Noem’s nonsense claims have suddenly been transformed into civilized beings sensitive to human rights. Some lies are just that. Some kill people.
We owe an enormous debt to these U.S. allies who opted to side with and help us during our 20-year war in Afghanistan. Allowing them admission to our country and help settling in is the least we can do for them. I suspect that Trump views their service and sacrifice in light of his contempt for our military as “suckers and losers,” not worthy of special consideration. Not to mention that they are the “wrong” color.
Taliban-run Afghanistan is a horror show of abuse. Women cannot leave their homes unaccompanied. Girls are barred from secondary and higher education. Women cannot go to parks or gyms. Free speech, fair trials and due process don’t exist. Religious minorities face violence and persecution. Afghans who worked with the U.S. but could not escape the Taliban are either in prison or have been murdered. The place is a Handmaid’s Tale of subjugation and horror. Trump and Noem, however, shut their eyes to this brutal reality and perpetrate the colossal falsehood that Afghanistan today is a garden of earthly delights.
Trump is rolling out the red carpet to assist his Afrikaner refugees, who hardly need any help. They are receiving expedited reviews for refugee status, allowing for quicker processing compared to the typical refugee. The government is assisting them in finding work, housing, and other essential services. They are immediately eligible for government benefits. They have already been granted a path to U.S. citizenship. Meanwhile, our Afghan allies are being sold down the river, a river of blood.
As with all Trump illegalities and norm-shattering, this too gets lost in the daily torrent of appalling issuances and outrageous behavior from the White House and uniquely unqualified cabinet heads. The fact that lives are at risk is also of no interest to congressional Republicans hot on the heels of wresting healthcare and SNAP food benefits from the most disadvantaged among us. What are a few white South Africans added to the American melting pot, or 9,000 Afghans facing deportation compared to prostrating themselves before Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill?
Meanwhile, both the media and Democrats have moved on to the next Trump transgression. The Afghan-Afrikaner story is already history.
One of the worst ironies of this disgusting display of favoring white supremacy over human decency was that the Afrikaners were greeted at Dulles Airport by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who gushed over them with over-the-top shamelessness worthy of Trump. Landau’s father and grandfather were Austrian Jewish refugees who barely escaped the Holocaust with their lives and found a permanent haven in America.
The America that said to the world: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” has descended into a Hellscape of overt racism and naked cruelty. When my Austrian Jewish refugee father’s ship passed by the Statue of Liberty in 1938, he wept. Today he would be weeping for another reason.
Corrupdate (cont.)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, always in the forefront of creative weaseling, has now come up with an entirely new theory of criminal justice: When asked by a reporter if he was as concerned about Trump’s corruption as he was about his oft-stated allegations against Joe Biden, he responded that he is not because the “Biden crime family” did their dirty deeds behind closed doors, whereas Trump’s are all out in the open where everyone can see them. Prosecutors take note: It’s not a crime if you are openly shameless when you commit it.
Dick Hermann
May 23, 2025
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