Authoritarianism as negative-sum game
By 
In theory, one of the goals of Trump’s unilateral tariff increase is to encourage investment in American industry. But this goal is inconsistent with another core goal of Trump’s, the arbitrary detention and sometimes deportation of law-abiding immigrants:
2/ The worker held a B1 visa for a 2-month work meetings and training trip. They were body-searched while wearing hard hat and safety boots at 10am on 4 September. ICE gave arrest warrant forms at 1:20pm with no explanation and no Miranda rights were read. pic.twitter.com/I4MsJU8Fgi— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 14, 2025
4/ Workers were handcuffed with cable ties, and some were chained at the waist, legs, and wrists. Transport vehicles had toilets inside with a strong urine odour, and there was no air conditioning provided during the journey to the detention facility. https://t.co/OEem7UDfJT— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 14, 2025
6/ It was so cold that some detainees heated towels in the microwave to warm themselves. The worker secretly obtained a pen and paper on day 4 to begin writing his detention diary. The formal intake process was only completed on day 4. https://t.co/sYem8KIRlV— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) September 14, 2025
It keeps going.
Tariff or no tariff, this is obviously not a tenable situation, even as the administration has realized that it fucked up good this time:
Federal agents last week carried out the largest single-site immigration raid in Homeland Security’s history at LG Energy Solution’s joint battery facility with Hyundai Motor in Georgia, detaining 475 workers — more than 300 of them South Korean nationals.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 4 raid, Korean employees at the company’s Spring Hill, Tenn. operation left the U.S., citing growing concerns over visa status and legal uncertainty, according to a Reuters report.
The report comes after a July announcement that LG Energy Solutions and GM announced the latest stepping-stone of its $2.3 billion joint venture to produce low-cost battery cells known as lithium iron phosphate (LFP) at its Spring Hill production site.
I think the damage might already be done bro
[image or embed]— Secretary of Defense Rock (@sodrock.bsky.social) Sep 14, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Have I mentioned recently that Joe Biden is a couple years older?