Deportation & Spectacle

Yesterday the Department of Homeland Security, via the US State Department, detained and ordered the deportation of a visiting dissident. The reasons for Sami Hamdi’s detention is stunningly honest:

“‘Under President Trump, those who support terrorism and undermine American national security will not be allowed to work or visit this country,’ Ms. [Tricia] McLaughlin said in the social media post on Sunday.

…

“‘As a direct result of … my relentless pressure on the [state department] and Department of Homeland Security, US officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status, and his continued presence in this country,’ Loomer posted on social media.”

“On its X account, the State Department reposted Ms. McLaughlin’s announcement about Mr. Hamdi and added: ‘We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who support terrorism and actively undermine the safety of Americans. We continue to revoke the visas of persons engaged in such activity.’”

Sami Hamdi, a Britain based journalist, had been speaking at events for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) when detained at the San Francisco airport. CAIR is the largest civil rights organization in the US. Both Hamdi and CAIR are noted critics of Israel’s US supported genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. That is what drew the attention of the bigot who now is taking credit for Hamdi’s detention, Laura Loomer:

“‘As a direct result of … my relentless pressure on the [state department] and Department of Homeland Security, US officials have now moved to take action against Hamdi’s visa status, and his continued presence in this country,’ Loomer posted on social media.”

Loomer, a rabid Islamophobe, has become quite the influencer in the White House and is close to Trump personally; so it is not surprising that when she called for his deportation the Trump administration followed through. These people are hateful white supremacists that are quickly moving to reassert the racial animas and repression that America history is rife with; but there is another factor that animated this base violation free speech, mainly their unrelenting pursuit of what French philosopher Guy Debord defined as The Spectacle.

While it is true that MAGA-ites are skilled manipulators and creators of spectacle, they are also supplicants to its rules and addicts to what it offers them. Trump and Loomer are stunning examples of how debased, evil, separated from reality people can become when they crave being at the center of… well, everything. They worship one god, their own narcissistic desire. When it comes to MAGA ideology, the vehicle for that desire is the self-aggrandizing hatred of white supremacy and American nationalism (white nationalism for short). This is what Loomer wanted when she started posting about Hamdi’s speaking tour on X and why she challenged the Trump administration to deport him. The administration followed through soon after because they are well aware that their continued grasp on power rests on their continual creation of spectacle for masses that know that things aren’t going their way.

But the illusion of the spectacle is not only what fascists use to manipulate the masses, it is what motivates them to do so, and the victory that rewards them only with the desire for more.

They have to be stopped.