# How We Get From Here To Internment Camps **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 16, 2016, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186 "2016-11-16T18:22:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/101 "2016-11-19T00:26:20Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Thank you, that is what I meant. And when I said that the Republicans believe we are at war with Islam, therefore all Muslims are dangerous, I was most definitely NOT staying my pov-- I was hypothesizing how the Republicans would justify registering and rounding up Muslims. Clarification noted. Thank you for it. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/102 "2016-11-19T00:37:57Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > I’m a Texas boy, and you can’t get more _goy_ than that without taking advanced classes. And I’m with you on that one. I’m Texan **and** Jewish, and I hear ya. Yeah, let’s hope Ivanka has a long, solid marriage. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/103 "2016-11-19T00:39:15Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Yup, Trump and his jackbooted thugs will round us up and take our guns! And cede our sovereignty to the U.N! And DEATH CAMPS!!! Not exactly. Trump & Company only look to _certain groups_ for that treatment. As I and my spouse appear white, and the spouse is Christian, we will probably be safe. For now. But, as someone whose European side of the family was exterminated in WWII, I am really, really alarmed by what’s been going on. > [@](#): > > C’mon, people. Trump can do a lot of damage, but internment camps ain’t among the possibilities. Why aren’t they? What makes you think it’s impossible for that to happen? > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > I am Jewish and I am scared. There, I said it. > [@Sherrerd](#): > > It’s perfectly reasonable. In my opinion, Jewish Americans are one divorce (meaning Ivanka versus Jared Kushner) away from becoming the targets of major scapegoating. Scapegoating Muslims is all very well, but it’s not what really revs up the base–not as much as scapegoating Jewish people does. More history to the hate. Yeah. I don’t think Jews are in danger _right now_ (or no more so than they were a year ago) and I don’t think they’d be the first target. I think Muslims, illegal immigrants, Mexicans, and immigrants in general would be the first targets if things go really south (or pear-shaped as our friends across the Atlantic say it) in roughly that order. After all, Ivanka married a Jew and converted. Trump may not perceive them as being as alien as some other groups. But if something happens to Trump, Pence gets in, or some of the worser bigots around Trump get more influence… yeah, it’s a possibility. As someone half-Jewish and a practicing (sometimes - admittedly I’m a bit lax) NeoPagan I have a lot of deep concerns about some of the bigots being hired. And, being from Indiana, I already know what Pence is like when it comes to promoting conservative/reactionary Christian agenda over all else. Pence isn’t even the worst - the country could survive 4 or even 8 years of Pence - but some of the others around Trump frankly scare me. We should keep pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous quote first and foremost. Frankly, I’d love a campaign to print it up on t-shirts and promote wearing it. ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/104 "2016-11-19T01:26:18Z")
This place (the SDMB) has gone off the rails since the election. I think I might have to go spend some time at [infowars.com](http://infowars.com) to get a dose of reality. Sheesh, for all your talk of fighting ignorance, a not-insignificant number of Dopers have just lost touch with reality. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/105 "2016-11-19T01:32:46Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > This place (the SDMB) has gone off the rails since the election. I think I might have to go spend some time at [infowars.com](http://infowars.com) to get a dose of reality. Sheesh, for all your talk of fighting ignorance, a not-insignificant number of Dopers have just lost touch with reality. I guess you haven’t been watching/reading the news, amirite? ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/106 "2016-11-19T01:35:34Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I guess you haven’t been watching/reading the news, amirite? I’ve probably watched / read far more (especially political news and commentary) than the average American this month. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/107 "2016-11-19T01:38:03Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > It’s perfectly reasonable. In my opinion, Jewish Americans are one divorce (meaning Ivanka versus Jared Kushner) away from becoming the targets of major scapegoating. Scapegoating Muslims is all very well, but it’s not what really revs up the base–not as much as scapegoating Jewish people does. More history to the hate. Since the Trump Administration is likely to be far more friendly to Israel than the Obama Administration, Im guessing that this opinion is misinformed. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/108 "2016-11-19T01:41:14Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ve probably watched / read far more (especially political news and commentary) than the average American this month. Excellent! (Me, too.) Now please reassure me that there’s nothing to be concerned about. Please. I’m serious. Take into account Trump’s appointments the last couple of days. And the Republican Congress. I’m 68 and on social security and Medicare. I’m home free, right? And my mother? She’s 92 and in assisted living. Her social security helps with the $4,060 monthly fee. She’s on Medicare, too. She’s good, too, right? Nuttin’ to worry about. (I’m not telling her any of this ) Internment camps may sound far out, but they have happened in the past. This is a new ball game. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/109 "2016-11-19T01:42:41Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Why aren’t they? What makes you think it’s impossible for that to happen? Because I am not hysterical. Trump is gonna be President. The President is not nearly that powerful. Especially after his first 100 days and his numbers tank. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/110 "2016-11-19T01:45:57Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Because I am not hysterical. Trump is gonna be President. The President is not nearly that powerful. Especially after his first 100 days and his numbers tank. No, the President isn’t that powerful unless he has Congress on his side and…note what I asked in the post before yours: > [@ThelmaLou](#): > > … > Take into account Trump’s appointments the last couple of days. > … ---
**Author:** ![HurricaneDitka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/96bed5/32.png) [@HurricaneDitka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HurricaneDitka)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/111 "2016-11-19T01:48:55Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Excellent! (Me, too.) Now please reassure me that there’s nothing to be concerned about. Please. I’m serious. > > Take into account Trump’s appointments the last couple of days. And the Republican Congress. > > I’m 68 and on social security and Medicare. I’m home free, right? And my mother? She’s 92 and in assisted living. Her social security helps with the $4,060 monthly fee. She’s on Medicare, too. She’s good, too, right? Nuttin’ to worry about. (I’m not telling her any of this ) I’ve got a grandmother on SS too. I’m not worried at all that the carpet is going to pulled out from under her. Are you afraid that SS is going to be privatized? Even GWB’s plan (which was defeated): 1. was voluntary 2. applied to a maximum of 4% or $1000 of taxable wages per year 3. and only applied to people younger than 55. ^ ^ ^ that’s the plan that was too radical to get passed 10 years ago. You think now they’re just going to cut everyone off cold-turkey? Seems a bit Chicken-Little-ish. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/112 "2016-11-19T01:49:06Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Excellent! (Me, too.) Now please reassure me that there’s nothing to be concerned about. Please. I’m serious. > > Take into account Trump’s appointments the last couple of days. And the Republican Congress. > > I’m 68 and on social security and Medicare. I’m home free, right? And my mother? She’s 92 and in assisted living. Her social security helps with the $4,060 monthly fee. She’s on Medicare, too. She’s good, too, right? Nuttin’ to worry about. (I’m not telling her any of this ) > > Internment camps may sound far out, but they have happened in the past. This is a new ball game. Republicans have family too. Its not politically viable to scrap it all. They might try to fine tune these programs to make them more efficient and perhaps disallow benefits for wealthier Americans who can afford their own insurance. I can guarantee that neither you nor your grandmother will lose your benefits. Most Republican voters just dont support this sort of policy. Im hoping. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/113 "2016-11-19T02:05:30Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > I’ve got a grandmother on SS too. I’m not worried at all that the carpet is going to pulled out from under her. Are you afraid that SS is going to be privatized? Even GWB’s plan (which was defeated): > > 1. was voluntary > 2. applied to a maximum of 4% or $1000 of taxable wages per year > 3. and only applied to people younger than 55. > > ^ > ^ > ^ > that’s the plan that was too radical to get passed 10 years ago. > > You think now they’re just going to cut everyone off cold-turkey? Seems a bit Chicken-Little-ish. > [@madsircool](#): > > Republicans have family too. > > Its not politically viable to scrap it all. They might try to fine tune these programs to make them more efficient and perhaps disallow benefits for wealthier Americans who can afford their own insurance. > > I can guarantee that neither you nor your grandmother will lose your benefits. Most Republican voters just dont support this sort of policy. Im hoping. I hope y’all’s\* faith is justified. You’ve read that Ryan wants to privatize Medicare and SS by 2017, right? No, it won’t happen cold turkey, but if I have my mother’s longevity, I have 25 years left. I don’t have any kids, or siblings (so no nieces/nephews) to look out for me. I have no family. I’m not Chicken Little, but I’m not an ostrich either. **Madsircool** , I’m going to take your guarantee seriously and look you up if I need $$ help in my declining years. 😉 Which I’m not in yet. \*This is a real word. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/114 "2016-11-19T02:17:56Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I hope y’all’s\* faith is justified. You’ve read that Ryan wants to privatize Medicare and SS by 2017, right? No, it won’t happen cold turkey, but if I have my mother’s longevity, I have 25 years left. I don’t have any kids, or siblings (so no nieces/nephews) to look out for me. I have no family. I’m not Chicken Little, but I’m not an ostrich either. > > **Madsircool** , I’m going to take your guarantee seriously and look you up if I need $$ help in my declining years. 😉 Which I’m not in yet. > > \*This is a real word. I think responsible Repubs would like to reform the programs but its a wedge issue and any attempt at reform gets shouted down. Maybe a bipartisan commission could examine ways to make these dinosaurs more efficient and more responsive. Not gonna hold my breath though. ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/115 "2016-11-19T02:26:37Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > Republicans have family too. > > Its not politically viable to scrap it all. They might try to fine tune these programs to make them more efficient and perhaps disallow benefits for wealthier Americans who can afford their own insurance. > > I can guarantee that neither you nor your grandmother will lose your benefits. Most Republican voters just dont support this sort of policy. Im hoping. Will the Republican lawmakers and those who give them donations suffer? Or will they be in the tiny minority who will be OK because they have lots of money? Will there be short-term profit to be made? Because that’s pretty much all it’s about now. Short term profit to make the books look good while you strip the company of money and line your pockets. As long as those in power perceive that they PERSONALLY will make out OK - then all bets are off - they will do whatever it takes to A) stay in power and B) get personally rich. So I’m not going to sit and hope that the greedy don’t get greedier. As the saying goes, fill one hand with hope and the other with shit and see which fills up fastest. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/116 "2016-11-19T02:33:06Z")
Saying that Trumo can’t become Hitler because Trump is a buffoon—You know that Hitler was also a genuine buffoon, and no one believed he would be able to commit genocide until they found out they he was already doing it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/117 "2016-11-19T02:58:40Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > Because I am not hysterical. Trump is gonna be President. The President is not nearly that powerful. Especially after his first 100 days and his numbers tank. Well, yeah. That’s the problem. You refuse to get “hysterical” when something absolutely horrible has happened. You instead go around making fun of the people who are actually taking it seriously. It is indeed possible this could happen. It’s not the most likely scenario, but it is one we have to prepare for. Obama never said he was going to take away anyone’s guns. Trump did say he was going to go after Muslims. He can get Congress to declare the Muslims Brotherhood a terrorist organization, which would give him the power to round up Muslims in America under “suspicious ties.” The last thing we need is someone coming in and making fun of us while we try to prepare for this. It’s no better when the Trump supporters come and gloat. It’s always normal to prepare for what won’t happen. Most of the things you prepare for never happen. (Hence why I thought Trump would lose.) Making fun does not help in any way. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/118 "2016-11-19T03:07:22Z")
George Takei in the Washington Post-- he and his family were interned. > [@](#): > > There is dangerous talk these days by those who have the ear of some at the highest levels of government. Earlier this week, Carl Higbie, an outspoken Trump surrogate and co-chair of Great America PAC, gave an interview with Megyn Kelly of Fox News. They were discussing the notion of a national Muslim registry, a controversial part of the Trump administration’s national security plans, when Higbie dropped a bombshell: “We did it during World War II with Japanese, which, you know, call it what you will,” he said. Was he really citing the Japanese American internment, Kelly wanted to know, as grounds for treating Muslims the same way today? Higbie responded that he wasn’t saying we should return to putting people in camps. But then he added, “There is precedent for it.” > … > I was just a child of 5 when we were forced at gunpoint from our home and sent first to live in a horse stable at a local race track, a family of fivecrammed into a single smelly stall. It was a devastating blow to my parents, who had worked so hard to buy a house and raise a family in Los Angeles. After several weeks, they sent us much farther away, 1,000miles to the east by rail car, the blinds of our train cars pulled for our own protection, they said. We disembarked in the fetid swamps of Arkansas at the Rohwer Relocation Center. Really, it was a prison: Armed guards looked down upon us from sentry towers; their guns pointed inward at us; searchlights lit pathways at night. We understood. We were not to leave… > > [More](http://wapo.st/2goDVN6) ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/119 "2016-11-19T03:21:31Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I’m Texan **and** Jewish, and I hear ya… Don’t get me wrong, Waco had big city culture! Several Jews there, tho mostly they were in Temple. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186/120 "2016-11-19T03:47:42Z")
> [@HurricaneDitka](#): > > …I think I might have to go spend some time at [infowars.com](http://infowars.com) to get a dose of reality… You will be missed. Here’s your hat. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-we-get-from-here-to-internment-camps/772186.md?page=7)