President Donald Trump may be on the verge of changing history, but not in a way fans of his MAGA movement are expecting, according to one legal expert.
Joyce Vance, law professor at the University of Alabama, argued in a new Substack essay that Trump's deportation operations have an ugly parallel in American history. She compared raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to the tactics segregationist sheriff Bull Connor used in an attempt to squash the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, during the 1960s.
Vance argued that both Connor and Trump appear to be chasing an "intolerable goal" of eliminating protest to unpopular policies. Trump also appears to be on the verge of creating the "spark" that will change the course of history, much as Connor did during the 1960s, she continued.
"Bull Connor’s ghost is walking the streets of America in the guise of Donald Trump and others around him, [DHS Secretary] Kristi Noem and Thomas Homan, people who reject country and Constitution," Vance wrote. "People who have no appreciation for our system of government or our rule of law, but who think only of themselves."
"We don’t talk enough about how not-normal this is," she added. "We all know it, it’s become an accepted truth. Let’s honor the legacy of peaceful protest by speaking that truth to power."