What we know: Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national, drove across the country and allegedly shot two members of the National Guard — one of them now dead, the other, at last report, in critical condition.
And we know, because we’re human, that it is a tragedy. And we know, because the innocent victims were sent to Washington, D.C., as part of a national force to (supposedly) deter crime, that it is a national tragedy.
And we know that, inevitably, Donald Trump would turn the national tragedy into a reason to double down on his crackdown on migrants in general and Third World migrants in particular.
And yet, what we don’t know is why the shooter attacked the National Guard members. It’s early in the investigation, of course. We will learn far more, I assume.
But Trump says he already knows who is to blame, besides the shooter, which is apparently everyone except himself and all others in the Trump administration, but especially immigrants. And that he has a wide-ranging (also seriously anti-migrant, and likely illegal) plan to fix the matter.
Naturally, he blames “Sleepy Joe Biden” and, of course, the Biden autopen, because that’s what he does, particularly at a time any tragedy takes place during Trump’s administration.
He blames Biden, with some cause, for the chaotic 2021 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. He blames Biden, with little to no cause, for accepting 70,000 Afghan refugees who worked with Americans during the decades-long war and were now under threat of death from the ruling Taliban.
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What he doesn’t mention is that Trump himself made the deal with the murderous Taliban late in his first administration that led directly to the Afghan withdrawal. And, mostly, what he doesn’t mention is that Lakanwal was granted asylum in April during the second, uh, Trump administration. By Trump’s reasoning, we should blame him.
Why was the shooter granted asylum? We don’t know. Trump claims that in coming here, Lakanwal was among as many as 70,000 who were not vetted properly by Biden — even though Lakanwal worked with the CIA while serving in Afghan paramilitary groups called Zero Units.
These groups were sent out on raids, with support from CIA intelligence, to capture members of the Taliban, Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. It was dangerous work, which would sometimes be condemned by human rights activists for killing civilians.
We can assume that the CIA vetted Lakanwal, both before he joined the unit and afterward. And the shooter must have been thoroughly vetted when he was granted asylum by the Trump administration, right?
When asked about it, Trump had what some are calling a canned response to the asylum question: “When it comes to asylum, when they’re flown in, it’s very hard to get them out. No matter how you want to do it, it’s very hard to get them out. But we’re going to be getting them all out now.”
Not sure how hard it would have been to get the shooter out. He had come to them for asylum. They certainly had every chance to vet him. And yet.
At a Thanksgiving news conference in Mar-a-Lago, where Trump set about casting blame, he said of the Afghans in this country that “many of these people are criminals. Many of these people shouldn’t be here.”
He didn’t cite numbers in declaring “these people” to be criminals or if those who came to the country in 2021 were particularly dangerous — any more than he did when saying, as he has for years, that Latin American migrants were being sent to the U.S. from “insane asylums.”
When asked whether he thought all Afghans were to blame, Trump said, “No, but there’s a lot of problems with Afghans.”
But not just with Afghans. He quickly moved on to pet-chomping Somali refugees in Minnesota, saying they were “taking over” the state.
Asked by reporters what Somali refugees had to do with Afghans, Trump replied, “Ah, nothing, but Somalians have caused a lot of trouble. They’re ripping us off a lot of money.”
And so, in a late-night Thanksgiving social-media blitz, Trump called Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz “seriously retarded” for welcoming the Somalis. And he attacked, per usual, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar, who came to the U.S. from Somalia, as one “always wrapped in her swaddling hijab.” There’s a tragedy, and from Trump we get schoolyard epithets.
We know, though, why Trump finds Afghans and Somalis so similar. They’re both from majority-Muslim countries, although the countries are from different continents, the people speak different languages and the cultures are distinct. But these migrants and so many others, according to Trump, are similarly holding back the U.S. economy, meaning the sluggish economy can’t be his fault.
And they’re both third-world countries, and Trump has said in another late-night Thanksgiving social-media tirade, that he will now “permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.”
I’m not sure what “permanently pause” means. But Trump explains his actions in the post, from which I’ll quote in part: He would “terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions … remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country … denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”
And: “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for — You won’t be here for long!”
Yes, he wants to denaturalize certain migrant citizens. Yes, he wants to deport any immigrant who is “not compatible with Western Civilization.”
He didn’t say under which laws he would carry out his plan, but when have laws stopped him before? He’s president. He is the law.
He also said because of the Afghan shooter, whom he described as having gone “cuckoo … totally nuts,” that he would need to send 500 more National Guard troops to D.C., in addition to the more than 2,000 already patrolling there. Presumably more masked-thug ICE agents will be there, too.
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And according to the Washington Post, D.C., police officers will now, temporarily at least, accompany the National Guard troops on their rounds, which are mostly set near tourist attractions and apparently include picking up trash. The troops were sent there supposedly to allow police more time to work on hardcore crime in the supposed Washington “hellhole.” And now, apparently, they’ll be working on protecting the people sent to protect the city.
A friend who lives in D.C. recently told me life there was pretty much the same as before the troops came, except that no one goes to restaurants any more because of the hassle.
But something now has dramatically changed.
We now, as a nation, mourn the loss of 20-year-old National Guard Specialist Sarah Beckstrom and send our deepest wishes for the recovery of 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe.
And all the while, even as we’re still recovering from our Thanksgiving plenty, we fear that the lives of millions of our migrant friends and neighbors — who have already gone through so much during the 10 months of the Trumpian restoration — will now become only that much worse.
Mike Littwin has been a columnist for too many years to count. He has covered Dr. J, four presidential inaugurations, six national conventions and countless brain-numbing speeches in the New Hampshire and Iowa snow. Sign up for Mike’s newsletter.
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