Trump’s Cynicism, ICE’s Cruelty, Our Rallying Community

April 19, 2026

1.     At our protest today, we had dramatic readings--artistic interpretations of three statements by Donald Trump--each performed by a brave volunteer from the crowd.  

Here was Trump campaigning against Kamala Harris in 2024 (read by Diana), saying the following:“She destroyed the city of San Francisco, it’s – and I own a big building there – it’s no – I shouldn’t talk about this, but that’s OK, I don’t give a damn because this is what I’m doing. I should say it’s the finest city in the world – sell and get the hell out of there, right? But I can’t do that. I don’t care, you know? I lost billions of dollars, billions of dollars. You know, somebody said, ‘What do you think you lost?’ I said, ‘Probably two, three billion. That’s OK, I don’t care.’ They say, ‘You think you’d do it again?’ And that’s the least of it. Nobody. They always say, I don’t know if you know. Lincoln was horribly treated. Uh, Jefferson was pretty horribly. Andrew Jackson, they say, was the worst of all, that he was treated worse than any other president. I said, ‘Do that study again, because I think there’s nobody close to Trump.’ I even got shot! And who the hell knows where that came from, right?”

Trump said this about ICE’s escapade in Minneapolis in March (performed by thespian Donna):“We brought Minnesota… down, WAY DOWN, even though everything’s a fight. You know? ‘Cause they want to keep those people that are lying on the floor, they wanna keep those people in Minnesota but they really don’t, I don’t think the real people of Minn- a very corrupt place, uh, and the elections are totally corrupt. I feel I won it all three times.”  [Fact check: he didn’t win Minnesota any times, despite his ‘feelings.’]

Finally, Cathy intoned Trump’s remarks from two nights ago on Air Force One after the stock market closed. When asked if Iran would turn over its nuclear material, the President said: “We’re taking it. We’re taking it. Very simple. We’re taking it. With Iran. We’re going in with Iran. We’re taking it. We will have it. I don’t call it boots on the ground. We’ll take it after the agreement is signed. After there— there’s a very big difference. Before and after. BC. It’s before, and after. And after the agreement is signed, it’s a lot different than before. We would have taken it. If we didn’t have an agreement, we would take it. But I don’t think we’ll have to.”

2.     Dementia or something else? This week, we have learned that the Pope is “weak on crime” and Chelsea Clinton is “an insult to Jesus.”    Trump is clearly worsening by the day. In his speech he wanders into a landscape of thoughts whose connections only he can grasp. Still, as Robert Reich writes, “Cabinet members and aides keep their heads down. Republican members of Congress pretend not to notice. His billionaire supporters dare not speak of his rapid decline. The media tries to sanewash his growing incoherence.”

But is that really the case? Take his Iran war. Every couple of days Trump says that the negotiations with Iran are going well, or that we’ve destroyed 100% of their military, or that the Strait of Hormuz is completely open, or that a truce with Iran will be signed shortly. Upon each pronouncement the stock market shoots up and the price of gas goes down. Then a day later--or even on the same day--Iran will say none of that is true, or Trump blockades the blockade and someone sinks a ship or two, and the stock market slumps again while gas skyrockets some more. It’s difficult to believe that he--or someone in his family--is not rigging the stock markets and making billions on the side.   

What do you think? Strait open vs. Strait closed, Israel bombing Lebanon to smithereens vs. ceasefire agreement, US – Iran negotiations successful vs. total breakdown: can this toggling between realities and lies be merely the meanderings of a deranged man--or is a monster gambling with people’s lives and the world economy to make a few billion while he can?   It’s likely that only history will sort all this out, but in the meantime, it’s clear that this president, this Administration must go, for the sake of peace, democracy, international diplomacy, the global environment, global health, the global economy, and the sanity of 8.3 billion people.

3. We close with a local story. Boun is a Laotian-born man who has lived in the United States for forty-five years and in Kitsap for more than twenty. For years he and his two sisters owned and ran a Thai - Lao restaurant in Bremerton; they retired and closed their business in 2024. Boun’s daughter was educated in Poulsbo’s schools and graduated from North Kitsap High.    Appearing for his annual immigration check a few weeks ago, Boun was snatched up by ICE, and he has been in the Tacoma federal detention center ever since. His extended family members are devastated, and his wife and sisters are working hard to advocate for him. When we heard about this, we (a few community members) helped get the word out to the Kitsap Sun, which published a story on Boun on Friday, and King5 TV aired a story on him too. Boun is still in detention and he might be deported any day to God knows where. 

One huge thing we can say: all in one week, the community has come together and mobilized. We’ve helped to put Boun’s story out to the press and to social media. Many people are now making phone calls to elected officials pleading with them to intervene. His case now has a (pro bono!) lawyer in Kitsap who will file habeas corpus to challenge Boun’s detention and seek his release.    Further, Rep. Tarra Simmons has now met with Boun’s family and connected them with two attorneys who regularly visit the Tacoma Detention Center. A GoFundMe campaign has received more than $6000 in just four days; it will help with other legal expenses and keep his wife and family housed.  The story about Boun that originated on our Poulsbo for All Facebook page has been shared hundreds of times; and the total number of hits through those shares tops fifty thousand. In these awful times, when Boun’s story is just one among many thousands of immigrants incarcerated in privately run cash-cow prisons by a sadistic and corrupt regime, at the very least it is deeply inspiring to witness our Kitsap community in action, in empathy, and in solidarity, fighting for justice for our immigrant brothers and sisters.     

Please find the story of Boun’s plight on Facebook, or in the Kitsap Sun; (https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2026/04/16/bremerton-man-detained-by-ice-decades-after-immigration-gun-charge/89627029007/)

find the link to the GoFundMe for Boun and his family; and please add to the emails and phone calls to elected officials on his behalf. For it is with person-to-person actions like this that we can really can make a difference.   And when the government comes for us next, we’ll have established the kind of community that worked in Minneapolis, that made their response to ICE so moving, a lesson in kindness and decency in the face of adversity.    This is what democracy looks like.