ICE has harassed and arrested random people on the street because they were Black, Brown or had an accent. They have sexually assaulted people in their custody. They choked a man to death in one of their concentration camps. They have dragged children from cars, homes, schools and workplaces. They have abducted and interred members of the Oglala Sioux nation. They have beaten, gassed and disappeared protestors. They shot a woman in the face who presented no danger to them whatsoever.

But Cory Booker doesn’t want them abolished. And he isn’t alone. In fact, Democrats have voted to continue funding ICE. Of course, with some strings attached, such as more training and body cameras. One wonders if this “training” will be by the IDF in Israel, as it has in the past.

Booker and establishment Democrats aren’t interested in opposing fascism. They are interested in managing it. In curating its image. In polishing its rough edges so that they can pretend that they are doing something constructive.

This isn’t realpolitik. It isn’t a pragmatic approach. It is cowardice.

The Trump regime isn’t conducting the American Empire like it has been conducted in the past. They have no interest appearing measured in their brutality. To this regime, sadism is policy.

But Democrats like Booker, who refused to correctly call what Israel is doing a genocide, hasn’t caught up with this historic moment. He is living in a comfortable past where American dominance was administered with empty platitudes about “accountability” or “the rule of law.” Where the veneer of respectability mattered more than actions.

Not once in the history of fascist regimes has this worked. That Booker and the other Democrats who agree with him think it will, only underscores the blindness that comes with proximity to power.

Kenn Maurice Orfanos, January 2026