Welcome to those of you who are new! My name is Monte, I’m an ex-Christian nationalist and radical republican. I grew up in the church, all Christians schools, graduated from Liberty University and studied theology in Israel as part of my degree. I grew up saturated in biblical teaching, theology, church history, and at my dads insistence, American and World War II history. I was groomed to become a conservative judge.
I am ashamed to admit how hateful and narrow minded I used to be. I was a covert racist who didn’t believe in systemic racism, I was a no exceptions anti-choicer, I was homophobic, transphobic…. you get the idea.
But through a series of things. I changed. And now I do the best I can to use my powers for good.
I want to talk about Kilmar Abrego Garcia, but let me get to that in a minute.
First I want to talk about June 30th-July 2 of 1934. Adolf Hitler, along with the SS (Schutzstaffel) and Gestapo, executed a ruthless and calculated political purge against the SA (Sturmabteilung). The SA were the Nazi party’s paramilitary wing and with them other political adversaries and dissenters were swept away in the flood that would become known as the Night of the Long Knives.
There was one goal: eliminate threats to Hitlers power and prove to the German military and CONSERVATIVE elite (this is important later) that Hitler could maintain order in the Nazi regime.
By mid-1934, Hitler was consolidating his power but still faced opposition and unrest within his own party and from traditional power structures like the Reichswehr (German Army). The SA, under its leader Ernst Röhm, had grown massively in influence and posed a direct threat. Röhm wanted to merge the SA (Sturmabteilung) with the German military. He advocated for the SA to become the core of a new German military, effectively absorbing the existing Reichswehr. This ambition was driven by his desire to undermine the authority of the Prussian aristocracy within the military, as well as his belief in the SA's size and strength.
It’s important here to note that the Nazi party, was the “Nationalist SOCIALIST German Workers Party”. And Röhm believed deeply in the socialist promises of the platform. He wanted to disable conservative elite control of the military and advance the promised redistribution of wealth. As you can imagine, the purse strings behind Hitler did not like this idea. They were also alarmed by the SA’s rowdy behavior, socialist leanings, and Röhm’s ambitions. President Paul von Hindenburg, aged and ill, was viewed as the last check on Hitler's authority. The German Army made it clear: if Hitler didn’t rein in the SA, they would not support him after Hindenburg's death.
To retain the army's support and eliminate internal party threats, Hitler agreed to act. He secured backing from Heinrich Himmler (head of the SS), Reinhard Heydrich (Gestapo chief), and Hermann Göring (head of the Luftwaffe), all of whom viewed Röhm as a rival and threat to their own ambitions.
On June 30th of 1934, Hitler traveled to Bad Wiessee where Röhm and the SA were located. He personally arrested Röhm and accused him of planning a coup. There was no evidence for this crime. Over the following 48 hours, SA leaders across Germany were arrested and executed without due process. The SS and Gestapo took this opportunity to execute other political enemies, rival conservatives for office, old allies, enemies and those who spoke against the party.
Historian Ian Kershaw noted that the purge “was a turning point of monstrous significance: the unleashing of murder as an instrument of government policy.”
July 1st and 2nd pulled other targets into the crosshairs. The most notable being General Kurt von Schleicher, former Chancellor and rival of Hitler who was murdered along with his wife. Gregor Strassor, former Nazi who had split from Hitler was murdered. And Gustav Ritter von Kahr, who had opposed Hitler during the 1923 insurrection call the Beer Hall Putsch where Hitler tried to overthrow the government (sound familiar?) was assassinated.
**Note: Hitler was tried and convicted for treason after the insurrection and although sentenced to 5 years, only served 9 months during which, he dictated Mein Kampf**
Along with notable rivals, several catholic and conservative figures were assassinated as a warning to anyone who dared resist or dissent against Hitler, his party, or his rule. While the killings stopped on July 2nd, the message was clear. Estimates are that 85-200 people were executed, and over 1,000 people were arrested on non-existent charges. The Reichstag passed a retroactive law to legalize the murders stating they were in defense of the state. The German army then swore an oath of loyalty to Hitler, not Germany, to Hitler and the SS became Germany’s new dominant force in policing and terror. Hitlers authority was now unchallenged. He was invincible.
In March 2025, the Trump administration sent 238 “suspected” Venezuelan criminals to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. A place the BBC referred to as “a black hole of human rights”. No due process, no trial, there weren’t even warrants. We now know that at least 75% of them have no criminal records at all. The US is currently paying El Salvador $6m to house people who it alleges are members of the Tren de Aragua gang for a year. One of those men, a father of three with a work permit, a judge’s order to remain in the US and no criminal record, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was swept up in the wave and sent away.
First the Trump administration admitted to the “administrative error”. Then they retroactively threw around MS-13 accusations which were unfounded. Garcia was once been identified by a confidential informant as a gang member in a sect who reside in a city he’s never lived in due to the fact he was wearing a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie. No other evidence. When his lawyer called the detective, Ivan Mendez, who made this claim for more information, he found out Mendez was suspended for giving confidential information to a sex worker he was sleeping with who was also an informant. There was never even enough evidence for a warrant. And when the judge granted Garcia asylum in 2019 it was to protect him from persecution from that exact gang.
It’s clearly wrong. It’s a violation of the 5th and 14th amendments guarantee of due process EVEN to those facing deportation. The administration admitted that there was a mistake!!!!
So why?
1. To test executive power, even against a 9-0 supreme court. The same way governing bodies thought they could control Hitler, they thought they could control Trump and the Christian nationalist machine behind him.
2. A warning. What they can do to a legal resident, a student, a legal refugee, they can do to those of us who were born here. The message is eerily similar, “Get on board, or we will make you vanish.”
It is planned, it is intentional, and they’ve gotten away with it. Now every political rival, even conservative ones, every dissenting journalist, creators like me- are fair game. And without the Court removing presidential immunity, we have no recourse.
I took the liberty of making some adjustments to Martin Niemöller’s famous poem:
First they denied due process for undocumented immigrants, I did not speak out, thinking they should have come here legally
Then they denied due process for legal immigrants, foreign students, and asylum seekers, I did not speak out—after all, I was born here
Then they snatched legal residents, with no due process, and I did not speak out—because what could they do to me, a home grown citizen?
Then they arrested me, claimed I was a criminal, and I was allowed no defense. And there was nobody left to defend me.
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