Beware of prophesies, be aware that trends do a lot of things, and holding is only one of them: "If this trend holds, Democratic-run states will likely lose at least a half dozen Congressional seats after the post-2030 Census reapportionment, as well as the federal funds tied to population."I saw someone quote this and went to the article, but maybe this trend won't hold in a variety of ways: more states could be run by Democrats as the tide turns against Trumpism (note that Virginia and New Jersey just elected Democratic governors to replace Republican ones, as Arizona did a few years back); the attack on immigrants could end when Trump does or when the dire consequences become obvious to enough people; maybe the brutalities of Republican-run states will send more people to safer healthier places that protect their rights, including reproductive rights, swelling the populations in blue states.
The US has a negative birth rate as does much of the global north; immigration is how the workforce gets recharged with young hard workers, and immigrants come do the jobs that the US-born population doesn't want, notably in the agriculture/food industries; decimating and terrorizing that population is already having a dire effect on those and other industries, including construction.
There's a wry old joke that war is how Americans learn geography; this uncivil war against good people inside the country may be--and may it be--how people learn that immigrants (and refugees) are a necessity and blessing to this country. Which is why this Wall Street Journal piece is a warning that I hope some captains of industry heed: "America’s Immigration Labor Shock: The Census Bureau says the U.S. is on a path to net negative migration."
That everything the Trump Administration does weakens this country, specific harm by specific harm, should be more widely recognized.
Rebecca Solnit
