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Hey fam. Sarah did a focus group with swing voters this week and the killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston didn’t register with them. At all.
And as much as I would like to blame The People for this, the truth is that the media hasn’t elevated this story the way they should. By which I mean: Me. I should have written about Araujo and then the ICE killing in Maine sooner. I’m sorry about that poor judgment. We’re going to talk about it today.
But I’m proud that, aside from me, the rest of The Bulwark has been working hard to get people to see what’s happening. Bill Kristol has been all over it in Morning Shots. Tim has devoted time to talking about the killings across multiple shows. Adrian continues to do great work on it in Huddled Masses.
I need to do better. And we all, collectively, need to do more. As a community, we need to force the rest of the country to pay attention to what’s going on.
So here’s my ask: If you don’t already, give us a follow on the social network where you are active: X, Insta, Bluesky, Threads, Facebook, Reddit, TikTok. Share the stories that move you. Each like, each share, each comment, and each re-stack on Substack helps to get more attention these stories.
Community is our force multiplier. Don’t let these stories die. Talk about them. Make people care.
If you’ve been looking for a place to engage with politics in a way that feels productive—but not like you’re submitting to a team or choosing the lesser of two evils—I hope you’ll consider joining this community too. We hash things daily together in the comments. It’s the best community on the internet. Because the only way through is together.
—JVL
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1. Roving Death
Over the last week, agents of the federal government have killed two people on the streets of America. We should say their names: Lorenzo Salgado Araujo; Johan Sebastián Guerrero. These men were not armed. Araujo was in the country illegally, but was not the target of the operation that ended in his public execution. Guerrero was in the country legally when he was executed by agents of the state.
In America, we have become inured to incidents in which law enforcement kills civilians. The idea that LEOs can use deadly force at the drop of a hat is accepted by the general public.
But what the federal government has been doing to people assumed to be immigrants is different from normal police brutality. It is a targeted campaign. We are witnessing, for the first time since Jim Crow, American death squads.
I understand if that sounds like an exaggeration. But that’s only because we are inside the story and have become acclimated to the horror. When crimes against humanity start happening, the people on the inside are often the last to understand how horrific the situation is.
So let me tell you a story to help you understand how our situation looks to outsiders.
2. Story Corner
Once upon a time there was a democracy. It was a young country, but a reasonably sophisticated one. It was a constitutional republic, with separation of powers, the rule of law, the whole nine yards.
They were upwardly mobile and making economic strides. But they had problems, like every country. One of their problems was the drug trade.
A politician rose to power arguing that drugs were ruining the country. That drug dealers and drug users were destroying everything the people—the silent majority—held dear.
This politician came from a wealthy family but presented himself as a populist hero of the working class. He was unapologetic about his hatred of drug users. “I would be happy to slaughter them,” he told voters.
The New York Times, in a profile years later, would describe him this way:
[H]is draconian justice and coarse manner have earned him widespread condemnation. . . .
He has alienated many with outrageous comments and irrational behavior, yet remains wildly popular.
This politician ran for president and campaigned almost exclusively on the scourge of drugs. He had a policy prescription to deal with the problem: He would unshackle the police and turn them loose on the streets to deal