Michael Viola
@mviola.bsky.social
Planning and design strategist working at the intersection of landscape, environment, and adaptation.
Reposted by Michael Viola
/4 Trump and ICE and the rest of the fascist scum can murder and lie and oppress, but they can’t kill that decency that some real Americans have. They don’t have it, they are inadequate without it, and it infuriates them. But they can’t kill it.
January 9, 2026 at 3:50 PM
/4 Trump and ICE and the rest of the fascist scum can murder and lie and oppress, but they can’t kill that decency that some real Americans have. They don’t have it, they are inadequate without it, and it infuriates them. But they can’t kill it.
Reposted by Michael Viola
/3 Think about it. Faced with lawless, violent thugs who feel entitled to murder and abuse, and faced with an unimaginably powerful government openly praising and endorsing murder and lying to justify it, these people are still showing up, often for people they don’t even know.
January 9, 2026 at 3:47 PM
/3 Think about it. Faced with lawless, violent thugs who feel entitled to murder and abuse, and faced with an unimaginably powerful government openly praising and endorsing murder and lying to justify it, these people are still showing up, often for people they don’t even know.
Reposted by Michael Viola
/2 In light of that, I am in awe and deep respect of the people who are still showing up to monitor the ICE Gestapo, protect and defend their neighbors, do whatever they can to hold ICE to account and call out their lawlessness. What incredible bravery.
January 9, 2026 at 3:46 PM
/2 In light of that, I am in awe and deep respect of the people who are still showing up to monitor the ICE Gestapo, protect and defend their neighbors, do whatever they can to hold ICE to account and call out their lawlessness. What incredible bravery.
Reposted by Michael Viola
Anyway, if we were actually a serious country, all of our institutions, both in and out of government, would stop treating This One Special Boy as if he alone is not subject to the norms, laws, & Constitution of the Republic.
One reason Trump says & does whatever he wants is because every societal institution, including the media, has completely normalized & internalized the idea that the laws, the Constitution, & the international treaties we have signed & ratified simply don’t apply to this one guy. It’s maddening.
January 4, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Anyway, if we were actually a serious country, all of our institutions, both in and out of government, would stop treating This One Special Boy as if he alone is not subject to the norms, laws, & Constitution of the Republic.
Reposted by Michael Viola
And just as Trump hates the civil service because it’s a barrier to authoritarian corruption, he hates universities and science because they are barriers to authoritarian lying:
Universities and science are key sources of truth in a free society.
Universities and science are key sources of truth in a free society.
Another galling example of this: It's been said that Trump's hatred of the "deep state" is rooted in hatred of its "warmongering." But Trump hates the deep state because it tried to hold him accountable for his crimes and because a professional civil service is a barrier to authoritarian corruption!
January 4, 2026 at 6:47 PM
And just as Trump hates the civil service because it’s a barrier to authoritarian corruption, he hates universities and science because they are barriers to authoritarian lying:
Universities and science are key sources of truth in a free society.
Universities and science are key sources of truth in a free society.
Reposted by Michael Viola
Just a total, comprehensive failure of every societal institution, including our most prominent media outlets, who soiled themselves completely in how they covered this & the Canada nonsense:
A reminder, as Trump is illegally attacking other countries & musing about occupying & taking territory from them, of how mind-blowingly unserious the Paper of Record’s coverage of this has been in the last twelve months:
“We asked investors how they’d approach Saddam Hussein’s demands for Kuwait” 🤷♂️🤦♂️
January 4, 2026 at 9:30 PM
Just a total, comprehensive failure of every societal institution, including our most prominent media outlets, who soiled themselves completely in how they covered this & the Canada nonsense: