Recently I watched two movies that made me reflect on today’s headlines. These moves were made as early as 2022, yet they highlight issues that are bothering me and many others today in 2025. The filmmakers likely created movies that highlighted what they envisioned as the “worst possible scenario.” They focused on the worst possible human traits and some of the darkest periods in our American history.
Donald Trump has put these traits on full display and has championed celebrating these dark periods of our past. It’s important that we see these actions for what they are and for what they are leading toward. They are actions from the worst of the worst.
[There are no “spoilers” in this post, but if you’ve not seen “Superman” or “Mickey 17” you may want to save this post for later]
Superman (2025)
I recently watched “Superman” directed by James Gunn. This movie pits Superman against Lex Luther, the most reliable villain Superman movies have featured. In this movie, Lex Luther executes plans to rid the world of Superman so that Luther can take control of the world for himself. Nothing new there. A couple of themes mentioned in this movie very relevant under this Trump presidency.
He’s an Alien
Luthor repeatedly refers to Superman as as an “alien” in a pejorative sense. He uses the word as an epithet in the same manner as Donald Trump does. Luthor uses that word to create a distinction between Superman and the people Luthor is trying to influence and control. Donald Trump does the same thing when speaking of people from other countries, religion, or cultures.
In creating this distinction, Luther seeks to create an “us vs. them” situation. He uses this technique to drive a wedge between Superman and the people he has been protecting his entire life. We have seen this technique use by various dictators and sociopaths, and now by Donald Trump.
In the movie, we see Luthor successfully demonize “aliens” as someone that needs to be feared, loathed, and suspected (of anything). Luthor erases any of the empathy one of “us” would have for these “aliens.” This is a feature of virtually every speech from Trump. The good works done by aliens in support of their adopted homeland are ignored, erased, or devalued to the point that the aliens are not deemed worthy of thanks or respect.
Under Trump, immigrants are always “them,” never “us.”
Due process
nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
This is a phrase in the second sentence of the 14th amendment. It clearly states that ALL people shall get due process under the US Constitution. All people; not just citizens, not just residents. All people. This is plain English. About as plain as you can get.
The fifth amendment is just as clear with regard to due process
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
This amendment makes it abundantly clear that if someone is to suffer the consequences of judicial or administrative action, they shall receive due process.
In the movie, we see Superman arrested, taken into custody, and placed in a modern facility that seems terrifying, because it is. One of the guards tells Superman that he does not have rights to due process because he is an alien. This is legally wrong. Aliens have due process rights.
Yet, this is exactly what we have seen happen to many people (including native-born US citizens) during the immigration raids taking place across our nation. People are summarily arrested, some are taken to confinement outside the US under the control of foreign dictators, who in turn seek to curry favor with Trump, and virtually none of them receive the immigration status hearings due process requires.
Many of the people taken into ICE custody are here legally. Many of them are legal permanent residents or are in the process of receiving their “green card,” and some are even US citizens (both natural born and naturalized). Many of these immigrants been here much longer than the agents arresting them. Yet, that has not been sufficient to prevent Trump or his cronies from arresting and confining people for minor, or no, offenses against the US.
Many of the people we see taken away are working class people who do manual labor. But immigrants in white collar jobs or students are not immune from this miscarriage of justice.
Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University student, was arrested for writing an op-ed in a student paper in support of Palestinian people. The 1st amendment of the US Constitution enshrines her right to do so. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated that the administration will review the status of students to ensure that they support the current administration’s policies. He is wrong. In cases that have been heard by a judge, the person arrested has been ordered to be released because their confinement has been illegal.
The people with the badges are the ones breaking the law.
CECOT and Alligator Alcatraz
nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
The eighth amendment of the US Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Yet cruel and unusual punishments have been ordered by Trump for many of the persons arrested illegally and accused of being undocumented aliens.
Hundreds of men were sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) against the explicit order of a US judge. Once the men were there, the administration stated that they had no way of retrieving the prisoners.
They lied. If the administration can send Kristi Noem to CECOT for a photo op, they can just as easily retrieve any and all the men imprisoned there.
Several men who were imprisoned there have now been returned to American soil, including Kilmar Albrego Garcia (whom the administration is still actively trying to deport to Uganda as I type).
Similarly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has authorized building a detention center in the middle of a Florida swamp. He is so cock-sure of his actions to suck up to Trump, that he even named it “Alligator Alcatraz.” Worse, many of Trump’s supporters enjoy these actions so much, they’re willing to been seen celebrating this stain on American history.
Fortunately, because this facility is on US soil, its conditions are subject to judicial review and the facility has been ordered shut down.
Mickey 17 (2025)
“Mickey 17” takes place in the future. It’s a science fiction movie in which some humans go into space in search of another planet for humans to inhabit. They land on such a planet and things don’t go as envisioned. The results mirror the American experience and history and all of its shortcomings.
Classism
Our protagonist, Mickey 17 (the 17th Mickey) is a disposable person. His role is to sacrifice himself for the betterment of society. While society will eventually benefit from Mickey’s sacrifices it quickly becomes clear that society’s purpose is to benefit the leaders (a wealthy man and his wife). (Without giving anything away) We quickly see that the space ship / community is broken down into the wealthy (the couple and their attendants) and the “rest of us.”
The attitudes from the two groups mirror what we see in reality across many parts of our world today. We have a very small number of very rich people running things to their benefit and we have a large number of people working to support the wealthy who go along without questioning the flagrant disparity in circumstances. The workers are happy to be tread upon by wealthy people who have no empathy for them whatsoever.
This is, of course, the dynamic of the MAGA movement. A large number of lower class people, working diligently to better the circumstances of wealthy people without any realization that they will not benefit in any way from their labor. And they’re OK with that.
Manifest Destiny
The topic of “manifest destiny” is touched upon as well. It’s never called that. It simply comes up in the course of the wealthy people trying to rule yet another world.
Eventually, the space ship reaches its destination and the humans explore their new “home.” They encounter alien beings and, of course, the wealthy humans want to eradicate the alien beings to make room for themselves.
At one point, one of the humans who is awake to the injustice they’re being asked to carry out tells the wealthy mane something to the effect of “WE are the aliens here.” The wealthy man is astounded by this.
This was an accurate representation of the US expansion into the West in the 19th century, but it’s also true of the way in which modern superpower nations push new and developing nations and peoples to suit their needs.
Manifest destiny today
The most visible example of this is the current war in Gaza. Israel is conducting a war that has had devastating consequences on the civilian population in Gaza. What has struck out to me, has been the way in which Donald Trump spoke about erecting a Trump tower in Gaza and turning the area into a tourist destination. He stated that he’d have to move the Palestinians off the land while he builds his tourist Mecca, but that they’d benefit from it in the end.
This is abhorrent. I’m immediately reminded of the “trail of tears” forced on the native tribes in North America and the consequences they’ve suffered to the present day.
But this is typical of Trump and so many other wealthy people: they can not see, understand, nor empathize with anyone other than themselves. Again, the sad part is that so many people support the efforts of the wealthy in such a self-defeating manner.
The worst of the worst
Donald Trump and his cabinet officers continue stating that the ICE raids we’re all living through are intended to capture the “worst of the worst.” Kristi Noem, Tom Homan, and other cabinet officers have stated the same thing on their countless television appearances in support of these illegal policies.
Yet we continue seeing ICE raids conducted at immigration courthouses, work sites, and Home Depot parking lots where federal agents are arresting people who are trying to “get legal” or simply trying to provide for their families and themselves. They have even arrested firefighters as they work to put out wildfires. These workers contribute to our economy as employees, manufacturers of goods and produces, business owners, and as taxpayers.
There absolutely is a “worst of the worst.” Their leader is the President of the United States of America. Donald Trump is a convicted felon, an alleged sexual assaulter, an alleged pedophile, a con-man, and someone who was convicted of misusing money belonging to children’s charities.
Trump is the worst of the worst.