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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 9, 2026

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If this is the case, then we're dealing with something a lot more like a cult or, more geopolitically relevant, something similar to how ISIS spread so quickly after their initial emergence. That does concern me.

I do not think the cult-label you apply to the ICE-protesters points to a useful set in thingspace.

Let us consider daesh for a minute. They were not a new ideological movement. Islamic fundamentalism was not new, their end goal of a state running on sharia law long established. What changed was merely the circumstances -- e.g. the government of Iraq was a lot less powerful than it had been previously, and the Jihadists took their chance.

For all their differences to daesh, the anti-ICE protests are not a new ideology either. It is simply Social Justice Progressivism. The only thing which has changed is the situation, and thus the tactics. The leftist idea that if the government comes to round up your neighbors, you do not stand idly on the sidewalk as the Germans did is not exactly new.

The likely result is that the federal government can not effectively enforce immigration policy without the support of the state and local authorities -- at least not without losing the support of the majority. You can find that concerning, but it is arguably not 'imminent civil war' level of concerning. For one thing, the protesters embrace non-violent tactics -- which is clever on their part, but happily also limits the number of casualties. For another, their tactics do not generalize to other areas -- Trump's tariffs are not in danger from being defeated on a local level, for one thing.