This is likely going to be seen as splitting hairs but as the thing that I see young people doing the most is losing focus, I'ma do it anyway.

Crime is legal if you're a Republican.

Crime is legal if you're a very specific sort of Republican. You must be a MAGA Republican in the good graces of Donald Trump. If you're not, you aren't even allowed to express dissent. In a very real way, non-MAGA Republicans are at a disadvantage; Democrats can run on... anything but Republicans have to run on how often they kiss the ring. No ring kissing? Primaried out of a job.

I saw someone say that the open hypocrisy is a feature of fascism, not a bug.

Fascism and populism, yes. "They're eating the dogs, they're eating the cats." Stalin notably made people choose between reality and him - the difference between Lysenkoism and vaccine denialism is one of degree, not of direction. Importantly, however, this is not Republicanism. Right now? Republicans can't practice their ideals because they're in thrall to a populist. That doesn't mean that Republican values are the same thing as populist values, it means that the Republicans have effectively become a populist party.

It's a demonstration of power, to brazenly flaunt the law.

It's either a demonstration of power or a test of power. If it succeeds, it's a demonstration. If it fails? It was a test.

This is why they are proud of building child concentration camps in the open. They know they can get away with it.

Until they can't.

Allow me to point you at Bobby Jindal.

Lemme also point you at this book:

The reason the DEA exists is that people invariably think that "crime" is up, while crime in their neighborhoods has been going down historically for generations. So if you want to be "tough on crime" (and who doesn't!) you need to be tough on crime somewhere your voters have never been. Unfortunately there comes a time where the prison camp has to be built somewhere. Florida seems like a safe bet... for now. But up until 2018 it was a swing state for frickin' decades - we ended up with Bush II because of all the fucking Nader voters in Florida.

So. Locally? What's there to like about a prison camp?

They can get away with it until they can't.