Note that these are all matters that raise basic issues of fundamental fairness, due process, and the rule of law. This is likely a key reason independents are tilting against Trump on them. They appear to involve arbitrary, flagrant, and lawless abuses of power that flout the basic principle that all people deserve due process and a fair hearing, regardless of their status—the very principle, of course, that the Trump project is hell-bent on demolishing.

To be clear, I’m not arguing that immigration is the reason Trump is bleeding independents. What’s probably going on is more subtle than that. Trump’s lawlessness across the board is clearly a problem among this demographic: That Reuters-Ipsos poll, for instance, found that very large majorities of unaffiliated voters want Trump to follow court orders and oppose his efforts to cut off funds to universities that he disagrees with, which is also probably illegal.

The renditions to foreign dungeons, the snatching of international students from crowded streets, the frog-marching of migrants onto military planes as ritual, sadistic humiliation, the totalitarian-style propaganda baselessly smearing people like Abrego Garcia as criminals—it all smacks of just that kind of lawlessness.