Florida AG Backs Trump Vetoing Aid to Tribe—Who Could've Guessed?
The irony writes itself: a president campaigning on 'America First' vetoes aid for Indigenous Americans, a group residing on land systemically stolen from them. This particular veto, from 2018, blocked a measure to compensate the Seminole Tribe of Florida for land taken decades ago—land that, per historical records, the U.S. government acquired under dubious circumstances or outright seizure.
Indigenous rights are a perennial inconvenience to those for whom 'America' means only certain Americans. Is it truly surprising? Political support for Native American sovereignty and reparations has always been, at best, conditional. The historical pattern of land grabs, broken treaties, and then denying even token restitution is as American as apple pie, or perhaps, forced removals. One might
wonder if 'help' for Native tribes is ever anything more than a PR stunt until it hits a political snag.