The rise of authoritarianism in the United States under Donald Trump has led to a police-state environment where ICE operates as his personal enforcers, carrying out abductions, violence, and detentions without due process.
What began as immigration enforcement will eventually expand into a regime of fear targeting anyone who doesn’t conform. Trump is openly threatening foreign allies, claiming power beyond borders, and destabilizing the global order. His disregard for the law, normalization of cruelty, and dismantling of democratic institutions mirror historical patterns of fascism.
Americans and allies around the world are left watching one man edge the world closer to a world war. But millions inside the country still see what’s happening, and many are organizing, resisting, and refusing to let this be the final chapter.
Large-scale peaceful marches and protests are meaningless to the trumpian regime. Perhaps we need to take a page from the German resistance to the Nazis.
You can't be serious. That was a seriously depressing read. There was no significant success. We need to develop a more more realistic and up-to-date method of resistance.
You speculate about how the rest of the west now sees the USA. Perhaps I can comment as a Brit who has never visited the US, but has several American friends over here, my father and my son have both worked there, and I follow the US news fairly closely.
I never quite subscribed to your self-assessment as a 'leader' of the western world. Your Country's interference in the internal affairs of other nations, often supporting right wing dictators against leftward leaning democrats, your refusal to accept the role of the ICJ, your inability to deal with gun violence at home, and only putting an end to lynch mobs within living memory; all that rather puts the US someway down the pile in promoting freedom and civilisation, and for the most part Europe is still somewhat ahead. Be that as it may, until Trump the US has still been 'one of us', not one of 'them'.
Your Country's regression to the medieval might-is-right philosophy under Trump is therefore appalling... and worse, he still appear to have the support of around 40% of your citizens.
Of my four good American friends, one has now renounced her US citizenship, and 2 others have refused to return to the USA since Trump's re-election. The fourth is vocal and active in condeming Trumps views and actions.
We have our own problems in Britain and Europe with right-wing movements - fascist movements indeed - built on the personalities of individuals and the money and power of oligarchs. But resistance is also growing and it would seem that, the more erratic Trump becomes, the more people are beginning to reject the whole philosophy of the right and revalue community, cooperation and the rule of law. And kindness.
Those who would hold onto that vision of a civilised world must stand together, support one another and resist.
Your daily blogs are a ray of hope over here for those of us who generally feel quite powerless,and we stand fully behind you even though we can do so little to assist. Best wishes to you and your supporters. May your grow in numbers and strength.
You make a good point, that we don’t have a clear opposition leader. We do have several leaders, but because we are such a big country, they still feel like local or regional leaders (Newsom, Pritzker, Walz, etc.) Schumer and Jeffries are clearly not up to the job. Great voices like Chris Murphy or Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez don’t seem to be quite breaking through. We need someone who can bring people together the way Obama did. Whatever his secret sauce was.
I agree with this. I keep waiting for that leader to emerge and just don’t see him or her yet. I think it might require someone to frame this fight on moral terms, not just political terms. To step above left vs right and address right vs wrong and good vs evil.
Heather, hasn’t this already happened?: “Once society accepts that the government can kill without due process, the law is no longer real. It becomes optional.”
Heather - you nailed it. The fear is real and was made ever more real with the slaying of Renee Good last week. We are no longer living in a democracy - we are in an authoritarian state and it is truly time to resist en masse.
It hurts so much. But we are strong. We will win.
Large-scale peaceful marches and protests are meaningless to the trumpian regime. Perhaps we need to take a page from the German resistance to the Nazis.
https://theins.ru/en/history/259425
You can't be serious. That was a seriously depressing read. There was no significant success. We need to develop a more more realistic and up-to-date method of resistance.
You speculate about how the rest of the west now sees the USA. Perhaps I can comment as a Brit who has never visited the US, but has several American friends over here, my father and my son have both worked there, and I follow the US news fairly closely.
I never quite subscribed to your self-assessment as a 'leader' of the western world. Your Country's interference in the internal affairs of other nations, often supporting right wing dictators against leftward leaning democrats, your refusal to accept the role of the ICJ, your inability to deal with gun violence at home, and only putting an end to lynch mobs within living memory; all that rather puts the US someway down the pile in promoting freedom and civilisation, and for the most part Europe is still somewhat ahead. Be that as it may, until Trump the US has still been 'one of us', not one of 'them'.
Your Country's regression to the medieval might-is-right philosophy under Trump is therefore appalling... and worse, he still appear to have the support of around 40% of your citizens.
Of my four good American friends, one has now renounced her US citizenship, and 2 others have refused to return to the USA since Trump's re-election. The fourth is vocal and active in condeming Trumps views and actions.
We have our own problems in Britain and Europe with right-wing movements - fascist movements indeed - built on the personalities of individuals and the money and power of oligarchs. But resistance is also growing and it would seem that, the more erratic Trump becomes, the more people are beginning to reject the whole philosophy of the right and revalue community, cooperation and the rule of law. And kindness.
Those who would hold onto that vision of a civilised world must stand together, support one another and resist.
Your daily blogs are a ray of hope over here for those of us who generally feel quite powerless,and we stand fully behind you even though we can do so little to assist. Best wishes to you and your supporters. May your grow in numbers and strength.
You make a good point, that we don’t have a clear opposition leader. We do have several leaders, but because we are such a big country, they still feel like local or regional leaders (Newsom, Pritzker, Walz, etc.) Schumer and Jeffries are clearly not up to the job. Great voices like Chris Murphy or Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez don’t seem to be quite breaking through. We need someone who can bring people together the way Obama did. Whatever his secret sauce was.
I agree with this. I keep waiting for that leader to emerge and just don’t see him or her yet. I think it might require someone to frame this fight on moral terms, not just political terms. To step above left vs right and address right vs wrong and good vs evil.
Agree, and also to present these arguments in simple terms that anyone can understand. Obama was pretty good at that. “I’m just against stupid wars.”
Heather, hasn’t this already happened?: “Once society accepts that the government can kill without due process, the law is no longer real. It becomes optional.”
Heather - you nailed it. The fear is real and was made ever more real with the slaying of Renee Good last week. We are no longer living in a democracy - we are in an authoritarian state and it is truly time to resist en masse.
And the definition of undesirable keeps changing, without any laws, without any rules.