This is the country they voted for.

They wanted the Fractured States of America, and Trump is giving it to them.

Now the whole world has to suffer with the consequences.

For most of my life, America carried an image. Imperfect, yes. Flawed, yes. But steady. We were the country people turned to when the world shook. The one nation, for better or worse, that claimed to defend democracy, to champion free speech, to hold alliances together when storms threatened to rip them apart. That was the myth we sold the world, and for a long time, the world believed us.

But now that facade has disintegrated and in its place is an empty shell of what we used to be. The country that once anchored the global order now destabilizes it. The nation that once held others accountable now shrugs at its own hypocrisy. And the man responsible is the sitting president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.

Look at what just happened at Berkeley. UC Berkeley, the birthplace of the free speech movement, just handed over the names of more than 160 students, professors, and staff to Trump’s Department of Education. They say it was required. They say they had no choice. But the truth is that Trump’s Office for Civil Rights demanded those names in an “antisemitism investigation.” Names were delivered not because people were charged, not because evidence was tested, but simply because they appeared in reports. Maybe they signed a petition. Maybe they marched in a protest. Maybe they taught a class that made someone uncomfortable. And without due process, without defense, their names are now in the hands of Trump’s government.

Faculty at Berkeley are already calling it McCarthyism. Judith Butler, one of the most respected scholars of our time, said it was chilling, a tactic that belongs to another era of witch hunts and blacklists. And she’s right. Because this is what Trump does. He weaponizes real pain for political gain. Antisemitism is real. It is vile. It must be fought everywhere it appears. But Trump does not care about protecting Jewish communities. If he did, he wouldn’t wink at neo-Nazis. He wouldn’t cozy up to white nationalists. He wouldn’t elevate voices that spread antisemitic lies. What he cares about is silencing dissent, using one of history’s greatest evils as a shield for authoritarian power.

And when America uses free speech as a weapon against its own people, we lose the authority to defend it anywhere else. If we hand over student names for protest, how do we tell China not to? If we punish dissent, how do we call out Russia for the same? The birthplace of free speech has become a case study in how free speech dies.

If Berkeley showed us how Trump breaks trust inside our borders, his next move showed the world why America can’t be trusted beyond them. Trump penned a letter to NATO and blasted it out on his state-run media, Truth Social. A message written in his own hand, sent as the word of the United States from a sitting president about a war destabilizing the entire world. It reads like something scrawled by a conspiracy theorist, not the leader of the free world.

Here is the president’s statement in full:

A LETTER SENT BY PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP TO ALL NATO NATIONS AND, THE WORLD: “I am ready to do major Sanctions on Russia when all NATO Nations have agreed, and started, to do the same thing, and when all NATO Nations STOP BUYING OIL FROM RUSSIA. As you know, NATO’S commitment to WIN has been far less than 100%, and the purchase of Russian Oil, by some, has been shocking! It greatly weakens your negotiating position, and bargaining power, over Russia. Anyway, I am ready to “go” when you are. Just say when? I believe that this, plus NATO, as a group, placing 50% to 100% TARIFFS ON CHINA, to be fully withdrawn after the WAR with Russia and Ukraine is ended, will also be of great help in ENDING this deadly, but RIDICULOUS, WAR. China has a strong control, and even grip, over Russia, and these powerful Tariffs will break that grip. This is not TRUMP’S WAR (it would never have started if I was President!), it is Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s WAR. I am only here to help stop it, and save thousands of Russian and Ukrainian lives (7,118 lives lost last week, alone. CRAZY!). If NATO does as I say, the WAR will end quickly, and all of those lives will be saved! If not, you are just wasting my time, and the time, energy, and money of the United States. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.”

This is what the world sees. A sitting U.S. president, addressing NATO as if it were a single company buying oil in bulk. A president who thinks tariffs are magic wands, proposing 50 to 100 percent tariffs on China as if that would end a war. Tariffs don’t break Russia’s grip; they are taxes on the American people. They punish consumers, crash markets, and fracture alliances. A president who calls Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine “Biden’s and Zelenskyy’s war,” handing propaganda directly to the Kremlin. A president who tosses out fake numbers, “7,118 lives lost last week”, as if facts are optional, as if real Ukrainian families aren’t already living through unspeakable suffering. And most of all, a president issuing ultimatums not to our enemies but to our allies: “Do as I say, or I won’t help.” That is not leadership. That is hostage-taking.

Our allies read this and see a partner they cannot trust. Our enemies read this and see weakness and opportunity. And Ukrainians, mothers hiding their children in basements, soldiers in trenches, families fleeing bombed-out cities, read this and see betrayal.

Trump claims the war never would have started if he were president. That is a lie. Putin’s ambitions long predate Biden. What emboldened him wasn’t Joe Biden. It was years of Trump cozying up to him, undermining NATO, and signaling that America might not stand by its allies after all. Now those signals are not bluster; they are U.S. policy. And Trump proves this with every move he makes, and even those he doesn’t.

And that’s the danger. This isn’t a private rant or a campaign promise. This is the word of the American president. Allies are expected to take it seriously, even when it’s incoherent. Enemies are expected to seize on it, even when it undermines us. The damage doesn’t stop with one post. It ripples across the globe.

Because here’s what happens when America looks absurd. Allies begin to hedge. European nations start building independent defense strategies. Countries that once relied on us to be the anchor of stability now cut side deals with China. Authoritarian regimes use our hypocrisy as cover. When we silence students at Berkeley, China justifies cracking down on theirs. When we spread disinformation about Ukraine, Russia capitalizes at every turn. When we militarize our streets, autocrats shrug and say they’re simply following America’s lead. The United States, once the country that claimed to defend democracy, now teaches the world how to dismantle it.

And the cost isn’t just our reputation. It’s flesh and blood. Ukrainians pay with their lives. Every day this war drags on, people die who might have lived if America stood firmly with its allies. Instead, they see us wavering. They see us gaslighting. They see us breaking apart. And while the bombs keep falling, the man who should be leading the free world sits behind a keyboard, writing ultimatums and demanding that NATO bend to his ego.

The world used to count on us. Now the world has to brace itself against us.

But it doesn’t have to end this way. We can demand better. We can demand leaders who keep faith with allies. Leaders who tell the truth. Leaders who protect the vulnerable instead of bargaining with their lives. Leaders who see alliances not as props but as lifelines.

This is not the America I believe in. And I know it’s not the America you believe in either.

So we have a choice. We can sit back and let Trump’s America break us beyond repair. Or we can stand up, speak out, and fight for an America, and a world, that is whole again.

Because silence is complicity. And complicity is how democracies die.

We must demand better, and we must demand it today. We need to call out every one of his anti-American actions. We can no longer sit idly by and watch as he destroys not just our country, but the world.

We cannot live in a world where we accept this as our fate. Call, email, write, and post directly to your elected officials. Post online about what is happening. Remind everyone you know what is at stake.

Because I am not going to let any of this happen without a fight. I still believe better days are ahead if we put an end to this nightmare. And so should you.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather