Authoritarianism

 I want to make my position very clear. I am anti-fascist. I am anti-authoritarianism. I am opposed to dictatorships. I am opposed to military coups. I am opposed to consolidation of power, particularly in the executive branch. I want to be clear so there is no question on my position. 

In June of 2025, Trump sent national guard troops and marines to occupy the city of Los Angeles. This was against the wishes of both the governor and the mayor. During peace time, the national guard should be under the control of the governor. The president should not have power to control them. Yet, he was allowed to. The fact remains clear. This was a military invasion. It was occupying military forces sent to a US city. Trump declared war on his own people. The troops remain there still. 

This month, Trump took control of the DC police and deployed the national guard in DC. They are occupying the city, armed while walking the streets. He is pressing this war on his own people. He is occupying the nation's capital. He cited rampant crime as his justification for this invasion yet crime in DC was at a 30-year low prior to Trump taking office so this reason is clearly just propaganda.

He has threatened to deploy troops to other liberal cities, at the moment focusing his attention on Chicago. Governor Pritzker of Illinois has fortunately stood up to these threats and issued a clear response that such an act is nothing more than a blatant power grab and an attempt to intimidate political opponents. The full transcript can be found here. One particular fact that stood out to me that Pritzker pointed out is that eight of the top ten states in homicide rate are led by Republicans, and Illinois is not in the top ten--it's number 13. If Trump really wanted to reduce crime, he'd focus on where the crime is worst, not where it's on a decline or areas where it's not at the top of the list. Wikipedia has a list of states by homicide rate corroborating Pritzker's assertion, data released by the FBI. 

These are not the actions of a democratic leader. They are not rational actions. They are the actions of a despot, a would-be dictator. He is invading our cities and attacking our people. ICE is kidnapping people off the streets in plain-clothes outfits and with face coverings. I have to admit, I am quite astonished to see so many conservatives willing to wear face masks all day as they work for ICE when only a few years ago they were complaining that they couldn't breathe when "forced" to wear masks for COVID. Yet, we have troops by the thousands on our streets taking our people and hauling them off to unknown locations to be held without cause for indeterminate amounts of time, without any guarantee of due process--in clear violation of the Constitution. We know that ICE is not targeting only undocumented immigrants. They are targeting people who are here on work visas, they have even detained and arrested US citizens. They ambush people in courthouses when they are required to be there to follow the legal process that Trump continues to tell us that he wants immigrants to follow.

I am speaking out. I don't know what else I can do. I feel helpless, honestly. But I cannot remain silent while I watch our president continue to bully Congress and the Judicial branch, deploy troops in our cities, kidnap our people, ship them off to prisons in foreign countries, and try to grab and retain as much power as he can in every way that he can. He is clearly power hungry. He is clearly trying to be a dictator. He's following the playbook of all dictators which have come before. He is openly and brazenly befriending Putin--a dictator who I remember not long ago conservatives condemned as such. he is siding with Putin in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Just the other day he said that people would prefer a dictator if the dictator reduces crime. 

His actions are leading to a more authoritarian police state, where violence is power. I don't want to live in such a world. I want to live in a free society where people are allowed to say and do what they want without the fear of being shot by military troops or federal agents, or being kidnapped and hauled off in a van and sent to a concentration camp. But that's exactly where we're headed. Conservatives are applauding the construction of a concentration camp in Florida, and calling it "alligator Alcatraz". 

I remember when I was younger, at one time dad made a comment about countries where you were required to carry around papers that you had to show all the time "papers please". The takeaway I had from that is that in a free society you shouldn't be required to carry documentation with you all the time to prove you had a right to be there. Yet that's exactly where we're headed now. ICE is allowed to require documentation when they detain someone to prove that they are allowed to be here. I feel that this approach is far too punitive and draconian. We should have a more civil way of maintaining order in our society. We shouldn't have to rely on troops occupying our cities. We shouldn't have to rely on intimidation by physical violence or other means.

In case my point hasn't yet been made clear enough, this behavior is unacceptable. It needs to stop. Trump needs to be stopped. We can't allow him to take over our cities and invade our own country with his marines and national guard troops, to steal our people off the streets with his ICE agents. It is simply madness.