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On May 9, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) arrested [ [link removed] ] Mayor Ras Baraka as he stood outside an immigration facility in Newark, New Jersey. As the duly elected representative of the people, he joined fellow elected officials to demand the transparency required by a functioning democracy.
On May 28, DHS detained [ [link removed] ] a congressional staffer for Rep. Jerry Nadler when refused entry into his Manhattan district office.
America learned on June 11 that Rep. LaMonica McIver had been indicted [ [link removed] ] on charges of obstruction stemming from the New Jersey oversight visit.
And yesterday, on June 12, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla of California was forced [ [link removed] ] to his knees and handcuffed for daring to ask the head of DHS a question at a public forum.
Republican propagandists, including Trump, his administration, leaders in Congress, and dutiful social media provocateurs, have scrambled to justify these actions as necessary responses to chaos or unauthorized challenges to their authority. But this is agitprop at its most elegant. When in the absolute wrong, the victims of autocracy are told not to believe the evidence of their eyes. If that fails, the evidence is altered or manufactured to validate the indefensible. Indeed, Secretary Noem tried vainly to excuse [ [link removed] ] DHS’s violent assault against Sen. Padilla by claiming that he failed to identify himself. Numerous outlets have valiantly defended him by showing the senator’s statement, where he clearly [ [link removed] ] states his position and intent.
No justification changes the fact that what’s happening is frighteningly wrong. Full stop.
We’re being gaslit into accepting a false argument—he was only tackled and wrestled to the ground because he forgot to show his papers. Such a monarchal framing—that only those with the proper credentials may approach the throne of tyranny—begs us to accept a premise we must reject. By virtue of being in this country, regardless of paperwork, we are inherently obliged to question our leaders. It is, indeed, how our nation was born. The Boston Tea Party and a thousand small acts of patriotic accountability presaged the birth of our nation. We should be appalled by the vile argument otherwise.
Because it is a distraction from the steady drumbeat of military fascism sweeping through our communities. Trump has stationed the military in California, but not to stop protestors on the 101. This armed occupation is designed to support ICE raids that seek to roundup school children, day laborers and housekeepers. We are expected to argue the merits of protest as a way to divert attention from the infiltration of houses of worship by unauthorized, extrajudicial forces ignoring due process.
And we are being asked to take the bait that says it’s okay to trample on our freedoms and terrorize our communities, to sanction kidnappings by our own government, because a grandmother overstayed her visa.
We are barreling towards a predictable outcome in the United States. To understand where we’re headed, we must first understand where we begin. Dr. Kim Lane Scheppele of Princeton University offers a useful guide [ [link removed] ] to understanding the 10 steps to effective authoritarianism. I have taken the liberty of making several editorial embellishments to help us understand where we are today, starting at Step #7.
Step #7: Demonize the marginalized and target them as source of all ills (e.g., mass deportation of immigrants).
Step #8: Harass opposition parties that dare protest (the now-regular arrests of public officials), harangue the civic sector (see Sen. Josh Hawley’s letter [ [link removed] ] to immigration advocates) and weaken the legal sector through public extortion and private threat (like Jenner & Block [ [link removed] ] or Perkins Coie [ [link removed] ]).
Step #9: Encourage private/militia violence to justify state-sanctioned violent reaction (turn on the television or any social media).
What is happening in California—and echoed in New Jersey, D.C., and Chicago—is Step #9. They want us focused on arguing about protests instead of demanding our right to reject the violence currently sanctioned by Trump and the Republicans—either explicitly or through their silent acceptance of these actions in their name.
What these persecuted elected officials have done—what residents across this country are doing—is try to protect our loved ones from a military campaign clearly intended to terrorize our communities and amass more power in Trump’s hands.
And let us not forget—they started this.
As Noem waxed [ [link removed] ] at her press conference, prior to the attack on Sen. Padilla, the mission is clear: “to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city.” We must acknowledge that Trump, Noem, Speaker Mike Johnson and their ilk see anyone other than hard-right conservatives as socialists; and while they are starting this phase of operation in California, it is coming soon to a state near you.
Our response then must be two-fold. One, we must continue to tell the stories of the lives cut short or harmed by their actions. Trump’s most recent TACO [ [link removed] ] behavior includes walking back [ [link removed] ] the raids on farms and hotels, in order to appease the agricultural and hospitality industries being paralyzed by absurd immigration policies. We can leverage this weak side of a supposed strongman by humanizing who is at risk and what these actions mean in our neighborhoods. Small businesses closing because their customers are afraid to venture outside. Co-workers who have become prisoners in their own homes after decades of contributing to our economy and our lives.
Two, we must continue to show up and come together to support those who are terrified for their children, their families and their futures. Whether they have fled persecution or sought economic salvation, no one should experience Trump’s America—where terror and violence have replaced due process.
This is a power play by Trump and the GOP. If they can use this moment to justify Marines arrayed outside Home Depots, we are only a few steps from the stories we once recoiled from—out of the Philippines, Russia, or Nazi Germany. We are armed in this nation with the closest analog to perfect information in the history of civilization. And we’ve seen this happen before: in film, in books, in video games, and on the news—all reminding us of the terrible allure of power.
Yet, we are at risk of being seduced by the narrative that civilian protests pose a greater harm than military assault weapons stationed outside of elementary schools, where undocumented children try to rebuild their broken lives. Citizens of our nation—even those in co-equal branches of government—have lost the protections of America. That cannot stand.
We know better. Now, we must do better. Donate to legal aid. Show up at these gatherings and share what you see. Tell the stories of who is actually being harmed and how. And recall our national contract: we are required to hold our country and our leaders accountable.
They won’t have to take power if we give it away.
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