John, authoritarianism isn’t coming. It’s here.
- It’s occupying Washington, D.C. and harassing the homeless.
- It’s roaming the streets as ICE agents who are being paid annual salaries as bonuses as they violate the Constitution.
- It held State Rep. Nicole Collier hostage in the Texas House because she refused to agree to a police shadow.
- In Georgia, it is purging nearly 471,000 voters from the rolls.
Authoritarianism gutted the CDC as we approach flu season, summoned National Guard members to D.C. from Mississippi and South Carolina as hurricane season approaches, and it crippled schools as classes start.
But these are not remote acts of abstraction. Elected leaders are choosing to participate in the slow-motion overthrow of our way of life. ICE agents who hide their faces and kidnap residents are following orders. State police who barricade legislators into buildings are following orders. And, on the other side of this, they will have to answer for their willingness to do so.
-Stacey Abrams