8-27-25
I think it’s very clear that our democracy is in serious danger of becoming an authoritarian autocracy or even a full-blown dictatorship. I wish this was an exaggeration, but I think millions of you realize that it is not.
We’ve seen for years how Donald Trump spreads false information over and over and over. He keeps saying things that are clearly untrue, like how he’s claiming that DC’s crime problems are out of control when in fact statistics are showing that violent crime rates have been coming down significantly for a number of years. He even had the audacity to claim that 95% of DC residents support his federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement when in fact polls are showing that the majority are against it. A survey by the Washington Post/Schar School found that 79% of DC residents either somewhat or strongly opposed Trump’s federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police and that only 17% supported it.
Trump is also threatening to send in troops (National Guard and possibly even active units) into other cities, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the cities being threatened are all ones with strong Democratic majorities. He’s not targeting red state areas with high crime problems and seems to be ignoring the fact the most of the cities he’s threatening have been seeing their crime rates drop over the last few years. He’s also ignoring the fact that local and state leaders in the cities in question absolutely oppose the idea of Trump federalizing National Guard and sending them in. Think about that. In Washington DC, since the city is not part of a state, the president has control over the DC National Guard, but in other states, it’s the governors who have control over the National Guard. And on top of that, active military units are not supposed to be involved in American cities like that unless there’s a serious emergency such as an invasion, an active armed rebellion, etc. And the fact is that the National Guard and United States military are not trained to be police officers dealing with civilian crime. So sending them in under the guise of fighting crime is frankly ridiculous and I think extremely authoritarian in nature.
So we get to the question of why is Trump doing this. What is going on? I think a significant part of it is Trump trying to expand his authoritarian powers as much as he thinks he can get away with. And he also seems to be trying to punish those who oppose him, which would explain why he’s not targeting red state areas. I also think it’s a diversion tactic to try to pull people’s attention away from things that aren’t going well for him: such as the Epstein files situation, tariff wars that he created and that are hurting our economy, etc. I suspect he’s also quite uncomfortable that possibly for the first time, some of his MAGA supporters, people who normally support him no matter what, have been questioning his handling of the Epstein files scandal.
Whatever his motives, I think it’s quite clear that this is very dangerous and authoritarian behavior, especially when you consider other things that he’s doing such as trying to force the Smithsonian to change exhibits according to his personal preferences and how he’s trying to force universities to do his bidding. He’s also threatening to go after Biden advisors. This is the sort of behavior people expect from dictators and not from those who respect democracy.
So what can we do? I think everyone who is able needs to speak out against the dangerous authoritarian behavior of the Trump administration (and the many other Republicans who keep going along with it). We need to peacefully stand up for open-mindedness, tolerance, democracy, and the United States Constitution. We also need to vote as many Republicans out of office as possible in future elections.
I know these are scary, dark times for many of us. So let’s speak out, stand up, and work together in trying to make this country a better place for all.
Views and Observations 