After nearly 250 years as a shining example of freedom and democracy, can the United States of America survive?
“When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross,” warns a saying attributed to the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, Sinclair Lewis*. His 1935 novel, “It Can’t Happen Here,” envisioned the rise of a fascist dictatorship in the United States; and now, nearly a century later, Americans are struggling to prevent that fictional prophecy from becoming a reality.
During the past decade, American democracy has been radically altered along lines recognized by historians as a path to authoritarianism. Today our Presidency, Congress, and Supreme Court are all controlled by extreme right-wing Republican majorities; and all vote in absolute obedience to their leader, donald trump -he who muses openly about ruling as a dictator or a king.
Under this administration, bedrock U. S. laws are repeatedly disregarded; blatant, unprecedented corruption is rampant; and the Constitutionally-mandated human rights that have always protected our citizens are under attack.
Many marginalized Americans have been stripped of essential support systems like health care and food assistance; while the ultra-wealthy have been enriched by untold billions. Misguided tariffs have wreaked economic havoc in American households and around the world, while consumer prices continue to climb. Important government officials have been replaced by unqualified and incompetent ‘loyalists’, endangering public welfare. We have invaded a neighboring nation- Venezuela- and seized its resources; and are now threatening to ‘take’ Greenland -a NATO ally- all at the whims of an unchecked leader.
At the same time, information from FBI investigations into sex trafficking by notorious pedophile Jeffrey Epstein has just begun to be released; and donald trump is already reported to appear more than 38,000 times in those files. The alleged crimes have generated widespread public outrage, and the situation now appears primed to explode into a scandal of unprecedented proportions.
Overall, public support for trump and his policies has seen ‘historic’ decline, according to polls, with approval ratings in the 30’s, and disapproval levels approaching 60%. He has been called the most hated man in America.
(Photos by Martin Ingber)
The perceived ‘threat’ posed by immigrants to the U.S. has always been the signature issue of the trump presidency. In response, he has dramatically expanded the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) into a feared paramilitary force that has quickly become known for cruelty -terrorizing all in their path with chemical weapons, rubber bullets, violence, brutality and outright lawlessness.
U.S. states with the greatest concentrations of undocumented immigrants, such as Texas (with 1.7 - 2 million) and Florida (1.6 million), are trump strongholds and have thus been spared the excesses of ICE enforcement. Instead, ICE operations have been concentrated in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and most recently, Minneapolis- despite there being less than 130,000 undocumented immigrants in the entire state of Minnesota- because these are urban areas, dominated by Democratic voters.
ICE’s currently months-long occupation of the city of Minneapolis has coincided with extreme cold, with temperatures often near or well below freezing; and yet, residents have been out in the streets, day and night, doing everything they can to try to protect their neighbors from being terrorized, beaten, maimed, kidnapped -and in some cases, killed- by groups of masked and heavily armed agents.
These neighbors -ordinary men and women- are typically armed only with whistles used to sound alarms, and cellphones, to record and document incidents of violence. The ICE personnel outnumber local law enforcement by the thousands; but unlike police, they will arbitrarily smash car windows and drag occupants from their vehicles, or break down doors to search a home -usually without a legal warrant, or probable cause to do so. Their primary criteria for targeting victims seems to be skin color, or a perceived foreign accent; and, too often, their investigative reflex has been to shoot first and ask questions later …if at all.
The courage and patriotism of those Minneapolis residents cannot be overstated, and should stand as a much-needed inspiration to us all through these trying times. They risk their safety -and in some cases, their lives- to stand up for the rights of others, and for what they believe America is supposed to represent... including such concepts as kindness, compassion, fairness, generosity, and a chance for a better life.
Many millions of Americans have filled the streets of over 1,000 cities and towns to express their opposition to the trump administration in mass demonstrations such as ‘No Kings!’, ‘Hands Off!’ and ‘ICE Out For Good’. These citizens are true patriots; they love their country, and they are determined to save it from the self-serving greed of the ultra-rich, the unprincipled, and those hopelessly lost to a lust for power.
On July 4, 2026, the United States of America will celebrate its 250th birthday. In 1776, our new nation announced its creation to the world with a Declaration which claimed the people's inherent rights to "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" as justification for our independence. Now, 250 years later, the struggle for the American ideals that those lofty words represent goes on...
*Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
