I continue to struggle to understand why Republicans and others support what Mr. Trump is doing to the U.S. I do understand there was great dissatisfaction with many things that were going on in the U.S. in 2024, but that’s not a reason to dismantle the government. When Mr. Trump won, there was a chance to make the policy changes Republicans wanted as they control both chambers of Congress.
Instead, we see ourselves in the full-on dismantling of the government and the punishment of anyone who doesn’t toe the party line. There’s a very real shift occurring where autocratic processes are being used that are unconstitutional. This is what dictators do. It’s easy to make a list that touches on a few:
• Sending troops into cities against the wishes of the mayors and governors of those cities and states, a clear violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.
• Calling for the arrest of a sitting governor and mayor when they object to the illegal deployment of troops.
• Masked, armed agents with no IDs sweeping up Black and Brown people off the street, often violently, sometimes U.S. citizens.
• Using military-style attacks in American cities. Deploying combat helicopters and shock troops, lining up men, women, and children in the middle of the night, handcuffing them, and taking them away. Again, many of those detained were U.S. citizens.
• Using a pellet pepper gun to pepper- spray a man of the cloth praying outside a detention center in Chicago. He was hit in the head with two rounds and several to the body. The manufacturer of the pellets warns not to shoot at the head or neck as that could be fatal. Those being shot heard the ICE agents laughing.
• Roughing up and detaining journalists as they’re doing their jobs.
• Setting up a gulag of detainment centers in remote places in Africa and Latin America and sending people there.
• Pressuring the media to silence those who are critical of Mr. Trump.
• Arresting former government officials when pressured by Mr. Trump to do so.
• Killing people on boats in the Caribbean without due process. This is murder.
• The Office of Management and Budget cutting billions of dollars in federal projects, but only in Democratic states.
• Where are those Epstein files? I feel almost all Republican politicians have become collaborators in the destruction of norms that have worked in this country for almost 250 years. They’re appeasing a wantto- be dictator; it’s Project 2025 realized.
Federal legislators have a legal and moral responsibility to provide oversight, but they have abdicated their role. The House is not even meeting anymore. For now, Mr. Trump oftentimes loses in court cases challenging his orders.
We’re not moving into a fascist regime; we’re already there. For all those Republican politicians who refuse to support the constitution and provide the oversight the constitution requires of you, history will judge you harshly.
I encourage others to speak up and get involved.
Richard Chamberlain Colchester, Illinois
