Life in Trump's America
She was flying out of town to visit her family, but had heard rumors that President Trump planned to issue an executive order, potentially on April 20 — Earth Day — revoking nonprofit organizations tax-exempt status. (She writes about environmental policy for a nonprofit.) Since she wasn't scheduled to return home until after the purported order would be issued, she feared she could be targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, though she is an American citizen.
We stopped texting and instead spoke on the phone. Throughout our conversation, I kept repeating the same thing: 'I can't believe we're talking about this.'
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This is life in Trump's America.
A few days before my friend's return, White House officials said the administration was
Even before Trump again took an oath to 'preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution' (which he is currently
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What might have looked to some like an overreaction — the road to fascism is paved by people telling you to 'calm down' — now appears as due diligence.
Such prescient actions have only become more prevalent with each detainment, detention, and disappearance of someone targeted — regardless of immigration or citizenship status — by this lawless administration. I now have friends who never leave the house without their passports. One woman I know deleted a social media account that was filled with posts critical of Trump. Some no longer use Face ID on their phones, believing such conveniences also make it too easy for authorities to open their devices without permission.
Once these actions might have been seen as excessive or a sure sign of paranoia. But no longer.
In an essay for The Nation,
His fears increased with each arrest, including that of Rümeysa Öztürk, the Tufts University graduate student snatched by ICE agents from a Somerville street in March. She remains in a federal detention center in Louisiana for no discernable reason other than coauthoring an op-ed in her school paper against Israel's war in Gaza.
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But it was this line from Elgendy that encapsulated this unsettling American moment: 'The hallmark of authoritarianism isn't the knock at the door — it's life under the constant fear of its arrival.'
For most of us, that knock may never come. But that fear will continue to gnaw at us, making many less trusting, increasingly isolated, and even more likely to do as they are told. Fear is an authoritarian's most potent accomplice. When democracy is crumbling, going along to get along is a blunt object swinging at its pillars.
Yes, precautions are necessary — these uneasy times demand them. But one cannot barter bits of freedom to tyrants for some semblance of peace. With all the coming challenges, we have to continue to live our lives as best and as fully as we can. Do not give up easily what this administration is so ardently trying to take away.
This is an excerpt from
, a Globe Opinion newsletter from columnist Renée Graham.
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Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at
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