This is not politics as usual. This is not a moment for detached analysis or passive observation. What is happening right now under the Trump Administration is an existential threat to the Constitution, to civil liberties, and to the very foundation of American democracy.
We are witnessing the unlawful detention and forced disappearance of American citizens—protesters, students, journalists—simply for exercising their First Amendment rights. People are being pulled off the streets by federal agents with no identifying insignia, transported across state lines, held without charges, denied access to legal counsel, and in some cases, reportedly transferred to secret facilities in Louisiana, with speculation that they may be handed over to foreign governments. This is not speculation or hyperbole—it’s a violation of constitutional law, human rights, and every principle this nation was built on.
This is not America. Or rather, it is becoming a version of America we once claimed we would never allow.
The Collapse of Due Process
The Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution guarantee that no person shall be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” That means fair notice. That means a chance to defend yourself in court. That means a lawyer. That means protections from arbitrary imprisonment and government abuse.
Without due process, there is no freedom. There is only power—unchecked, unchallenged, and brutal.
What the Trump administration is doing now—snatching people from protests and denying them their rights—is not just illegal. It is authoritarian. It is textbook fascism.
Criminalizing Dissent
Let’s be absolutely clear: these people are not criminals. They are American citizens, legal residents, and student visa holders. They are exercising their constitutional rights to speak freely, to assemble peacefully, to petition their government. And they are being targeted for it.
Because this administration doesn’t care what the Constitution says. It cares only about loyalty. About obedience. About silencing those who dissent.
We’ve seen this tactic before—just not here. Secret detentions. Threats to journalists. Criminal investigations of political enemies. It’s the playbook of authoritarian regimes across the globe. But now it’s happening here, under the banner of “law and order” and “national security.”
“First They Came…”
“First they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
There’s a reason Pastor Martin Niemöller’s words still echo nearly a century later:
We must speak now. Because we are seeing the beginning of something profoundly dangerous. The rapid erosion of civil liberties. The normalization of political persecution. The quiet, deliberate dismantling of democracy.
This is a five-alarm fire.
If the Constitution is to mean anything—if it is to be more than just a piece of parchment behind glass—then it must be defended, especially now, when it is being shredded in plain sight. The Constitution Is Not a Suggestion!
The Trump Administration has already shown us who it is. It has attacked the judiciary, defied congressional subpoenas, pardoned its allies, encouraged political violence, and now, it is detaining and disappearing its critics.
What more do we need to see?
We Must Not Go Quietly
This moment demands courage. It demands resistance—not just from activists, but from every American who believes in the rule of law, in human rights, in freedom. If the courts don’t act. If Congress doesn’t act. We, the people, must act!
Because once the machinery of authoritarianism is built, it will not stop on its own. It must be dismantled by the people it seeks to silence.
And that means raising our voices, showing up, documenting everything, protecting each other, and refusing to accept this as normal.
This is not normal. This is the line in the sand!
Do not go quietly. Not now. Not ever.
by Robert Cain
(Image credit: Bill Bramhall | Copyright 2022 Tribune Content Agency