For most of us, we are living in a time unlike anything in the past. We are living under a president whose goal is to make people fear him. In an interview with Bob Woodward in 2016, Trump made the statement that “Real power is … I even don’t like to use the word … but real power is fear.” As president, he has relentlessly set out to accumulate power by creating fear. For the most part, he has been successful.
Immigrants, asylum seekers, those who have roots in other countries and people of color were immediately attacked. Hooded ICE agents with weapons and showing no identification began grabbing people off the streets. Due process of law was abandoned as people were shipped out of the country, sometimes to be imprisoned in concentration-like facilities, sometimes shipped to a country they had left many years ago, and sometimes deported to countries they had never been in. And there are those who are seeking asylum here whose lives are in danger if they are sent back to the countries they came here to escape.
Some, exercising their freedom of speech, found they no longer were protected to have freedom of speech as they were imprisoned or sent back to their native country.
Not just the powerless have been attacked, as the administration targeted and threatened privileged, prestigious corporate law firms. Fearful of possible consequences, some firms submitted to the bullying and agreed to do large amounts of free legal work that Trump wanted done to further his policies. Fortunately, some of these law firms stood up to the threats and have prevailed.
The administration has been creating fear among the most prestigious universities in the country. Under threats of losing huge amounts of research dollars, some have acquiesced, others are fighting and some are compromising.
Trump is spreading fear with our allies by threatening to make them a part of the United States, as he has done with Canada and Iceland. He threatens virtually all the countries in the world with high tariffs and creates fear in Europe by not supporting NATO and Ukraine.
Trump’s pick for budget director, Russell Vought, echoed the administration’s intent of creating fear by stating that he wanted to put federal workers “in trauma.” It’s incomprehensible that one of the most powerful men in the government has the inhumane goal of traumatizing his fellow citizens. However, about 300,000 government workers have been forced out of their positions, with all the pain involved in that loss and dislocation.
When six lawmakers said that the military should not obey illegal orders, Trump said that this was “seditious behaviour, punishable by death.” On Truth Social, his social media platform, he posted someone else’s post that read: “HANG THEM GEORGE WASHINGTON WOULD !!” His post reminds us of when the congressional building was overrun, and a gallows was constructed on the front lawn.
Even U.S. senators and congresspeople are subject to the same fear. Addressing a question about how to respond to people who are afraid in the current political climate, Lisa Murkowski, senator from Alaska, responded: “We are all afraid … I have not been here before. And I’ll tell you, I’m oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real. And that’s not right.”
For some of us, we live with the fear that we are losing our country. Much of what we believed in has disappeared.
As we find ourselves not only upset about what is happening but also fearful, we need to recognize that Trump is conscious that he is creating a climate of fear. It is deliberate. In the past, minorities and people of color have had reason to fear our government, but for most of us, this is different. We, like Murkowski, have not been here before. I think it helps to be aware that the administration is consciously and deliberately creating fear. Expect it, and let’s join together to push against it in whatever ways we are able, and support the people who are most vulnerable and most attacked.
Gray Fitzgerald is the author of “Capitalism Converts Christianity.” An event to introduce the book will be held at Gibson’s Bookstore on Jan. 15. He lives in Concord.