This cannot be overstated. The myth of American democracy is now officially dead. The Trump regime openly and boldly defied the federal courts to return a person they disappeared to El Salvador. A person with the legal right to live in the United States. An action they agreed was an “administrative error.” Checks and balances, the safety valve to prevent authoritarian overreach, have been effectively rendered irrelevant.

This is not merely a “constitutional crisis” or even a coup. This open defiance to the rule of law is the establishment of a fascist dictatorship. And we don’t have to see it completely take over all aspects of society to understand how grave this moment is.

In addition to this, the regime has openly stated that it intends to disappear American citizens and send them to foreign gulags. It has already done so with legal residents, visa and green card holders, asylum seekers. Now, literally anyone is at the mercy of ICE thugs.

If you speak Spanish in public or have a tattoo, it can say you are a gang member or criminal. Don’t like the economic turmoil caused by Trump’s erratic tariff policy, and it can label you a “Marxist” (a term it views as derogatory). If the regime dislikes your political opinions, the protests you attend, your criticism of Israel, or for merely posting a funny meme making fun of Trump, it can deem you a “radical leftist,” antisemitic or a terrorist threat. Trump has said repeatedly that he believes the biggest threat is the “enemy from within.” With the dissolving of due process as a safeguard, he can make good on his promise to deal with that so-called enemy.

Of course, the regime is not going to arrest everyone who differs from them. The point is the fear it generates. By promoting this in conjunction with defying the courts, the regime is trying to create an atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion. It knows that a people who are afraid will be easier to manipulate. They will comply in advance.

Already universities are towing the line by ending diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Media companies are paying out huge settlements to Trump to the avoid legal costs of a trial. Lawyers are refusing some cases that may raise the ire of the regime. Comedians are rewriting their acts. And people are purging their social media accounts of anything that might draw unwanted attention. This is how it begins.

Fascism is the end of societies. The final iteration of late capitalism. Its goal is the protection of wealth for a tiny minority of oligarchs through sheer violence and endless intimidation. It not only stamps out dissent. It can plunge entire communities into perpetual fear and dread.

Fascism strips education of its curiosity, the arts of its colour, journalism of its pen and spirituality of its wonder. And it replaces it all with mindless nationalism. It exalts bigotry by scapegoating and dehumanizing the vulnerable. It disdains the intellectual and the scientist with ethics. It cannot be reasoned with. You cannot have a dinner party with it and think it was moved by your polite banter. Fascism is a boot. And its only reason for existing is to stand on the neck of decency, empathy and kindness.

This is not to promote defeatism. But there is no benefit in participating in a Pollyanna-like fantasy where the Democrats, after sucking up to corporations for years and cheering on a genocide, will somehow become courageous avengers and “save American democracy.” The most they will do is post a terse scolding on social media, give 25 hour speeches that block nothing and amount to little more than political spectacle, or listen to focus groups for their strategy to win the midterms.

The only hope now is for ordinary people to see things for what they are. To see this regime for the fascist death cult it is. For vulnerable people to take immediate action to protect themselves and their families. To leave the country, if possible, or make contingency plans. And for everyone else to do what they can to protect those people, while throwing wrenches into the gears of its machinery at every turn.

Kenn Orphan, April 2025

*Photos are of El Salvador president Nayib Bukele with Donald Trump at the White House (top) and the concentration camp Bukele runs in his country with US dollars (bottom).