George Washington, in his farewell address, had two warnings. One was against a popular demagogue rising to the presidency and destroying liberty in his egotistical power quests. The other was this: “Overgrown military establishments are under any form of government inauspicious to liberty and are to be regarded as particularly hostile to republican liberty.”
Trump is the demagogue. Trump in ICE has created an overgrown secondary internal military alongside his Department of War military, taking and threatening offensive actions worldwide (except in aiding Ukraine against fellow demagogue Putin).
ICE has gone beyond its alleged mission of removing violent illegal immigrants to physically assaulting and arresting American citizens even to the point of killing a Minneapolis woman, whom they could easily have directed through traffic. Other incidents could just as easily have led to deaths of people dragged and beaten from cars, homes, schools, businesses.
The entire Trump administration has apparently taken to lying about said incidents regardless of evidence to the contrary. Yet, Trump warns of dire consequences to those of us protesting his authoritarian ruthlessness. Trump wants his “day of reckoning” against protesters. How ironic this is occurring domestically while Trump is threatening action against Iran if it acts against its protesters.
Both regimes, the American and the Iranian, must be replaced by democratic republics. Article II, Section 4 of the United States Constitution provides the means for removing the Trump dictatorial administration. Congress and sane American people must take immediate action or more Americans, and America itself will die.
Bruce Braden
Carmel, Ind.