I think this time I will let the experts do most of the talking. They can best describe the dangerous situation that our country is in right now. We have been moving toward a coup of our established democratic republic – slowly for several decades and now Project 2025 and Trump’s insatiable desire to take control of everything is barreling us toward autocracy. No free and fair elections, no environmental regulations, no social services or safety nets, no healthcare, nothing for you unless you are in the most upper part of the upper class. No freedom of religion, no equality for minorities or women. Our military coopted to scare the daylights out of us ordinary citizens, as part of the intimidation of anyone who opposes the Trump regime.

Trump is targeting cities in blue states, coercing their governors into submission, even though all statistical reporting shows cities in red states have higher crime rates than those cities he is after, and DC’s crime rate is the lowest it has been in 30 years. If crime were the object, money would be flowing into local law enforcement to boost their effectiveness. Over $800 million of federal support to crime prevention has been cut. The police are trained for that, not the US military, and Trump is defunding them!

Trump is likely to aim our soldiers at Chicago next, where crime is actually dropping. Illinois governor JB Pritzker: “If it sounds to you like I am an alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm, one that I hope every person listening will heed…This is about the president of the United States and his complicit lackey, Stephen Miller, searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities and end elections…Find a family who’s enjoying today sitting on their front porch and ask if they want their neighborhoods turned into a war zone by a wannabe dictator… Mr. President do not come to Chicago. You are not needed nor wanted here… you seem to lack any appropriate concern as our commander-in-chief for the military that you would so callously deploy as pawns in your ever-more-alarming grabs for power.” (I’d like to interject here, that it is reported that the troops in DC are being used to pick up trash and do groundskeeping.) Pritzker further says: “My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one…Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage.”

California’s Gov. Gavin Newsom has been fighting back with the power of his state to counteract the redistricting in Texas, done illegally, at Trump’s orders, with a legal redistricting plan of his own. His city of LA was a test case for sending in the troops, Newsom responded that Trump overstepped his authority, that the national guard is deployed under the command of the governor of the state. Newsom in an interview with Jacob Soboroff: “…democracy is in the balance. I mean, you’re seeing these authoritarian tendencies now are being acted out by this administration. And we’re case in point as it relates to nationalizing, federalizing, the National Guard.” About his phone conversation with Trump over this, he told Soboroff “…he never once brought up the National Guard. He said he did. Stone. Cold. Liar. Never did. But there’s no working with the President, there’s only working for him, and I will never work for Donald Trump.” Newsom is currently taking the bold step of mimicking Trump’s Truth Social tweets and his ridiculous memes; satire meant to point out the intellectual devolution that seems to fly over MAGAs heads.

Another governor in Trump’s sights is Wes Moore of Maryland. On Face the Nation, referring to the redistricting issue, he said “(W)e…need to make sure that if the president of the United States is putting his finger on the scale to try to manipulate elections because he knows that his policies cannot win in a ballot box, then it behooves each and every one of us to be able to keep all options on the table to ensure that the voters’ voices can actually be heard.”

A congressman that I thoroughly respect, Jamie Raskin from Maryland, said this about the executive order just made by the dictator in the golden palace giving a jail sentence to a veteran who burned a flag in protest, a first amendment right protected in two Supreme Court rulings. “If Trump wants to throw the book at people who commit ‘violent crime’ while desecrating the American flag, why did he pardon people who on Jan. 6, 2021 violently assaulted our cops with American flags-on-poles, calling them heroes and rewarding their bloody flag desecration?” Trump himself has in many instances shown disrespect for the flag, autographing it with a sharpie for one.

Heather Cox Richardson, noted historian, in her Aug 23 letter, went into great detail on the shift in the beliefs of the Republican party through various steps in its history. I recommend subscribing to her daily letters. She writes “The story of that shift is a larger story about how the Republicans came to put party over country and, now, they have put power over everything. It was not always this way. After WWII, leaders of both major parties agreed that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, protect civil rights, and shore up a rules-based international order to try to prevent another world war.” She then brings up that it was Republicans in congress that told Nixon they would impeach him, and he resigned. That isn’t happening anymore. “But 1980 saw the takeover of the Republican Party by an extremist faction known as the ‘Movement Conservatives’. Their goal was not to compromise with Democrats or Republicans who believed in an active government; their goal was to destroy the government.” She cites more steps that furthered this goal, led by the likes of Gingrich and McConnell, and takes it up to Trump’s second term. “Now, back in office, Trump is dismantling the government as Movement Conservatives have wanted for decades. But he has abandoned the small-government principles they claimed to champion and is using state power to terrorize citizens. He has abandoned the due process of the laws and states’ rights and is working to rig the system permanently in his favor.”

The president himself seems to like the fact that he’s being described as a dictator. In his recent cabinet meeting, surrounded by his fawning court, he said: “The line is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime.” (I create chaos and fear) “So a lot of people say “You know, if that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.'” Who is saying that- Pritzker’s Chicago family on their front porch?

Another voice that I listen to regularly is former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich. His comments and instructional videos are highly informative and get to the root of our economic inequality and what leads to authoritarianism. “The battle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or left versus right. The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship. And we’re sliding faster than I ever thought possible into the latter. Everyone must choose which side they’re on. Every dictator in history has claimed that they’ll only use their powers to go after the worst of the worst. Every dictator in history has lied. Donald Trump is no different. Rigging elections on his behalf. Turning the military on citizens. Threatening to declare martial law. Attacking political enemies and punishing those who speak out against his regime. If this were happening in another country, what would you call it?”

I would call it a coup.

Susan Bigler is a Sheridan resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com.