Trump’s treasonous acts are rotting the soul of the US and destroying American democracy

Donald Trump’s presidency is the opening act of America's tragic decline. By rotting the nation’s collective soul he irreversibly embeds fascism into the heart of US political culture.

By Fareed Khan 
A version of this article can be found on Substack.

A nation can survive its fools as leaders and even their ambitions. But it cannot survive treason from within, and that is what Donald Trump is committing—treason against the United States since he was re-elected in 2024. In most instances the traitor doesn’t appear as a traitor but rather as someone who speaks in language and ideas familiar to their victims, appealing to the basest instincts that lie deep within the hearts of all human beings. But when in power, they rot the soul of a nation with their policies and actions, working secretly and openly to undermine its foundational pillars. They infect the body politic so deeply that it can no longer resist their machinations. One could even say that in some ways they are to be more feared than hardened criminals.

As the world enters the second year of Donald Trump’s second presidency, the US (and the world) stands at a precipice. Trump’s return to the White House, admittedly a remarkable political resurrection, has also been a harbinger of an irreversible decline. His leadership and the people in his administration are systematically eroding the moral and institutional foundations of the US, transforming it from a supposed beacon of democracy into a hollow shell of authoritarianism. This is not hyperbole but a sober assessment drawn from historical parallels and contemporary analyses. Trump’s presidency is rotting the soul of America, initiating a long decline from superpower status that future administrations will be unlikely to reverse.

Consider the soul of a nation as its collective ethos—the shared values of liberty, justice, and human dignity that American leaders have used to define the nation since its founding. Trump has assaulted this ethos in a relentless fashion since his first administration. His rhetoric, laced with divisive and dehumanizing language, has normalized hatred and eroded empathy in American society. As one critical essay noted, Trump embodies a reflection of America’s darker impulses, much like the portrait in Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, revealing the ugliness beneath the surface. His policies and pronouncements have fostered a culture where truth is malleable, facts are “alternative,” and dissent is branded as terrorism or disloyalty. This corrosion is evident in the surge of political violence and polarization that has intensified since his first election in 2016. Scholars have argued that Trump’s presidency destroyed virtues essential to national ambition like intellectualism and integrity, leading to a shredding of the nation’s moral fabric.

This rotting of America’s soul, which has been in progress for years, is inextricably linked to the nation’s slow decline as a global superpower. For decades, the US has maintained its hegemony through military might, economic dominance, and soft power—while trumpeting the allure of its democratic ideals. Under Trump, these pillars are deteriorating. His isolationist “America First” agenda has alienated allies, weakened international institutions, and emboldened adversaries like Russia and China. Analyses by senior officials from the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations highlight how Trump’s decisions have systematically shrunk the US from a global leader to a regional power, with irreversible damage to its credibility. The abandonment of multilateral agreements, such as his threats to withdraw from NATO and pull back from multiple international institutions and bodies, has signalled to the world that America is unreliable as a partner and an ally. As one report starkly puts it, Trump’s administration is steadily undermining US power, creating a more chaotic international order where American influence diminishes with every passing day. And this decline is structural not temporary. The erosion of trust in the US by its allies and trading partners means that even if the Democrats regained power they would struggle to rebuild alliances and friendships, marking the beginning of a long, inexorable slide from superpower status.

Central to this transformation is Trump’s pushing the US toward fascism, epitomized by his weaponization of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as a modern day gestapo, his scapegoating of immigrants and the LGBTQ2 and his systematic efforts to delegitimize democratic institutions. Under Trump’s directives, ICE has expanded into a paramilitary force with a budget surpassing all other policing agencies combined, instigating deadly violence on the streets of American cities, conducting raids, mass deportations, and surveillance that echo the tactics of authoritarian regimes. Reports from human rights observers describe ICE operations as intensifying in a manner reminiscent of Nazi Germany’s Gestapo, with agents employing fear and brutality to enforce draconian policies.

Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants as “vermin” and “poisoning the blood” of America draws directly from Hitler’s playbook, dehumanizing entire populations to justify state violence. This is not mere enforcement of immigration law, it is the building of an authoritarian state apparatus. Critics of Trump’s regime argue that he has successfully created a fascist state through his policies and actions—a nation that fought fascism in World War Two at great cost has become a fascist authoritarian state, where loyalty to Trump’s personality cult supersedes the rule of law, and dissent is crushed under the guise of security.

However, the most chilling aspect of Trump’s embrace of fascism is that it is not confined to Trump himself. It is embedded in the MAGA movement that is the foundation of his power, and the people around him, ensuring it will not disappear even if Trump leaves the stage through impeachment, defeat, or death. Figures like Vice President J.D. Vance—a one-time critic of Trump who compared him to Hitler—embody this enduring threat. He has become a fervent disciple, echoing the fascist undertones of MAGA ideology with appeals to raw power and exclusionary, racist nationalism.

Analyses of Trumpism describe it as a form of authoritarianism that radicalizes in office, with leaders like Vance and cabinet members worshipping at the altar of Trump’s ideology and his personality cult. The cabinet, stocked with loyalists who prioritize personal allegiance over constitutional duty, includes ideologues who push for policies that entrench fascist elements—such as mass surveillance, voter suppression, and the erosion of judicial independence. Even if Trump vanished, these true believers would continue to carry his torch, even as fascism in America becomes a cancer and not the personal quirk of one man. Scholars warn that utilizing terms like “fascism” to describe what is happening in the US is politically essential to mobilize against this movement, which has realigned political and economic grievances into nationalist exclusion.

Beyond America’s borders, Trump’s fixation on the Arctic poses existential dangers to Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway. As Arctic nations, these countries not only control vital resources but also strategic sea lanes that will become increasingly contested due to climate change and thawing Arctic ice. Trump’s repeated threats to seize Greenland—which he framed as essential for US security—reveal a colonial and imperialist mindset that treats sovereign territories as real estate that can be bought or threatened into the arms of the US. His administration views the Arctic as a battleground against Russia and China, but his aggressive rhetoric has escalated tensions, putting allies at risk. For Canada, this means heightened vulnerability in the Arctic, where Trump’s complaints about inadequate defences could lead to coercive demands or unilateral US actions on or over Canadian territory in the far north.

Greenland, which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory, faces direct threats of annexation which could destabilize NATO and invite broader conflicts, despite Trump’s recent walk back. Key Arctic allies Iceland and Norway, are similarly endangered by Trump’s zero-sum approach, which prioritizes American dominance over cooperative security. Experts argue that Trump’s Greenland gambit exposes the costs of overt aggression, risking monumental fallout across the NATO alliance. This obsession exposes Trump’s ignorance, political folly and antipathy towards international relations and diplomacy that endangers the delicate balance that has maintained stability in the Arctic for more than a century.

Ultimately, Donald Trump’s presidency is not just another chapter in American history but the opening act of its tragic decline. By rotting the nation’s collective soul with the ugliness of his political vision, fostering fascism through institutions like ICE, initiating racist immigration policies, and vilifying immigrants, minorities and anyone who opposes him, Trump is embedding an irreversible authoritarian movement into the heart of US political culture, and setting the nation on a path from which recovery seems impossible in the short term. The dangers also extend northward, threatening Canada and its Arctic neighbours with a belligerent hegemonic power fixated on territorial expansion.

History teaches us that empires fall not from external foes but from internal rot, and the US is no exception—its foundations crumbling under the weight of division, deceit, and demagoguery sown by a leader who prioritizes and covets absolute power over principle. From the Roman Empire’s descent into corruption and tyranny to the British Empire’s erosion through moral decay and overreach, the pattern is clear—nations implode when their core values are poisoned from within, and when they allow personalities into positions of leadership who crave political and economic supremacy at home and abroad.

The Trump era has accelerated America’s decay, turning democratic institutions into tools of oppression, eroding trust in government, and normalizing hatred that fractures communities and silences dissent. It is time for the world—and Americans themselves—to recognize Trump’s treason from within as the insidious betrayal it truly is—a deliberate assault on liberty, equality, and justice that echoes the darkest chapters of history. Americans must act with unyielding resolve, through global solidarity, vigilant advocacy, and unwavering resistance, before the pillars of American democracy collapse entirely, leaving behind a hollow shell of what was once a nation that saw itself a beacon of democracy and freedom, and dragging its neighbours and allies into the abyss of instability and conflict.

© 2026 The View From Here. © 2026 Fareed Khan. All Rights Reserved.

Trump’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protesters signals a slide into fascist authoritarianism

This crackdown serves as a broader warning to all Americans: political dissent will not be tolerated.  If the government can detain and deport legal residents for exercising their rights, what protections remain for anyone else?

  

By Fareed Khan

 

In recent months, a chilling pattern has emerged on American university campuses.   Students and faculty, many of whom hold green cards or student visas, are being arrested, detained, and threatened with deportation for participating in pro-Palestinian protests or speaking out against Israel’s genocidal crimes in Gaza.  These individuals, exercising their constitutionally protected right to free speech, have found themselves targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under the directives of the Trump administration for their political protests.  This is not merely a policy disagreement or an immigration enforcement issue — it is a stark demonstration of authoritarianism, one that echoes the repressive tactics of fascist and dictatorial regimes, and signals a dangerous erosion of democracy in the United States. 

The First Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees the right to freedom speech, a cornerstone of American democracy.  Protests, even those that challenge government policies or those of powerful allies like Israel, are not only legal but are a vital part of the nation’s political fabric.  Yet, the Trump administration has chosen to weaponize an obscure law — one that allows the Secretary of State to deport non-citizens deemed a threat to US foreign policy — to silence dissent.  This law, rarely invoked in the past, was intended to address genuine national security risks, not to punish students and scholars for their political views.  By repurposing it to target pro-Palestinian voices, the administration reveals its true face, one that is fascist and racist, that intends to intimidate, suppress, and punish those who dare to criticize Israel’s crimes and US complicity, in what Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Court of Justice have described as a genocide in Gaza.

The number of protesters targeted are far greater than the few whose stories have been covered by the news media.  Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently disclosed that the State Department has revoked the visas of at least 300 foreign students, and many others are in the government’s sights.  This figure, however, likely underrepresents the full scope of the crackdown, as high-profile cases covered by the media — such as those of Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Momodou Taal, and Yunseo Chung — are just the tip of the iceberg.  These individuals, all racialized immigrants with legal status in the US, have been singled out for their activism.  Their stories paint a grim picture of a government willing to trample constitutional rights and deploy Gestapo-like tactics to intimidate protesters and enforce ideological conformity.

Consider Mahmoud Khalil, a green card holder married to an American, who led protests at Columbia University.  He now languishes in a Louisiana ICE detention center, his green card revoked, as the State Department seeks to deport him.  Or Rumeysa Ozturk, a Fulbright scholar and PhD student at Tufts University, detained by plain clothes ICE agents near her home for writing an op-ed critical of her university’s ties to companies supporting Israel.  Momodou Taal, a Cornell graduate student and dual UK-Gambia national, faces deportation proceedings after being a prominent voice in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.  And Yunseo Chung, a 21-year-old permanent resident who has lived in the US since she was seven, is now at risk of being deported to South Korea because of her constitutionally protected protest activities.  These are not isolated incidents but part of a systematic campaign targeting hundreds of students and faculty who have spoken out against the Gaza genocide.

The parallels between the actions of the Trump administration to authoritarian regimes are unmistakable.  In Russia or Communist China, dissenters are routinely “disappeared” into detention centres, their human rights denied under the guise of protecting state interests.  Today, the Trump administration is employing similar tactics, using ICE as a modern-day equivalent to the Soviet KGB to round up and silence those who challenge America’s support for Israel.  The racialized nature of these detentions — targeting people of colour — further underscores the administration’s fascist undertones, evoking the scapegoating and exclusionary policies of 20th-century fascist dictatorships.  What we are witnessing is not about national security, it is about control, power, and punishing those whose opinions and views with whom Trump disagrees or opposes.

Legal challenges are mounting as attorneys for those detained argue that the government’s actions violate the Constitution and represent egregious government overreach.  The use of a foreign policy statute to suppress free speech is a flimsy pretext, one that courts are likely to scrutinize closely.  Yet, the damage is already being done.  The chilling effect on campuses is very real — students and faculty, particularly those in the US on visas or green cards, now face a stark choice: speak out about Israel’s human rights crimes and risk detention, or remain silent and abandon their principles.  This is not the hallmark of a free society but of a dictatorship where dissent is met with retribution and imprisonment.

The Trump administration’s motivations appear twofold.  First, it is signalling unwavering loyalty to Israel and its influential Zionist supporters in the US, who have loudly condemned the protests.  By cracking down on pro-Palestinian activism, Trump is doing the bidding of a foreign government and its domestic allies, prioritizing their interests over the basic rights of individuals in the US.  Second, this crackdown serves as a broader warning to all Americans: political dissent will not be tolerated.  If the government can detain and deport legal residents for exercising their rights, what protections remain for anyone else?   This is the behaviour of a dictator who believes he is above the law, unbound by the Constitution, and free to act with impunity.

The administration’s defenders might argue that these measures are necessary to maintain order or protect US foreign policy interests.  But such claims crumble under scrutiny.  The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, and the individuals targeted pose no credible threat to national security.  Mahmoud Khalil is not a terrorist, he is a husband and human rights activist.  Rumeysa Ozturk is not a spy, she is a scholar who wrote an editorial in a university newspaper.  The government’s actions are not about safety — they are about silencing voices that challenge the status quo.  This is the essence of authoritarianism — the use of state power to crush opposition and criticism, regardless of legality or morality.

The implications extend far beyond the current moment.  If the Trump administration succeeds in normalizing these tactics, the precedent will be set for future crackdowns on any group or cause deemed inconvenient.  Environmental activists, racial justice advocates, or critics of US militarism could be next.  The erosion of free speech and assembly rights does not stop with one issue — it metastasizes, undermining the democratic foundations of the nation.  What we are witnessing in the US is not a temporary overreaction but a deliberate step toward a fascist state where dissent is criminalized, human rights are ignored, and the government operates without accountability.

The American public must recognize this for what it is, a betrayal of the values the US  claims to uphold.  The Constitution is not a suggestion, it is the bedrock of the nation’s identity.  By targeting pro-Palestinian protesters, the Trump administration is not just attacking a specific group of people — it is attacking the very idea of freedom.  The detained students and faculty are not the only victims, every American who cherishes their rights is at risk.  Silence in the face of the Trump administration’s overreach is complicity. 

History offers a sobering lesson.  Regimes that begin by targeting minority and marginalized groups — immigrants, students, religious communities — rarely stop there.  The Gestapo in Nazi Germany did not emerge overnight.  It was built through incremental steps, each one justified as necessary until dissent was extinguished entirely.  The US is not yet Nazi Germany, but the parallels are too close for comfort.  The arrest and detention of legal residents for exercising their rights, the use of immigration laws as a political weapon, and the blatant disregard for constitutional protections, are the hallmarks of a government sliding into fascist authoritarianism.

The Trump administration’s actions demand a forceful response.  America’s Courts must strike down these abuses of power, Congress must investigate and hold those responsible accountable, and citizens must raise their voices — on campuses, in the streets, and at the ballot box — to reject this descent into fascism.  The detained students and faculty are not threats to America they are its conscience, reminding Americans of the principles they risk losing.  If Americans allow these voices to be silenced, they will forfeit the claim to being a free nation.  The time to act is now, before the last vestiges of democracy are swept away by a dangerous regime that day by day is showing that it knows no bounds and will tolerate no dissent.

 

© 2025 The View From Here.  © 2025 Fareed Khan.  All Rights Reserved.