Are Trump's policies undermining civil liberties & America's democratic values?

Economic Times

17-06-2025

Agencies Donald Trump Singapore: Trump's increasingly authoritarian behaviour prompted sundry 'No Kings' marches across the US on his 79th birthday last Saturday. Many claim he's using brute force to suspend civil liberties by invoking spectres of foreign invasion and domestic revolution, threatening the future of the republic. Perhaps. Perhaps not.
Riding a wave of popular, but divergent, angst focused on wage disparities, disproportionate foreign spending, profligate government inefficiency, aggressive diversity-based affirmative action, and inconsistent immigration policy enforcement, Trump sailed into office promising each constituency a swift resolution. A promise, however, is no guarantee of success.
While many of these issues warranted serious scrutiny, plans drawn up by his administration offered little resolution. To stem the supposed tide of antisemitism in colleges, for instance, Marco Rubio has directed US embassies to stop processing new student visas, pending vetting of social media accounts to understand applicant sympathies with regard to Palestine. Setting concerns of legitimacy is unsustainable, since many US universities depend on foreign students to grow revenue and acquire global talent, for which there are no ready substitutes.
Likewise, other acts of brinkmanship — negotiating the end of the Ukraine conflict, trying to repatriate jobs through threats of hiking import tariffs, setting up DOGE, defunding colleges for non-compliance, using ICE agents to deport citizens and residents without due process —have all proved to be disastrous. Consequently, like a snubbed bully, the Trump regime has now chosen to focus on two ostensibly soft targets: working-class migrants, and Iran. To curtail the first, Trump has augmented the remit of Department of Homeland Security under Kristi Noem, to include a daily target of 'capturing' 3,000 illegal aliens. This has drawn widespread opposition, first in LA, where the president called in National Guards, and then Marines, without consulting the governor of California, to deal with 'paid insurrectionists' and 'criminal invaders', who were fomenting 'anarchy'. This, however, like other Trumpspeak, errs on the side of pathological exaggeration. While there were some instances of violence and lawlessness, local law enforcement authorities were quickly able to bring things under control. Protests in other cities have likewise been peaceful, with citizens decrying methods of ICE, whose ruthless ways spared neither assembled army veterans, nor Californian senator Alex Padilla, who was led away in handcuffs from a press conference. And, yet, as Trump knows, if low-paid migrants were asked to leave the US, nobody would take their place. To placate the second, Trump promised to pacify crippling sanctions if Iran revoked its uranium-enrichment programme. But this ended in disaster, when Israel decided to thwart negotiations by bombing Iran's nuclear facilities and neutralising many of its generals and scientists, despite being warned by Trump not to do so.Instead of berating Israel, Trump has now tried to make capital of a bad situation of his own devising by claiming he had given Iran 'chance after chance to make a deal', and that while there 'has already been great death and destruction, there is still time to make this slaughter… come to an end', urging Iran to accept terms before there was 'nothing left'. Iran promptly responded by firing missiles at Israel, in what looks like the start of a looming conflict. Rebuffed again, Trump has claimed he has forced both parties to negotiate peace, though neither party is willing to confirm this.As such, Trump is only a diminutive parody of a dictator: at best, a reality TV despot. He lacks even the myopic vision and dogged stamina to see his hare-brained plans to fruition. Despite this, he may be extremely deleterious to America's future. For he is at heart an oligarch, whose principal aim is self-aggrandisement. His circus of illusory achievements is a public distraction. Indeed, in the imbroglio that constituted his first 5 months in office, the real losers were the American people. They have little to show for it except rising prices and a quarter-million jobless claims in each of the last two weeks. Only Trump and his cronies have benefited. Trump's earnings alone have grown to $1.6 bn on the back of his crypto, golf club and personal licensing ventures.Through all this, Republicans, who dominate Congress — many of whom baulk at what they consider presidential overreach and constitutional infringement — have been silent, either from false hope that things will miraculously improve, or in the belief that people should be allowed to flip the Senate and House in 2026, if they so desire. Perhaps. Perhaps not.Two years could fill an eternity of misadventures. And may be two years too late. Perhaps it's time for members of Congress to make a bipartisan effort to restore values of the republic, lest the president be tempted to deploy regular troops to suppress the First Amendment. And for the people, inspired by the Second Amendment, to form a regulated militia to repel the same. Who knows? This is the United States of America, after all. (Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.) Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. Benchmarked with BSE 1000, this index fund will diversify your bets. But at a cost.
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