Threatened civil liberties | USA under Trump: On the road to dictatorship

During the US presidential election campaign, Democrat Kamala Harris answered the question of whether she considered Donald Trump a fascist with "Yes, I do." Although at the time there were only warnings about eroding civil liberties, but now this is actually happening, hardly anyone is that brave anymore. That attack didn't help Harris win almost six months ago either. So why have the debate again?

No matter how you call it: The USA, which for decades presented itself as a beacon of individual freedoms for all, is moving directly towards dictatorial conditions under Trump. Several fundamental pillars of the US Constitution are being deliberately undermined. For example, Turkish doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk was arrested by immigration authorities for allegedly supporting the terrorist organization Hamas. As a result, her student visa was revoked. However, the accusation is based solely on a March 2024 article in a student newspaper co-authored by Öztürk, which accused Israel of genocide and therefore called on the administration of Tufts University to "divest from companies with ties to Israel." In a country where freedom of speech even extends to homage to National Socialism, this is suddenly too much of a bad thing.

Intimidation by accusation of terrorism

Freedom of assembly is also under threat. In the wake of the wave of cuts in public services initiated by Elon Musk , people also protested in front of Tesla dealerships . Some demonstrators set cars on fire, which FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi described as "acts of terrorism." This was an intimidation tactic, as innocent fellow demonstrators could quickly become supporters of terrorism if accused of such an act.

The biggest headlines, however, were the government's curtailment of the right to a court hearing: Hundreds of men were arrested without warning and deported, without the opportunity to defend themselves against the accusation that they were part of the Tren de Aragua gang and thus, as Trump declared, terrorists supported by Venezuela. Even the Supreme Court has now condemned this disregard for habeas corpus rights as a violation of the Constitution.

The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who, like many other men, was transported to a horror prison in El Salvador, attracted particular attention. The dictator there, Nayib Bukele , is paying for this with several million dollars a year from the US treasury. However, a judge had confirmed that 29-year-old Abrego Garcia could never be deported to his homeland of El Salvador because he himself had been a victim of gang violence there as a young adult. Although Trump's prosecutors even admitted a mistake in court, the government is reluctant to implement the Supreme Court's order to bring Abrego Garcia back to the US.

Dispute among Democrats

Democratic lawmakers have now met with Öztürk and even Abrego Garcia in El Salvador and pledged their support. Other party colleagues, however, warn against falling into a conservative trap: "This is exactly the debate they want to have, because they don't want a debate about tariffs," argued California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has long been preparing his 2028 presidential candidacy.

Dan Pfeiffer vehemently contradicted this in his podcast "Pod Save America." The former communications director for Barack Obama said: "Of course, Trump's approval rating drops faster when the economy tanks. Tariffs, inflation, falling stock prices, cuts to health insurance—people notice them without us. But if our response to a father being deported to a foreign gulag is just poll-driven arguments about tariffs, who are we? What do we still stand for?" You can't always pick and choose your battles. The battle for democracy and the rule of law is simply "too important, so we have to take it on."