Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.
According to internet sources, Donald Trump has already abused executive privilege to override, impair or challenge the First, Fourth, Fifth, 10th, 14th, 16th, 22nd and 25th amendments, as well as parts of our Constitution. Thus, Trump takes away parts of our freedoms in a way that only continually increases his dictatorial control over what America and its people should become.
Within Trump’s two terms, and during the Biden term, the current president has contributed to our Congress becoming more dysfunctional. Record numbers of members are leaving. Toxic politics, chaos and divisiveness are given as reasons for why this is happening. This National Public Radio article has an excellent summary about this: “‘Congress is in a coma.’ Former lawmakers sound alarm on health of the House.”
Under Trump, we now have an official banned-word list. Banned-book lists are being expanded by the far-right wing. Numerous new Trump-dictated federal restrictions make many originally legal or acceptable things into now-forbidden things. Many other originally forbidden things are now legal or acceptable. For example, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is making questionable medical decisions, and Trump is handing out many presidential pardons to convicted criminals and Jan. 6 rioters that make no sense. Another incremental decline in our freedom of speech was reported in this MS NOW internet article: “Marco Rubio is using real censorship to fight fake censorship.” This is a quote in the subtitle of that article: “In the name of protecting free speech, the U.S. government just banned five Europeans from entering the country — because it doesn’t like their speech.”
Trump has been expanding his suppression of any and all “news” or other “negative” information that he does not like, regardless of its truth, validity or right to exist on its own. He does this by intimidation, insults, threats and lawsuits. If you say something Trump does not like, he blasts back at you. Sometimes, immediately afterward, anonymous “vigilantes” come out of nowhere to harass, give death threats and drop pipe bombs near facilities of, for example, election staffs and courtroom personnel. Any newly “disloyal” politician gets a sample of his “thunder.” For example, he renamed Marjorie Taylor Greene as Marjorie “Traitor” Greene, and then, the next day, she was shocked by the threats and a pipe bomb. For another example, this CBS article says it all: “Trump says broadcast licenses should be terminated if networks are ‘almost 100% Negative’ about him.”
Just think, Trump has surely already drafted, at least in his head, an executive order that allows him, and only him, to declare, without limitation, anything he dislikes as disloyal, unpatriotic or against his agenda. He can decide that something is a national security threat, and he uses some constitutional loophole to make trouble. And he could put into that executive order a “gestapo bypass” exception on our due process laws, so he can just order you to be picked up — no trial, no hearing — and thrown into one of his detention centers. Some of this is already happening in his deportation project.
It came to my attention that we are already in more trouble than we think. One article I found had this title: “Pam Bondi wants FBI to offer bounties for ‘radical gender ideology’ groups, leaked memo shows.” That article gets its information from Bondi’s Dec. 4, 2025, memo. I easily found a downloadable copy on the internet by searching for “Pam Bondi memo Dec 4 2025.” Though I am not a lawyer, I thought I saw, sprinkled throughout the document, plenty of names, labels and terms that could be redefined or further clarified or extended to connect to or expand into anything Trump hated or thought was bad and, therefore, eligible for Trump “thunder and lightning” consequences. Indeed, earlier in 2025, Trump was pushing to have his supporters snitch on anyone not “aligned” with his agenda.
Bondi’s memo makes reference to Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 for its authority. I got the most “quick study” of this memo from a website article with this title: “Trump’s NSPM-7 Labels Common Beliefs as Terrorism ‘Indicators.’” In that article is this quote: “‘This is the first time in American history that there is an all-of-government effort to dismantle left wing terrorism,’ Trump’s homeland security advisor Stephen Miller said, referring to the issuance.” Being that it is a fact that Trump 100% hates Democrats, liberals and anything “left,” what is being strongly hinted at is a risk of future political purge of some kind by just putting the “terrorism” label on it.
I found another useful explanation of what is going on by reading an article on the website of a Florida FM radio station (WMNF). The title is: “The Trump administration is labeling dissent as terrorism, raising constitutional alarms.”
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
