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President Trump’s actions over the last two weeks demonstrate a dramatic new level of cruelty, corruption, personal retribution, and lust for power. They demand a more aggressive resistance to his authoritarian and dictatorial behavior, a resistance grounded in our commitment to fundamental ethical values. If we were waiting for things to get bad enough to “man the barricades,” the time is now. But what does that demand of ordinary folks like you and me? Trump’s threats to invade Greenland and then his speech to the World Economic Forum at Davos were breathtaking in his disrespect for international law, for national sovereignty, for the sacrifices of others in service of U.S. interests, and for the international alliances that keep the U.S. and other nations free and at peace for the past 80 years. And the details of his proposed Board of Peace would give him sole control of this global institution even after he leaves the U.S. presidency. Is this a reach for global authoritarian power? The ICE surge in Minnesota, apparently directed by White House Advisor Stephen Miller and Budget Director Tom Homan, has been designed to create chaos and strike fear into one American community while intimidating others. The ill-trained troops used for this campaign have violated fundamental civil rights and have shot and killed two American citizens. Trump promised last week to turn down the temperature, only to double down on the campaign two days later. In the most recent display of outright corruption, Amazon and its leader, Jeff Bezos, are paying $78 million for the rights to produce and promote a documentary on first lady Melania Trump, off which the Wall Street Journal reported she will net $28 million. At the same time, Trump and his sons have sued the U.S. government for $10 billion because an IRS contractor released their income tax returns in 2020. Then Trump joked that he will make the decision whether to pay himself. Finally, his use of the Department of Justice to seek retribution on those he considers his enemies has escalated significantly. In just the past two weeks, he has directed Attorney General Pam Biondi to open criminal investigations against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. Kudos to former Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, who, threatened with a criminal investigation, still repeated all his conclusions about Trump’s criminal behavior to a Congressional committee on Jan. 22. What can we do in the face of this escalation of Trump’s reach for authoritarian power? I see four actions as today’s equivalent of “manning the barricades.” It is critical that we not get used to his violations or normalize them in any way. The first step is to support House and Senate campaigns of candidates who will oppose Trump’s authoritarianism. This is a moment for digging deep to contribute to campaigns and working to get out the vote in the face of Trump’s many attempts to suppress the vote among those likely to vote against him. The second action is to sustain and increase the drumbeat of vocal opposition to Trump’s actions. It is time for weekly protest marches and deliberate conversations with all our friends about how Trump’s actions are betraying America and are deliberately designed to destroy democracy. Our “wait and see” approach for Trump’s first year must give way as his actions in year two have become significantly more threatening. The third action is to prepare for Trump’s impeachment after the midterm elections. His many violations of the rule of law and his outright corruption are ample justification for impeachment, which will likely be the only way to stop the ever-growing ambitions of Trump and his inner circle. Impeachment of one or more cabinet officers—many suggested Kristi Noem could be the first—might stop the surge. The impeachment process would counter the attitude voiced baldly by Trump advisor Stephen Miller that we cannot be constrained by “international niceties,” that “we live…in the real world…that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power” (see here). The fourth step is to encourage our religious leaders to use their moral authority to weigh in at this moment. I have a special interest in the role religious communities can play. Fortunately, within my Roman Catholic community, there is a growing willingness to speak out. On Jan. 18, apparently after conferring with Pope Leo, the three most influential U.S. Catholic cardinals issued an unprecedented letter calling for “a return to morality” in U.S. foreign policy (see here). It was Pope Francis’s wisdom to appoint these three senior cardinals in recent years. Robert McElroy, appointed Archbishop of Washington a few days after Trump’s election in November 2024, brings particular intellectual and moral heft as a Stanford Ph.D. in political science, former Bishop of San Diego, where he took the lead on immigration policy, and lengthy service as a local pastor. Blasé Cupich of Chicago served as secretary to the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S. early in his career and has a PhD in Theology. Joseph Tobin of Newark is a former Superior General of the global Redemptorist Order and served as a troubleshooter for the Vatican. This letter was followed within a day by a much-quoted BBC interview with Archbishop Timothy Brolio, who is archbishop for the U.S. military servicemen and women (see here). He stated it would be a morally defensible act to refuse orders to invade Greenland or to fire on survivors of a Venezuelan boat sinking. It is time for the other major denominational leaders to weigh in. We also need more spokespersons in Congress, primarily Republican leaders, who must make their dissent from Trump’s most egregious actions visible. A few have spoken out this month, but many more are needed. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has said he will not approve a new Federal Reserve Chair until Trump’s criminal investigation of current Chair Powell is resolved. Simultaneously, more Democratic legislators must speak out forcefully so the daily statements by House and Senate Democratic leaders don’t look like business as usual. And we need more resistors in government itself. I addressed this topic in my most recent newsletter. The resignation on Jan. 13 of six federal prosecutors in Minneapolis over the Trump administration’s investigation of Renee Good, the Minneapolis mother gunned down by an ICE officer, was an encouraging sign, as was the resignation of other lawyers in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, who also refused to investigate Good and not the officers who shot her. I continue to believe the current moment calls for a full-throated and ethics-based response to authoritarianism in America. Nothing less will be faithful to our values and adequate to this moment in our American history.
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