About a week ago, John Kelly, retired Marine Corp. general and former chief of staff to Trump, said that Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of the rule of law.
In the past couple days, Trump himself doubled down on threats to “enemies within” – stating his desire to go after his rivals, critics, and even private citizens through federal investigations, prosecutions, and U.S. military action.
During this truly scary time for our country, the ACLU of Oregon stands with tens of millions of people across our country – Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and others – who choose country over party. We refuse to bow down to fascists like Trump, Vance, and their billionaire funders who seek to destroy our democracy so that they can line their pockets, evade accountability, and hoard political power amongst the most powerful and wealthy.
No matter who wins the presidential election, we must remain on guard and continue to fight.
However, no matter who wins the presidential election, we must remain on guard and continue to fight. Even if Vice President Harris is elected to the White House, the architects and supporters of Project 2025 will continue to scheme and agitate, and extremist politicians like DeSantis in Florida and Abbott in Texas will continue using government power to punish organizations and people who fight for historically-disenfranchised communities, including pregnant people, people of color, and trans people.
The truth is, though, that organizations like the ACLU of Oregon must be a check-and-balance on Democratic politicians too. For far too long, Democratic and Republican elected officials at all levels of government – mayors and city councilors, county commissioners, district attorneys, and state and federal lawmakers – have supported a range of regressive laws that leave everyday people and our democracy incredibly vulnerable.
For example:
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They have done little to make police and sheriffs accountable for misconduct and violence, and they have not addressed the problem of white supremacists who have infiltrated law enforcement.
- As well, they have supported and passed unnecessary laws like the Oregon domestic terrorism law even though we warned them that there were already sufficient protections in place and laws like this are often used to suppress racial justice and environment/climate justice activists.
- Just a couple years ago, state lawmakers even passed a law that re-allowed police to use chemical warfare like tear gas on Oregonians – even though they saw the horrendous health and environmental impacts of police using tear gas and other weapons of war to attack Oregonians protesting for racial justice and against Trump’s aggressive deployment of federal law enforcement against Portlanders.
So, if Trump is re-elected and becomes a full-blown dictator, can Oregon’s elected officials guarantee that our local police and sheriffs will not join forces with him to crack down on the Oregonians who fight for democracy? The answer to this is not yet known and deeply unsettling.
What we do know is this: we cannot simply rely on elected officials to save us. This is why the work of the ACLU of Oregon – to keep our government accountable to the people – is more important than ever before.
Please make a donation to the ACLU of Oregon today. Your support is critical. The work is daunting. But together, we can do the hard work of creating an Oregon of greater justice, equity, and care.
