About The Madison County journal. (Hull, Ga.) 1989-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2025)
THE MADISON COUNTY (GA) JOURNAL, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16, 2025 - PAGE 5A American Gestapo First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—be cause Iwas not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. —Martin Niemoller, 1946 America is sliding rapidly toward autocracy as tlie Trump Administration politicizes and weaponizes tlie tools of govern ment to assert unrestrained and uncliecked power. Tliere are many troubling dimensions to Trump’s assault on tlie nation, not tlie least of wliicli is tlie current tariff war tliat lias upended tlie world’s economic system. Tlie tariffs — a tax on tlie American consumers disguised as being levied on other countries — has come under withering criticism from econo mists around the world. The tariffs are so bad that even the National Review, the con servative magazine that has usually supported Trump, had this to say last week: “The new tariffs are economically illiterate, self-destructive, top-to-bottom nonsense, imposed with no sense of rhyme or rea son, assembled by White House staffers who do not know which territories have serious trade relationships with the U.S. and which ones are inhabited entirely by penguins. Also, the White House continues to avoid almost any decision that could pos sibly antagonize Vladimir Putin, while inflicting as much pain as possible on longtime allies and vulnerable friends like Israel and Taiwan.” The last time an American president imposed massive tariffs, it led to the Great Depression. Trump’s tariffs, along witli his backstabbing of Ukraine, vir tual abandonment of NATO, vow to ethnically cleanse Gaza to build a resort, and his rhetoric to takeover Greenland and Can ada have stunned America’s allies who now condemn America as no longer being a stable partner for worldwide peace. America has trashed botli its friends and foes. While tariffs are the story of the moment, a deeper and more sinister aspect of the Trump Administration is playing out on the streets around the country. Under the guise of rounding up people for “supporting ter rorists,” the administration has begun to assault legal residents, arresting them without charges and putting them in prisons without any due process of law. The most chilling example of that was caught on camera when six plain-clothes DHS officers, their faces covered with masks, snatched Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student, off the street in Somerville, Massachusetts, on Marell 27, and put her in an unmarked SUV and sped away. Ozturk, a Fulbright Scholar, is in the U.S. legally on an F-1 student visa. Without notification, the Trump Administration canceled her visa and then grabbed her off the street. She has not been charged witli any crime, yet is still being detained at an ICE detention center in Louisiana. Wliy was she jailed without charges? The Trump Administration claims, without providing any evidence, that Ozturk, a citizen of Turkey, had given support to Hamas. But national media reports indicate something else. Last year, Ozturk had co-authored an article in the Tufts student newspa per that was critical of Israel and its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza. It appears that Ozturk’s only “crime” was to express a polit ical opinion the Trump Administration doesn’t like. (Just be cause someone is critical of Israeli policies doesn’t mean they support terrorism or that it’s antisemitic. I’ve been critical of some Israeli policies over the years, but it doesn’t mean I sup port Hamas or other terrorist groups. Regardless, expressing an opinion isn’t a crime — or it wasn’t until now.) And Ozturk isn’t the only student legally in the U.S. to have been snatched by masked agents from their homes, or off the street, and detained without being charged witli any crime. Doz ens of other legal-resident students are having their visas re voked not because of any crime, but because of their opinions. Now, the U.S. State Department is using AI to scan social media posts of foreign students to see who might express an opinion contrary to the Trump Administration’s views. I sus pect that raking of views won’t be confined to foreign students, either. Big Brother is watching you, too. All of this is Orwellian. In effect, the Trump Administration has created an American Gestapo — agents in plain clothes wearing masks — to arrest people who express views they don’t like. That’s in spite of the administration’s recent lecturing to Germany that it was sti fling free speech. In February, vice presi dent J.D Vance strongly criticized German laws that ban certain kinds of speech, spe cifically speecli that denies the Holocaust, or that glorifies Nazi ideology. Yet Vance and the administration are doing the exact same thing in America by snatching people off the street and detaining them for express ing opinions Trump doesn’t agree with. It’s shameful hypocrisy by Vance and the administration. Today, DHS is targeting legal residents for the content of their speech, but it’s a very thin line between doing that and targeting regular American citizens. Trump has already vowed to use lawsuits and the justice department to crack down on media outlets that have been critical of him. It’s not difficult to see where this is headed. mike buffington And then there is the Trump Administration’s sloppy roundup of “criminals” who were flown to a massive prison in El Salva dor without any court hearings or any due process of law. The administration claims they were gang members, but that was apparently based more on their tattoos than evidence. A CBS News report this week found that 75% of the 238 peo ple sent to El Salvador didn’t have any criminal record. Some of those might be gang members, but so far there’s been no evidence to back that up because those people weren’t given due process before being deported. The administration has admitted it sent one man to El Salva dor who shouldn’t have gone, but Trump has opposed efforts to have him returned to the U.S. The Supreme Court ruled this week that the administration can continue using the controversial 1798 law to deport sus pected gang members, but it can’t do that without due process, giving those accused the right to challenge the government’s allegations before being deported. In addition to its abuse of human rights, the Trump Adminis tration is also waging an ideological assault against institutions that don’t portray American history and culture the way Trump and his peons want that history told. That ideological assault has taken several forms, including banning DEI programs that dare to discuss American’s sordid racial past. (Tlie interesting tliing about Trump’s assault on DEI is that the administration crows about wanting people lured or promoted only based on merit witli no consideration of gen der or race. That might have more legitimacy if Trump himself hired based on merit. He doesn’t, he hires based on loyalty to him even if those people are unfit for the positions they hold. His cabinet is filled witli nutty sycophants whose only “merit” is that they have kissed Trump’s ring.) It was Trump’s executive order against the Smithsonian Insti tution that is most telling. In that order, Trump told the legend ary Smithsonian to get rid of “improper, divisive or anti-Amer ican ideology” from its storied museums. In essence, Trump wants to rewrite American history to matcli his ideology. Now, only Trump gets to declare what is “proper” or “anti-American.” w to th That action matches witli Trumps takeover of the Kenne- dy Center, an iconic venue under the arm of the Smithsonian. Trump made himself chairman of the Kerniedy Center board of directors. The Kennedy Center is an iconic cultural institution that has attracted world-wide fame. Now, Trump apparently wants to bend the Kennedy Center and its cultural impact to convey his culture, whatever that is. In another sphere, Trump is weaponizing various government agencies to attack businesses and institutions he sees as block ing his way. He’s fired dozens of inspectors general whose job it is to find corruption in government; he’s fired mucli of the Pentagon’s JAG officers who are supposed to oversee the legal boundaries of the U.S. military; and he’s attacked private law firms that have sued him in the past, or that he believes might hinder him in the courts. In education, Trump is threatening to revoke federal funding to various universities and even K-12 schools that don’t bend to his will. In effect, Trump is using the power of government to intim idate a wide range of basic American institutions into bowing to his ideology. All of this has an echo of the 1930s when another world lead er used hate, fear and propaganda to make minority groups a national scapegoat, complained that other nations were taking advantage of his homeland, spoke of taking over other nations and territories and vowed to make his nation great again. It was under that leader the Gestapo rounded up Jews and others it didn’t like and sent them off to concentration camps. If you think that can’t happen here, think again. Trump is following the same playbook. Trump is using tlireats, intimidation and fear to impose his will across a broad section of the nation’s traditional institu tions. Trump is flaunting the rule of law by attacking the courts and legal institutions that stand in his way. Trump has mastered the use of propaganda to destroy trutli and replacing it witli a multitude of lies. Trump has created the same cult of personality of rabid fol lowers who hang on his every word and cheer even his most unliinged pronouncements. Trump has the same vainglory ego and demeaning attitude. Anything is possible when an amoral man becomes obsessed witli power and seeks to quasli all voices that dissent. Yes, it can happen here. It’s happening now. We’ve seen this movie before. We know how it ends. Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com. Letter to the Editor Corrections Dear Editor: Thank you for publish ing Colonel Bruce Gan dy’s speech to the Madison County Rotary Club. He described personal experi ences in the military work ing with the United States Agency for International Development, an agency that makes our country re spected by our allies and other countries. I appreciate his love of our country and willingness to share his knowledge. Sincerely, Ann Clark Suggestions for Rep. Mike Collins Dear Editor: In keeping with the new Administration’s focus on ef ficiency, I am wondering what our representative Mike Collins has done in Georgia’s 10th District to serve his constituents/employers. I have a few suggestions: 1. Continue to press the Trump administration on the campaign promise of consumer relief through reduced grocery prices. Georgians in this district are feeling the pain of high grocery and gas prices and eagerly await an Executive Order addressing this campaign promise. Or ange juice is nearly $9 per gallon. 2. If possible, explain how cutting Medicaid will put money back into the pockets of the average Georgian in the 10th District. As a reminder, over 30% of households in the district make less than $50,000 per year, which is $350,000 less than enough to benefit from the 2017 Trump Administration tax cuts. 3. Find out what a “Special Government Employee” is paid and how much of that comes from taxpayer dollars. 4. Support a bill introduced by Senators Sanders (I-VT) and Hawley (R-MO) to cap credit card interest rates. I hope that our representative is working on behalf of most Georgians in his district and will consider these sug gestions, which I am also sending to him. • Source: censusreporter.org, https://censusreporter.org/ profiles/50000US1310-congressional-district-10-ga/ Sincerely, Jennifer Ivey Danielsville Dear Editor: I wasn’t going to do it, but the recent letter from Shelbey Alex ander just had too many errors to let go. President Trump [note the Pres ident portion] does in fact have le gal authority to write and sign ex ecutive orders, just like President Biden did. If you or I don’t like them, they are still legal executive orders. The Democrats have the right to bring any executive or ders they think are illegal in part or whole to the courts, which they have done for a few. You claim that “The Department of Education provides 26,000,000 healthy meals to school children” You are wrong. This department provides zero meals. I went to Dear Editor: Previously, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) provided necessary fund ing and administrative aid to mu seum and library programs across America — funding that Trump now threatens. The Institute pro motes literacy by commissioning reports and funding research on literacy development and family literacy programming. The Insti tute provides grants through the Museums For America program, used to help fund the digitization of local historical records, career training, and projects studying their website where it lists all of their programs - no meals. The Department of Agriculture is in volved in the school meal pro grams. The portions of USAID that provide humanitarian aid like giv ing food is still in effect. I took the trouble of finding and reading the actual signed waiver myself so I know it is true. No air traffic controllers have been fired. I don’t understand your state ment about Federal investments in renewable energy. If it is true that the Federal Government has given the State of Georgia 1 bil lion dollars for our infrastructure, how does this "... fight fossil fuel driven climate catastrophes...”? Federal funding for libraries American industry, founding fa thers, and much more. The In stitute supports each of the fifty states, D.C., American territories, and Freely Associated States with tools. This involves public ser vices provided throughout the United States in the form of li brary and museum programming. The the Institute funds the preser vation of artifacts from landmark events in American history. We cannot afford to lose this educa tion just so that billionaires make more money. It’s completely in excusable what is being done to our country just for them to turn I think that it is a good thing to write letters to attempt to right wrongs and alert citizens about government problems, but please don’t ruin your effectiveness with errors in enough abundance that any potential ally will be put off by these errors, and not give your letter any serious consideration. I am of the opinion that our cur rent Federal financial mess has been the work of both Republicans and Democrats. There is a short amount of time to fix it before our economy crashes. It is not popular or pleasant but it must be done to save all of us from something tru ly painful and virtually unfixable. Sincerely, Joe Costyn Hull a profit. The knowledge of Amer icans is dependent upon libraries and as much as they demand ig norance for working-class Amer icans, we need to demand better. Now is the time that we have to speak-up and act. Now is the time that we are watching our free doms fall away into a fascist re public. If we don’t speak-up and act, it will be too late. We will wake to find ourselves in a dic tatorship and wonder how we got there. Sincerely, Darren Mitton Danielsville
