New York Police officers arrest a demonstrator who protested inside Trump Tower in New York in support of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, on March 13.Yuki Iwamura/The Associated Press
The name Mahmoud Khalil likely won’t mean much to many Americans, but it should.
Mr. Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials last Saturday at the residence he shares with his eight-months-pregnant wife on the campus of Columbia University in New York. He was detained downtown before being sent to ICE facilities in Louisiana.
For the longest time, his wife, a U.S. citizen, had no idea where he was.
If this sounds like a scene out of a big-screen thriller, you wouldn’t be far off. One could only assume authorities knew something about Mr. Khalil others didn’t; that he’d done something so nefarious it deserved being rounded up and whisked off in a manner that would make the Kremlin proud. There, it’s called “being disappeared.”
As it turns out, Mr. Khalil’s “crime” was organizing pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia last spring. This, of course, is not a crime. Rallies are protected by First Amendment free-speech rights. But it appears President Donald Trump, a supporter of Israel and its actions in Gaza, does not condone protests against causes he believes in – especially if they are led by immigrants.
Since Mr. Khalil’s arrest, Mr. Trump has called the young man, who is a green-card holder and lawful permanent resident of the U.S., a “troublemaker,” who needs to be exiled. He also said he is the first of many who will learn the same fate.
To say this is deeply troubling is an understatement. Commentary that has referenced Mr. Trump’s authoritarian tendencies is often dismissed as hysterical overreach. It is not. America may not look like a full-on dictatorship at the moment but there are the early markings of a Viktor Orban-type of illiberal state on display.
At the moment, it’s all being overshadowed by talk of tariffs and the economy. But there is stuff going on that should have the country on high alert.
Liz Oyer was a highly respected pardon lawyer in the Department of Justice. She and her team recently reviewed a list of 95 names for potential presidential pardons. Of the 95, they felt nine had met the criteria for consideration, and they submitted those names to the deputy attorney-general’s office. Soon after, a note came back to Ms. Oyer, asking her to add actor Mel Gibson’s name to the list.
Mr. Gibson is a huge Trump supporter and friend of the President. He had a previous conviction for domestic violence that disqualified him from purchasing a firearm, something he nevertheless tried to do in 2023. Ms. Oyer was not comfortable recommending Mr. Gibson for a pardon and told her superiors so. The next day she was fired via a letter which cited the President’s “executive authority” over the U.S. Constitution.
Think about that. A lawyer in the Justice Department lost her job because she refused to go along with something she inherently knew was wrong. But in this iteration of the Trump presidency, fealty to the leader is sacred. Ms. Oyer’s dismissal follows a purge of several Justice Department lawyers in what appears to be a cleansing of the agency of anyone deemed not to be loyal to the President.
What we have in the U.S. right now is a burgeoning thugocracy. Mr. Trump’s Attorney-General, Pam Bondi, serves him first, and the American Constitution second. The same goes for every one of the grossly unqualified sycophants who sit in the President’s cabinet.
You don’t have to strain your ears hard to hear the sounds of an autocracy springing to life. Listen to those same cabinet ministers praise their leader at every turn. It is absolutely terrifying. They know if they don’t genuflect enough, don’t laud the leader’s genius loudly and often enough, they will be gone. They may not be “accidentally-pushed-out-of-a-window” gone – we haven’t reached that stage just yet – but they will be robbed of the prestige and status they owe solely to their divine leader.
It all started with the Jan. 6 rioters being pardoned for their crimes. It was the first signal that all the guardrails that were previously around Mr. Trump are gone. Now, if you carry out a felony in the name of the President, you will be fine. The first rule of any crime boss is loyalty.
An unmistakable chill has descended on Washington amid this current culture of intimidation. People are afraid to say anything critical of the President for fear of retribution. Even an CNBC economics reporter began an on-air diatribe about Mr. Trump’s “insane” tariff policy this week by saying: “I’m going to say this at the risk of losing my job…”
This is where they are in America, and it’s only the beginning of this terrifying new epoch. We may not recognize the country by the time it’s over.