A Year of Living Dangerously in Trump's America

[Celerity]

I no longer feel safe to speak or act freely in a country where people are being arbitrarily detained and killed and where the truth is becoming whatever Donald Trump says it is, reports Alexandra Hall Hall

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/01/15/a-year-of-living-dangerously-in-trumps-america/


President Donald Trump listens in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. Photo: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

One year into the second Trump Presidency and America is now a very different place. It may superficially look the same from the outside. Many of us are able to go through the motions of our daily lives in the same ways as before. But, everything is changed on the inside.

America has become a place where it is no longer entirely safe to speak freely. Where criticizing the Government can get you into trouble, perhaps even cause you to be fired from your job, or deported. Where engaging in public protest can get you arrested. Where every day you wake up with a clenching stomach, wondering what new Government outrage has happened overnight.

Where every day, hordes of masked men roam communities, terrorize individuals, wantonly grab people off the streets, from their cars, or places of business, rough them up and throw them into detention, on no evidence whatsoever that they are guilty of any wrongdoing. All of this sanctioned by the Government authorities that are supposedly here to protect us.

I can’t believe I’m actually writing these words. I can’t believe I am actually living in a country where extra-judicial executions, such as happened with Renee Good in Minneapolis last week, killed by an ICE officer, can take place; where forced disappearances have become routine; where individuals with legal residency or citizenship status can be swept up in anti-immigration raids, if they happen to look foreign (translation – black or brown), or be hanging around in a place frequented by immigrants; where even young children can be snatched up and taken into detention.

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Author:

Alexandra Hall Hall

Alexandra Hall Hall is a former British diplomat with more than 30 years experience, with postings in Bangkok, Washington, Delhi, Bogota and Tbilisi. She resigned from the Foreign Office in December 2019 because she felt unable to represent the Government’s position on Brexit with integrity.

[malaise]

1. Get thee to the greatest page

RFN!

[Johnny2X2X]

2. It's terrifying

I have a close friend who is a disabled vet who is politically active in Northern MI. We have talked a lot of about free speech and social media. He has several handicaps and relies on social security disability insurance to live. He barely gets by and his full time job is dealing with the paperwork and hoops to jump through to keep himself eligible for the care and assistance he needs to keep alive.

We talked through some things and he has purged his social media of all anti Trump posts. He thinks that they could use AI to analyze the social media posts of people receiving food assistance and cancel the assistance for ones who are not pro Trump. And I can't really say I disagree with him, I could see them doing this. And once you lose food assistance, many of the other things you need are also canceled.

So that's where we are, we are no longer a free country and people are starting to realize it and acting to protect themselves. Here's a guy, who served in the US Navy and fought in Desert Storm who is afraid to voice his opinions on social media for fear of retribution. The retribution could cost him his life. These are the decisions millions of people are starting to assess.

And a lot of people will say, "Screw em, I won't give up my freedoms!" But it's not as easy to do when your very existence is tied to getting assistance from the government. For most people, fascism is just something you go into survival mode when faced with.