Authoritarian surveillance / January 30, 2026
For the sake of the country, it’s time to cross the aisle.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY).
(Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images) To: Senators Lisa Murkowski, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins and Rand Paul and Representatives Don Bacon, Brian Fitzpatrick and Thomas Massie
Over the past year, the seven of you have been the few voices of opposition within the Republican Party to many of President Donald Trump’s power grabs. You criticized his inflammatory language and expressed concern about the extremist behavior of many of his appointees.
However, as the author of this weekly “Authoritarian Watch” column, it strikes me that your verbal opposition is not enough. In this time of national trauma, the most effective action you can take to curb the excesses of the Trump regime is to reach across the aisle.
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As long as your Republican colleagues control the investigative and financial levers of government, Trump will continue to tear apart the social fabric of the country and demolish the pillars of governance that make a functioning democracy possible. In your heart, you must surely be aware of this. But if you join the Democrats — not because you agree with all or even most of their policies, but because you understand the existential threat Trump poses to democracy — you could change the political landscape of this country and prevent Trump’s nightmarish dreams from becoming reality. Yes, if you do, you may lose your seat to a major challenge, but history will remember you for standing up to the burgeoning tyranny.
I say this without hyperbole: the president is free and, you must have noticed, increasingly unstable. Trump displays megalomaniac tendencies on the international stage that have fractured the post-World War II Western alliance and rules-based global order. The United States has become a rogue state.
Domestically, Trump is attempting to use overwhelming force to break down the resistance of ordinary Minneapolis residents. This is arguably the first time since the Civil War that the federal government has defined a major city as a hub for the “enemy within.” Stephen Miller, Trump’s far-right henchman, even required that local and state law enforcement in Minnesota is “surrendering” to the federal government, as if it were the commander of a new civil war.
Can you honestly say that the daily images of federal agents beating, tear gassing, massacring, and shooting civilians – all direct consequences of Miller’s might is right philosophy – are the face of the United States that you wanted to present to the world when you entered politics?
If you are hoping – as I privately suspect – for a quick demise of the Trump presidency, you must have noticed that the members of his cabinet, suckers every single one of them, hired solely for their ability and willingness to turn state departments into morally devoid agents of Trump, have shown little willingness to resist his illegal demands. Can you really imagine JD Vance, Pete Hegseth, Pam Bondi, Russell Vought, Kristi Noem and the other sycophants ending this evil presidency by invoking the 25th Amendment?
And, despite your affection for the institution of which you are all long-time members, can you seriously imagine that the Republican-led House, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, impeaches Trump and John Thune’s Senate then convicts him? It just won’t happen.
Ten years ago, Trump bragged about he could shoot someone in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue and retain its main support. In Minneapolis, in recent weeks, we have seen this come to fruition.
Trump may not have personally fired the three shots to Renée Good’s face or the ten to Alex Pretti’s back and neck, but by empowering an out-of-control ICE, using inciting anti-immigrant rhetoric, and repeatedly glorifying violence against his political opponents, Trump winked at ICE agents into shedding civilian blood. So is Vance’s unacceptable statement that the officer who shot Good and then called her a “fucking bitch” has “absolute immunity” from prosecution.
In the aftermath of the Minneapolis murders – cold-blooded murders, as I assume you know deep in your heart – Trump, Vance, Noem, Miller and others in leadership positions launched a propaganda campaign to smear the names of Good and Pretti. Imagine having the nerve to smear the name of a young mother killed for trying to defend the interests of her neighbors or that of an intensive care nurse shot in the back for trying to care for a woman who had been pepper-sprayed in the face. In the sanctity of your private quarters, away from the prying eyes of the media, I suspect you would agree with this dark interpretation of their crude words.
On a related note, you probably squirmed in your seat when you saw how Trump’s propaganda team doctored an image of an African-American protester who was arrested in Minneapolis in a manner intended to strip her of all dignity, making her appear scared and stupid and pandering to the worst racial stereotypes peddled by white supremacists.
Confident democracies do not manipulate the images of private citizens to serve the political interests and demands of the country’s leaders. But, on the other hand, countries controlled by ruthless leaders do not hesitate to deprive their citizens of their basic dignity. They also have no qualms about weakening and denigrating opposition politicians in ways that go well beyond the normal turbulence of politics: witness Trump’s allegations This week, Rep. Ilhan Omar staged the attack in which a man rushed her on stage and sprayed an unidentified liquid in her face. Or the series of subpoenas issued against political leaders in Minnesota and Minneapolis because of their opposition to Trump’s anti-immigration policies. It’s no wonder Trump’s ICE is recruiting far-right white supremacists including Neo-Nazi songs, memes and slogans in their recruitment videos.
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I could go on. I could, for example, explain how democracies do not agree to prosecute, for political reasons, central bank figures who refuse to lower interest rates when ordered to do so, as Trump did in 2017. demanding prosecution from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. I could explain how democracies don’t order major law enforcement agencies to raid election offices looking for “fraud” that would explain why a president lost an election; Yet that’s exactly what Trump did this week by eliminating Kash Patel’s FBI. on election officials in Fulton County, Georgia, looking for “evidence” that they committed fraud to ensure Biden won the state in 2020. This time, they are seizing ballots cast more than five years ago. Next time, if they get away with their actions against Fulton County, they may attempt to seize the ballots cast in the 2026 midterms. You have to see the disastrous impact this would have on the viability of the American electoral system.
I could even mention the use of humiliation rituals by federal agencies aimed at pushing immigrants into a completely Kafkaesque situation. In recent weeks, media outlets in Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the cities targeted by ICE, have reported that asylum seekers and other immigrants are being summoned for mandatory “check-ins.” When they arrive there, they find no appointment available for days. If they leave the queue, they are technically not complying with the court orders and therefore their asylum case may be closed, and their deportation may be expedited. If they stay in line, they often end up having to camp in the streets for several days and nights in a row, even in freezing weather, before federal authorities let them into the building. This behavior should shock the conscience of all Americans, including you.
The litany of abuses that Trump supporters commit against the public every day is vast. This government is honing its techniques of cruelty and humiliation against a growing list of national “enemies.” This is the deepest betrayal and one that should prevent Trump and his acolytes from ever holding high office again.
I think you seven know exactly what’s going on. That is why I will end this letter as I opened it, with a call to all of you to do what is right, belatedly. Your party has shown itself completely incapable of moderating Trump’s extremism. It’s time to cross the aisle and strip Trump of the congressional approval that empowered and emboldened him and start putting the brakes on this most morally appalling and undemocratic presidency.
