Donald Trump poses a threat to civilization; The Guardian, January 6, 2025

 Robert Reich, The Guardian; Donald Trump poses a threat to civilization

"Trump’s domestic and foreign policies – ranging from his attempted coup against the United States five years ago, to his incursion into Venezuela last weekend, to his current threats against Cuba, Colombia, and Greenland – undermine domestic and international law. But that’s not all.

They threaten what we mean by civilization.

The moral purpose of civilized society is to prevent the stronger from attacking and exploiting the weaker. Otherwise, we’d be permanently immersed in a brutish war in which only the fittest and most powerful could survive.

This principle lies at the center of America’s founding documents – the Declaration of Independence, the constitution and the Bill of Rights. It’s also the core of the postwar international order championed by the United States, including the UN charter – emphasizing multilateralism, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law...

A direct line connects Trump’s attempted coup five years ago to his capture of Nicolás Maduro last weekend. Both were lawless. Both were premised on the hubris of omnipotence.

That same line connects to Trump’s current threats against Cuba, Colombia, and Greenland.

You see much the same in Putin’s war on Ukraine. In Xi’s threats against Taiwan. In global depredation and monopolization by big tech and big oil. In Russian, Chinese, and American oligarchs who have fused public power with their personal wealth.

But unfettered might does not make right. It makes for instability, upheaval, and war.

History shows that laws and norms designed to constrain the powerful also protect them. Without such constraints, their insatiable demands for more power and wealth eventually bring them down – along with their corporations, nations, or empires. And threaten world war.

Trump’s blatant lawlessness will haunt America and the world – and civilization – for years to come."

Trump Is the Jan. 6 President; The New York Times, December 31, 2025

 THE EDITORIAL BOARD, The New York Times; Trump Is the Jan. 6 President

"It was a day that should live in infamy. Instead, it was the day President Trump’s second term began to take shape.

Five years ago, on Jan. 6, 2021, a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, hoping to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. After the sun set that day, Congress reconvened to certify Joe Biden’s victory. The rioters lost, and so did Mr. Trump, who had summoned them to Washington and urged them to march to the Capitol. The Trump era seemed to have ended in one of the most disgracefully anti-American acts in the nation’s history.

That day was indeed a turning point, but not the one it first seemed to be. It was a turning point toward a version of Mr. Trump who is even more lawless than the one who governed the country in his first term. It heralded a culture of political unaccountability, in which people who violently attacked Congress and beat police officers escaped without lasting consequence. The politicians and pundits who had egged on the attack with their lies escaped, as well. The aftermath of Jan. 6 made the Republican Party even more feckless, beholden to one man and willing to pervert reality to serve his interests. Once Mr. Trump won election again in 2024, despite his role in encouraging the riot and his many distortions about it, it emboldened him to govern in defiance of the Constitution, without regard for the truth and with malice toward those who stand up to his abuses.

Tragically, America is still living in a political era that began on Jan. 6, 2021. Recognizing as much is necessary to bring this era to an end before it has many more anniversaries."

Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest; The Guardian, July 25, 2025

 Clare Considine, The Guardian; Immigration agents told a teenage US citizen: ‘You’ve got no rights.’ He secretly recorded his brutal arrest

[Kip Currier: It's profoundly disquieting to read how the officers conducted themselves in this incident. The lack of professional conduct we can see and hear with our own eyes and ears is appalling and stomach-churning.

One can't help but wonder about all the other stops and arrests like this that occur every day and which we know nothing about. Without well-maintained democratic systems of checks and balances, rigorous training and oversight, transparency, accountability, ethical guardrails, and personal integrity and honor, we know from this example and many others that unbridled lawlessness like this is occurring and will likely continue to be present unless remedial measures are implemented.

The larger and more concerning issue is that this type of conduct is ostensibly modeled, normalized, and rewarded in the Trump 2.0 organizational culture.

Sadly, in the absence of administration officials speaking out against these kinds of law enforcement excesses, it's reasonable to conclude that these types of incidents are acceptable to, if not suborned, by the leaders in charge. The dehumanization, fear, and cruelty are the point, in order to advance policy aims.]

[Excerpt]

"On the morning of 2 May, teenager Kenny Laynez-Ambrosio was driving to his landscaping job in North Palm Beach with his mother and two male friends when they were pulled over by the Florida highway patrol.

In one swift moment, a traffic stop turned into a violent arrest.

A highway patrol officer asked everyone in the van to identify themselves, then called for backup. Officers with US border patrol arrived on the scene.

Video footage of the incident captured by Laynez-Ambrosio, an 18-year-old US citizen, appears to show a group of officers in tactical gear working together to violently detain the three men*, two of whom are undocumented. They appear to use a stun gun on one man, put another in a chokehold and can be heard telling Laynez-Ambrosio: “You’ve got no rights here. You’re a migo, brother.” Afterward, agents can be heard bragging and making light of the arrests, calling the stun gun use “funny” and quipping: “You can smell that … $30,000 bonus.”"