This is Really Frightening

No one is ever really safe when a madman seizes control

Jul 01, 2025

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gray cyclone wire — Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

It was never going to be just “convicted murderers, child rapists and drug traffickers” who were going to be deported if they arrived in this country illegally.

It was never going to be just undocumented migrants — the women, children, and longtime residents — who were going to be caged on American soil in inhumane conditions before being sent somewhere.

It was never going to be just two migrants deported to South Sudan, effectively sentenced to death in a failed country where simply existing is nearly impossible.

When would-be authoritarians come to power and are given carte blanche from the courts and legislators to work their will, they never stop with just someone else.

And so it is that Donald Trump’s Department of Justice just released a memorandum this week that threatens to strip Americans of their citizenship.

The people at risk are the 25 million Americans who are naturalized citizens. I am one of them.

Here’s NPR:

According to this new memo, the DOJ is expanding its criteria of which crimes put individuals at risk of losing their citizenship. That includes national security violations and committing acts of fraud against individuals or against the government, like Paycheck Protection Program loan fraud or Medicaid or Medicare fraud…
…Other immigration experts point to another part of the guidance, which gives U.S. attorneys broader discretion to determine other eligible denaturalization cases. “These categories do not limit the Civil Division from pursuing any particular case,” the memo states, and priorities for denaturalization can include “any other cases referred to the Civil Division that the Division determines to be sufficiently important to pursue.”

Bluntly put, this means that any Trump-appointed United States Attorney can refer any case “in connection with pending criminal charges, if those charges do not fit within one of the other priorities,” in addition to any other cases the Department of Justice wants to pursue.

Think about this. A federal prosecutor can indict you for anything and the DOJ can move to denaturalize you. Think this can’t apply to you because you did nothing wrong? Please. As former Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals Sal Wachtler said, “You can indict a ham sandwich.” In the hands of an unscrupulous prosecutor with an axe to grind, the danger to any of us is very real.

And what about these “other cases referred to the Civil Division” that are “sufficiently important to pursue?” The language is purposely vague, so that it can cover anything and anyone.

Where would these denaturalized citizens go? Most of them would be stateless, since they do not have dual citizenship. And once they are denaturalized, of course, Trump could quickly deport them.

Where? An El Salvadorian prison, because they are now in the United States illegally? Back to their country of origin? To Alligator Alcatraz as they await their fate?

I was born in what was then the Soviet Union, a country that no longer exists. At six, when my parents and I left Moscow, I was stripped of my Soviet citizenship. I arrived in the United States as a refugee when I was seven. At twelve, I became an American citizen. I have held an American passport — and only an American passport — for forty years.

More recently, I spoke out against Vladimir Putin, which got me permanently banned from setting foot in the Russian Federation. If I were denaturalized, put on a plane by the United States government and sent back to my country of origin (which no longer exists), I would not spend much time in Moscow, the city of my birth. I would be immediately arrested for stepping on Russian soil in violation of my ban and would likely spend my remaining days in the gulag, like several of my ancestors.

For the MAGAverse, this would poetic justice. I have been outspoken against Trump since well before he ran for anything, back when I was a Democratic contributor at Fox News and he would show up to spew his birther nonsense on Fox and Friends. Retaliating like this against a critic would fit neatly into his psyche, which is driven by grievance and vengeance. But rest assured, his target is not just people who have been given a public platform to criticize him. It is anyone who does not fall in line.

It won’t end with those of us who are naturalized citizens, either. Trump gave up the game in March, when he mused on his social media platform about sending Tesla protesters to CECOT, the notorious El Salvadorian prison. The following month, he told El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, "The homegrowns are next.” He added of CECOT, “You gotta build about five more places. ... It's not big enough.”

At a press conference today, Trump talked openly about deporting native born American citizens. "We also have a lot of bad people that have been here for a long time,” he said to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as they were touring Alligator Alcatraz. “Many of them were born in our country. I think we ought to get them the hell out of here too, if you want to know the truth. So maybe that'll be the next job we can work on together."

He’s talking about you. He is talking about Americans who will one day be charged with domestic terrorism for protesting at a rally against Trump’s policies. They are the citizens who have believed their entire life that the First Amendment is sacrosanct and that it will protect them in the event that the government wants to come after them for speaking their mind.

But we now live in a country where civil rights are violated every single day by an administration that has both the legislative and judicial branches in its thrall. We live in a country where the administration moves quickly, while the wheels of justice churn slowly, if at all. We live in a country where the president ignores court orders when they don’t suit him. We live in a country that is quickly becoming an autocracy.

We live in a country where the Supreme Court has allowed the president of the United States to commit crimes as long as he is in office and where the constitution allows him to pardon anyone who commits crimes on his behalf.

Think about this as you go about your day. While legacy media does its inside baseball play-by-play of who’s up and who’s down in Washington; while our Democratic leaders write sternly worded letters; while the courts ask for yet more briefs and recess for the summer, Trump is moving with lightening speed to silence his critics and turn this country into Trumplandia, where only total obeisance to the leader keeps you safe.

Except history has shown that no one is ever really safe when a madman seizes full control. Your safety depends on his whims and his whims are unpredictable. It started with migrants being deported to a Salvadorian gulag. It continues with naturalized citizens being put on notice that they are next. But it won’t stop there. It won’t stop until he comes for everyone.

This is Really Frightening

No one is ever really safe when a madman seizes control

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