Source: Persuasion
by Sam Kahn
“If it sounds a bit hysterical to compare what’s happening in Trump’s America to Putin’s Russia, well, the predominance of fear even among Republican senators — in the party that is ostensibly in power, among people who have constitutionally-mandated job security — gives the clear sense of the erosion of norms. And that is to say nothing of the atmosphere among partners at law firms or chancellors at universities who know that the administration may freeze their funding or target them politically. And that is to say nothing of the atmosphere among writers anxiously scanning their own Substacks or foreign students looking through their old social media posts or migrants showing up for court hearings — as they’re supposed to — knowing that ICE agents may be waiting for them outside courtrooms to summarily deport them.” (07/16/25)
https://www.persuasion.community/p/is-america-still-a-free-country