Source: Washington Monthly
by Garrett Epps
“The first five months of Donald Trump’s administration have flashed by like one of those educational time-lapse films that show the growth of a cactus in 30 seconds. Trump’s experiment in rapid national disassembly echoes America’s near-death experiment in the years before the Civil War. In the past few days, we have passed what might be called the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 mark. The struggle in the 1850s arose out of the federal government’s determination to return Black Americans to slavery even after they had escaped to the free North. What is happening on the streets of American cities — and most particularly, now, on the streets of Los Angeles — carries uncanny echoes of that decade-long battle, which ended in secession and Civil War. The current struggle may not end well either.” (06/11/25)