Originally published in the Detroit Free Press on 3/27/26
Since 2020, I’ve kept a notecard fastened to my refrigerator with a magnet. The card has a quote from Roger Baldwin, a co-founder of the ACLU, and it reads, “So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we’ll be called a democracy.” With another nationwide No Kings protest approaching on March 28, I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of showing up, raising our voices in support of every person’s right to live in this country with the expectation of freedom, justice and democracy.
In June and October 2025, millions of people peacefully took to the streets in thousands of events across the United States to speak out against the unprecedented assault on democratic principles and values by this federal administration. Continuing to exercise our right to demonstrate our disagreement with policies and actions that harm our communities and our country is particularly important, because free speech itself is one of the Trump administration’s primary targets.
We are all seeing the brazen attacks on the free speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment and foundational to a thriving democracy. These have ranged from weaponizing the Federal Communications Commission in an attempt to intimidate critics into submission, revocation of press access for certain journalists and media outlets, threatening to revoke federal funding for universities, using federal agencies to target individuals and organizations holding views critical of the government and terrorizing protestors through federal law enforcement. This administration knows just how vital the role of constitutionally protected speech is in countering the kind of authoritarian tactics that we’re seeing unfold in the United States.
Last April, a survey of more than 500 U.S.-based political scientists found that the vast majority think that, with the Trump administration in command, this country is moving swiftly from being a liberal democracy toward some sort of authoritarianism. The situation has only become more clear over the past year.
What authoritarianism looks like in the U.S. today
What do I mean by the term “authoritarianism”? The answer can be found in a 2022 report titled the “The Authoritarian Playbook,” published by the nonpartisan organization Project Democracy. That document examines seven common tactics employed by would-be dictators. Trump, to one degree or another, has adopted them all: Politicizing independent institutions, spreading disinformation, aggrandizing executive power, quashing dissent, corrupting elections, stoking violence and scapegoating vulnerable communities.
Multiple executive orders targeting trans people, a group already marginalized and struggling against bigotry, is a prime example of that last item. It is also a reason why protecting LGBTQ+ rights must be a priority, alongside protecting the rights of immigrants routinely vilified by this administration. People who are our friends, neighbors and family members are being caught up a massive nationwide crackdown widely opposed by a significant majority of Americans.
Just last week, the ACLU was at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to argue on behalf of immigrants in ICE detention unlawfully being denied their fundamental right to due process. A new Trump administration edict, issued last year, reversed 30 years of policy and practice that held steady through five previous administrations. As with our client’s case, hundreds of federal district court judges around the country have ruled against the government in thousands of cases where immigrants in ICE detention have been illegally denied the right to seek release on bond while their cases are sorted out.
The onslaught of attacks on such a wide variety of fronts serves the Trump administration’s plan to overwhelm and exhaust those who support and advocate for a free, just and democratic society.
An assault that includes the rule of law itself.