James L Bruno on Substack
Heather Cox Richardson observes that with the fast-moving autocracy being imposed on the nation by the Trump-Musk regime, she may be increasingly vulnerable to intimidation, even arrest for exercising her first amendment right of free expression. Nonetheless, undeterred, she intends to continue to express herself freely in criticizing the very disturbing actions of this corrupt administration.
I am no Helen Cox Richardson, but my reading audience has been growing rather rapidly. I, too, remain undeterred.
Heather Cox Richardson, April 7, 2025:
“In a strange twist, I was actually researching the extraordinary powers of the Department of Homeland Security today for a radio show when Forbes broke the news that the DHS was looking for help compiling a database of "media influencers." DHS leaders want the database to include journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers, and so on, and to include the "sentiments" of the people in it. While DHS spokesperson Tyler Q. Houlton tweeted that monitoring media is normal practice, and that "any suggestion otherwise is fit for tin foil hat wearing, black helicopter conspiracy theorists," many people have helpfully pointed out that, in fact, this is a move straight out of Putin's playbook, and that media influencers with the wrong "sentiments" get arrested or attacked, or they disappear.
“There is no way now to know which interpretation is the right one.
But I do know that it's a funny thing as an American to realize that saying or writing something could lead to imprisonment, torture, or death. It happens in other countries, of course, and it has certainly happened here at times, but it has never been part of our lives that we had to worry that our own government would, in a systematic way, silence dissenters.
The first reaction to this realization is denial: there is no way this could happen. And then it gets personal: there is no way this could happen to me. And finally, the personal turns the idea into a bit of a joke: the concept that I would be important enough to silence just proves that the idea is ridiculous.
“But then you wonder. Perhaps every person thinks they're safe right up until they hear the door slam against the wall.
“It didn't bother me when I got put on the Professor Watchlist right after Trump took office. I have attracted troubling attention before, and have come to accept it as part of the cost of doing business. There are precautions you take, and then you get on with your life. So the Professor Watchlist didn't bother me... until I understood how frightened other people were about my inclusion on it, and I suddenly saw that maybe the fact that our government supported the sort of folks who were policing universities meant that the watchlist was a very different thing than I had become accustomed to.
“I could not bear the idea that my writing and speaking might endanger my children or my partner, and I considered shutting up. But my very practical kids-- who are all adults-- pointed out that there are so many records connecting them to me that any potential damage was already done, and they told me they were proud of me. My partner asked me if I was willing to live in an America where a person couldn't say what she thought. He said he didn't want to.”
“I thought about it, and realized that I am exactly the sort of person who must never cede ground to this sort of terrorism (for that's fundamentally what it is: threatening people's safety in order to influence their behavior). If I have a faith, it is in the principle of human self-determination, and that faith makes me a staunch defender of American democracy, the system of government that has the best chance, I think, of fostering a society in which everyone can reach their highest potential.
“So I set my affairs in order, and went back to my normal life, while continuing to try to call attention to the illegalities and extremes of the Trump administration, and at the same time to illuminate the principles that truly make America great. I harp on our history because it tells us about our past triumphs and, crucially, our failures. We can-- must-- learn from both.
“But it is now being suggested that I might be writing my own death warrant. This is a very odd thing to try to wrap your head around. My colleagues occasionally talk about how the first ones to be ‘disappeared’ in a political coup are the professors who speak out. That is true, historically. And while it used to be an academic observation for me, it has quite suddenly grown teeth.
“And so I write this tonight, thinking how terribly silly it is to imagine that the American government might purge opponents, and how ridiculous it is to think that anyone could perceive someone like me as a threat, and yet also thinking that maybe I'm wrong, and this horror is really coming, and that someday, some historian will see this post and think sadly: "When she wrote this there was still time. But they didn't stop it... because they truly didn't think it could happen to them."
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