A range of voices who have worked within the dominant and ruling institutions have spoken out in protest of the extreme moves of the Trump fascist regime. We are sharing here a few statements expressing dire alarm at and clear opposition to the open violations of constitutional rights, and the evisceration and gutting of the rule of law, and other outrages.

Report from Former National Security Officials: “Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline”

The Steady State, founded in 2016, is a grouping of 340 former “national security professionals,” including those who worked in the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. On October 16, they released a 29-page assessment titled “Accelerating Authoritarian Dynamics: Assessment of Democratic Decline.” Summarizing their findings, the authors write that their analysis points to “five interrelated trends driving” the process of accelerating “democratic decline”:

“Executive overreach is being consolidated through governance by decree and weaponization of the state. … Erosion of judicial independence has advanced. … Legislative weakness and abdication have diminished Congress’s capacity to serve as a coequal branch. … The electoral system is being reshaped not only through structural biases like gerrymandering and voting restrictions, but through partisan control of administration, intimidation of election officials, and efforts to contest certified results. … Finally, the undermining of public trust, knowledge, and civil society through attacks on the press, academia, watchdog institutions, and dissenting voices has weakened democratic culture and civic resilience.”

The authors say the purpose of their report “is not to offer policy prescriptions or political judgments.” But they do make the point that “Absent organized resistance by institutions, civil society, and the public, the United States is likely to continue along a path of accelerating democratic erosion, risking further consolidation of executive dominance and a loss of credibility as a model of democracy abroad.”

The Steady State report is available on Substack.

Former Marine Corps Colonel: “I resigned from the military because of Trump”

In an October 16 opinion piece in the Washington Post, Doug Krugman writes about why he resigned from the U.S. Marine Corps, which he served in for 24 years. Krugman says that he did not leave the military because of policy disagreements. Rather, “My first reservations were about promises and actions that I thought were morally wrong even if they were possibly legal. The Constitution gives the president the power to pardon, but pardoning roughly 1,600 of those who tried to violently overthrow the results of an election didn’t help defend the Constitution.” 

Even worse for Krugman “has been President Trump’s willingness to disregard the law and Constitution to achieve his goals. When asked in May about the Fifth Amendment requirements for due process and if he needed to uphold the Constitution as president, the first words out of his mouth were ‘I don’t know.’” 

He gives as examples of such lawlessness Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to different cities—using “fantastical” justifications like describing Portland as a “war zone,” and in the face of opposition from the governors of those states to such deployments. 

Addressing those still in the military, Krugman writes: 

I do not claim to speak for any other person or institution. I respect those who still serve, many of whom have service contracts and can’t simply retire like I did. But if they have doubts about their orders, they are not alone. They should be confident in questioning possibly immoral or illegal orders, remembering they are responsible for their own actions, and knowing others are asking the same questions.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker Meets with Former Generals and Veterans Against Trump’s Deployment of Troops to Cities

On October 16, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker posted on social media: “Today, I convened a group of former military generals and veterans to hear perspectives on deploying troops in American cities. Their commitment is to our nation. That’s why they’re speaking out against what the President's doing as uncalled-for, unprecedented, and un-American.”

Among those in the meeting was the former commander of the Illinois National Guard, Bill Enyart. According to Fox 32 local news, Enyart said at the gathering, “Our National Guard members joined and served to defend our nation, to respond to natural disasters. They are not policemen. They are not political pawns.” Enyart was also alarmed at how ICE and CBP (Customs and Border Patrol) agents have been running around in Chicago with military gear and weapons: “It offends me as a soldier that we have ICE agents pretending to be soldiers. They're not soldiers… and it's a smirch on the National Guard's reputation that they are wearing the same uniform that we are.” 

Speaking of the ICE and CBP running amok, Pritzker said: “Masked federal agents from ICE and CBP are on the ground terrorizing our communities with tear gas and rubber bullets, and some are wearing camouflage uniforms that could easily be mistaken for the military. It is Trump and Miller's agents, were operating like they are his own secret police, harassing civilians, tear gassing communities and arresting journalists and grabbing people in the street to ask them for their papers based on the color of their skin. This is intentional." And "Chaos, confusion and destabilization are the means. Eroding our democratic institutions is his end goal."