Reflections: How Tyranny Starts

Elaine Torres

Imagine showing up to work as a journalist for an independent news organization like you have every day of your career only to be met with locked doors and security and military guards and your entry blocked. The blockade set in place to keep you from entering your workplace unless you sign a document and plead your fealty to the new management and the new political leader in office.

Imagine waking up excited to teach another day at your local University, something you have done for over 35 years. A position you held that opened the minds of countless young people and educated them to move into the world as independent thinkers. You are an accomplished writer and researcher who writes the truth about what you uncover. First, you notice things your political leaders are saying and dismiss them. Things like the necessary “Retivialilzation of our churches, our families, and our Universities” Sound familiar?

These are just two examples in an opinion video from the New York Times titled, How Tyranny Begins. The similarities between the events described in the video and the actions that the current United States Administration under Donald Trump are performing should be obvious. Over the last few weeks, we have seen firings of tenured and intelligent people who presided over regulatory agencies, our justice system, and other governing bodies that have been in place for years. These were the groups who course-corrected our country’s moral compass to prevent us from falling into a state of corruption as seen in many 3rd world countries around the globe. There are hints in the United States Government right now that we should be VERY aware of regardless of what side of the political spectrum you fall on.

I never thought I would be writing something like this about my own country. I implore you to please watch the video above and then look at what is happening in the United States today.

First — small speeches, a sentence here and there filled with half-truths, to get some support from a public who are looking for change. False narratives that the people believe and that fact-checkers debunk. Jan 8, 2025 — Meta ended fact-checking and replaced it with a “community notes” system similar to that of the social platform “X”. — run by Elon Musk, who also happens to be a part of the Trump Administration and already weaving his way through our highly secure information and technology stacks in various areas of our nation’s highest departments and financial bureaus. Fake narratives that all Mexican immigrants are criminal vagrants. The marginalization of an entire segment of our populace stirs up racial profiling and discourse in communities. A separation of the people.

Feb 2025 — Elon Musk has full access to the national Treasury Payments System. Trillions of dollars are now in the hands of an entrepreneur. Bans to books, rewrites of educational literature, or sites that do not fall in with the political narrative were also part of the first phases. The re-writing or removal of parts of American history cannot be understated here as many of the changes serve to remove the factual history of minorities in the United States — Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous Peoples and replace it with anecdotal evidence to fit a political narrative. The removal of the DEI initiatives for Black History Month, MLK, and Native American Heritage Month was targeted in Feb 2025.

Second — A directive to pause Federal Agency communications and activities that serve the public. The biggest of these are regular scientific reports, updates to websites and health advisories, and targeting the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institute of Health (NIH). These are agencies that were designed to protect society and keep it healthy.

Third — Justice System Attacks. The use of the nation’s policing systems to attack political or policy opposition. May 2024 — After spending time in the courtroom as an offender and later being found guilty and is now a convicted felon, Trump announces that if Elected he wishes to overhaul and dismantle the Justice Department of the United States. Agencies like the FBI, CIA, and the Attorney General’s office are targeted. Our Justice Department’s purpose is in protecting democratic institutions and upholding the rule of law. In an article by Reuters his plan includes the following steps—

First: flood the Justice Department with stalwart conservatives unlikely to say “no” to controversial orders from the White House. Second: restructure the department so key decisions are concentrated in the hands of administration loyalists rather than career bureaucrats.

The administration made sweeping changes to personnel and fired all of the attorneys involved with the prosecution of individuals involved with the Jan 6 uprising at the nation's Capitol.

Fourth — Controlling the Media. Control the media outlets and one can control the way news, factual or not, is brought to the public. The Trump Administration and the FCC have targeted NPR and PBS with allegations that they are not in compliance with Federal Law by airing commercials on their stations. The two entities, do not offer commercial programming on their stations and have adhered to strict federal guidelines for many years. In an article by NPR, the station states; The FCC does not directly regulate the two networks. Instead, it evaluates the actions of roughly 1,500 public broadcasting stations across the country, which hold licenses granted by the FCC for use of public airwaves for radio and television, even in the digital age.

NPR and PBS operating models provide educational programming, news, and other services that are free and accessible to almost all Americans. Blacklisting journalists, blocking channels, and shutting down stations that do not fit the political narrative are ways that administrations attempt to control the story.

So what can we do?

Vote locally — be loud, and never give up doing what is right. Share across platforms factual information to your peers and spread the word that what has happened in the How Tyranny Begins video, is happening right now before our very eyes and we have to pay attention. If we don’t fight for our own Democracy, who will?

HOW TYRRANY BEGINS

Sources:

About public media. (2022, July 22). CPB. https://cpb.org/aboutpb/what-public-media

Chan, K., Ortutay, B., & Riccardi, N. (2025, January 8). Meta eliminates fact-checking in latest bow to Trump | AP News. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/meta-facts-trump-musk-community-notes-413b8495939a058ff2d25fd23f2e0f43

Cohen, J. P. (2025, January 24). Trump administration halts certain public health agencies’ activities. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshuacohen/2025/01/23/trump-administration-halts-public-health-agencies-activities/

Cole, K., & Westbrook, A. (2025, January 30). Opinion | Lessons on authoritarianism from around the world. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/opinion/trump-government-oppression-power-tyranny.html

Folkenflik, D. (2025, January 30). Trump’s FCC chief opens investigation into NPR and PBS. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-s1-5281162/fcc-npr-pbs-investigation

Slattery, G., Lynch, S. N., & Goudsward, A. (2024, May 29). Donald Trump wants to control the Justice Department and FBI. His allies have a plan. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-wants-control-justice-department-fbi-his-allies-have-plan-2024-05-17/

‘That’s what a banana republic does’: Trump’s ‘dangerous’ purge of FBI & DOJ begins. (2025, February 1). [Video]. MSNBC.com. https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/justice-department-prosecutors-fired-fbi-trump-jan-6-rcna190283