There are certain words I avoid in political conversations. I do not often describe people as Nazis. I don’t brandy about the term fascist. I bristle at the overuse of the word pedophile. These words, which describe the most horrendous of crimes, are used as a form of rhetorical gotcha; if you point them out, you get covered in ick by association.
And yet I have struggled to find the right word to describe Donald Trump and his administration. I’m not looking for nuance or to use 15 words where one would do. I’m looking for moral clarity. I’m looking for linguistic precision.
Apparently, I was looking for Thomas Paine.
Reading Paine’s 250-year-old argument for revolution, I found the word I had been looking for - tyranny.
What we are experiencing is tyranny, defined as cruel and oppressive government. Cruel is a word used to describe Donald Trump for over a decade now, and his second administration’s particularly violent and hateful approach to immigration enforcement can be described in no other way. And yet, the word had not occurred to me until this week.
There was something about being immersed in Paine’s words while reading headlines about how Trump believes he is limited by only his morality, and watching more No Kings protest flow across the country, and seeing the absolutely angry and oppressive way ICE treats the citizens of this country that put it all together.
We are experiencing tyranny, and it is heartbreaking and infuriating, forcing all of us to confront what our government has become. It often feels inexplicable what finally turns the tide of American opinion, but I believe we are seeing it happen right now. It’s easy to say that what would happen under a second Trump term has been obvious since the beginning, but, as Paine so eloquently puts it, “Time makes more converts than reason.”
I don’t know if the time has come for everyone, but I know it has come for me. - Sarah
Topics Discussed
Jerome Powell, Trump, and Fed Independence
Tyranny in Minneapolis
America250: Common Sense by Thomas Paine
Outside of Politics: Food Predictions
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Episode Resources
What to Know About the Criminal Investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell (The New York Times)
Pirro on Powell probe: ‘None of this would have happened if they had just responded to our outreach’ (The Hill)
You’ve Heard About Who ICE Is Recruiting. The Truth Is Far Worse. I’m the Proof. (Slate)
Six Prosecutors Quit Over DOJ Push to Investigate Renee Good’s Widow (The New York Times)
Common Sense by Thomas Paine (Bill of Rights Institute)
How We’ll Eat in 2026: Food Forecasters Predict More Caution and More Crunch (The New York Times)
NYC restaurants are too loud — so this New Yorker is trying to make decibel levels public (New York Post)
Episode Transcript
Coming soon…
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Thank you for sharing your listener’s voicemail. She’s right. It’s so bad here in Minneapolis. I’m sure my cortisol levels are through the roof, and I am an older white lady in a relatively safe neighborhood in the city. But just a few short blocks away ICE is pulling people off the street. Businesses are closed for the safety of their employees. Everyday I hear a firsthand account of someone being hurt. Also I hear so many stories of incredible bravery. Many people are putting their lives on the line to help.
Thank you for two episodes about what is happening here Mpls. I deeply appreciate it.
On a serious note, because ICE is here in Central FL and specifically has been seen in my town, I had a conversation with my daughter about what to do should she be approached. Now she is blonde hair, blue eyes, white as can be. But many of her close friends and teammates are Hispanic, Caribbean, South American and I have no clue what their or their parents status is. I told her while it’s very unlikely, it’s still possible that she sees ICE somewhere like Target or in our downtown, and that in FL the police are required to work with them. It’s just so wild. I still wonder what the thing will be that breaks this “spell” and we start to see real pushback from all sides. I fear we’re not even close to the bottom yet.