Rule through fear: The mark of an authoritarian regime

This piece originally appeared in Fox Cities Progressive

President Trump is trying to rule by making us afraid. The use of fear as a means of political control is a hallmark of fascist and other authoritarian regimes, including his. An authoritarian regime uses fear because it cannot arrest all of its people. Somehow, it must persuade most of them to acquiesce quietly and not to resist, and it can do that by making the people afraid to resist openly. Fear persuades them to keep their heads down and their mouths shut. Trump is attempting to do just that. He is trying to persuade us to keep our heads down and our mouths shut.

Using a criminal gang to kidnap people

In a previous post at Fox Cities Progressive, I said that ICE was a criminal gang, and indeed, it is, but why should Trump make use of a criminal gang? The answer is that he uses the criminal gang to instill fear in us. Masked ICE agents swoop down unpredictably and kidnap people off the street. No one knows when they will appear or whom they will arrest. So people are afraid. Most of us know that we are citizens and should have nothing to fear, but ICE arrests people first and asks questions later. So we are afraid.

Announcing policies designed to create uncertainty and fear

Recently, the Department of Justice issued a memo directing U. S. attorneys to pursue revoking the citizenship of naturalized citizens “to reduce crime.” This announcement is designed to induce fear. No naturalized citizen knows when the government may try to revoke their citizenship, and so everyone is afraid. Everyone prefers to avoid even the possibility of being arrested or ensnared in a lawsuit. So most people keep their heads down and their mouths shut.

Threatening to withhold funds

Trump’s attacks on universities serve the same purpose. Universities should be centers of criticism of Trump’s policies, but his attacks instill fear in scholars who depend on government funding for the research that advances their careers. So the scholars, too, learn to avoid criticizing any policies of the Trump administration. In addition, Trump announced recently that colleges and universities that allow what he called “illegal protests” will lose their federal funding, and that students who participate in such protests will be arrested. 

Threatening to proceed against law firms

Trump is also using this tactic against law firms. A recent New York Times article, quotes the legal scholar Thomas Vladeck saying:

What the Trump administration is doing is not just about specific lawyers representing unpopular clients, but is rather far more ominous: The administration is acting in ways that will necessarily chill a growing number of lawyers from participating in any litigation against the federal government, regardless of who the client is.

That, in turn, will make it harder for many clients adverse to the Trump administration to find lawyers to represent them — such that at least some cases either won’t be brought at all or won’t be brought by the lawyers best situated to bring them.

Threatening political consequences

Trump also instills fear in members of his party in Congress. He does so by threatening to support candidates to oppose them in primary elections. This tactic allows him to force members of Congress to support his policies. We saw this tactic at work in the recent debate over his Big Beautiful Bill.  Many senators and representatives opposed the bill in debate, but they voted for it anyway. The exceptions were senators who had decided not to run for reelection in 2026.

Soon it will be too late

Thus, like any other authoritarian ruler, Trump works to rule through fear. Fortunately, his apparatus of fear is not yet complete and we must continue to resist. If we don't resist now, the apparatus of fear will grow stronger each day and soon, it will be too late.