Chicago isn’t just grappling with ICE raids — it’s being conscripted into a spectacle of fear. Edwin put it bluntly: “Chicago is not a training ground for the U.S. military.” Camouflage-clad agents are parading down Michigan Avenue, riverboats circle Trump Tower for staged intimidation shots, and pepper spray is fired into crowds without cause. None of it is about law enforcement; all of it is about showing the country that ordinary streets can be seized on command.
Authoritarianism rarely declares itself outright, which is why Susan’s framing cuts so sharply: “It’s an authoritarian move.” The point isn’t solving crime or immigration, it’s wielding crisis as cover to strip away rights and stability. Families lose paychecks, farmers watch crops rot, veterans are denied services, while billionaires glide by untouched. The cruelty isn’t accidental — it’s the organizing principle.
The opposition doesn’t start with Congress; it starts with people like us who refuse to yield. “We didn’t sign up for this,” Edwin said, pointing toward the October 18th No Kings protests where Indivisible and others are rallying nationwide. Those who step out together aren’t just resisting — they’re creating communities that sustain hope in the face of intimidation. Even under the gaze of ICE snipers, waving back turns fear into defiance, and defiance into joy.
The larger fight is whether democracy survives or gives way to autocracy. Susan put the math plainly: “There are more of us than there are of them.” That’s not just a numbers game, it’s the reason MAGA leans so heavily on division and spectacle. Trump’s playbook — whether in Gaza, Ukraine, or our own cities — is always segregation and domination. But democracy grows in the spaces where people keep showing up, refusing to let intimidation define the future.
Tune in for the full conversation now! And don’t miss Edwin’s interview with Indivisible Co-Founder Ezra Levin on organizing and the No Kings protests.
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