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Days before I was to leave for the US last month, my cousin, a longtime resident there, called to advise me to photocopy my passport, US visa and ticket — and to keep these with me at all times. I was to visit three cities — New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC — and my sister and I were going to take Amtrak for these short trips.
Just keep your papers ready, my cousin said, in case immigration officers were to swoop down and do random checks on any of the places we were to visit. Her voice was tinged with anxiety, relating incidents that had taken place early in the year, wherein Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents raided workplaces in New York and New Jersey and arrested undocumented employees. ICE was tasked to meet its daily quotas of illegals to arrest and deport.
The wave of reporting on arrests and deportations had reached fever pitch, with photographs and videos of mostly Latinos loaded on military planes, handcuffed, some with their legs shackled and chains tied around their waist. I followed the news reports, horrified.
Still, I could not believe what I was hearing. A quiet fear ruffled my heart. Never, in my decades of visiting America, have I sensed nervousness and anger from my cousins or friends there. My cousins in New York also did what they told me, prepared their papers, ready to present in case the ICE people came.
At the John F. Kennedy international airport, as my sister and I were queueing at the immigration section, I half-expected a scowling immigration officer peppering us with questions. Thankfully, it was the usual routine, as if we were in pre-Trump America. Relief washed over us.
Democracy at risk in the US
At the University of Pennsylvania, where I attended a conference, the atmosphere was convivial. Walking on campus, I felt a spirited vibe, the energy of youth palpable.
Perry World House, the university’s research center on global affairs, hosted a conference on democracy, media and repression. The focus was on countries outside the US and was attended by journalists, academics and think-tank people. But we couldn’t avoid the elephant in the room: the state of democracy in our host country.
The choice of Ruth Ben-Ghiat to deliver the keynote address said as much. A history professor at New York University, she is the author of an important book, “Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.” Yes, Donald Trump figures in the book.
“The US is now at the forefront of the clash between tyranny and freedom,” Ben-Ghiat said. “American democracy is at risk.” The transformation of the GOP (Republican Party) in the last few years into an “essentially autocratic party” manifested by its “negation of the climate crisis, upholding of institutionalized racism and anti-science and public health…places all of us in danger.”
Then, there’s “institutionalized lying.” Ben-Ghiat cited the election deniers led by the Republican Party which has embraced the fiction that Trump won in 2020 — and sent out their troops to all the networks to convince Americans. “The bigger the lie, the more you need to do that.”
Again, I could not believe that this was happening in America, the country that used to vigorously promote democracy.
Blowup in the White House
In Washington DC, on a chilly day, as I was giving a book talk at Georgetown, a political earthquake shook not just the city but many parts of the world. During Trump’s verbal showdown with Ukraine’s President Volodymr Zelenskyy, the US president’s alignment with Russia became crystal clear. It was as if Trump were lawyering for Moscow.
Did we hear the cheerful voices and uncorking of champagne bottles in the Kremlin?
There’s a little similarity to then-president Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement of his pivot to China during his state visit to Beijing in October 2016. This stunned many, shifting the ground beneath our feet.
“I’ve realigned myself in your ideological flow and maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to [President Vladimir] Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world — China, Philippines, and Russia. It’s the only way,” he told his Chinese hosts.
This is not to equate the impact of Trump’s switch to Russia and Vladimir Putin to Duterte’s China embrace. Ours was felt only within our shores while that of America sent shockwaves to the world.
American and Fil-Am friends were distraught, their country ripping apart a longstanding alliance with Europe and taking the side of a “lying, murderous dictator.”
I felt their heavy sadness, too, when I read messages in my inbox. “We’re in for a bumpy four years,” one emailed me. “Wish us well,” another wrote, a rather poignant line from someone living in a powerful and rich country that was once the leader of the free world.
All I could say is this: To friends in the US, from our distant shores and from the bottom of my heart, wishing you equanimity and courage.
Dear readers, let me know what you think. You can email me at: marites.vitug@rappler.com.
Till next newsletter!
