Dear Editor:

If you feel that violent crime is on the rise in the US, you are in good company—about 60% of Americans believe that crime is on the rise. Unfortunately, those 60% of Americans are objectively wrong. Crime has been in decline since the COVID shutdowns and has even reached 30 year lows in some places.

This fact exposes the true goal of the Trump administration’s crackdown in Washington D.C. Crime has nothing to do with it—it is a thinly veiled power grab. Just as autocrats have done throughout history, Trump is capitalizing on current events— in this case, the high-profile carjacking of a former government employee—to consolidate power. There are plenty of historic analogies to make here, and none of them are good news for democracy.

Several months ago, I spoke out against the rising wave of anti-trans rhetoric from the right. To paraphrase my critics, I was simply being alarmist. Since then, the anti-trans rhetoric has evolved to a genuine legal assault on the federal right to gay marriage. Meanwhile, the assault on immigration has led to the expansion of a secret police force—wearing masks and refusing to identify officers qualifies ICE as a secret police force—targeting non-violent undocumented immigrants, legal residents and even US citizens without due process. The only tangible objective outlined in the federalization of D.C. police is to forcibly remove unhoused people. I can think of another famous regime that also sought to remove “undesirable” residents.

You may feel that I am being alarmist, but the facts tell another story.

Mike Bartles

West Boothbay Harbor