What I fear Trump will do with his war

Friends,

One of my goals in writing this letter to you every day is to alert you to dangers to our democracy so you can alert others, who then alert others, and by this means we enlarge and strengthen our bulwark against the tide of fascism.

Wars pose particular challenges to democracy because nations at war often become more xenophobic and willing to give those in power extra leeway to protect the homeland. That’s an underlying danger in Trump’s war with Iran.

Trump has already tried to use three pretexts to usurp power — terrorism, national emergency, and war itself — to justify his mass deportations, universal tariffs, and consolidations of power. And he has tried to use these to gain legal legitimacy under laws that give presidents additional power when the nation is threatened.

Federal courts and public opinion haven’t allowed him to go as far as he wished. But if Trump’s war with Iran escalates — which it’s almost certain to do if Iran retaliates — courts may be reluctant to impede a commander-in-chief and the public may be willing to go along.

I fear that Trump’s war with Iran will enable him to use these three pretexts — terrorism, national emergency, and war — to further suppress dissent at home, narrow freedom of speech and expression, make warrantless searches and arrests of Americans, imprison opponents, and put more military onto our streets.

Terrorism

The use of terrorism has already begun. A bulletin issued just yesterday by the National Terrorism Advisory System within the Department of Homeland Security warns of a "heightened threat environment in the United States" following the U.S. military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

The bulletin notes that U.S. law enforcement "has disrupted multiple potentially lethal Iranian-backed plots in the United States since 2020," and goes on to warn of Iranian retaliation for Sunday morning’s attack.

Surely Iran is planning retaliation. During a Sunday phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted that the U.S. "receive a response to their aggression," according to Iran's official news agency, IRNA, as reported by The Times of Israel.

Any retaliation by Iran will be used by Trump to justify an intensifying crackdown on “terrorism.”

Even before Trump’s attack on Iran, he appropriated the term “terrorist” to describe various groups he deemed threats to the United States — including drug cartels and migrants.

Trump framed the rendition of Venezuelans to El Salvador as necessary to protect the U.S. from the scourge of “terrorism.” And he described fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.

Now that we are at war with Iran, expect Trump to use the rhetoric of terrorism far more often, and the Department of Homeland Security to lead the charge against such threats.

National emergency

In his first hundred days in office this term, Trump declared eight “national emergencies” — far more than any other modern president in that same period of time. By comparison, Biden declared 11 national emergencies over his whole four-year term. Obama declared 12 in his eight years. George W. Bush declared 14 in his two terms.

The declaration of a national emergency automatically allows a president to use “emergency” powers in laws intended by Congress to be utilized rarely, when the nation is seriously imperiled.

Trump has been using such so-called “emergencies” to achieve domestic priorities more quickly than he’d be able to if he tried to pass laws through Congress.

The pattern began in his first term when he declared a “national emergency” to help fund the southern border wall after Congress didn't approve the full amount. His declaration of an invasion on the southern border paved the way for intensified deportations.

Trump’s declaration of an “economic emergency” in April, based on the nation’s trade deficit (which has existed for decades), enabled him to impose unprecedented global tariffs.

An “energy emergency” made it easier for him to ease environmental regulations. His pronouncement that fentanyl entering from Canada was an emergency provided legal justification for sanctions, as did a similar finding on the International Criminal Court’s approach to Israel.

Trump invoked a “national emergency” to justify sending the National Guard to Los Angeles at a time when state and local officials said they had the protests there under control. Had he not federalized the National Guard, Trump said, “Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated.”

Trump’s stream of emergency declarations has also contributed to a sense that America is facing perpetual crises, under threat from foreign nations and domestic enemies. Trump thrives in this atmosphere, adopting the role of fighter and savior.

His war with Iran will fuel even more “national emergencies” and the legal authority that accompanies them.

War

Trump has tried to use the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to justify his mass deportations without due process, but unsuccessfully in the courts because the Act allows a president to detain and remove nationals of an enemy nation only during a “declared war,” “invasion,” or “predatory incursion” against the United States.

The law was invoked only three times before Trump, each during a war declared by Congress: the War of 1812 (with the United Kingdom), World War I and World War II. Each gave the U.S. government heightened powers to remove from the U.S. nationals of the party it was fighting. It was used during World War II to justify the internment of Japanese Americans and has since become synonymous with some of the nation’s most shameful civil liberties violations.

Trump’s attempt to use this centuries-old statute to conduct mass removals—outside of immigration law, with no hearings or judicial review—has been another authoritarian power grab posing grave threats to civil liberties and the rule of law.

On April 7, the Supreme Court reaffirmed that people targeted by Trump under the Alien Enemies Act must be given notice and an opportunity to challenge their removal, including arguments over the law’s constitutionality and application.

Yet a war with Iran may be enough to seemingly legitimize his use of the Act.

In addition, Trump has not ruled out invoking the Insurrection Act, which allows the deployment of active-duty U.S. military personnel within the United States in cases of unrest or rebellion — a prospect also made more likely when the nation is at war.

Trump wants to be a war president. Everything he has done to date has been aimed at concentrating power in his hands and undermining democratic institutions, which are far easier to do as a war president.

I write this not to worry or depress you. My purpose is to encourage you to be extra vigilant in guarding against Trump’s further use of these three pretexts to erode democracy and attack our freedoms.

Wars almost always challenge civil liberties. Given Trump’s record, that challenge could be enormous.

Be safe. Be strong.

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