Years ago, my favorite television show Game of Thrones aired for the first time. In the first season, let alone the first few minutes, we are presented with the prophecy that a great evil will freeze the world of Westeros. While the world in Game of Thrones rests in fiction, our world has faced a similar evil that threatened people across the globe. This evil rose in the 1930’s and fell in 1945,  and decimated millions of people in its wake. This evil is fascism, an authoritarian far-right ideology that is characterized by dictatorial rule, extreme nationalism, and the suppression or removal of minority groups.

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Many people in America are proud of the role our country played in World War II, the liberation and reconstruction of Europe after the war. Extremism was wiped from western Europe and eliminated on a large scale when the Eastern Bloc collapsed around forty five years later. What many people do not know is that fascism is an active threat that continues to haunt us even in the twenty-first century. Even now, ninety years after the Third Reich was created, the threat of fascism looms in the background of modern politics.

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In respect to how we view the political scale, the concept of right-wing and left-wing politics was established in the French Revolution. The left wingers of the General Assembly were in support of deposing the French monarch, while the right wingers attempted to hold onto tradition and resist change. The same sentiments exist today in America’s right and left in regard to tradition and what America should be, but there are added elements that threaten us today. 

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On the fringes of our two party system, there are many individuals that identify as either far left or far right. These individuals, if they did not need the two party system, would publicly make their own fascist or communist parties to advance their agenda. However, the United States is driven by the two-party system orchestrated by Thomas Jefferson and our other founders after Washington left office. With that in mind, these people with more extreme ideals exist on the fringes and influence partisan leanings.

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The extremism on the fringes of our political parties has only worsened over the years with the fact that our politicians engage in partisan gridlock. Gridlock is the state at which our government’s representatives refuse to compromise or negotiate with one another for the sole purpose of serving the party they platform on, not the broader, diverse populations. The lack of compromise has led to a lack of understanding and compassion in our government, endangering us in a state of division that disrupts our unity as a people. This problem has led our government and people to become vulnerable to fascism and extremism.

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The threat of fascism was actualized in 2016 when Donald Trump descended his escalator in Trump Tower, claiming that he would run for President of the United States. He quickly became a far-right populist leader with his divisive rhetoric and catchy, chantable phrases such as “build the wall!” and “lock her up!” President Trump legitimized himself with the American people through Charismatic legitimacy, a legitimacy forged from a collection of ideas and values embodied by an individual leader. Much like with Hitler, Trump has risen to prominence with his personality and managed to get re-elected despite having lost one election, 34 felony counts on his record, and two impeachments from his first term.

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Now as President, he has set the United States in a crossroads with his recent actions with executive law-enforcement. One of his campaign promises was to rid the country of illegal criminals, to which no one would really disagree with. However, he has used his executive authority to invade cities without the local governor’s consent to terrorize and arrest American citizens and non-criminal immigrants. These invasions undermine the concept of states rights, local authority, and do not make Americans feel secure in their homeland. 

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There are a couple of tactics that ICE officers use while they are on duty, the first of which is “reasonable suspicion,” which is the idea that law enforcement officers can automatically detain someone if the person is suspected of actively committing a crime by an officer. For ICE, this means they can choose to suspect anyone for whatever reason as an undocumented immigrant should they feel inclined to without a judicial warrant. This practice, which is usually useful in domestic violence cases, has a new meaning under ICE. While they are on the hunt for immigrants, they engage in “racial profiling” to make arrests. Any person who may have an accent or is not white is more susceptible to be taken away by ICE, because they will use those characteristics to justify their suspicion. These tactics in combination with one another have dangerous consequences for the American public.

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Throughout the past year, ICE officers have been conducting raids without getting a warrant from a judge and many did not have proper training nor did they show badge numbers. One such raid conducted by these federal agents was the September 30th raid on 7500 S. South Shore Drive in Chicago, Illinois. These agents descended from helicopters and broke into an apartment building’s windows, broke down doors, and arrested many in the building in the first hours after midnight. The arrested residents, including American citizens, some of whom were reportedly naked according to the MeidasTouch Network, were zip-tied and escorted out of the building for detention. These officers did not have a required judicial warrant and illegally violated the property and privacy of these residents by forcing themselves into the building. These raids eerily resemble the Gestapo from World War II, which violated and ignored multiple laws during their time in prominence. Even though our president promised the American people a smaller government that does not interfere in private matters, he has done everything to walk back that promise.

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Since the start of 2026, America has witnessed a deeper descent into the realm of fascism. With the shooting of Renee Nicole Good after dropping her daughter off at school, ICE has proven their lack of training and self-control when it comes to encounters with U.S. Citizens. The DHS claims that Good intended to run the ICE agent over, despite a video record showing that her intent was to leave the area. She did bump the officer and refuse to get out of the vehicle, but what she did was not a threat that justified four gunshots as the vehicle is already turning away from the officer as she approaches him.

 

A few weeks later, Illinoisan resident Alex Pretti was killed for possessing a weapon at a protest and interfering with an arrest according to the DHS. Videos show that Mr. Pretti was not violent with the officers nor getting in their way. He was simply vocalizing his need to protect a woman who they were after. The Trump Administration denounces his possession of a firearm, even though the people at the January 6th insurrection carried many guns of their own. The fact that the government’s rhetoric surrounding the death of our own people does not reflect the videos of what took place, and the fact that the application of rights is different depending on political leaning is very concerning in respect to the freedoms that American citizens hold dear.

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The United States has entered a long winter of its own with these ICE raids and conservative extremism at the helm. The turning point for our country is the midterm elections of 2026. It is this year that American citizens will speak their voices and choose the direction of our country. These elections will decide whether we consent to these violent acts and give in to fascism, or vote in officials that will hold ICE accountable. I hope that whatever happens, that my peers and I can enjoy the warmth of safety and unite like America once did before. My message to people of both parties is to think with compassion and remember to love thy neighbor.