On March 8, ICE agents entered a residential dorm at Columbia University and apprehended a graduate student named Mahmoud Khalil. He was arrested in the presence of his wife, an American citizen and eight months pregnant. Khalil is a legal permanent resident of the United States, and has been accused of no crime beyond exercising his legitimate free speech rights and participating in constitutionally protected protest.

Under the Constitution, legal residents of the United States are entitled to the same rights as American citizens, so when the Trump administration subjects Mr. Khalil to arbitrary detention for the crime of freely expressing his opinion, they are declaring that none of us have rights anymore. There is nothing but the raw, brute force that Mr. Trump believes he can wield.

On January 20, less than two months before this, Donald Trump took what has always been known as a solemn oath, “to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Instead in that short time, he has shown nothing but contempt for the Constitution. If anyone wondered how quickly this presidency would descend into open fascism and corruption, wonder no more. We are there.

For Trump to have defiled his oath of office so quickly and so spectacularly becomes the most clear case for the removal of a president from office one can hope to find. No legal intricacies involved: he has broken his sacred oath, period. Removing Trump from power becomes the duty of every American who wants to live under a free constitutional government, with guaranteed rights for everyone.

Our situation is complicated by the complete lack of a credible political opposition to Trump’s power. Throughout 2024 public opposition to Israel’s genocide of the people of Gaza made clear that it would be the crucial issue in the election, as it proved to be. But the Democrats kept plowing ahead with their death machines, right through November. Acting as if soldiers for a cause, following orders from above, to fall on their swords if it proved necessary. Their wealthy donors said, give Netanyahu whatever he wants, and what he wanted was Trump and the Democrats obliged.

How can the Democrats lead an opposition to Trump when they are responsible for putting Trump in office?

In that light, the whole Trump presidency looks like a fix. Not what the American people wanted, but what someone wanted for the American people. Our system of pay-to-play government has ensured that there is almost zero representation for average people among our legislators, and almost universal prioritization of the needs of the state of Israel, currently engaged in some of the worst atrocities of the 21st century.

Adherence to the Constitution has protected both those on the left and those on the right throughout our history, so coming together to defend it ought to be a shared bipartisan effort. American governance is in desperate need of a political movement that begins with average people and asserts its influence upward, not the other way around. Talk to neighbors and work in community groups, build consensus around protecting the rule of law. We have much more power to make King Trump bend the knee to the people than we currently believe.

Doug Rogers is a musician, composer and carpenter who lives in Long Eddy, NY.