Undaunted

Senator Alex Padilla is an American hero

Donald Trump is not content to merely adopt the language of fascism, such as boisterous claims, like immigrants “poisoning the blood of our country.” He has also adopted a classic fascist tactic: the use of violence to suppress, scare, and punish political opponents.

Americans have witnessed a concerted, consistent, and deliberate operation to rough up, arrest, and even prosecute Democrats doing their constitutional duties. ICE arrested, handcuffed, and charged Wisconsin state court Judge Hannah Dugan for managing her courtroom to avoid a spectacle. The Feds manhandled and arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.) during a congressional oversight visit to a detention center. They grabbed and arrested New York City Controller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander while he was escorting a migrant out of court following a hearing. And most dramatically, Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Cal.), accompanied by a national guardsman and FBI agent, was grabbed, shoved to the ground, and handcuffed for asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem a question at a press. Charges were dropped or never filed against all but the two female officials, Dugan and McIver.

These instances cannot be written off as random thuggery by individual agents. They are not the exception to the rule. From all appearances, this is an unprecedented policy change. It has now become routine to deploy goons to rough up Democrats at the least provocation (or, especially with Padilla, without any provocation), and then to weaponize the criminal justice system to prosecute Donald Trump’s political enemies.

After his ordeal, Padilla returned on Tuesday to the Senate floor to deliver an eloquent, heart-rending account of his ordeal. Several aspects of his speech, which elevated the occurrence beyond an outrageous incident involving a single lawmaker, deserve emphasis.

First, the failure of Padilla’s security detail to intervene when other agents were manhandling him is inexcusable. They have a duty to prevent violence inflicted upon a U.S. Senator. Their failure to do so must be fully investigated. If members of Congress cannot rely on federal branch agents to protect them, Congress must vastly expand the Capitol Police to accompany lawmakers, an expensive but apparently necessary step if the executive branch is bent on harassing and brutalizing lawmakers.

Second, Padilla drilled down on Noem’s audacious, unconstitutional, and unprecedented assertion that Trump was “liberating” Los Angelenos from their elected representatives. The word for that is coup. “That simply is not, and cannot be, the mission of federal law enforcement and the United States military,” Padilla declared. “To my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, are you truly prepared to live in a country where the President can deploy the armed forces to decide which duly elected governors and mayors should be allowed to lead their constituents?” For a party that has thrown around the merits of “states rights” like confetti, the lack of outrage among MAGA Republicans is galling.

Third, Padilla used appropriate, accurate, and essential language to describe Trump’s break with democracy, citing a “tyrant,” “undemocratic crackdowns,” and “authoritarian power grabs,” while warning that Trump is taking us on a “path to fascism.” This is the language all democracy defenders must adopt. Media descriptions like Trump “tests the boundaries,” or “leans into executive power” are so anodyne as to mislead the public and wrap Trump’s autocratic conduct in a cloak of legitimacy.

Fourth, Padilla demolished the Republican talking point that ICE has focused only on dangerous criminals, noting that: “reporting shows that less than 10 percent of immigrants taken into ICE custody since October have serious criminal convictions.” The raids are not at gang hangouts, they’re at workplaces, where immigrants are providing such essential work that hospitality and agricultural interests have pleaded with Trump to stop. (He initially agreed but was overruled by “President” Stephen Miller, who apparently gets the last say.)

Fifth, Padilla made clear that deploying physical violence is meant to shut up, scare, and punish people who dare cross the president. Trump obviously aims to intimidate a broader audience than documented immigrants.

“It’s about every single American who values their constitutional rights. It’s about anyone who’s ever exercised their First Amendment rights, or ever disagreed with a president, or who simply values living in a democracy and wants to keep it.”

Republicans who got themselves in a knot over nonexistent government censorship under Trump’s predecessor are now silent when it comes to muzzling Democrats.

Finally, Padilla cautioned us to stop waiting for a savior. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a Republican, a Democrat, or an Independent — we all have a responsibility to speak up and to push back, before it’s too late,” he said. “There’s nothing more patriotic than peacefully protesting for your rights.” He closed with a critical admonition: “No one will liberate Los Angeles but Angelenos. No one will redeem America but Americans. No one is coming to save us but us.”

Padilla’s example of dignity, patriotism, empathy, and moral indignation should be an inspiration to us all. Along with other public servants who have insisted on carrying out their duties despite intimidation and even physical assault, he remains Undaunted in the face of a would-be dictator. For that, we honor him. But Americans should not merely express gratitude for his conduct. Rather, we should seek to emulate his example.

I’d encourage every one of you, especially those who doubt that we have political leaders up to the task of defending our fragile democracy, to watch Senator Padilla’s speech in its entirety: