Letter to the LNP Editor as submitted on May 28, 2026.
The Addendum was added for blog reproduction on June 10, 2026
When I was a student, “Brave New World” and “1984” were required reading. These dystopian novels warned us of what life would be like under brutal authoritarian government if we weren’t vigilant to resist it. Over the following decades those warnings have, alas, been ignored and forgotten. Now respected commentators and judges are quoting Orwell to describe our present reality.
One such quote is this: "Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” Trump’s efforts to control, corrupt, and erase our history began as soon as he was inaugurated. Calling the January 6 rioters “political prisoners,” he pardoned more than 1500 of those who had been convicted or pleaded guilty, many of them to violent crimes. Now he is trying to set up a $1.8 billion “Slush fund,” using our tax money to reward insurrectionists. And last weekend his Department of (In)Justice removed from their website thousands of press releases detailing the rioters’ trials and convictions.
Scrubbing our history of honest, complete narrative, especially regarding slavery, racial and gender discrimination, and oppression of minority groups of all kinds, is an ongoing project of the regime. We see it in attacks on the Smithsonian museums, on national parks and monuments, on prominent universities, and most recently on the website of Arlington National Cemetery.
Resistance is critical. We must reclaim our heritage from the forces working to turn our country into a mindless dictatorship, controlled by immense wealth and greed for power. Our founders crafted a republic of the people, by the people, and for the people. Our task is to preserve it.
[Addendum: Since this letter was written in late May, 2026, the “Slush fund” referenced above has been challenged in court and by strong political opposition. As of June 2 it has been paused by court order. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has declared to Congress that the Justice Department is “not moving forward” on its creation but has refused to put that statement in writing.
[Meanwhile the second provision in the “settlement” that created the slush fund, granting immunity to the Trump family and associates from audit and prosecution for any tax fraud and violations they might have committed to date, is still in effect. Historian Heather Cox Richardson reminds us that it was a conviction on tax evasion that finally put mob boss Al Capone in jail. Trump’s interest in this grant of immunity is clear.]
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