Globally, the United States is viewed as a joke due to Donald Trump’s

erratic nature. He encourages immigration for South Africans and befriends Elon

Musk–a former illegal immigrant– yet is mass deporting others regardless of

whether they have papers or not. Take the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man

who was given stay due to the violent nature of his home country, yet deported

anyways. A judge blocked the Trump Administration’s action of deporting Garcia,

but Trump continued to deport him anyways, and is refusing to bring him back.

Garcia is now in an unsafe prison in El Salvador, and his life is at risk. Garcia was

portrayed as a part of MS-13, a street gang, when in reality he had reported on the

gang, which is why he is in danger. Trump not only sent him back to his home

country by refusing a judge’s order, but doubled down on that order and fired a

justice department official who admitted that a mistake was made. Erez Reuveni,

an official previously lauded for his work, was fired unjustly for admitting the

mistake on the administration’s part. Three courts–including the Supreme

Court–ordered Trump to bring Garcia back, yet Trump has publicly stated his

refusal for that action.

This is what is eroding the system of checks and balances–the refusal of a

president to comply with judicial review. Judicial review is a check that is used to

curtail a president’s actions if they are unconstitutional, yet Trump is not

complying with judicial review. He is setting the precedent that it is okay for a

president to be in a state of noncompliance with the courts, which defeats the entire

point of the judiciary’s authority. Trump has been deporting whoever he wants

regardless of what the court says, which is so dangerous for a president to do.

Trump is setting the precedent that he is no longer a president–but a king.

Additionally, Trump is ensuring that he has the right to fire whoever he

wants regardless of reason. His administration fired someone for disagreeing with

their stance, and not fervently defending a blatantly unconstitutional action. He has

sent mass layoffs all throughout government agencies, despite judges blocking his

actions. Naturally, Trump has given no compliance to the judicial review on his

actions. He has not stopped firing people, nor rehired those fired unlawfully. What

is a president who does not comply with courts? A king? A dictator? Worse?

Trump is that president. He flagrantly neglects court orders and just does what he

wants. He is ruining the justice system by making a mockery of the judiciary, and

setting a dangerous precedent for presidents to completely ignore courts. These are

not the actions of a president, but a dictator. Future presidents can now know it is

normalized for a president to ignore the courts, because it is something Trump has

normalized.

The United States is proud of the maintenance of the first

amendment–freedom of speech–but will that right persist much longer? In 2025,

Donald Trump deported students and foreign scholars for protesting his actions.

What happened to freedom of speech, the right held through centuries of

precedent? Is that all gone because one president decides he doesn’t like it?

Freedom of speech is a pillar of American democracy, but it may not be a pillar

much longer. Deporting students for utilizing their free speech rights is not normal,

nor shall it be normalized. Trump is not only setting the precedent that freedom of

speech isn’t necessary, but also setting the precedent that a president can overturn

centuries of precedent for their own personal convenience or gain.

Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent resident and Columbia student, was

arrested in March without legal counsel and sent to a detention center in El Paso to

be held indefinitely. He protested without a mask on, and was thrown into an

indefinite jail. This action violates two supposedly inalienable rights: the right to

free speech, and the right to due process. Khalil, and many students like him, were

not given their due process. Actually, nearly all of the people being deported are

not given due process. They are simply notified and deported, without being given

access to legal counsel, a trial, or any due process rights. These supposedly

inalienable rights are being infringed on, which is toeing a line of dictatorship.

Constitutional tenets are being spat on due to the actions of one person. Trump’s

actions are more than illegal–they’re dangerous. He is showing the people of the

United States that their rights aren’t inalienable, and that the rights promised to

them can be taken away at a moment’s notice or on a whim. Trump is setting the

precedent that he is no longer a president, but a king.

Trump’s craziness grows further as he throws executive actions out left and

right. He is literally attacking the nation’s brightest spots–schools and

universities–as he accuses them of promoting anti-American values. These

educational institutions are under fire and losing their funding due to the actions of

the administration. Columbia, Harvard, and UPenn are under close scrutiny for

“anti-semitic actions”, which are really protests over the Gaza situation, and they

are in danger. In fact, Trump actually blocked international students from coming

to Harvard in an executive action. The administration stated that Harvard refused

to comply with requests for protest activity videotapes and records, so they took

away the ability to host international students in return. Trump is turning away the

brightest scholars in an act of petty revenge–does he not want to further the nation?

Because America is built up of people from all around the globe, and it is

pioneered by the best and the brightest. Harvard is a reputable institution that is a

hotspot for genius, and Trump is setting the precedent that he doesn't want the best

and the brightest in his country. He is going to slow progress and destroy

everything the nation stands for by the time he is done.