It wasn’t until after Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran pastor, ended up in a Nazi concentration camp that he realized he should have done more to help Hitler’s victims. He saw what was happening but he never thought they’d come for him.

Of course, they eventually did. And that’s what Americans need to understand about what’s happening under the Musk-Trump administration today; the attacks on refugees and immigrants, transgender people, federal workers, journalists, courts and unions aren’t one-offs. They are attacks on all of us, our Constitution and our system of democracy. And they won’t stop until people stand up and speak out.

So far, President Donald Trump isn’t talking about extermination camps. However, he has echoed Nazi language and imagery and apparently has no objection to aggressive threats and campaigns of intimidation. Today, lives are at extreme risk as a result of actions taken by Elon Musk, with Trump’s blessing, that violate federal law and constitutional principles. Cutting off all foreign assistance — even payments to U.S. businesses that have already provided goods and services under federal contracts— has meant that people with HIV and AIDS have lost access to life-saving medications, efforts to contain the spread of deadly diseases have ground to a halt, and children have gone hungry as food wastes away in warehouses. Under the Constitution, Congress, not the White House, holds the power of the purse. Congress specifically authorized and appropriated funds for these purposes.

This is not a policy disagreement; every administration has made its mark on foreign aid, shutting down some programs and initiating others. The problem is the administration’s utter contempt for laws that protect civil and worker rights and its total disregard for constitutional checks and balances.

Standard rules and procedures exist for reorganizing agencies and firing, reassigning and laying off federal employees. These are not being followed. We depend on professional civil servants to ensure that essential functions of government are being carried out without political favoritism; these jobs are being handed to Trump’s acolytes and cronies.

We have ethics and conflict-of-interest rules to prevent graft and corruption; Musk, a major government contractor with an enormous financial stake in the outcomes, has gained direct access to U.S. government payment systems and sensitive personal data.

The judicial branch is supposed to enforce the law; judges who rule against the administration are threatened with impeachment (and worse), and their orders are being flouted. Presidential advisers openly advocate that the administration defy judicial rulings.

What happened to USAID will not stop there, absent Republicans willing to break with the administration. Similar attacks have been launched against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Federal Election Commission and the National Labor Relations Board. Plans are in the works for the Department of Education, the Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Don’t care about any of those? How about the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures your bank savings? The Federal Aviation Administration, which is charged with increasing the safety of our nation’s skies?

Will Musk and Trump stop paying Social Security benefits to registered Democrats or withhold salary checks for members of Congress who oppose him? Declare a state of emergency to justify postponing elections or suspending civil rights?

Fortunately, we have seen shining examples of courageous action by people who are willing to risk their jobs, careers and personal safety to do what is right. David Lebryk, the Treasury Department official overseeing the nation’s payment systems, resigned rather than implement the order to halt all foreign aid payments, which he considered illegal. USAID inspector general Paul K. Martin was fired after releasing a “blistering” report about the impact of cutting off humanitarian aid. And, of course, Episcopal Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, who pleaded with Trump to “have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now,” including migrants, refugees, and gay, lesbian and transgender children.

If we don’t speak out for those targeted now, who will be left to speak for us?

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Diana Ohlbaum is chair of the board of the Center for International Policy. She oversaw U.S. foreign aid programs for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee for nearly two decades. She wrote this for InsideSources.com.

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