“First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out — Because I was not a Communist." -- Martin Niemöller, Holocaust Memorial Day Trust 1946

Trump is coming for his detractors, swiftly and violently. From his vows to detain and deport pro-Palestinian activists under the guise that they support terrorists, to his pledge to cut federal funding to public schools teaching content he deems to be inappropriate, many of his goals have the frightening purpose of silencing those that disagree with him.

The outcome to the 2024 election — like all presidential elections, past and future — has dramatically altered the course of America. However, the result of the 2024 election may be uniquely important because Trump has shown, in no uncertain terms, his disregard for the rights of those he ideologically differs from.

In early March, only a few days into Trump’s term, ICE agents arrested green card holder, Mahmoud Khalil, for his role in the protests on the Columbia University campus last year. Khalil was a Columbia University graduate student, father-to-be, and perhaps most importantly, a legal permanent resident with the constitutional right to protest. The cited justification for Khalil’s deportation came from an obscure provision in the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the Secretary of State to claim “adverse foreign policy consequences.” Trumps use of such broad reasoning, combined with his repeated warnings that Khalil is “the first of many” clearly demonstrates his willingness to forcefully remove those that don’t support his position.

Trump has also used his authority to threaten schools that provide support and safely to their queer youth. Instead he demands the erasure of transgender kids, removing even their option of socially transitioning, which has no lasting or physical modifications. Trump further attempts to remove the existence of transgender people by asserting that only male and female identities exist, as determined by sex cells at conception — which is notable, as fetal cells don’t develop until nine weeks into the pregnancy, and it is a claim that ignores the significant percentage of intersex people in the world who don’t fit his simplistic binary concept. His excuses of protecting children fall flat given his blatant inaccuracies, leaving only his obvious desires to eradicate an identity that he chooses not to understand.

At this moment, I am not a target of Trump’s attacks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have reason to worry. Currently, he is going after easy targets; being a pro-Palestinian immigrant or a transgender person isn’t exactly popular, and there are certainly swaths of people ready and willing to shutdown those voices and experiences. However, once they are removed from public view, Trump won’t simply stop. He will find new groups to demonize. This cycle will continue endlessly because ideologies like his rely on the existence of an outgroup to target, and eventually I, and many others, will fall into it. So at this moment, I am not Trump’s target, but I will be and when they come for me, I can only hope that those who are left will speak for me.