(Danish version further down, this is a letter to my fellow danes)
The Water Is Already Hot
There’s an old metaphor: put a frog in boiling water and it will leap out; put it in cool water and heat it slowly, and it will never notice until it’s too late. That’s where America is now. The Republican Party, in thrall to Donald Trump and his allies, is steadily turning up the heat. Unless we face the danger squarely, we will be boiled alive by a creeping authoritarianism.
Authoritarian Tactics Disguised as Justice
Donald Trump’s 15 billion dollar lawsuit against The New York Times is not about justice. It is about intimidation. His legal assaults on major outlets are not aimed at clarifying truth so much as punishing critics and chilling investigative reporting. When media organizations settle rather than fight, the message is plain: the cost of speaking truth can be ruinous. That dynamic functions as a private form of state-like coercion, power used to narrow the space for dissent.
A Timeline That Matters: The Charlie Kirk Case
The assassination of Charlie Kirk illustrates how authoritarian reflexes operate not just in what is said, but in when it is said.
September 10, 2025: Kirk is shot during a Utah Valley University event. Within hours, Trump brands the culprit a “radical left lunatic” and calls for action against the left. Pam Bondi follows with promises of prosecuting “left-wing radicals.” These declarations came before investigators had released any evidence of motive or affiliations — and even before a suspect was in custody.
September 11: In a press conference, the FBI director mistakenly suggested an arrest had already been made, when in fact the suspect was still at large. This premature statement only fueled the narrative vacuum, giving partisan actors more space to frame events however they wished.
September 12: A suspect is finally arrested. Investigators recover a rifle and ammunition. Early chatter seized on the letters “TRN” stamped on spent cartridges, miscast as “trans radical” messaging. In fact, “TRN” was later confirmed to be the manufacturer’s mark for Turan Ammunition, a Turkish company — nothing more than the gun equivalent of a “Made in Turkey” label.
September 15–16: Authorities announce DNA links between the suspect and the weapon. Motive remains publicly unclear.
Why this matters: The outcry against the left came before there was even a suspect. The FBI’s bungled communication about an arrest compounded the vacuum. In that gap, partisan narratives hardened and false details like “TRN” were weaponized to fit a pre-determined storyline. By the time corrections arrived, the political narrative was already cemented.
Canonizing Charlie Kirk
In the days after Kirk’s killing, GOP leaders did not stop at mourning. They sanctified him. Speaker Mike Johnson hosted a candlelight vigil in Statuary Hall. Representative Nancy Mace introduced a resolution to allow Kirk to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda. Representative Anna Paulina Luna pushed for a statue of Kirk in the Capitol, while Texas Republicans and Utah legislators floated similar memorials.
This rush to monumentalize Kirk matters because it seeks to launder his record into heroism. But Kirk’s own words tell a very different story.
Kirk in His Own Words: Seven Representative Quotes
“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”
— AmericaFest, December 2023 (Wired, Reuters)“We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.”
— The Charlie Kirk Show, April 1, 2024 (Media Matters transcript)“You go to college to get an MRS degree. You will find a husband, and then you will have children. That’s the most important thing.”
— August 2025, remarks about Taylor Swift (Media Matters, Salon)“Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge.”
— August 2025, on Taylor Swift’s engagement (Media Matters transcript)“If we would have said that Joy Reid and Michelle Obama and Sheila Jackson Lee and Ketanji Brown Jackson were affirmative action picks, we would have been called racists. Now they’re coming out and they’re saying it for us … You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
— The Charlie Kirk Show, July 2023 (The Guardian, Reuters)“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”
— The Charlie Kirk Show, January 2024 (The Guardian)“You cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.”
— 2024 clip, reported by Religion News Service and corroborated in follow-up coverage (RNS, Christian Post)
Frankly, reading these makes me sick. This is open contempt for women, for Black people, for non-Christians, for equality itself — and yet these are the words now being enshrined with vigils and statues.
Criminalizing Speech: The Next Frontier
Bondi’s vow to prosecute rhetoric she deems threatening takes the reflex one step further. By framing dissent as criminal violence, leaders justify extraordinary measures against opponents. It is an authoritarian sleight of hand: the law becomes not a shield for liberty, but a weapon against political adversaries.
The Boiling Point of Hypocrisy
The irony is grotesque. For years, Republicans claimed they were being silenced by fact-checkers and content moderation, even while using the largest megaphones in modern media. Now, with lawsuits, prosecutions, and monuments to bigotry, they wield the very censorship and hero-culting they once claimed to resist.
And the institutions meant to uphold truth have too often helped them. In the Kirk case, the FBI director prematurely claimed a suspect was under arrest when none had been apprehended. That error, an unforgivable lapse in clarity at such a critical moment, gave oxygen to partisan actors eager to fill the void with conspiracy and blame. Instead of cooling the waters, law enforcement missteps accelerated the boil, allowing authoritarian rhetoric to seize the upper hand before facts could catch up.
Fascism Is Here, And It’s Creeping
Authoritarianism rarely arrives with a bang. It seeps in through lawsuits that punish criticism, through premature accusations that cement false narratives, through monuments that elevate figures who preached division. These tactics mirror the creeping strategies of 20th century authoritarian movements: delegitimize, criminalize, sanctify, silence.
A Call to Action: Leap Out Now
This is not politics as usual. It is the methodical heating of the pot. Trump’s lawsuits, Bondi’s rhetoric, the exploitation of Kirk’s tragedy, and the sanctification of his record all show a party using fear and censorship as tools of power.
We cannot wait for clarity that may never come. Resist by demanding truth over spin, defending the independence of the press, rejecting premature narratives, and refusing to glorify hate. Support local journalism. Pressure lawmakers to defend First Amendment protections. Vote against those who elevate hate into heroism.
For me, this is no longer abstract politics. It is a sick feeling in the gut, a warning in my bones. The water is heating. Authoritarianism is not a warning from the past; it is here, creeping through our institutions and rhetoric. The question is whether we leap before the boil consumes us.
Brev #20 fra USA, Frøen i gryden
Der er et gammelt billede: Hvis man smider en frø direkte ned i kogende vand, hopper den straks ud. Men hvis man lægger den i koldt vand og langsomt varmer det op, bliver den siddende indtil den bliver kogt levende.
Sådan føles USA lige nu. Vandet er allerede varmt. Og jeg kan mærke kulden i min mave, når jeg siger det: Friheden er i gang med stille og roligt at blive kogt væk.
Her er lidt om hvad der skete sidste uge, lidt baggrund, og hvorfor det er en vigtig brik i puslespillet.
Hvad skete der egentlig?
I september blev en kendt højreradikal kommentator, Charlie Kirk, skudt under et arrangement på et universitet i Utah. For dem der ikke kender ham: han er leder af organisationen Turning Point USA, en vigtig stemme på den amerikanske højrefløj, og berømt for de mest ekstreme udtalelser om kvinder, sorte amerikanere, muslimer og alt der lugter af ligestilling.
Inden politiet overhovedet havde anholdt nogen, gik Donald Trump på scenen og kaldte gerningsmanden en “radical left lunatic.” USA’s Attorney General, Pam Bondi (landets øverste juridiske embedsmand og en af Trumps mest loyale støtter), lovede straks at retsforfølge “left-wing radicals.” Det var ren propaganda, serveret før nogen overhovedet vidste, hvem der stod bag.
Dagen efter holdt FBI’s chef en forvirret pressekonference, hvor han fejlagtigt sagde, at en mistænkt var anholdt. Det var ikke sandt, og det gav bare endnu mere plads til Trumps version af historien. Først flere dage senere kom en arrestation, men skaden var sket.
Selv små detaljer blev misbrugt. På de brugte patronhylstre stod der “TRN.” Internettets rygtemølle tolkede det straks som “trans radical.” I virkeligheden var det bare navnet på en tyrkisk våbenfabrikant: Turan Ammunition. Intet politisk i det.
Helgenkåringen af Charlie Kirk
Normalt ville man sørge, når en offentlig person bliver dræbt. Men Republikanerne gik længere. De holdt en stor ceremoni i Kongressen i Washington. De foreslog, at hans kiste skulle stå i selve Rotundaen, et sted reserveret til nationens største helte.
Nogle vil endda rejse en statue af ham.
Men hvem var han egentlig? Lad mig give jer nogle af hans egne ord, på engelsk med kilderne:
Charlie Kirk in his own words
“We made a huge mistake when we passed the Civil Rights Act in the 1960s.”
AmericaFest, December 2023 (Wired, Reuters)“We need to have a Nuremberg-style trial for every gender-affirming clinic doctor. We need it immediately.”
The Charlie Kirk Show, April 1, 2024 (Media Matters transcript)“Submit to your husband, Taylor. You’re not in charge.”
To Taylor Swift:, August 2025 (Media Matters, Salon)“You go to college to get an MRS degree. You will find a husband, and then you will have children. That’s the most important thing.”
“MRS” er den engelske forkortelse for Mrs. – altså “fru” (bruges foran navnet på en gift kvinde). Når nogen siger, at en kvinde går på universitet for at få en “MRS degree”, betyder det, at hun ikke læser for at få en rigtig uddannelse, men kun for at finde en mand at gifte sig med.About Black women like Michelle Obama and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: “You do not have the brain processing power to otherwise be taken seriously. You had to go steal a white person’s slot to go be taken somewhat seriously.”
The Charlie Kirk Show, July 2023 (The Guardian, Reuters)About a Black pilot:
“If I see a Black pilot, I’m going to be like, ‘Boy, I hope he’s qualified.’”
The Charlie Kirk Show, January 2024 (The Guardian)About religion:
“You cannot have liberty if you do not have a Christian population.”
2024 clip, reported by Religion News Service and corroborated by The Christian Post
Ærligt talt, det gør mig syg at læse det. Disse ord er fyldt med foragt for kvinder, for sorte amerikanere, for ikke-kristne. Og alligevel er det ham, Republikanerne vil gøre til en martyr.
Når ord bliver kriminaliseret
Pam Bondi lovede, at hun vil retsforfølge “retorik, der inspirerer til vold.” Det lyder uskyldigt, men i hænderne på folk som hende betyder det i praksis, at enhver kritik kan gøres til en forbrydelse. Det er sådan man kvæler et demokrati.
Det værste hykleri
I årevis har Republikanerne klaget over at blive “censureret” af medier og sociale platforme. Nu gør de selv præcis det, de beskyldte andre for. De sagsøger kritiske aviser, de gør modstandere til forbrydere, og de bygger helgenbilleder af folk, der taler had.
Fascismen lister sig ind
Vi skal ikke bilde os ind, at diktatur kommer som et lyn fra en klar himmel. Det kommer snigende. Gennem retssager, gennem fordrejede fortællinger, gennem statuer af mænd, der burde stå til ansvar.
En venlig, men alvorlig opfordring
Jeg skriver dette til jer, fordi det ikke kun handler om USA. Når demokratier går i opløsning, sker det altid lidt efter lidt.
Vi kan stadig springe ud af gryden, inden det er for sent. Det kræver, at vi forsvarer pressefrihed, afslører løgne, og nægter at normalisere hadet.
Jeg siger det som jeg føler det. Det er en syg fornemmelse i maven. Vandet er allerede varmt. Spørgsmålet er bare, om vi hopper, eller bliver siddende, til det koger over.
Jeg er super glad for jeres Boykot. Det er stadigt tr;ls herovre, og den hjæper, det hjælper alt sammen. Bliv ved!
Skriv i kommentarerne om der er noget særligt I vil høre mere om, så skal jeg se om jeg kan klare det.