I feel like Alligator Auschwitz is too cute, After all Auschwitz is a place in Poland. Florida is not Auschwitz and should gain its own infamy with its own name. Right now I just call it a KZ. That is pronounced K-ah tset in German. It stands for Konzentrationslager. Concentration Camp. That is the abbreviation for concentration camps in Germany. So Alligator KZ, or DeSatan KZ or Florida KZ is more fitting. Of course what do we call the other ones that Florida then builds? What do we call the one in Louisiana where Rümeysa Öztürk was taken? I read that they had 27 women to a cell and they sleep on the same concrete floor that they defecate on.
Great thought Linda. However, if I may, I would go one step further. The Nazis named their KZs after the actual location...Bergen Belsen, Kulmhof etc....places of infamy and shame 80 years later. So the Florida one should be named Ochoppee KZ or Big Cypress National Preserve KZ, so that we know which people tolerated the killing and degradation in their home towns/counties for later, after the evil in this fascist regime eats itself up or is put down. Alligator KZ is way to impersonal, and doesn't adequately label the "Mitläufer" and henchmen:women who tolerated this shit in their midst. One could also call it Kristi Noem KZ!
Yes. I agree, the Nazis named them after location. In fact, my husband grew up in Bergen and one frigid winter night when cars and trains were not running and we had been traveling over 20 hours to try to get to my mother-in-laws for Christmas Eve, we went by Bergen-Belsen after midnight in a cab. Thus named because it was located between Bergen and Belsen. When my daughter's exchange class went to Poland for The Walk of the Living, she visited Auschwitz and 2 other camps, and I just cannot see naming US places after these places. They will have their own infamy like Guantanamo, but they should be named for the places they are in, so people know where they are. I did not know the specific location of the Florida one, so thanks for providing it Bruce. ✌🏽
Actually, I rather like Alligator Alcatraz, because drumpf has such a fixation with the original Alcatraz. And I'd especially like to see him convicted of all his crimes and sent to Alligator Alcatraz to live out a long life he deserves.
...and we need to preserve them for later to teach the infamy to the next generation like the Europeans have done in many places. We have done far to little of that clear sighted teaching in the past.
I understand that, but since they are going to be building hundreds if not thousands of these facilities they cannot all be named after already existing prisons. I think they should represent a new era in American history that they are.
I feel like in addition to being hopeful people have to be wiley and informed. Be prepared to creatively disobey. Also, have a plan B. I wrote this in November, and though some of these things have already come to pass now that Trump is in power, it still remains relevant.
My concern is that standing up has become dangerous. I cannot feel comfortable sharing this advice when people who "stand up" are brutally attacked in the moment, and then sometimes formally arrested and detained.
Taria, if we don't stand up, they win. I refuse to give up my freedoms, democracy and country to this wouldbe autocrat and his sycophantic henchmen. It would be terrific to have a Congress with backbone. It would terrific to have a SC that could apply the Constitutional provisions that block a strongman. These organizations won't do their job; it's our job to do ours. Scare the shit out of Trump and clowns, this worthless Republican Congress and our Supreme Court. Let's get busy!
Some people are especially vulnerable. Others of us are much less so. As a WASP-looking woman in her mid-70s, living in blue Massachusetts, I have more leeway than, say, a young Hispanic man or a middle-aged Black woman in a red state. Most people who stand up *aren't* brutally attacked, arrested, or detained. Take precautions for sure, be alert, and remember that there is strength (and courage) in numbers.
We face difficulties all around us, but as a three stranded cord is is not easily broken, we find resilience and strength in our unity. Support local Pro-Democracy candidates to bring back our Republic. Very Glad you are safe professor Ben-Ghiat. Here in Texas , we appreciate folks keeping families along the Guadalupe river in prayer.
With all the terrible things going on, we need this reminder that all is not lost. That we must not give up hope. That we can reclaim our value about the worthiness of immigrants and their many contributions that make the country strong. That we must face down this authoritarian regime with all our strength to ensure that the country endures. Thank you, Ruth.
Thank you for this brilliantly presented but also heart-breaking essay. I’m reminded of how Arnold Schwarzenegger frequently speaks about how he achieved things beyond his boyhood dreams (as the son of a Nazi sympathizing father) becoming here… willing to work hard but also benefitting from the generosity of people he met (check out an early TV appearance on Lucille Ball’s show). “American exceptionalism” exists because this is where immigrants can rise to unpredictable heights … like Governor of California … and maybe soon, Mayor of NYC! But this term has been bastardized to mean “a perfect place that never makes mistakes”. This is how Oklahoma’s education head - Ryan Walters - gets away with saying he will remove any teacher who teaches students to “hate America”. He defines “hate” as “imperfect”… meaning Oklahoma’s students should never learned the US Gov screwed up when WWII began and - driven by irrational fear - put Japanese-Americans (including a very young George Takei) in Internment Camps… confiscating their property at the same time.
Teaching this history allows students to learn that “making America better over time” is supposed to be part of our culture … the reason why the Founding Fathers made sure the Constitution could be amended (ie “improved”)!
This culture of continuous learning and improving by using critical thinking is what MAGA wants to eliminate, along with the warped notion that no one should be a citizen who isn’t a white make and his chosen wife (see: Melania Trump 🙄).
We MUST work to show everyone that immigrants matter! Imagine a world in which Arnold Schwarzenegger had been prevented from living here!!!
I saw Arnold today on CSPAN at a citizenship ceremony at Mt. Vernon. He echoed what you said. He emphasized how hard he tried to be an actor and took speech lessons to loose his accent because he was told no one with his accent could get acting job. He proved the agents wrong. He encouraged new citizens to not loose their accents. He said that made them unique with their own history to be shared. He praised their strength and courage in making it to a new country to start a new life. He made the new citizens feel welcome and special. That is what our country is about and makes us unique in this world. Our strength is our diversity. We cannot let the white supremacy movement destroy the beauty and mixing of people.
We must continue to be proactive by attending protests, rallies, and marches,-and calling our congressional representatives as needed. The protests create massive awareness, and the greater the awareness, the greater the turnout will be for the midterm elections. We MUST take back Congress when the midterms roll around. —> That will fuel our hope for the 2028 election which can’t come soon enough.
Some words on Ruth's comment about the emerging police state--done with great humility and admiration--We are in desperate need of a new language—a language that can capture the fascist tide that is engulfing the United States. The tools to articulate this shift will not be found in the legacy press, which remains shackled by the very structures it should question. This new language must break free from the tightly controlled narrative churned out by right-wing media outlets, such as Fox News, where the acceleration of fascist ideals has found a fertile ground to flourish unchecked.
Children are being slaughtered in Gaza, millions are on the brink of losing their healthcare, and the funds for feeding impoverished children are being slashed by the grotesque budget of Trump’s administration. Thousands will die in the future from a lack of support, all in the name of enriching the pockets of the filthy rich. We now live in a country where class warfare is not merely present—it is on steroids, exposing the killing machine of gangster capitalism in its rawest form. Terror, fear, and punishment have supplanted the ideals of equality, freedom, and justice. The lights are dimming in the United States, and what remains are the ignorant smirks of fascist incompetence and bodies devoid of passion, empathy, and any semblance of humanity.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat writes that "America has been set on a trajectory to become a police state," citing the passage of the Brutal & Bellicose Bill (BBB), which has given ICE more funding than the militaries of Brazil, Israel, and Italy combined. While her observations are important, the foundation for this police state was laid much earlier—under the reign of Bush and Cheney, with their war on terror. It was the lies of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the invasion of Iraq that ignited this path, paving the way for Guantanamo Bay, the torture chambers at Abu Ghraib, and the ruthless abduction of individuals—each an early echo of what we now witness under Trump.
The police state did not begin with Trump; it simply embraced, more openly and brazenly, the fascist undercurrents that had already taken root. What we now face is a systematic enforcement of deportations, racial cleansing, the normalization of hate as political rhetoric, the criminalization of dissent, the erosion of birthright citizenship, and the militarization of society at large. We are witnessing the rapid expansion of a punishing state, fed by the destruction of the social state and the concentration of power among the financial elite.
Yet, what is striking is how disconnected we remain from the historical roots of this moment—centuries of colonized violence. Why do we refuse to call the Trump regime what it truly is: a fascist state engaged in state terrorism? Why do we ignore the growing evidence of class warfare that has become more visible than ever? Why are questions of economic inequality, terrorism, and violations of international law systematically left untouched when it comes to the United States and its allies, like Israel?
At the heart of this crisis lies a moral void. Issues of justice, equality, and social responsibility no longer resonate within the platforms of the oligarchic elite. What we are witnessing is a genocidal war against criticism, against critical inquiry, against the courage to think differently.
Hope, it seems, has been buried beneath the hollow fantasies of Disney-esque nightmares. But it is time to wake up—to resurrect the connection between civic literacy and moral witnessing. We must act as though humanity itself is at stake, because in truth, it is. The time for complacency is over. The time for a new language of critique, possibility, and mass struggle is now.
One side of my family escaped a small german Volga river colony that Catherine the Great encouraged germans to build and settle.. they saw the russian revolution coming and luckily didn’t end up in Siberia digging canals or starving as many did after their homes, lands, and properties were appropriated.. the other side came from Telemark in Norway for opportunity.. they both improved their lives, had families who went to college, all the boys serving in the war and one KIA pushing the nazis back to germany.. i have a great respect, admiration, and gratitude for all they did for me to exist, and it makes me especially angry that my uncle who died flying, did so fighting the very same swinehunds we now have ravaging our nation.. they need to pay, and pay dearly even as they will never adequately do so, to those who gave everything so that they could enjoy the freedom to find ways to game a system created for honorable people and not the likes of them. Only here, could they find the protections, the freedoms, to screw the rest of us..
Henry you are correct. The root of our moral collapse began with enslaving natives and Africans. The Abolitionists knew we had to abolish slavery to have a chance of building a moral society. We are still on the road to addressing these issues. The new emphasis on locking up immigrants and threatening dissenters is following the white power movement that flourishes in our nation. Trump has encouraged these Nationalists with the pardoning of the Proud Boys and other insurrectionists. The police state began to patrol run away slaves. We are seeing a resurrection of this police state out in the open.
I am the daughter of an immigrant, born in Losonc, Hungary, who came to the US in 1913. I saw that he made major contributions to the country during his lifetime. From what I've observed, immigrants are a very positive force in our population. We attract (or used to attract) lots of very intelligent, hard-working people. It's very sad when those people are not appreciated.
A more fitting name may be Alligator Auschwitz.
I feel like Alligator Auschwitz is too cute, After all Auschwitz is a place in Poland. Florida is not Auschwitz and should gain its own infamy with its own name. Right now I just call it a KZ. That is pronounced K-ah tset in German. It stands for Konzentrationslager. Concentration Camp. That is the abbreviation for concentration camps in Germany. So Alligator KZ, or DeSatan KZ or Florida KZ is more fitting. Of course what do we call the other ones that Florida then builds? What do we call the one in Louisiana where Rümeysa Öztürk was taken? I read that they had 27 women to a cell and they sleep on the same concrete floor that they defecate on.
Great thought Linda. However, if I may, I would go one step further. The Nazis named their KZs after the actual location...Bergen Belsen, Kulmhof etc....places of infamy and shame 80 years later. So the Florida one should be named Ochoppee KZ or Big Cypress National Preserve KZ, so that we know which people tolerated the killing and degradation in their home towns/counties for later, after the evil in this fascist regime eats itself up or is put down. Alligator KZ is way to impersonal, and doesn't adequately label the "Mitläufer" and henchmen:women who tolerated this shit in their midst. One could also call it Kristi Noem KZ!
Yes. I agree, the Nazis named them after location. In fact, my husband grew up in Bergen and one frigid winter night when cars and trains were not running and we had been traveling over 20 hours to try to get to my mother-in-laws for Christmas Eve, we went by Bergen-Belsen after midnight in a cab. Thus named because it was located between Bergen and Belsen. When my daughter's exchange class went to Poland for The Walk of the Living, she visited Auschwitz and 2 other camps, and I just cannot see naming US places after these places. They will have their own infamy like Guantanamo, but they should be named for the places they are in, so people know where they are. I did not know the specific location of the Florida one, so thanks for providing it Bruce. ✌🏽
Actually, I rather like Alligator Alcatraz, because drumpf has such a fixation with the original Alcatraz. And I'd especially like to see him convicted of all his crimes and sent to Alligator Alcatraz to live out a long life he deserves.
...and we need to preserve them for later to teach the infamy to the next generation like the Europeans have done in many places. We have done far to little of that clear sighted teaching in the past.
I agree.
I understand that, but since they are going to be building hundreds if not thousands of these facilities they cannot all be named after already existing prisons. I think they should represent a new era in American history that they are.
I find hope in your words and will remain positive as long as I can
I feel like in addition to being hopeful people have to be wiley and informed. Be prepared to creatively disobey. Also, have a plan B. I wrote this in November, and though some of these things have already come to pass now that Trump is in power, it still remains relevant.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/a-plan-b-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn
My concern is that standing up has become dangerous. I cannot feel comfortable sharing this advice when people who "stand up" are brutally attacked in the moment, and then sometimes formally arrested and detained.
Taria, if we don't stand up, they win. I refuse to give up my freedoms, democracy and country to this wouldbe autocrat and his sycophantic henchmen. It would be terrific to have a Congress with backbone. It would terrific to have a SC that could apply the Constitutional provisions that block a strongman. These organizations won't do their job; it's our job to do ours. Scare the shit out of Trump and clowns, this worthless Republican Congress and our Supreme Court. Let's get busy!
Some people are especially vulnerable. Others of us are much less so. As a WASP-looking woman in her mid-70s, living in blue Massachusetts, I have more leeway than, say, a young Hispanic man or a middle-aged Black woman in a red state. Most people who stand up *aren't* brutally attacked, arrested, or detained. Take precautions for sure, be alert, and remember that there is strength (and courage) in numbers.
It was dangerous for the resistance in Europe during WWII. They persevered, and so must we.
Thank you Ruth.
I am so glad you and yours are safe from the storm!
Damn right. The silent people will no longer be silent
We face difficulties all around us, but as a three stranded cord is is not easily broken, we find resilience and strength in our unity. Support local Pro-Democracy candidates to bring back our Republic. Very Glad you are safe professor Ben-Ghiat. Here in Texas , we appreciate folks keeping families along the Guadalupe river in prayer.
With all the terrible things going on, we need this reminder that all is not lost. That we must not give up hope. That we can reclaim our value about the worthiness of immigrants and their many contributions that make the country strong. That we must face down this authoritarian regime with all our strength to ensure that the country endures. Thank you, Ruth.
Thank you for this brilliantly presented but also heart-breaking essay. I’m reminded of how Arnold Schwarzenegger frequently speaks about how he achieved things beyond his boyhood dreams (as the son of a Nazi sympathizing father) becoming here… willing to work hard but also benefitting from the generosity of people he met (check out an early TV appearance on Lucille Ball’s show). “American exceptionalism” exists because this is where immigrants can rise to unpredictable heights … like Governor of California … and maybe soon, Mayor of NYC! But this term has been bastardized to mean “a perfect place that never makes mistakes”. This is how Oklahoma’s education head - Ryan Walters - gets away with saying he will remove any teacher who teaches students to “hate America”. He defines “hate” as “imperfect”… meaning Oklahoma’s students should never learned the US Gov screwed up when WWII began and - driven by irrational fear - put Japanese-Americans (including a very young George Takei) in Internment Camps… confiscating their property at the same time.
Teaching this history allows students to learn that “making America better over time” is supposed to be part of our culture … the reason why the Founding Fathers made sure the Constitution could be amended (ie “improved”)!
This culture of continuous learning and improving by using critical thinking is what MAGA wants to eliminate, along with the warped notion that no one should be a citizen who isn’t a white make and his chosen wife (see: Melania Trump 🙄).
We MUST work to show everyone that immigrants matter! Imagine a world in which Arnold Schwarzenegger had been prevented from living here!!!
I saw Arnold today on CSPAN at a citizenship ceremony at Mt. Vernon. He echoed what you said. He emphasized how hard he tried to be an actor and took speech lessons to loose his accent because he was told no one with his accent could get acting job. He proved the agents wrong. He encouraged new citizens to not loose their accents. He said that made them unique with their own history to be shared. He praised their strength and courage in making it to a new country to start a new life. He made the new citizens feel welcome and special. That is what our country is about and makes us unique in this world. Our strength is our diversity. We cannot let the white supremacy movement destroy the beauty and mixing of people.
I’m happy you saw Arnold at that citizenship ceremony. So great that he celebrates their achievements in getting here!
We must continue to be proactive by attending protests, rallies, and marches,-and calling our congressional representatives as needed. The protests create massive awareness, and the greater the awareness, the greater the turnout will be for the midterm elections. We MUST take back Congress when the midterms roll around. —> That will fuel our hope for the 2028 election which can’t come soon enough.
Some words on Ruth's comment about the emerging police state--done with great humility and admiration--We are in desperate need of a new language—a language that can capture the fascist tide that is engulfing the United States. The tools to articulate this shift will not be found in the legacy press, which remains shackled by the very structures it should question. This new language must break free from the tightly controlled narrative churned out by right-wing media outlets, such as Fox News, where the acceleration of fascist ideals has found a fertile ground to flourish unchecked.
Children are being slaughtered in Gaza, millions are on the brink of losing their healthcare, and the funds for feeding impoverished children are being slashed by the grotesque budget of Trump’s administration. Thousands will die in the future from a lack of support, all in the name of enriching the pockets of the filthy rich. We now live in a country where class warfare is not merely present—it is on steroids, exposing the killing machine of gangster capitalism in its rawest form. Terror, fear, and punishment have supplanted the ideals of equality, freedom, and justice. The lights are dimming in the United States, and what remains are the ignorant smirks of fascist incompetence and bodies devoid of passion, empathy, and any semblance of humanity.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat writes that "America has been set on a trajectory to become a police state," citing the passage of the Brutal & Bellicose Bill (BBB), which has given ICE more funding than the militaries of Brazil, Israel, and Italy combined. While her observations are important, the foundation for this police state was laid much earlier—under the reign of Bush and Cheney, with their war on terror. It was the lies of Weapons of Mass Destruction and the invasion of Iraq that ignited this path, paving the way for Guantanamo Bay, the torture chambers at Abu Ghraib, and the ruthless abduction of individuals—each an early echo of what we now witness under Trump.
The police state did not begin with Trump; it simply embraced, more openly and brazenly, the fascist undercurrents that had already taken root. What we now face is a systematic enforcement of deportations, racial cleansing, the normalization of hate as political rhetoric, the criminalization of dissent, the erosion of birthright citizenship, and the militarization of society at large. We are witnessing the rapid expansion of a punishing state, fed by the destruction of the social state and the concentration of power among the financial elite.
Yet, what is striking is how disconnected we remain from the historical roots of this moment—centuries of colonized violence. Why do we refuse to call the Trump regime what it truly is: a fascist state engaged in state terrorism? Why do we ignore the growing evidence of class warfare that has become more visible than ever? Why are questions of economic inequality, terrorism, and violations of international law systematically left untouched when it comes to the United States and its allies, like Israel?
At the heart of this crisis lies a moral void. Issues of justice, equality, and social responsibility no longer resonate within the platforms of the oligarchic elite. What we are witnessing is a genocidal war against criticism, against critical inquiry, against the courage to think differently.
Hope, it seems, has been buried beneath the hollow fantasies of Disney-esque nightmares. But it is time to wake up—to resurrect the connection between civic literacy and moral witnessing. We must act as though humanity itself is at stake, because in truth, it is. The time for complacency is over. The time for a new language of critique, possibility, and mass struggle is now.
How about referring to them as monsters?
One side of my family escaped a small german Volga river colony that Catherine the Great encouraged germans to build and settle.. they saw the russian revolution coming and luckily didn’t end up in Siberia digging canals or starving as many did after their homes, lands, and properties were appropriated.. the other side came from Telemark in Norway for opportunity.. they both improved their lives, had families who went to college, all the boys serving in the war and one KIA pushing the nazis back to germany.. i have a great respect, admiration, and gratitude for all they did for me to exist, and it makes me especially angry that my uncle who died flying, did so fighting the very same swinehunds we now have ravaging our nation.. they need to pay, and pay dearly even as they will never adequately do so, to those who gave everything so that they could enjoy the freedom to find ways to game a system created for honorable people and not the likes of them. Only here, could they find the protections, the freedoms, to screw the rest of us..
Thank you for the statements which are a positive basis of this country. So much history and resilience is a huge force.
Henry you are correct. The root of our moral collapse began with enslaving natives and Africans. The Abolitionists knew we had to abolish slavery to have a chance of building a moral society. We are still on the road to addressing these issues. The new emphasis on locking up immigrants and threatening dissenters is following the white power movement that flourishes in our nation. Trump has encouraged these Nationalists with the pardoning of the Proud Boys and other insurrectionists. The police state began to patrol run away slaves. We are seeing a resurrection of this police state out in the open.
I am the daughter of an immigrant, born in Losonc, Hungary, who came to the US in 1913. I saw that he made major contributions to the country during his lifetime. From what I've observed, immigrants are a very positive force in our population. We attract (or used to attract) lots of very intelligent, hard-working people. It's very sad when those people are not appreciated.
As always, thank you Ruth for sharing your wisdom with us. You are appreciated.