The killing of Rene Good takes us one step closer to fascism under Trump | Opinion

Their words

How dare anyone call President Donald Trump and his henchmen Fascists!

Just look at their own words in plain English.

“The precedent is very simple: You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action — that’s a federal issue. He is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job,” Vice President J.D. Vance said of the ICE agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good.

In other words, we can kill anyone we want according to Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich, better known as “The Enabling Law.”

“We live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time,” said presidential aide Stephen Miller.

In other words, we are Übermensch who can take anything we want from any Untermensch, whether it’s Greenland or even, say, Poland.

Asked by “New York Times” reporters if there were any limits on his global powers, Trump said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

In other words, based on the Führerprinzip ideology, Trump is bound by no law or treaty because he is the supreme leader chosen by Providence.

None of this sounds like fascism, does it?

As Maya Angelou once said, “When someone tells you who they are, believe them.”

John Winn Miller, Lexington

Shoot first

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem likes to shoot those who don’t obey, like the dog she couldn’t properly train.

She called the killing of Renee Good an act of domestic terrorism. She’s right. But the terrorists are the armed and masked goons called ICE agents. They are terrorizing the cities they’ve been deployed to. Law enforcement (in this case an oxymoron) should never be masked unless they’re in danger of frost bite. Masks allow people to do things in anonymity, which often leads to bad behavior.

President Donald Trump says he’ll make Iran pay if they attack their demonstrators. But he has no problem intimidating and attacking those demonstrating against his terroristic policies. He continues to make us a pariah nation. If he attacks an ally, there’s a good chance we’ll be at war with the rest of the world. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the ayatollahs would gleefully join the rest of the world to take us down.

All hail his imperial majesty. Be prepared to kowtow.

Glenna Brouse, Lexington

Shooting responses

The response of President Donald Trump and key administration officials to an ICE officer’s fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Renee Good, suggests that a new “Rule of Law” is being created for the American people. This law, with ominous implications for our freedom and safety, can best be stated as “Obey or Die.”

The millions who have viewed videos of her death know that the tragedy began with a benign act of protest on her part and ended moments later with an ICE agent firing three deadly shots into her car as she attempted to leave. Her crimes during this encounter? Protesting ICE presence in Minneapolis; obstructing traffic (a misdemeanor); and refusing to comply with directives from an ICE officer, who legally has no jurisdiction over U.S. citizens.

The Trump administration has ignored existing Rules of Law, including Homeland Security standards prioritizing human life, and ICE’s lack of authority over citizens. Their false narrative portrays Good as a violent terrorist who deserved her death. They are blocking investigations that could prove otherwise.

The facts confirm that the real story behind this tragedy is “Obey or Die.” If this is the new Rule of Law, can we afford to look away?

Judith Humble, Lexington

Good lessons

The PBS documentary “Eyes on the Prize” part 1, recounts the murder of Emmitt Till. He was the 14-year-old child who said “Bye, baby” to a white woman in Mississippi in the 1950s. After his murderers, Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam were acquitted. They sold their real story to a reporter. Bryant and Milam had taken Emmitt from his uncle’s house in the night. What incensed the two men was that Emmitt (a child from Chicago) was not afraid. That’s why they killed him. They wanted him to be afraid.

Renee Good was not afraid. She spoke directly and calmly to her killer before he fired not one, but three shots. He murdered her in cold blood.

Now other ICE agents are screaming at demonstrators, “Have you not learned ?”

Diana Martin, Lexington

Southern resurgence

For 160 years those Americans unhappy about the result of the Civil War have been declaring, “The South shall rise again.” I don’t think they ever expected that a carpetbagger con man from New York would be the leader of the insurrection.

The insurrectionists will take any port in a storm so they are hoping that their leader can take all of us back to the good old days of Jim Crow Segregation. They want no more DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion). After all, they think it’s absurd to think that our Founding Fathers believed that “All men are created equal” applied to anyone but white male landowners.

The delusional confederate leader also now wants to rewrite history at the Smithsonian and all government agencies to honor white supremacy and explain about the supposed benefits of slavery, all the while acting like a mob boss running a protection racket against prestigious universities because in his youth, he wasn’t smart enough or studious enough to qualify for admission into those schools.

Kevin Kline, Lexington

Women in office

I respectfully ask Kentucky’s GOP State Legislators to consider the historical reality that your ability to serve as an elected official is the direct result of policies and movements designed to expand access to political participation. Women did not gain the right to vote, hold office, or participate fully in public life by accident or through “merit alone.” These rights were secured through deliberate legal and institutional changes meant to correct systemic exclusion.

While the term “DEI” is modern, the principle is not. Women’s suffrage, anti-discrimination laws, equal access to education, and workplace protections were all explicit efforts to ensure that qualified individuals were not barred solely because of sex. By any reasonable definition, those were equity-driven policies — and they worked.

Today, DEI initiatives aim to uphold the same foundational American ideal: that opportunity should not be limited by characteristics unrelated to talent, effort, or character. Rejecting these efforts while benefiting from their historical counterparts creates an inconsistency that deserves reflection.

I believe it is possible to support fairness, equal opportunity, and accountability without dismissing the very frameworks that made broader representation in government possible — including your own.

Nancy E. Graham, Louisville

Paying taxes

I just wrote a check for estimated 2025 taxes. The mailing address, United States Treasury, made me pause. There is nothing “United” in America today. Yet I mailed the check, feeling like a dupe, knowing those funds may well be withheld from programs passed by Congress that I support but that the Administration may use to punish and bully so-called “Blue States.” Your President, not mine, because he has stated publicly that he hates the Democratic Party, thus, he hates me! I guess that makes me a “sucker and a loser” as he calls the many who oppose his views.

Imagine any other elected official demonizing law-abiding American taxpayers, blatantly punishing and belittling them from the most powerful platform in the world. He embarrasses me and this country daily with his erratic, often cruel, behavior; his preposterous lies; and his constant disregard for the laws of the country he is supposed to serve. This is not the American land of the free, flawed as it is, that I grew up in. I deserve better and so do you.

I hope those in power decide to stand up against this tyranny before there is nothing left to stand up for!

Janice Russell, Lexington

Unchecked authoritarianism

It is difficult to express how I feel today, as I see our country becoming unrecognizable. Authoritarianism, constitutional violations, and disregard for the rule of law, seem to be the cornerstones of our current national leaders. When a significant percentage of our citizens find it difficult to respect our president, we are truly a country in peril. Even more disturbing is the fact that our elected congressional leaders are allowing this unorthodox and repressive administration to go unchecked.

There are only two courses of action that we can take to save our country. First, citizens must communicate with members of Congress and tell them to take back the power they have relinquished to the executive branch and put a stop to the abuses we have observed for the past year.

Second, if Congress does not intervene, then you must NOT vote for Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections, especially those who stand firm with our current president.

If we continue on our present course, this country will continue to reflect the views of our current president and members of his administration. Our country’s morality will then match that of our president. A new low for the United States.

William Farnau, Lexington

Rules-based Order

We have prospered under a rules-based international order that fosters open markets and predictable international relations. We should not replace it with spheres of influence, a throwback to the 19th century.

In 2024, U.S. trade with the European Union totaled $1.5 trillion, accounting for 4.9 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group, U.S. trade reached $4.1 trillion in 2024, which was 13.8 percent of the American GDP. The figures come from the U.S. Trade Representative website and the Wall Street Journal. These economic flows drive U.S. growth, open markets for American producers, lower prices at home, and sustain supply chains vital to Kentucky farmers and manufacturers.

To permit Russian influence over Europe and Chinese sway over Asia risks cutting off our access to these lucrative markets.

Furthermore, a world carved into spheres of influence among the United States, China, and Russia risks coercion of smaller states and heightened great-power tensions. History shows that spheres foster competition and conflict along their outer edges which undermines stability and trade relations.

A strong rules-based order reduces the temptation to intimidate with force and maximizes peaceful engagement.

Lexington and Central Kentucky benefit when the U.S. leads in global stability and open markets, not old-fashioned great-power spheres.

Tom Canahuate, Retired Foreign Service Officer (Diplomat), Lexington, KY

No Kings

These words are taken from the Declaration of Independence: They enumerate the wrongs that King George was inflicting upon American Citizens. Don’t you think that these offenses are very similar to what King Trump is currently doing?

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States.

Jim Porter, Danville

Edited by Liz Carey