by Stacy FitzgeraldFor those unfamiliar with the term “red pill,” it references the popular film “The Matrix.” In the movie, Protagonist Neo faces a pivotal choice between two pills, the “red pill,” which represents enlightenment and the acceptance of harsh truths about reality, or the “blue pill,” which symbolizes comfort and blissful ignorance.
The harsh truth about where we are in America is this: we’re careening quickly down the road to fascism. All the hallmarks are there:
A wannabe dictator in the president, who seeks to punish anyone and everyone who has ever criticized him or called him out for his hypocrisy, racism, xenophobia, or ignorance.
Suppression of the individual rights of Washingtonians, with the National Guard called in to patrol the streets of DC alongside law enforcement in an unnecessary show of armed force, despite the city’s declining crime rate.
Identification of the “enemies” of America, which the administration deems to be anyone who doesn’t follow lockstep with this administration’s strong-arm tactics and often overreaching policies.
Economic control – With the president having Fed Governor Lisa Cook on the mere allegation that she was guilty of mortgage fraud, without producing one shred of evidence, accusations Experts suggest do not meet the legal standard for removal. (Cook has filed a lawsuit—good on her.)
If we’re looking for flashing warning lights on the dashboard of democracy, we’ve reached that point.
What puzzles me is that just eight months into Trump’s second term, Americans seem to have accepted the fate that we’ll become a dictatorship rather than a democracy. Why else is there so little pushback against what is a clear erosion of our democratic norms?
Is This What “We the People” Want?
Conservatives are fond of calling Donald Trump’s win a “mandate” for the Trump agenda, which, unsurprisingly, is in lock step with Project 2025. During the election, the president disavowed all knowledge of Project 2025, a blueprint to reshape American government, concentrating power in the executive branch and enshrining right-wing policies. Yet, he is implementing its tenants at warp speed. (A Hearst Television analysis found that nearly 45% of Trump’s non-tariff executive orders closely mirrored Project 2025 recommendations, and more recent estimates suggest 65-70% implementation, according to WhiteHouseReportCard.com).
Between rapid firings of federal employees, the DEI purges, and the subsequent erasure of terms related to DEI, climate change, and LGBTQ, it’s been a busy 8 months for the administration. Dismantling agencies like the Department of Education, USAID, and gutting the National Institutes of Health research funding wasn’t enough. The administration has targeted massive federal layoffs, estimated at a 12% reduction in the civilian federal workforce, and making sweeping changes across America’s government, just as Project 2025 outlined.
More importantly, with the passage of the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Americans will see enormous cuts in social safety net programs like SNAP and Medicare. These cuts will severely impact the poorest Americans, particularly those in rural areas and in Red states.
But back to the “red pill”…
The harsh “red pill” reality is that no one knows what America will be in six months. We hardly know what America will be like in a week.
It’s difficult to acknowledge that less than a year into Trump’s second term, our democracy is floundering at breakneck speed, and a large percentage of the country supports it. The encroaching authoritarianism, the elimination of the Department of Education, the burning of international food aid rations, and the gutting of research cures for Cancer and other diseases all destroyed, along with it, our hope for a better America for every American.
It sounds like a dystopian novel, but none of this is one bit hyperbolic. It’s very real. And we’re all watching the spectacle with an eerie ease that’s absolutely unsettling.
That “blue pill” is starting to look better and better.
Stacy Fitzgerald is a full-time marketing and communications pro and part-time freelance writer using her considerable experience in living while black to engage in conscious storytelling. Stacy was a major contributor to our book, Hijacked Nation: Donald Trump’s Attack on America’s Greatness.
