The leaked Department of Homeland Security threat assessment reveals something far more troubling than its focus on Americans with “class-based or economic grievances.” It exposes a fundamental confusion—or perhaps a deliberate conflation—between threats to democratic governance and threats to those currently in power.

The report’s framing is telling. When DHS identifies Americans expressing economic frustrations as the nation’s “main threat,” we must ask: a threat to what, exactly? To our constitutional order? To our democratic institutions? Or simply to the Trump administration that views dissent as dangerous?

History offers a clear lesson: authoritarian regimes consistently redefine criticism as treason. They transform legitimate grievances into security threats. They treat political opposition as existential danger. This leaked assessment follows that playbook with disturbing precision.

The real threat to American values isn’t coming from citizens demanding economic justice or questioning their government. It’s coming from leaders who weaponize federal agencies against their own people, who defend extrajudicial killings like that of Renee Good, and who treat accountability as insubordination.

Trump and his administration have systematically undermined the principles that actually make America secure: rule of law, freedom of speech, checks and balances, and the right to protest. When a government views its own citizens as the primary enemy, it has abandoned its founding purpose—to secure the rights and welfare of those very people.

What’s truly at risk isn’t America. It’s Trump’s grip on power. And that’s a distinction worth defending.

Note: This article was written using AI tools, then edited and refined to reflect the views and opinions of the author.