Written by an anonymous author:
The author, a trans woman and mother of neurodivergent kids, has been monitoring this nation’s political climate since Trump’s first term. Now that her worst fears are fast becoming a reality, she’s had to make the most difficult decision of her life.
I have spent my academic and professional career studying and forecasting democratic decline, fascism, and genocide. I’m also transgender. My heart wants to stay; [...] My head, however, knows it is time to leave.
This decision is a result of both my professional analysis of the situation, as well as my own uniquely personal reasons. But I have spent the better part of a decade war-gaming out what is happening to our government, and here are the over-arching motivations spurring our move:
- Successful consolidation of power by the autocrat
- Failure of opposition to coalesce
- There is little hope of meaningful recovery
- Destruction of government capability
- A significant risk of genocide aimed at transgender people
- I personally can do far more to fight this outside the US than inside
Once they have consolidated their power at the federal level, and once their regime is secure enough that public outrage cannot threaten it, they will be free to defy the courts as much as they want. I give it less than six months before we reach that point.
They demonstrate truly Orwellian levels of obeisance to whatever random lie supports the administration’s goals. More crucially, one third of the population believes every lie, one third is too ignorant to tell the difference between truth and lies, and the remaining third is powerless (or unwilling) to do anything about it.
Finally, in an echo of May 1, 1933 when Hitler banned unions in Germany, Trump issued an executive order on March 27, 2025 to effectively neuter unions for government workers by declaring that almost every governmental position is related to national defense, thereby preventing them from engaging in collective bargaining. Not coincidentally, however, his administration excluded police from this executive order.
Corporations, law firms, the media, and universities are all obeying in advance. Employees and students are being silenced. Any mention of transgender people is being eliminated.
What rational person would upend their lives to take a job where they risk losing everything—again—if the U.S. public loses its collective mind and elects another corrupt fascist? The answer is obvious: no intelligent person will do that if they have any other choice. Only desperate people with little experience will be trying to get a foot in the door.
RFK’s rhetoric about autistic people has a particularly fascist, genocidal flavor as well. Autism, he said, “destroys” families; today’s autistic children “will never pay taxes. They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.” This view of autism reflect not only stereotypes from 40 years ago, but also thinking that people with autism are “useless eaters” or lebensunwertes leben (life unworthy of life). Given his approach to ADD, ADHD, and depression (camps), I fear that some form of Aktion T4 is on the table. This is only exacerbated by the announcement that a national database of people diagnosed with autism is being developed by NHS.
Maya Angelou once wrote that “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Musk has clearly stated who he is and what he intends, and he has the power to begin carrying it out. It is a terrible risk to remain in the US when people who want you dead have such power.
This brings me to the central lesson of survival learned from the Holocaust: the ones who got out as early as possible were most likely to live. The further they got away from Germany, the more likely they were to survive.
For myself, and for my family, the risk is too great. I cannot hope to fight this. Transgender people cannot hope to fight this when we have already been abandoned by the only forces that might stand up for us: namely the Democratic Party, state governors, and the military. The courts will not protect us if things continue as I expect. The only legal options are to flee, or to risk eradication at the hands of our government.
You might wonder why I am writing this anonymously. The short answer is that freedom of speech in the United States is already dead; if you haven’t noticed this yet it’s because it hasn’t affected you personally.
My decision is not meant to panic others. I am laying out the facts as I see them to help my readers make an educated choice about how much they are willing to sacrifice to get away from what is happening here. It’s a horrible decision reluctantly made. I wouldn’t be doing this if I wasn’t thoroughly convinced that I can accomplish nothing by staying, the risk of genocide is extreme, and that I can serve some greater purpose elsewhere. I make this decision with sadness and trepidation: I am saying a final goodbye to my country and what is left of my family.
URL: https://www.damemagazine.com/2025/04/29/why-i-am-leaving-the-usa/