U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House, after Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 1, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
President Donald Trump’s war in Iran was just one more piece of evidence that this human rights professor needed to know it was time to leave America.
“If Trump’s illegal war on Iran has taught us anything, it is this: Americans will pay any price for freedom, except if it increases the price of groceries or gasoline,” Professor Simon Adams wrote for The Guardian on Tuesday. “People in the MAGA heartlands tolerated the erosion of civil liberties, democracy and the rule of law during the first year of Trump’s second presidency but they will be unforgiving if their standard of living declines.”
While Trump-supporting Americans will only turn on the president if his policies hurt them economically, however, Adams says he sees a number of signs that America is already a dangerous place under Trump — and he does not wish to stick around as things get progressively worse.
“Like North Korea, anyone who publicly criticises Trump – from Jimmy Kimmel to the former MAGA darling Marjorie Taylor Greene – becomes an enemy of the state,” Adams wrote. “Pliant prosecutors have already tried to indict the former FBI director James Comey. More political persecutions will surely follow, especially if the war in Iran ends badly, the Epstein files remain only partly released and the midterm elections approach.”
He added, “Other freedoms are also being corroded, including a potential plan to repeal laws that protect same-sex marriage. Or as my LGBTQ+ daughter put it to me: “‘Make America Great Again’ feels a lot like ‘America hates me again’.””
After elaborating on how immigrants are also feeling persecuted under Trump, Adams concluded that “if America’s diminished democracy survives until the next presidential election in 2028, Trump will not quietly relinquish his grip on power. Even though he is constitutionally prohibited from running again, I was recently in North Carolina where supporters were already wearing red ‘Trump 2028’ hats. Steve Bannon, Maga’s dark prince, has described Trump as ‘an instrument of divine will’ and insists ‘we need him for at least one more term’, regardless of the law.”
While Adams is anti-Trump, even many conservatives are turning on Trump and the supporters who they claim have caused things to deteriorate in modern America.
“Maybe the problem here is my use of the word ‘stupid’ as a catch-all when what I’m really talking about is a basket of failings,” Last said. “There are people who understand what Trumpism is and affirmatively want a post-liberal society. And then there are those who would say that they do not want authoritarianism, but who threw in with Trump anyway.”
Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), another former Trump supporter, was even harsher in February when he denounced Trump supporters for continuing to back the president despite him flip-flopping on his promise to keep Americans out of war.
“And you don’t like when people call you a cult, Trump voters?” Walsh argued. “What else are people to think when you voted for Trump to get us the hell out of wars around the world, and instead he gets us involved in wars around the world and starts new wars, and you still sing his praises and support him? What are we to think, MAGA, but that you are a cult?”
He added, “You’ve got no argument against people calling you a cult. And if he takes us to war against Iran, and you clap and applaud and throw him flowers, Trump supporters, I will be at the front of the parade calling you a cult.”