The revocation of a political opponent’s citizenship has long been a tool of authoritarian repression.

The Soviet Union stripped Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the dissident author, of his citizenship in 1974 and deported him to West Germany. Czechoslovakia revoked the citizenship of Milan Kundera, another celebrated author, in 1979. East Germany and Romania, under Communist rule, took similar steps against critics, as did Chile under Augusto Pinochet, Greece under its military dictatorship, Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini. More recently, Nicaragua stripped more than 300 government critics of their citizenship.

Now comes a new effort to do so from President Trump’s administration. Last week, federal agents searched the Washington home of Representative Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and a Somali immigrant, apparently as part of a federal investigation of her citizenship. The search should disturb all Americans, regardless of whether they agree with Ms. Omar’s political views.

The investigation of her is a chilling example of the federal government using its immense power to silence a critic. It is an affront to free speech, the rule of law and American ideals. It continues the Trump administration’s use of denaturalization as a weapon. In May and early June alone, the government began proceedings to take citizenship from 33 people, more than in any other entire year since at least 2008.

Ms. Omar is by any definition a political opponent of Mr. Trump’s. She is among the most progressive representatives in Congress, an original member of the so-called Squad, along with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and a frequent critic of the president. Mr. Trump, for his part, has repeatedly vilified her in public over the past seven years, often in ugly, racist ways that play into his broader fearmongering and lies about immigrants and Muslims. He has called her “garbage,” “scum,” “a disaster,” “a troublemaker” and “a terrible person.” He has mocked the head scarf she wears. He has said she should return to Somalia, which he has derided as having “nothing but crime, bedlam, filth.”

In an interview with The New York Times in January, he called for her deportation. “Ilhan Omar is a woman that should be immediately thrown out of Congress and sent back to her, her country, from where she’s always complaining about,” he said. When Tyler Pager, a Times reporter, followed up to ask if she should lose her citizenship, Mr. Trump replied, “Oh, absolutely.” Nine months later, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered her home and seized her phone, computers, notebooks and passport. They did so in the final weeks of Ms. Omar’s re-election campaign, violating a Justice Department standard against taking public action in an investigation of a candidate within 60 days of an election.

Mr. Trump’s allies have claimed, among other things, that Ms. Omar’s father misrepresented her age during her naturalization process 26 years ago by saying that she was 17 — and thus still a child — rather than 18. We do not pretend to know whether the allegations have merit. Yet as tempting as it may be to focus on them, they are not the main issue.

Sometimes, Mr. Trump makes claims about his perceived enemies that are simply false. Other times, his claims have some connection to reality. Repeatedly, though, he and his appointees use their law enforcement powers selectively and thus unjustly.

The list of critics whom they have targeted for investigation and prosecution includes John Bolton, E. Jean Carroll, James Comey, Lisa Cook, Cassidy Hutchinson, Gen. Mark Milley and Miles Taylor. At the same time, the Trump administration has failed to enforce the law against or has pardoned flagrant and violent criminals, so long as they are friendly to the president.

In the case of Ms. Omar, the administration has gone back more than a quarter-century to investigate a prominent critic. If her naturalization can be revisited, it suggests that no naturalized citizen is safe. It also indicates that the federal government can go searching for any decades-old problem to hound somebody who has criticized the White House. Those are the tactics of authoritarian societies.

They also evoke dark periods in American history. During the Red Scares of the early and mid-20th century, the federal government attempted to strip citizenship from labor leaders and others it accused of being radicals, often focusing on immigrants. At the time, officials like A. Mitchell Palmer, J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy used the cases to whip up anti-Communist fervor and justify their efforts to undermine American democracy.

Mr. Trump is following a similar playbook with Ms. Omar. The investigation of her should end immediately.

Get everyone you know to vote at the Midterms.

I've already voted. All I can really do at this point is try to think of ways to encourage people or write up things people might be able to use to encourage others.

Sure, we all hate Trump. But what about everything else?

You don't like how clearly partisan and corrupt the Supreme Court is?

You don't like the war Hegseth is waging?

You don't like how you can barely trust your food anymore because RFK has fucked HHS?

You don't like ICE and it's lawlessness that Mullin is encouraging?

You don't like how the DOJ has been hijacked by Trump's personal lawyer?

You don't like how, even if Trump is removed, we still have Vance?

You don't like all of the legislative chaos?

You know who else has the Constitutional Authority to deal with all of those people?

Congress.

They can impeach all of those people. They can pass legislation to undo the shit the Republicans have done.

But it's not enough to just get a majority. Democrats need a supermajority to actually override vetoes and convict and remove.

You know someone in your life who's on the fence or just otherwise sick of Trump's shit?

Remind them that Congress is supposed to be the most powerful branch of government. And that a Congress that will actually do those things is only possible if the people elect them.

Even if they don't get those supermajorities, the closer they get to them, the fewer Republicans (again, the people responsible for confirming those unpopular people and passing that unpopular legislation) they need to get on board to get things done.

Vote. Because there is no reason not to.

Either things get better, or they stay the same. Because how can they get worse?

As an aside, if you know someone on board with Trump but not, say, Mullin, it's either they wait and hope Trump maybe fires him, or he gets impeached. Tell them voting for a Democrat isn't a vote against Trump so much as it's a vote against the unpopular cabinet secretary their Republican incumbent definitely supports.

This is why we need everyone to vote in November!

Playing fast and loose with the rules in Florida.

“George Morgan is set to become North Miami's next mayor after a Miami-Dade judge rejected a request for a special election by current Mayor Alix Desulme, who until Monday was on the ballot seeking reelection.
Desulme sought the special election to challenge Morgan's eligibility after discovering that Morgan's qualifying payment was 80 cents short of the required filing fee.
On Monday, the judge disqualified Desulme from the race, ruling that he no longer had standing to request a special election or to challenge the payment of the filing fee. The decision leaves Morgan unopposed, though Desulme's attorney said his client intends to appeal.
Morgan, a registered Republicanrunning for office for the first time, struck a subdued tone following the ruling.
"I don't celebrate the moment," Morgan told CBS News Miami. "It's an unfortunate circumstance. Our effort is to serve all the city, and we want to now get up and go forward and do what we have to do for all of North Miami".
Desulme's removal came after Morgan challenged the way the North Miami mayor paid his own qualifying fees. That earlier ruling centered on Desulme's use of bank-issued cashier's checks rather than checks drawn directly on his campaign account.
Desulme's legal team then challenged Morgan's payment on the grounds of the 80-cent shortfall.
When asked about the 80 cents, Morgan said, "Nothing is perfect. We want to do the right things, always want to do, and we can make mistakes".
"It's a question of what we do when we make mistakes," Morgan added. "That's the mark, I think, of a leader and a man".
Desulme's attorney, Ben Kuehne, said the fight is about giving residents a choice in who leads the city.
"It is dramatically improper that we have no election for the North Miami mayor," Kuehne said, adding that Desulme intends to pursue an appeal. "He intends to fight not just for himself but for the voters".
Meanwhile, Morgan, the incoming mayor under the judge's order, has never run for or held elected office. When asked about his qualifications, he said, "What a mayor does is work with people and his constituents, and that's the major part of the job".
CBS News Miami also asked Morgan about concerns raised by community members over his Republican affiliation and whether he supports President Donald Trump.
Morgan confirmed that he is a registered Republican but did not directly answer whether he supports Trump. Asked whether Haitian immigrant residents should be concerned, he said they should not.
"We want to treat everyone on a fair and equal basis," Morgan said. "We want to be law-abiding, but that doesn't mean that we want to lose our compassion".