Rage Descends From The Top Fear, cruelty, and blind obedience are no longer whispers behind closed doors. They spill into courts, streets, and hearts, showing how violence spreads when hate becomes permission. MeidasTouch Network and Michael Cohen Sep 27 Guest article by Michael Cohen. Follow him on Substack for more by clicking here. Donald Trump doesn’t just contaminate the air with his words; he builds an ecosystem of rage. That rage trickles down. It seeps from his pulpit into the bloodstream of his inner circle — people like Stephen Miller, Tom Homan, Pete Hegseth — and then into the lowest rungs of federal law enforcement. And once it’s there, it metastasizes. You can see it in a courtroom hallway in New York, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer, caught on video, shoved a woman — already crying, already broken by the system — into a wall and down to the ground. That officer didn’t act in a vacuum. He was parroting the culture he’s been steeped in: Trump’s America. The Department of Homeland Security says the officer has been placed on administrative leave. That sounds like accountability, but it’s not. It’s a Band-Aid over a bullet wound. Because here’s the truth: this is not the end. This is just the beginning. Let’s not kid ourselves. Trump’s rhetoric — his constant talk of “animals,” “invasions,” and “vermin” — isn’t some sideshow. It’s the main event. And his disciples repeat it like gospel. Stephen Miller, the architect of cruelty in immigration policy, has never met a family separation he didn’t like. Tom Homan snarls on television about immigrants as if compassion is a disease. Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Fox-propagandist-turned-confidant, riles up the base with the kind of language that dehumanizes whole populations. Their words give permission. They license the violence. They create the environment where an ICE officer feels emboldened to shove a woman onto the ground in front of cameras and still sneer “adios” like it’s a punchline. This is not rogue behavior. This is systemic. The officer’s shove is the logical endpoint of a presidency and a movement that treats immigrants not as people but as props in a political performance of dominance. I know this playbook well because I know the man who wrote it. And that’s why I’m telling you: do not look away. Stay focused. The cruelty doesn’t stop when Trump steps away from the podium. It echoes. It mutates. It finds new hosts. When DHS says, “Our ICE law enforcement are held to the highest professional standards,” forgive me if I don’t choke on the irony. Standards mean nothing when the fish rots from the head. And the stench has lingered through every institution it touches. What happened in that New York courthouse was not an isolated explosion. It was the product of months of escalating tension as ICE increased its footprint in the immigration courts: officers loitering in waiting rooms, shouting matches with observers, dragging advocates into custody for daring to watch. Each time, the rhetoric ratchets up. Each time, the space for decency shrinks. And each time, another officer decides that maybe shoving a crying woman to the floor is acceptable because, after all, hasn’t the Commander-in-Chief himself said worse? Some people will dismiss this as the misconduct of a single officer. That’s the wrong lens. Look closer. This officer was also the one who arrested a court observer last month — an observer whose only “crime” was paying attention. In that case, too, anger spilled over into violence. One man, two incidents, weeks apart. The throughline isn’t coincidence; it’s culture. A culture created, nurtured, and defended by Trump and his loyalists. The scariest part? We are nowhere near the bottom. As Trump continues to lash out — at immigrants, at the courts, at the media — the permission structure grows stronger. Agents, officers, bureaucrats, even judges: they all take their cues from the top. Violence becomes less an aberration and more a reflex. What we witnessed in New York is a preview, not a finale. Despite the DHS statement, despite the administrative leave, despite the headlines, this won’t end with one officer’s career. Because the machine that produced him is still humming. Trump built it, others maintain it, and it is fueled by fear, cruelty, and the intoxicating promise of unchecked power. I spent years close enough to see how the system worked from the inside. I know the language, the signals, the way loyalty gets twisted into permission to cross lines that should never be crossed. I watched people I once considered decent lose themselves, as harshness and blind obedience replaced compassion and judgment. That’s why I’m telling you plainly: pay attention. Don’t let them normalize this. Today it’s a shove in a courthouse hallway. Tomorrow it’s something worse, something deadlier, and they’ll still call it “law enforcement.” The question isn’t whether more of this is coming. It is. The question is whether we, as a society, are willing to admit the obvious: that the violence isn’t a glitch. It’s the plan. Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. ARE YOU WITH ME? RIGHT NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO JOIN THE FIGHT! SUBSCRIBE. READ. SHARE. RESTACK. Michael Cohen Principal of Crisis-X #1 and #8 NYT Bestseller Author Host of The Mea Culpa Podcast Co-Host of The Political Beatdown Former Personal Attorney To President Donald J. Trump Discharged Felon Yeah, I know; you’re tired. This shit is exhausting. Guess what? Me too. But I’ve spent the last 8 years throwing punches in the dark so truth could get a little daylight. And now I’m asking you to step into the ring with me. Because if you’re still reading this, you already get it: This isn’t just a newsletter. It’s a rally cry. A war drum. A line in the sand. We are not passive observers of the downfall. We are the resistance. We call out the liars. We drag corruption by the collar into the sunlight. We say the quiet parts out loud, and we don’t flinch. But here’s the truth: I can’t do this solo. Not anymore. The storm is already here. We are standing in it. And it’s wearing stars and stripes like camouflage, preaching “freedom” while it sells fascism at retail. So let me ask you: Are. You. In? Because this is not a scroll-and-forget read. This is a living, breathing, fire-breathing movement — and movements don’t move unless you do. We need to be louder than spin, tougher than propaganda, and impossible to gaslight. That takes more than clicks. More than likes. It takes skin in the game. So if you believe truth matters, if you’re sick of the bullshit, if you’re ready to stop screaming into the algorithm and start pushing back with purpose, this is your next step. HERE’S HOW YOU PUT YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS: Become a paid subscriber. Fund fearless, unfiltered journalism that hits back. Share this with the loudest people you know — the ones who never sit down and shut up. Build the community. Amplify the message. Be the damn megaphone. And yeah; Founding Members? The first 240 of you will get a signed, numbered, limited-edition Substack version of Revenge. That’s not just a collector’s item. That’s receipts. Proof you didn’t sit this one out. But let’s be clear: This isn’t about a book. It’s about backbone. It’s about calling out the gaslighters and refusing to be played. It’s about locking arms and saying, “Not. On. Our. Watch.” You want to make a difference? Then make it, right now. Because if we don’t fight for truth, no one will. But if we fight together? They can’t drown us out. Let’s be so loud, they wish we were just angry tweets. Let’s be unshakable. Unignorable. Un-fucking-breakable. Let’s go! Meidas+ is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. A guest post by Michael Cohen Principal of Crisis-X #1 and #8 NYT Bestseller Author Host of The Mea Culpa Podcast Co-Host of The Political Beatdown Former Personal Attorney To President Donald J. Trump and Discharged Felon