Authoritarianism

DOJ Expands Voter Data Seizure Campaign to 18 States, Demanding Social Security Numbers and Driver's Licenses

| Importance: 10/10

The Department of Justice announced on December 12, 2025 that it had sued four additional states—Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada—demanding complete, unredacted voter registration lists including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers, bringing the total number …

Department of Justice Harmeet Dhillon Jena Griswold Bill Galvin Andrea Joy Campbell +4 more voter-suppression doj-weaponization surveillance-state electoral-manipulation civil-liberties +2 more
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U.S. Institute of Peace Rebranded as 'Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace' After Armed Takeover

| Importance: 9/10

The State Department announced the U.S. Institute of Peace has been renamed the ‘Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace,’ with Trump’s name installed on the building’s facade in Washington, DC. The renaming follows the administration’s armed takeover and gutting of the …

Donald Trump State Department U.S. Institute of Peace Federal Judiciary authoritarianism institutional-capture propaganda narcissism rule-of-law
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Voice of America Bureau Closures Surrender Strategic Information Space to Russia and China

| Importance: 9/10

Trump administration officials notified Congress of plans to close six Voice of America overseas bureaus and four shortwave radio transmitters, defying federal court orders requiring VOA operations to resume. The closures will shut down VOA presence in Jakarta, Islamabad, Nairobi, Prague, and other …

Donald Trump Kari Lake Voice of America Federal Judiciary State Department media-suppression foreign-policy authoritarianism china russia +1 more
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Trump announces federal takeover of DC police citing Coristine attack

| Importance: 9/10

Trump announced federal takeover of Washington DC police department and deployment of National Guard, using the assault on Edward Coristine as justification. Trump stated he was considering “having his administration take over the DC Police Department” and bringing in National Guard. …

Donald Trump DC Police Department National Guard Edward Coristine dc-takeover federal-control crisis-exploitation authoritarianism police-state
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Vance Endorses Claremont Institute's 'Up from Conservatism' at Capitol Hill Event

| Importance: 9/10

Senator J.D. Vance spoke at the Claremont Institute’s ‘Up from Conservatism’ book launch on Capitol Hill, praising a controversial essay collection that advocates for a more aggressive conservative approach. Vance emphasized the need for conservatives to ‘wield power’ …

J.D. Vance Michael Anton Jeremy Carl Arthur Milikh Claremont Institute claremont-institute authoritarianism new-right anti-democratic conservative-movement
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Cellebrite Halts Sales to Russia and Belarus After Human Rights Abuse Revelations

| Importance: 8/10

Cellebrite announces it will immediately halt all sales of its digital intelligence solutions and services to customers in the Russian Federation and Belarus, following revelations that its technologies were used by state officials to persecute opposition activists, minority groups, and LGBTQI+ …

Cellebrite Eitay Mack surveillance mobile-forensics human-rights russia belarus +1 more
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Erik Prince's Frontier Services Group Announces Xinjiang Training Facility Amid Uyghur Detention Campaign

| Importance: 10/10

Frontier Services Group announced plans to build a training facility in Xinjiang province, the western Chinese region where as many as 1 million Uyghur Muslims had been placed in extrajudicial detention camps under comprehensive surveillance. FSG’s Chinese website posted a statement saying the …

Erik Prince Frontier Services Group Chang Zhenming CITIC Group human-rights-violations china private-military surveillance-technology ethnic-cleansing +1 more
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DarkMatter Signs Strategic Surveillance Technology Agreement with Huawei, Facilitated by Erik Prince Network

| Importance: 9/10

DarkMatter, the UAE-based private intelligence company employing former U.S. intelligence operatives, signed a Global Strategic Memorandum of Understanding with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei for “Big Data” systems and “Smart City” surveillance solutions. The …

DarkMatter Huawei Erik Prince Pegasus United Arab Emirates surveillance-technology technology-transfer china uae private-intelligence +1 more
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Trump Signs Travel Ban 2.0 (Executive Order 13780) - Revised Muslim Ban After Courts Block Original

| Importance: 9/10

President Trump signed Executive Order 13780 on March 6, 2017—“Travel Ban 2.0”—revising his original Muslim ban after federal courts blocked Executive Order 13769. The new order placed a 90-day restriction on entry to the U.S. by nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and …

Donald Trump Derrick Watson Doug Chin Rudy Giuliani muslim-ban religious-discrimination authoritarianism immigration rule-of-law
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Trump Falsely Accuses Obama of Wiretapping Trump Tower Based on "A Little Bit of a Hunch"

| Importance: 9/10

On March 4, 2017, President Trump tweeted a series of explosive and completely false accusations that former President Barack Obama had wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower “just before the victory.” Trump claimed he had “just found out” about the wiretapping but provided …

Donald Trump Barack Obama James Clapper James Comey disinformation obama-attacks authoritarianism false-accusations abuse-of-power
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Trump Fires Acting Attorney General Sally Yates for Refusing to Defend Muslim Ban

| Importance: 10/10

President Trump fired Acting Attorney General Sally Yates within hours of her instructing Justice Department attorneys not to defend Executive Order 13769 (the Muslim ban). Yates had sent a letter to DOJ staff stating she was “not convinced that the defense of the Executive Order is consistent …

Donald Trump Sally Yates Dana Boente Jeff Sessions Rudy Giuliani rule-of-law doj-politicization obstruction-of-justice authoritarianism muslim-ban +1 more
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Trump Signs Muslim Ban (Executive Order 13769) Causing Airport Chaos and Mass Visa Revocations

| Importance: 10/10

President Trump signed Executive Order 13769, titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” banning citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries—Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen—from entering the United States for 90 days. …

Donald Trump Rudy Giuliani Jim Mattis State Department muslim-ban authoritarianism religious-discrimination immigration rule-of-law +1 more
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Bush Administration Fires 9 U.S. Attorneys for Political Reasons

| Importance: 8/10

The Bush administration fired 9 U.S. attorneys in an unprecedented midterm purge for what investigators determined were largely political reasons. Seven prosecutors were ordered to resign on December 7, 2006, including David Iglesias (New Mexico), Carol Lam (Southern California), and John McKay …

Alberto Gonzales Karl Rove David Iglesias Carol Lam George W. Bush +1 more obstruction-of-justice political-prosecution doj gonzales authoritarianism
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New York Times Exposes NSA Warrantless Surveillance Program

| Importance: 10/10

James Risen and Eric Lichtblau published a groundbreaking front-page New York Times article revealing the NSA had been conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans since 2001 under President Bush’s secret authorization. The story exposed that the NSA, traditionally focused on foreign …

James Risen Eric Lichtblau New York Times George W. Bush NSA pulitzer-prize whistleblowing fisa-bypass journalism stellarwind +8 more
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Yeltsin Resigns, Oligarchs Elevate Putin to President: KGB Officer Chosen to Protect 'The Family' Transforms Russia into Kleptocracy

| Importance: 10/10

Boris Yeltsin resigned as President of Russia on December 31, 1999, elevating Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to Acting President six months before scheduled elections. The succession had been carefully engineered by Yeltsin’s oligarchic allies, known as ’the family,’ who began …

Boris Yeltsin Vladimir Putin Boris Berezovsky Vladimir Gusinsky Mikhail Khodorkovsky +2 more russia putin yeltsin oligarchs kleptocracy +5 more
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