Authoritarianism

Trump Suggests Running as VP to Circumvent Constitutional Term Limits

| Importance: 9/10

President Trump stated he would ’love’ a third presidential term and suggested running as vice president in 2028 as a workaround to the 22nd Amendment’s two-term limit. Trump refused to clearly disavow the unconstitutional idea when pressed by reporters. The comments follow Steve …

Donald Trump Steve Bannon authoritarianism constitutional-violation institutional-capture power-consolidation
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Trump Installs Election Deniers in DHS Election Security Positions

| Importance: 9/10

President Trump appointed Heather Honey and Marci McCarthy—prominent 2020 election conspiracy activists—to senior DHS roles overseeing federal election integrity efforts. Both appointees actively promoted false claims about the 2020 election and participated in attempts to overturn legitimate …

Donald Trump Heather Honey Marci McCarthy DHS institutional-capture election-interference corruption conflicts-of-interest authoritarianism
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Pentagon Replaces Mainstream Media with MAGA Propaganda Outlets in Press Corps

| Importance: 9/10

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced a ’next generation’ Pentagon press corps dominated by far-right outlets including The Gateway Pundit, Infowars, and LindellTV after mainstream journalists rejected restrictive access rules requiring loyalty pledges. Over 30 major news outlets …

Pete Hegseth Pentagon mainstream media outlets far-right media institutional-capture weaponization-of-government media-suppression authoritarianism propaganda
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Secret Interagency Working Group Coordinates Trump Retaliation Against Political Opponents

| Importance: 10/10

Reuters revealed that 39 officials spanning the White House, DOJ, CIA, FBI, and intelligence agencies coordinate Trump’s systematic retaliation against perceived enemies from the Russia probe and January 6 investigations through a secret ‘Interagency Weaponization Working Group.’ …

Pam Bondi Tulsi Gabbard Trump Administration DOJ CIA +2 more weaponization-of-government institutional-capture corruption political-persecution authoritarianism
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ICE Weapons Budget Surges 700% Including Guided Missiles and Explosives

| Importance: 9/10

Immigration and Customs Enforcement increased its weapons budget to over $71 million—a 700% surge—including acquisitions of guided missile warheads and explosive components. The massive militarization of immigration enforcement signals preparation for violent mass operations rather than traditional …

ICE Trump Administration institutional-capture militarization authoritarianism abuse-of-power
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OMB Director Russell Vought Consolidates Authoritarian Control Over Federal Government

| Importance: 9/10

ProPublica investigation revealed that Trump’s budget director Russell Vought controls federal funding and employment decisions to systematically dismantle agencies and purge staff deemed insufficiently loyal. Vought, a self-described Christian nationalist, wields unchecked power over the …

Russell Vought Donald Trump Elon Musk OMB corruption institutional-capture power-consolidation authoritarianism unelected-influence
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Trump Requires Political Loyalty Tests for All Federal Hiring

| Importance: 9/10

President Trump replaced the federal hiring freeze with an executive order mandating that political appointees approve all new government hires through ‘strategic hiring committees,’ converting civil service into a partisan screening mechanism. The order transforms federal employment …

Donald Trump Political Appointees Federal Agencies institutional-capture corruption abuse-of-power authoritarianism
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Trump Accelerates Authoritarian Agenda With Mass Purges and Political Prosecutions

| Importance: 10/10

Within 48 hours in mid-October, Trump purged thousands of federal workers, threatened massive China tariffs, and ordered prosecution of New York’s attorney general despite prosecutors’ objections. Business leaders responded with donations and silence rather than resistance, demonstrating …

Donald Trump New York Attorney General Federal Workforce Business Leaders institutional-capture systematic-corruption authoritarianism constitutional-crisis
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ProPublica Reveals Russell Vought as 'Shadow President' Orchestrating Government Dismantling

| Importance: 9/10

ProPublica exposed Russell Vought, Trump’s OMB director and Project 2025 architect, as operating as a ‘shadow president’ or ‘second commander-in-chief’ orchestrating the systematic dismantling of federal agencies and expansion of presidential power. Vought led Project …

Russell Vought Donald Trump OMB Project 2025 institutional-capture authoritarianism project-2025 executive-power government-dismantling
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HHS Refers Harvard for Federal Funding Debarment After Court Blocks Illegal Funding Freeze

| Importance: 9/10

The Department of Health and Human Services referred Harvard University to federal suspension and debarment proceedings that would exclude the school from all government contracts and federal funding—including billions in research grants and student aid—across all agencies. The move came three weeks …

HHS Harvard University Donald Trump Allison D. Burroughs institutional-weaponization academic-freedom civil-rights-abuse authoritarianism retaliation
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FBI Director Patel Fires 15-20 Agents Photographed Kneeling at 2020 George Floyd Protests

| Importance: 8/10

FBI Director Kash Patel fired approximately 15-20 agents photographed kneeling during 2020 George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C., reversing previous FBI leadership’s determination that the agents—using a de-escalation tactic borrowed from National Guard—committed no policy violations. The …

Kash Patel FBI FBI Agents Association Christopher Wray institutional-purge civil-rights loyalty-enforcement fbi-politicization authoritarianism
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Trump's Hand-Picked Prosecutor Indicts James Comey Days After Trump Demands DOJ Act 'Now'

| Importance: 10/10

Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding, just days after President Trump publicly demanded his DOJ move ’now’ to prosecute enemies. The indictment—brought by Lindsey Halligan, …

James Comey Lindsey Halligan Donald Trump Pam Bondi Department of Justice doj-weaponization political-persecution authoritarianism institutional-capture prosecutorial-abuse +1 more
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Senior DOJ Official Orders Prosecutors to Prepare Soros Foundations Probe on Racketeering, Terrorism Charges

| Importance: 10/10

A senior DOJ official in Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s office directed prosecutors to prepare investigations into George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, exploring potential charges including material support to terrorism, arson, wire fraud, and racketeering. The directive …

Department of Justice Todd Blanche George Soros Open Society Foundations Donald Trump +1 more doj-weaponization political-persecution authoritarianism civil-society prosecutorial-abuse
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DOJ Sues Six States to Seize Voter Data Including Social Security Numbers and Driver's Licenses

| Importance: 9/10

The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed federal lawsuits against California, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, New Hampshire, and Pennsylvania demanding unredacted statewide voter registration lists including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers for …

Department of Justice Civil Rights Division California Michigan Minnesota +3 more voter-suppression doj-weaponization privacy-violation authoritarianism election-interference
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Trump Installs Personal Lawyer Lindsey Halligan as U.S. Attorney After Prosecutor Refuses Political Indictments

| Importance: 9/10

Trump appointed Lindsey Halligan, his former personal defense attorney with zero prosecutorial experience, as interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia—one of the nation’s most important federal prosecutor offices. The appointment came two days after Trump forced out Erik …

Lindsey Halligan Donald Trump Erik Siebert Department of Justice institutional-capture doj-weaponization prosecutorial-abuse authoritarianism loyalty-enforcement
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Supreme Court Allows Trump to Fire FTC Commissioner Slaughter, Threatens Independent Agencies

| Importance: 10/10

The Supreme Court cleared the way for Trump to fire FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, overturning lower court rulings that had ordered her reinstatement after Trump fired her and fellow Democrat Alvaro Bedoya in March 2025. The Court agreed to hear arguments in December on whether to overturn …

Supreme Court Donald Trump Rebecca Slaughter Alvaro Bedoya FTC institutional-capture regulatory-capture supreme-court independence-erosion authoritarianism +1 more
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FCC Chair Brendan Carr Threatens ABC License Revocation, Disney Suspends Kimmel 'Indefinitely'

| Importance: 10/10

FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly threatened to revoke ABC affiliate licenses over Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about the Charlie Kirk shooting, stating ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way’ and warning companies could ‘change conduct and take actions on Kimmel, or …

Brendan Carr Jimmy Kimmel ABC Disney FCC +1 more censorship first-amendment regulatory-capture authoritarianism media-suppression +1 more
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DOJ Demands Detailed Voter Roll Data From 30+ States to Build Centralized National Database

| Importance: 9/10

The Department of Justice is demanding comprehensive voter roll data from over 30 states, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and voting histories, claiming the intent is to identify noncitizen voters despite minimal evidence of such fraud. The data collection effort aims to create …

Department of Justice Donald Trump State election officials election-subversion voter-suppression institutional-capture authoritarianism
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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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Ex-DOGE worker Coristine attacked, Trump threatens federal DC takeover

| Importance: 9/10

Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, 19, was assaulted during attempted carjacking by 10 teenagers in Logan Circle at 3 AM. Trump immediately used the incident to threaten federal takeover of DC, stating “If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, we will have no choice but to take …

Edward Coristine Donald Trump DC Metropolitan Police National Guard dc-takeover crisis-exploitation federal-control doge-personnel authoritarianism
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Far-Right Activist Laura Loomer Orchestrates Mass Loyalty Purges Across Trump Administration

| Importance: 9/10

Politico reported in August 2025 that over a dozen high-ranking officials across multiple federal agencies were forced to leave their jobs or had nominations derailed after being flagged as ‘disloyal’ by far-right extremist Laura Loomer, with hundreds more terminations planned. Loomer …

Laura Loomer Donald Trump National Security Agency Department of Justice National Security Council +1 more institutional-capture loyalty-purges authoritarianism extremism
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Stephen Miller demands 3,000 daily ICE arrests, triggers leadership purge

| Importance: 9/10

Stephen Miller and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem held a tense meeting at ICE headquarters demanding field offices achieve 3,000 daily arrests—triple the early administration numbers. Miller threatened to fire the bottom 10% of directors monthly if quotas weren’t met. A week later, Kenneth Genalo …

Stephen Miller Kristi Noem Kenneth Genalo Robert Hammer ICE purges loyalty-tests impossible-quotas authoritarianism civil-service-destruction
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EIU Democracy Index 2024 Reports Historic Low in Global Democracy Score

| Importance: 8/10

The Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2024 Democracy Index revealed a historic low global democracy score of 5.17 (on a 0-10 scale), indicating a significant decline in democratic health worldwide. The report showed that 130 of 167 countries experienced democratic erosion, with 39.2% of the …

Economist Intelligence Unit Global Democracy Researchers International Political Analysts democracy-index global-decline authoritarianism democratic-backsliding political-trends
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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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Vance Endorses Claremont Institute Authoritarian Policy Document

| Importance: 9/10

Senator J.D. Vance continues to endorse Claremont Institute publications advocating for authoritarian governance approaches, part of a broader pattern of promoting right-wing ideological frameworks that challenge democratic norms. During a December 2023 speaking engagement, Vance aligned with the …

J.D. Vance Claremont Institute claremont-institute authoritarianism new-right anti-democratic vance-ideology
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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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Freedom House Downgrades US Democracy Score to 83/100

| Importance: 8/10

Freedom House downgraded the United States democracy score from 94/100 to 83/100 between 2010-2021, the steepest decline among established democracies. The 11-point drop reflected systematic erosion of democratic norms including partisan gerrymandering, voter suppression laws in 33 states, …

Freedom House United States Donald Trump Republican Party democracy-erosion democratic-backsliding institutional-decay authoritarianism global-rankings
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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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Erik Prince Receives $529M Contract to Build Secret Mercenary Army for UAE Crown Prince

| Importance: 9/10

Erik Prince, founder of Blackwater, was hired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi to create a secret, private mercenary army for the United Arab Emirates, receiving $529 million for the contract. The force, operated through Prince’s company Reflex Responses (R2), was …

Erik Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Reflex Responses United Arab Emirates private-military mercenaries foreign-influence middle-east war-crimes +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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