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 TrumpSteve Bannonauthoritarianismconstitutional-violationinstitutional-capturepower-consolidation
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 TrumpHeather HoneyMarci McCarthyDHSinstitutional-captureelection-interferencecorruptionconflicts-of-interestauthoritarianism
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 HegsethPentagonmainstream media outletsfar-right mediainstitutional-captureweaponization-of-governmentmedia-suppressionauthoritarianismpropaganda
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.’ …
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 …
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 VoughtDonald TrumpElon MuskOMBcorruptioninstitutional-capturepower-consolidationauthoritarianismunelected-influence
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 TrumpPolitical AppointeesFederal Agenciesinstitutional-capturecorruptionabuse-of-powerauthoritarianism
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 TrumpNew York Attorney GeneralFederal WorkforceBusiness Leadersinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionauthoritarianismconstitutional-crisis
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 VoughtDonald TrumpOMBProject 2025institutional-captureauthoritarianismproject-2025executive-powergovernment-dismantling
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 …
HHSHarvard UniversityDonald TrumpAllison D. Burroughsinstitutional-weaponizationacademic-freedomcivil-rights-abuseauthoritarianismretaliation
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 …
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 ComeyLindsey HalliganDonald TrumpPam BondiDepartment of Justicedoj-weaponizationpolitical-persecutionauthoritarianisminstitutional-captureprosecutorial-abuse+1 more
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 JusticeTodd BlancheGeorge SorosOpen Society FoundationsDonald Trump+1 moredoj-weaponizationpolitical-persecutionauthoritarianismcivil-societyprosecutorial-abuse
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 JusticeCivil Rights DivisionCaliforniaMichiganMinnesota+3 morevoter-suppressiondoj-weaponizationprivacy-violationauthoritarianismelection-interference
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 HalliganDonald TrumpErik SiebertDepartment of Justiceinstitutional-capturedoj-weaponizationprosecutorial-abuseauthoritarianismloyalty-enforcement
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 CourtDonald TrumpRebecca SlaughterAlvaro BedoyaFTCinstitutional-captureregulatory-capturesupreme-courtindependence-erosionauthoritarianism+1 more
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 CarrJimmy KimmelABCDisneyFCC+1 morecensorshipfirst-amendmentregulatory-captureauthoritarianismmedia-suppression+1 more
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 JusticeDonald TrumpState election officialselection-subversionvoter-suppressioninstitutional-captureauthoritarianism
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 TrumpDC Police DepartmentNational GuardEdward Coristinedc-takeoverfederal-controlcrisis-exploitationauthoritarianismpolice-state
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 CoristineDonald TrumpDC Metropolitan PoliceNational Guarddc-takeovercrisis-exploitationfederal-controldoge-personnelauthoritarianism
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 LoomerDonald TrumpNational Security AgencyDepartment of JusticeNational Security Council+1 moreinstitutional-captureloyalty-purgesauthoritarianismextremism
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 MillerKristi NoemKenneth GenaloRobert HammerICEpurgesloyalty-testsimpossible-quotasauthoritarianismcivil-service-destruction
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 UnitGlobal Democracy ResearchersInternational Political Analystsdemocracy-indexglobal-declineauthoritarianismdemocratic-backslidingpolitical-trends
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’ …
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 …
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+ …
CellebriteEitay Macksurveillancemobile-forensicshuman-rightsrussiabelarus+1 more
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, …
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 PrinceFrontier Services GroupChang ZhenmingCITIC Grouphuman-rights-violationschinaprivate-militarysurveillance-technologyethnic-cleansing+1 more
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 …
DarkMatterHuaweiErik PrincePegasusUnited Arab Emiratessurveillance-technologytechnology-transferchinauaeprivate-intelligence+1 more
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 TrumpDerrick WatsonDoug ChinRudy Giulianimuslim-banreligious-discriminationauthoritarianismimmigrationrule-of-law
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 TrumpBarack ObamaJames ClapperJames Comeydisinformationobama-attacksauthoritarianismfalse-accusationsabuse-of-power
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 TrumpSally YatesDana BoenteJeff SessionsRudy Giulianirule-of-lawdoj-politicizationobstruction-of-justiceauthoritarianismmuslim-ban+1 more
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 TrumpRudy GiulianiJim MattisState Departmentmuslim-banauthoritarianismreligious-discriminationimmigrationrule-of-law+1 more
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 PrinceMohammed bin Zayed Al NahyanReflex ResponsesUnited Arab Emiratesprivate-militarymercenariesforeign-influencemiddle-eastwar-crimes+1 more
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 GonzalesKarl RoveDavid IglesiasCarol LamGeorge W. Bush+1 moreobstruction-of-justicepolitical-prosecutiondojgonzalesauthoritarianism
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 RisenEric LichtblauNew York TimesGeorge W. BushNSApulitzer-prizewhistleblowingfisa-bypassjournalismstellarwind+8 more