
Political Repression, American Style
The story it tells is not, unfortunately, an April Fools joke.
The story it tells is not, unfortunately, an April Fools joke.
The Roman example serves as a cautionary tale: their republic didn't collapse in a single moment but through a gradual erosion of institutional constraints and normative boundaries over decades.
Every week since Trump's return to power, he and his key cabinet-level officials have simultaneously escalated their political retaliatory measures against disfavored individuals, groups, and organizations--in virtually every instance in defiance of the law, the Constitution, and now federal courts.
If an AI can understand how a Republic can be destroyed, why the hell can't everyone else in America recognize the same warning signs as Claude?
What also seems certain is an even more aggressive push by Trump to undo Executive branch internal oversight and accountability mechanisms through further "lawfare."
We are now witnessing, in real time, the price for not taking far more aggressive governmental reform and reorganization measures in the wake of successive presidents’ radical abuses of law enforcement and presidential powers.
Starting today we're going to face a different series of threats, and these won't be courtesy of a foreign bad actor but from an American government under Donald Trump's control.
The explosion of online right-wing, conspiracy theory-centric networks, podcasts, and similar digital sewers has created a permission structure for many Americans to embrace their worst selves and the worst political actors.
Exposing and opposing would-be American authoritarians, regardless of where they fall along the political spectrum, will continue to be at the heart of the Sentinel's mission in 2025 and beyond.
That so many former senior FBI officials refused to cooperate with the IG's investigation is both telling and outrageous. Every single one of them was in a critical management position between November 4, 2020, and the day of the attack.
The demand for absolute obeisance to Trump is well understood by the already GOP controlled House of Representatives.
Late last month, Denver's mayor, Mike Johnston, received lots of attention for claiming he's willing to go to jail to oppose any Trump-ordered mass deportations in his area. The reality is that only Democratic governors have real power at their disposal to oppose Trump's
2024 election
Earlier this year, I posted four pieces about the potential for another Trump term and what I've called Civil War 2.0. I thought the worst-case scenario I wrote on February 5 was dire enough. It wasn't.
2024 election
This is the relative calm before the storm.
Millions of Americans are about to vote in the most important election since 1860. A currently unknown number of others are preparing to engage in political and possibly actual guerilla warfare if Donald Trump is defeated by VP Kamala Harris. If you've not yet voted, please do so
2024 election
If our Republic manages to escape a second Trump presidency (a big "if" at this point), the lessons of the last fifty years should not be squandered by a return to the kind of "politics as usual" bullshit being offered in the latest edition of POLITICO Playbook.
2024 election
In the hands of an authoritarian president, the PATRIOT Act could be wielded as an instrument of domestic terror and political repression at scale.
2024 election
Earlier this month, the Department of Justice's Inspector General released two reports that, in the pre-Trump era, would've sparked outrage and at least public Congressional hearings.
Surveillance
Cato Surveillance Week 2024 kicks off on October 7. Also, late Friday we filed yet another FOIA lawsuit against the FBI over FISA Section 702 violation records.
2024 election
What makes the prospect of a Trump victory even more chilling is the kind of law enforcement and data collection tools that would be at Trump's disposal if he wins - tools he would be eager to use against his political opponents.
2024 election
Earlier this month, the House passed a bill in the spirit of the McCarran Act that would revive the odious and discredited Trump-era "China Initiative.
2024 election
The current political climate makes amending the Constitution impractical, dangerous, or both. Even so, legal and structural changes to our existing, vulnerable governing institutions are possible. All that's required is the will to make it happen.
2024 election
Our failure to roll back 9/11-driven executive power grabs and "coup proof" our government against internal authoritarian political threats may come back to haunt us, and soon.
TSA
The institutional threats to our constitutional rights left unaddressed by the federal legislature are major, long standing, and perfectly exploitable by a would-be authoritarian like Trump.