THE LAST 2 DOMINOES OF OUR DEMOCRACY ARE FALLING-Updated

Everyone must sound the alarm, whether Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green, Independent, etc.!  Trump is taking steps to knock down the last 2 dominoes of our Democracy:  The Free Press and Freedom of Assembly.  Here’s how:

FIRST:  On February 18, 2025, Trump issued an Executive Order stating that he and AG Bondi get to interpret laws and impose those views upon independent federal agencies!!!  This includes the FCC, which oversees our NEWS MEDIA.  Most alarming is that “another section of the order says the agencies must accept the views of Mr. Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi on what the law means...”

He has already banned The Associated Press (one of the most unbiased, impartial news agencies) from press briefings, and he has launched investigations against NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, and NPR.  He won’t investigate FOX, because Fox isn’t news—it’s entertainment.

Piggybacking on this movement, Trump has sanctioned the removal of thousands of pages of INFORMATION from government websites, including from education and health sites, which normally provide authoritative news and the most up-to-date guidance to professionals.

SECOND:  On February 21, 2025, Trump accelerated dismantling the Department of Defense, firing the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, among others, and the Judge Advocates General, who interpret and administer the military code of justice.  As always, Dr. Heather Cox Richardson compiled a critical accounting of the events and their implications:

Trump wishes to appoint John Dan Caine, an unqualified loyalist who, according to Trump, fawned on him with “’I love you, sir.  I think you’re great, sir.  I’ll kill for you, sir’...Trump expressed frustration with military leaders during his first term when they resisted illegal orders”;  thus Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo “pointed out, ‘If you’re planning to give illegal orders, [JAGs] are an obvious obstacle.’”  Moreover, “‘Now that Trump has captured the intelligence services, the Justice Department, and the FBI,’ military specialist Tom Nichols wrote in The Atlantic, ‘the military is the last piece he needs to establish the foundations for authoritarian control of the U.S. government.’”

The following two articles explain Trump’s movement toward autocracy in more detail:

“Their democracy died. They have lessons for America about Trump’s power grab.;  Hungarians who lived through Viktor Orbán’s 2010 power grab warn Americans: Act now, before it’s too late,” by Zack Beauchamp, Vox, February 5, 2025.  This has a paywall; to read it, you’ll need to try various browsers and Reader View apps, till you get access.

“The Path to American Authoritarianism; What Comes After Democratic Breakdown,” by Steven Levitsky (Harvard University) & Lucan A. Way (University of Toronto), Foreign Affairs, February 11, 2025.  This piece articulates how Trump can use our existing mechanisms to dismantle the Constitution, entrench authoritarianism, and inflict retribution upon citizen dissidents.  Highlights can be found here.

What This Means:

Trump is taking steps to control news media, amplifying right-wing bias and diminishing unbiased, impartial, plus left-wing media.  This will make U.S. news, STATE-RUN MEDIA, like all autocrats before Trump, including Orban & Putin, with Fox, OAN, and Newsmax amplifying Trump’s lies and propaganda.  Trump opposes all reporting which could be considered dissent.  He intends to silence opposing viewpoints—does that sound like Democracy to you?  It shouldn’t, because it clearly violates the First Amendment.

Courts have ruled that “reckless disregard for the truth” is not protected speech. Moreover, the FCC deems it “illegal for broadcasters to intentionally distort the news,” which includes LYING and OMISSION.  Unfortunately, the FCC has little enforcement control over Cable news networks.  How will Trump’s unilateral power over independent agencies like the FCC affect TRUTH in our news media?

Next is the military control, which will be useful to suppress public protests.  During Trump’s first term, political allies began the assault on Freedom of Assembly with state legislation to tamp down on public protests.  Now, experts believe that Trump’s second term will open the door to expanded restrictions, facilitated by a weaponized, loyalist U.S. military.

Trump is carrying out a Project 2025 line item to centralize power in the Executive branch, called the Unitary Executive Theory.  Russell Vought, one of its key architects, stated, “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.”

Russell Vought stated, “What we’re trying to do is identify the pockets of independence and seize them.”

My WARNING is Twofold:

When Trump controls first our NEWS and second our RIGHT TO PROTEST, the final dominoes of our Democracy will tumble.  PERIOD.

What we can ALL agree upon, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green. etc., is that we don’t want the collapse of our Republic.  This is not a false alarm.  This is not an over-reaction.  Experts across the country agree that we are at a critical turning point, a Constitutional crisis, where inaction could mean the demise of our Republic.

YOU PERSONALLY are either with the movement to restore Democracy—or to install Autocracy.  Inaction is not an option.

What Can YOU Do?

1)  Give money to legal defense funds, like the ACLU, Democracy Forward, Lambda Legal, and Legal Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Earth Justice, Environmental Defense Fund.

2)  Take to the streets in protest and visit your representatives.

3)  Call and write to your Reps.  Ask them to take their power back and stand up to the Executive Takeover, especially of independent agencies; to not confirm undemocratic, unqualified loyalists; to say NO to John Dan Caine; to keep Trump’s hands off of the military, the Judiciary, the Department of Education, and the mechanisms of Free Press and Free Assembly.

ACT

4)  Warn your friends, family, neighbors—no matter their party!  We’re all on the same side—the American side.

5)  Write Letters to Editors.

6)  Write to Fox Media, demanding that they tell the Truth, stop normalizing Trump’s authoritarianism, and stop minimizing its opposition!

7)  SHARE TRUTH on social media—even if you never have before. 

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