trump tests new idea: democracy without counting people
Census worker’s bag from 2020, back when the government still pretended counting everyone was the goal and not just the people Team Trump finds demographically convenient.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new innovation in representative democracy: don’t actually test how to count people. The Census Bureau’s 2026 operational test for the 2030 census is being dramatically downsized from six states and a national sample to just two sites — Spartanburg, S.C., and Huntsville, Ala. Rural communities in western Texas and multiple tribal lands in Arizona and North Carolina have been quietly dropped, because why waste precious resources accurately counting people who aren’t big fans of authoritarian cosplay?
To really drive home the commitment to accuracy, the administration is also killing plans for Spanish- and Chinese-language online forms, leaving the test in English only. So the communities that are historically undercounted will now be scientifically under-tested as well. At the same time, the White House wants to experiment with replacing trained temporary census workers with already-overloaded USPS staff — because if there’s one institution Trump-world hasn’t finished kneecapping yet, it’s the Postal Service.
Meanwhile, the Census Bureau has refused to brief the members of Congress who are supposed to oversee it, and the administration has disbanded all of the bureau’s outside advisory committees, effectively pulling what one expert calls a “black-out shade” over 2030 planning. Translation: they’re messing with the machinery that decides political representation and hundreds of billions in federal funding, and they’d prefer you not watch while they do it. It’s less a census test and more a dry run for how far they can push voter dilution and structural minority rule before anyone manages to turn the lights back on.
#killing-democracy#racism#forever-grifting
trump doj releases half the epstein files, calls it transparency
Todd Blanche explaining that releasing half the Epstein files with 10,000 redactions is actually what "full transparency" looks like now.
The Trump justice department has announced, with a straight face, that the Epstein investigation is now "over" after dumping 3 million pages of documents and declaring victory, while quietly sitting on another 3 million. Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche insists "we have nothing to hide"—they're just refusing to release half the records, blacking out thousands of names, and ignoring both a congressional subpoena and a federal law that explicitly told them to hand everything over. Totally normal behavior for an administration that keeps insisting the whole Epstein thing is a "Democrat hoax" while Trump’s own name shows up in the files.
Democrats like Jamie Raskin, Hakeem Jeffries, and Ro Khanna, plus Republican Thomas Massie (who apparently missed the memo that you’re not supposed to investigate rich predators in this country), are pointing out the obvious: this looks a lot less like transparency and a lot more like a state-sponsored damage control operation for the elite. Survivors are furious that their names were accidentally exposed while the powerful men they say abused them are still buried under redactions and missing documents. Lawyers for more than 200 victims are now in court asking DOJ to take down its document site because the department managed to produce what may be "the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in US history"—but sure, tell us more about how this is all about justice.
Meanwhile, Massie is being punished by his own party for the unforgivable sin of wanting "rich men perp walked in handcuffs"—a standard that, if ever actually applied, would turn half of Mar-a-Lago into a work-release program. As Republicans try to bounce him off the ballot for demanding Epstein transparency and Trump yells "hoax" into the void, the Trump administration is doing what it does best: weaponizing the federal government to protect friends, punish dissenters, and bury anything that might threaten the golden boys of America’s ruling class. Elite impunity remains undefeated; the rule of law, not so much.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
president extremely mad that jokes still legal
Trevor Noah on stage at the Grammys, moments before the president of the United States decided the biggest threat to the republic was a joke about Epstein and an island he swears he never visited.
Donald Trump watched the Grammys, heard Trevor Noah make one Epstein joke, and immediately decided the real crime in America is defamation against Donald Trump. After Noah quipped that Trump needed Greenland since "Epstein's island is gone" and he needs a new place to hang with Bill Clinton, the president jumped onto Truth Social to call Noah a "poor, pathetic, talentless dope" and promised to sic his lawyers on him for "plenty$"—because nothing says "totally innocent and not defensive at all" like threatening to sue over an awards-show punchline.
Trump insisted he has "never been to Epstein Island" and, more importantly, had never even been accused of it "not even by the Fake News Media"—which is a very normal thing for a president to angrily clarify during the Grammys. Meanwhile, the crowd and artists spent the night denouncing his anti-immigrant policies, wearing anti-ICE pins, and reminding the country that "no one is illegal on stolen land", which probably didn’t help his mood as he live-posted through being publicly clowned.
This tantrum slots neatly into the broader second-term project: punishing comedians and media that dare to mock Dear Leader. Stephen Colbert’s show is being axed by CBS after he criticized the company for settling a $16m lawsuit with Trump (totally unrelated, they swear), Jimmy Kimmel got suspended by Disney and briefly had the president lobbying the FCC to yank ABC’s license, and Bari Weiss now oversees CBS’s rightward drift while Trump cheers the Grammys getting booted from the network as "garbage". The message is clear: criticize Trump and you might lose your show; joke about Trump and Epstein and he’ll threaten to sue you personally.
Noah, on his way out after six years hosting, responded to the outrage in real time: "It’s my last year! What are you gonna do about it?" The president has answered: deploy the lawyers, weaponize the chill, and keep testing how far a White House can go in treating mockery as a legal offense. Free speech is still technically alive; it’s just being sued, canceled, and harassed by the guy who swore an oath to protect it.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump threatens fed, gold investors discover gravity
Kevin Warsh, photographed moments before being informed his new job is "trying to keep the Fed independent while Trump live-tweets rate policy."
Global markets just had a minor heart attack because everyone has spent weeks assuming Donald Trump was about to stuff the Federal Reserve with a MAGA mascot who'd cut rates whenever he got bored on Truth Social. Gold and silver had been blasting through record highs as investors fled into "safe havens" from the terrifying prospect of Trump turning the Fed into his personal campaign ATM.
Then Trump announced he’d nominate Kevin Warsh, an actual central banker with real Fed experience and a reputation for not being a total pushover. Cue an 8% plunge in gold, a 7% drop in silver, and a bunch of traders suddenly realizing they might have slightly overpaid for their apocalypse bunker metals. One analyst politely translated this as "relief that a Trump cheerleader would not be installed" — Washington-speak for "we were all bracing for a loyalist who’d torch Fed independence on command."
Bitcoin, oil, copper, platinum — basically the entire speculative panic buffet — also slid as tensions with Iran might be easing and markets recalibrated from "Trump breaks Fed" to "Trump only threatens to break Fed this quarter." Deutsche Bank still thinks gold can hit $6,000 this year, which is a fun forecast that doubles as a confidence poll on whether Trump will keep menacing monetary policy until investors start stockpiling bullion again. The underlying message: as long as Trump is hovering over the Fed like a raccoon over a trash can, nobody believes institutional stability is more than a temporary condition.
#killing-democracy#money
trump nationalizes the arts, installs himself as head usher
Artist’s rendering of the Kennedy Center’s future: same building, 400% more gold letters and one very confused bust of JFK wondering how he ended up opening for Donald Trump.
Trump has decided that the Kennedy Center — the nation’s performing arts memorial to a murdered president — is "tired, broken, and dilapidated," which is bold talk from the guy whose brand is gold-plated bankruptcy. Having already stacked the Kennedy Center board with handpicked loyalists, made himself chair, stripped out Pride events, and jammed his name in front of John F. Kennedy’s on the façade, he’s now announcing a two-year shutdown for renovations, effective July 4. Because nothing screams "respect for institutions" like shuttering them on Independence Day.
The funding, Trump assures us, is "completed, and fully in place" — from where, he declines to say, and the White House is suddenly very shy. The Kennedy Center itself isn’t commenting either, possibly because they found out about their two-year closure the same way the rest of us did: a Truth Social post citing "Contractors, Musical Experts, Art Institutions, and other Advisors and Consultants" — a phrase that reads like it was generated by an AI trained exclusively on Mar-a-Lago brunch conversations.
Meanwhile, the actual arts community has responded the only way it can: by fleeing. Since the board voted to staple Trump’s name over Kennedy’s, artists have been canceling in droves. Stephen Schwartz bailed on hosting a Washington National Opera gala, and the opera itself has now left the building after more than 50 years. One of the board’s ex officio members, Rep. Joyce Beatty, is suing the administration over the renaming, arguing that you can’t just rebrand a congressionally created memorial like it’s another failed Trump casino. But sure, let’s lock the whole place down for two years of mystery-financed "renovations" under a board that already turned a national cultural institution into a MAGA vanity project.
When it finally reopens for the promised "Grand Reopening," don’t be surprised if the nation’s performing arts center looks less like a living tribute to American culture and more like a very large, very tacky campaign rally venue with better acoustics.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
loser endorses man who called him a loser
John Sununu, seen here discovering that calling Trump a "loser" is fine as long as you later agree he’s your dear leader and job reference.
Donald Trump has bestowed his "Complete and Total Endorsement" on former senator John Sununu in the New Hampshire Senate race, because nothing says strong movement like a twice-impeached, insurrection-adjacent ex-president handpicking who’s allowed to run in a supposedly independent party primary. Sununu once wrote an op-ed calling Trump a "loser" while backing Nikki Haley, but in MAGA world, all sins are forgiven as long as you’re willing to carry the "America First" banner and pretend the cult leader is still the main character of American politics.
Democrat Chris Pappas responded by simply reposting Trump’s endorsement and saying he "approves this message," which is what you do when your opponent voluntarily brands himself as Trump’s franchise location in New Hampshire. Meanwhile, Scott Brown — former Massachusetts senator, Trump ambassador, and now rejected applicant for the MAGA loyalty badge — bravely announced he will "keep working," which here means running against both Sununu and the reality that Trump owns the GOP like another failed casino.
The RNC dutifully declared the race a top priority, thrilled that the party’s Senate strategy still boils down to: wait for Trump to pick a favorite, call it grassroots energy, and hope voters don’t notice the entire process is being run like a licensing deal for the "America First" trademark. Representative democracy, but with brand management.
#killing-democracy#fascism
fbi raid, because trump still can't get over 2020
FBI agents hauling away boxes of Georgia ballots, bravely protecting America from the grave threat of Trump losing an election six years ago.
While ICE was busy turning Minneapolis into a campaign ad, another arm of Trump’s authoritarian fan fiction government was at work in Georgia. The FBI raided Fulton County’s central election facility and walked out with more than 700 boxes of 2020 ballots and election records, because nothing says "law and order" like using federal law enforcement to chase down your hurt feelings from four years ago. This is the first time in American history the FBI has seized ballots from a past election, but sure, tell us more about how it’s really about “election integrity.”
To really underline that this is about raw power, not security, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard showed up in person, because apparently the nation’s top intelligence official now moonlights as Trump’s personal ballot repo agent. The warrant vacuumed up everything: tabulator tapes, ballot images from the original count and recount, absentee and early voting records, voter rolls — the whole thing Trump has been obsessively lying about since he begged Brad Raffensperger to "find" him votes. Every claim he made about Georgia fraud has already been repeatedly debunked, so naturally the solution is to send in the FBI and pretend it’s 2020 forever.
Trump has openly said he regrets not ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines in 2020 because they weren’t "sophisticated" enough. Enter the FBI. Now he’s on Truth Social screaming "TRUMP WON BIG" and promising prosecutions, while his DOJ argues it has "sweeping power" to grab election records from states. In other words, the federal government will keep elections "free and fair" until they produce a result Trump likes. The Fulton County raid isn’t about the past; it’s a warning shot for 2026: cooperate with the narrative or watch your ballots disappear into a federal evidence locker.
State officials like Maine’s Shenna Bellows are basically reduced to saying, "I have the key and he’s not getting our ballots," which is where we are now: democracy defended by whoever still controls the padlock. The ICE invasion of Minneapolis shows how Trump plans to police people; the FBI raid in Georgia shows how he plans to police votes. Different agencies, same message: the law is whatever serves the president’s grievances today.
#killing-democracy#fascism
stable genius explains nato to guy who lost his leg there
British Marines sprint toward Taliban positions in Helmand, bravely failing to meet Donald Trump’s standard of "a little back, a little off the front lines."
Donald Trump has discovered a bold new strategy for global security: tell the people who bled for you that they actually hung out "a little back, a little off the front lines." Lance Cpl. Cassidy Little, who left his right leg somewhere in Helmand and watched his friends die pushing into territory "not yet controlled by NATO," apparently just imagined being so far forward he couldn't even see the front line behind him. Trump, whose most dangerous deployment was to the buffet at Mar-a-Lago, has thoughts.
NATO’s only-ever Article 5 mission — the one where over 1,000 allied troops from more than 25 countries died after answering America’s 9/11 call — is now, in Trump’s retelling, a half-hearted group project where everyone else slacked off and the U.S. did all the work. Veterans from Britain, Estonia, Denmark, Canada and more remember it slightly differently, probably because they were busy getting blown up instead of rage-posting on Truth Social.
After managing to offend basically the entire United Kingdom, from Prince Harry to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump tried the classic "praise the troops, change none of the substance" maneuver, calling British soldiers "among the greatest of all warriors" while carefully not apologizing or acknowledging all the other dead allies. So the message to NATO is clear: We heard the call, we came running, and now we’re being told we were late, lazy, and standing in the wrong place. Truly a masterclass in alliance management from the guy who thinks threatening to abandon mutual defense is a negotiating tactic, not an engraved invitation to the next war.
#killing-democracy#national-security#fascism
texas voters briefly remember democracy is an option
The Texas Capitol, where Republicans just got a gentle reminder that permanent one-party rule isn’t actually in the state constitution.
In a plot twist no one at Mar-a-Lago focus group headquarters saw coming, Democrat Taylor Rehmet just flipped a Trump +17 Texas state Senate district by more than 14 points, because nothing says "mandate for authoritarian rule" like losing a blood-red seat to a union guy with a toolbox. This is a district Republicans have hugged tightly for decades, but apparently even Fort Worth-area voters have their limits on culture war cosplay and billionaire tax cuts.
Trump personally jumped onto his vanity social media app to boost Republican Leigh Wambsganss, calling her a "successful entrepreneur" and "incredible" MAGA loyalist, which turned out to be the electoral equivalent of a curse. Meanwhile, Rehmet — an Air Force veteran and machinist — ran on boring, dangerous ideas like lowering costs, funding public schools, and protecting jobs, and somehow that beat "more Trump, but from Austin." Democrats, already on a streak of special-election overperformance under Trump 2.0, are treating this as yet another neon warning sign that voters might not be fully on board with the whole slow-motion-democracy-strangulation project.
Rehmet only gets the seat until January unless he wins again in November, and the Texas GOP still holds a comfy majority, so no, this isn’t the part where the credits roll and everything is fine. But in a state where Republicans custom-ordered the maps and still managed to trip over their own gerrymander, a MAGA-branded candidate getting clobbered in a deep-red district is a useful reminder: you can suppress voters, you can rig districts, you can scream "fraud" into every microphone — but sometimes, people just walk into a voting booth and say, "actually, no."
#killing-democracy#losses
europe decides trump’s america is bad, but not ‘skip the world cup’ bad
Germany’s DFB headquarters, where leaders courageously concluded that Trump’s travel bans, tariff threats, and protest crackdowns are troubling—but not nearly troubling enough to miss a single sponsored banner at the World Cup.
Germany’s football federation took a brave stand against authoritarianism by announcing that, after deep reflection on Donald Trump’s travel bans, threats of tariffs over his Greenland cosplay annexation bid, and his tear-gassing-protesters-for-photoshoot governing style, they have decided to… play the group stage in Houston, Toronto, and New Jersey. Because nothing says sending a message to Trump like absolutely not changing your plans at all.
DFB vice‑president Oke Göttlich briefly flirted with the radical notion that maybe holding a giant sports festival in a country busy menacing Europe, roughing up domestic protesters, and playing regime-change tourist in Venezuela might be a bad look. The federation swiftly smacked that down, insisting such debates should be held "internally"—in other words, behind closed doors where they can be safely ignored while everyone pretends football is magically separate from politics, visas, tariffs, and border guards with guns.
France chimed in with the same bold energy, saying there is currently “no desire” to boycott this “great competition,” though they graciously left the door open to caring later if things get even more on‑fire. Meanwhile, fans are staring down obscene ticket prices and Trump’s travel bans, which might bar some supporters from even entering the country. So the official line is: sport is unifying, politics should stay out of it, and if your fans can’t get past Trump’s border regime, well, at least the TV signal still crosses borders.
Fifa’s own disgraced ex‑lord Sepp Blatter is telling people not to travel to the US—when Sepp Blatter thinks your World Cup optics are too corrupt and unstable, that’s an achievement. But the DFB insists they’ll be there to “celebrate a peaceful festival of football,” apparently confident that Trump’s America will suspend the creeping police‑state vibes for 90 minutes at a time. The message to Trump is clear: keep undermining democracy and cracking down on dissent, just don’t touch the kickoff time.
#killing-democracy#imperialism
government shuts down, deportation death squads keep the lights on
Congress turns out the lights on half the government while making sure ICE’s $75bn deportation slush fund stays plugged in—priorities, people.
Congress has shut down chunks of the federal government again, but don’t worry: Trump’s deportation machine is fully funded and ready to kill more Americans. After federal agents gunned down Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis—during a Trump-ordered surge of immigration agents—Democrats decided maybe, just maybe, it was time to ask that armed federal officers not roam American cities like masked paramilitaries.
The ask? No masks, mandatory body cameras, an actual code of conduct, independent investigations when agents kill people, and a ban on "roving patrols" that amount to "you look foreign, get in the van." In other words, basic 21st-century policing standards. The response from the Trump GOP: better to partially shut down defense, education, labor, health, transportation, and housing than mildly inconvenience the president’s pet deportation squads. Because nothing says "law and order" like blocking rules that might stop your agents from shooting citizens.
Meanwhile, House Republicans—clinging to a one-seat majority and a full-size persecution complex—are trying to strap the "Save Act" voter-ID suppression scheme onto the funding bill, just to make sure that while ICE keeps its $75bn war chest from last year’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, fewer Americans can actually vote against the people running this clown show. And in case anyone wondered what gets protected in a Trump-era shutdown: health care subsidies for regular people quietly died at the end of 2025, but deportations roll on, agents can be forced to work through the shutdown, and the only thing the White House is really worried about is keeping the mass removal conveyor belt humming.
So the government pauses, but the authoritarian core functions—militarized immigration raids, voter suppression demands, and total impunity for federal agents who kill citizens—keep right on operating. Trump’s America: where your subsidies expire, your government closes, but the deportation death squads are an essential service.
#killing-democracy#anti-immigration#lawlessness
trump upgrades jobs numbers from 'rigged' to 'fixed'
Trump explaining that the real unemployment problem is too many statisticians who won’t lie for him.
Donald Trump, still mad that math refuses to pledge personal loyalty, has now nominated Brett Matsumoto to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics — the same agency whose commissioner he personally fired hours after a bad jobs report. Back in August, Trump declared the data "rigged" and implied Erika McEntarfer cooked the numbers "for political purposes," because nothing says "independent statistics" like the president decapitating the agency when the line on the chart points the wrong way.
This comes after the administration’s first genius idea: nominating Heritage Foundation/Project 2025 warrior E.J. Antoni, whose qualifications included attacking BLS and being a self-described Jan. 6 "bystander" at the Capitol. That nomination had to be yanked once it turned out installing a coup-adjacent ideologue to control jobs data was a tiny bit on-the-nose. Now we get Matsumoto, a career economist everyone insists is "unbiased" — which is exactly what you want to hear after the president has already demonstrated he’ll fire anyone whose spreadsheets make him look bad.
In other words, the message to every civil servant crunching numbers is clear: produce data that reflects reality, and you’re accused of rigging it and tossed out; produce data that flatters Dear Leader, and suddenly you’re a "Brilliant, Reputable, and Trusted Economist" on Truth Social. But sure, let’s all pretend this is just a normal nomination and not another step in turning official economic statistics into campaign literature.
#killing-democracy#fascism#forever-grifting
trump doj discovers bold new civil right: freedom from criticism
Don Lemon being led away in cuffs so the Trump administration can finally experience the sweet, sweet freedom of never being filmed doing anything wrong.
Don Lemon, former CNN anchor and current full-time Trump nemesis, was arrested by federal agents in Los Angeles for the unthinkable crime of … filming a protest in a Minnesota church. The Trump justice department is charging him and three others with civil rights crimes for allegedly interfering with religious freedom — because nothing says "defending the Constitution" like using civil rights law as a club against journalists who film protests against ICE.
Abbe Lowell, Lemon’s lawyer, noted that a federal magistrate judge already looked at this and basically said: "you’ve got nothing" — twice. So naturally, Pam Bondi’s DOJ did what any healthy democracy would do: got enraged, vowed to "pursue this to the ends of the Earth" on Megyn Kelly’s show, then sent the feds back in anyway. Meanwhile, independent journalist Georgia Fort was also arrested for the radical act of holding a camera, and press freedom groups are calling this what it obviously is: a "naked attack" on the First Amendment.
The White House responded with the seriousness the moment demanded by posting on X: "When life gives you Lemons" with a chain emoji — because nothing screams "not a police state" like the president’s official account openly celebrating the arrest of a journalist. Top Democrats called it authoritarian, a "police state" move, and "pure authoritarian bile", which is Washington-speak for "this is what we used to condemn in other countries." But sure, tell us again how this is the administration bravely defending religious liberty and civil rights — by arresting the press after a judge already said there was no evidence of a crime.
Trump, ever the neutral observer, called Lemon a "loser, lightweight" and denounced his walk into the church as "terrible" while praising the pastor as a victim of being "accosted" by people with cameras. In other words, the DOJ has been repurposed from "justice" to "Department of Vengeance", civil rights law now protects you from being criticized, and journalists are being hauled off in chains to send a message. But don’t worry, democracy is doing great.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
government shuts down, deportation death squads stay open
Congress frantically pretends to govern while making sure the only fully funded part of the state is the masked deportation squad that just killed two US citizens.
The Senate is racing to avoid a partial shutdown because federal agents killed two US citizens in Minneapolis while acting as Trump’s roving, masked deportation squads—and Democrats suddenly discovered this thing called "leverage." Chuck Schumer is demanding the wild, utopian fantasy that DHS agents wear body cameras, follow a basic code of conduct, and maybe stop doing paramilitary cosplay with masks and random street hunts for anyone who looks "illegal." In other words: the bare minimum standards you’d expect from a halfway-functioning democracy are now a bargaining chip in a shutdown standoff.
The plan: pass five bipartisan spending bills, then slap DHS on a two-week leash while they negotiate whether ICE should continue operating like a taxpayer-funded terror organization. But thanks to the House taking a long weekend, a partial shutdown is locked in anyway—because nothing says "responsible governance" like clocking out while the government runs out of money. Speaker Mike Johnson swears they "want to get the government funded, as does the president," which is cute, given that Trump’s real priority is keeping his mass deportation campaign fully operational and minimally accountable.
Meanwhile, Lindsey Graham is holding things up to protect one very special interest: Lindsey Graham, and other lawmakers who really don’t want the FBI using their phone records against them in that pesky Trump 2020 election meddling investigation. And over in the House, the far-right brain trust is demanding that every funding bill be stapled to the SAVE Act—a voter suppression package dressed up as election security—because if you’re going to keep deportation squads rich and unrestrained, you might as well also make it harder for the wrong people to vote you out. Even if the government shuts down, ICE keeps humming along on its $75bn slush fund from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with agents likely forced to work through the shutdown. The message from Trump’s America is clear: national parks can close, food inspections can pause—but the deportation machine and its body count? That never sleeps.
#killing-democracy#fascism
trump declares dead icu nurse an 'insurrectionist' to protect a taillight
Federal agents stand by a government SUV with a broken taillight, which now apparently carries more presidential concern than the dead ICU nurse who kicked it.
Nothing says "law and order" like the president of the United States posthumously branding a dead ICU nurse an "agitator" and "perhaps, insurrectionist" because he yelled at ICE and broke a government taillight. Alex Pretti, a legally armed VA hospital nurse fatally shot by federal agents in Minneapolis, is now being recast by Donald Trump as a crazed menace based on a newly surfaced video of him shouting at immigration agents and kicking the back of their vehicle. The officer, Trump insists, was "calm and cool"—because nothing screams independent fact-finding like the guy in charge of the shooters issuing the character judgment on social media.
This comes after the White House already tried out a few other labels—"gunman," "domestic terrorist," "would-be assassin"—before quietly walking them back when even Republicans started looking uncomfortable with the speed-run from "citizen" to "terrorist". Pretti’s family, understandably not thrilled that their dead relative is being used as a prop in Trump’s federal-police fan fiction, has condemned the smear campaign. But the administration’s message is clear: carry a gun legally, get killed by federal agents, and the president will personally log on to call you an insurrectionist if it helps justify the shooting.
Meanwhile, Trump claims he wants to "de-escalate" in Minnesota, even as he ramps up the rhetoric and keeps promoting the saintly calm of heavily armed federal officers over the life of a nurse who treated veterans. Border czar Tom Homan is out here begging everyone to "tone down the dangerous rhetoric" while his boss is on Truth Social pouring gasoline on the situation and lighting matches. In other words: citizens should be calm, obedient, and quiet—and if they aren’t, and something bad happens, the president will make sure they’re remembered as the problem, not the people with badges and guns.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
founders died for this: mall turned into trump motor speedway
IndyCars prepare to do 200 mph past the Capitol so Fox can sell truck ads while the Constitution watches from the curb and quietly files for divorce.
Donald Trump has decided that the best way to celebrate America’s 250th birthday is to turn the National Mall into a high-speed billboard with an executive-ordered IndyCar race, because nothing says “constitutional republic” like commandeering federal agencies to stage a televised street carnival for Fox Sports and Roger Penske.
Via an executive order that hasn’t even been made public yet (very normal, very transparent), Trump is directing the Interior and Transportation departments to “expeditiously” ram through permits, design a race route wrapping the monuments, and let Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy “use available funds to facilitate the race”—in other words, crack open the public wallet so billionaires can do burnouts in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks is thrilled, IndyCar owner Roger Penske is honored, and everyone insists this is about “patriotism” and “freedom” rather than a federally subsidized, ad-plastered branding orgy in the middle of what’s supposed to be the nation’s front lawn.
There’s the small issue that advertising is banned on Capitol grounds and IndyCar is basically a 220-mph NASCAR jacket, which might actually require Congress to bless this stunt. But don’t worry: Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office says she’ll “work to make it happen” if the mayor’s on board, because apparently representation for D.C. now means helping the White House turn your city into a corporate race track. Duffy is also told to work with the FAA to allow extra drones and aerial photography over sensitive government facilities, because if there’s one thing this administration loves, it’s casually rewriting safety rules to juice the TV spectacle.
So for America’s 250th, we’re getting a taxpayer-assisted, executive-ordered motorsports infomercial wrapped in a flag and sold as “freedom.” The Founders were worried about standing armies; they didn’t even get to the part where a future president would use the executive branch to build a temporary Trump-branded Monaco around the Washington Monument.
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
schrödinger’s ice surge hits minnesota
Live look at Minnesota, where the forecast calls for freezing temps and a 90% chance of surprise ICE surge depending on whatever Trump blurts out next.
Trump has once again discovered his favorite law-enforcement strategy: say one thing, do another, and then yell about it on TV. After officials announced plans to draw down ICE and other federal agents in Minnesota, Trump publicly contradicted them and suggested the crackdown would, in fact, continue — because nothing says "rule of law" like treating federal policing levels as a campaign rally prop.
In other words, Minnesotans are now stuck in a fun little constitutional experiment where local officials are told one thing in briefings while the president goes on air and demands more boots, more raids, and more chaos. The actual operational plans? Who knows. The point isn’t safety or policy; it’s spectacle. Trump gets to posture as the tough guy, while communities get to live in permanent uncertainty about how many armed federal agents are roaming around this week.
This is the same playbook we’ve seen everywhere else: use ICE and DHS as a personal political branding exercise, then leave everyone else — from mayors to police chiefs to immigrants just trying to live their lives — to sort out the fallout. But sure, tell us again how this is all about "law and order" and not about a president testing how far he can push federal power into states that don’t clap hard enough.
#killing-democracy#fascism#anti-immigration
uline worker quits the fascism fulfillment center
JD Vance delivers economic remarks at Uline, the world’s premier supplier of cardboard boxes, packing peanuts, and soft-focus fascism.
Uline, the Amazon Prime of fascism accessories, just got a very public resignation letter from one of its own. Laura Wittmann, a Canadian customer service worker on the "leadership track," noped out via a company-wide email explaining that she could no longer help fatten the fortunes of Liz and Dick Uihlein—two of Trump’s biggest 2024 megadonors—as America "descends rapidly into fascism." Because nothing says "neutral office supply company" like bankrolling the people dismantling democracy and cheering on border patrol shootings.
The Uihleins, who dropped roughly $139 million on MAGA Republicans and recently hosted Vice-President JD Vance for a little light autocracy pep rally at their Pennsylvania facility, are exactly the kind of respectable extremists Wittmann calls out. She describes their power as the "most insidious form of evil"—the kind that hides behind decorum, policy memos, and political donations while the state kills a mom and a VA nurse in Minneapolis. Meanwhile Liz is still penning scolding letters in Uline catalogs about lazy "nomads" who dare change jobs, blaming the now-gutted Affordable Care Act and stimulus checks for workers realizing they don’t have to grovel forever for the privilege of packing boxes for billionaires.
Wittmann’s parting shot? Higher-than-average pay isn’t generosity; it’s an "assurance of compliance" in service of what she calls the American imperialist war machine. She urges coworkers to stop pretending they’re just selling tape and pallets while their bosses help bankroll the regime tearing up healthcare, unleashing border forces, and expanding "territories they invade." Uline’s response was to scrub the email from inboxes in about 40 minutes—because nothing screams confidence in your values like frantically hitting delete on a conscience.
#killing-democracy#corruption
fbi raid, brought to you by the ministry of election doubt
Tulsi Gabbard, America’s top spy, personally inspecting dusty 2020 ballots like she’s about to uncover the Rosetta Stone of voter fraud instead of starring in a very expensive campaign ad for the big lie.
The Trump administration just sent the FBI to raid the Fulton County election office and seize every 2020 ballot, tabulator tape, ballot image, and voter roll they could get their hands on, because nothing says "confidence in elections" like a federal smash-and-grab of lawfully cast votes from six years ago. This is all in service of the eternal 2020 fan fiction: the big lie that Atlanta was a crime scene instead of the place where Joe Biden actually, verifiably won Georgia – twice confirmed by recounts, and thoroughly debunked by state investigators.
And because this is the Trump era, the clown car comes with its own intel chief: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard personally showed up at the raid, like a cosplay KGB officer looking for "foreign interference" in a county warehouse. Senator Mark Warner politely pointed out that either she has a real intel case and is breaking the law by hiding it from Congress, or she’s turning the supposedly nonpartisan intelligence community into a prop for Trump’s domestic election conspiracy circus. The Wall Street Journal helpfully reports that Gabbard is actually leading the administration’s nationwide hunt for phantom voter fraud – in other words, the DNI is now the president’s chief election denial officer.
Meanwhile, Trump’s DOJ – lovingly reengineered into an anti–voting rights wrecking ball – is filing flimsy lawsuits across the country to hoover up sensitive voter rolls, most of which courts are already swatting down. In Georgia, Fulton County was already in the middle of a legal process to turn over 2020 records after a state board stacked with Trump allies subpoenaed them. A judge had ordered a transfer plan, a hearing was scheduled, and then the feds just kicked in the door anyway, grabbed the ballots, and vanished them into the federal evidence void. Local officials now have no idea where their ballots are or what the administration plans to do with them, but they’re pretty clear on what this is: a staged "criminal" investigation designed to smear election workers, threaten public officials, and keep the base marinating in manufactured doubt heading into 2026 and 2028. But sure, tell us again how this is all about "election integrity" and not about building a permanent excuse for whenever Trump loses.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
state tv, but make it persian
Kari Lake, live from Voice of America, demonstrating how you turn a congressionally funded news service into a taxpayer-subsidized Trump campaign ad in under five minutes.
Kari Lake has discovered a bold new innovation in American broadcasting: why merely appear on Fox, Newsmax, and OANN to worship Trump when you can use U.S. government media to do it, in multiple languages, beamed straight into foreign countries? As the official overseeing the parent agency of Voice of America, Lake went on VOA’s Persian-language service to celebrate Trump’s first year back in office, calling him the "president of peace," repeating his fantasy claim that he ended eight wars, and attacking an "out-of-control judiciary" for daring to rule against Dear Leader. The segment was part of a glowing one-hour Trump special, then rebroadcast on VOA’s Chinese service, because nothing says "independent public broadcaster" like a taxpayer-funded campaign infomercial in two time zones.
The small problem: federal law and agency policies explicitly exist to stop exactly this — political appointees turning VOA into a White House propaganda arm. That’s the whole point of the VOA "firewall": to prevent the ruling party from using government-owned media as a personal hype machine. Lake’s defense is that you can’t tell the story of the "brave Iranian people" without amplifying Trump’s greatness and the "support" they supposedly have for him. In other words, the law doesn’t apply if the propaganda is for freedom. The network she’s trying to dismantle is now being conscripted to glorify the man she serves and to attack his political opponents and the courts — but sure, tell us again how it’s the other guys who love state-run media.
#killing-democracy#fascism
