Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Grand Designs: the loss of American freedom -- Christina Pagel
https://christinapagel.substack.com/p/grand-designs-the-loss-of-americanExactly seven months into Trump's second term, we have reached 1000 authoritarian actions. Here I lay out the enormity of what has happened.
Death by a thousand cuts
In February 2025, I started tracking any Trump administration action that fell into one of five broad authoritarian domains:
I wrote my first substack post pulling together the actions just three weeks in, at 78 recorded actions. This week, exactly seven months into Trump’s second term, we’ve hit 1000 recorded authoritarian-like actions. The administration is speeding up – it took almost 3 months for the first 250 actions, but the last 250 have come in just one month.
It’s time to take stock of what has happened and shake off the numbness induced by the constant onslaught of activity. Increasingly, the story has shifted from awful things promised to awful things done. This is a longer post than normal – but it needs to be to capture what has happened. All actions can be explored on my website trumpactiontracker.info.
. . .
In February 2025, I started tracking any Trump administration action that fell into one of five broad authoritarian domains:
Undermining Democratic Institutions & Rule of Law; Dismantling federal government
Dismantling Social Protections & Rights; Enrichment & Corruption
Suppressing Dissent & Controlling Information
Attacking Science, Environment, Health, Arts & Education
Aggressive Foreign Policy & Global Destabilisation; Nationalism
I wrote my first substack post pulling together the actions just three weeks in, at 78 recorded actions. This week, exactly seven months into Trump’s second term, we’ve hit 1000 recorded authoritarian-like actions. The administration is speeding up – it took almost 3 months for the first 250 actions, but the last 250 have come in just one month.
It’s time to take stock of what has happened and shake off the numbness induced by the constant onslaught of activity. Increasingly, the story has shifted from awful things promised to awful things done. This is a longer post than normal – but it needs to be to capture what has happened. All actions can be explored on my website trumpactiontracker.info.
. . .