This Week in American Autocracy
📅 April 21–27, 2025 | From Courtrooms to Campaigns—No Opponent Is Safe
7 Alarms You May Have Missed This Week:
1. Two Judges Arrested in a Nationwide Crackdown
Trump’s weaponized Department of Justice arrested two judges in separate states. Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was charged after allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant avoid ICE. Former New Mexico Judge Joel Cano and his wife were charged with harboring a Venezuelan immigrant.
This isn’t law enforcement—it’s an authoritarian warning to the judiciary: comply or be crushed. Trump is targeting the last check on his power, and he’s doing it in broad daylight.
Source: CNBC
2. U.S. Citizen Children Disappeared Without Hearings
In separate incidents, ICE disappeared four U.S. citizen children—including a 2-year-old girl, a child with cancer, and another whose mother is pregnant—with no due process, no legal representation, and no family notification. A federal judge called the 2-year-old’s removal “without meaningful process,” and lawyers say the children were held incommunicado and rushed out of the country before courts could intervene.
Constitutional rights? Not under Trump’s regime.
Source: ACLU of Louisiana and New York Times
3. ActBlue Targeted in Trump’s Authoritarian Campaign
Trump’s DOJ opened a sham investigation into ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s main fundraising platform, without a shred of evidence, in his latest move against the opposition.
The authoritarian playbook: defund the opposition, then criminalize them.
Source: New York Times
4. Musk Surveillance Continues to Expand
Musk and Palantir have embedded themselves deep inside federal systems—tapping into IRS records, employment files, and social data to run real-time “alignment assessments.” Federal workers are now being monitored for ideological loyalty. Immigrants and international students are the test run—but this surveillance dragnet is just getting started.
This isn’t modernization or government “efficiency.” It’s the building of a surveillance state for ideological profiling and target lists.
The Authoritarian Playbook: DOGE, Surveillance, and the Collapse of Democracy
It has been a long 86 days— and feels like a decade—since Trump returned to power. In that time, I’ve been documenting, day by day, the systematic capture of American institutions and the collapse of democracy in my Trump Tyranny Tracker. Not just the headlines, but patterns. While most of the media remain trapped in…
5. Trump’s Election Overhaul Is a Blueprint for Voter Suppression
Trump’s executive order banning barcode vote tabulation and mandating proof of citizenship is a direct attack on modern voting systems. It forces states to replace equipment, disrupts voter access, and overrides the independence of the Election Assistance Commission.
This isn’t about securing elections—it’s about sabotaging them and rewriting the rules to lock in power.
Source: Associated Press
6. The Kremlin’s Payoff Plan for Trump
With Trump back in power, the Kremlin is preparing a “loyalty bonus package” to secure a grand bargain: joint mining ventures, a $15 billion energy complex, U.S. oil access to Russian fields, and the resurrection of Trump Tower Moscow. In return, Trump betrays Ukraine, illegally recognizes Russian-occupied Crimea, pressures Kyiv into surrender, and legitimizes Russia’s genocide and land grabs under the guise of a “peace deal.”
The Kremlin’s Payoff? Russia Prepares 'Hooks' to Buy Off Trump
In less than 100 days since his return to power, Donald Trump has done more to advance Russian interests than decades of Kremlin operations—dating back to the KGB era—could ever achieve. Now, almost three months into his second term, he’s not just continuing the damage—he’s accelerating it, hand…
It’s not diplomacy—it’s a geopolitical bribe to sell out Ukraine and reward authoritarian aggression.
7. Trump’s Crypto Soars After He Offers Dinner to Top Holders
Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin surged over 50% after he offered a black-tie dinner and VIP White House tour to the top 220 holders, netting insiders nearly $900,000 in just two days. This is a brazen pay-to-play scheme, with 80% of the token supply controlled by Trump-linked wallets.
Corruption in plain sight and legalized kleptocracy
Source: NBC News
👊🏼Resistance Spotlight
1. Public Outcry Forces Trump to Restore Women’s Health Funding
After the Trump administration quietly slashed funding for the Women’s Health Initiative—a study tracking 160,000 women’s long-term health outcomes—advocates, scientists, and the public pushed back hard. The regime reversed the cuts this week.
A powerful reminder that organized outrage can still change outcomes.
Source: ABC News
2. Jeffries and Booker Stage Capitol Sit-In Against Trump Budget
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Cory Booker staged a sit-in protest on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, livestreaming an "Urgent Conversation with the American People." They denounced Trump’s proposed 2026 budget, which slashes Medicaid, housing aid, education, and nutrition programs to fund tax breaks for billionaires. They were joined by Senators Chris Coons, Angela Alsobrooks, and Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II.
Source: The Guardian
My Message
“We are not powerless. Every leak, every protest, every reversal proves that coordinated resistance still matters. Do not stay silent!”
What We Can Do This Week
Demand Congressional hearings on judicial arrests and disappearances
Find your reps: 5 Calls to Congress
Share verified journalism on every abuse of power. No act is too small, no overreach too minor to expose. That’s how we fight back—by refusing to let any of it go unnoticed.
Support legal aid groups, whistleblower protection efforts, and independent journalists
Organize locally—protest, build coalitions, defend your community
Refuse to normalize any of this, and most importantly, document everything.5/1- Next National Day of Action
Source: 50501
Substack Live Events
Mark Your Calendar…
and I are teaming up tomorrow at noon EST for a live conversation about Putin, Trump, Ukraine— and the shadowy backroom deals.
We’ll dive into the networks, the kompromat, the hidden agendas, and the betrayals no one’s talking about.
Starting Tuesday, April 29,
and I are taking the Trump Tyranny Tracker LIVE — every weekday at 2 PM EST.
We’ll break down the day’s top headlines, expose the creeping authoritarianism, and connect the dots.
Bookmark it and join us…
Don’t miss our new episode of Pax Americana this Thursday at 11 AM EST on Substack Live that dives into the dangerous intersections between Trump’s U.S. and Putin’s Russia—and what it means for Ukraine, NATO, and the future of American democracy.
In the meantime, catch up on last week’s episode..
I want to point out the good news about Ukraine. Martin Belderson is reporting on Ukraine in his Substack and the news shows that Ukraine has the best trained military in Europe.
https://underreported.substack.com/
He calls it Ukraine: The Under Reported War, because other media are focusing on what Russia accomplishes against Ukraine, but not the other way around. It is so demoralizing for Ukraine.
Just the other day Martin shows time lapse satellite footage of the war over the years, where you can see the fire power of Russia decreasing over time. He is also reporting that Russia is lacking so much equipment that they are sending men out on motor bikes, and that he is sending out crippled brigades. The casualty rate is phenomenal. Ukraine is trying to use drones in place of people to cut their casualties and has the most advanced drones there are. I know that he also reported that Germany is working on making some with the advice of Ukraine. So, of course Putin is dependent on Donald, because he won't win without him, and may not win with him. Trump is a loser, and is backing a loser. I am glad that Zelensky seems to have Trump's number and is not siding with him.
Slava Ukraini!! 🇺🇦
Keep being loud!
Use this spreadsheet to call/email/write any of our representatives as often as possible. Not just your own state reps, reach out to those in other states. Be as loud as you can and share this. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit