This Week in American Autocracy
📅 June 23–June 29, 2025 | Trump is spreading Iran disinformation, dismantling safety nets, and expanding mass surveillance. What we’re watching is an authoritarian regime in action.
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📰 Top Stories You May Have Missed This Week
GOP Bill Has $1.1 Trillion in Health Cuts and 11.8 Million Losing Care, C.B.O. Says
A new Congressional Budget Office analysis shows the Senate GOP health bill would slash over $1.1 trillion from Medicaid, Medicare, and Obamacare—leaving 11.8 million more Americans uninsured by 2034. Meanwhile, the House-passed version of the bill would add $3.4 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade, according to the CBO.
The GOP bill would slash $1.1 trillion from health care, leaving 11.8 million uninsured—while adding $3.4 trillion to the deficit to fund tax cuts for the rich. This is the biggest transfer of wealth in a generation—ripping care from the vulnerable to make the rich even richer.
Source: New York Times
Intercepted call of Iranian officials downplays damage of U.S. attack
Intercepted Iranian communications suggest Trump’s strike on Iran’s nuclear sites caused less damage than claimed. While Trump insists key facilities were “obliterated,” Iranian officials were heard saying the impact was limited. Intelligence sources and lawmakers dispute Trump’s version of events, with some assessments warning Iran’s program may only be delayed by months, not years.
Trump is selling lies of total victory, while pressuring agencies to shape intelligence to fit his narrative. It’s propaganda over truth, and it’s dangerously distorting the realities, posing a danger to U.S. national security.
Source: Washington Post
Donald Trump and Sean Hannity Set Off a Wave of Disinformation After Iran Bombing
After the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites, Trump falsely declared total victory using a fake OSINT post and old footage. Sean Hannity echoed the same disinfo with a mislabeled explosion video. Trump’s military contradicted his claims, and MAGA influencers scrambled to justify or walk back his regime change push.
This is how dictators operate—flooding the zone with propaganda to further their agenda. Trump is twisting reality and spreading disinformation to cover up what may have been a limited or inconclusive result in Iran, and it’s dangerously reckless.
Source: WIRED
Florida to receive federal funds to build immigration detention sites, including "Alligator Alcatraz," Noem says
Florida has seized remote Everglades land using emergency powers to construct “Alligator Alcatraz,” a 5,000-bed immigration detention center. The $450 million facility, built without public debate or legislative oversight, is going up in days using FEMA trailers and tents in over 100-degree heat with no cooling. DHS is backing the project, with DeSantis leading the effort despite opposition from local officials, Native leaders, and environmentalists. State officials say it will house up to 5,000 detainees with “no way in, no way out.” On top of it, they are flaunting this cruelty.
This dystopian facility is state-engineered cruelty. Alligator Alcatraz is a modern concentration camp designed to punish and disappear people, not protect the public—and will inevitably lead to grave human rights violations.
Source: The Guardian
‘They're Not Breathing’: Inside the Chaos of ICE Detention Center 911 Calls
A WIRED investigation uncovered hundreds of emergency 911 calls from ICE detention centers, revealing a spike in medical crises—many involving pregnant women, suicide attempts, overdoses, and alleged sexual assaults. Detainees were often denied care, delayed in treatment, or held in overcrowded, understaffed facilities. Stewart Detention Center in Georgia had the most in-custody deaths since 2017 and tripled its emergency calls this year. Some detainees died or suffered serious injuries after staff failed to respond or blocked medical calls.
Trump's mass detention policy has overwhelmed the system, gutting oversight and turning immigration detention into a death trap. With watchdog offices dismantled and private prison contractors profiting, detainees face human rights abuses, dangerous conditions, forced neglect, and abuse—with no accountability or oversight.
Source: WIRED
A New Trump Plan Gives DHS and the White House Greater Influence in the Fight Against Organized Crime
Trump is dismantling a decades-old DOJ program to fight organized crime and replacing it with White House- and DHS-led task forces steered by Stephen Miller. Prosecutors will lose control over investigations, giving political appointees power to decide which cases to pursue.
Trump and Miller are bypassing legal norms to centralize law enforcement in the executive branch—undermining independent prosecutors, sidelining federal agencies, and politicizing criminal cases. It opens the door for allies to pay to shut down investigations while opponents face sham probes.
Source: ProPublica
Trump is making an unprecedented reach for data held by states
Trump officials are demanding unprecedented access to state-held databases containing sensitive personal data—ranging from Medicaid and SNAP recipients to voter rolls and DMV records. Under a sweeping executive order, agencies like the unauthorized DOGE and DHS are consolidating this data to target immigrants, detect “fraud,” and build vast surveillance capabilities.
Trump is centralizing data control under the executive branch, bypassing privacy safeguards and civil liberties. He’s turning public systems into surveillance tools to punish immigrants, monitor dissent, and exert control—just like authoritarian regimes do.
Source: NPR
Norwegian Tourist Says He Was Denied U.S. Entry Over J.D. Vance Meme
A 21-year-old Norwegian tourist says ICE agents blocked his entry to the U.S. after finding a meme mocking J.D. Vance on his phone. The incident is part of a broader pattern under Trump, where foreign travelers are reportedly turned away for political or personal views. Also, officials are now demanding that anyone entering the country set their social media to public.
Let that sink in.. Travelers are being screened not just for security threats, but for speech. Under Trump, border vetting has become ideological—chilling free expression and turning political views into grounds for denial.
Source: TIME
Purple Heart Army Veteran Self-Deports After 50 Years in U.S.
Sae Joon Park, a 55-year-old South Korean-born Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient, left the U.S. under threat of deportation by ICE. Despite decades of legal residency, service in Panama, and raising a family in Hawaii, past drug convictions barred him from citizenship and made him a Trump target.
A combat-wounded veteran who served honorably was forced out of the country he defended—underscoring the cruelty and reach of Trump’s immigration crackdown, even against America’s soldiers.
Source: The Guardian
Trump’s Name Could Adorn Tel Aviv Hotel, Becoming a Symbol or a Target
The Trump Organization held preliminary talks this spring to brand and manage the under-construction Sarona Hotel in Tel Aviv—just steps from where an Iranian missile landed last week. The deal, discussed by Eric Trump, would mark the family’s first major real estate venture in Israel.
Trump continues turning U.S. foreign policy into a vehicle for personal gain, tying American interests to his real estate and crypto deals in one of the world’s most volatile regions.
Source: New York Times
Trump may name a ‘shadow’ Fed chair, an unprecedented development in American history
Trump plans to name a “shadow” Federal Reserve chair nearly a year before Jerome Powell’s term ends, an unprecedented move meant to pressure the Fed into cutting interest rates. He’s publicly demanding a loyalist who will lower rates, despite market and economic concerns.
Trump isn’t just bullying the Fed—he wants a shadow Fed to serve his agenda. He’s politicizing monetary policy, gutting its independence, and destroying trust in one of the last neutral institutions.
Source: CNN
👊🏼 Resistance Spotlight
7/17- Next National Day of Action
Check out the link for other local events…
Source: 50501
Protesters rally at US sheriffs meeting to oppose partnerships with immigration authorities
Activists rallied outside a national sheriffs' conference in Florida, demanding an end to ICE partnerships that deputize local officers under Trump’s deportation agenda. A petition with 12,000+ signatures was delivered. Protests also erupted in Oregon outside an ICE facility.
Source: The Guardian
Obama Calls for Mass Resistance Against Trump’s Agenda
🎙️ Substack Live Events
Don’t forget to tune into Trump Tyranny Tracker LIVE with Zev Shalev—Monday through Friday at 2:00 PM EST.
Don’t miss Julie Roginsky and my new episode of Pax Americana this Thursday at 11 AM EST on Substack Live. We dive into the dangerous intersections between Trump and Russia—and what it means for Ukraine, NATO, and the future of American democracy.
And in the meantime, we have a complicit and enabling of the CIA and FBI who refuse to even investigate the Russian infiltration of the country. Prime example the pathetic so called secret service, more worried about posting on fb than they are about stopping the Russian takeover of the country. Thank you Olga for everything you do, everyday. Slava Ukraine
They are the definition of an organized crime syndicate. What they don't want any completion, now?