This Week in Democracy – Week 2: Chaos, Crashes, Firings, and Funding Freezes
Zeteo's new project to document the ongoing, week-by-week growth of authoritarianism in the Trump second term.
Welcome to Zeteo’s second installment of ‘This Week in Democracy,’ where we document and catalog the Trump administration’s attacks on the American democratic and constitutional order.
Here are just some of the shocking actions President Donald Trump and his allies took over the last week that undermine and threaten US democratic values and institutions:
Saturday, Jan. 25
Stewart Rhodes, the far-right leader of the Oath Keepers whose prison sentence for seditious conspiracy was commuted in week one, attended a Trump rally in Las Vegas.
AP reported that the White House is sending teams to government agencies to screen job applicants to test their loyalty to Trump and “enthusiasm” for his agenda.
Trump said he wants to “clean out” the Gaza Strip and move Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan, which would be an act of ethnic cleansing.
He also directed the US military to lift a hold on the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, one of the only actions the Biden administration took to limit the Israeli government’s mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
Sunday, Jan. 26
The Justice Department removed the database that listed the criminal charges and convictions of (newly-pardoned) Jan. 6 insurrectionists.
Trump pressured the Colombian government into accepting military planes carrying deported migrants by threatening 25% punitive tariffs on all goods coming into the US from the Latin American country. Trump had also called for a travel ban and “immediate visa revocations” of Colombian government officials, as well as allies and supporters.
Trump officials issued a new quota for the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest at least 1,200 to 1,500 people per day, up from a few hundred per day.
Monday, Jan. 27
Trump floated the idea of the US paying a "small fee" to foreign countries to incarcerate Americans who are repeat criminal offenders.
The White House Office of Management and Budget issued a memo pausing all federal grants and loans, including trillions in government spending and public programs that millions of Americans rely on.
The Trump administration fired more than a dozen DOJ lawyers involved in two criminal cases against the president.
Trump signed an executive order banning transgender individuals from enlisting and serving in the military.
He signed another executive order ending diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the military.
Republican attorneys general from 19 states wrote a letter to Costco CEO Ron Vachris that called for the private business to end its diversity, equity, and inclusion policies.
The deputy director for global health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ordered CDC staff to stop communicating with the World Health Organization.
Trump’s top DOJ prosecutor for Washington, DC, announced he was launching a “special project” to investigate the office’s handling of the criminal cases of Jan. 6 defendants.
In an interview on MSNBC, Mike War, who was one of the inspector generals fired by Trump, called the president a “threat to democracy” and to “independent oversight.”
The inspector general of the Department of Agriculture was physically escorted out of her office after refusing to comply with her firing.
Tuesday, Jan. 28
The Defense Intelligence Agency issued a memo suspending the observance of several holidays, including MLK Day, Holocaust Day, Juneteenth, and Pride, as first reported by Ken Klippenstein.
Maye Musk, the mother of Elon Musk, asked her son in a post on X to sue Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell over comments made during a panel discussion on CNN about the Musk salute that was welcomed by Nazis.
Just before CNN anchor Jim Acosta announced he was departing the network, Trump attacked the journalist on Truth Social, calling him a “major sleazebag” and “one of the worst and most dishonest reporters in journalistic history.”
Natalie Winters, a co-host on Steve Bannon’s podcast, was given access to the White House briefing room.
The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted to approve a proposal that would require families to prove their immigration or citizenship status in order to enroll their children in school.
A federal judge temporarily blocked part of the federal funding freeze announced by the Trump administration.
The Trump administration incentivized federal workers to resign by offering so-called “buyouts” in a move that may violate federal law.
Trump signed an executive order seeking to restrict gender-affirming care for children and teenagers under the age of 19.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, dressed in body armor, accompanied ICE to conduct made-for-TV dawn raids on migrants in New York City.
The Trump administration revoked an extension of deportation protections for more than 600,000 Venezuelans in the United States.
Wednesday, Jan. 29
The Trump administration conveniently closed the case against the president’s former co-defendants in the classified documents investigation.
Trump signed an executive order directing the Pentagon and DHS to prepare a migrant detention facility at Guantanamo Bay for up to 30,000 people.
Trump signed the Laken Riley Act into law, giving ICE the ability to detain and deport undocumented immigrants arrested for minor charges like shoplifting, even if they have not been convicted of a crime.
Trump signed an executive order that threatens to cut federal funding from schools that teach about “critical race theory” or “gender ideology.”
Trump signed an executive order that seeks to deport international students who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests.
The Trump administration rescinded the memo freezing federal funding after it caused widespread chaos and provoked multiple legal challenges.
FCC chair Brendan Carr opened an investigation of NPR and PBS to determine whether the organizations have been violating federal law by airing commercials.
The FCC also sent a request to CBS News for the unedited transcript of its '60 Minutes' interview with Kamala Harris.
The Department of Veterans Affairs fired the directors of the Center for Women Veterans and the Center for Minority Veterans.
A lawsuit was filed against the Trump administration, arguing the president illegally exceeded his authority in an effort to politicize the civil service.
More than 1,100 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency received emails that said they were now on probationary status and could be fired immediately.
Thursday, Jan. 30
The New York Times reported that CBS’ parent company, Paramount, is in talks to settle a $10 billion lawsuit filed by Trump before the 2024 election, accusing CBS of deceptively editing a ‘60 Minutes’ interview with Vice President Kamala Harris – an allegation the network denies.
Trump’s unqualified nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, refused to say that Trump lost the 2020 election in a Senate confirmation hearing.
Patel also said he doesn’t know any members of the so-called Jan. 6 choir, despite being a producer on the 2023 song ‘Justice for All.’
Trump signed an executive action blaming Biden and DEI for flight dangers one day after a fatal plane crash in DC killed 67 people.
Pro-Trump billionaire Nicole Shanahan, former vice-presidential candidate for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, threatened to fund primary challengers to senators who don’t vote to confirm RFK Jr. as health secretary.
At least six senior FBI leaders were ordered to retire, resign, or be fired by Monday.
Friday, Jan. 31
The DOJ fired dozens of prosecutors who handled criminal cases stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection.
David A. Lebryk, the highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department, announced his retirement after a rift with allies of Elon Musk over granting them access to a sensitive government payment system.
Musk aides in charge of running the US government human resources agency also reportedly locked career civil servants out of computer systems containing the personal data of millions of federal employees. "We have no visibility into what they are doing with the computer and data systems," one of the officials affected told Reuters.
AP reported that the Trump administration is moving to fire FBI agents involved in investigations related to the president.
A judge granted a temporary restraining order in the federal funding pause case against the Trump administration.
The Pentagon informed its resident press corps that NBC, NPR, the New York Times, and Politico would have to “rotate out of the building” in order to give seats to the New York Post, Breitbart, OANN, and HuffPost. Three of those four outlets are right-wing and pro-Trump; one of them – OANN – is more of a conspiracy site than a news site.
If you are already a subscriber to Zeteo but would like to increase your support for our accountability journalism in this era of Trump and authoritarianism, please do consider a donation, too.
And before you go, check out what Zeteo was up to this week:
‘It’s All About Shock and Awe’: Trump’s Plan to Distract, Overwhelm, and Deplete
In this new episode of ‘Unshocked,’ the first of 2025, Naomi and Mehdi discuss the first ten days of President Donald J. Trump’s second term and his intentional use of “shock and awe” tactics, with his administration issuing a seemingly endless series of draconian and contentious executive orders, including ending DEI in the government, freezing federal money and grants, and ordering ICE to raid migrant communities – including in church!
RFK Jr: His 10 Most Insane Comments and Conspiracies
Vaccine and 5G conspiracies. A dead bear in New York’s Central Park. A soft spot for heroin use.
In response to Trump and his press secretary saying that they know what caused the plane crash because of "common sense".
let’s fight common sense with common sense. The two tragic aircraft accidents happened after the new administration made their firing and cuts. Common sense is that they are a cause. There were no accidents like this for years, until now.
It is common sense that the purges of the inspector generals, prosecutors and at the FBI are because they want to not have their crimes revealed. That’s common sense.
That the want to stop DEI and Black History Month is because they want a white nationalist government and to divide us. That’s common sense.
That they put tariffs on our allies is because they want to destroy their economies and that helps our enemies is common sense.
That they shut down the CDC and NIH and put an anti-vaxer in charge is because they want us to get sick and die. That’s common sense.
That they want to stop public education and ban books is because they want an uneducated public. That’s common sense.
That they stop FEMA is because they want people hurt by natural disasters to lose their properties so that they can come in and get it cheap. That’s common sense.
That they cal the press the enemy is because they don’t want people to know the truth. That’s common sense.
That a white nationalist loyalist is it in charge of the military is because they intend to use it on the people who protest. That’s common sense.
That they stop foreign aid is because they will let our enemies take over those areas. That’s common sense.
That they want to move the Palestinians out of Gaza is because they want that land. That’s common sense.
That the inauguration was moved in doors is because they knew there would be a lousy turnout. That’s common sense.
That the inauguration was a celebration of the billionaires and not the people is because those are the people the government is for. That’s common sense.
That the cabinet is made up of billionaires and few experts is because the government is meant for them. That’s common sense.
That Musk is giving a Nazi salute is because he is appealing g to fellow Nazis. That’s common sense.
That they are pushing out career civil servants and to put in loyalists is because they want a government that will do their bidding. That’s common sense.
That they say they want Greenland and the Panama Canal for national security reasons is because they intend to take it. That’s common sense.
I am stopping here.
I don't like this movie.