This Week in Democracy – Week 4: Mass Firings and a ‘Thursday Afternoon Massacre’
Zeteo's project to document the ongoing, week-by-week growth of authoritarianism in the Trump second term.
To put it bluntly, President Donald Trump’s first four weeks back in office have been nothing short of chaotic, terrifying, and harmful to not only the US democratic and constitutional order but also to Americans and people worldwide.
Unfortunately, his and shadow president Elon Musk’s attacks on democracy show no signs of stopping.
That’s why Zeteo continues to break down just some of the moves Trump, Musk, and their allies have made that weaken democracy, hurt Americans, and undermine the US Constitution. From mass firings to bucking court orders, here’s what happened over the last week:
Saturday, Feb. 8
Elon Musk and Republican Sen. Tom Cotton attacked the judge who temporarily blocked DOGE employees from accessing sensitive Treasury records. Cotton called the judge an “outlaw” and said he “should be forbidden … from ever hearing another case against the Trump admin.”
The Washington Post reported that candidates for top national security jobs have been asked questions about whether the 2020 election was stolen and if Jan. 6 was an “inside job.” Those who answered “no” were not selected for the positions.
Russell Vought, the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), cut off new funding for the agency, saying it’s not necessary.
Richard Grenell, Trump’s envoy for special missions, called for the shutdown of US-funded media organizations Radio Free Europe and Voice of America.
Sunday, Feb. 9
JD Vance falsely claimed that “judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power.”
Grenell called Voice of America reporter Steve Herman “treasonous and said he should be “immediately fired” after he reported what critics of Trump’s move to shut down USAID have said.
The New York Times reported that more than 810,000 people lost money on the $Trump cryptocurrency, but “it was stellar business for the Trumps” with “nearly $100 million in trading fees” flowing to the “family and its partners.”
Trump said, “Canada would be much better off being the 51st state” during a Fox Super Bowl pre-show interview.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem called the FBI “corrupt.”
Trump said Jan. 6 rioters “didn’t assault” anyone and “were assaulted themselves,” adding his pardons were “a great thing for humanity.”
A federal judge granted a temporary restraining order blocking the transfer of three Venezuelan immigrants to Guantanamo Bay.
Monday, Feb. 10
Trump fired the director of the Office of Government Ethics.
A federal judge said the Trump administration violated a court order that temporarily blocked a federal funding freeze and ordered an immediate restoration of frozen funding.
THE CITY news outlet reported that New York City Mayor Eric Adams told top commissioners and officials not to criticize Trump or interfere with immigration enforcement.
Later that day, the Justice Department ordered federal prosecutors to dismiss corruption charges against Adams, arguing the indictment came too close to the 2025 mayoral primary and that it would limit Adams’ ability to cooperate with Trump’s immigration crackdown. According to a DOJ memo, the move comes without “assessing the strength of the evidence or legal theories on which the case is based.”
Trump signed an executive order pausing the enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits US companies and foreign firms from paying bribes to officials of foreign governments to obtain or retain business.
In a Fox interview, Trump said he would “own” Gaza and added that Palestinians would not have the right to return to the territory.
He also claimed that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Oct. 7 would have never happened if the 2020 election “weren’t rigged.”
Vought told CFPB staff not to “perform any work tasks.” The agency also closed the bureau’s Washington office for the week.
The American Bar Association published a statement calling the Trump administration’s “attacks on constitutionally protected birthright citizenship, the dismantling of USAID and the attempts to criminalize” DEI initiatives “wide-scale affronts to the rule of law itself.”
Five treasury secretaries warned in a NYT op-ed titled “Our Democracy is Under Siege” that Musk’s DOGE may violate the Constitution by halting payments that have been appropriated by Congress.
Trump pardoned former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who spent eight years in prison after being convicted of corruption charges. Trump had commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence during his first term.
USAID employees were turned away from the agency’s Washington headquarters, even after a judge temporarily blocked a Trump administration order to put thousands of staff members on paid leave.
A new report from the USAID’s Inspector General’s office raised concerns that the Trump administration’s dismantling of the agency could lead to US funds unintentionally going to terrorist groups.
A federal judge extended a pause on the deadline for federal workers to accept a deferred resignation, pending further court proceedings.
Trump named Grenell as the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center days after he installed himself as the institution’s chairman.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from cutting federal biomedical research funding for equipment, maintenance, utilities, and support staff at the National Institutes of Health after 22 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the plan on the same day.
A third federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship.
A federal judge ordered the reinstatement of Hampton Dellinger as the head of the Office of Special Counsel, which is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, after he was fired last week.
Tuesday, Feb. 11
Elon Musk, along with his son, X, joined Trump in the Oval Office, where he took questions from the press while Trump sat mostly in silence at the Resolute Desk. The unelected “special government employee” assailed the federal bureaucracy as an "unelected, fourth, unconstitutional branch of government" that must be held accountable.
“Maybe we have to look at the judges,” threatened Trump, referring to judicial blocks or stays on some of his executive actions.
The Trump administration fired the independent inspector general for USAID, a day after his office published a report critical of the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency and warned nearly $500 million in food assistance was at risk of spoilage.
A FEMA official defied a court order and ordered a freeze on funding for grant programs that include emergency preparedness and firefighting.
An AP reporter was prohibited from covering an Oval Office event because the news organization’s stylebook uses the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Gulf of America.
The White House told the NYT Musk will file a financial disclosure report to the White House, but as an unpaid ”special government employee,” the report will remain confidential.
A joint statement published by dozens of UN human rights special rapporteurs warned Trump’s attempt to “take over Gaza” would “return the world to the dark days of colonial conquest.”
GOP Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter of Georgia introduced a bill that would authorize Trump to acquire Greenland and rename it Red, White, and Blueland.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) said he plans to draft articles of impeachment against a federal judge who blocked DOGE from accessing Treasury records.
FCC Chair Brendan Carr asked the commission’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Comcast and NBCUniversal for “promoting invidious forms of DEI that do not comply with FCC regulations and civil rights laws.”
Dozens of CFPB probationary employees were fired.
Dr. Lawrence Tabak, the deputy director of the National Institutes of Health, was forced to abruptly retire from the agency.
A federal judge ordered federal health agencies to restore web pages and datasets, including on HIV testing and guidance on contraceptives, that had been removed from their websites.
A watchdog group filed a lawsuit to challenge Trump’s declaration that DOGE records won’t be released to the public until 2034.
Wednesday, Feb 12:
Trump told reporters he would like to see the Department of Education closed “immediately,” calling it “a big con job.”
Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga) said he is drafting articles of impeachment against a federal judge who blocked Trump’s federal funding freeze.
Musk called for an “immediate wave of judicial impeachments.”
Eight inspectors general who were fired from their federal agencies by Trump filed a lawsuit to get their jobs back.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for access to immigrant detainees transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department is suing New York and several state officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James, over sanctuary policies.
Trump signed an executive order giving him more power over the US Diplomatic Corps while calling for “reform” to the Foreign Service.
A federal judge allowed Trump’s federal worker deferred “buyout” program to proceed after issuing a temporary restraining order. Later that day, the administration announced the program was closed.
Denver Public Schools filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to block a new federal policy that allows ICE to conduct enforcement actions at “sensitive” locations like schools and churches.
The New York Times reported that Musk’s X will pay roughly $10 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Trump in relation to the 2021 suspension of his account.
The Senate confirmed Tulsi Gabbard, the unqualified former Democrat and Putin sympathizer, as the new director of national intelligence.
Thursday, Feb. 13
The Trump administration directed agencies to fire nearly all probationary employees – a move that could affect hundreds of thousands of people.
Danielle Sassoon, the acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, resigned from her post in a letter to AG Bondi, writing that New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ attorneys “repeatedly urged what amount[ed] to a quid pro quo” to assist Trump with an immigration crackdown if his case was dropped by the DOJ.
Several other senior officials also resigned over the DOJ’s order to drop the Adams case, with some online calling it the “Thursday Afternoon Massacre.”
The White House barred an AP reporter from covering a news conference with Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Trump’s health secretary.
Attorneys general from 14 states filed a federal lawsuit arguing Trump violated the appointments clause of the Constitution when he created Musk’s DOGE without approval from Congress.
A federal judge extended a pause on the Trump administration’s plan to put thousands of USAID employees on paid leave until at least Feb. 21.
A fourth federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship.
A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump’s executive order to restrict transgender health care for anyone under the age of 19.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate funding for foreign aid while the case moves forward.
Friday, Feb. 14
Hagan Scotten, the lead prosecutor on the federal corruption case against NYC Mayor Adams, became the seventh person to resign over the Justice Department’s efforts to dismiss the case. In a sharply worded resignation letter, Scotten wrote: “Any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way.”
Later, the Trump DOJ asked a judge to dismiss the charges against Adams.
CNN reported that the Trump administration is purging the top leaders at the National Archives and Records Administration, which was the agency asked by the Department of Justice to investigate Trump’s theft of classified documents when he left office in 2021.
On a trip to Germany for the Munich Security Conference, Vice President JD Vance reportedly met with far-right AfD co-leader Alice Weidel but not the German chancellor. (Read more about the anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, pro-Nazi party here.)
AP reported that about one-tenth of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s workforce will be let go after the Trump administration moved to fire all probationary employees. Similar purges of probationary employees were reported or announced across the government, including at the National Park Service, the IRS, the VA, and the Energy Department.
The White House said it would ban AP journalists from the Oval Office and Air Force One because the news agency continues to use “Gulf of Mexico.”
Trump signed an executive order halting federal funding to schools and universities with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, though the order is expected to have little impact as only a handful of colleges still require the vaccine.
A second federal judge paused Trump’s executive order restricting gender-affirming care for trans youth under the age of 19.
Missed the first three weeks? Catch up here.
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As always, thank you for posting this. As a paid subscriber, this is an INVALUABLE resource for me. Please keep it up! 🙏
The shitshow is well on its way. The resistance is down to the courts and brave judges now under attack for applying the law. Danielle Sassoon and some other prosecutor showed the way of how to stand up to Trump's corruption. Neither Christopher Wray, nor any Republican politicians are seen growing a spine.