This Week in Democracy – Week 64: Threatening Genocide, Calling for Journalists to Be Jailed, and Giving Pardons to Everyone?!
Zeteo's weekly round-up, documenting the growth of authoritarianism in Trump's second term.
Welcome to ‘This Week in Democracy – Week 64’ – the week Donald Trump threatened to commit war crimes.
He, of course, pulled back on his threat. And while his announced ceasefire (if it holds) is incredibly welcomed, the leader of the supposed free world explicitly threatening to blow up a “whole civilization” in a country of 90 million people itself underscores Trump’s disregard for humanity and the rule of law. This week could be one of the darkest weeks since we began documenting the rise of authoritarianism in Trump’s America last year.
Of course, Trump’s threats of escalation in a war he had no mandate for from the start weren’t the only things he and his cronies were up to this week.
From genocidal threats to wanting to jail journalists to investigating another perceived enemy, here’s just a taste of what Trump and his allies did this week that undermines the Constitution, harms democracy, and makes the world less safe:
Saturday, April 4 – Rubio’s New Target
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that federal agents arrested those he claimed were the niece and great-niece of the late Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated by the Trump administration in 2020. But in a statement, Soleimani’s daughter said the two “have no connection whatsoever” to her father “and the claims made by the US State Department are false.”
The pair, who were taken into ICE custody and awaiting deportation proceedings, were arrested after Rubio revoked their green cards.
Rubio later quietly deleted a tweet announcing the pair’s arrest.
Sunday, April 5 – Trump Threatens War Crimes
On Truth Social, Trump marked the Easter holiday with an unhinged, expletive-laden post escalating his threats against Iran.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump wrote, adding, “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”
Trump’s post was slammed by several politicians, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Trump’s post “evil,” adding that the president “has gone insane” and everyone in his administration is “complicit” in his “madness.”
Monday, April 6 – Trump Escalates War on Journalists
During a White House press conference, Trump threatened to jail journalists of an unnamed media outlet if they don’t identify their source who revealed that a second US airman was missing after Iran shot down a US fighter jet last week.
“[Iran] didn’t know there was somebody missing until this leaker gave the information,” Trump said. “So whoever it was, we think we’ll be able to find it out because we’re going to go to the media company that released it, and we’re going to say, ‘national security, give it up or go to jail.’”
Tuesday, April 7 – A ‘Highly Unusual’ Investigation
The New York Times reported that the civil rights division of Trump’s Justice Department is investigating former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who implicated Trump in the Jan. 6 insurrection while testifying before Congress in 2022.
The Times described the decision to assign the probe, which is focused on whether Hutchinson lied to Congress, to the civil rights division as “highly unusual,” considering its focus is on enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination.
Wednesday, April 8 – Bondi Backs Out of Deposition
The Republican-led House Oversight and Reform Committee announced that former Attorney General Pam Bondi will no longer appear for a deposition next week to provide testimony about the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files – testimony the White House wanted to avoid.
In a statement, Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) warned that if Bondi defies her subpoena to testify, the committee “will begin contempt charges in the Congress.”
Thursday, April 9 – Final Order of Removal for Mahmoud Khalil
The Board of Immigration Appeals, which Trump has cut in half and stacked with his own appointees, issued a final order of removal for Mahmoud Khalil, bringing him one step closer to being deported.
In a statement, Khalil called the ruling “biased and politically motivated.”
“The only thing I am guilty of is speaking out against the genocide in Palestine – and this administration has weaponized the immigration system to punish me for it,” he added.
Friday, April 10 – Everybody Gets a Pardon!
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has already promised mass presidential pardons to his staff before he leaves office, saying in a private meeting that he’d “pardon everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval.”
The White House didn’t deny Trump had made the promise, but claimed the president wasn’t being serious.
“The Wall Street Journal should learn to take a joke, however, the president’s pardon power is absolute,” press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:
Of course, the promise of future pardons can also serve as an incentive or encouragement for others to commit crimes. This would make Trump a principal participant in the crime under 18 USC sec 2. The claim that he was joking could be an attempted coverup of a crime already set in motion if not communicated to the direct perpetrator. And the determination of these matters would be for a jury to decide.
This is part of the resolution of our present debacle that I dream about.
Something's been disturbing me for a long time now. Even now, after a full four-year term - essentially a period characterized by learning - not the typical things one might expect from most any president, especially one with no experience in government - but distorted, perverse and pathological lessons learned, largely unlike any other president of the post-WWII era, including Nixon, and learned more unconsciously than consciously - with a learning curve that was ascending at it relatively consistent angle, though flattening somewhat between year 2 and year 3, and then ascending erratically through most of year 4. During Biden's term, a time of consolidation took place in Trump's mind, again mostly unconsciously and stimulated & consolidated further by such things as project 2025. The result hit the ground running on day one of his second term and it has not abated. And the Trump phoenix that has risen from the ashes of his first term and inter-term period is still rising and he is like a genetically engineered - or maybe an Android - version of the President Trump of his first term. Trump 2.0 has been wired to largely reject, refuse or prove otherwise incapable of receiving or assimilating the vast majority of external input he receives except in rare and quite limited circumstances. Much of his progressively increasing bizarre, erratic, even psychotic behavior may meet criteria to qualify as dementia or other psycho-physiological diagnoses, but it's onset and the exponential rate of its progression correlate with relatively good fit to this second term. In many ways he's very much like a person may be expected to present who's come out of a sensory deprivation chamber after being in a little too long. But be forewarned. This combined with President Donald J. Trump's highly disturbed narcissistic and sociopathic personality make him extremely dangerous, easily the most pathologically destructive person to ever inhabit the Oval Office. This President Donald J. Trump is absolutely capable, if the levels of stress & feelings of powerlessness are high enough, of ordering what in his mind would be the annihilation and eradication of a civilization such as "Persia" (Iran). Further, in such a situation, if Mr. Trump felt he and his presidency could survive it, or that it would otherwise be in his personal best interest to do so, he would have no moral compunction against the use of WMD's, including tactical nukes.