Press freedom and freedom of speech are being threatened everyday in the United States. Billionaires like Musk and Trump want you to believe that a free press isn’t critical to a democracy. Companies like Fox, CNN, and other mainstream media companies pander, and in some cases have even paid Trump in a preemptive surrendering (looking at you Paramount). I need your support to keep this tiny little space pumping out work. From video explainers, to articles, it would be a huge help if you could subscribe. Thank you so much.
→ A few weeks ago on August 11th, Donald Trump federalized the National Guard, again.
This time, in Washington D.C.
With Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and US Attorney General Pam Bondi by his side, Trump addressed the media and Americans in the Press Briefing Room of the White House on August 11, 2025. Trump announced that AG Pam Bondi would be taking command of the Metro Police Department and DEA Administrator Terry Cole would be the interim federal commissioner of the force.
Also joining his side was a visibly awkward FBI Director Kash Patel, U. S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. All of which will maintain a role in this authoritarian takeover of an independent, free American city with it’s own mayor and city council.
At a glance:
800 National Guard troops were going to be deployed to Washington D.C.
The President had taken direct control of D.C. law enforcement
Trump was using disinformation to push the narrative that D.C. was a crime riddled city.
The disinformation he is using isn’t complicated. He’s suggesting that D.C. is riddled with violence, saying that, “Murders in 2023 reached the highest rate, probably ever. They say 25 years, but they don’t know what that means, because it just goes back 25 years. Can’t be worse.”
We know that’s not true. D.C.’s own metropolitan police data shows us much.
From 2024 to 2025 - Violent Crime is down Down 26% Total:
Robbery - Down 29%
Assault w/ a Dangerous Weapon - Down 20%
Homicide - Down 11%
Sexual Abuse - Down 50%
That flies in the face of Trump’s dangerous lies and rhetoric. But as every day moves forward, we see that an unfiltered and unmanaged Trump is possible because he is able to conduct himself as a pleases with the entire political system bending to his will. With the heads of the Pentagon, AG’s office, the FBI, and D.C.’s AG office behind him, Trump is emboldened to continue pushing the U.S. deeper into an already fascist and authoritarian state.
This brings us to 3 days ago. Fox News (woof, I know… I’m citing them right now) reported an exclusive that the National Guard was going to mobilize up to 1,700 troops to 19 states.
The report states from the DHS that the National Guard is being mobilized “In the coming weeks to assist the Department of Homeland Security with President Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and crime.”
The documents that Fox obtained showed that Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming, were the 19 states who would have national guard troops.
It’s also important to note that the National Guard members have been authorized under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to carry weapons in Washington D.C. And while that is in and of itself uncommon and pretty frightening to see them do, it will be up to the other 19 states as to whether or not they decide to do that.
On Friday in the Oval Office, Trump told reporters, "The big question is how long do we stay? Because if we stay, we want to make sure it doesn't come back. So, we have to take care of these criminals and get them out.”
What this shows us is that he has no plans to remove the National Guard members once they are stationed. He’s not posing that question with any real urgency. There is no genuine timeline because the idea is for it to be permanent. It is intentionally vague, as is a lot of logistics of the Trump administrations policies, especially all of the executive orders. The whole tactic behind not ever giving one single timeline to any of these actions is that they are permanent, so long as a judge doesn’t stop them. And so far we are learning that even if a judge does try to stop them, they aren’t really listening.
This morning during Trump’s Oval Office appearance where he signed more executive actions, including an escalation of the original D.C. militarization, he was asked by a reporter if the Pentagon preparing for military deployment to Chicago. Trump’s response was chilling.
“We're ready to go anywhere.”
Donald Trump, the White House at large, and the extremist right-wing faction of our political landscape has deployed into the cities, towns, and streets of the United States. I’d like you to sit with that for a moment and say that out loud to yourself. Our own National Guard, which is being used as an arm of the federal government, and the U.S. military, has been ordered by our own President to deploy and mobilize into 19 of our states.
If you haven’t heard someone say this already, I’ll say it here. They won’t be leaving this time.
This country is at is deepest, darkest, and most dangerous inflection point in modern history. If you are considering leaving the country, or you are considering making arrangements for your self, your family, your job… now may be the time to activate those plans.
If you are going to stay, the time is now to mobilize. Every single moment that you’ve wondered, 'should I do something, can I do something, I wanted to join that local political group, that protest, run for that local office.' You’d better do it now. The resistance has to be much, much bigger. We need people who are going to be inherently uncomfortable, and even frightened, to join.
The courts are moving too slow. The Trump administration is ignoring them anyways. They are using every single lever of power. The grasp of power that Trump, his government heads, including people like Attorney General Pam Bondi, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, FBI Director Kash Patel, his friendly supreme court judges, and lawmakers in the House and Senate, are all behind Trump in ways not previously possible within the political landscape.
The independent nature of the different departments, government watchdogs, inspectors general, etc., are gone. There is one to push back, or to stop the bleeding within the confines of the U.S. federal government. We’ve seen after 8 months that the democratic establishment won’t do anything either. They weakly showed up when DOGE started walking into government buildings and steam rolling them, they’ve had a few performative actions like Cory Booker standing in the floor for over 25 hours, setting a new record. But overall it’s been mostly spam texts and emails to donate $25 dollars to the cause.
We need to see this for what it is. The beginning of Trump mobilizing the U.S. military on it’s own people to begin taking over the streets of the United States. The very thing that republicans and conservatives alike have been screaming at the rooftops for 30+ years that would happen at the hands of democrats, or the deep state, is happening at the hands of the modern day GOP party. This time it’s not a boogeyman. We are watching it unfold on TikTok, Instagram, Bluesky or whatever other app you doom scroll on, every single day.
Press freedom and freedom of speech are being threatened everyday in the United States. Billionaires like Musk and Trump want you to believe that a free press isn’t critical to a democracy. Companies like Fox, CNN, and other mainstream media companies pander, and in some cases have even paid Trump in a preemptive surrendering (looking at you Paramount). I need your support to keep this tiny little space pumping out work. From video explainers, to articles, it would be a huge help if you could subscribe. Thank you so much.
