TTT Live with Olga Lautman and Zev Shalev details Trump's daily actions in eroding democracy and installing himself as an authoritarian leader.
After 100 days of Donald Trump's second presidency, the authoritarian playbook is in full swing with brazen corruption, state-sponsored intimidation, and unprecedented abuse of power. Our tracking reveals a strategic dismantling of democratic guardrails that should alarm every American.
World Liberty Financial: Soliciting Foreign Influence
Trump's crypto venture represents the height of corruption – a blatant end-run around ethics laws allowing foreign governments to purchase policy influence. As Trump dismantles crypto oversight by firing regulators and reshaping policy, his own crypto company simultaneously solicits investments that remain largely untraceable.
This pay-to-play scheme creates a direct pipeline for foreign interests to buy favorable policies. As Senator Chris Murphy noted, this scheme topped his list of 40 corrupt actions during Trump's first 100 days. The Trump family's involvement runs deep, with Eric Trump publicly promoting Tether (whose CEO faced fraud charges months ago) before its price skyrocketed.
Weaponizing Government: 100+ Attacks on "Enemies"
In an unprecedented abuse of power, Trump has weaponized federal agencies against perceived opponents over 100 times in just 100 days. Using executive orders, the Justice Department, FCC, and other taxpayer-funded agencies, he's targeted everyone from law firms and universities to political opponents and media organizations.
These dictatorial actions – targeting Harvard University, the Associated Press, ActBlue (based on dark money-funded disinformation), and numerous others – represent a systematic campaign to silence potential opposition voices. The Friday arrest of a judge crossed yet another line, signaling even more aggressive moves against Democratic leaders and journalists in coming months.
Post Office as Surveillance Arm
In a disturbing development, the U.S. Postal Service has joined DHS Task Force 2020 targeting undocumented immigrants, providing comprehensive surveillance data including mail covers, account activity, package tracking, and IP logs. This unprecedented transformation of mail service into a surveillance apparatus has profound implications.
While currently focused on immigrants, this infrastructure could easily expand to monitor all Americans – tracking our communications, locations, and shipments. Combined with the DOJ's recent memo allowing warrantless searches and the administration's collection of health, tax, and postal data, we're witnessing the construction of a surveillance state that threatens privacy, civil liberties, and even mail-in voting.
REINS Act: Consolidating Authoritarian Control
Buried within legislation being pushed by Republicans is the RAINS Act, which would grant Trump sweeping regulatory powers. This attempted power grab would allow him to fire regulators, take unilateral action across agencies, and operate without congressional approval. Congress is poised to relinquish its oversight role, becoming a rubber stamp for executive overreach.
Kremlin Influence: Ed Martin's Confirmation
Trump's nominee for U.S. Attorney for DC, Ed Martin, exemplifies the administration's ties to foreign influence. Martin appeared on Russian state propaganda outlets over 150 times (for payment), has publicly threatened to prosecute critics of Elon Musk, sent investigation letters to Democratic lawmakers, praised Nazis, and was a "Stop the Steal" organizer.
As interim Attorney for DC, he's already weaponizing the office to protect Trump and silence critics, while having fired January 6th prosecutors and defended insurrectionists.
Tomorrow, May 1st, marks the National Day of Resistance. With protests planned across all 50 states, Americans have an opportunity to push back against this authoritarian tide. These demonstrations are working – making visible what the administration would prefer to implement quietly.
Without sustained resistance at every level, Trump's authoritarian actions will become normalized, encouraging even more extreme measures. The time to act is now.
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