James Comey’s arraignment marks the transition Olga Lautman identified months ago—from installing loyalists to deploying them. The former FBI director pleaded not guilty to charges even legal observers consider fabricated, but conviction isn’t the point. The spectacle is the point. The chill on everyone watching is the point. The message to current government employees, to Democrats in Congress, to anyone considering speaking out: this could be you.
Olga’s assessment cuts through the noise: Comey will likely prevail because the judiciary still holds. But the damage is already done. The process is the punishment—the legal fees, the emotional bandwidth, the public humiliation of a perp walk. Every liberal-minded person in government is calculating right now whether their next statement is worth this treatment.
When Federal Agents Attack Their Own
Chicago delivered the most visceral evidence of how far operational lawlessness has spread. Twenty-seven Chicago police officers were hit with tear gas deployed by federal agents after those same agents called for backup. The officers responded to what was reported as a shooting situation involving ICE agents.
But body camera footage tells a different story. According to attorneys who obtained the video, ICE agents were aggressive with a woman who had been released pending court proceedings. The agents screamed obscenities, pulled over, and shot her five times. When protesters gathered and local police arrived to assist, federal agents deployed chemical weapons while officers were still on scene, leaving them coughing and disoriented.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s initial story painted the woman as armed and dangerous, boxing in ICE agents. The body cam footage shows ICE agents realized they were being recorded and started choosing their words more carefully. This pattern—government officials fabricating the initial story, reality emerging later through leaked footage—is what Olga describes as operating like Russia, except Russia maintains more systematic control. What we’re seeing is lawless thuggery without even the veneer of procedure.
Texas Governor Abbott sent his National Guard to Chicago in a theatrical display of red state versus blue state conflict, despite Texas having higher crime rates than Illinois across all categories. Trump threatened to arrest Governor Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson. Federal-state warfare is no longer theoretical—it’s playing out in real time with chemical weapons.
Targeting the Witnesses
The violence in Chicago triggered a federal lawsuit from journalists, unions, and protesters documenting extreme brutality against credentialed reporters and clergy. The 52-page complaint details pepper balls and tear gas attacks on people exercising First Amendment rights outside an ICE facility.
Olga documented this pattern in Los Angeles and Georgia—federal agents specifically targeting journalists to prevent documentation of their actions. The strategy is transparent: make covering these operations dangerous enough that media stops showing up. Combined with friendly billionaires buying up news organizations, the information space comes under control from both ownership and street violence.
Erasing Inconvenient Laws and Facts
While Chicago burned, the Office of Management and Budget quietly deleted references to the 2019 law guaranteeing back pay to furloughed federal workers—a law Trump himself signed. Six hundred twenty thousand workers could lose protections because the administration simply erased the statute from guidance documents.
This follows the pattern of pulling down inconvenient data. After the Charlie Kirk shooting, DHS removed reports showing far-right domestic terrorism resulted in over 500 deaths compared to 17 from far-left actors. When facts don’t serve the narrative, delete them.
Olga’s warning about fabricated data extends beyond domestic politics. International investors rely on American economic data because of rule of law. Once job numbers, inflation rates, and government reports become suspect, capital flight accelerates. America’s economic strength rests on institutional credibility that’s being dismantled in real time.
The Wikipedia Front
Senator Ted Cruz demanded documents from Wikipedia about source reliability standards because the platform classifies Fox News as unreliable and MSNBC as generally reliable. Olga noted the only other country she’s seen attack Wikipedia this way is Russia, which banned, threatened, and sued the platform to erase truthful information about oligarchs.
Cruz wants Breitbart, OAN, and potentially Russian state media classified as reliable sources. The goal isn’t honest debate about media bias—it’s redefining what constitutes factual information. Control the information space, control the population’s understanding of reality.
The Strategy Gap
Olga’s prescription for resistance involves coordination that hasn’t materialized. Link existing grassroots movements under unified objectives. Target specific demands—no masked agents without insignia and ID. Organize simultaneous protests at symbolic locations while separate groups call lawmakers and flood social media. Win one issue, move to the next, escalate to national strike if necessary.
The furry costume protest she references from Portland demonstrates how creative resistance can neutralize violent response—harder to justify attacking people dressed as dinosaurs and unicorns. But creativity without coordination dissipates impact.
The military pushed back. The judiciary is holding. But the fourth pillar—organized popular resistance—remains fragmented while the administration consolidates control over information, institutions, and the capacity for violence. The October 18th protests represent a test of whether coordination can emerge before the window closes.
The Trump Tyranny Tracker airs Monday-Friday at 2pm ET on Narativ.org, tracking authoritarian developments and the resistance forming against them. Follow Olga Lautman’s essential documentation at Trump Tyranny Tracker on Substack.
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