Democracy in America

Despite losing by over 7 million votes, Trump continues to falsely claim the election was stolen:

• AP found fewer than 475 potential fraud cases out of 25.5 million votes (0.002%)
• Trump's AG William Barr: "no proof of widespread voter fraud"
• 60+ court cases found no evidence of widespread fraud

Sources: PBS, PolitiFact, PNAS

A violent mob attacked the U.S. Capitol to stop certification of Biden's victory:

• 5 deaths, over 140 police officers injured, $1.5 million in damage
• Trump told the crowd he would "never concede" and encouraged them to march to the Capitol
• The bipartisan House committee concluded it was the culmination of Trump's plan to overturn the election
• Trump did nothing to stop the attack despite urgent requests to intervene—a "dereliction of duty"

Sources: Wikipedia, Britannica, American Oversight

A coordinated plan to submit fraudulent electoral certificates:

• 84 fake electors across 7 states signed false certificates claiming Trump won
• The plan was for VP Pence to count fake ballots instead of real ones on January 6th
• Pence refused, saying it violated the Constitution
• Multiple participants have been criminally charged in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin

Sources: Wikipedia, NBC News, Just Security

In an hour-long call, Trump pressured Georgia's Secretary of State to overturn Biden's win:

• Trump asked Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes"—exactly one more than needed to flip the state
• Trump implied legal consequences if Raffensperger didn't comply: "That's a criminal offense... a big risk to you"
• Georgia had already certified results 3 times, including once by hand
• A federal judge called the request "obvious in its illegality"

Sources: Washington Post, Axios, Brennan Center

On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned nearly all January 6 defendants:

• ~1,600 people pardoned, including 600+ who assaulted police and 170 who used deadly weapons
• Proud Boys chairman (22-year sentence) and Oath Keepers leader (18 years) received clemency
• The attack injured 140+ police officers—one of the largest mass attacks on law enforcement in U.S. history
• At least 33 pardoned individuals have been rearrested or charged with other crimes since

Sources: NPR, CREW

Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss were falsely accused by Trump and Giuliani:

• They received death threats, were told they'd be "hunted," and had strangers show up to make a "citizen's arrest"
• Freeman received 420+ threatening emails; far-right users called for her execution
• A jury awarded them $148 million in damages for Giuliani's defamation
• Georgia authorities officially cleared them of all fraud allegations

Sources: NBC News, PBS, NPR

Since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013:

• 15,000+ polling places closed nationwide
• Texas closed 750 polling places; Arizona closed 320
• Closing one polling place reduces minority turnout by 19% vs. 5% for white voters
• In Georgia, average wait times were 51 minutes in 90%+ nonwhite areas vs. 6 minutes in 90%+ white areas

Sources: Leadership Conference, Brennan Center, NPR

Partisan legislatures are stripping power from election officials:

• 14+ states passed 23 laws giving legislatures more control over elections
• Arizona stripped powers from the Democratic Secretary of State—with the law expiring at the end of her term
• Georgia demoted its Secretary of State and gave the legislature power to suspend local election officials
• These changes came after officials like Raffensperger resisted pressure to overturn 2020 results

Sources: ABC News, NPR, Stateline

• 79 restrictive voting laws passed 2021-2024 (3x the prior period)
• Supreme Court allowed Virginia to purge 1,600 voters days before the 2024 election
• SAVE Act would end voter registration drives and online registration
• DOJ voting section reduced from 30 lawyers to "just a handful"

Sources: Brennan Center, Wikipedia

The administration defied 1 in 3 judicial rulings against its actions:

• Continued deportation flights despite judge's order to return planes
• Kept federal funds frozen after judge ordered release
• Whistleblower: DOJ official said to "consider telling the courts 'f*** you'"

Sources: Brennan Center, Washington Post

• ~1/3 of federal judiciary targeted with threats in 2025
• Trump called for impeachment of judges who ruled against him
• Judge McConnell: 400+ threatening voicemails, swatted at home
• 84-year-old judge brought gun home from courthouse for protection

Sources: NPR, NBC News, PBS

On January 24, 2025, Trump fired 17 inspectors general in a late-night "Friday night purge":

• Included watchdogs at Defense, State, VA, Energy, Transportation, and HUD
• A federal judge ruled the firings unlawful (violated 30-day notice requirement)
• Over 75% of IG positions now sit vacant
• White House blocked funds to the oversight council that supports IGs

Sources: NPR, Wikipedia, American Oversight

Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency targeted agencies without Congressional approval:

• Targeted CMS, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Dept. of Education, FEMA, NOAA
• Effectively shut down USAID—credited with saving tens of millions of lives through vaccines and HIV/AIDS response
• Internal memo projected hundreds of thousands of excess deaths from USAID shutdown
• Claimed $214 billion in savings, but reports show numbers were inflated or fabricated

Sources: ABC News, Wikipedia, NPR

A systematic effort to replace civil servants with political loyalists:

• Over 100,000 federal workers fired or pushed out
• New job applicants must write essays on how they'd advance Trump's policies
• Unions sued, calling it a "thinly veiled political loyalty test" violating the First Amendment
• Aligns with Project 2025's goal to "replace federal workers hired on merit with political loyalists"

Sources: Axios, Federal News Network, Government Executive

Reclassifying federal employees to make them easier to fire:

• ~50,000 federal employees reclassified as at-will workers
• Can be fired without cause or appeal for "subversion of Presidential directives"
• Lawyers warn reclassified workers lose whistleblower protections
• Key component of Project 2025, designed to replace career civil servants with loyalists

Sources: NPR, Axios, Protect Democracy

The U.S. dropped to 57th out of 180 countries on the World Press Freedom Index—the lowest ever:

• Trump made 215+ anti-media posts, calling journalists "enemy of the people" and "human scum"
• Banned AP from press events; removed CNN, NYT, NPR from Pentagon offices
• 5 defamation lawsuits against media outlets; rescinded protections for reporters' phone records
• 32 journalists arrested, 170 assaulted in 2025; 500+ Voice of America employees fired despite court injunction

Sources: Poynter, Columbia Journalism Review, Reporters Without Borders

The DOJ created a "Weaponization Working Group" to investigate Trump's critics:

• James Comey indicted (later dismissed by judge)
• Letitia James subpoenaed; grand juries declined to indict
• Adam Schiff publicly targeted by Trump demanding prosecution
• Over 100 prosecutors resigned, citing political interference
• DOJ announced plans to publicly "name and shame" people they lack evidence to prosecute

Sources: Protect Democracy, NPR, TIME

The administration froze, cancelled, or blocked over $410 billion appropriated by Congress:

• The Impoundment Control Act (1974) and a unanimous Supreme Court ruling both prohibit this
• Republican Sen. Susan Collins: "a clear violation of the law"
• OMB Director declared the law's constraints "unconstitutional"—pushing for Supreme Court case
• Article I of the Constitution gives Congress, not the President, "the power of the purse"

Sources: NPR, CBPP, NBC News

Trump imposed tariffs without Congressional approval using emergency powers:

• Average tariff rate rose from 2.5% to 27%—highest in over a century
• Used IEEPA (meant for crises like hostage-takings) to bypass Congress on trade policy
• Federal appeals court ruled tariffs illegal—no "rational connection" between fentanyl emergency and tariffs
• Supreme Court heard arguments November 2025; decision could reshape limits on presidential power

Sources: Tax Foundation, Brennan Center, PIIE

Systematic obstruction of Congress's oversight role:

• During first term, refused to cooperate with over 100 congressional investigations
• Directed officials not to provide information; fired those who did
• House Judiciary proposed legislation to limit judges' authority to hold officials in contempt
• Legal experts: "We've never quite seen anything like this before"

Sources: Co-Equal, Brennan Center, American Oversight

• 226 executive orders in under a year (more than entire first term)
• 39 judges from 5 presidents ruled against overreaching actions
• Attempted to change federal election rules unilaterally (Constitution reserves this to Congress/states)

Sources: Washington Post, CAP

• National Guard deployed to D.C., L.A., Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans against local wishes
• Courts blocked deployments as unconstitutional (Posse Comitatus Act, 10th Amendment)
• 911 calls dropped in targeted neighborhoods—residents fear police/ICE connection

Sources: Capital B, Marshall Project

Executive order attempted to end birthright citizenship (14th Amendment right since 1868):

• 4 federal judges ruled it unconstitutional
• Judge Coughenour called it "blatantly unconstitutional"
• Judge Boardman: "conflicts with plain language of the 14th Amendment, contradicts 125-year old Supreme Court precedent"

Sources: ACLU, SCOTUSblog

Supreme Court (7-2) found due process violations—only ~24 hours notice before deportation:

• 290,000+ detained through mid-October 2025
• Documented beatings, medical neglect, denial of counsel
• Kilmar Abrego Garcia mistakenly deported; administration said it can't bring him back

Sources: Courthouse News, Vera Institute

Trump invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act—previously only used during declared wars:

• 137+ Venezuelans deported to an El Salvador prison without hearings
• Supreme Court (7-2) found due process violations: only ~24 hours notice, no information on how to challenge removal
• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal Maryland resident, deported by "administrative error"—administration says it cannot bring him back
• Several American citizens were also mistakenly detained and deported

Sources: ACLU, NPR, Courthouse News

Executive orders targeted law firms that represented Trump's adversaries:

• Firms targeted: Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, Susman Godfrey, Jenner & Block, and others
• All 4 lawsuits resulted in orders ruled unconstitutional
• Violations found: First Amendment (retaliation), Fifth Amendment (due process), Sixth Amendment (right to counsel)
• At least 9 firms cut deals agreeing to provide hundreds of millions in pro bono work for causes Trump supports

Sources: Wikipedia, NPR, First Amendment Encyclopedia

Trump revoked security clearances from 50+ former officials as political retaliation:

• Targets included Biden, Harris, Clinton, Comey, and 51 intelligence officials who signed a letter criticizing Trump
• August 2025 memo accused them of "politicization of intelligence" but offered no evidence
• Targets included figures from Trump's first impeachment and those who worked on Russian election threats

Sources: NPR, NBC News, Federal News Network

Legal residents arrested and detained for protest activity:

• Mahmoud Khalil (Columbia): Legal U.S. resident, pro-Palestine protest leader, arrested by ICE without being charged with a crime
• Rümeysa Öztürk (Tufts): PhD student detained; judge said her "continued detention potentially chills the speech of millions"
• No criminal charges—detained for constitutionally protected speech

Sources: ACLU, The Conversation, IBA

Universities punished for protected speech and academic freedom:

• Nearly $6 billion frozen at 9 universities, ostensibly over antisemitism
• Harvard sued, calling it unconstitutional retaliation for protected speech
• Columbia agreed to a $200 million fine to restore funding
• Demands included: ideological litmus tests for students, audits of "disfavored" departments, eliminating diversity programs
• Administration banned international students at Harvard (blocked by judge); arrested foreign students for protest activity

Sources: PBS, Inside Higher Ed, Harvard Magazine

Expanding restrictions on immigration from Muslim-majority countries:

• Citizens from 12 countries banned: Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and others
• Partial restrictions on 7 additional countries
• Critics call it an expansion of the "Muslim Ban"
• Legal scholars: enables denial of entry based on political views, religious beliefs, and cultural background

Sources: Council on Foreign Relations, CNN, Brennan Center

Systematic rollback of LGBTQ+ rights despite Supreme Court precedent:

• Day 1 orders: recognized only two genders, revoked federal protections for LGBTQ workers
• Transgender people banned from military with dishonorable discharge
• EEOC instructed to stop investigating transgender discrimination—despite 2020 Supreme Court ruling (Bostock) that it's illegal
• Supreme Court (6-3) allowed banning trans people from accurate gender markers on passports
• Over 75% of Project 2025's anti-LGBTQ+ policies have been implemented

Sources: ACLU, Human Rights Watch, LGBTQ+ Bar Association

Weakening protections against unreasonable searches and surveillance:

• Fired Democratic members of Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board—now lacks quorum for investigations
• FBI Director Kash Patel eliminated the office that audited FISA surveillance
• Combined previously siloed Social Security, IRS, and student loan databases
• Supreme Court approved immigration sweeps critics say "shattered" protections from unreasonable search and seizure

Sources: ACLU, Nextgov, CBS News