Author: brletters
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Trump Confession
A government that funds its friends and defunds its opponents is using public money as an instrument of loyalty. This week, Trump administration lawyers admitted in a federal court filing that the Department of Energy canceled 284 grants “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state.” In plain terms: a state voted…
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Trump Foreign Election Fund
Where the United States used to try to export the ideals of democracy, now it has put right wing influence on a grant schedule. On Monday, July 13, the State Department published a grant offer aimed at Europe. Nearly five million dollars, split among two or three winners, including funding for research on mass migration’s…
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Trump Sells Wall Street Faster Access
The president is selling a subscription service to milliseconds of access. On Thursday, Trump Media and Technology Group announced a product they are calling “Truth API.” It will sell the fastest access for trading firms to posts from Truth Social’s ten highest-ranking accounts. The company’s list includes Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and…
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Trump IRS Targets Free Speech
When they tell you what they’re planning, believe them. On July 16, a conference that received little notice was held in the Loy Henderson Conference Room at the State Department, convened by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller. Officially called the…
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Trump Sowing Vote Doubt
It’s easy to see what appears to be the aim of the speech. Leaders in autocracies like Hungary and Venezuela spread doubt about elections they feared losing, then cited that doubt to reject the results. Our midterm elections are coming up in November. The doubt is being sown now. Last night Donald Trump gave a…
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Trump Coin
Today a coin celebrating our independence carries the face of the man in power. Today, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a one-dollar gold coin bearing the face of Donald Trump. The United States Mint will begin making it this year to mark America 250. Until now, the tradition has been that living leaders do not…
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Trump Blacklist
On his first day in office, the president signed an order that purported to end federal censorship. A government blacklist now punishes journalists for telling the truth. Donald Trump keeps a media blacklist, and he has now expanded it to include private individuals. Since last November, the official White House website has hosted a page…
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First Amendment Holds?
For now, the First Amendment held. But states are falling all over themselves to out-MAGA each other and others have passed similar laws. One wonders for how long it can be withstood. This week a federal appeals court ruled that Florida’s so-called Individual Freedom Act violates the First Amendment. The 2022 law, championed by Governor…
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Trump Election Takeover
Elections run by the ruler are elections in name only. This week the Trump administration continued its work to take over elections. On Tuesday, the Justice Department sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and DC, threatening criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting and giving states five days to respond with a plan. Noncitizen…
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Warning Notice
In an autocracy, people measure their words. Americans now must begin to measure theirs. On Monday, U.S. citizen David Streever sued the Department of Homeland Security. He says its agents violated his First Amendment rights by punishing him for criticizing ICE. Streever’s offense was a three-paragraph email sent in January in response to the killings…
Notes To My Future Self 