Week 49 — The Return

This week had the sharp scent of authoritarianism, as Trump and members of his regime continued to put forth actions to block free speech. Ironically, this comes after a centerpiece of the right’s complaints in the 2024 election, and prior, was being censored, and Trump’s myriad of lawsuits over the same. Wide-ranging examples of restricting free speech this week included castigating a singer for his lyrics; firings and revoking visas over comments critical of Charlie Kirk; forcing a social media company to remove content; and attempting to restrict media access to the Pentagon.

The paradox noted this week by an NYT columnist was that while Trump promoted peace abroad, he was siccing the U.S. military on its citizens in Democratic-run cities. Portland poked fun at Trump’s invented crisis there, dressing up in costumes to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence. Things took a turn for the worse in Chicago, as ICE agents used tear gas on residents, including police officers and onlookers.

The mood of the country remained largely somber, and increasingly divided, not only by party and ideology, but also in the broadening gap between those who have access and are benefiting from Trump’s economic actions, versus those who have seen their financial well-being negatively impacted. Trump and White House budget director Russell Vought seized on the continuing government shutdown to devastate agencies, cutting jobs in what Trump called “Democrat-oriented” positions, including the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The implications of the regime’s continuing federal employee cuts are already being felt well beyond blue states and cities.

1. In an usual acknowledgment, the regime’s Labor Department said Trump’s immigrant crackdown is hurting farmers and “the stability of domestic food production and prices for U.S. consumers,” and unless the department provides a stable source of labor, “this threat will grow.”
2. The Labor Department also contradicted the Agriculture Department, which said the U.S. farm workforce will become “100 percent American,” saying Americans do not want these jobs, and lack the skills to fill the jobs previously done by undocumented immigrants.
3. NYT reported that dozens of coal miners with black lung disease and their families planned to protest outside the Labor Department, saying the Trump regime has cast them aside to die by not enforcing federal limits on silica dust, a known carcinogen.
4. The Brookings Institute found only 2 of Trump’s 98 appointees for Senate-confirmed senior leadership roles so far were Black. Trump and his regime have also fired a large number of Black leaders from positions that typically serve multiple presidential administrations.
5. Black unemployment has surged under Trump due to Trump’s federal government layoffs, as well as his assault on diversity initiatives, both of which employ a disproportionate number of Black Americans. African American unemployment surged from 6% to 7.5% in four months.
6. An annual survey by Deloitte found 57% of U.S. consumers said they expected the economy to weaken in the year ahead, up from 30% a year ago, and the most negative outlook on record since the survey started in 1997.
7. Dominion Voting Systems, the company at the center of the 2020 election conspiracy theories, and which settled a defamation suit with Fox News for $787 million, was sold to Liberty Vote, which is owned and run by Scott Leiendecker, a former Republican election official.
8. Dominion machines were used in 27 states in 2024. Leiendecker said his goals aligned with Trump’s, parroting Trump on restoring trust in elections and using paper ballots, and also will comply with Trump’s executive order, parts of which have already been blocked by the courts.
9. On Monday, numerous news outlet, including WSJ, NYT, WAPO, Reuters, the AP, the Atlantic, and conservative Newsmax said they would not sign the Pentagon’s new press policy restricting journalists’ communication with military sources by the Tuesday deadline.
10. The outlets say the policy threatens them for routine reporting protected by the First Amendment. Defense Department Secretary Pete Hegseth reacted on X to a statement by the Times with a hand-waving emoji. Outlets that refuse to sign were said to lose their press badges.
11. Several more news outlets on Tuesday, including ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News, Hegseth’s former employer, said they would not sign. They said in a statement, “Today, we join virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon’s new requirements.”
12. The statement added, “The policy is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections. We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press.”
13. WAPO reported Defense Department documents show that on order from Sec. Hegseth, the agency is investigating nearly 300 Defense Department employees, including service members, civilian workers, and contractors, for their comments about the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
14. The move, which seemed aimed at silencing any criticism of Kirk, a polarizing figure, alarmed former defense officials, noting that the military is expected to remain loyal to the Constitution, not a party or president.
15. Politico reported Hegseth’s recent sudden firing of Jon Harrison, the Navy chief of staff, as well as other Navy officials, has compounded a culture of fear inside the Pentagon. Most firings have come suddenly and without explanation, leading to a deep sense of uncertainty.
16. The State Department revoked visas of foreign citizens who had criticized Kirk, and would reject visa applications from those who criticized him, raising First Amendment concerns.
17. WSJ reported that Trump is feeling emboldened after facing little pushback to his agenda in the first nine months. He has even told aides that he is shocked how easy it has been. Top advisors in Trump’s White House joke that they are ruling Congress with an “iron fist.”
18. NYT reported that federal judges appointed by both parties are concerned about a judicial crisis. Of those asked, just 12 said the Supreme Court made proper use of the emergency docket, while 47 disagreed and six were neutral. All those who agreed were Republican.
19. Of the 65 judges who replied to the Times questionnaire, 12 said the Supreme Court gave sufficient guidance about how to apply their order, 48 disagreed, 5 were neutral. 42 said the use of the emergency docket could harm public perception, 2 improve, 10 no effect.
20. WSJ reported that after former president Joseph Biden commuted the death sentences of 37 convicted murderers before leaving office, Trump ordered the life sentences the men are serving to be made into a living hell, including 23 hours a day in solitary confinement at the harshest prison.
21. Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem attacked country music singer Zach Bryan over lyrics in his song, that ICE “is going to come bust down your door,” posting on X that the song was “completely disrespectful,” and attacks individuals “just trying to make our streets safe.”
22. The White House also attacked Bryan, saying he wants to “‘Open The Gates’ to criminal illegal aliens and has ‘Condemned’ heroic ICE officers.” Bryan, a Navy veteran, said he was embarrassed and scared, adding, “Left wing or right wing, we’re all one bird and American.”
23. WAPO reported FBI data shows nearly one-quarter of the bureau’s roughly 13,000 agents are assigned to immigration enforcement, with up to 40% at the bureau’s largest field offices. Current and former agents say morale is low due to the shift away from traditional work.
24. NYT reported FBI Director Kash Patel fired two FBI agents who were bureau veterans with excellent performance records, because they had worked with former special counsel Jack Smith, as identified in documents obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley.
25. Grassley has been working with the Trump regime to purge FBI agents he baselessly claimed were part of Biden-era weaponization of the bureau against Trump. Many of the agents targeted already had little say over what cases they were assigned to.
26. Jack Smith spoke out against the Trump regime’s actions, in a rare interview, saying, “I think the attacks on public servants, particularly nonpartisan public servants — I think it has a cost for our country that is incalculable,” and warned about the independence of the judiciary.
27. Smith said of Trump firing prosecutors, “The idea that politics played a role in who worked on that case, or who got chosen, is ludicrous,” and added, “Nothing like what we see now has ever gone on.”
28. Republican Senators blocked a measure put forth by Democrats, in a 51–48 vote, which would have blocked Trump from using military force against boats that the regime says are Venezuelan drug cartels without authorization from Congress.
29. On Tuesday, Trump posted on Truth Social that the military killed six people in a boat “just off the Coast of Venezuela,” the fifth such attack by the military since September 2. The military had thus far killed 27 people as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone.
30. Reuters reported that the Trump regime had revoked more than 50 visas of Mexican politicians and government officials, claiming they had suspected ties to drug cartels, in a new front in the regime’s drug war.
31. Mark Bray, a professor at Rutgers University who is an expert on antifa, fled the U.S. with his family after receiving death threats, following Trump characterizing the left-wing antifascist movement as “domestic terrorists.”
32. WSJ reported Trump had meant to send a private message to AG Pam Bondi urging her to prosecute Comey and others, saying, “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” but by mistake posted that message publicly on social media.
33. Trump aides, DOJ officials, and Virginia Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin had urged him to keep prosecutor Erik Siebert, but Trump did not listen. Instead, Trump-installed loyalists have pressed for investigations of a range of his perceived enemies.
34. Dozens of prosecutors have resigned for fear that actions Trump pushed them to take would get them disbarred. The section charged with investigating public corruption is down from 30 prosecutors to two, and the national security division has lost half of its personnel.
35. Among those being targeted with investigations are officials appointed by Trump, including former national security adviser John Bolton and former FBI director Christopher Wray, along with New York AG Letitia James and former CIA director John Brennan.
36. On Thursday, a grand jury in Virginia indicted James on bank fraud and false statement charges. The indictment said she falsely claimed that a home in Norfolk would be a second home, but used it as a rental property, allowing her to save $19,000 in costs, or $50 per month.
37. The prosecutor was, again, Trump’s newly appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, who said, “No one is above the law.” The single-page criminal case cover sheet filed with the indictment wrongly listed the state where James lives as “Brooklyn NJ.”
38. James was first referred to the DOJ for prosecution in April, but prior officials did not take the case forward. The indictment was widely condemned by attorneys general, Democrats in Congress, and Democratic politicians in her state of New York.
39. NYT reported that AG Bondi and her deputy were not given advance notice that Halligan planned to indict James, nor was the associate deputy attorney general who oversees the work of U.S. attorneys informed, both of which were highly unusual.
40. On Sunday, Trump suggested on Truth Social that Sen. Adam Schiff could be next, baselessly referring to “The Ukraine Impeachment (of me!) Scam” and an “Illegal Hoax,” and said authorities and Congress should look into Schiff whom he called “dishonest and corrupt.”
41. On Sunday, Trump baselessly and falsely claimed in a Truth Social post that “THE BIDEN FBI PLACED 274 AGENTS INTO THE CROWD ON JANUARY 6,” adding, “If this is so, which it is, a lot of very good people will be owed big apologies,” and calling it a “SCAM.”
42. CNBC reported that after a call from Bondi, Meta removed a Facebook page that was allegedly being used to “dox and target” ICE agents in Chicago. Meta’s removal echoed Apple and Google taking down an app used for ICE sightings in Week 48.
43. NYT reported that in the days before Trump ordered National Guard troops to Portland, which he described as a “War ravaged” city, federal officers had described the protests outside the ICE building as “low energy.”
44. WAPO reported on growing tension between federal judges and the Trump regime. A Trump-appointed judge said the decision to send troops to Portland was “untethered to the facts,” and another said Kilmar Abrego Garcia could pursue a claim of “vindictive prosecution.”
45. In response, the Trump regime has ramped up rhetoric against judges, including top White House aide Stephen Miller accusing the judge overseeing Portland of a “legal insurrection.” Increasingly judges are concerned that the Trump regime will not obey court orders.
46. On Thursday, a federal judge in Illinois restricted ICE from using certain types of force and crowd-control measures against protestors, after a lawsuit was filed citing a Presbyterian pastor who was repeatedly shot in the head by ICE with pepper balls while praying at a protest.
47. Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago, saying it violated “states’ rights” and telling the NYT “Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration.”
48. On Friday, Trump continued to baselessly describe Portland as a city on fire, telling reporters, “every time I look at that place, it’s burning down,” even as the city had a rainy day, and the only protestor outside of the ICE building was dressed as a pink Care Bear.
49. NBC News reported hundreds of anti-ICE protestors in Portland on Sunday wore inflatable cartoon costumes and engaged in naked bike rides as a way to protest while countering Trump’s narrative. They were met by some counterprotestors, some in Trump garb.
50. WAPO reported conservative influencers in Portland are seeking to engage with protestors and local law enforcement to stage conflict and draw attention. Trump praised influencer Nick Sortor, posting, “Great job. We’re behind you 100%. Let us know if there’s anything we can do.”
51. Trump also justified sending troops to Chicago, by baselessly claiming that the city “had 4,000 people murdered over a very short period of time.” Murders in Chicago have dropped by nearly 50% since 2021, with 331 so far in 2025, down from 460 last year.
52. On Friday, a federal judge blocked the Trump regime from deploying the 200 National Guard troops from Texas, for now, but allowed him to federalize the troops, saying deployment would “only add fuel to the fire that the defendants themselves have started.” The regime appealed.
53. On Sunday, Vice President JD Vance told “Meet the Press” that Trump had not ruled out invoking the Insurrection Act, baselessly claiming that crime was “out of control” in major cities being targeted, and citing attacks on immigration officers as evidence.
54. NYT reported that some Chicagoans are fighting back against ICE’s crackdown in the city and suburbs, from honking horns and blowing whistles to warn that agents are coming, to throwing objects at agents and shouting, “ICE go home!”
55. As ICE has intensified their efforts, including indiscriminately using tear gas on protestors, in one case also impacting 13 Chicago Police Department officers and onlookers, fury grew among residents. Bystanders also posted videos of arrests unrelated to immigration.
56. On Tuesday, Bondi described the protestors in Portland as “organized crime” on Fox News. She pointed to “people with thousands of signs that all match,” and compared them to “MS-13 or any gang out there.”
57. On Tuesday, Los Angeles County officials voted 4–1 to declare a state of emergency over ICE raids. The proclamation gives the county the power to assist residents impacted financially by ICE’s actions, and expedite contracting to address the crisis.
58. AP reported ICE has been using a full-body restraint device known as the WRAP during deportations, sometimes for hours, despite safety concerns, including from a 2023 report by the civil rights division of DHS which cited deaths from use by local law enforcement.
59. WSJ reported that Ghislaine Maxwell is getting favored treatment at a minimum-security prison in Texas, where she was moved shortly after being interviewed by Deputy AG Todd Blanche. The prison went on lock down for her to receive important visitors at a mysterious meeting.
60. On Wednesday, the Internal Revenue Service said it would furlough nearly half its workforce amid the government shutdown. The union representing IRS workers condemned the move. It was unclear if the employees would receive back pay.
61. WSJ reported that senior Republicans have quietly cautioned Trump against mass layoffs and sharp cuts to government assistance, saying it could backfire with the public and cause voters to blame the Republicans. So far, the warnings had kept Trump at bay.
62. On Thursday, the Trump regime ordered the Bureau of Labor Statistics to recall staffers in order to prepare September’s CPI report, a tool used by the Federal Reserve in assessing rate cuts. Employees were not called back last week to prepare the September employment report.
63. On Thursday, ABC News reported the IRS walked back guidance from a previous internal memo that said furloughed employees were entitled to receive back pay.
64. On Friday, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought posted on X that “The RIFs have begun.” It was unclear which federal agencies received “Reduction in Force” notices.
65. On Friday, Trump told reporters that his regime was targeting more than 4,000 employees across seven federal departments. Trump said the regime would be “Democrat-oriented.”
66. Among those targeted were employees at the CDC, including “disease detectives;” employees at the EPA office that oversee the cleanup of toxic waste sites and responds to oil spills; and “the vast majority” of employees at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
67. Mass firing at the CDC came as Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy called for “new blood” at the agency. Notices were sent shortly after 9 p.m. on a holiday weekend, with employees noting the cruelty that with the shutdown, severance information was not available.
68. The Education Department’s special education staff was decimated by Trump’s mass firings. The agency said it could have an immediate impact on on children with disabilities, 10% of the school population, as the staff has been cut by 95% to fewer than a half-dozen.
69. Education’s Office for Civil Rights was also slashed. The division’s 12 regional sites could be reduced to one or two sites as the latest layoffs took effect. Over 22,600 complaints have been filed so far in 2025, more than double the number from five years ago.
70. Both Republican leaders, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, told reporters that the White House would pay troops during the shutdown, but neither could explain how this would work.
71. The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents over 800,000 federal employees, blasted the Trump regime’s layoffs, calling them “disgraceful” and “illegal,” adding employees were being used as “pawns for the political and personal gains.”
72. Shortly after Trump’s announcement, a federal judge moved up a hearing date to consider a lawsuit brought by unions representing federal workers for a temporary restraining order.
73. On Saturday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he had directed Hegseth to use “all available funds” to pay troops on October 15, claiming he had “identified” the funds to do this with, but without providing details.
74. On Saturday, the Trump regime blamed a “coding error” for some CDC layoffs, including workers responding to Ebola outbreaks in Africa and the U.S. measles outbreaks. The layoffs had hit nine CDC departments, including much of the infectious disease senior leadership.
75. On Sunday, 21 of the museums operated by the Smithsonian Institution were closed, as the government shutdown headed into its second week. One tourist described it “like getting turned away from Disneyland. It feels almost symbolic.”
76. CNBC reported that several airports, including in New York, Arizona, New Jersey, and Oregon refused to show a video of Sec. Noem blaming the Democrats for the shutdown, which was sent by the Transportation Department to all airports to be aired on screens near security lines.
77. Airports in Chicago also said they would not air the video, as did Atlanta, Buffalo, Charlotte, Phoenix, Portland, and Seattle on Tuesday. Later Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport also said it would not air the video.
78. On Monday, Noem said that Coast Guard members would get their paychecks this week, posting on X, “President Trump did not want any of our military to go without pay as a result of Democrats’ political theater,” citing use of an “innovative solution” without further details.
79. On Tuesday, the Trump regime said the September Consumer Price Index data, set to be released the next day, would be postponed until October 24 amid the regime calling back BLS workers. Social Security’s annual cost-of-living adjustment was delayed as a result.
80. On Tuesday, Arizona AG Kris Mayes threatened legal action against House Speaker Mike Johnson for failing to seat Rep-elect Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat who won a special election in September. Grijalva promised to back a petition to force a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
81. On Sunday, 153 unvaccinated students in South Carolina were quarantined after being exposed to measles, as an outbreak has resulted in at least 8 cases. The U.S. has reported at least 1,563 measles cases this year, the highest number since 1992.
82. WSJ reported Democratic governors from 15 states, including New York, California, and North Carolina, formed a new public-health alliance to detect and respond to disease threats, saying Kennedy’s actions and cuts have put their citizens at risk, forcing them to find alternatives.
83. On Friday, MIT, one of the nine schools offered priority access for federal funding in exchange for complying with Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence,” rejected the regime’s offer, citing free expression and “scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”
84. On Friday, Trump unilaterally threatened on Truth Social to put 100% tariffs on China, which he accused of “becoming very hostile” with its restrictions on rare earth metals. The Dow Jones plummeted more than 900 points, erasing $2 trillion in market value in a single day.
85. On Sunday, Trump backed off, posting on Truth Social that “it will all be fine!” adding, “Highly respected President Xi just had a bad moment. He doesn’t want Depression for his country, and neither do I.” Vance also called on China to “choose the path of reason.”
86. WSJ reported investment fund 1789 Capital, which counts Donald Jr. as a partner, sold sponsorships to a conference called the “Inaugural U.S. Treasury A.I. Summit,” which it marketed as including Treasury Department Sec. Scott Bessent unveiling Treasury’s AI strategy.
87. After the Journal inquired about the event, the conference organizers changed the name and took out mention of Bessent. Ethics experts said the fact that the conference was marketed as a government-hosted event designed to unveil U.S. government policy was startling.
88. On Friday, the Nobel Peace Prize, long publicly lobbied for by Trump, was giving to María Corina Machado for her “tireless work promoting democratic rights” in Venezuela. Machado praised Trump and said she dedicated the prize to the suffering people of Venezuela and to Trump.
89. The White House blasted the Nobel Committee for not awarding the prize to Trump, which they said “proved they place politics over peace,” and called Trump “the peace president,” after he played a significant role in securing a multi-stage deal for a ceasefire in Gaza.
90. NYT columnist Maureen Dowd noted the paradox of “enforcing peace abroad and disrupting it badly at home, of soothing violence overseas and inflaming it here,” noting Trump’s anti-democratic moves like sending troops to U.S. cities and using the DOJ to go after his enemies.
91. While addressing Israel’s parliament as the first phase of a ceasefire, Trump called for pardoning his ally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The move was one in a long line of actions by Trump that reversed America’s long-standing goal of exporting democracy.
92. On Thursday, the Trump regime moved forward with a $20 billion bailout of Argentina to boost Trump ally President Javier Milei. Critics say the deal will benefit fund managers including cronies of Bessent, while federal workers face layoffs and American farmers struggle.
93. Trump welcomed Melei to the White House on Tuesday, and said that the $20 billion lifeline would be contingent on him staying in power in the country’s upcoming elections, saying, “If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina.”
94. NYT reported five months after the EPA canceled a $20 million grant intended to protect the Alaska Native village of Kipnuk from extreme flooding, calling it a DEI initiative, the community was hit with catastrophic flooding, leaving one person dead and two missing.