Fighting Fascism: How We Charge Ahead and Win
The Complete Arsenal: Every Receipt. Every Tactic. Everything You Need for Defiance.
A year ago, we called this fascism. Some listened. Some didn’t.
To those who saw it coming: You were right. We were right. Federal agents are killing American citizens in the streets. Children are being used as bait. The Supreme Court rules against the administration and they ignore it anyway. A 5-year-old in a Spider-Man backpack sits in a detention facility a thousand miles from home. This is exactly what we warned about.
To those who didn’t believe it could happen here: Welcome to the fight.
It can. It did. It’s already well underway. There’s no shame in arriving late—only shame in staying silent now.
The original version of this article was written in the aftermath of the 2024 election—a call to arms, high-level strategy and motivation, all aimed at preventing this future. That ship has sailed. We're not preventing anything anymore. We're living under it. The question is no longer "Will it happen?" The question is "What do we do now that it has?" This version is different. It's longer. It's denser. It's designed to be used, not just read. What follows is the complete arsenal: the talking points, the receipts, the leverage points you need to take down the regime's lies in virtually every dimension.
This is the playbook for resistance. Not theoretical resistance. Not “vote harder” resistance. Real resistance—the kind that matches the stakes of this moment.
Bookmark it. Return to it. Extract what you need for the fight you're in today.
Let’s get to work.
1. Stop Going High When They Go Low
Enough with “When they go low, we go high.” It might sound noble, but in practice, it’s nothing more than an invitation for fascists to stomp all over us while we congratulate ourselves for staying above the fray. Let’s be honest: It doesn’t work. It never worked. Our rhetoric, our tone, and our energy need to match the stakes of this fight—and right now, those stakes are life and death.
Renée Good is dead. Alex Pretti is dead. Shot by federal agents on American soil. One was whistling to warn her neighbors. The other was filming with his phone. When fascists are murdering citizens and lying about it, “Sir, please don’t do that” doesn’t cut it. It’s weak. It’s pathetic. And it signals to everyone watching that we’re not serious about surviving this.
Here’s the reality: If you don’t fight fire with fire, you get burned. So let’s stop holding back. My motto is simple: “When they go low, curbstomp them”—rhetorically, of course.
What does that mean? It means matching their lies with unrelenting truth. It means exposing their hypocrisy every time they open their mouths. It means refusing to let a single crime, a single betrayal, a single murder go unanswered.
They want to dismantle the foundations of the American Dream that generations have fought to build. We want to strengthen it, expand it, and ensure it’s within reach for everyone. Match their energy. Expose their lies. And make them regret ever thinking they could take us on.
2. Never Play Defense
Here’s a simple truth: If you’re defending in politics, you’re losing. Republicans know this, and they’ve mastered the art of staying on offense—constantly shifting the narrative, setting traps, and forcing us to waste time responding to their garbage. It’s time to flip the script. They have no real values, so if you push them onto the defensive, you will win.
Every time they open their mouths, they hand us the ammunition we need to obliterate their credibility.
When they talk about “protecting children,” don’t waste time playing into their circus. Instead, ask them why Trump screamed “My friends will get hurt” when Marjorie Taylor Greene pushed for the Epstein files. Ask them about the 700+ child victims in the Southern Baptist Convention abuse scandal—and the secret list of predator pastors the denomination hid for decades. Zero GOP investigations. Zero outrage. They don’t protect children. They protect pedophiles.
When they talk about “law and order,” don’t let them distract from the fact that Trump pardoned a Honduran president convicted of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine for El Chapo. Four hundred tons. He pardoned January 6th insurrectionists who beat police officers with flagpoles. “Back the Blue” was always a lie.
When they claim to fight for “the forgotten man,” point to the receipts. They slashed Medicaid and gutted healthcare subsidies while handing $1 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires. When challenged, they held 16 million American children hostage—threatening to cut off SNAP benefits entirely during the shutdown. Elon Musk posted “RIP CFPB” after gutting the one agency protecting you from financial scams. The forgotten man? They robbed him.
When they invoke “meritocracy” to attack DEI, ask them why ICE is hiring agents with 47 days of training and no completed background checks. Ask them about Laura Jedeed—a journalist who got a final job offer after a 6-minute interview, no background check, while publicly opposing ICE. They’re not building a meritocracy. They’re building a paramilitary force loyal to the regime.
Stop falling into their traps. Their goal is to bait us into defending what doesn’t need defending. Pivot immediately and force them to explain their record. Drag their hypocrisy into the spotlight and make it impossible for them to escape.
Every time we play defense, we cede ground. The solution? Don’t. Own the conversation. Set the terms. And make sure they’re the ones scrambling to explain themselves.
3. Understand Who You’re Fighting—And How to Win
I get it. Trump is a walking disaster—a criminal, a con man, and a dictator who’s doing immeasurable damage to this country. His crimes deserve to be front-page news. But here’s the harsh reality: Attacking him directly doesn’t work. To his base, he’s not a man—he’s a myth. Their savior. Their MAGA Jesus. Every time you call him a criminal, it only reinforces their loyalty. Every insult you hurl at Trump, his followers hear as an insult to them.
So stop. This is a cult, and cults have rules. Understand them, or lose.
The Cult Leader (Trump): Don’t attack him directly to his followers. They identify with him. Insulting Trump feels like insulting them—and people don’t change their minds when they feel attacked.
The Acolytes: These are the ones getting rich off the movement—Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, the Cabinet of Cronies, the media propagandists, the billionaires funding the machine. They profit from MAGA’s pain. Attack them brutally and publicly. No mercy. No restraint. Tucker makes millions lying to your face. You pay the price. Expose every grift, every conflict of interest, every betrayal.
The Followers: Often decent people trapped by fear, economic pain, or decades of disinformation. These are the ones who can be reached—but only if you don’t shame them for being fooled.
Here’s how you reach them:
Affirm their values. “I know you care about your family, your community, your country.”
Reveal the betrayal. “But the people you trusted are robbing you blind.”
Force the choice. “Either they lied, or you’re okay being used.”
Offer the offramp. “You’re not stupid for believing them. You were targeted. But now you know.”
And for the ones who won’t listen? Make it sting.
Frame Trump for what he really is—a scammer. Say it plainly: “He’s scamming you. He’s using you. And you’re weak for letting him get away with it.” Talk about the billions grifted through PACs while doing nothing for the people who blindly follow him. Talk about the Trump coins, the NFTs, the paying-for-access schemes. Show them how he’s enriching himself at their expense—funneling their donations into his pocket while laughing at them behind closed doors.
And here’s the truth they don’t want to hear: Conservatives love to moralize about sex workers, claiming they’re the ultimate symbol of corruption because they “sell their bodies for money.” But at least sex workers get paid. MAGA gives away its soul—and actually pays for the privilege.
Attack the grifters, not the grifted. That’s how you win.
4. The Arsenal: Reclaim the Language of Power
Now you know the strategy. Here’s the ammunition.
Patriotism. Family values. Christianity. Law and order. The right doesn’t just pretend to own these ideas—they’ve twisted them into weapons to justify their greed, corruption, and cruelty. They hide behind flags, Bibles, and buzzwords while gutting the very principles these values stand for.
It’s time to rip those symbols out of their hands. What follows is your arsenal—organized by the values they claim, armed with the betrayals that expose them. Use it.
Patriotism
Republicans don’t love America—they love the power they get from pretending they do. They wave the flag while betraying the very people it represents.
Real patriotism isn’t photo ops at rallies. It’s fighting for the well-being of every American. True patriots don’t cheer for tax breaks that send jobs overseas or policies that let billionaires hoard wealth while working families can’t afford rent. True patriots don’t murder American citizens in the streets and lie about it afterward.
Renée Good was a patriot. She was whistling to warn her neighbors. They shot her three times. Alex Pretti was a patriot. He was filming federal agents with his phone—exercising the First Amendment they claim to revere. They shot him ten times, six after he was already motionless on the ground.
Ask them why their version of “patriotism” involves killing Americans who exercise their constitutional rights. Ask them why they cozy up to autocrats while calling themselves defenders of freedom. Ask them why they pardoned insurrectionists who beat police officers with flagpoles.1
Real patriots fight for democracy, for justice, for a country where every person has the chance to succeed. We are the true patriots. They just wear the costume.
They hate America.
Family Values
Republicans love to scream about “family values,” but their policies are an assault on families. They vote against paid family leave, affordable childcare, and healthcare. They fight tooth and nail to stop parents from earning livable wages while giving corporations massive handouts.
And now they’ve made it worse. The One Big Beautiful Bill slashed Medicaid by $1.02 trillion and gutted healthcare subsidies—15 million more Americans without health insurance by 2034.2 That’s not a statistic. That’s millions of families choosing between groceries and prescriptions, between rent and a doctor’s visit.
During the shutdown, they held 42 million Americans on food assistance hostage—threatening to cut off SNAP benefits entirely unless Democrats backed down.3 The USDA had $6 billion in contingency funds. They chose not to use them. They weaponized hunger against American families to win a political fight.
And let’s not forget: Families come in all shapes and sizes. Republicans cling to some 1950s fantasy of what a family should look like—one that doesn’t exist and never did. Meanwhile, we fight for every family, whether they’re two moms, one dad, or a grandparent raising grandkids. Their narrow, exclusionary definition of “family values” isn’t values at all—it’s just another excuse to divide and judge.
Ask them why they voted against paid family leave while giving corporations massive tax breaks. Ask them why they slashed Medicaid for working families while handing $1 trillion in tax cuts to billionaires.4 Ask them why they weaponized hunger against 42 million Americans to win a political fight.
Their idea of family values is a smokescreen for cruelty. They care more about controlling women’s bodies than helping families afford healthcare. They care more about who you love than whether you can feed your kids.
They hate families.
Law and Order
“Back the Blue.” “Tough on crime.” “Law and order.” They’ve been screaming these slogans for decades. It was always a lie.
Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht—the mastermind behind Silk Road, the dark web marketplace that moved over $200 million in illegal drugs.5 Heroin. Cocaine. Meth. At least six people died from overdoses on drugs purchased through his site, including two sixteen-year-olds. Pardoned.6
Trump pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández—the former president of Honduras, convicted of trafficking four hundred tons of cocaine into the United States.7 Four hundred tons. He took bribes directly from El Chapo. He was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Trump called it “unfair” and set him free.8
Trump pardoned the January 6th insurrectionists—the people who beat police officers with flagpoles,¹ crushed them in doorways, smeared shit on the walls of the Capitol, and tried to overturn an election he lost. “Back the Blue” until Blue gets in the way.
Ask them why they pardoned a man who helped El Chapo flood America with cocaine while claiming to be tough on drugs. Ask them why they freed people who assaulted over 140 police officers while chanting “law and order.” Ask them what crime they actually oppose—because it’s clearly not drug trafficking, and it’s clearly not attacking cops.
Law and order was never the point. Control was the point. Law is a weapon they wield against their enemies and a shield they hide behind when caught. For them, there is no principle. Only power.
Law is a weapon, not a principle.
Protecting Children
They scream about groomers. They scream about pedophiles. They scream about protecting children from predators. And then they protect the predators.
The Southern Baptist Convention—the largest Protestant denomination in America, the beating heart of Republican Christianity—was caught hiding a secret list of over 700 abusive pastors.9 Seven hundred. They knew. They kept the list. They did nothing. The denomination chose to protect itself from lawsuits rather than protect kids from rapists. Zero GOP investigations. Zero outrage. Zero accountability.
And then there’s Epstein.
When Marjorie Taylor Greene pushed for the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s files, Trump screamed at her—loud enough for staff to hear. His exact words: *”My friends will get hurt.”*10 The Epstein Files Transparency Act required all documents released by December 19, 2025. The law explicitly states no record can be withheld for “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity.” As of January 2026, less than 1% has been released. Names of “politically exposed individuals” have been redacted—in direct violation of the law Trump signed.
When MTG kept pushing, Trump withdrew his endorsement, called her a “traitor” and a “disgrace.” She resigned from Congress. The price of telling the truth about child predators: political destruction.
Meanwhile, they’re using children as weapons:
During the shutdown, they threatened to cut off food for 16 million American children11—using hungry kids as bargaining chips.
Liam Conejo Ramos is five years old. He wears a Spider-Man backpack. He and his father were in the country legally, with a pending asylum case.12 ICE pulled him from a still-running car and made him knock on a door to lure out anyone inside. They used a kindergartner as bait.
In Minneapolis, ICE threw tear gas under a car carrying six children—ages six months to eleven years.13 All six were rushed to the hospital.
Ask them why Trump screamed “my friends will get hurt” when someone pushed to expose child predators. Ask them why they hid a list of 700 abusive pastors while accusing Democrats of grooming. Ask them why they used a five-year-old as bait and tear-gassed a six-month-old baby.
They don’t protect children. They protect pedophiles. They weaponize children. They terrorize children.
Children are props, not people.
Christianity
The right hides behind Christianity like it’s their personal shield, but their actions couldn’t be further from Christ’s teachings. Jesus didn’t preach about tax cuts for billionaires or slashing welfare for the poor. He didn’t celebrate greed, cruelty, or turning away refugees. The Bible they love to thump explicitly condemns everything they stand for.
When they rip healthcare away from millions, ask them about the Good Samaritan. When they weaponize hunger against 42 million Americans, ask them about loaves and fishes. When they tear families apart at the border and cage children in detention facilities, ask them if they’ve ever read Matthew 25:41-45:
Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Their very Jesus condemns them to the eternal fire for their behavior. Call them out on it. Ask them where else in the Gospels Jesus condemns anyone to eternal hellfire. The answer is nowhere. This is it. And it’s for them.
They are not Christians. They are Anti-Christians.
And here’s the important part: You don’t need to be religious to take back Christianity. The values Jesus stood for—justice, compassion, love—are universal. Whether you worship in a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or not at all, those principles transcend religion. Feeding the hungry, healing the sick, welcoming the stranger, fighting for the least among us—these aren’t just Christian values. They’re human values.
We are the ones who actually stand for them. Let the world know it.
They hate Jesus.
Meritocracy
They love to scream about DEI—Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion—claiming it’s destroying American meritocracy. They say they hire “the best people.” They say competence should trump identity. Let’s look at the best people.
Trump’s first pick for Attorney General—the nation’s top law enforcement official—was Matt Gaetz. The House Ethics Committee found “substantial evidence” that Gaetz paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl, made over $90,000 in payments to twelve women for sex, and used cocaine and ecstasy while serving in Congress.14 That’s who Trump wanted running the Justice Department. The man withdrew only after the report threatened to go public.
For Secretary of Defense, Trump chose Pete Hegseth—a Fox News host with zero Pentagon experience. Before his TV career, Hegseth ran a veterans nonprofit into the ground. Concerned Veterans for America ended up with less than $1,000 in the bank and over $430,000 in debt.15 Employees filed a whistleblower report documenting his “repeated public intoxication”—including an incident where he was “totally sloshed” and had to be carried to his room. He was forced out with a six-figure severance and an NDA to buy his silence. Fox News colleagues later reported smelling alcohol on him before he went on air.
This is the man they put in charge of the most powerful military in human history. And then he leaked classified operation details—target information, aircraft types, attack timelines for strikes in Yemen—on an unsecured messaging app.16 Shared to a group chat that included his wife, his brother, and his personal lawyer. That’s the meritocracy.
It doesn’t stop at the top. ICE used to require nearly five months of training before agents could carry weapons and enforce federal law. That’s been slashed to 47 days.17 Why 47? Senator Mark Warner asked the same question. The answer: because Donald Trump is the 47th president. Symbolism over substance, all the way down.
Journalist Laura Jedeed attended an ICE recruiting event—openly anti-Trump, openly anti-ICE, with her opposition documented all over social media. Six-minute interview. No completed background check. Final job offer with an onboarding date.18 When DHS called her story “a lazy lie,” she posted the video evidence. They’re hiring people who would fail every reasonable screening criterion—and arming them.
The agency started 2025 with roughly 10,000 trained agents. They’ve added over 12,000 new recruits since then. ICE now has more barely-trained newcomers than experienced officers. They’ve flooded the streets with armed personnel who received less training than a barber’s apprentice—and handed them the authority to kick down doors, detain families, and use lethal force.
Ask them why Trump’s first choice for Attorney General had sex with a minor. Ask them why the Secretary of Defense ran a nonprofit into debt and got caught leaking classified military plans. Ask them why ICE is hiring agents with 47 days of training while attacking DEI.
They don’t believe in meritocracy. They believe in loyalty. Competence is irrelevant. Credentials are irrelevant. The only qualification that matters is allegiance to the regime.
Merit was always a lie.
The Economy
They ran on economic populism. Fighting for the forgotten man. Bringing back American jobs. Making life affordable again. Here’s what they delivered instead.
Tariffs. Trump’s tariffs are the largest tax increase as a percentage of GDP since 1993—and the highest average tariff rate since 1946.19 But unlike income taxes, tariffs don’t fall on billionaires. They fall on you. Every estimate lands in the same range: $1,200 to $2,100 more per household, per year.20 Lower-income families get hit hardest—paying a larger share of their income than the wealthy. This isn’t economic nationalism. It’s a regressive tax on working people disguised as tough talk on trade.
While they raised your costs, they gutted your protections. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau existed for one reason: to stop banks and financial companies from scamming you. Predatory loans, hidden fees, deceptive practices—the CFPB was your shield. DOGE killed it.21 Russell Vought told staff to “not perform any work tasks.” They fired nearly all 1,700 employees. They dismissed 22 active enforcement actions against companies caught ripping off consumers—billions in protections, gone. And Elon Musk? He posted “RIP CFPB” while running payment businesses that the agency would have regulated. One DOGE staffer owned $750,000 in stock of CFPB-regulated companies. The foxes didn’t just guard the henhouse—they burned it down.
And where did the money go? Not to you. The One Big Beautiful Bill handed $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to corporations and billionaires—$1 trillion to the top 1% alone. Meanwhile, they slashed $1 trillion from Medicaid and SNAP. They cut food assistance by $186 billion—the largest cut in American history. They added nearly $4 trillion to the national debt. Fiscal responsibility, right?
But they found money for one thing: ICE. The same bill that cut food for children gave ICE $75 billion over four years—growing its budget from $10 billion to over $100 billion by 2029.22 That makes ICE larger than the FBI, the DEA, and the entire Justice Department combined. Larger than most militaries on Earth. They couldn’t afford to feed hungry kids, but they could afford to build the largest domestic law enforcement apparatus in American history.
Ask them why they raised taxes on working families while cutting them for billionaires. Ask them why they killed the agency protecting you from financial scams. Ask them why they cut food assistance by $186 billion but gave ICE $75 billion.
This is class warfare. They promised to fight for you. They’re fighting against you. And they’re winning.
The forgotten man? They robbed him.
Immigration
They say they’re protecting Americans. Securing the border. Deporting criminals. They’re lying.
Minnesota’s Department of Corrections caught them. DHS claimed 1,360 people with ICE detainers were in Minnesota custody. The actual number? 301.23 Over a thousand names were fabricated or recycled—people who were “never in Minnesota custody at all,” people with “no Minnesota court records whatsoever,” people “in custody in other states,” people “handed to ICE years ago” dating back to the 1990s. Some had been released back into the community by ICE itself. They staged “arrests” for press releases—coordinated prison transfers presented as dangerous criminals apprehended off the streets. The propaganda machine isn’t even trying to be subtle anymore.
A secret memo dated May 12, 2025 authorized what the Fourth Amendment explicitly forbids: warrantless home invasions.24 Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons gave agents permission to force entry into homes using administrative warrants—Form I-205—that require no judge, no probable cause, no judicial review. Just a piece of paper signed by another ICE agent. The memo permits “necessary and reasonable amount of force” if residents refuse to open their doors. They’ve used battering rams to enter homes with children inside. Wrong-address raids have been reported. DHS’s own training materials call home entry “the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.” They know it’s unconstitutional. They’re doing it anyway.
They’re not targeting criminals. They’re targeting people following the law. Liam Conejo Ramos—the five-year-old in the Spider-Man backpack—was in the country legally with his father, who had a pending asylum case.¹² They presented at the border, applied for asylum, and were waiting for their day in court. No criminal record. ICE detained them anyway, used the child as bait, and shipped him to a detention facility a thousand miles from home.
And when Americans protested, they killed them.
Renée Good was a 37-year-old mother of three. She was whistling to warn her neighbors. They shot her three times. Alex Pretti was a 37-year-old ICU nurse and lawful gun owner with a permit. He was filming federal agents with his phone—exercising his First Amendment rights. They shot him ten times. Six of those shots came after he was already motionless on the ground.25 When state police arrived with a warrant signed by a judge, DHS blocked them from accessing the scene. The Tenth Amendment means nothing to them.
This is what they’ve built: A $100 billion paramilitary force that lies about who it’s arresting, kicks down doors without warrants, targets people following the legal process, uses children as bait, tear-gasses infants, kills American citizens exercising their constitutional rights, and blocks local law enforcement from investigating.
Ask them why they fabricated over a thousand names on their Minnesota detainer list. Ask them why they’re breaking into homes without judicial warrants. Ask them why they killed a lawful gun owner for filming. Ask them why they blocked state police with a valid warrant from the scene.
They’re not enforcing the law. They’re above it. This isn’t border security. This isn’t protecting Americans.
This is ethnic cleansing.
The Constitution
They call themselves constitutional originalists. Defenders of the founding document. Guardians of the rule of law. Then they violate it openly, repeatedly, and without consequence—even when their own Supreme Court tells them to stop.
Consider what they’ve done in just the past year. They’ve retaliated against Americans exercising their First Amendment rights—Renée Good for whistling, Alex Pretti for filming. They killed a Second Amendment gun owner with a valid permit who never drew his weapon. They’ve authorized warrantless home invasions that their own training materials call “the chief evil against which the Fourth Amendment is directed.” They’ve denied due process to people with active court orders protecting them. And when state police arrived with a warrant signed by a judge, federal agents blocked them from the scene—the Tenth Amendment means nothing.
But here’s what makes this different from every other constitutional violation in American history: The Supreme Court—their Supreme Court, packed with their justices—ruled against them. And they ignored it anyway.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a 2019 withholding of removal order explicitly forbidding his deportation to El Salvador due to “clear probability of future persecution.”26 In March 2025, ICE arrested him outside a Baltimore IKEA while he was driving with his five-year-old disabled child. Three days later, they deported him to CECOT prison in El Salvador anyway. The administration admitted the removal was illegal—they called it an “administrative error.”
The Supreme Court ruled unanimously. Not 5-4. Not 6-3. All nine justices. The government must “facilitate” his return.27
Justice Sotomayor wrote that the administration’s argument “implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.” Read that again. The government’s legal position is that they can deport anyone—even you—as long as they do it fast enough.
It took three months to bring him back. When they finally returned him in June 2025, they immediately charged him with new federal crimes. The message was clear: Challenge us, and we’ll punish you.
Then there’s J.G.G. v. Trump.28 Venezuelan migrants were deported under the Alien Enemies Act—a 1798 wartime law that hadn’t been used in 80 years. DHS started moving detainees before Trump even signed the proclamation. They were pulled from their cells and told they’d be deported the next day to an unknown destination. Roughly 24 hours’ notice. No information about how to exercise due process rights. No opportunity to challenge the removal.
The Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that this violated due process. All nine justices—including Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch—agreed that noncitizens have the constitutional right to challenge their removal. The Court wrote: “Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster.”
They did it anyway.
This is not a policy disagreement. This is not a difference in constitutional interpretation. This is a lawless regime that treats the Constitution as an obstacle to be circumvented when convenient and a weapon to be wielded when useful.
Ask them why they deported a man with a court order protecting him and called it an “administrative error.” Ask them why it took a unanimous Supreme Court ruling to force them to bring him back. Ask them what “constitutional originalist” means when they ignore the Constitution’s own interpreters.
They don’t defend the Constitution. They don’t revere it. They don’t even read it.
The Constitution is an obstacle, not a covenant.
Build the Narrative and Expose the Lies
Stop letting them own these values. Every time they wave a flag, ask why their policies betray the very people that flag represents. Every time they claim to care about families, ask why they weaponized hunger against 16 million children. Every time they invoke Christianity, ask why their actions would make Jesus flip tables in their churches. Every time they talk about law and order, ask why they pardoned a man who trafficked 400 tons of cocaine for El Chapo.
We’re not here to debate their lies—we’re here to expose them. Wave the flag, but wave it with pride for policies that build a stronger, fairer America. Embrace family values, but make them about supporting all families, not judging them. Talk about faith, but use it to show compassion, not condemnation. Their hypocrisy is their greatest weakness, and it’s time to weaponize it against them.
The Truth They Can’t Hide
Here’s the bottom line:
They hate America. They hate families. They hate Jesus. Law is a weapon, not a principle. Children are props, not people. Merit was always a lie. The forgotten man? They robbed him. Their immigration policy is ethnic cleansing. And the Constitution? Just paper to them.
Their actions prove it every single day. Don’t let their empty words distract from their cruelty. Expose them, shame them, and take back the values they’ve corrupted.
Because those values? They’re ours. And we’re taking them back.
5. Pressure the Democrats Who Are Supposed to Fight for You
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: Republicans don’t win because they’re smarter. They win because they’re willing to fight dirty—and Democrats keep bringing a rulebook to a knife fight.
Look at what Republicans have done with power. They blocked Merrick Garland for a year, then rammed through Amy Coney Barrett in eight days. They weaponized the filibuster to kill voting rights, then abolished it when they wanted judges. They gerrymandered maps so aggressively that courts had to intervene—and they ignored those courts too. They used government shutdowns as hostages, debt ceilings as leverage, and constitutional norms as toilet paper. They played hardball for decades while Democrats played by rules that only one side follows.
And what do Democrats do when they have power? Half-measures. Bipartisan “reaching across the aisle” to people who tried to overthrow the government. Procedural hand-wringing while fascism consolidates.
Stop asking permission. Start making demands.
Redirect Your Energy
Here’s what you need to understand: Trump doesn’t care how loud you are. He will never move. Protesting at him is wasted breath. The man ignored a unanimous Supreme Court ruling. He’s not going to listen to your sign.
But you know who does respond to pressure? Democratic officials. They need your votes. They need your donations. They need your enthusiasm. And right now, too many of them are getting all of that while giving you nothing in return.
Every march, every call, every show of force should be aimed at our side. Not because they’re the enemy—because they’re the fulcrum. They’re the ones who can actually do something. And they won’t unless you make them.
Make your representatives more afraid of losing their seat than they are of offending Republicans. Make them fear primary challenges more than bad press. Make them understand that if they won’t fight for you, you will vote them out and replace them with someone who will.
We don’t threaten violence. We threaten primaries. We threaten to replace them. And that should terrify them more than anything the GOP can do—because their careers depend on us. Act like it.
Demand That States Use Their Power
This is non-negotiable.
Democratic governors, mayors, and state legislators have tools at their disposal. State police. State National Guards. State prosecutors. These aren’t theoretical—they exist, they’re funded, and they can be deployed today.
What must they do? Deploy local and state law enforcement to protect residents from federal crimes. Arrest federal agents who commit assault, unlawful entry, kidnapping, or murder under state law. Use the full force of state prosecutorial power against lawbreaking federal officers. If federal agents are kicking down doors without judicial warrants, breaking into homes with children inside, and killing American citizens who pose no threat—those are crimes. Prosecute them.
What is unacceptable? Telling your citizens to “document everything” and hope for future litigation. Advising residents to “comply and fight it in court later.” Creating a permission structure where federal agents learn they can do anything—including murder—without immediate consequence.
Renée Good is dead. Alex Pretti is dead.
They were American citizens. They followed the advice. Document. Comply. We’ll handle it in court later. There is no “later” for Renée Good. There is no “future litigation” for Alex Pretti.
Telling citizens to subject themselves to crimes is telling them to accept their own murder as a possibility. That’s not governance. That’s abandonment.
The administration is using violence and lawlessness today specifically to ensure there is never a future where such prosecutions can take place. Every day states allow federal agents to violate the Constitution without consequence, the regime entrenches further. They are closing the door on accountability in real time.
Every unlawful raid that goes unchallenged is precedent. Every warrantless entry that faces no state resistance is permission. Every murder of an American citizen that results in no arrest is an invitation for more.
If states don’t enforce the law now, they never will.
You have state police. Use them. You have a National Guard. Activate them. You have prosecutors. Charge the agents who break the law. You have the power to protect us. If you won’t use it, step aside for someone who will.
6. Dominate the Social Media Landscape
Legacy media is dead—or close enough that it doesn’t matter. Republicans figured this out years ago and built an entire propaganda machine on social media while we were still clinging to the old playbook. They don’t just control the conversation—they set the terms of engagement, forcing us to respond instead of leading.
That has to end. And it starts with understanding what they’re doing.
They’re Buying the Marketplace of Ideas
Ask yourself: Why did Elon Musk pay $44 billion for Twitter—a price so inflated that estimates now value it at a fraction of what he paid? Why did Larry Ellison just acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations? Why is his son David Ellison running Paramount and CBS while making a hostile bid for Warner Bros?
The answer is simple: He who controls the media controls collective truth. They’re not buying platforms for profit—they’re buying the infrastructure of reality itself. The ability to shape what people see, what trends, what gets amplified, and what gets buried. That’s worth more than money.
And what’s the resistance’s response? Leave.
Retreat to BlueSky. Migrate to Mastodon. Build cozy echo chambers where everyone already agrees with you. Congratulate yourselves for not giving Musk your engagement metrics while surrendering the battlefield entirely.
This is strategic suicide.
The Algorithm Isn’t an Excuse—It’s a Reason to Fight Harder
Yes, the algorithms boost their side. Yes, right-wing content gets amplified while progressive voices get suppressed. Yes, the platforms are hostile territory.
That’s all the more reason to swarm them harder, not less.
You don’t abandon a battlefield because the enemy has fortified it. You fight harder. You adapt. You find the gaps in their defenses. If they’re suppressing our content, we need more volume, more creators, more relentless presence—not retreat.
Every progressive who leaves Twitter is a gift to Elon Musk. Every creator who abandons TikTok cedes ground to the Ellisons. Every voice that retreats to a platform where only allies can hear it is a voice that stopped mattering.
The Only Metric That Matters
Here’s the question you need to ask about every piece of content, every platform choice, every strategic decision: How many people who don’t already agree with us are we reaching?
Not your followers. Not your bubble. Not the people who already hate Trump.
The disillusioned MAGA voters who are starting to see the betrayal. The tuned-out moderates who only encounter right-wing content in their feeds. The exhausted Americans who’ve given up on politics entirely and need to be re-engaged.
Preaching to the choir accomplishes nothing. The choir already knows the hymns.
BlueSky is a comfort zone, not a battlefield. It’s fine for coordination, for community, for sanity breaks. But if your entire online presence is reaching people who already agree with you, you’re not fighting—you’re hiding.
Build the Machine
Most people don’t trust politicians or legacy outlets anymore, but they do trust their favorite creators and influencers. If we want to win hearts and minds, we need to put our message in the mouths of the people they already listen to.
That doesn’t mean only progressive influencers. It means anyone fighting fascism—progressive, centrist, wherever they fall on the spectrum. If they’re pushing back against authoritarianism, they’re an ally. This isn’t the time for purity tests. We can hash out our differences once we’ve beaten fascism. Right now, the only question that matters is whether someone is helping pull the country back from the brink.
And let’s get real: The left loves nothing more than tearing itself apart. Centrists call progressives radicals, progressives call centrists sellouts. If you’re playing that game, you’re the problem. Amplify anyone who’s fighting. Build each other up. The stakes are too high for infighting.
Social media is the battlefield. Right now, they’re winning. But our ideas are better. Our policies are more popular. The only thing holding us back is our refusal to take this fight seriously—and our self-destructive impulse to abandon the field.
Your Mission Starts Today
Pick a hostile platform. Twitter. TikTok. YouTube. Wherever the fight is happening.
Set yourself a target. Start with five. Five likes on posts that tell the truth. Five shares of content that exposes the lies. Five replies amplifying voices that are already in the fight. If you’re not comfortable going on the offensive, no problem—boost the people who are. Your amplification matters.
Do it today. Do it tomorrow. Do it until we take back our country.
Ignore the trolls. They want your energy. Don’t give it to them. Focus on the mission: reach people who can still be reached. And if you’re comfortable, challenge yourself to go higher than five. Ten. Twenty. Make it a habit. Make it a discipline.
The marketplace of ideas is being bought out from under us. Either we flood it with truth, or we lose it forever.
7. Acknowledge the Pain—Then Name the Real Villains
Here’s the one thing MAGA got right: The middle and working classes have been crushed for decades. Wages stagnated. Costs skyrocketed. Opportunities dwindled. The American Dream became a sick joke for millions of people who did everything right and still couldn’t get ahead.
That pain is real. And for too long, neither party did enough about it.
MAGA tapped into that frustration with a devastatingly effective three-step playbook:
Acknowledge the pain (because it’s real)
Offer a villain (scapegoat immigrants, minorities, “elites”)
Promise a solution (even if it’s fascism)
It works because Democrats too often skip step one entirely. We lead with statistics instead of stories. We talk about GDP growth while families can’t afford groceries. We sound like we’re defending a system that’s failed them.
But here’s what’s changed since the original version of this article: They’re not just failing to fix the pain anymore. They’re causing it.
The Betrayal Is Now Complete
They promised to fight for the forgotten man. They’re robbing him instead.
Trump’s tariffs are the largest tax increase as a percentage of GDP since 1993—and they fall directly on working families. Every estimate lands in the same range: $1,200 to $2,100 more per household, per year. Lower-income families pay the highest share of their income. This isn’t economic nationalism. It’s a regressive tax disguised as tough talk.
While they raised your costs, they gutted your protections. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—the one agency protecting you from predatory lenders and financial scams—was killed by DOGE. Elon Musk posted “RIP CFPB” while running businesses the agency would have regulated. The foxes burned down the henhouse and laughed about it on social media.
And where did the money go? The One Big Beautiful Bill handed $4.5 trillion in tax breaks to corporations and billionaires—$1 trillion to the top 1% alone. The same bill slashed $1 trillion from Medicaid and $186 billion from SNAP. They cut food assistance for children to fund tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.
Then they held 16 million hungry children hostage during the shutdown to make sure Democrats couldn’t fight back.
This isn’t neglect. This is pillage.
Our Counter-Playbook
We rip their playbook apart and turn it against them.
Step one: Acknowledge the pain. Loudly. Unapologetically. Admit that the middle class has been gutted, that corporations and billionaires have rigged the system, and that too many politicians—including some Democrats—let it happen. Don’t defend the status quo. It failed.
Step two: Point to the real villains. Not immigrants. Not minorities. Not “coastal elites.” The real villains are Reaganomics, which cut taxes for the ultra-wealthy and gutted public investment. Citizens United, which turned our democracy into an auction. Corporate greed, unchecked monopolies, and a political system designed to serve the few. And now? The regime itself—the people who promised to fight for you while picking your pocket.
Step three: Offer real solutions—and fight relentlessly when blocked. Higher wages. Affordable healthcare. Childcare that doesn’t bankrupt families. Student debt relief. And when Republicans stand in the way, don’t just say “Republicans are obstructing progress.” Say: “Republicans are the reason your rent is unaffordable, your wages haven’t gone up in decades, and your kid’s school is underfunded. They voted to cut your food assistance so billionaires could keep their tax breaks.”
Make it personal. Because it is personal.
The Difference Between Us and Them
MAGA acknowledges the pain and points to fake villains. We acknowledge the pain and point to the real ones.
MAGA promises solutions and delivers fascism. We promise solutions and fight like hell to deliver them—or we go down swinging, showing exactly who stood in the way.
The forgotten man wasn’t forgotten. He was robbed. By the very people who swore they’d save him.
Name the thieves. Demand justice. And never let them pretend they’re on his side again.
The Fight of Our Lives
This isn’t just about winning elections anymore. This is about survival.
A year ago, we were trying to prevent this. Now we’re living in it. Federal agents are killing American citizens in the streets. Children are being used as bait. The Supreme Court rules against the administration and they ignore it. A regime that promised to fight for the forgotten man is robbing him blind while building the largest domestic law enforcement apparatus in American history.
The stakes couldn’t be higher: an economy rigged for the ultra-rich, a democracy under assault, a Constitution treated as an obstacle, and a future being auctioned off to billionaires who bought the platforms where reality itself is shaped.
And let’s be clear: The solution isn’t staying quiet. It isn’t playing nice. It isn’t waiting for someone else to save us.
The solution is you.
It’s not up to any politician, party, or leader to fix this. It’s up to us—to you. If they can proudly wear MAGA hats that symbolize corruption, cruelty, and division, then we must proudly stand for the values that matter: fairness, justice, compassion, and truth. This isn’t the time to cower or hide what we believe in. It’s the time to stand tall, to speak boldly, and to fight relentlessly for the America we know is possible.
You are the solution. Your voice, your action, and your courage are what will turn the tide. Whether it’s calling out hypocrisy in your community, flooding social media with truth, pressuring your elected officials, organizing with others, or voting like the future depends on it—because it does—it’s all on us.
The future isn’t written yet. And the power to shape it is in your hands.
This is our fight. Let’s own it. Let’s win it.
Because silence is surrender. We never surrender. We are #TheRelentless.
We built this publication to equip you with the tools to fight back—the frameworks, the messaging, the strategies that actually work. See the links below. But we can only keep doing this with your help. If this matters to you, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. You keep the fight alive.
Fighting Fascism: How We Push Back and Win — The original playbook for reclaiming power
The Trump Regime Messaging Guide — How to talk to people who’ve been captured by the machine
The Freedom Illusion — How we got here, and the counter-ideology that gets us out
PBS NewsHour, “WATCH: Jan. 6 committee shows new footage of Capitol attack“, PBS NewsHour (YouTube), June 9, 2022.
Video footage presented by the House January 6th Select Committee showing insurrectionists beating police officers with flagpoles, crushing them in doorways, and assaulting them throughout the Capitol building. The footage documents the violence against law enforcement that Trump later pardoned, directly contradicting Republican claims of supporting “law and order” and “backing the blue.”
Center for American Progress, “$1 Trillion in Medicaid Cuts—$1 Trillion in Tax Giveaways for the Richest 1 Percent: The One Big ‘Beautiful’ Bill’s Budget Math“, Center for American Progress, 2025.
Analysis of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act showing that CBO estimated the law will cut federal spending on Medicaid and CHIP benefits by $1.02 trillion, eliminating at least 10.5 million people from the programs by 2034. The same bill delivers $1 trillion in tax cuts to the richest 1 percent over the same period—demonstrating that Republicans chose to slash healthcare for working families while handing equivalent benefits to billionaires.
Gina Plata-Nino, “How Will a Government Shutdown Affect SNAP Benefits?“, Food Research & Action Center, September 27, 2025.
Analysis of SNAP operations during the government shutdown, noting that USDA had approximately $6 billion in contingency reserve funds that could have been used to cover SNAP costs. The administration’s choice not to deploy these funds while threatening to cut off benefits to 42 million Americans demonstrates the deliberate weaponization of hunger as a political bargaining chip.
Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, “Top 1% to Receive $1 Trillion Tax Cut from Trump Megabill Over the Next Decade“, ITEP, 2025.
Analysis showing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will reduce taxes for the top 1 percent of taxpayers by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, with nearly half ($500 billion) going to just the top 0.1 percent—approximately 200,000 households. This source documents the direct transfer of wealth from Medicaid recipients to billionaires that defines the bill’s budget math.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, “Ross Ulbricht, A/K/A ‘Dread Pirate Roberts,’ Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court To Life In Prison“, U.S. Department of Justice, May 29, 2015.
DOJ announcement of Ulbricht’s sentencing for creating and operating Silk Road, the dark web marketplace that facilitated over $200 million in illegal drug sales. The conviction included charges of distributing narcotics, engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, computer hacking conspiracy, and money laundering. At least six people died from overdoses on drugs purchased through the site.
Jenna McLaughlin, “Trump pardons Ross Ulbricht, creator of the Silk Road dark web marketplace“, NPR, January 21, 2025.
NPR report on Trump’s pardon of Ulbricht on his second day in office, fulfilling a campaign promise to Libertarian supporters. Trump announced the “full and unconditional pardon” on Truth Social, calling it “my pleasure” to free a man convicted of facilitating drug trafficking that resulted in multiple deaths, including two sixteen-year-olds.
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, “Juan Orlando Hernández, Former President of Honduras, Sentenced to 45 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Distribute More Than 400 Tons of Cocaine and Related Firearms Offenses“, U.S. Department of Justice, June 26, 2024.
Official DOJ announcement of Hernández’s sentencing for helping traffic over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, accepting bribes directly from drug traffickers including $1 million from El Chapo. The press release documents the conviction following a three-week federal trial and establishes the factual basis for one of the largest drug trafficking cases in U.S. history—the same conviction Trump later pardoned while claiming to fight drug trafficking.
NPR, “Trump pardons Honduran ex-president who was convicted of drug crimes“, NPR, December 2, 2025.
Report on Trump’s pardon of Hernández, whom he freed from a 45-year prison sentence while calling the prosecution “unfair” and a “Biden horrible witch hunt.” The pardon released a man convicted of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine while the administration simultaneously claims to be waging war on drug trafficking.
Kate Shellnutt, “Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse, Despite Secret List of Pastors“, Christianity Today, May 22, 2022.
The Guidepost Solutions report, commissioned by the Southern Baptist Convention after pressure from abuse survivors, revealed that denomination leadership had maintained a secret list of over 700 abusive pastors while publicly claiming they had no way to track accused predators across autonomous churches. The report found that Executive Committee leaders “chose to protect the SBC from liability” rather than protect children, and that despite collecting abuse reports for over a decade, “there is no indication that anyone took any action to ensure that the accused ministers were no longer in positions of power.” This source establishes the factual basis for the claim that the SBC hid a list of 700+ abusive pastors and demonstrates the pattern of institutional protection of predators that Republicans have never investigated or condemned.
Robert Draper, “‘I Was Just So Naïve’: Inside Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Break With Trump“, The New York Times Magazine, December 29, 2025.
Lengthy profile based on two extended interviews in which Greene recounts her break with Trump. Greene told Draper that when she pushed for release of Epstein files, Trump screamed at her—loud enough for staff to hear throughout her Capitol Hill office—saying “my friends will get hurt.” The confrontation came after Greene threatened to gather the names of Epstein’s abusers from victims and publicly identify them. The article documents how the fallout led to Trump withdrawing his endorsement and Greene’s resignation from Congress.
USDA Economic Research Service, “Children accounted for about 39 percent of SNAP participants in fiscal year 2023“, USDA ERS, 2024.
USDA data showing that children account for approximately 39 percent of all SNAP participants. With 42 million total participants, this means approximately 16 million children rely on SNAP benefits—all of whom were threatened with hunger during the shutdown when the administration refused to deploy contingency funds.
Kyle Brown, “Lawyer: Father, 5-year-old son detained in Columbia Heights were legal asylum-seekers“, KSTP, January 23, 2026.
Report confirming that Liam Conejo Ramos and his father were in the country legally with a pending asylum case when ICE detained them. Immigration attorney Marc Prokosch stated they “entered the country legally and were following the proper steps to seek asylum.” Despite their legal status, a five-year-old child was used as bait to lure out other individuals.
Reg Chapman, “Minneapolis couple says ICE released tear gas under their family vehicle with 6 children inside“, CBS Minnesota, January 16, 2026.
Report on the tear gas incident involving six children—ages 11, 7, 4-year-old twins, 2, and 6 months old—who were in a vehicle when ICE deployed a tear gas canister underneath it. The children were hospitalized after the explosion caused the vehicle’s airbags to deploy. This source documents ICE’s willingness to endanger infants and children during enforcement operations.
PBS NewsHour, “Read the full Matt Gaetz House Ethics report alleging he paid for sex with minor, used illicit drugs as Congress member“, PBS NewsHour, December 23, 2024.
The House Ethics Committee report finding “substantial evidence” that Rep. Matt Gaetz—Trump’s first nominee for Attorney General—violated House Rules prohibiting prostitution, statutory rape, and illicit drug use. The report documents that Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl in 2017, made over $90,000 in payments to twelve women “likely in connection with sexual activity,” and used cocaine and ecstasy on multiple occasions while serving in Congress. Gaetz withdrew his nomination only after the report’s release became imminent.
CNN, “The New Yorker: Pete Hegseth forced out of veterans’ advocacy groups over misconduct allegations“, CNN, December 2, 2024.
Report on Pete Hegseth’s tenure at Concerned Veterans for America (2013-2016), where a seven-page whistleblower report documented financial mismanagement, sexual misconduct, and repeated public intoxication. The organization ended up with less than $1,000 in the bank and over $430,000 in debt. Employees described Hegseth as “totally sloshed” at events, requiring colleagues to carry him to his room. He departed with a six-figure severance payment and signed an NDA. Fox News colleagues later told NBC News they smelled alcohol on him before he went on air.
NPR, “Pentagon report on Signalgate reveals Hegseth’s group chat violated regulations“, NPR, December 4, 2025.
Report on the Defense Department Inspector General’s findings that Secretary Pete Hegseth violated Pentagon policies by sharing sensitive military operation details—including target information, aircraft types, and attack timings for strikes in Yemen—on the Signal messaging app. Hegseth shared this information to two separate group chats, one of which included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer. The IG found that the operational details closely mirrored information from a classified email marked “SECRET” sent by the CENTCOM commander. Despite these findings, the administration claimed “total exoneration.”
Al Jazeera, “Has US ICE officer training been reduced to 47 days?“, Al Jazeera, January 13, 2026.
Investigation into ICE’s accelerated hiring program, confirming that training for new ICE officers has been reduced from approximately five months to 47 days. Senator Mark Warner questioned whether the 47-day timeline was chosen because Donald Trump is the 47th president—a claim DHS denied while confirming the dramatic training cuts. The report documents how ICE has added over 12,000 new recruits since early 2025, meaning the agency now has more barely-trained newcomers than experienced officers.
Molly Olmstead, “I’m a Journalist. ICE Just Offered Me a Job After a 6-Minute Interview.“, Slate, January 2026.
First-person account by journalist Laura Jedeed documenting her experience at an ICE recruiting event. Despite being openly anti-Trump and anti-ICE with her views documented on social media, Jedeed received a final job offer with an onboarding date after a six-minute interview and no completed background check. When DHS called her account “a lazy lie,” she posted video evidence proving the offer was real. The story exposes the sham nature of ICE’s hiring process and directly contradicts the administration’s claims about meritocracy and rigorous vetting.
Tax Foundation, “Trump Tariffs: Tracking the Economic Impact of the Trump Trade War“, Tax Foundation, 2025.
Comprehensive analysis documenting that Trump’s tariffs represent the highest average tariff rate since 1946 and the largest tax increase as a percentage of GDP since 1993. The report tracks the cumulative economic impact of tariffs imposed on trading partners and retaliatory measures, establishing that tariffs function as a regressive consumption tax that disproportionately burdens lower-income households.
Tax Policy Center, “TPC Shows Who Pays Trump Administration’s Tariffs and Who Could Gain $2,000 Dividend“, Tax Policy Center, 2025.
Analysis estimating that Trump’s tariffs cost the average American household approximately $2,100 per year by 2026, with lower-income families paying a larger share of their before-tax income than wealthier households. The report demonstrates the regressive nature of tariff policy, contradicting administration claims that tariffs benefit working Americans.
NPR, “The Trump administration has stopped work at the CFPB. Here’s what the agency does“, NPR, February 10, 2025.
Report on the effective shutdown of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Russell Vought, who ordered staff to “not perform any work tasks.” The CFPB had protected consumers from predatory lending, hidden fees, and financial scams. DOGE accessed internal systems, deleted social media accounts, and planned to fire nearly all 1,700 employees. The agency dismissed 22 active enforcement actions against companies accused of ripping off consumers. Elon Musk celebrated by posting “RIP CFPB” while running payment businesses that the agency would have regulated.
NPR, “The ‘big, beautiful bill’ would give ICE the biggest budget in federal law enforcement“, NPR, January 21, 2026.
Analysis of ICE funding in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, documenting that the legislation grows ICE’s budget from $10 billion to over $100 billion by 2029—making it larger than the FBI, DEA, and entire Justice Department combined. The bill allocates $75 billion over four years for ICE operations, $45 billion for detention capacity (100,000 beds), and $30 billion to hire 10,000 new employees. This occurred in the same legislation that cut $186 billion from SNAP and $1 trillion from Medicaid.
Minnesota Department of Corrections, “Press Conference on ICE Detainer Data“, ABC 6 News (YouTube), January 2026.
Press conference in which Minnesota DOC officials revealed that DHS’s claim of 1,360 people with ICE detainers in Minnesota custody was false. The actual number was 301. Officials documented that many names on the DHS list were people “never in Minnesota custody at all,” people with “no Minnesota court records whatsoever,” people currently “in custody in other states,” and people “handed to ICE years ago”—some dating back to the 1990s. Some individuals had been released back into the community by ICE itself. The briefing also revealed that DHS staged “arrests” for press releases that were actually coordinated prison transfers.
Whistleblower Aid, “DHS-ICE Memo Authorizing Warrantless Home Entry“, DocumentCloud, January 21, 2026.
Internal ICE memo dated May 12, 2025, from Acting Director Todd Lyons authorizing forcible entry into homes using administrative warrants (Form I-205) that require no judicial approval. The memo permits “necessary and reasonable amount of force” if residents refuse entry. This policy contradicts DHS’s own training materials, which state that “the physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.” Wrong-address raids have been reported under this expanded authority.
NPR, “Video contradicts official account of Minneapolis shooting that killed Alex Pretti“, NPR, January 25, 2026.
Report on the killing of Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse and lawful gun owner with a permit, who was shot ten times by Border Patrol agents—six shots fired after he was already motionless on the ground. DHS Secretary Noem claimed Pretti was “brandishing” a weapon and “attacked” officers, but video evidence shows he never drew his weapon and was filming with his phone when pepper sprayed. When state police arrived with a warrant signed by a judge, DHS blocked them from accessing the scene—a violation of the Tenth Amendment’s federalism principles.
ABC News, “Timeline: The wrongful deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador“, ABC News, April 2025.
Comprehensive timeline of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation despite a 2019 withholding of removal order that explicitly forbade his removal to El Salvador due to “clear probability of future persecution.” The article documents his arrest on March 12, 2025 while driving with his five-year-old disabled child, his deportation three days later to CECOT prison in El Salvador, and the administration’s admission that the removal was an “administrative error”—an acknowledgment that they violated a valid court order protecting him from deportation.
CNBC, “Supreme Court unanimously rules Trump administration must help bring wrongly deported man back to U.S.“, CNBC, April 10, 2025.
Report on the unanimous Supreme Court ruling ordering the Trump administration to “facilitate” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States. Justice Sotomayor wrote that the government’s legal argument “implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.” The ruling established that even this administration’s own Supreme Court would not accept their claim that deportations completed before judicial review are beyond the reach of courts.
Courthouse News Service, “Supreme Court says Trump violated migrants’ due process rights, keeping pause on deportations under wartime authority“, Courthouse News Service, 2025.
Report on the Supreme Court’s 7-2 ruling in J.G.G. v. Trump finding that the administration violated due process rights by deporting Venezuelan migrants under the Alien Enemies Act with approximately 24 hours’ notice and no information about how to challenge their removal. All nine justices—including Kavanaugh, Barrett, and Gorsuch—agreed that noncitizens have the constitutional right to challenge their removal. The Court wrote that “notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster.”
Thank you, again.
This tactcial shift from defense to offense is spot on. The idea of reclaiming patriotism instead of ceding it was something I hadn't thought through until reading this. Forcing them to defend their record on issues they claim to own flips the dynamic completely. Saw this play out irl when someone brought up law and order and got confronted with the pardon receipts