Recommendations of the Editorial team
It was foreseeable that Donald Trump and his allies after the murder The right -wing activist Charlie Kirk would tighten her repression against any opposition – and this week Trump’s second term developed her most authoritarian offensive.
The government enforced that the show from Late Night host Jimmy Kimmel was discontinued by threatening television channels with licensed withdrawal. Trump also threatened to withdraw tax status of liberal non-profit organizations and called for the detention of left-wing activists who disturbed him during dinner. He also announced that he wanted to declare the loose organized Antifa movement as a terrorist organization-without a legal basis.
At the same time, the government was working to deport a legal US resident because of its pro-Palestine positions. And Trump publicly urged the dismissal of a US public prosecutor after he refused to accuse one of his opponents.
Kirk’s death as a political lever
This authoritarian week did not happen in a vacuum. Trump explained only last month, the Americans wanted a “dictator”. Now the government of Kirk’s murder seems to be used as an excuse to accelerate Trump’s campaign for a total takeover.
The start on Monday, when Vice President JD Vance Kirks moderated from the White House and met with Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and head of his retribution campaign. Vance pretended that he was only against violent groups – while Miller Kirk’s death used to justify a general attack on liberal organizations.
Miller said: “The last message that Charlie sent me was that we needed an organized strategy to take action against left -wing organizations.” He promised to use “every resource” by Ministry of Justice, Homeland Security and the entire government in order to “destroy” these networks.
Attack on the media
While Conservative Media twisted Kimmel’s statements after Kirk’s death to present them as a scandal, FCC chairman Brendan Carr increased the pressure on Wednesday. He asked the broadcaster to cut Kimmel’s show, otherwise the license withdrawal. ABC suspended the program within hours, and large networks such as Nexstar and Sinclair followed up – for fear of government sanctions.
“They were scared of what the government could do,” said an insider. Even managers who did not see Kimmel’s comments as a reason for dismissal gave.
Trump’s environment celebrated the success and felt encouraged to act against other critics such as Seth Meyers. Two consultants said Rolling Stone that possible FCC examinations against ComCast could be used to put NBC under pressure.
Criticism and open threats
Some conservatives warned: Senator Ted Cruz called Carr’s threats “dangerous as in Goodfellas”. Even the Wall Street Journal spoke of “abuse of power”. But others like Senator Cynthia Lummis suddenly said that the first constitutional was no longer inviolable after Kirk’s death.
Trump himself threatened to withdraw further media their license because they gave him “only bad press”. On the same day, he officially announced that he wanted to classify Antifa as a terrorist organization – a step whose legal implementation is completely unclear.
Trump told reporters: “We’ll see. Maybe Antifa has something to do with her station. We will find out.”
Repression against activists and opponents
On Monday, Trump asked for the detention of anti-war protesters who confronted him in a restaurant. He described her as a “threat” and asked Minister of Justice Pam Bondi to follow her with rico lawsuits.
Meanwhile, the government, Mahmoud Khalil, threatened to deport a legal US resident with a US family to Algeria or Syria-because of its pro-Palestine activism.
On Thursday, “ABC News” reported that Trump wanted to dismiss the US prosecutor in Virginia because he had no charges against New York’s Attorney General Letitia James. James had conducted the big fraud process against Trump’s company. Shortly afterwards the prosecutor resigned – after Trump had publicly demanded his release.
Militarization and censorship
In addition, Trump had ships bombed in the Caribbean, supposedly because of drugs. Even John Yoo, architect of the “torture memos” under Bush, warned of the broken right.
Trump sent the national guard to Memphis and had demonstrators beaten up in front of an ICE facility in Illinois by masked emergency services.
On Friday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon under ex-Fox news moderator Pete Hegseth wanted to oblige journalists in the future to only publish approved information-an open attack on press freedom.
Conclusion of an authoritarian week
Despite all of these measures, Trump explained in the Oval Office: “I am a very strong advocate of free expression.” At the same time, he complained that 97 percent of reporting about him is negative – “This is no longer a free speech, that is fraud.”
It was the right end of a deeply authoritarian week. And that was only a week – the next one is around.