Newsletter: The Strongman’s Agenda

From weaponizing the military against protesters to planning migrant detentions in Guantánamo and hosting a military parade in the nation's capital on his birthday, Trump is flexing his political power to fake strength and control in the face of widespread dissent.

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On Saturday, as President Trump’s military parade is planned to march down the streets of Washington, D.C., more than 1,800 “No Kings” protests are scheduled to take place across the country.

The protests are in opposition to Trump’s increasing authoritarianism — which was on full display this week as he deployed military troops against civilians demonstrating in Los Angeles against his draconian immigration policies.

Last weekend, Trump authorized the deployment of National Guard and Marine troops to quash protests, despite local and state officials’ objections — a stunning abuse of power that flies in the face of Americans’ constitutional right to free speech.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened any protests of Saturday’s parade — conveniently scheduled on his birthday — with “very big force,” again emphasizing his willingness to weaponize the power of the government against the American people.
The parade, which coincides with the Army’s 250th anniversary, will feature more than 6,000 soldiers, 150 tanks and other vehicles, 50 military aircraft, drones, fireworks, and other military equipment, and is estimated to cost taxpayers up to $45 million. Trump called the cost “peanuts compared to the value of doing it.”

The president’s federalization of military troops to suppress dissent is meant to intimidate his perceived enemies and to make himself seem powerful in the face of opposition.

The sharp contrast between Trump’s militarized response to the L.A. protests and his praise of the Jan. 6 attack — an overt attempt to overthrow a free and fair election — is further evidence of his willingness to use the power of the military to benefit his personal or political interests.
It’s perhaps not surprising that Trump chose the week before the parade to escalate his authoritarian strongman act. But it also comes as the administration is ramping up the pressure on immigration enforcement authorities to drastically increase the number of arrests — all in the service of Trump’s political goal of mass deportations.
According to reporting, late last month top White House aide Stephen Miller had directed ICE to ramp up its arrests, including by targeting workplaces and conducting sweeps at stores like Home Depot, where day laborers might gather for work. And it was those efforts that spurred the protests in L.A.

At the same time, authoritarian responses and agenda are cropping up outside of L.A. and the White House.

On Thursday, California Sen. Alex Padilla was forcibly removed from a DHS news conference held by Secretary Kristi Noem, then handcuffed. As our Chioma Chukwu said in a statement, “If this is how they treat a senator, what will they do to ordinary Americans?”
We also condemned the House Homeland Security Committee’s baseless investigation of more than 200 nonprofit organizations with lawful federal contracts — a blatant attempt to silence dissent and abuse power to intimidate groups that serve the public good. Read more about our investigation into attacks on civil society.
On Thursday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and state police to address the planned “No Kings” protests.

Of course, none of this — Trump’s penchant for authoritarian escalation and disdain for democratic disagreement — comes as a surprise, especially when one considers his response to racial justice protests in 2020. In April, in anticipation of Trump using the military to serve his mass-deportation goals, we requested records from the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that could shed light on military involvement in immigration enforcement.

This week, we sued the administration for failing to release the records, and launched a broad investigation into the military deployment in L.A., filing nearly three dozen new requests.
We also launched an investigation into the potential use of force against protesters at Trump’s military parade, seeking communications and directives about the expected potential use of crowd-control munitions or other tactics.
The people deserve to know how their government is carrying out these authoritarian spectacles.

New Lawsuit Related to Guantánamo Deportation Plan

As the Trump administration tells ICE officers to “do what you need to do” to increase arrests, it’s also attempting to convince the president’s supporters that it’s making good on its promise of mass deportations by reportedly planning to detain thousands of migrants at Guantánamo Bay.

On Thursday, we sued ICE, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Southern Command for failing to release records of communications, directives, policy memos, contracts, and cost assessments concerning the use of the Guantánamo detention facility for such a purpose.
The suit follows reports that the administration could begin transferring as many as 9,000 noncitizens — up from 500 — to the offshore military prison.

The message sent by using Guantánamo — which has long been a symbol of unchecked power and weakened civil liberties — also aligns with Trump’s strongman posturing.

“This isn’t just about secret flights or offshore prisons; it’s about the steady erosion of constitutional protections and the normalization of authoritarian posturing,” our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu said. “With a military parade staged to celebrate the president’s birthday — and mass detentions unfolding behind closed doors — the people deserve to know how their government is executing this abuse of power.”
The plans to use Guantánamo for migrant detention were reportedly put on hold on Thursday, in part because the unrest in L.A. “got in the way,” one Trump administration official told Politico.

We’ve also been investigating how private prison companies could stand to gain from the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. Last week, it was reported that Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, had been paid thousands in consulting fees by private prison company GEO Group before joining the administration.

Previously, we obtained records that shed light on the poor conditions and lack of access to proper medical care for those in ICE custody.

On the Records

HHS secretary and longtime vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly removed every member of the CDC’s vaccine committee this week. Several of the new board members he named hold anti-vaccine views.

We’ve filed records requests for Kennedy’s communications, calendars, and ethics documents.
Earlier this year, we obtained records that show Kennedy was apparently not present at a transition-period CDC tabletop exercise on the distribution of a bird flu vaccine.
While other incoming cabinet appointees apparently attended, CDC officials noted Kennedy’s absence at the planning exercise, which according to the records was aimed at “enhanc[ing] coordination in the allocation, ordering, distribution, and administration of influenza A (H5) vaccine,” which is used to combat bird flu.
Kennedy has previously made the dangerous and inhumane suggestion that the virus should be allowed to “run through the flock,” despite objections from veterinary scientists.
Last month, in yet another attack on vaccine development and access, Kennedy announced that the U.S. would no longer recommend Covid-19 vaccines for healthy children or pregnant women.

Newsletter: The Strongman’s Agenda

New Lawsuit Related to Guantánamo Deportation Plan

On the Records

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