Trump has officially given up on any semblance of attempting actual governance and moved to pure man-baby-without-a-nap tantrum mode. His latest “countering domestic terrorism and organized political violence” memorandum is basically him screaming “EVERYONE WHO DOESN’T LIKE ME IS A TERRORIST!” in official government letterhead.

The document has zero legal authority and can’t actually do anything to change the law—it’s performative authoritarian cosplay from a president whose approval ratings have cratered and whose policies are imploding (even the ones that were previously popular). But while it has no force of law, it can absolutely do serious damage by redirected all aspects of the federal government away from serving the public interest, and entirely towards punishing anyone who doesn’t like Trump. The whole thing reveals just how far Trump’s willing to go in redefining basic political opposition as terrorism when he can’t win literally any arguments on the merits.

Supporting immigration reform? Terrorist. LGBTQ+ rights? Terrorist. Criticizing his failures? Terrorist! Calling out his authoritarianism? All terrorism, apparently.

Let’s break down what this document actually does, because the specifics matter—and they’re worse than the inflammatory rhetoric suggests.

The memorandum systematically redefines political opposition as terrorism. While it cherry-picks a few genuine acts of political violence targeting Republicans, it conspicuously ignores the vastly more prevalent cases of right-wing extremist violence. No mention of the Trump supporter who assassinated a Democratic politician in Minnesota. No reference to the firebombing attempt on Pennsylvania’s governor. If it disrupts the false narrative, it gets ignored and deleted from the official history.

The document’s most insidious move is redefining standard political opposition as terrorism. Look at how it describes the supposed threat:

These campaigns often begin by isolating and dehumanizing specific targets to justify murder or other violent action against them. They do so through a variety of fora, including anonymous chat forums, in-person meetings, social media, and even educational institutions.

Dude. MAGA and Trump himself are absolutely the leading purveyors of “isolating and dehumanizing specific targets.” Trump regularly refers to people as “enemies” or “animals.” It’s hard to think of a single public figure who more regularly uses dehumanizing language.

Also: “educational institutions”? That’s universities teaching courses on authoritarianism or civil rights groups organizing protests. The memorandum then connects this to “organized doxing” and claims it’s all part of coordinated terrorism campaigns.

But here’s where it gets truly Orwellian. The document identifies “common recurrent motivations” that supposedly unite all this “terrorism”:

Common threads animating this violent conduct include anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity; support for the overthrow of the United States Government; extremism on migration, race, and gender; and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.

Read that again. “Extremism on migration, race, and gender” and “hostility towards traditional American views” are now markers of terrorism?!? Supporting comprehensive immigration reform? Terrorist. Advocating for LGBTQ+ rights? Terrorist. Criticizing discriminatory policies? Terrorist.

This has nothing to do with stopping political violence—if it did, it would address the vastly more prevalent cases of right-wing extremist violence. It doesn’t mention the Trump supporter who assassinated a Democratic politician in Minnesota and had a target list of other Democrats, or the firebombing attempt on Pennsylvania’s governor. Trump had already forgotten about that anyway.

The memorandum is a roadmap for weaponizing federal law enforcement against political dissent, dressed up as counter-terrorism.

I mean, the same day this came out, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, claimed that calling out actual government authoritarianism somehow constitutes “incitement to violence.”

Never mind that Stephen Miller regularly said the same thing about Joe Biden. Here’s just one tweet of many in which he does the same thing:

As for Miller’s claim that appointing someone for the sole purpose of trying, arresting, and jailing a political opponent is authoritarian, you say? Huh. Hey Stephen, did you see that your boss just appointed his personal attorney for the sole purpose of prosecuting a political enemy?

But the most damning evidence of this memorandum’s true purpose lies in its targeting of progressive funders. Buried in section 2(j), Trump orders the IRS to weaponize tax-exempt status against his political opponents:

The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Commissioner) shall take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism.  In addition, where applicable, the Commissioner shall ensure that the Internal Revenue Service refers such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution.

When you’ve already defined supporting immigration reform, LGBTQ+ rights, or racial justice as “terrorism,” going after the nonprofits that fund such work becomes a natural next step.

Remember how Republicans lost their minds over the supposed “IRS scandal” under Obama? Just last week, Ben Shapiro was still pushing this narrative on Ezra Klein’s podcast:

So I try to hold steady to the idea that when the I.R.S. cracks down on conservative nonprofits under Barack Obama — I know that happened to people, and I know people to whom it happened — that is a major problem. And it is a major problem when the president of the United States unleashes law enforcement on his political opponents.

Here’s the thing: that “IRS scandal” was completely fabricated. It never happened. But what Obama never actually did, Trump is now doing explicitly and in writing. Publicly. He’s not just going after progressive nonprofits’ tax-exempt status—he’s ordering the IRS to refer them to the DOJ for prosecution.

So where’s Ben Shapiro’s outrage now? This is “every accusation is a confession” in its purest form.

Trump has turned projection into performance art. His entire campaign was built around stopping supposed “lawfare” attacks—the false claim that Biden weaponized law enforcement against political enemies. Never mind that Trump was actually convicted by a jury of his peers for crimes he actually committed. Now he’s doing exactly what he falsely accused others of: weaponizing federal agencies to manufacture cases against political opponents.

And he’s doing it from a position of increasing desperation. Trump’s approval ratings have cratered to historic lows, with massive majorities opposing his key policies. His tariff threats are tanking markets. His mass deportation plans are creating chaos and economic disruption. Even many of his own supporters are questioning the competence of his administration.

This memorandum reads like the tantrum of a failing president who knows his policies are unpopular and his administration is imploding. Rather than course-correct, he’s doubling down on authoritarianism—redefining political opposition as terrorism so he can justify cracking down on anyone pointing out his failures.

The beatings will continue until his popularity improves.

It is difficult to describe how incredibly fucked up all of this is.

This memorandum doesn’t just threaten Trump’s political opponents; it threatens the foundational principle that political dissent is not a crime.

The document creates a framework where federal law enforcement agencies are ordered to investigate, prosecute, and financially destroy organizations based not on actual criminal activity, but on ideological disagreement with the administration. When “extremism on migration, race, and gender” becomes evidence of terrorism, we’ve moved beyond authoritarian rhetoric into authoritarian practice.

This isn’t hyperbole. The memorandum explicitly directs the Joint Terrorism Task Forces—agencies designed to combat actual terrorist threats—to target anyone who disagrees with “traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.” It orders the IRS to strip tax-exempt status from progressive nonprofits and refer them for prosecution. It demands that federal agencies interrogate protesters about their funding sources and organizational ties.

The mechanisms of a police state, wrapped in the language of counter-terrorism.

Congress has the power to defund these operations. The Cabinet has the 25th Amendment. Federal judges can enjoin these clearly unconstitutional directives. But we already know they won’t exercise that power.

Republican lawmakers who once claimed to care about constitutional limits and government overreach will find excuses to look the other way. Democratic lawmakers will issue strongly worded statements and do little else. The Supreme Court that gave us immunity for presidential crimes will likely find creative ways to let this slide too.

The real question isn’t whether these institutions will use their lawful powers to stop this—it’s why so many people with the constitutional duty to do so are too cowardly to act. The answer, of course, is that they’re more afraid of Trump’s tantrums (and the violence it may unleash from his base) than they are of abandoning their oaths of office.

And that’s how democracies die: not with jackboots and midnight raids (though those may come later), but with institutional cowardice masquerading as political pragmatism.

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