Gestapo
Week of October 3-9, 2025
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Judges and governors fight Trump on National Guard deployments to Portland and Chicago; Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act. In another test of his executive power, Trump ordered National Guard troops to Chicago on Saturday, October 4 over the objections of Illinois governor JB Prtizker and other state officials in an escalation of his war on U.S. cities, particularly Democratic sanctuary cities like Chicago where elected officials have stood in solidarity with communities to resist ICE raids. Protests arose spontaneously over the weekend after federal agents shot a woman in a southwest Chicago neighborhood, leading to standoffs with federal agents who teargassed Chicago police officers along with protestors. On Monday, October 6, Illinois and Chicago filed suit to block the deployment, while Mayor Brandon Johnson issued an executive order declaring parts of the city as ‘ICE-free zones’ which ban ICE from operating on city property such as schools and parks, to create what Johnson called a “civic shield” to protect residents from “harmful enforcement practices.” The White House accused Johnson of shielding “depraved, violent criminal illegal aliens” with the order, while Florida Sen. Ashley Moody called Johnson and Pritzker’s opposition to Trump’s plan an “incitement to violence.” On Wednesday, Trump called for Johnson and Pritzker to be jailed for “failing to protect ICE officers”; Mayor Johnson responded saying “this is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested,” while Governor Pritzker defiantly retorted, “Come and get me.” A federal judge on Thursday temporarily blocked National Guard deployment to Chicago for at least two weeks, citing “no credible evidence of a rebellion” in Illinois.
On Monday, Trump told reporters he was ‘seriously considering’ invoking the Insurrection Act to circumvent court rulings, like the restraining order that blocked Trump from sending troops to Portland over the objections of local officials. Stephen Miller characterized the TRO, issued by a Trump-appointed judge, as a “legal insurrection” as Trump made false claims to reporters that Portland was “burning to the ground” with “insurrectionists all over the place,” seemingly influenced by images of South American riots that the Oregon GOP passed off as Portland on social media. Military leaders and legal experts warned that Trump’s argument for using the Act is not only unprecedented in history but an extremely dangerous ‘five alarm fire’ that would enable Trump to assume emergency powers over the military and effectively enact a police state; and legal scholars have long called for reform of the antiquated law precisely because of its potential for abuse by a dictatorially-minded president. Rep. Ilhan Omar called Trump’s threat an “unhinged act of authoritarianism,” and others fear that Trump’s invocation of the Act in the current situation, under a pretext of ‘insurrection’ that one judge described as “wildly untethered to the facts,” could provoke a civil-military crisis and move the nation closer to civil war.
The troop deployments and threats against Democratic governors have posed a particular dilemma for advocates of states’ rights, which Republicans have historically embraced as a core value. At the center of the issue is Texas Governor and former states’ rights champion Greg Abbott, who volunteered his state’s National Guard troops for deployment to Chicago in a move that is causing anxiety among his fellow Republicans and rancor among his fellow governors who find themselves on the front lines of a constitutional crisis. On Monday, Pritzker and California Governor Gavin Newsom both threatened to pull out of the National Governors’ Association over its silence on the issue; the organization’s current chair, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma, became the first governor to break with the party line this week as he criticized Abbott for the interstate deployment, saying it violated his belief in federalism and that “Oklahomans would lose their mind” if Pritzker had sent troops to Oklahoma over his objections. Four Republican state Attorneys General have also refused to support Trump’s troop deployment plans. Fissures are also forming within the National Guard as the service heads into uncharted territory; Brigadier General Alan R. Gronewold, top commander of the Oregon National Guard, told legislators last week that the role of his troops would be to “protect protestors at any ICE facility,” sparking angry reactions from MAGA diehards. Trump announced that the National Guard will head to Memphis and begin operations there on Friday as Chicago and Portland await the outcomes of their lawsuits in court.Trump holds televised ‘Antifa roundtable’ while escalating persecution of political and personal opponents. Faced with legal challenges, Trump took his case for military occupation of U.S. cities to the public on Wednesday, October 8 via a 2-hour televised roundtable on the ‘impact’ of ‘Antifa’. Trump was joined by a group of conservative influencers who largely echoed Trump’s messaging on ‘left wing violence’ as Trump vowed to commit the ‘full weight’ of the federal government to bring it down. Portland anti-ICE protests in particular have attracted numerous MAGA influencers who pose as ‘independent’ journalists at protests hoping to prove Trump’s claims of ‘Antifa terrorism’. Kristi Noem grandstanded about ‘staring down’ an Antifa gang during her Portland visit, which video footage subsequently revealed to be a small group of photographers and a person in a chicken suit. Alt-right ‘Pizzagate’ influencer Jack Posobiec remarked that Antifa’s origins can be traced to the Weimar Republic, perhaps accidentally comparing MAGA to the rise of the Nazis. Trump appeared to boast that he “took the freedom of speech away” when discussing flag burning, and answered “Who?” when asked about suspending habeas corpus. Pam Bondi compared ‘Antifa’ to gangs and drug cartels, implying that anti-fascists could be dealt with in a similar fashion to the recent extrajudicial killings through U.S. military strikes on boats in the Caribbean. Trump then called for right-wing media allies to submit names of ‘Antifa’ supporters to the government. This week, Rutgers professor and anti-fascism scholar Mark Bray announced he was leaving the country, citing a torrent of death threats to him and his family after MAGA influencers published his home address online; his flight was mysteriously cancelled at the gate but he was able to board another plane Thursday night.
Mainstream media outlets are increasingly recognizing that Trump’s campaign to dismantle ‘Antifa’ (which is not a discrete organization but a broadly shared ideological orientation among primarily left-wing movements) is yet another pretext to criminalize dissent and target liberal and left-leaning nonprofits, as well as pursue retribution against Trump’s personal and political opponents. This week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the launch of undercover investigations into ‘leftist terror cells’ that support ‘transgenderism’ as well as ‘Antifa’. In the wake of Trump and Hegseth’s address to military top brass urging them to prepare for the ‘war within’, Pentagon officials report a ‘culture of fear and intimidation’ taking hold inside the military after Hegseth fired the Navy’s chief of staff and pursued a sprawling investigation of over 300 DOD workers suspected of being critics of Charlie Kirk. Pam Bondi also announced that the DOJ was investigating the Portland Police Department after police reports were published indicating that MAGA influencers claiming to be victims of leftist violence at Portland protests acted as provocateurs who instigated and escalated the incidents they cited. Trump and Bondi also announced a ‘whole-of-government’ push to investigate ‘funders’ and ‘dark money sources’ behind ‘organized domestic unrest,’ beginning with the right’s frequent bogeyman George Soros. Georgia Rep. Buddy Carter urged the investigation citing a report claiming that Soros’ Open Society Foundation “distributed over $80 million to groups tied to political extremism and violence,” although the authors of the report acknowledged that it found no evidence that OSF or its grantees broke the law. Observers argue that whether or not the allegations are true is beside the point, as the investigation itself has already spread fear and chilling effects throughout the U.S. nonprofit sector; MSNBC’s Paul Waldman notes that the vague language in Trump’s recent National Security Memo is perhaps intended to make ‘Antifa’ into an ‘infinitely flexible term’ that can be applied to nearly anyone as the list of Trump’s opposition targets grows.Attorney General Pam Bondi grilled in Senate oversight hearing regarding Trump’s weaponization of the Department of Justice. Pam Bondi sparred with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in a contentious oversight hearing held on Tuesday, October 7 to address allegations that she has weaponized the Department of Justice to target Trump foes and shield allies on behalf of his personal and political interests. Bondi was questioned about an angry message Trump posted to Truth Social on September 20 that was personally addressed to “Pam,” pushing her to take action against a list of ‘enemies’ including NY Attorney General Letitia James and Russiagate prosecutor James Comey, who was indicted under dubious circumstances five days later. The Wall Street Journal revealed this week that the post was intended to be a private message and was posted to Trump’s 10 million followers by mistake. Comey appeared in court this week to plead ‘not guilty’ to perjury charges relating to the ‘Russiagate’ election interference investigation he led during Trump’s first term. Comey plans to seek dismissal of the charges as ‘vindictive’ by questioning the validity of Trump’s appointment of interim U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan, an insurance lawyer with no prosecutorial experience who was hand-picked to prosecute the case after her predecessor resigned under pressure for failing to find sufficient evidence to indict Comey. Halligan is reportedly now outsourcing legal help because her own staff is unwilling to work on presenting the case.
Bondi was also pressed by Democrats on the Epstein files as well as her shuttering of a bribery case against border czar Tom Homan, who was busted in a 2024 sting operation after taking a bag filled with $50,000 cash from undercover FBI agents in exchange for favorable treatment in government contracts. Bondi mostly evaded the pointed questions, opting instead to respond with attacks on Democrats, criticizing Sen. Whitehouse for ‘salacious remarks’ when questioned about Epstein, accusing Sen. Blumenthal of lying about his military service instead of answering questions about corporate malfeasance, lambasting Sen. Padilla for disrupting a DHS conference when asked about the Administration’s violation of court orders blocking military deployment to U.S. cities, and accusing Sen. Hirono of being a member of ‘Antifa’ when questioned about Homan’s bribery case. Conservative legal analysts blasted her performance as symptomatic of the Trump Administration’s increasingly ‘brazen’ defiance of government oversight norms. Other observers noted that Bondi has been a loyal servant to Trump throughout her tenure, giving him the power to bend the Justice Department to his bidding.
In New York this week, a prosecutor hand-picked by Trump brought an indictment against Letitia James on mortgage fraud charges, which legal advocacy organization Democracy Forward characterized as an act of ‘personal revenge and retribution’ designed to “punish anyone who dares to challenge or stand up to the President.” In a video released shortly after the indictment, James dismissed the charges as “nothing more than a continuation of Trump’s desperate weaponization of our justice system.” The New York Times surveyed fifty Washington-based legal experts who all expressed dismay that most, if not all, of the Justice Department’s accountability guardrails have fallen away in the eight months since Bondi’s appointment, and that the Comey and James indictments represent a “misuse of power” that many respondents “hoped never to see in the United States.”Israel, Hamas agree to ‘first phase’ of U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire plan. Two years and one day after the fateful events that precipitated Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Trump announced on Wednesday, October 8 that Israel and Hamas had reached an agreement to pause fighting and release hostages held by both sides, implementing the initial elements of a 20-point ‘peace plan’ proposed by Trump on September 29. According to the full text of the 6-step process obtained by Middle East Eye, Israel agreed to cease hostilities and begin a phased withdrawal within 24 hours of the agreement’s ratification, after which Hamas will have 72 hours to release all 20 surviving hostages to Israel. Israel will also allow the UN to resume large-scale humanitarian aid efforts in Gaza beginning on Sunday, October 12. The deal was hammered out through talks in Egypt this week brokered by Qatari mediators, with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arriving on Tuesday to push it over the finish line. Key to Hamas’ willingness to gamble on moving forward with the deal, according to reports, was Trump’s willingness to strong-arm Netanyahu at two pivotal moments – first, into apologizing to Qatar’s leaders for Israel’s bombing in Doha last month, and then into accepting the deal once Hamas had signaled its agreement. Trump also reportedly gave Hamas his personal guarantee that Israel will hold to the ceasefire, and agreed to send 200 U.S. troops to guarantee security and establish a ‘civil-military coordination center’ in Israel to monitor the plan’s implementation and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. The Israeli Cabinet officially ratified the agreement on Thursday, October 9, even as the IDF continued to conduct deadly strikes in Gaza, but did begin withdrawing troops once the agreement went into effect at noon local time on Friday, October 10. The Gaza Health Ministry said 17 Palestinians were killed and 71 injured in the 24 hours before the agreement went into effect. Displaced Palestinians began returning to Gaza on Friday morning, which has been left ‘unrecognizable’ after intense bombing by Israeli forces, and expressed cautious optimism even as the path forward remained unclear; many Palestinians, including senior Hamas leaders, thanked Trump for his efforts and implored him to hold to his promise to guarantee that Israel will not resume hostilities, as they have in the past. Qatar announced it would spearhead reconstruction efforts and humanitarian support in the devastated territory after Hamas decisively rejected Trump’s initial proposal to tap Tony Blair to head a transitional process for Gaza.
The Guardian ran a special feature assessing the devastating impact of the two-year conflict that left Gaza a near-total ruin, and Zeteo compiled a series of visual statistics to illustrate the ‘horrifying’ scale of Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign. Over 67,000 Palestinians were killed over the course of the conflict, and 55,000 Palestinian children are suffering from acute malnourishment according to estimates from the Lancet; approximately 10,000 are still reported missing, a majority of whom are believed to be buried under the rubble. Having been snubbed for the Nobel Peace Prize after a ‘relentless campaign’ to lobby the Nobel Committee over the past several months, Trump announced that he will travel to Israel on Monday to be present for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages.Government shutdown wears on a strained economy as families, farmers struggle, investors flee en masse to gold, silver, currency trades. As of this writing, the government shutdown is well into its 10th day with no end in sight, as the Senate failed to reach a 60-vote threshold after five attempts to break a party-line impasse over rival stopgap funding bills. On Monday, October 6, Trump signaled that he may be open to negotiating a compromise over healthcare subsidies central to the shutdown fight, but that Democrats must agree to reopen the government first before any dealmaking takes place. Senate Democrats are holding the line against the GOP’s refusal to extend Obamacare (ACA) tax credits as part of the new budget, which would more than double healthcare premiums if allowed to expire after December 31st and precipitate a potentially catastrophic spike in the cost of living for over 24 million lower-income U.S. households. On Tuesday, October 7, federal unions erupted in outrage after Trump appeared to attempt some hardball tactics by reneging on guaranteeing back pay for federal workers furloughed during the shutdown; the Office of Management and Budget quietly removed language from its shutdown guidance referring to the guarantee, which is a statutory requirement that Trump himself signed into law during his first term in 2019. Later on Tuesday, September 7, Trump hinted that the law allowed him to pick and choose who would receive back pay and who ‘didn’t deserve it,’ sparking pushback from lawmakers of both parties. By Wednesday, agencies sent new guidance that included the guarantee, as Speaker Johnson issued reassurances to the media and Congress that “of course” furloughed workers would be paid according to the law.
Previous shutdowns have relied on good-faith bipartisan negotiations to reach an acceptable compromise to reopen the government, but lawmakers say that Trump’s shifting rhetoric, Republican misinformation and the hyper-polarized political environment has made it difficult to build enough trust between parties to work across the aisle and move forward. One notable exception to the party-line impasse has been MAGA lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, who dramatically broke with her party over healthcare costs, carving out her own populist line on the issue as she both critiqued the ACA and blasted her fellow Republicans for approving billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine and Israel while not ‘having a plan’ to help people facing doubling healthcare costs. Pressure to reach a deal is mounting as the government approaches critical deadlines that could result in missed paychecks for low-wage contract workers and military families who are already struggling to make ends meet in a stagnating economy where, as Greene put it, “everyone is being destroyed” by tariff-induced inflation, skyrocketing energy costs and a cratering labor market. Financial markets are flashing bright red warnings of impending crisis; gold prices spiked above $4,000 for the first time as investors flee unstable bond markets and rush to safer assets en masse amid global trade and political anxieties. Famed ‘Big Short’ investor Steve Eisman said this week that outside of the AI bubble, which is mostly now being propped up through circular trades between the biggest industry giants, real economic growth has effectively stalled without a path to recovery as markets are left in the dark without access to government data during the shutdown.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Despite Trump’s criminalization of dissent and threats of military repression, cities targeted for resisting ICE show no signs of backing down. Substack blogger Robert Hubbell reminded readers this week that “the first rule of resisting bullies is: Never Back Down.” Despite increasingly violent repression from ICE agents and Trump’s escalating criminalization of protest and threats of military occupation in sanctuary cities, communities of resistance in Portland, Chicago, and now Memphis are not backing down, but are growing ever stronger. After Trump renewed his attempt to send the National Guard to Chicago, over 7,000 people turned out with less than 48 hours’ notice, even blowing off a critical Cubs playoff game to show up for an emergency protest on Wednesday night, chanting “No ICE, No Fear” in a show of mass resistance. Community members on the South Side saved a man from being abducted by ICE in a dramatic scene that played out amongst moving traffic, as other neighborhoods ran ICE out before agents had a chance to target anyone. Residents are displaying lawn signs and following ICE agents in their cars, honking and shouting loudly to warn neighbors. Chicago news associations and labor unions sued the Trump Administration over ‘extreme brutality’ at ICE protests after several reports of journalists being violently arrested and manhandled by masked ICE agents, winning a temporary restraining order banning federal agents’ use of riot control weapons and physical force against protestors. Religious communities rallied to decry ICE brutality and repression of religious freedom after a pastor was shot in the head with pepper balls by an ICE sniper and sued the Trump Administration over his First Amendment rights. The Chicago Teachers’ Union, which has been organizing to protect students and families, welcomed Thursday’s court decision blocking the deployment of troops. A Brighton Park gas station worker was hailed as a hero for giving refuge and supplies to nearby protestors being teargassed by the feds. In Portland, humor is proving to be one means of resistance as a man in a frog costume has become a protest icon, comically juxtaposing Trump’s claims of ‘Antifa terrorists’ taking over the city as more Portland Frogs joined the protests. A Portland City Council member’s casual reference to ‘famed puppy killer’ Kristi Noem made a CNN anchor crack up on air, as Willamette Week interviewed the man in a chicken suit that Noem allegedly stared down in her confrontation with ‘Antifa’. Veterans supporting cities’ resistance traveled to Memphis ahead of the National Guard deployment as the emerging Free the 901 Coalition organizes for a three-day ‘Resistance Fest’ around the No Kings Day of Action to train and prepare communities for nonviolent resistance and community defense. LA Taco provides a guide for parents and teachers on how to talk to young kids about ICE.
Campus communities resist Trump’s higher education ‘compact’ scheme and mobilize to protect free speech. The Chronicle of Higher Education reported this week on an under-noticed legal victory for a coalition of Harvard faculty, the American Association of University Professors, and campus labor unions who sued the Trump Administration independently and won a court mandate to not only restore frozen funding but also prohibit any future retaliatory funding cuts against the campus community. The ruling serves as an important bulwark against any potential capitulation from the official Harvard entity, as it is directly enforceable by the plaintiffs (teachers, students, workers, and unions) with or without support from campus administration. Student activists with the Sunrise Movement, which has pivoted from their original focus on climate action to resisting campus authoritarianism, report that hundreds of students, faculty and workers at the nine universities targeted by Trump’s compact have gathered thousands of signatures in petition drives urging university leaders to reject the compact, while also making plans for protracted resistance if administrators capitulate. Unions at Rutgers are standing in solidarity with anti-fascism scholar Mark Bray, who fled the country this week after receiving death threats from MAGA agitators, and are organizing an effort to disband the campus chapter of Turning Point USA, which played a role in targeting Bray and 22 other Rutgers faculty members named on TPUSA’s Professor Watchlist. Several hundred students at UT Chattanooga walked out of classes to protest the dismantling of DEI and minority student programming as the campus attempts to become compliant with Trump’s new education standards. The American Federation of Teachers has also published a resource guide on Free Speech & Online Safety for educators and public sector workers that may face harassment for their views.
Federal workers and public sector workers mobilize for mutual aid during the government shutdown. As federal workers brace for a protracted government shutdown and a possible second round of mass layoffs, the Federal Unionists Network and several other organizations are crowdsourcing resources to support each other through the shutdown. Federal workers seeking assistance can access resources online from the Federal Unionists Network, the Federal Employee Education & Assistance Fund, America’s Credit Unions, the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, and the Partnership for Public Service, as well as the official webpages of Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Don Beyer. Public television stations hit with funding cuts after the dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are auctioning off dozens of paintings by famed PBS personality Bob Ross in order to raise money to keep afloat. The auction will be run by Bonhams and starts on November 11. Amid layoff threats from DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, federal air traffic controllers strained during the shutdown are quietly organizing wildcat ‘sick-outs’ to protest staffing shortages and possibly force an end to the shutdown.
Upcoming Protests, Events, and Actions.
Sunday, October 12: Organizers with Naked Hearts PDX have called for an Emergency World Naked Bike Ride in Portland to protest the Trump Administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to the city. The ride will start at 2:30pm at the Oregon Convention Center Plaza. More information and a beginner’s guide to sensible naked bike riding can be found at OregonLive.
Tuesday, October 14: Los Angeles-based organization Struggle for Socialism is calling for a National Day of Action to honor George Floyd as an alternative to the Trump Administration’s day of remembrance for Charlie Kirk. Activists around the country are encouraged to plan a speakout, a rally, a march, an indoor event, a banner drop, a vigil or other forms of protest. Actions of any size are encouraged. More information, a list of local actions, and a form to submit a local action can be found at http://bit.ly/oct14floyd.
Friday, October 17: Indivisible Memphis will be holding a Freedom Trainers Teach-In to kick off the three-day Memphis Resistance Fest. The teach-in will host several workshops to train community members in organizing strategies and skills as well as encouragement to resist Trump’s military occupation of the city. More information and a registration form can be found on Bluesky.
Saturday, October 18: The No Kings Coalition has set the date for its next nationwide No Kings Protest and Day of Action on October 18, and are encouraging those interested to sign up for updates on actions in their local area, or to support the growing effort to bring millions of people into the streets.
