It is no wonder so many Americans—me included—feel overwhelmed. The administration’s continued refusal to fully release the Jeffrey Epstein files has only deepened public frustration, eroded trust in our institutions, and fueled a growing sense that transparency is being sacrificed for political convenience.
A recent analysis of Donald Trump’s two presidential terms reveals that the Trump family amassed roughly $3.4 billion in private gains, funneled through ventures in cryptocurrency, real estate, and branded merchandise. Critics argue these profits bypassed standard disclosure requirements and blurred the line between public service and private profit, often through arrangements managed by his adult children.
A disquieting pattern is emerging that mirrors authoritarian tactics: dismantling environmental protections, federalizing local police, and targeting independent media.
Controlling Information to Control Policy
One of the oldest tools in the authoritarian playbook is devastating but straightforward: control the flow of information, and you control the terms of public debate. That pattern is now unfolding in the United States (US).
In the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative reported a 70% spike in content removals from federal websites. This purge wiped out vital public resources like the EPA’s EJScreen, NOAA’s climate.gov, and the National Climate Assessments. These aren’t just websites—they are the tools communities, researchers, and policymakers rely on to assess risk, plan, and hold polluters accountable.
The administration has also leaned on opaque, non-peer-reviewed reports to justify major reversals in greenhouse gas regulations—reports shielded from scientific scrutiny and now at the center of multiple lawsuits.
Even the language of science is under attack. Key terms—climate change, diversity, environmental justice—have been systematically scrubbed from federal communications. More than 8,000 web pages and 3,000 datasets have disappeared from agencies like the CDC and EPA. Legal challenges are underway, but the damage is already done; without access to accurate, publicly available data, fact-based governance becomes nearly impossible.
The Trump administration is engaged in a deliberate erasure of the evidence base that underpins informed policymaking. When you strip away the data, you strip away the very foundation of public oversight by silencing the facts that empower citizens to demand accountability.
The Systematic Dismantling of Regulatory Protections
Across the country, critical safeguards for air, water, and public health are being stripped away under the banner of “deregulation.” The Environmental Protection Agency has announced what it calls the most significant deregulatory action in U.S. history—a sweeping rollback that weakens environmental and public health protections built over decades.
These actions are not without consequence. Removing federal limits on air pollution from power plants will hit marginalized and low-income communities hardest, exposing them to higher rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and premature death.
In one of the nation’s most heavily polluted communities, the administration went further—terminating funding for air quality monitoring altogether. This decision effectively blinds both residents and regulators, leaving people without the data they need to protect themselves or advocate for change.
These are not the kinds of routine policy shifts that come with a change in administration. They are targeted, deliberate moves to dismantle the very infrastructure designed to safeguard public health—leaving the most vulnerable communities exposed and unprotected.
A Chilling Precedent: The Federal Takeover of D.C. Policing
In a dramatic escalation of federal power, President Trump invoked Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Acton August 11, 2025, which is a provision largely reserved for rare emergencies—to seize control of the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. The deployment included 800 National Guard troops and federal agents, even though officials acknowledged that violent crime in the city was at a 30-year low. The move cast a shadow over local autonomy and raised alarm among civil liberties advocates.
Not content to stop there, Trump has since signaled his intent to seek prolonged Congressional approval to retain lasting federal control over the D.C. police force. The administration suggests that this model could extend to other cities, setting a troubling precedent for local governance.
In response, D.C. leaders—including Mayor Muriel Bowser—and constitutional scholars criticized the effort as an authoritarian power grab rather than a legitimate crime-fighting strategy. Legal experts emphasized the move’s threat to democratic norms and questioned its justification, given the statistical decline in crime.
And this is far from an isolated incident. In Los Angeles, earlier in 2025, the administration similarly portrayed the city as lawless, deploying federal forces amid protests. L.A. Mayor Karen Bass condemned the intervention, calling her city a "test case" for federal overreach. The pattern signals a growing impulse to override local authority under the guise of public safety.
Attacking a Free Press
Independent journalism—the lifeblood of democracy—is coming under fierce attack.
First, nearly 600 staffers at Voice of America were abruptly terminated, silencing one of the most influential U.S.–funded news outlets, signaling a disturbing trend toward suppressing public-interest reporting.
At the same time, budget cuts imposed via Executive Order 14290 are directly threatening public broadcasting. NPR and PBS now face deep financial reductions, prompting immediate legal challenges and raising alarms about the future of public media.
The pressure extends beyond funding. Federal regulators have escalated scrutiny against trusted mainstream outlets like CBS, NPR, and PBS, while media sympathetic to the administration gain favor—creating a chilling effect on editorial independence.
The assault on free media isn’t limited to domestic platforms. International broadcasters revered for offering uncensored news to repressed regions—such as Radio Free Asia and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty—are suffering grant freezes or termination altogether.
These coordinated efforts weaken the media’s ability to report independently. More than that, they damage America’s standing as a global advocate for press freedom, emboldening authoritarian forces that rely on silencing dissent to stay in power.
Why This Matters—and What We Can Do
The warning signs are no longer subtle. Across history, authoritarian systems have followed a recognizable blueprint: silence dissent, concentrate power, and dismantle the institutions that hold leaders accountable. That blueprint is unfolding here. What we are witnessing—censorship, centralized control, and the steady erosion of democratic safeguards—is not the give-and-take of normal governance. It is the deliberate architecture of authoritarianism.
If we do nothing, the erosion will accelerate. Data will vanish from public view, rewritten or deleted to fit a political narrative. Independent journalism will wither under financial strain and targeted attacks. Local governments will lose the ability to govern themselves. The very principles that have defined America for generations—transparency, accountability, free expression—will become hollow slogans.
But this outcome is not inevitable. We can still resist, refusing to let our history be rewritten or our future decided in secrecy. We must preserve and archive the public data that tells the truth, before it disappears. We must stand with journalists and media outlets willing to hold power to account. We must defend the right of local communities to govern themselves without federal overreach. And we must demand that those in office are transparent about their actions and accountable to the people they serve.
The democratic foundations of the United States are being tested, perhaps more severely than at any point in modern history. What happens next depends on whether we meet that test—not with resignation, but with vigilance, unity, and unwavering resolve.
Mindi Messmer, MS, PG, CG is an environmental and public health scientist and author of Female Disruptors: Stories of Mighty Female Scientists. The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and through your local bookstore.