[{"content":"Let\u0026rsquo;s just say it plainly: the President of the United States is a convicted felon.\nOn May 30, 2024, a jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The crime: covering up hush money payments to a porn star to hide an affair and influence the 2016 election. The jury deliberated, considered the evidence, and came back guilty. Thirty-four times.\nHe was sentenced on January 10, 2025 — ten days before taking office. The sentence: unconditional discharge. No jail. No probation. Nothing. He walked out, flew to Mar-a-Lago, and two weeks later was sworn in as President.\nHe called it a witch hunt. He called the judge corrupt. He called the whole thing rigged. He says that about every court that rules against him. It\u0026rsquo;s the only move he has.\nBut here\u0026rsquo;s what\u0026rsquo;s not rigged: twelve ordinary American jurors sat through seven weeks of testimony, weighed the evidence, and unanimously said guilty. That\u0026rsquo;s how the system is supposed to work. That\u0026rsquo;s the system he spent years telling you to trust — right up until it told you something he didn\u0026rsquo;t want you to hear.\nAmerica knew he was a convicted felon on Election Day 2024. Elected him anyway.\nWe are the first country in the history of American democracy to knowingly elect a convicted criminal to the presidency. That\u0026rsquo;s not a partisan talking point. That\u0026rsquo;s just what happened.\nSources: NY Times verdict | PBS on sentencing\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/convicted-felon/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLet\u0026rsquo;s just say it plainly: the President of the United States is a convicted felon.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn May 30, 2024, a jury found Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. The crime: covering up hush money payments to a porn star to hide an affair and influence the 2016 election. The jury deliberated, considered the evidence, and came back guilty. Thirty-four times.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe was sentenced on January 10, 2025 — ten days before taking office. The sentence: unconditional discharge. No jail. No probation. Nothing. He walked out, flew to Mar-a-Lago, and two weeks later was sworn in as President.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The convicted felon in the White House"},{"content":"At a conservative forum on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa, Donald Trump looked at a man who spent five and a half years being tortured in a North Vietnamese prison and said he wasn\u0026rsquo;t really a war hero. Why? Because he got captured.\n\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s a war hero because he was captured,\u0026rdquo; Trump said. \u0026ldquo;I like people that weren\u0026rsquo;t captured.\u0026rdquo;\nJohn McCain, a Navy pilot shot down over Hanoi, refused early release as a POW because it would have meant leaving his fellow prisoners behind. He came home with both arms permanently damaged. Trump, who received five draft deferments during the same war, decided that didn\u0026rsquo;t count.\nThis wasn\u0026rsquo;t a gaffe. Trump doubled down when challenged. The crowd didn\u0026rsquo;t walk out. Republican leaders condemned it — and then, eventually, fell in line anyway.\nWhen a major party\u0026rsquo;s frontrunner can mock a POW\u0026rsquo;s suffering and pay no lasting political price, something has already broken.\nThis was a warning, ignored by so many.\nSources: CBS News | AP Fact Check via PBS | Full transcript via Rev\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/mccain-mock/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAt a conservative forum on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa, Donald Trump looked at a man who spent five and a half years being tortured in a North Vietnamese prison and said he wasn\u0026rsquo;t really a war hero. Why? Because he got captured.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s a war hero because he was captured,\u0026rdquo; Trump said. \u0026ldquo;I like people that weren\u0026rsquo;t captured.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn McCain, a Navy pilot shot down over Hanoi, refused early release as a POW because it would have meant leaving his fellow prisoners behind. He came home with both arms permanently damaged. Trump, who received five draft deferments during the same war, decided that didn\u0026rsquo;t count.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trump mocks McCain's POW service"},{"content":"They\u0026rsquo;re erasing the record. Not metaphorically — literally deleting it.\nThe Trump Justice Department removed official news releases from its website documenting the charges, convictions, and sentences of January 6 defendants. Real criminal cases. Cases that went through the federal court system. Gone. The DOJ called them \u0026ldquo;partisan propaganda.\u0026rdquo;\nLet me be clear about what just happened: the government prosecuted these people, won those cases, and now is pretending the prosecutions were political bias. They\u0026rsquo;re not just pardoning the attackers — they\u0026rsquo;re rewriting the history of the attack itself.\nThis is what authoritarians do. They don\u0026rsquo;t just change the present, they go back and change the past. Make it harder to remember what happened. Make it easier to call anyone who does remember a liar.\nIt happened. It\u0026rsquo;s documented. And they\u0026rsquo;re trying to make you forget it.\nSources: Associated Press | U.S. News\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/doj-jan6/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThey\u0026rsquo;re erasing the record. Not metaphorically — literally deleting it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Trump Justice Department removed official news releases from its website documenting the charges, convictions, and sentences of January 6 defendants. Real criminal cases. Cases that went through the federal court system. Gone. The DOJ called them \u0026ldquo;partisan propaganda.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet me be clear about what just happened: the government prosecuted these people, won those cases, and now is pretending the prosecutions were political bias. They\u0026rsquo;re not just pardoning the attackers — they\u0026rsquo;re rewriting the history of the attack itself.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DOJ scrubs Jan. 6 case records"},{"content":"You\u0026rsquo;ve lived here for years. You work here. Your kids go to school here. You\u0026rsquo;ve been doing everything right, following the legal path to permanent residency. Now they\u0026rsquo;re telling you to leave and apply from abroad.\nAnd if you leave? You might not get back in.\nThe Trump administration announced that large numbers of green card applicants can no longer complete the process from inside the United States. Pack up your life, go back to where you came from, and wait. How long? Nobody knows. What are the chances you get denied reentry on some technicality while you\u0026rsquo;re waiting? Nobody\u0026rsquo;s saying.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t immigration enforcement. This is cruelty dressed up as procedure. These are people who have been living here lawfully, building lives, paying taxes, following the rules — and the rules just got changed on them deliberately to make their lives harder.\nThe message is clear: you are not welcome here no matter how long you\u0026rsquo;ve been here or how many rules you\u0026rsquo;ve followed. We can always find a new way to make you leave.\nThat\u0026rsquo;s not America. That\u0026rsquo;s not supposed to be America.\nSources: NPR\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/green-cards/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eYou\u0026rsquo;ve lived here for years. You work here. Your kids go to school here. You\u0026rsquo;ve been doing everything right, following the legal path to permanent residency. Now they\u0026rsquo;re telling you to leave and apply from abroad.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd if you leave? You might not get back in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Trump administration announced that large numbers of green card applicants can no longer complete the process from inside the United States. Pack up your life, go back to where you came from, and wait. How long? Nobody knows. What are the chances you get denied reentry on some technicality while you\u0026rsquo;re waiting? Nobody\u0026rsquo;s saying.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Green cards only if you leave"},{"content":"He pardoned the January 6 attackers. He erased the prosecution records. He called the whole thing a hoax. And now he\u0026rsquo;s created a $1.776 billion fund that could pay them.\nThe Justice Department — his Justice Department — announced an \u0026ldquo;Anti-Weaponization Fund\u0026rdquo; as part of his IRS settlement. It will hear claims from people who say they were victims of government \u0026ldquo;weaponization and lawfare.\u0026rdquo; It can award monetary relief. And when asked directly whether January 6 defendants could collect from it, senior DOJ officials would not rule it out.\n$1.776 billion. The number is not a coincidence. It\u0026rsquo;s a taunt.\nThink about what\u0026rsquo;s happening here. The people who beat police officers, smashed through the Capitol, and tried to stop the certification of a democratic election are potentially in line for a government payout — funded by taxpayers — because the administration has decided their prosecution was the real injustice.\nThis is the complete inversion of accountability. The attackers become victims. The prosecutors become criminals. The Justice Department becomes a compensation fund for people who tried to overthrow an election.\nAnd the rest of us get to pay for it.\nWhen the government starts writing checks to the people who attacked democracy, it\u0026rsquo;s not administering justice anymore. It\u0026rsquo;s sending a message about who this country belongs to.\nSources: DOJ announcement | Reuters — potential Jan. 6 payouts | Semafor analysis\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/doj-fund/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHe pardoned the January 6 attackers. He erased the prosecution records. He called the whole thing a hoax. And now he\u0026rsquo;s created a $1.776 billion fund that could pay them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Justice Department — his Justice Department — announced an \u0026ldquo;Anti-Weaponization Fund\u0026rdquo; as part of his IRS settlement. It will hear claims from people who say they were victims of government \u0026ldquo;weaponization and lawfare.\u0026rdquo; It can award monetary relief. And when asked directly whether January 6 defendants could collect from it, senior DOJ officials would not rule it out.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"DOJ 'Anti-Weaponization Fund'"},{"content":"Remember when he promised to release his taxes? Yeah. Instead he got the government to guarantee they can never be audited again.\nBuried in a settlement addendum — not announced, not explained, just quietly signed by his own Acting Attorney General — is a clause saying the IRS is \u0026ldquo;forever barred and precluded\u0026rdquo; from auditing Trump, his family, his businesses, his trusts, and anyone associated with them for any returns filed before the settlement date. Forever. Not this year. Not ever.\nYou don\u0026rsquo;t get that. No ordinary American gets that. You get audited, you fight it, you pay what you owe or you don\u0026rsquo;t, and the IRS can come back. That\u0026rsquo;s the system. That\u0026rsquo;s how it works for everyone except apparently him.\nHe used the Justice Department — his Justice Department, run by his hand-picked Acting Attorney General — to permanently shield himself from the one government agency that could have told us what he was hiding all along.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t a settlement. It\u0026rsquo;s a cover-up with a legal signature on it.\nSources: Reuters — the addendum | CNBC | Reuters — earlier settlement\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/irs-immunity-addendum/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRemember when he promised to release his taxes? Yeah. Instead he got the government to guarantee they can never be audited again.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBuried in a settlement addendum — not announced, not explained, just quietly signed by his own Acting Attorney General — is a clause saying the IRS is \u0026ldquo;forever barred and precluded\u0026rdquo; from auditing Trump, his family, his businesses, his trusts, and anyone associated with them for any returns filed before the settlement date. Forever. Not this year. Not ever.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"IRS immunity addendum in Trump settlement"},{"content":"Courts said it was unconstitutional. He\u0026rsquo;s doing it anyway.\nTrump issued executive orders targeting four major law firms — Perkins Coie, Jenner \u0026amp; Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. The punishment: bar their lawyers from federal buildings, revoke security clearances, terminate government contracts with their clients. The crime: representing clients he didn\u0026rsquo;t like, running diversity programs, having the wrong political associations.\nLower court judges threw the orders out as unconstitutional. The administration appealed. They\u0026rsquo;re still fighting to make this stick.\nThink about what this means. If your law firm has ever opposed this administration — or represented someone who did — you can be locked out of the federal government. Your clients lose their contracts. Your lawyers lose their clearances. The message to every other firm is unmistakable: stay away from his enemies or become one yourself.\nThis is how you gut the legal system without touching a single law. You just make it too dangerous to oppose him.\nSources: Reuters — appeals court fight | Reuters — firms\u0026rsquo; defense | Reuters — relaunching the orders\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/entry-law-firms/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCourts said it was unconstitutional. He\u0026rsquo;s doing it anyway.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrump issued executive orders targeting four major law firms — Perkins Coie, Jenner \u0026amp; Block, WilmerHale, and Susman Godfrey. The punishment: bar their lawyers from federal buildings, revoke security clearances, terminate government contracts with their clients. The crime: representing clients he didn\u0026rsquo;t like, running diversity programs, having the wrong political associations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLower court judges threw the orders out as unconstitutional. The administration appealed. They\u0026rsquo;re still fighting to make this stick.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Orders targeting major law firms"},{"content":"While running the country, Trump reported 3,642 stock trades in the first quarter of 2026. Not \u0026ldquo;thousands\u0026rdquo; — 3,642. That\u0026rsquo;s 58 trades every single market day. Worth somewhere between $220 million and $750 million — they don\u0026rsquo;t have to tell you exactly, just a range.\nThink about what that means. The man setting trade policy, tariff policy, regulatory policy, and export controls holds massive positions in the companies affected by those decisions. Every policy call he makes, every executive order he signs, every phone call with a foreign leader — all of it happens while he\u0026rsquo;s sitting on hundreds of millions in corporate securities that go up or down based on what he does.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s a concrete example: he bought millions in Oracle stock around the same time his administration was helping Oracle secure the deal to keep TikTok operating in the U.S. Coincidence? Maybe. But you\u0026rsquo;ll never know, because the disclosure forms don\u0026rsquo;t require exact timing or profits — just broad ranges, weeks after the fact.\nThe Trump Organization says it\u0026rsquo;s all managed by third-party institutions and he has no input in the trades. He certified the filing himself. His name is on it.\nEvery modern president has divested or used a blind trust for exactly this reason. He never has. And now he\u0026rsquo;s trading at a scale that would get anyone else investigated.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t a conflict of interest. It\u0026rsquo;s a presidency for sale to himself.\nSources: Reuters | NBC News | CNBC\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/stock-trades/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile running the country, Trump reported 3,642 stock trades in the first quarter of 2026. Not \u0026ldquo;thousands\u0026rdquo; — 3,642. That\u0026rsquo;s 58 trades every single market day. Worth somewhere between $220 million and $750 million — they don\u0026rsquo;t have to tell you exactly, just a range.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThink about what that means. The man setting trade policy, tariff policy, regulatory policy, and export controls holds massive positions in the companies affected by those decisions. Every policy call he makes, every executive order he signs, every phone call with a foreign leader — all of it happens while he\u0026rsquo;s sitting on hundreds of millions in corporate securities that go up or down based on what he does.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Q1 2026 stock trades"},{"content":"The administration was deporting people to countries they\u0026rsquo;d never lived in, with as little as six hours\u0026rsquo; notice, with no meaningful chance to say \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll be killed if you send me there.\u0026rdquo;\nA federal judge ruled it unlawful. An appeals court expressed unease. The administration kept pushing anyway.\nThis isn\u0026rsquo;t about whether someone should be deported. It\u0026rsquo;s about whether the government has to follow basic legal procedure before shipping a human being to a country where they might face persecution, torture, or death. Six hours. That\u0026rsquo;s what they were offering. Six hours to somehow prove you\u0026rsquo;ll be murdered if they put you on that plane.\nDue process isn\u0026rsquo;t a technicality or a loophole. It\u0026rsquo;s the thing that separates a government operating under law from one that does whatever it wants to people it has power over. When you can remove someone to a third country on six hours\u0026rsquo; notice with no real hearing, you\u0026rsquo;re not enforcing immigration law — you\u0026rsquo;re just making people disappear.\nCourts keep saying no. The administration keeps looking for ways around it.\nWhen the government decides that speed matters more than whether someone lives or dies, you don\u0026rsquo;t have rule of law anymore. You have rule of whoever\u0026rsquo;s in charge.\nSources: Reuters — appeals court | Al Jazeera — judge ruling\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/third-countries/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe administration was deporting people to countries they\u0026rsquo;d never lived in, with as little as six hours\u0026rsquo; notice, with no meaningful chance to say \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;ll be killed if you send me there.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA federal judge ruled it unlawful. An appeals court expressed unease. The administration kept pushing anyway.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis isn\u0026rsquo;t about whether someone should be deported. It\u0026rsquo;s about whether the government has to follow basic legal procedure before shipping a human being to a country where they might face persecution, torture, or death. Six hours. That\u0026rsquo;s what they were offering. Six hours to somehow prove you\u0026rsquo;ll be murdered if they put you on that plane.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rapid deportations to third countries"},{"content":"He threw himself a military parade. And then threatened anyone who showed up to protest it.\nTrump warned that demonstrations around his parade would be met with \u0026ldquo;very big force.\u0026rdquo; Not \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rsquo;ll handle any disturbances appropriately.\u0026rdquo; Not \u0026ldquo;law enforcement will maintain order.\u0026rdquo; Very big force. Said out loud, in public, about American citizens exercising their constitutional right to protest.\nThis is a president using the language of military intimidation against his own people for disagreeing with him in public.\nThe parade itself was already a red flag — leaders who need armies marching in their honor are usually compensating for something. But threatening protesters at that parade takes it somewhere darker. It\u0026rsquo;s a message: show up and oppose me, and see what happens.\nThe First Amendment doesn\u0026rsquo;t have an exception for events that make the president feel good about himself.\nWhen the government starts talking about protesters the way it talks about enemies, you\u0026rsquo;re not living in a democracy anymore. You\u0026rsquo;re living in the early stages of something else.\nSources: Reuters\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/protest-force/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHe threw himself a military parade. And then threatened anyone who showed up to protest it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrump warned that demonstrations around his parade would be met with \u0026ldquo;very big force.\u0026rdquo; Not \u0026ldquo;we\u0026rsquo;ll handle any disturbances appropriately.\u0026rdquo; Not \u0026ldquo;law enforcement will maintain order.\u0026rdquo; Very big force. Said out loud, in public, about American citizens exercising their constitutional right to protest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a president using the language of military intimidation against his own people for disagreeing with him in public.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Threatening force against parade protesters"},{"content":"The U.S. Army turned 250 years old. Trump turned 79. Guess whose party it became.\nA massive military parade rolled through Washington on Trump\u0026rsquo;s birthday, with Trump front and center as the focal point of the whole spectacle. The Army\u0026rsquo;s 250th anniversary — a genuine milestone worth celebrating — got absorbed into a made-for-TV event built around one man\u0026rsquo;s image.\nThis is what authoritarian aesthetics look like when they\u0026rsquo;re trying to seem normal. You don\u0026rsquo;t announce \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m having a military parade for myself.\u0026rdquo; You find a legitimate occasion, you attach yourself to it, and you make sure the cameras can\u0026rsquo;t tell the difference between honoring the institution and honoring you.\nThe U.S. military serves the Constitution. It doesn\u0026rsquo;t exist to provide backdrops for a president\u0026rsquo;s birthday. When you can\u0026rsquo;t tell where the national celebration ends and the cult of personality begins, that\u0026rsquo;s not a coincidence — that\u0026rsquo;s the point.\nKim Jong Un has military parades on his birthday too.\nThe difference between a democracy and a personality cult is whether the military marches for the country or for the leader. That line got a lot blurrier in June 2025.\nSources: Reuters — parade explainer | Reuters — Army birthday planning\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/army-parade/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe U.S. Army turned 250 years old. Trump turned 79. Guess whose party it became.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA massive military parade rolled through Washington on Trump\u0026rsquo;s birthday, with Trump front and center as the focal point of the whole spectacle. The Army\u0026rsquo;s 250th anniversary — a genuine milestone worth celebrating — got absorbed into a made-for-TV event built around one man\u0026rsquo;s image.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is what authoritarian aesthetics look like when they\u0026rsquo;re trying to seem normal. You don\u0026rsquo;t announce \u0026ldquo;I\u0026rsquo;m having a military parade for myself.\u0026rdquo; You find a legitimate occasion, you attach yourself to it, and you make sure the cameras can\u0026rsquo;t tell the difference between honoring the institution and honoring you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Army anniversary parade and birthday overlap"},{"content":"He says he\u0026rsquo;s joking. He\u0026rsquo;s not joking.\nTrump told NBC he was \u0026ldquo;not joking\u0026rdquo; about a third term and that there are \u0026ldquo;methods\u0026rdquo; to make it happen. The 22nd Amendment is not ambiguous. Two terms. That\u0026rsquo;s it. That\u0026rsquo;s been the law since 1951. There is no method. There is no loophole. There is no constitutional path.\nBut he keeps saying it. And that\u0026rsquo;s the point.\nThis is how authoritarian instincts work in a democracy — you don\u0026rsquo;t announce you\u0026rsquo;re going to torch the Constitution, you just keep suggesting it\u0026rsquo;s negotiable. You say it\u0026rsquo;s a joke when people push back. You say you\u0026rsquo;re \u0026ldquo;not joking\u0026rdquo; when the crowd cheers. You float the idea until it stops sounding outrageous and starts sounding like just another political debate.\nHe would stay in office forever if he could. Anyone paying attention knows that. The man has never shown the slightest interest in the idea that rules apply to him, that courts can stop him, that elections are legitimate when he loses, or that there\u0026rsquo;s any authority on earth he has to answer to.\nThe 22nd Amendment is one of the last explicit hard stops on his power. Of course he\u0026rsquo;s testing it.\nA president who treats the Constitution\u0026rsquo;s term limits as a suggestion isn\u0026rsquo;t joking. He\u0026rsquo;s telling you exactly who he is.\nSources: Reuters | NBC News\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/third-term/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHe says he\u0026rsquo;s joking. He\u0026rsquo;s not joking.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrump told NBC he was \u0026ldquo;not joking\u0026rdquo; about a third term and that there are \u0026ldquo;methods\u0026rdquo; to make it happen. The 22nd Amendment is not ambiguous. Two terms. That\u0026rsquo;s it. That\u0026rsquo;s been the law since 1951. There is no method. There is no loophole. There is no constitutional path.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut he keeps saying it. And that\u0026rsquo;s the point.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is how authoritarian instincts work in a democracy — you don\u0026rsquo;t announce you\u0026rsquo;re going to torch the Constitution, you just keep suggesting it\u0026rsquo;s negotiable. You say it\u0026rsquo;s a joke when people push back. You say you\u0026rsquo;re \u0026ldquo;not joking\u0026rdquo; when the crowd cheers. You float the idea until it stops sounding outrageous and starts sounding like just another political debate.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Third-term rhetoric"},{"content":"On his first day back in office, Trump pardoned the people who attacked the Capitol to stop the certification of an election he lost. Not a few disputed cases — sweeping clemency for most January 6 defendants, sentence commutations for 14 others, and orders to dismiss pending cases and release prisoners immediately.\nLet that sink in. People who beat cops, smashed windows, and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power got pardoned. On day one. Before he did anything else.\nThis wasn\u0026rsquo;t mercy. It was a message: if you commit violence in my name, I will protect you. That\u0026rsquo;s not how a democracy is supposed to work. That\u0026rsquo;s how it starts to break.\nSources: White House proclamation | AP report\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/jan6-pardons/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOn his first day back in office, Trump pardoned the people who attacked the Capitol to stop the certification of an election he lost. Not a few disputed cases — sweeping clemency for most January 6 defendants, sentence commutations for 14 others, and orders to dismiss pending cases and release prisoners immediately.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet that sink in. People who beat cops, smashed windows, and tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power got pardoned. On day one. Before he did anything else.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 6 pardons"},{"content":"In 2005, Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic telling Billy Bush exactly who he is.\n\u0026ldquo;I just start kissing them. It\u0026rsquo;s like a magnet. I don\u0026rsquo;t even wait. And when you\u0026rsquo;re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab \u0026rsquo;em by the pussy. You can do anything.\u0026rdquo;\nThat\u0026rsquo;s not gossip. That\u0026rsquo;s not a rumor. That\u0026rsquo;s him, on tape, in his own voice, bragging about sexual assault. He apologized for it in 2016 — called it \u0026ldquo;locker room talk.\u0026rdquo; Then later tried to claim the tape was fake. Access Hollywood went on air to set the record straight: \u0026ldquo;The tape is very real. He said every one of those words.\u0026rdquo;\nAmerica knew this in 2016. Elected him anyway. America knew this in 2024. Elected him again.\nI don\u0026rsquo;t have a political explanation for that. I have a moral one: a large portion of this country decided that a man who brags about grabbing women without consent is fit to lead it. Twice. Some of those voters are women. Some of them are fathers of daughters.\nThis tape didn\u0026rsquo;t sink him. Nothing sinks him. And that tells you something dark about where we are — not just about Trump, but about us.\nWe don\u0026rsquo;t just have a Trump problem. We have a this-is-apparently-acceptable problem. And that\u0026rsquo;s the one I don\u0026rsquo;t know how to fix.\nSource: Access Hollywood tape — Wikipedia\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/incidents/access-hollywood/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn 2005, Donald Trump was caught on a hot mic telling Billy Bush exactly who he is.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;I just start kissing them. It\u0026rsquo;s like a magnet. I don\u0026rsquo;t even wait. And when you\u0026rsquo;re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab \u0026rsquo;em by the pussy. You can do anything.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat\u0026rsquo;s not gossip. That\u0026rsquo;s not a rumor. That\u0026rsquo;s him, on tape, in his own voice, bragging about sexual assault. He apologized for it in 2016 — called it \u0026ldquo;locker room talk.\u0026rdquo; Then later tried to claim the tape was fake. Access Hollywood went on air to set the record straight: \u0026ldquo;The tape is very real. He said every one of those words.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Access Hollywood tape"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m a retired engineer in California, and I\u0026rsquo;ve spent my life believing that American democratic institutions — imperfect as they are — were fundamentally resilient. I no longer believe that without reservation.\nLike a lot of people, I\u0026rsquo;ve felt helpless watching what\u0026rsquo;s happening. Signing petitions, posting on social media, arguing with strangers online — none of it feels like enough. So I built this.\nDemocracy at Risk is my attempt to do something useful with the anger. Every entry documents a specific action by the Trump administration — what happened, why it matters, and what democratic norm or institution it puts at risk. Sources are linked. I\u0026rsquo;m not asking you to take my word for it.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not a journalist or a political scientist. I\u0026rsquo;m one person who got tired of feeling like the record wasn\u0026rsquo;t being kept clearly enough for ordinary people to see the pattern.\nIf you find this useful — share it. If an entry has a factual error — tell me. If you think I\u0026rsquo;m wrong about the risk — make the argument somewhere else, because I\u0026rsquo;m not interested in relitigating whether there\u0026rsquo;s a problem.\nThere is a problem. This site is my way of saying so.\n(See something that belongs on this list? Send it my way. Click on the Suggest button at the top of the page.)\n","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/about/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m a retired engineer in California, and I\u0026rsquo;ve spent my life believing that American democratic institutions — imperfect as they are — were fundamentally resilient. I no longer believe that without reservation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike a lot of people, I\u0026rsquo;ve felt helpless watching what\u0026rsquo;s happening. Signing petitions, posting on social media, arguing with strangers online — none of it feels like enough. So I built this.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDemocracy at Risk is my attempt to do something useful with the anger. Every entry documents a specific action by the Trump administration — what happened, why it matters, and what democratic norm or institution it puts at risk. Sources are linked. I\u0026rsquo;m not asking you to take my word for it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I'm Mad As Hell!"},{"content":"See something that belongs on this list? Send it my way.\nI read everything. I add what I can verify from credible sources. No guarantees, no promises — but if you\u0026rsquo;ve spotted something real that I\u0026rsquo;ve missed, I want to know about it.\nYour email (optional)\nWhat should be on the list?\nSend it ","permalink":"https://democracyatrisk.org/suggest/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSee something that belongs on this list? Send it my way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI read everything. I add what I can verify from credible sources. No guarantees, no promises — but if you\u0026rsquo;ve spotted something real that I\u0026rsquo;ve missed, I want to know about it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cform action=\"https://formspree.io/f/mnjrbdyz\" method=\"POST\"\u003e\n  \u003cdiv style=\"margin-bottom: 1rem;\"\u003e\n    \u003clabel for=\"email\"\u003eYour email (optional)\u003c/label\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n    \u003cinput type=\"email\" name=\"email\" id=\"email\" style=\"width:100%; padding: 0.5rem;\"\u003e\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n  \u003cdiv style=\"margin-bottom: 1rem;\"\u003e\n    \u003clabel for=\"message\"\u003eWhat should be on the list?\u003c/label\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n    \u003ctextarea name=\"message\" id=\"message\" rows=\"6\" style=\"width:100%; padding: 0.5rem;\"\u003e\u003c/textarea\u003e\n  \u003c/div\u003e\n  \u003cbutton type=\"submit\" style=\"padding: 0.5rem 1.5rem;\"\u003eSend it\u003c/button\u003e\n\u003c/form\u003e","title":"Suggest an Incident"}]