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Amanda Carpenter

@amandacarpenter.bsky.social

130K followers 1.9K following 690 posts

Writer/Editor @protectdemocracy.org. Views are my own. NeverTrump from the jump, Bulwark fam & stan. Former reporter, Hill staffer, CNN contributor. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter! http://IfYouCanKeepIt.org 🇺🇸

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 3

This is a take that’s been heavy on my mind for quite some time. Trump’s absurdity and autocracy go hand-in-hand. The absurdity provides plausible deniability for the autocracy to take root. It’s all a big joke until…it’s not.

open.substack.com/pub/protectd...

‘He’s just joking’ his way to autocracy

Who is laughing now?

open.substack.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 10h

A very good & sober discussion about what's happening in Chicago. It's subscriber-only, but this is why you should subscribe!

Of course, I'm a Bulwark stan, but $10 a month gives you a TON of content, and their Bulwark Takes gives you rapid analysis. Do it! :)

www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-t...

Trump is Turning ICE and the National Guard Into His Militia

JVL and Andrew Egger take on Donald Trump’s latest threats to jail his political opponents—including governors and protesters—as he sends National Guard troops into Chicago.

www.thebulwark.com

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Reposted by Amanda Carpenter

Count Every Hero @counteveryhero.org · 1d

Nine former service secretaries + retired four-star admirals and generals filed a brief in federal court in Illinois today challenging the administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago as a dangerous trend of politicizing the military, and militarizing society. 🔗 bit.ly/48gA25b

“Over the short period of only the past several months, the Administration has abandoned the American tradition against domestic deployment of the military, embracing instead what the District Court of Oregon described as ‘martial law,’” they wrote. “The Administration has suggested it plans to use United States cities as ‘training grounds’ for the military, turning our troops on the ‘enemy within’ – the very people they have proudly sworn to protect, with their own lives if necessary. Thousands of troops have been deployed in at least five such communities over the objection of local leaders, with the promise of more.”

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

Masked ICE agents are running around the streets, storming buildings and indiscriminately pointing guns at people.

But if you look scared when you see an ICE officer that's suspicious.

Watch this clip. This cannot stand.

Raider @iwillnotbesilenced.bsky.social · 1d

Greg Bovino Admits: You Can Be Detained for Gripping Your Steering Wheel Too Tight

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

Herrera likened it to a version of a social media brand partnership program, where a company gives influencers exclusive content for their feeds that their followers will eat up.

“Provocateurs are a thing people in power have used forever."

Read this piece!
www.thebulwark.com/p/ice-propag...

The ICE Propaganda Campaign Goes Into Overdrive

MAGA commentators are stepping up as soldiers in Trump’s culture war to provoke confrontations against “Antifa” with the backing of DHS.

www.thebulwark.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

If you remember the name Benny Johnson, it may be because of his experience with this sort of propaganda.
www.npr.org/2024/09/05/n...

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

Kristi Noem is running around with a make-your-own reality TV crew to manufacture media hype for their invasion of blue cities.

www.thebulwark.com/p/ice-propag...

The ICE Propaganda Campaign Goes Into Overdrive

MAGA commentators are stepping up as soldiers in Trump’s culture war to provoke confrontations against “Antifa” with the backing of DHS.

www.thebulwark.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

Every single other governor should be saying the same.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 1d

If you come for my people, you come through me.

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

It's not a distraction.
It's subjugation.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 1d

Pritzker/Newsom see it as a defining fact of the moment that Trump is consolidating authoritarian power daily and using it to subjugate Blue America like an enemy nation within. Other Dems should stop the Beltway-speak about Trump laying "traps" for them and engage.

newrepublic.com/article/2014...

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

A good point here. It's important to remember Nat Guard troops didn't sign up for this sort of deployment. They are entirely different from new ICE recruits.

bsky.app/profile/rade...

Ben Raderstorf @raders.bsky.social · 1d

Texas National Guard troops arriving in Chicago (via ABC News)

Remember: These are not MAGA stormtroopers. These are everyday teachers and accountants who signed up to serve their country with their spare time. They're being used as political pawns by venal, un-American, draft-dodging president

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 1d

Troops descending on Chicago gave no notice to local officials.

“They have not communicated,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/07/n...

Texas National Guard arrives in the Chicago area

Texas National Guard members have arrived in Illinois. City and state officials say Donald Trump is using them as “political props” in Chicago.

www.chicagotribune.com

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Reposted by Amanda Carpenter

Jonathan V. Last @jvl.bsky.social · 1d

As alarmed as people may be, they aren't alarmed enough. Trump just escalated this crisis from a fight between the federal government and a state, to a situation where one state is deploying armed forces to impose its will on another state. www.thebulwark.com/p/emergency-...

Emergency Triad: The Chicago Rubicon and What Comes Next

We aren’t at the worst-case scenario yet. But if you squint, you can see it looming out there, just over the horizon.

www.thebulwark.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 2d

Trump vowed Chicago would learn why the Defense Dept is now "called the Dept of WAR" and depicted himself as the amoral war monger Lt. Col. Kilgore.

The ‘Chipocalypse’ is now.

Troops are in the streets. ICE is using helicopters to raid buildings.

From me www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/federalism...

The ‘Chipocalypse’ is now

A training ground for the military?

www.ifyoucankeepit.org

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Reposted by Amanda Carpenter

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 4d

My message to Kristi Noem is clear: Get out of Chicago.

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 19d

RIP Charlie Kirk. No ifs, no but this, or but that. He was murdered in cold blood for his advocacy, speech, and beliefs. I stand with those who grieve this terrible crime. That’s all for today.

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 21d

Each of these companies should be free to fire employees for performance. That can be subjective! No one is entitled to million-dollar paychecks for big news & entertainment jobs.

But when decisions are made to hire and fire to appease a vengeful ruler that’s different. That’s autocracy at work.

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 21d

It's not about Jimmy Kimmel. It wasn't about Colbert. It wasn't about the CBS interview with Kamala Harris or George Stephanopoulos, either.

Trump is finally coming out with it.

Don't make him look bad.

Or even joke about it.

www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

LISTEN: Trump calls for licenses of TV networks that give him 'bad publicity' to be revoked

President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday that “97%” of some network coverage was negative toward him. “They give me only bad publicity or press,” Trump said. “They’re get...

www.pbs.org

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 21d

Anticipatory obedience www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/reversing-...

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · 29d

What happened to Charlie Kirk is horrific. I join the calls to condemn political violence and wish for his recovery.

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 9

The Epstein birthday book was the celebration of a sexual predator for his sexual predation.

No other way to read it.

www.thebulwark.com/p/donald-tru...

Donald ❤️ Jeffrey

The NSFW version of the Epstein book proves that Trump knew exactly who and what his buddy was.

www.thebulwark.com

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Reposted by Amanda Carpenter

Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · Sep 8

NEW: "It actually might be illegal....There’s a provision that allows military lawyers to work in certain areas, but this is not one of those areas."

www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-hegs...

Trump Drags JAGs Into Immigration Court

Possibly illegal move “makes as much sense as having a cardiologist do a hip replacement.”

www.thebulwark.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 7

This is why I’ll never give up on libertarians. When it matters, sometimes, the principled ones are the only functioning conscience of the GOP.

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Reposted by Amanda Carpenter

Asawin Suebsaeng @swin24.bsky.social · Sep 6

Read @radleybalko.bsky.social at @rollingstone.com today: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Trump's Most Dangerous Executive Order

Trump has always wanted his own muscle he can deploy to silence critics and intimidate his enemies. His new executive order could create just that.

www.rollingstone.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 6

Trump is against wars in foreign countries but for war on US cities.

That’s a fair assessment of his current policy, yes? See his words about Chicago in my previous post.

Are we supposed to laugh because it looks stupid?

WIRED @wired.com · Sep 5

What’s War.gov? That’s the new URL for the Pentagon’s website, which, along with its social media channels, was overhauled Friday at President Donald Trump’s behest to reflect the US Defense Department’s new “Department of War” persona.
www.wired.com/story/depart...

Defense Department Scrambles to Pretend It’s Called the War Department

President Donald Trump said the so-called Department of War branding is to counter the “woke” Department of Defense name.

www.wired.com

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Amanda Carpenter @amandacarpenter.bsky.social · Sep 6

File this under “it’s all a joke until it’s not.”

www.ifyoucankeepit.org/p/hes-just-j...

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Reposted by Amanda Carpenter

The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · Sep 6

Despite what his far-right American admirers believe, Orbán is not popular in his own country. A lot of his staying power is just that: inertia, which has given rise to a feeling in Hungary that he is inevitable. Yet things in Hungary have started to move.

Hungary Could Free Itself from Orbánism Next Spring

An upstart opposition leader, Péter Magyar, is shrewdly capitalizing on the prime minister’s blunders.

www.thebulwark.com

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