The UnPopulist
@theunpopulist.net
Defending liberal democracy against authoritarianism in the U.S. and around the world.
https://www.theunpopulist.net
https://www.theunpopulist.net
Trump has taken the nation’s central authority for federal law enforcement and repurposed it as a weapon for ideological combat and an instrument of presidential retribution.
Trump Has Hollowed, Weaponized, and Perverted the Department of Justice
Its Civil Rights Division is now protecting gun owners instead of disadvantaged minorities facing discrimination
www.theunpopulist.net
January 26, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Trump has taken the nation’s central authority for federal law enforcement and repurposed it as a weapon for ideological combat and an instrument of presidential retribution.
To protest Trump’s bewildering campaign to absorb Greenland, thousands in Copenhagen and Greenland hit the streets, wearing red hats that say "Make America Go Away."
Trump’s Attempted Greenland Grab Has Turned America Into a Predatory Power
His bid might have been thwarted for now, but America will be regarded as a global threat going forward
www.theunpopulist.net
January 26, 2026 at 2:00 PM
To protest Trump’s bewildering campaign to absorb Greenland, thousands in Copenhagen and Greenland hit the streets, wearing red hats that say "Make America Go Away."
Reposted by The UnPopulist
"They insist that the killers are the good guys, that they are public servants and they are owed respect and deference. Such claims are not credible to those who have seen video of the killings, and Americans should decline to participate in this fantasy."
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 8:08 PM
"They insist that the killers are the good guys, that they are public servants and they are owed respect and deference. Such claims are not credible to those who have seen video of the killings, and Americans should decline to participate in this fantasy."
Reposted by The UnPopulist
“The notion that these masked enforcers are legitimate law enforcement is a fiction. They are paramilitary operatives. They are thugs in the service of a regime.”
A must read
A must read
“Fraenkel describes a system where on one side is the Normative State—that handles the routine business of a nation. But coexisting within that shell is the Prerogative State, a domain of absolute executive power that operates with unlimited arbitrariness…”
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 10:12 PM
“The notion that these masked enforcers are legitimate law enforcement is a fiction. They are paramilitary operatives. They are thugs in the service of a regime.”
A must read
A must read
Reposted by The UnPopulist
“Fraenkel describes a system where on one side is the Normative State—that handles the routine business of a nation. But coexisting within that shell is the Prerogative State, a domain of absolute executive power that operates with unlimited arbitrariness…”
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 9:04 PM
“Fraenkel describes a system where on one side is the Normative State—that handles the routine business of a nation. But coexisting within that shell is the Prerogative State, a domain of absolute executive power that operates with unlimited arbitrariness…”
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
Reposted by The UnPopulist
By "reflexively defending these shooters before the blood is dry, the administration is signaling a new American reality.... In a functioning democracy, a state-involved killing [occasions a] moment of forensic neutrality [pending investigation].... In a regime state, this pause is nonexistent."
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 11:32 PM
By "reflexively defending these shooters before the blood is dry, the administration is signaling a new American reality.... In a functioning democracy, a state-involved killing [occasions a] moment of forensic neutrality [pending investigation].... In a regime state, this pause is nonexistent."
Reposted by The UnPopulist
Reposted by The UnPopulist
"If you import the Third World, you become the Third World" — Stephen Miller
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
The Dark Ideology Behind Stephen Miller's Immigration Crusade: Part II
He believes immigration threatens Western civilization itself, echoing the same xenophobia once directed at his own ancestors
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 10:00 PM
"If you import the Third World, you become the Third World" — Stephen Miller
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
Miller demands 3,000 arrests per day. To hit those numbers, ICE must arrest people who aren't criminals, diverting resources from actual public safety threats.
Stephen Miller’s Assault on America’s Immigrant Legacy: Part I
The man whose Russian Jewish ancestors fled persecution now oversees a sweeping deportation machine designed to terrorize immigrant families
www.theunpopulist.net
January 26, 2026 at 2:00 AM
Miller demands 3,000 arrests per day. To hit those numbers, ICE must arrest people who aren't criminals, diverting resources from actual public safety threats.
It would be difficult to determine which executive agency, aside from the presidency itself, Donald Trump has most distorted or disfigured. That said, the Department of Justice has a strong case. Read this and weep.
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
Trump Has Hollowed, Weaponized, and Perverted the Department of Justice
Its Civil Rights Division is now protecting gun owners instead of disadvantaged minorities facing discrimination
www.theunpopulist.net
January 26, 2026 at 12:00 AM
It would be difficult to determine which executive agency, aside from the presidency itself, Donald Trump has most distorted or disfigured. That said, the Department of Justice has a strong case. Read this and weep.
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
"If you import the Third World, you become the Third World" — Stephen Miller
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
The Dark Ideology Behind Stephen Miller's Immigration Crusade: Part II
He believes immigration threatens Western civilization itself, echoing the same xenophobia once directed at his own ancestors
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 10:00 PM
"If you import the Third World, you become the Third World" — Stephen Miller
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
His extremism is borne of a dark ideology that views migrants as existential threats to Western civilization itself.
@gregsargent.bsky.social
Reposted by The UnPopulist
For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law
“Fraenkel describes a system where on one side is the Normative State—that handles the routine business of a nation. But coexisting within that shell is the Prerogative State, a domain of absolute executive power that operates with unlimited arbitrariness…”
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 9:05 PM
For my friends, everything; for my enemies, the law
Reposted by The UnPopulist
A must read - prescient analysis of our present moment. The government executes dissenters in plain sight, then engages in posthumous defamation to justify its actions. This is a police state. www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 9:10 PM
A must read - prescient analysis of our present moment. The government executes dissenters in plain sight, then engages in posthumous defamation to justify its actions. This is a police state. www.theunpopulist.net/p/in-trumps-...
Tina Peters is serving nine years for compromising voting machines. She is unrepentant. Trump demanded Colorado pardon her. Colorado absolutely shouldn’t. Here's why.
@andycraig.bsky.social
@andycraig.bsky.social
The Colorado Governor Should Reject Trump’s Demand to Pardon a Convicted Election Saboteur
Jared Polis will jeopardize our democracy by freeing Tina Peters
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Tina Peters is serving nine years for compromising voting machines. She is unrepentant. Trump demanded Colorado pardon her. Colorado absolutely shouldn’t. Here's why.
@andycraig.bsky.social
@andycraig.bsky.social
In Minneapolis, the mask has slipped. When a government kills dissidents and signals that the killers are beyond the reach of the law, legitimacy is no longer a property of the system. It is a hollow performance staged for a shrinking audience.
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 8:19 PM
In Minneapolis, the mask has slipped. When a government kills dissidents and signals that the killers are beyond the reach of the law, legitimacy is no longer a property of the system. It is a hollow performance staged for a shrinking audience.
Reposted by The UnPopulist
"While agents of the state commit brazen extrajudicial killings, the Trump administration lectures us that these are law enforcement agents protecting American communities. It doesn't matter to them that we can see the killings with our own eyes, from multiple angles, in near-real-time."
🔥🔥🔥
🔥🔥🔥
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 8:08 PM
"While agents of the state commit brazen extrajudicial killings, the Trump administration lectures us that these are law enforcement agents protecting American communities. It doesn't matter to them that we can see the killings with our own eyes, from multiple angles, in near-real-time."
🔥🔥🔥
🔥🔥🔥
Reposted by The UnPopulist
This analysis deploying the Fraenkel framework might be single best thing written on the Pretti execution thus far. At @theunpopulist.net. Must must read:
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
In Trump's 'Dual State,' Dissenters Face Extrajudicial Executions, Loyalists Enjoy Protections
America's system of justice has fundamentally broken because the regime believes it can justify attacks on citizens via lies rather than in a court of law
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 7:16 PM
This analysis deploying the Fraenkel framework might be single best thing written on the Pretti execution thus far. At @theunpopulist.net. Must must read:
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
open.substack.com/pub/theunpop...
We've built a publication for all who oppose authoritarianism and believe liberal democracy is worth defending.
Subscribe to The UnPopulist
Defending liberal democracy against authoritarianism in the U.S. and around the world. Click to read The UnPopulist, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 8:00 PM
We've built a publication for all who oppose authoritarianism and believe liberal democracy is worth defending.
Trump keeps claiming that his opponents are turning America into a “Third World country.” But he’s the one giving us all the trappings of a tin-pot dictatorship, where the strongman’s rule has to be enforced by soldiers on the streets.
Trump Attacks Minneapolis, Venezuela, and Threatens Greenland: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our mid-January selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law. These two weeks have been a bumper period for abuses since Trump took office.
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Trump keeps claiming that his opponents are turning America into a “Third World country.” But he’s the one giving us all the trappings of a tin-pot dictatorship, where the strongman’s rule has to be enforced by soldiers on the streets.
The right claimed we needed AR-15s to fight government tyranny. Now tyranny is here—armed federal agents kidnapping people from cars and workplaces, sometimes even killing them. Where are those "freedom fighters"? Nowhere.
Life in a City Occupied by ICE
How Minneapolis residents are coping after their own government declared war on them
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 6:00 PM
The right claimed we needed AR-15s to fight government tyranny. Now tyranny is here—armed federal agents kidnapping people from cars and workplaces, sometimes even killing them. Where are those "freedom fighters"? Nowhere.
Federal judges have publicly called out DOJ errors in at least 40 instances this past year—for submitting inconsistent affidavits, incomplete records, and misrepresentations. When "help Trump get even" becomes the core job requirement, the talent pool shrinks dramatically.
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
Trump Has Hollowed, Weaponized, and Perverted the Department of Justice
Its Civil Rights Division is now protecting gun owners instead of disadvantaged minorities facing discrimination
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 4:00 PM
Federal judges have publicly called out DOJ errors in at least 40 instances this past year—for submitting inconsistent affidavits, incomplete records, and misrepresentations. When "help Trump get even" becomes the core job requirement, the talent pool shrinks dramatically.
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
@rosenzweigp.bsky.social
Pritzker told teachers "Donald Trump and his cronies can fuck all the way off" and blasted the "simpering timidity" of Democratic leaders.
JB Pritzker Might Become the Face of America’s Resistance by Taking on Trump’s Authoritarianism
By targeting Illinois, the president might have created his nemesis even as the national Democratic Party flails around for an effective message
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 3:00 PM
Pritzker told teachers "Donald Trump and his cronies can fuck all the way off" and blasted the "simpering timidity" of Democratic leaders.
"Restricting movement is an inhumane policy: It opposes natural and valuable human impulses. America’s approach to immigration needs more freedom, not less."
We published this in 2022. The imperative to abolish ICE has only increased since then. Dissolve this lawless and out of control agency now!
We published this in 2022. The imperative to abolish ICE has only increased since then. Dissolve this lawless and out of control agency now!
Abolishing ICE Is Still a Good Idea
After Trump’s ouster, the movement has become a mere hashtag
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 2:07 PM
"Restricting movement is an inhumane policy: It opposes natural and valuable human impulses. America’s approach to immigration needs more freedom, not less."
We published this in 2022. The imperative to abolish ICE has only increased since then. Dissolve this lawless and out of control agency now!
We published this in 2022. The imperative to abolish ICE has only increased since then. Dissolve this lawless and out of control agency now!
A lot of what was dismissed as Trump Derangement Syndrome came true. In some ways, reality even outran our worst fears.
We'd Have Been Committed for Predicting Half of What Trump Has Done
We, not our detractors, were the clear-eyed and clear-headed ones, but that is no comfort right now
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 2:00 PM
A lot of what was dismissed as Trump Derangement Syndrome came true. In some ways, reality even outran our worst fears.
Rosa Parks, John Lewis, MLK—they took enormous risks without knowing they'd succeed. Lewis had his skull fractured. King was assassinated. Parks risked her life. Yet they acted anyway.
The Administration’s Contempt for the Rule of Law Has Roots in the Pre-Civil Rights Era
Defenders of liberal democracy cannot succumb to Donald Trump's attempts to scare them into inaction
www.theunpopulist.net
January 25, 2026 at 3:00 AM
Rosa Parks, John Lewis, MLK—they took enormous risks without knowing they'd succeed. Lewis had his skull fractured. King was assassinated. Parks risked her life. Yet they acted anyway.