The Battle for America has begun.

Today, at 8:07 p.m., the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, did what he enjoys doing most. Not leading the country as he was elected to do, but to threaten and mock his fellow Americans on his state propaganda site, Trash Social. He started by attacking a sitting governor. He called Jared Polis, the governor of Colorado, a “SLEAZEBAG”, and then proceeded to spread propaganda and lies, the type you’d expect to see in Hitler’s Germany, or more accurately now, Trump’s America.

Here is his full post:
“The SLEAZEBAG Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, refuses to allow an elderly woman, Tina Peters, who was unfairly convicted of what the Democrats do, cheating on Elections, out of jail! She was convicted for trying to stop Democrats from stealing Colorado Votes in the Election. She was preserving Election Records, which she was obligated to do under Federal Law. She has now served more than one year in jail, and has eight years to go. On top of everything else, she is a cancer “survivor.” This lightweight Governor, who has allowed his State to go to hell (Tren de Aragua, anyone?), should be ashamed of himself. FREE TINA!”

He publicly targeted an elected state official for refusing to pardon a convicted felon, Tina Peters, who used her official government position to help spread Trump’s election lies. Peters wasn’t some outsider. She was the Colorado Mesa County Clerk, responsible for keeping elections safe and secure. Instead, she let people into the secure election room who had no right to be there, allowed them to copy voting‑machine data, and helped push conspiracy theories that the 2020 election was stolen. She became the first election official in the entire country convicted for crimes connected to the attempted overturning of the 2020 election. In 2024, she was found guilty on seven charges, including four felonies. A judge sentenced her to nine years in prison. But Trump ignored all of that. He said she was just doing what “Democrats do.” He claimed she was “preserving election records.” He pointed out that she survived cancer, as if that erases the crimes. Then he demanded, in all caps, that she be freed.

And what he says has consequences. His posts aren’t just empty rants. His followers treat them like marching orders. After he demanded Tina Peters be freed, right-wing extremists began calling for military intervention. Some urged the National Guard to storm the prison. Others called on local sheriffs to “rise up” and physically remove her. These aren’t just fringe voices. These are the kinds of people who have already tried to overthrow the government once, and they’re being encouraged again. And Trump knows exactly what he’s doing when he posts something like this. He’s testing the waters. He’s stoking violence. He’s sending a message to those who are more loyal to him than the Constitution. Carrying out his dirty work is expected, celebrated, and protected, and that anyone who breaks the law in his name will be rewarded, not punished.

And this isn’t an isolated tantrum. It’s a pattern. Watch the way he holds these meetings, with politicians, with business leaders. He’s almost always sitting, hunched behind a desk, while others line up behind him like servants. They take turns praising him. Their hands clasped, their posture identical, their ties red or blue or flag-themed, never too bold, never too bright. The women wear black or red, blending into the set like props.

They’re allowed to be seen, but rarely heard. They follow a script. It’s all choreographed. Like scenes pulled straight from “The Emperor Has No Clothes.” Trump doesn’t even appear to follow what they’re saying. He nods, grunts, waves them off, and responds with vacant phrases like “Great” or “Yes, yes.” They could be telling him the sky is green and he’d say, “Yes, yes, beautiful green.” This is performance.

And behind the curtain, someone else is pulling the strings, probably Stephen Miller, his chief of propaganda, or another unelected puppet master. This is a man who no longer leads. He is being led. And it is happening right in front of us. The danger of what is happening behind the scenes cannot be overstated. We are in survival mode. The choices being made are not just about political strategy; they are about consolidating power, dismantling institutions, and weaponizing every branch of government to serve the whims of a single man and the machine propping him up. This is not about policy. It’s about control. It’s about preparing the ground for what comes next, when democracy is no longer even part of the equation.

Pete Hegseth is the perfect example of how far Trump’s people will go to cause harm, all to prove their loyalty. He’s not a serious leader. He acts more like a reckless showman, trying to look tough for the MAGA base. And now we know it’s not just talk; his actions put American lives in danger.

Today we learned that the Defense Department’s inspector general investigated and found that Hegseth’s actions surrounding “SignalGate”, where he leaked real-time attack plans in a private Signal group chat and sent a message that read, “This is when the first bombs will definitely drop,” complete with military timing for a March 15 strike on Yemen, created a serious risk. If that message had been intercepted, it could have put U.S. troops in real danger. And instead of cooperating with the investigation, Hegseth refused to be interviewed. He claimed he had the authority to declassify the information and said it wasn’t sensitive, but the IG report clearly rejected that. It was sensitive. And he should never have shared it that way.

But instead of being fired, he’s still there. Still in charge. Still overseeing the most powerful military in the world. Because in Trump’s government, being reckless isn’t a mistake; it’s a qualification. Loyalty is all that matters, no matter the cost even if our service members are put in harms way.

But this is what happens in Trump’s America. And every single time we learn of these crimes, Trump protects them. Every single time, his administration justifies the unjustifiable. We are not just watching dysfunction. We are witnessing the normalization of state violence.

And if that weren’t enough, House Democrats just released never-before-seen photos and videos from Jeffrey Epstein’s island in the Virgin Islands. And what’s in them? It’s disturbing. One that I can’t shake is the image of a medical room with 3D men’s faces with various expressions all over the walls, with a dentist’s chair. This could be a simple case of the uber-rich having a place ready for medical emergencies or treatments, or the place where unthinkable horrors occurred.

Then there’s a landline phone with names on speed dial, all redacted. And a blackboard that says one word on top of another: “Power”, “Appears,” and “Deception.” This wasn’t some private escape for the wealthy. This was a crime scene. This was a site of violence, manipulation, and exploitation. And we still don’t know who knew what. We still don’t know all who were there, or who they’re protecting.

Because let me say this plainly: victims deserve privacy. Perpetrators do not. And we should not trust any of the redaction to be protecting victims, vs trying to erase the ties to those who committed any crimes. Because justice demands it. We cannot move forward by erasing the past. We cannot heal by shielding the powerful.

Justice doesn’t come from forgetting or cover-ups. It comes from remembering and disclosing, fully, painfully, and in public.

That’s why it matters that California just launched an online portal to report misconduct by federal agents. Because the truth needs a paper trail. Stories need to be preserved. There will be trials. And when they come, we cannot rely on memory or headlines. We’ll need hard proof, detailed accounts of who did what, to whom, and where. This is what justice demands. And that’s how we make sure this never happens again.

It matters even more now because ICE is launching mass raids in New Orleans. This is what happens in fascist regimes. The roundups begin in one place, then spread like wildfire. They move from city to city, tearing through neighborhoods, ripping apart families, leaving fear and devastation behind. They don’t stop. They don’t slow down. They work their way through schools, workplaces, hospitals, and churches. And they keep going until they’ve terrorized the whole country, and beyond. All of it wrapped in the language of national security, cloaked in the machinery of law. It’s the same strategy used by so many of the worst regimes in history. Suppress the population by making every home feel like a potential target. So we have to ask again: who is stepping in when the government turns the most vulnerable into targets? When will we rise and finally say the terror ends today?

And while all of this unfolds, hope is not lost. The good news still comes in unexpected places.

Rep. Nancy Mace, according to reporting from The New York Times, is so disgusted by Speaker Mike Johnson and the way women are treated in the House that she’s considering stepping down, just like Marjorie Taylor Greene did. And if that happens, it’s another crack in the MAGA foundation and powerhold. Because every exit matters and is a chance to flip the script. To take back control from Trump’s cronies. To turn their collapse into our opportunity.

This is not just another political season. This is a reckoning. We are not bystanders. We are witnesses. We are record-keepers. And we are not done.

This is the Battle for America.

I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, chances are we see things the same way. You can help keep this work going by subscribing to my Substack; there’s a free option, or you can become a paid subscriber for just $5 a month. Paid subscriptions help me reach more people, cover more ground, and keep telling the truth about what’s happening to our country.