The Trump Regime’s dangerous next move

“We cannot allow the United States to proclaim itself as some kind of a supreme judge, which alone bears the right to invade any country, to label culprits, to hand down and to enforce punishments irrespective of notions of international law, sovereignty and nonintervention.” - Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations

One of the most dangerous things that can happen in a democracy is when people start thinking history doesn’t apply to them. When they hear words like authoritarianism or fascism and think, “That was another country. That was another time. That could never happen here.”

But it is happening here. Right now. Not just because one man is unhinged, but because the systems we rely on to protect us, inform us, and hold power accountable are being taken apart and rebuilt to serve him. Our media and press, public health, law enforcement, foreign policy, and most importantly, our checks and balances, are all being rewritten to expand his control and keep him and the MAGA movement in power indefinitely, with the full backing of the corrupt people helping him do it.

This morning, the United Nations held an emergency meeting about the United States. Not about Russia, Iran, or North Korea. Us. The United States of America. Our allies and even our adversaries warned that we’ve crossed a line. And they weren’t reacting to a speech or a headline. They were reacting to what we’re doing, to how far we’ve already gone.

And here’s the part that should rattle every one of us: Russia wasn’t wrong in what they said above. And it sounds exactly like something we used to say. That’s how far we’ve fallen. We’re so far from the norms we once defended that our enemies are now throwing our own words back at us. The scariest part? That might be the point.

And there’s something else we need to sit with, even if it’s uncomfortable. When Russia shows up at the UN and uses the language of international law and restraint, it doesn’t mean they’ve had a change of heart. It means they know exactly what they’re doing. Authoritarian regimes thrive on confusion. They don’t need to win a war. They just need to destabilize everyone else.

This could be coordinated, a setup that both countries knew would unfold this way. It could be Russia trying to look like the responsible one right before making their own move. Or it could be something even more predictable: the moment when one strongman decides to throw another under the bus. Because authoritarians don’t stay loyal. They stay useful. And once you stop being useful, they step back and let you burn.

And we’ve seen this happen to Trump before. We’ve watched how these strongmen flatter him, play him, and use him to weaken America from the inside, and he never even sees it. He doesn’t realize he’s being outmaneuvered. He thinks they respect him, when they’re just using him. And now that he’s more of a liability than an asset, they’re positioning themselves to walk away clean while he takes the fall and keeps destabilizing his own country in the process. Because even as they cut him loose, they still benefit from the damage he’s doing here.

What we do know is this: Russia has spent years flooding our country with anti-vaccine lies, anti-science disinformation, and chaos campaigns designed to make Americans mistrust the very systems that protect us. They don’t spread that stuff at home. They save it for us. And now, they’re watching our own government finish the job while giving them cover to pretend they’re the ones defending stability.

Because this is where we are now, and we’re in deep. We’ve already crossed the line. This isn’t the lead-up to something worse. This is “the” something worse.

We’ve left democracy behind. What we’re living through now is the next stage, full authoritarian consolidation. The systems are already changing. The damage is already happening. And when you look at it all together, the propaganda, the power grabs, the betrayal of allies, the rewards for loyalists, the control of information, it’s clear: we’ve entered the most dangerous phase yet.

We are now in the consolidation phase of an authoritarian fascist regime. And the clearest proof isn’t just what happened in Venezuela, it’s what happened after, and how little backlash it faced within our own borders.

In the days since the raid, Trump hasn’t acted like a president managing a global crisis. He’s acted like someone closing a business deal. He openly discussed Venezuela’s oil reserves, encouraged U.S. oil companies to move in, and even suggested that American taxpayers could cover their costs so those companies could extract profits without risk. We’ve seen versions of this before, like the Iran-Contra affair, when the Reagan administration secretly sold arms and funneled the profits to right-wing militants, bypassing Congress, justifying it as a mission to fight communism and free hostages, while allies and enablers financially benefited in the shadows. It was a serious abuse of power inside a functioning democracy. This isn’t just about profit. It’s about power. Authoritarian regimes don’t invent new tactics. They take the ones that worked inside democracies and push them further, with no limits, no oversight, and no intention of preserving the system that once held them back. The public is given the language of security and freedom, while the benefits flow upward to donors, cronies, and loyalists. But this time, the goal isn’t just profit, it’s permanent power. The world sees it. And so should we.

The global reaction made that clear. Latin American leaders from Colombia to Mexico condemned the raid as a violation of sovereignty. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that it’s “a dangerous precedent,” and “I am deeply concerned about the possible intensification of instability in the country, the potential impact on the region, and the precedent it may set for how relations between and among states are conducted.” That warning carries weight, especially when placed in historical context. This moment mirrors the collapse of global restraint in the 1930s, when the League of Nations, created after World War I to preserve peace through collective security, failed to act against early acts of aggression by fascist regimes. That failure allowed fascist normalization to take hold before the world understood the cost. The United Nations was created in its place to prevent history from repeating itself. But when institutions meant to restrain power are ignored or paralyzed, authoritarian behavior accelerates.

And this is not confined to Venezuela. Trump’s threats toward Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba echo a long, well-documented pattern of U.S. intervention in Latin America under the pretext of “national security.” But in this context, it’s different. This isn’t about foreign policy as usual. This is about power consolidation. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s refusal to allow U.S. troops inside her country is not defiance; it is self-preservation. She sees what this is. She knows what happens when powerful authoritarian governments begin exerting military and political pressure on their neighbors.

In 1939, Hitler invaded Poland under the false pretense of self-defense, claiming German speakers were under threat, a tactic designed to justify expansion and silence opposition, with eerily similar echoes to Trump’s almost forgotten claims of Christians being persecuted in Africa and elsewhere. That move was another trigger for World War II and exposed how authoritarian leaders use fear and fabricated threats to justify aggression. Just one year later, he turned west and occupied France, again with claims of restoring order and protecting national interests. The pattern repeated: destabilize, control, exploit.

In our own time, Vladimir Putin used similar rhetoric to justify the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He claimed he was protecting Jewish people from antisemitism and ethnic Russians from NATO expansion, but the true goal was clear: restoring influence, silencing democracy, and controlling resources and borders through force.

Trump’s posture toward Latin America now mirrors these same strategies. And while the spotlight stays on military raids and foreign policy, the same machinery is being quietly turned inward, including public health.

Today, the Trump Regime abruptly overhauled the childhood vaccine schedule, removing routine protections without the normal CDC advisory process. The decision came from political appointees known for rejecting scientific consensus. This is not about choice or freedom. This is about breaking trust in expertise. Authoritarian regimes have always targeted medicine and science because a population that trusts evidence is harder to control. In Nazi Germany, medical institutions were politicized to justify ideology. When science becomes subordinate to loyalty, people get sick, die, and stop believing anything at all. That confusion is the goal.

Information control follows the same pattern. Today, the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to dissolve the organization after Congress stripped its funding last year. This marks the formal and final ending of the last independent media ecosystems in the country. CPB funded NPR, PBS, and more than 1,500 local stations, many in communities with no other reliable news source. This wasn’t about saving money. CPB’s entire budget was a fraction of federal spending. This was about removing nonpartisan information from the public square. History is unequivocal. Hitler criminalized independent journalism and labeled the press the enemy of the people. The MAGA movement isn’t innovating. It’s copying. When people lose access to shared facts, authoritarianism becomes much easier to sell.

You might be asking yourself, “Could we really be this far gone already?” Could it really be happening here, now, in our lifetime, in this country? The answer is yes. And it’s terrifying because it doesn’t feel like how we were taught it would feel. There has been no single moment of collapse. No sudden announcement that the Constitution had been shredded. It happened slowly and in ways that were easy to explain away.

It doesn’t feel like a dictatorship, because we’re still going to work. Still living a seemingly normal existence. Because the people doing this to us have learned from the mistakes of others, they don’t take everything at once. They take it piece by piece, until the world shifts beneath your feet and you can’t remember when the ground last felt stable. That’s why it’s so easy to doubt what you’re seeing. That’s why people keep asking if it’s really that bad. Because they’re still waiting for the moment that makes it undeniable. But that moment isn’t coming. The moment already happened.

That’s what makes this phase the most dangerous of all. If you’re feeling unsettled, heartbroken, or lost, it’s not because you’re imagining things. It’s because you still have your eyes open. And in times like these, that’s a form of courage.

This is where we are now, and history is very clear about what comes next if this continues unchecked.

This sounds stark, because it is. This is what authoritarian consolidation looks like, and Congress is about to walk back into session like it’s business as usual. It can’t be. Because at this point, they are the only institution left that can do something. And by “they,” I mean the Democratic members of Congress. The Republicans have made their choice. They’ve tied themselves to a man unraveling in public as he sells out his country. The Democrats still have a chance to fight. And we need to demand that they do.

That means no more backroom deals. No more compromise. No more pretending that anything else matters right now. Nothing should get done. They should be sounding every alarm, flooding every channel, and refusing to move another inch. They should be camped out on the Capitol steps, broadcasting live from their offices, walking out of committees in protest, and calling out every Republican by name. Not in vague terms. Not in quiet tones. But directly: “This is on you. You are aiding the downfall of the United States government. You could stop it. You are choosing not to. And you will be remembered as Nazi sympathizers.”

Because that’s what this moment demands. We need to call, email, and write to them. We need to show up in their district offices. We need to knock on their doors, peacefully and relentlessly. This is the part where we find out who is going to stand for what’s left of our democracy, and who is going to fold under the weight of fascism. The time to speak softly is over. The time to act is now.

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 make a difference right now by subscribing to my Substack. There is a free option and the option to help me reach a wider audience with a $5/month paid subscription. Your support allows me to cover more ground and keep telling the truth about the lies and destruction unfolding in our country.