🏛️ Paperwork will bring the apocalypse

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In the month since President Donald Trump signed NSPM-7, there’s been barely any mention of it in the national media.

If it wasn’t for yours truly being terminally online, far too often wading through the filth that is the 24-hour news cycle, I probably would have missed it myself. Or, I would have seen the name in a headline and ignored it entirely.

It’s hard to blame the media for its lack of coverage. NSPM-7 sounds too innocuous, too bureaucratic to be something the average American should be concerned about. The media tried to bring attention to Project 2025 during Trump’s campaign against Kamala Harris, only for it to be handwaved away by the president and largely ignored by the general public.

In case you were wondering, nearly 50% of Project 2025’s policy proposals have already been implemented less than a year into the second term.

I can feel my editor ripping their hair out right now, so I’ll get to the heart of the matter.

The NSPM in NSPM-7 stands for “National Security Presidential Memorandum,” which is similar to an executive order, but focused on national security policy. This memorandum is titled “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence.”

The title sounds great in theory; we should advocate for rooting out all sorts of political violence and terrorism. It’s another way to easily brush this thing aside and continue living in ignorant bliss.

However, the meat of the memorandum builds a legal and bureaucratic framework to criminalize those of us who don’t fall in line with the new status quo.

“This political violence is not a series of isolated incidents and does not emerge organically.  Instead, it is a culmination of sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society,” NSPM-7 states.

It goes on to order the implementation of a new law enforcement strategy to investigate “all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them.”

If you’re still not following along, well, bless your heart for still believing justice exists in this country. A look at what this administration defines as the common motivations and indicia (legalese for signs and indications) should really spell out what’s going on:

• Anti-Americanism
• Anti-Capitalism
• Anti-Christianity
• Support for the overthrow of the United States Government
• Extremism on migration, race and gender
• Hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality.

Are you getting it yet? This damn TPS-report-sounding memorandum makes most rational people into enemies of the MAGA-controlled government. It concludes by directing all sorts of federal law enforcement agencies to “disband and uproot networks, entities, and organizations that promote organized violence, violent intimidation, conspiracies against rights, and other efforts to disrupt the functioning of a democratic society.”

It is unclear who actually wrote this memorandum. It certainly wasn’t Trump, a man who I guarantee has never uttered the word “indicia” in his life. This thing reeks of Stephen Miller, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff who moonlights as a Joseph Goebbels cosplayer, and his cronies within the administration.

What is clear, however, is that these accusations of anti-Americanism, extremism, hostility, and support for overthrowing the government are actually confessions of everything this administration stands for as it works to dismantle the constitution.

“This is the first time in American history that there is an all-of-government effort to dismantle left-wing terrorism," he said after the memorandum was signed at the White House.

That’s not to excuse Trump’s role in this whole thing. He is, at best, a useful idiot who goes along with anything as long as he is personally enriched and those who he feels have wronged him are punished.

The important part here is that the machine being built through bureaucracy is larger than one man. While the world focuses on Trump’s latest soundbite or plans for his new ballroom, the machine is taking life and being used to target individuals who dare speak out against the new world order. 

Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein, who has been a one-man army trying to sound the alarm on NSPM-7, has documented multiple cases of agencies like the FBI detaining or interviewing folks because of their political viewpoints. In one case, English teacher Elias Cepeda was detained at an anti-ICE protest in Illinois. 

“A journalist and teacher at the University of Illinois,” a Department of Homeland Security press release states, “Elias Cepeda has suspected ties to the domestic terrorist organization ANTIFA and has a history of glorifying violence against … our brave law enforcement.”

Klippenstein conducted a thorough review of Cepada’s social media posts and found a couple of references to ANTIFA, primarily through reposted content. Unless DHS is hiding a whole lot of additional information on this teacher, we can safely assume Cepada is being held for little more than expressing views contrary to MAGA and being at a protest. 

Cepada was eventually released and, to date, he has not been charged with any crime. 

The response to this infrastructure being built before our eyes by organizations and politicians we should be able to look to for support and formal resistance has been tepid at best. Several Democratic members of Congress sent a strongly worded letter chastising NSPM-7, as did more than 3,700 non-profits and charities. 

Many, including the American Civil Liberties Union, are telling us not to panic because what the administration is doing through NSPM-7 and other initiatives is illegal. 

When the fuck has something being illegal ever stopped this administration, though?

 The same administration that is unilaterally blowing up boats in the Caribbean and sending Americans to maximum security prisons in El Salvador has proven time and time again that the last thing it thinks about when pushing forward policy is the legality of said policy. 

If anything, the courts are aiding in these illegal activities, and you can bet your bottom dollar that the judges and lawyers going against MAGA will fall under the same NSPM-7 indicators as the rest of us unfortunate souls who still use our brains from time to time. 

It’s why Trump is such a useful idiot. He dances like a monkey, and the media eats it up for revenue while in the background, bureaucrats formalize and institutionalize the machinations of authoritarianism.  

This all leads back to the big question of our time – what the hell can I do about it? What can I do in the face of a machine made of paper that keeps growing while my power in the world seemingly keeps shrinking?  

If I had a definitive answer, this column would not be about NSPM-7. 

However, we can look to folks who study authoritarianism for some guidance. One of the key themes in successful opposition is sustained opposition. 

We must not grow complacent. We must not agree that 2+2=5 simply because it’s the path of least resistance. We must choose to love and support and laugh with those who are feeling the weight of this administration every single day. We must cherish the freedom we still have and use that freedom to show each other there is still hope in the world. 

And, when all else fails, we can choose to chuckle at these incompetent fucks, these Model UN rejects who have to blame others for their shortcomings instead of looking at their ugly mug in the mirror. We can mock how frail they must be to pick on those easy targets. 

We can show each other that the government, trying its best to be our abusive parents, will never force us to their level of pettiness and selfishness. 

We can remind them that there are more of us than there are of them, and no amount of paperwork is going to change that. 

—Baron