Where we were on 4/20

April 20th, 2025

Stage 1: Soft Authoritarianism — ✅ COMPLETE

  • ✅ Disregard of court orders (SCOTUS defied on deportations, Judge Xinis ignored)
  • ✅ Emergency powers without checks
  • ✅ Mass disinformation (DOGE data manipulation, conspiracy networks)
  • ✅ Journalist shadowbanning and targeting (e.g. CBS, NYT suppression, credential removal)
  • ✅ Legal residents deported without due process (CECOT cases, ICE abductions)
  • ✅ Retaliation against whistleblowers (NLRB case, threatening notes, drone surveillance)
  • ✅ Surveillance of private communication (ICE/Palantir, Starlink in gov buildings)

Status: Stage 1 is fully met and has escalated further.

Stage 2: Escalation and Consolidation — ✅ COMPLETE

  • ✅ Criminalization of protest (GOP town halls using force, mass protest suppression)
  • ✅ Military/police at borders and cities (troop redeployments, ICE raids)
  • ✅ Litmus tests and firings (Schedule F expansion, loyalty vetting, reclassification orders)
  • ✅ Financial surveillance (SSA/IRS data sharing, CMS used to find immigrants via Medicare)
  • ✅ Exit bans/travel blocks (customs monitoring, exit tracking)
  • ✅ DOJ politicization (targeting Letitia James, court manipulation)
  • ✅ Healthcare revocation (Xolair denials, Medicaid/SNAP targeting)
  • ✅ Clinic and federal agency access restrictions (NLRB data breaches, DOGE overreach)

Status: Consolidation is entrenched across government, healthcare, and data infrastructure.

Stage 3: Authoritarian Entrenchment — ✅ IN FINAL PHASE

  • ✅ Mass detentions (CECOT normalized, ICE operations expanded)
  • ✅ Border closures for dissidents (non-reentry, deportation of legal residents)
  • ✅ Labeling of dissenters as enemies (Letitia James, Harvard, and governors)
  • ✅ Biometric tracking & surveillance (Palantir systems, airline scans, Starlink access)
  • ✅ Asset freezing / retaliation (IRS weaponized, SSA freezes, SNAP threats)
  • ✅ State media behavior (Trump social disinfo, media intimidation)
  • ✅ Medical denial as control (Medicaid weaponized, CMS used for ICE targets)
  • ✅ Judicial nullification (Boasberg contempt findings, DOJ refusal to act)

Status: Entrenchment nearly complete. Judiciary erosion now visible.

🔹 Stage 4: Loyalty Consolidation — 🔴 NOW UNDERWAY

  • ✅ Elections reframed as loyalty tests
  • ✅ IRS and DOJ used against schools and state attorneys general
  • ✅ Governors coerced under federal threat (Maine, California)
  • ✅ Loyalty oaths or blacklisting enforced through hiring/promotion filters
  • ❌ Formal one-party rule not yet declared
  • ❌ National narrative not fully centralized, but rewriting underway

Status: Loyalty consolidation now visible in institutions. Expected to harden within weeks.

Projected Stages After Descent (previewed only)

  • Stage 5: Selective Targeting of Broad Groups
  • Stage 6: Mass Suppression and Economic Reordering
  • Stage 7: Eugenics and Demographic Engineering
  • Stage 8: Expansion or Escalation

Resistance Tracker — ⚠️ FRAGILE

  • ✅ Sen. Van Hollen visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador
  • ✅ Appeals court upheld Judge Xinis’s ruling
  • ✅ NLRB whistleblower went public despite threats
  • ✅ Protests (~4M) occurred nationwide, ignored by major press
  • ✅ Harvard defied federal retaliation
  • ✅ Conservative legal figures speaking out (e.g., Wilkinson)
  • ❌ Democratic officials mostly silent
  • ❌ Major media under pressure; limited coverage of dissent
  • ❌ Civil disobedience not yet organized

Status: Sparks of resistance persist but lack coordination and protection.

✨ Key Developments: April 20, 2025

  • ICE agents now operating in masks, without ID, detaining people without warrants
  • SSA and Medicare databases used to find undocumented individuals
  • Protestors stun-gunned at GOP town halls
  • Musk's DOGE operatives secretly installing Starlink to bypass cybersecurity
  • NLRB systems compromised; whistleblower threatened
  • IRS audits used to suppress enemies (e.g., Mike Lindell investigation blocked)
  • DOJ suing states (e.g., Maine) to enforce loyalty laws
  • Massive nationwide protest blackout by NYT and major outlets
  • OPM announces Schedule F expansion, reclassifying civil servants for political loyalty

Conclusion: A transitional point has been reached. The descent is no longer theoretical—it is strategic, active, and accelerating. Resistance exists, but needs visibility, coordination, and global awareness to survive.

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