The Trump Administration, 2.0, has been never-ending chaos. Issue after issue has been thrown at us. Many are very serious: cutting medicaid and the food stamp program, starting a war with Iran. Many are very political: pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists. And many seem just silly: adding the Trump name to the Kennedy Center and celebrating the 250th with an MMR exhibition on the White House grounds. But they come in chaotic profusion, day after day of outrageous press announcements, seemingly designed to confuse the opposition.
But what if there is method to the madness? What if there is a purpose beyond self-promotion and publicity?
On September 25, 2025, Trump signed A Security Memorandum known as NPSM-7, or Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence. It aims at organizations and individuals that they claim are anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-Christian or just hostile to traditional American views.
It ignores the right of free speech that is part of American politics. And it fails to recognize the legal problems presented by the First Amendment to the notion of spying on Americans for “domestic terrorism.”
Then, the resources of the FBI, the IRS and the Treasury Department have been organized to find them. Attorney General Pam Bondi provided an “operational order” that allows thousands of individuals and organizations to be followed on a secret watch list.
By themselves, these actions by the administration might be seen as the reflection of a paranoid and resentful President who has vowed retribution against his enemies.
But what if there is more to the program? The Trump Administration has also built ICE facilities that could conceivably hold political prisoners. And it has enlarged and funded an ICE military force to counter immigration. It has used force against both immigrants and citizens, imprisoning and killing both. And most importantly the Trump Administration is seeking funding for ICE until 2029. What if all of these actions are preparation for a seizure of power using ICE as a military force?
Taken together, all of these actions, without Congressional approval, could be a plan to seize the American government in a “rolling coup.”
Inconceivable? This warning was issued by former Senators Richard Gephardt and Tim Worth:
“Our democracy will likely be destroyed by a Presidential declaration of national emergency and the subsequent implementation of the emergency measures, not authorized by law but drafted and implemented without any Congressional oversight.”
Could this be hyperbole? The musings of radical domestic terrorists? Paranoia? Or should we take such worries seriously?
Sources: In the confusion of our muddled times, I frequently turn to the observations of Robert Reich, retired educator, writer and thinker. My current concerns stem from an article reposted by Reich from Keep Our Republic, a non partisan civic educational organization based in the Midwest. It was written by former Senators Richard Gephardt and Tim Worth
https://keepourrepublic.org/ and https://robertreich.substack.com/p/warning-trumps-rolling-coup-is-underway