Featuring Norm Ornstein sharing Paul Volcker's Afterword; Frederic Fromer on Bill Russell; The Democracy Movement; and a teaser to today's awe-inspiring 100 Days Conference
I just heard the horrible story about what happened in Oklahoma City to a mom and her children. All I have to say is that YOU, Oklahoma, voted Republican and for Trump and this is what you got. Enjoy it!!! YOU thought it would happen to someone else and now you are see the truth. If your Republican Representatives had a shred of decency. They would have had a team come in and clean up the house and replace everything that was stolen or damaged....even to returning the money that was taken. That family should have been made whole by those representatives. Not likely to happen in my life time!
Hello. I have been reading daily The Contrarian. It has pulled me out of my darkness and given me such hope...even though it is hard won by those who stand for democracy. But, when I was scrolling through my phone and read this. Please, please tell me what he is writing is not so. I feel ignorant that I don't know if this is a doomsday person or what but it really disturbed me. The Warning Was Real: Trump's Executive Order Confirms the Move Toward Martial Law
By Tony Pentimalli
On April 1, 2025, I wrote that Donald Trump was preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act. I said it wasn't about immigration. It wasn't about security. It was about power. Many wanted to believe it was alarmism, that the "system" would save us. They were wrong.
Last week, Trump confirmed everything.
On April 28, 2025, Donald Trump signed Executive Order named: "Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens." Sounds harmless. It isn't. It's a blueprint for authoritarian control without the need to formally declare martial law.
The order arms local police with military assets. It removes federal oversight from abusive departments. It provides legal immunity to officers who violate civil rights in the course of their "duties." It threatens to punish governors, mayors, and local leaders who resist federal directives. It mandates that DHS and DOJ coordinate the use of Homeland Security Task Forces — task forces created under Executive Order 14159, which explicitly authorizes federal intervention inside American cities.
In other words, it federalizes local law enforcement in everything but name.
Trump doesn’t need to declare martial law. He’s building it brick by brick.
Consider the timing: this order came eight days after the April 20 deadline Trump himself set when he ordered the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to recommend whether he should invoke the Insurrection Act. To this day, the contents of that April 20 report remain hidden from the public. The administration has refused transparency. But we don’t have to guess what they recommended. Trump’s actions tell us.
This is not hypothetical. This is not a warning of something that "could" happen.
It is happening now.
Militarized policing is here. Trump’s order instructs the Department of Defense to determine how excess military assets, training, "non-lethal capabilities," and even personnel can be funneled into local policing. Already, armored vehicles, battlefield surveillance drones, and riot control weaponry are flowing into local departments.
Civilian oversight is dead. Trump's order directs the Attorney General to review and "modify, rescind, or conclude" all federal consent decrees and monitoring arrangements that "unduly burden" law enforcement. Translation: if a local police department is under federal watch because of corruption, brutality, or racism, Trump now demands that watch end.
Immunity for abuses is guaranteed. If an officer brutalizes a protester or kills an unarmed civilian while "performing their duties," they will have the full legal defense of the federal government behind them. Trump has legalized impunity.
Federal retaliation against dissent is coming. Trump's executive order empowers the Attorney General to "pursue all necessary legal remedies" against any state or city official who tries to protect their communities from federal overreach. If a mayor refuses to allow militarized ICE raids? If a governor defends protest rights? They can now face federal lawsuits, DOJ investigations, and the cutoff of federal funding.
Formal martial law — the suspension of civilian government — isn't declared. It's simply enacted.
This is how authoritarian regimes operate throughout history: by centralizing control over security forces, stripping civilian oversight, immunizing loyal enforcers, and criminalizing local resistance. Trump is following a well-worn, dangerous pattern.
The precedent is clear.
Trump called for "domination" in 2020 and sent unidentified federal agents to snatch protesters off the streets of Portland.
Trump sent federal agents to Lafayette Square to violently clear peaceful protesters for a photo op.
Trump gleefully used ICE and CBP to terrorize immigrant communities, even as courts struggled to intervene.
Trump praised the Supreme Court when it upheld his Muslim ban.
He has never respected dissent. He has never tolerated opposition. And now, he has built the machinery to crush it.
And where are the so-called "checks and balances" now?
The courts? Trump’s Supreme Court majority has already signaled a dangerous deference to executive power.
Congress? House Republicans are in lockstep, and Senate Democrats are paralyzed by institutional cowardice.
The media? Distracted, exhausted, and more interested in covering Trump's photo ops than his executive orders.
The public? Distrustful, divided, and still hoping that someone else will save them.
Trump counts on that passivity. He counts on your fatigue.
That’s why he moves in bursts — a flurry of orders, each more authoritarian than the last, until the norm becomes submission.
We must not submit.
The first time around, Trump tested the waters. Lafayette Square. Portland. Muslim Ban. Family Separation.
This time, he isn't testing.
He's executing.
The streets are being militarized. Civilian oversight is being gutted. Law enforcement is being deputized as the federal government's domestic army. And the groundwork for invoking the Insurrection Act is already finished.
If Trump formally declares it, there will be no need for panic — because the tanks, the raids, the silencing of dissent, and the crushing of opposition will already be in place.
This is not a future threat.
This is a present reality.
Speak. Resist. Now.
Not next month. Not after the next outrage. Not after the next court loss.
Now.
The warning was real. And it's happening before our eyes.
The Constitution won't crumble with a bang. It will be signed away, one executive order at a time.
*Tony Pentimalli is a political analyst and commentator fighting for democracy, economic justice, and social equity. Follow him for sharp analysis and hard-hitting critiques on Facebook and BlueSky
Please tell Mr Frommer that, although I enjoyed his article about the great Bill Russell, I was surprised that he (or his fact checker?) inaccurately described Katherine Hepburn as having played the role of the daughter in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” rather than the mother of that daughter, a far more nuanced and impressive performance.
Thanks for that catch, Nancy! Our fact checkers are wonderful but we rely on our community's sharp eyes and knowledge. We have revised it to the correct actress: Katharine Houghton. (Fun fact: Katharine Houghton is Katharine Hepburn's actual niece...which is perhaps why they share the slightly different spelling of their names.) Thanks again for picking up on that
Truly gave me hope listening to the program. Thanks so much for keeping the eye on the prize and helping us look at a sunny horizon and not the gloomy clouds. I love the Contrarians! I am proud to be one.
the conference was excellent, so glad I could be there virtually. top-notch guests, serious conversations on matters of consequence. hope there will be more. it was great. well done!
Thank you for what you're doing to support our democracy! I am wondering about the unions. They appear not to be supporting DJT, but I thought that during the election they supported him. Or was that only the Teamsters? Someone other group?
Congratulations on The Contrarian's 100 days, and thank you for today's great conference!
Great conference today with informative conversation. Thank you for putting this together.
Excellent, inspiring conference today! Thanks!
Great job on the conference! Looking forward to the 200 days Conference! 😉
I just heard the horrible story about what happened in Oklahoma City to a mom and her children. All I have to say is that YOU, Oklahoma, voted Republican and for Trump and this is what you got. Enjoy it!!! YOU thought it would happen to someone else and now you are see the truth. If your Republican Representatives had a shred of decency. They would have had a team come in and clean up the house and replace everything that was stolen or damaged....even to returning the money that was taken. That family should have been made whole by those representatives. Not likely to happen in my life time!
Not everyone who lives in a red state voted Republican. We’re not All that stupid. Many of us worked damn hard to get Democrats elected.
Look forward to seeing the conference. LOVED that opening sign! Pro-birth / Pro-life indeed!! Stealing it! 😂👊🏻
Thank you all for all of it.
Thank you for an informative conference this morning and organizing all of it. I sure enjoyed it.
Hello. I have been reading daily The Contrarian. It has pulled me out of my darkness and given me such hope...even though it is hard won by those who stand for democracy. But, when I was scrolling through my phone and read this. Please, please tell me what he is writing is not so. I feel ignorant that I don't know if this is a doomsday person or what but it really disturbed me. The Warning Was Real: Trump's Executive Order Confirms the Move Toward Martial Law
By Tony Pentimalli
On April 1, 2025, I wrote that Donald Trump was preparing to invoke the Insurrection Act. I said it wasn't about immigration. It wasn't about security. It was about power. Many wanted to believe it was alarmism, that the "system" would save us. They were wrong.
Last week, Trump confirmed everything.
On April 28, 2025, Donald Trump signed Executive Order named: "Strengthening and Unleashing America's Law Enforcement to Pursue Criminals and Protect Innocent Citizens." Sounds harmless. It isn't. It's a blueprint for authoritarian control without the need to formally declare martial law.
The order arms local police with military assets. It removes federal oversight from abusive departments. It provides legal immunity to officers who violate civil rights in the course of their "duties." It threatens to punish governors, mayors, and local leaders who resist federal directives. It mandates that DHS and DOJ coordinate the use of Homeland Security Task Forces — task forces created under Executive Order 14159, which explicitly authorizes federal intervention inside American cities.
In other words, it federalizes local law enforcement in everything but name.
Trump doesn’t need to declare martial law. He’s building it brick by brick.
Consider the timing: this order came eight days after the April 20 deadline Trump himself set when he ordered the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security to recommend whether he should invoke the Insurrection Act. To this day, the contents of that April 20 report remain hidden from the public. The administration has refused transparency. But we don’t have to guess what they recommended. Trump’s actions tell us.
This is not hypothetical. This is not a warning of something that "could" happen.
It is happening now.
Militarized policing is here. Trump’s order instructs the Department of Defense to determine how excess military assets, training, "non-lethal capabilities," and even personnel can be funneled into local policing. Already, armored vehicles, battlefield surveillance drones, and riot control weaponry are flowing into local departments.
Civilian oversight is dead. Trump's order directs the Attorney General to review and "modify, rescind, or conclude" all federal consent decrees and monitoring arrangements that "unduly burden" law enforcement. Translation: if a local police department is under federal watch because of corruption, brutality, or racism, Trump now demands that watch end.
Immunity for abuses is guaranteed. If an officer brutalizes a protester or kills an unarmed civilian while "performing their duties," they will have the full legal defense of the federal government behind them. Trump has legalized impunity.
Federal retaliation against dissent is coming. Trump's executive order empowers the Attorney General to "pursue all necessary legal remedies" against any state or city official who tries to protect their communities from federal overreach. If a mayor refuses to allow militarized ICE raids? If a governor defends protest rights? They can now face federal lawsuits, DOJ investigations, and the cutoff of federal funding.
Formal martial law — the suspension of civilian government — isn't declared. It's simply enacted.
This is how authoritarian regimes operate throughout history: by centralizing control over security forces, stripping civilian oversight, immunizing loyal enforcers, and criminalizing local resistance. Trump is following a well-worn, dangerous pattern.
The precedent is clear.
Trump called for "domination" in 2020 and sent unidentified federal agents to snatch protesters off the streets of Portland.
Trump sent federal agents to Lafayette Square to violently clear peaceful protesters for a photo op.
Trump gleefully used ICE and CBP to terrorize immigrant communities, even as courts struggled to intervene.
Trump praised the Supreme Court when it upheld his Muslim ban.
He has never respected dissent. He has never tolerated opposition. And now, he has built the machinery to crush it.
And where are the so-called "checks and balances" now?
The courts? Trump’s Supreme Court majority has already signaled a dangerous deference to executive power.
Congress? House Republicans are in lockstep, and Senate Democrats are paralyzed by institutional cowardice.
The media? Distracted, exhausted, and more interested in covering Trump's photo ops than his executive orders.
The public? Distrustful, divided, and still hoping that someone else will save them.
Trump counts on that passivity. He counts on your fatigue.
That’s why he moves in bursts — a flurry of orders, each more authoritarian than the last, until the norm becomes submission.
We must not submit.
The first time around, Trump tested the waters. Lafayette Square. Portland. Muslim Ban. Family Separation.
This time, he isn't testing.
He's executing.
The streets are being militarized. Civilian oversight is being gutted. Law enforcement is being deputized as the federal government's domestic army. And the groundwork for invoking the Insurrection Act is already finished.
If Trump formally declares it, there will be no need for panic — because the tanks, the raids, the silencing of dissent, and the crushing of opposition will already be in place.
This is not a future threat.
This is a present reality.
Speak. Resist. Now.
Not next month. Not after the next outrage. Not after the next court loss.
Now.
The warning was real. And it's happening before our eyes.
The Constitution won't crumble with a bang. It will be signed away, one executive order at a time.
*Tony Pentimalli is a political analyst and commentator fighting for democracy, economic justice, and social equity. Follow him for sharp analysis and hard-hitting critiques on Facebook and BlueSky
@tonywriteshere.bsky.social
Please tell Mr Frommer that, although I enjoyed his article about the great Bill Russell, I was surprised that he (or his fact checker?) inaccurately described Katherine Hepburn as having played the role of the daughter in “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” rather than the mother of that daughter, a far more nuanced and impressive performance.
Thanks for that catch, Nancy! Our fact checkers are wonderful but we rely on our community's sharp eyes and knowledge. We have revised it to the correct actress: Katharine Houghton. (Fun fact: Katharine Houghton is Katharine Hepburn's actual niece...which is perhaps why they share the slightly different spelling of their names.) Thanks again for picking up on that
Truly gave me hope listening to the program. Thanks so much for keeping the eye on the prize and helping us look at a sunny horizon and not the gloomy clouds. I love the Contrarians! I am proud to be one.
United, we stand. Divided, we fall. Recall the bundle of sticks. The concept is ancient and still true.
Excellent conference.
the conference was excellent, so glad I could be there virtually. top-notch guests, serious conversations on matters of consequence. hope there will be more. it was great. well done!
Thank you for what you're doing to support our democracy! I am wondering about the unions. They appear not to be supporting DJT, but I thought that during the election they supported him. Or was that only the Teamsters? Someone other group?
Great conference! Loved every minute of it. Gave me strength and hope!
What do we make of this? Does this mean the military will join local and state law enforcement?
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/strengthening-and-unleashing-americas-law-enforcement-to-pursue-criminals-and-protect-innocent-citizens/