Scenes from a Slow Civil War

09/26/2025

The news cycle yesterday was still spinning around Kimmel, and tomorrow it’ll be busy with Comey. But in between came bigger news: the “memo” named in my subtitle. A “Terror Memo.” I don’t like sending traffic to this White House, but you should read it. In its expansive definition of “terror,” “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence” may prove to be as much of an acceleration in this slow civil war as the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

The real enemy, according to the memo, is “organized”:

“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. A new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them — is required.”

It’s critical to name this bait-&-switch: Using real acts of violence by a handful of unaffiliated individuals to launch an attack on the much greater strength of liberal / left “organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, [and] funding sources.” This isn’t about a manhunt to stop the next murderer before he can shoot; it’s a “new… strategy,” the deconstruction by state power of far less dramatic efforts to build the very step-by-step systemic rule-of-law resistance that is the opposite of violence.

Note the last item on the list: “predicate actions.” What might be the dark “predicate actions” for the donations of liberal billionaires George Soros and Reid Hoffman—both name-checked by Trump Thursday—to efforts such as MoveOn, America Votes, Media Matters, and and peer-to-peer microlending? Capital Research Center, the far right think tank whose “research” the White House is leaning on for the Terror Memo, cites in particular Soros’ support for the Sunrise Movement. Put that next to Trump’s insistence that climate change is a “con job,” and you begin to see how simply naming the facts of fire and flood and heat deaths could come to be construed as “terrorism” subject to investigation.

The following instruction expands the definition of “terrorist acts” from doxing and violent threats—both of which could reasonably construed as such, and both of which have been pursued by powerful regime allies—to include also “trespass” and “civil disorder”:

“The Attorney General shall issue specific guidance that ensures domestic terrorism priorities include politically motivated terrorist acts such as organized doxing campaigns, swatting, rioting, looting, trespass, assault, destruction of property, threats of violence, and civil disorder. This guidance shall also include an identification of any behaviors, fact patterns, recurrent motivations, or other indicia common to organizations and entities that coordinate these acts in order to direct efforts to identify and prevent potential violent activity.”

These terms bring under the “terrorism” umbrella a nonviolent action as simple as, say, sitting in front of an ICE entrance. Or, for that matter, just chanting from the sidewalk.

Then there’s this instruction:

“The [Treasury] Secretary shall provide guidance for financial institutions to file Suspicious Activity Reports and investigate indicia of illicit funding streams to ensure such activity is rooted out at the source and referred for law enforcement action, as appropriate.”

Have you ever donated to a left organization with a credit card? Get ready. This doesn’t mean they’re coming for you. It means that if for some reason they want to come for you, you’re already cooked. That little rectangle of plastic in your wallet’s been turned into a weapon to be used against you.

So much of the Terror Memo follows the money:

“The Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (Commissioner) shall take action to ensure that no tax-exempt entities are directly or indirectly financing political violence or domestic terrorism. In addition, where applicable, the Commissioner shall ensure that the Internal Revenue Service refers such organizations, and the employees and officers of such organizations, to the Department of Justice for investigation and possible prosecution.”