You Are Inside the Collapse

Critical Resistance

Critical Resistance

04/10/2025

In the past five weeks, the Trump administration has activated nearly every authoritarian lever it needs: the mass purges, the blacklists, the loyalty tests, the deportations without trial, the censorship of history, the attacks on universities, the court rulings that let it all stand.

We are not forecasting collapse. We are inside the collapse. And the only thing more dangerous than the pace of it—is how easy it is to miss what’s happening when you’re inside it.

This isn’t a warning. It’s a timestamp.

The Pattern Is No Longer a Pattern—It’s a System

It’s no longer possible to treat these actions as isolated events or ideological overreaches. What we are seeing is not chaos. It’s structure. A system of control is being installed across every major sector of American life—and each part is reinforcing the others.

Immigration: The administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798—a wartime law last used during World War II—to deport hundreds of Venezuelan men without hearings, evidence, or judicial review. Many were asylum seekers. They were detained, declared enemy combatants, and flown to a foreign prison the U.S. paid to use. The courts objected. The administration kept going.
The Courts: The Supreme Court upheld the use of the Alien Enemies Act in a 5–4 decision. But even before that ruling, Trump defied an injunction from a lower court that attempted to block the deportation flights—a quiet signal that judicial authority is now contingent on compliance, not obligation.

Higher Education: Trump threatened to strip all federal funding from any university that allowed “illegal protests.” Within days, Columbia University was accused of antisemitism by the administration and immediately had $400 million in funding pulled. In the days since, the administration has frozen over $1 billion in funding to Cornell and $790 million to Northwestern. A task force is now reviewing federal ties to dozens of schools nationwide. The message is clear: protest the wrong way, or house the wrong ideas, and the state will defund you. The goal isn’t to protect students. It’s to warn institutions that any perceived ideological resistance will be punished with financial death.

The Civil Service: Executive Orders 14151 and 14173 have wiped out federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs—while simultaneously authorizing the review and removal of any employee associated with them. In practice, this means mass firings, political blacklists, and the construction of a loyalty-based workforce where ideology matters more than experience, law, or qualification. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is not just orchestrating mass firings—it is now reportedly using AI to monitor federal workers for anti-Trump sentiment. A federal audit is underway, but surveillance is already in motion.

History and National Identity: Executive Order 14253 directs federal museums and institutions to erase narratives deemed too focused on racism, injustice, or structural inequality. This includes altering exhibits, revising historical timelines, and handing control of cultural memory to political appointees. The past is being rewritten—by design.

Each one of these actions is shocking on its own. But taken together, they form a fully aligned system: control the flow of people, punish dissent, purge the institutions, and reshape the national narrative to suit power.

This is not a trend. This is governance by erasure.