The war against Trump’s perceived political enemies keeps escalating. The Wall Street Journal provides new detail on how the Trump Administration intends to use an IRS criminal unit, whose members bear arms, as part of his campaign against “left-leaning” organizations. This fallows a Reuters account describing how the Trump Administration intends to use the Department of Justice and DHS to pursue “left wing” groups that allegedly fomented violence.
Mind you, back in the day of McCarthy witch hunts, the targets were actual Communists or those who had colorable connections to Communists. This was a small swathe of society but did pick up many members of the intelligentsia who had participated in Communist organizations in college or had friends who could be depicted as being Communist. The fear, particularly among Hollywood studios, was intense (recall movies were not deemed to have First Amendment protection prior to a 1952 Supreme Court ruling). Trump is casting his targets net much wider. Democrats are taking “left-leaning” to mean potentially any Democrat and this reading does not seem to be nuts.
The violence allegations are also a stretch, but they will be more than sufficient to allow Trump officials to root in the records and communications of many groups and key individuals. Even if they do not succeed in deploying their big guns successfully, criminal prosecution and stripping the groups of not-for-profit status, the effort will be chilling. At a minimum, the campaign will force the targets to spend heavily on lawyers. Recall that Aaron Schwartz killed himself over Federal charges that most experts were confident he could beat back. But litigation is a crapshoot, his potential sentence was long, and the cost of his defense was estimated at $1.5 million which he did not have and he did not want to bankrupt his parents in trying to muster up the funds.
Admittedly, this is anecdata, but consider. First, in the Black Live Matters protests, there was organized looting of Macys and other stores….which had nothing to do with the protestors. The New York Times reported at length how gang members with bikes cased the area as the marches were on, and then moved in as darkness fell and the demonstrators had cleared out with trucks to make their haul.
Similarly, a contact has been a co-organizer of anti-Trump marches. In a recent one, participants that none of the event leaders recognized were trying to foment a fight, urging the protestors to throw objects at the police. The protest leaders screamed at the marchers that this was a peaceful protest and not to take the bait. The protest stayed non-violent.
As the Trump Administration telegraphed earlier, one of their big plans is to strip organizations of not-for-profit status who have been allegedly engaged in political activity. This is low-hanging fruit. 501(c)3 not for profits are for charitable activities (which includes supporting journalism). Donations to them are tax deductible to the donor. 501(c)4 is for not for profits engaged in political activity. Donations to them are not tax deductible but the organization is not taxed. Public Citizen and I imagine other groups regularly involved in DC trench warfare have both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 units and I would assume run tight ships given their fondness for controversy. That is likely not to hold for others.
But now Team Trump is about to launch the big salvo of going after purported domestic terrorists. That not only allows them to engage in ICE-raid level stunts of sending armed IRS and DHS agents in but also to deploy the anti-money-laundering/anti-terrorist-finance apparatus at Treasury to examine money flows. The top target is the Soros Open Society Foundation. Trump has repeatedly attacked its head, Alex Soros, and called for his prosecution, since at least 2023. More recently Trump Administration officials have made clear they intend to pursue not only the Soros Foundation but also grantees, as in they are presumed guilty, irrespective of what they were actually up to.
Among other things, this looks like karma for Team Dem taking over Black Lives Matter via suborning it via successfully parachuting in non-organic leaders and providing considerable funding. This takeover occurred just after BLM started staging high-profile “die-ins” at places like Grand Central, which attracted considerable participation from people of all races. The Democrats were successful; the die-ins abruptly stopped. I am told some local BLM units were able to maintain their independence.
Even conservatives are alarmed at the prospect of open political persecution:
Conservatives (including me!) were rightly outraged when the IRS under Obama appeared to be giving undue scrutiny to Tea Party organizations. And that was *nothing* compared to what is being laid out here by the Trump administration. https://t.co/nKQ5T8ewSS
— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) October 16, 2025
Now to the press accounts. Key sections from the Journal’s report:
The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily, according to people familiar with the matter.
A senior IRS official involved in the effort has drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democratic donors, some of the people said.
The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes…
Among those on the list are the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and his affiliated groups…
The effort within the IRS coincides with a larger administration effort to probe left-leaning groups for helping to finance organizations that the president says are creating anarchy in Democratic-led cities….
Trump previously said on Truth Social that Soros and his son Alex should face federal charges under the RICO Act and added in a separate interview that the elder Soros “should be in jail” without offering specific reasons…
Trump has ordered Bessent as the acting IRS commissioner to refer certain tax-exempt organizations to the Justice Department for further investigation…
The IRS has long tried to steer clear of political controversies, though not always successfully. During the Obama administration, an inspector general’s report concluded in 2013 that the IRS had used inappropriate criteria to select conservative groups for what proved to be lengthy, invasive scrutiny when seeking tax-exempt status…
The IRS-CI is a formidable tool. It has more than 2,000 agents, investigates potential criminal violations of the tax code, and assists other agencies in combating financial crime. It is the part of the IRS where agents often carry firearms, and it is distinct from the auditors and collectors who handle civil tax enforcement.
Recall that the Administration considered a perp walk for recently-indicted James Comey, but may have held back because the case against him is weak. One wonders if the Trump team will exhibit a similar level of probity with Alex Soros, particularly given that he has the resources to mount a fierce defense. Rudy Guiliani’s perp walk for Kidder Peabody’s Richard Wigton, who was later vindicated, was an embarrassing backfire.
Keep in mind that Team Trump has cut IRS staffing, so this bulking up to pursue enemies will likely come at the expense of other services.
Since President Trump took office, the IRS has faced transformative changes, including a substantial reduction in its workforce and the appointment of seven different commissioners or acting commissioners. These actions are presented by Trump and his allies as efforts to restore… pic.twitter.com/HQBKLUmmIV
— Bloomberg Tax (@tax) October 15, 2025
Many cheered Trump reversal of Biden Administration staffing increases, when nearly half of the total was for customer support staff. I know individuals personally who have had taxes not owed where IRS mis-processing resulted in dunning efforts sent out to collection. That is due directly to staff cuts. For instance, professional tax filers are no longer able to get through on the professional phone line (where they had been able to, albeit at times with some effort) and repeated letters correct IRS errors have not been acted upon. So be careful what you wish for.
The Reuters story focused on how the Trump Administration is structuring the campaign against political foes across Federal agencies:
President Donald Trump’s threatened crackdown on the finances and activities of liberal non-profits and groups opposed to his agenda is a multi-agency effort with top White House aide Stephen Miller playing a central role, according to officials.
The Trump administration plans to deploy America’s counter-terrorism apparatus – including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department – as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department against certain left-wing groups it accuses of funding and organizing political violence, the officials said….
Miller is deeply involved in reviewing government agencies’ investigations into the financial networks behind what the administration labels “domestic terror networks,” which include nonprofits and even educational institutions…
“Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,” the White House said in a statement to Reuters….
When pressed by a Reuters reporter in the Oval Office on September 25 about potential targets of a domestic terrorism probe, Trump mentioned George Soros – a Democratic donor whose charitable network supports civil rights, education, democracy and other causes – and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the online professional networking platform LinkedIn and another Democratic mega-donor.
The president did not present evidence of wrongdoing. “If they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems. Because they’re agitators and they’re anarchists,” Trump said….
In response to a separate request, the White House highlighted seven political protests in 2023 and 2025 that included acts of violence directed against law enforcement officials, and two incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships this year as well as half a dozen social media posts celebrating the damage.
It named nine liberal groups, donors or fundraising organizations that it said helped finance or plan protests where the violent incidents occurred.
While the second White House official stressed that the organizations were not necessarily potential targets, the material provides insight into the administration’s thinking.
The list includes Soros’ Open Society Foundations; ActBlue, the funding arm of the Democratic Party; Indivisible, a grassroots coalition opposed to Trump policies and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group.
This is going to get ugly. But as indicated, many of the targets can and will mount muscular legal defenses. How much they can do to throw sand in the gears of Trump’s political revenge machine remains to be seen.
This fusillade harkens back to the First Red Scare of 1918 – 1920. These are the new Palmer Raids.
As ever, working people will suffer. The Democrats will also sell out the Left.
Yet this repression is the venomous fruit of the Patriot Act. And don’t expect any help from the U.S. Supreme Court, those darn scamps who brought you the Schenk mess of a decision.
I would begin with the start of the Creel Committee in 1917 when President Woodrow Wilson wanted to go to war. It was responsible for destroying the anti war movement, the American Socialists, as well as leftist city governments and liberal and leftist publications. They used massive amounts of propaganda to equate anti war beliefs as well as leftist ideas to anti Americanism and treason while using the police and I believe the postal service as most magazines and many newspapers were delivered by mail to kill both businesses and political organizations.
The Palmer Raids were a post war extension of Creel’s work by U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchel Palmer with a separate focus on deportations of anarchists, socialists, communists, and other similar undesirables especially of native Eastern Europeans and Jews. I think Palmer became motivated when some anarchists sent a bomb to his home.
The best theory I’ve seen running around to explain this all:
American reality is run by 12 year olds.
“Let’s blow up random boats on the ocean to stop drug trafficking” – congrats! You are 12
“Cities have crime, send in the army!” – once again, 12
“Peace through strength” – sounds like something a 12 year old would say
“These meanies don’t like me, throw them in jail” – hey there, Mr. 12 year old!
how about how trump surrounds himself with his barbie dolls…
He has the ice barbie. the sec of war barbie, atty gen barbie,etc. All of his “picks”… seem to be barbie dolls…..
He tried hiring Klaus Barbie but he wasn’t available.
Many Barbies, but only one Krusader Ken.
Theory? That’s just a tweet you saw.
But even the Palmer raids were against actual radicals. They were still atrocious but they were not going after mainstream political groups. Their targets were the Socialist and then the Communist Party after the organizations split.
Those raids probably factored into the immigration halt efforts in the early 1920s. The millions arriving between 1880 and 1920 endured some rough assimilation as there weren’t many recognizable public social integration programs in that era. Private efforts ranged from religious institutions to intra-ethnic predation.
Populations and institutions take time to adjust. NC readers may have forbears in those immigrant waves, each with a story or two.
But even the Palmer raids were against actual radicals. They were still atrocious but they were not going after mainstream political groups. Their targets were the Socialist and then the Communist Party after the organizations split.
That’s certainly a ringing endorsement of the Bill of Rights (!), as well as a misunderstanding of what civil liberties and civil rights are.
–I guess that Plessy v Ferguson was okay, because Plessy was a creole. Not mainstream.
–And there’s the implication that the FBI going after Martin Luther King was okay, because he certainly wasn’t mainstream.
–Or that the Lavender Scare after WWII was okay, because gayfolk aren’t mainstream.
–And yet there’s the Brandenburg v Ohio case — which endorses free speech for a Kluxer and a Nazi. Who certainly weren’t mainstream.
–from one of those blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s. Not mainstream. >>>
“I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year’s fashions.”
― Lillian Hellman
The whole point of the Brandenburg v Ohio case is to show that 1A applies to speech that most people find distasteful. Too many people think that 1A only applies to speech that they approve of, and that rhetorical hate speech (not inciting violence) ** isn’t protected by 1A.
** “Everybody should hate people who eats sprouts” is 1A protected, but a bullhorn speech to a public crowd “I want everybody to lynch sprouts eaters now!” generally isn’t… exception would be a comedy sketch to a ticketed audience.
Don ‘t forget that the Palmer Raids were just the government-led part of the Red Scare. Groups like the American Legion played a big part, while the KKK ran amok, taking over state governments and lynching something like 1700 people. See: Robert Murray “Red Scare” 1955.
You really should credit the original bluesky author:
https://bsky.app/profile/veryimportant.lawyer/post/3lybxlwzjuc2h
Original bluesky author of what exactly? People on the Internets have been calling each “twelve year olds” long before current twelve year olds were born.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/12-year-olds
I know individuals personally who have had taxes not owed where IRS mis-processing resulted in dunning efforts sent out to collection. That is due directly to staff cuts. For instance, professional tax filers are no longer able to get through on the professional phone line (where they had been able to, albeit at times with some effort) and repeated letters correct IRS errors have not been acted upon.
That just nuts…
My tax filing falls on the opposite end. The IRS had approved my tax filling and still had not send the tax refund as of today. If it would be a few hundred bucks, I’d say whatever, use it for your healthcare expenses. Unfortunately, it’s quite a few thousands and even my accountant cannot help. He also has a rather large number of clients with similar issue as mine.
Yeah, I should go nuts and send IRS to a collection agency….
But now the IRS had a CEO!!! Like a business. Everything will be fine!
Right, they will be like Apple where there is no way to cancel your subscription and even if you change your credit card their charges will still go through!
I just had the IRS dun me for a charge from 2012, which I believe they don’t have the right to do, 10 years being a supposed limit, and not only did I get a refund in 2012 for that year, I was at that time in a 60 month pay off plan for back taxes from when my earlier business failed.
Days spent on hold, multiple letters without response. They just withheld it from my refund this year, so at least the IRS got my refund on time.
CBC in Canada had reporting on similar issues with CRA.
Perhaps the question though is whether Trump is an actual fascist or “just playing one on TV’ to intimidate his political opposition and leave the path clear for unlimited grifting. As the above points out fighting the legal system can be very expensive even for the innocent.
And surely there are questions about whether the Black Lives Matter movement was genuinely organic or taken over by the Dems and Dem adjacent figures like Soros in a countervailing attempt to crush the right or at least weaken it so they could get their 50 percent plus one ticket to government. Many claim that Soros did sponsor regime change outfits in Europe and in Georgia they banned NGOs as being chock full of CIA fronts.
Personally I think Trump and his sleazy family are only about the grifting. Of course some might say the same about the Nazis, whose anti-semitism was as much about looting as ethnic hatred. But those up from the lower class Nazis had military backgrounds whereas Trump’s background is Studio 54. One doubts that those generals and admirals sitting on their hands will support any attempted coup. And for the general public all this bully boy behavior is sinking Trump’s approvals into the thirties.
We are in trouble without a doubt. The question is what kind of trouble.
I’m of the opinion that if it looks like a Soros and quacks like a Soros, then investigate. I don’t want rights of people to be undermined by such actors.
Anecdata: older readers may have memories and experiences from the 1960s and early 1970s political upheavals and campus protests. In my case, there were credible reports of out-of-towners, the phrase of the time, that arrived to ratchet things up notches. That included incitement to bomb and other violent acts. They did their thing and vanished just as quickly as they had arrived. Combine that with the general realizations about Vietnam and domestic policy lying, and the young, idealistic college students got a harsh lesson or two about the world.
>Perhaps the question though is whether Trump is an actual fascist or “just playing one on TV’ to intimidate his political opposition and leave the path clear for unlimited grifting.
“We are what we pretend to be.” -Kurt Vonnegut, “Mother Night”
Trump vs. Soros, can they both lose, please? But the only problem with Mafia-style gang wars like this is that a lot of innocent bystanders get hurt. Things continue to get messier. The United States needs a political diaper change.
It’s about The Show for Trump. What worries me more are all the European governments cancelling elections, banning political parties and jailing old ladies for mentioning Palestine, along with all of their “liberal” allies in the US. They are already cracking down hard, and will use Trump as an excuse to continue doing so after he’s gone – they need to enforce discipline to keep another Trump from coming along, and it will be for our own good. That’s not to excuse the execrable actions the Trump administration is currently engaging in – too bad the “opposition” doesn’t seem to oppose what they’re doing all that much. They’re fine impeaching him multiple times for nothing, but they get real quiet when there are actual blatantly illegal actions that need to be addressed.
And then there’s Thiel and friends. They have insinuated themselves into the government under many administrations now, and have gotten way more public under Trump. Once the government is dependent on the tech would-be overlords, at what point does it stop being a government for the people and start being a government owned and operated by Palantir?
The Helmer link today is worth listening to. While for Trump it is about the show, for Vance, Vought, and Miller it’s about dismantling State capability, which through their anarcho-capitalist lens looks like the way to MAGA.
To the extent they are succeeding with their deindustrialization of Europe, they’re entrenching the systemic advantages China has already built and any nation they temporarily pry loose from BRICS or ASEAN will eventually have to come crawling back begging China or become a permanent (10-20 years) part of the Western relic heap.
It took Putin 25 years to rebuild Russia’s position, China’s been focused now for at least 50. While both of those successful political economies will reach their own reversals in due time, we haven’t even got to the point where we recognize we are the source of our failures. Like Her Majesty Hillary, we can’t fail, we can only be failed, and the likes of Thiel won’t recognize they are the problem until they ARE the government and fail by their own standards. At least the Soviet Communists had the decency to recognize their own failure, I doubt that’s a possibility with Capitalists.
I should have mentioned Vance along with Thiel. Vance is the democratically elected nose of the camel that’s going to lead the rest of the reeking beast into the tent.
Trump is a distraction while billionaire factions slug it out in the background along with the politicians they own. The “good” ones vs. the “bad” ones, pick your flavor, but no matter which comes out ahead, it sure looks like some sort of totalitarianism (it will be soft, at first) is the preferred method of making sure the losing faction isn’t allowed to make a comeback.
I don’t know if the following means anything, and yes, other than the dollar amounts it’s kind of an apples to oranges comparison, but this seems insane to me and a sure sign that the center is struggling desperately to hold –
United States GDP for 2024 ~ $28.5 trillion https://www.worldeconomics.com/GrossDomesticProduct/Current-GDP/United%20States.aspx
US government budget outlays for 2025 ~ $6.8 trillion https://www.cbo.gov/publication/61172
Current market cap of one US corporation, Nvidia ~ $4.4 trillion https://companiesmarketcap.com/nvidia/marketcap/
Trump has been busy insulting the military for a long time. He might think he has the “cards” for a coup with his new enlarged paramilitary ICE forces but the US military will “trump” ICE if push comes to shove.
The big question is whose side will the military take. They seem to be holding their “cards” close to their chests.
The United States of America has never had a coup unless one includes the possibility using JFK’s and RFK’s assassinations and it has been a bedrock principle of the American military to never, ever threaten the civilian government, which decades ago included many senior officers never talking about politics when in uniform or in public.
I see the military’s hands off approach weakening the more corrupt and incompetent both the military and the government becomes. Add the growing use of the military in law enforcement and there is another weakening of the separation of the government and the military.
I would note the growing mistreatment of, and mistrust by, the rank and file of the military leadership and the federal government especially after all the wars of the past thirty years. How that influences the generals or the president I have no idea aside from the obvious lack of wisdom shown by them towards anyone not of their exalted ranks.
If the President decides to use the regular military in actual combat in the States or if the Generals start getting frisky, it will be a very “interesting time,” but what happens is anyone’s guess.
Does it matter whether or not Trump is a fascist when, as far as I can tell, his entire administration is composed of actual fascists?
Trump’s lack of long-term vision is terrifying. He cannot be president forever. When he leaves office, he will be held accountable for his actions.
“…he will be held accountable for his actions”. You wish. Find me one example to hold out that expectation.
Who will hold him accountable though? The Democrats have shown themselves to be a totally incompetent clown show with their numerous previous misfires trying to make the Don pay. They’re like priests of an antique and overly ritualized religion who can only get up on the altar and perform their tired mumbo-jumbo act without understanding why most of the pews are empty and no one is saying Amen in the right places.
Wishful thinking. He’s already had the full NYS & Fed (& part of GA) lawfare and came out on top of everything. The fraud verdict still has the Supreme Court to go (after the NYS Court of Appeals, assuming they don’t throw it out themselves).
By whom? The “dry powder” Dems who promised to hold the Bush administration accountable and, as soon as elected, told everyone to move on and forget it?
Related: https://theonion.com/trump-claims-he-can-overrule-constitution-with-executiv-1830106306/
A good friend of mine described how Trump and co behave with
“the actions of people that don’t expect to have to face the consequences”.
i.e. ones that dont expect to leave office and have to face anything at all.
It is all deeply concerning.
Well, the biden crime family didn’t face any consequences, cuomo decimated covid patients, Nancy P is a insider trader extraordiaire, james clapper lied to congress, comey used the fbi, the lawer who lied to fisa got a slap on the wrist, Walensky told everyone to throw away the mask and get back to school while pimpimg for ventilation at her own kids school, basically any lie that rachel maddow brennan, and the whole lot of msnbc loons, although theres some consequences there, but not for jmmy kimmel I guess, obama cashed in in who knows how many ways, the clinton foundation, csis, stanford, globalists, ukraine, ai scraping all copyrighted material,victoria nuland, dick effing cheney supporting dems, and on, and on, and on…
One thing is certain, if the dems didn’t suck so bad we wouldn’t have to deal with another trump term, but gotta back that genocide dontchaknow
Why would they think there would be consequences to being the same greedy self serving nitwits that have preceded them for this entire century at least?
Kakistocratic Demockracy
I get the impression Trump leaves office when he dies (his plan). Who is to be held accountable then? Vance? His grifting sons? Other accomplices? And by whom? If it’s the following administration, aren’t we just continuing the weaponization of the DOJ?