On Thursday, Donald Trump issued a memorandum ordering a crackdown on the perpetrators of an “assault against democratic institutions, constitutional rights, and fundamental civil liberties.”

Unfortunately, Trump was not referring to his own regime. What he meant, in essence, is anyone and anything to the left of Joseph McCarthy.

According to Trump’s memo, people or organizations could be investigated and prosecuted as domestic terrorists if they oppose the regime’s ideas about things like “family,” “morality,” “race,” “gender,” “migration,” “Christianity,” and “capitalism.”

The memo imagines such people and organizations to be part of a vast network trying to “foment political violence” and “disrupt the functioning of a democratic society.” Absurdly, the memo deems trespassing a “politically motivated terrorist” act.

As we noted in an emergency statement to the national media: “This is dangerous and profoundly un-American. Civil society organizations will band together and not permit the administration to pick off individual groups.”

Later that same day, former FBI director James Comey was indicted. The regime’s case against Comey is so flimsy that multiple Justice Department lawyers have resigned rather than be part of it and even Bill Barr, who served as attorney general for much of Trump’s first term, pointedly rejected it.

Using the power of the federal government to muzzle free speech. To shut down late-night comedians. To threaten nonprofit organizations and their members. To prosecute perceived political enemies.

Make no mistake, this is authoritarianism. In fact, the memo and the indictment came just hours after an Oval Office meeting between Trump and President Erdogan of Turkey, a man widely recognized as a model for Trump’s own dictatorial ambitions.

As it happens, Public Citizen is facing a critical fundraising deadline even as Trump launches this attack on nonprofit organizations. Please see our earlier note — copied below in case you missed it — for more about that.

Thank you,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen

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Please take a minute to read through this update.

We are just days from a make-or-break deadline. How things go over the next few days will directly impact how aggressive Public Citizen can be over the next twelve months as we continue to fight the Trump regime and its attempt to impose authoritarianism upon the American people.

That includes our legal work to keep the administration in check (18 lawsuits so far) and all the other ways we are fighting Trumpism — both on our own and as a leader of massive nationwide coalitions.

Why is this moment so critical?

Because Public Citizen’s fiscal year ends at midnight this coming Tuesday, September 30. Now, we recognize that the phrase “fiscal year ends at midnight” is no “Ask not what your country can do for you ...” This is an absolutely pivotal moment nonetheless.

Like many nonprofits, Public Citizen operates on what accountants call a fiscal year, which is different from the calendar year for reasons related to bookkeeping, taxes, etc. What it means, in a nutshell, is that we are about to close the books on one year and begin the next.

Historically, then, the last few days of September have been rivaled only by the last few days of December when it comes to the online donations that are essential to powering the work you and Public Citizen do together.

And remember, we neither seek nor accept “help” from Big Business and Uncle Sam — our independence and integrity just aren’t for sale. So, everything this shared project called Public Citizen gets done is possible thanks to folks like you chipping in what they can at junctures like this.

But we are facing some tough realities this time around:

• The Trump regime’s flood-the-zone authoritarian assault demands we do more than we ever have. More lawsuits. More organizing and mobilizing. More investigations. More lobbying. More media work. More of everything for democracy and justice.

• The administration’s reckless and retrograde actions are causing intense financial pressure and uncertainty for everyday Americans, which is understandably leaving some with less flexibility to support nonprofit groups.

• Many people are still feeling tapped out (and perhaps let down) after donating what they could to try to defeat Trump and other MAGA candidates this time last year.

• And you’re no doubt getting emails from other organizations noting September 30 as a deadline for one reason or another. (Perhaps with gimmicks like ALL-CAPS subject lines, garish formatting, gratuitous graphics, misleading “membership status” alerts, and more.)

If this is not a good time for a donation to Public Citizen, we get it.

If you are able to make a contribution, please donate today. Anything you can chip in — $5 or $25, $50 or $100, $500 or even more — will help at such a critical moment.

CONTRIBUTE NOW
Or join our popular Monthly Giving program (if you haven’t already) to help make sure we have the ongoing financial resources to fight Trump day after day after day.

If you’ve donated to Public Citizen already, thank you. And, again, if a donation is not right, we understand. Either way, thank you for reading this, and thank you for being part of Public Citizen.

Onward,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen
 
 
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