National — As 2025 draws to a close, the Wren Collective has published a year-end recap of its Democracy Under Attack newsletter, reflecting on what it describes as the 10 worst excesses of the “new regime in power” in Washington over the past year.
The collective labels “a secret police force kidnapping people off the street” as the No. 1 excess of the new regime’s power. During a mass deportation campaign that targeted immigrants “who overwhelmingly have no criminal record,” the Wren Collective cites incidents ranging from “shooting a priest in the head with pepperballs to spraying cops or a baby with tear gas.”
Highlighting the deportation of toddlers with cancer and hundreds of U.S. citizens, the collective emphasizes “the radicalism of this campaign of terror.”
Second on the list is capital punishment. “After years of decline, the death penalty has been aggressively pursued by the Trump/Bondi DOJ with states following suit,” the Wren Collective writes.
The third most prevalent “excess of the new regime’s power” is titled “Welcome back Jim Crow.” The Wren Collective reports that the Department of Justice has ceased functioning as a vehicle for civil rights enforcement, resulting in the withdrawal of many talented lawyers and the end of a federal commitment to racial equity. “This month, the DOJ announced they would no longer pursue civil rights litigation based on the disparate impact theory of the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which has been a key lever to expose the most covert forms of racism,” the collective writes.
Fourth on the list is “National Guard taking over cities.” The Wren Collective explains, “The administration’s farcical commitment to public safety is nowhere more obvious than in the mobilization of the National Guard to take over cities where violent crime has been declining (D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago) in a performative show of force, rather than a meaningful investment in resources to prevent or investigate violent crime.”
The administration’s attempt to control academic freedom through funding cuts to universities with leadership in medical and scientific research is listed among the top five attacks on democracy, the collective writes.
Sixth is President Donald Trump’s attack on journalism. The Wren Collective specifically notes the “banishment of reporters who don’t toe the line from the White House press corps and the publication of a ‘naughty’ reporters list that even the White House subsequently took down.”
Number seven focuses on the criminalization and banning of reproductive and transgender health care, according to the Wren Collective. The past year has marked a sharp reversal in access to health care, with women identified as primary targets. Certain Republican-led states have outlawed abortion, making it more difficult for women to access comprehensive health care, the collective states.
“Looming federal Medicaid cuts are estimated to deny Medicaid coverage for more than two million women of reproductive age,” the issue writes.
Transgender individuals, the collective reports, have also faced significant barriers to care. This week, the Wren Collective notes, the administration denied federal funding to hospitals that offer transgender health care.
Eighth on the list is what the collective describes as attacks on entertainers, including late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, who made a joke about President Donald Trump and was, for a short time, removed as the show’s host.
Government-run accounts, the Wren Collective writes, are no longer taken seriously and have instead become internet trolls. “While immigration enforcement agents don masks to hide their identity, DHS itself has a no-holds-barred communication apparatus to spread its sadism, shocking in the depraved pleasure it derives from the suffering of people they imprison and deport — including disinformation and fake videos,” the article states.
The 10th and final excess identified by the Wren Collective is the “slashing” of public safety investments. Federal leadership has “gutted” $900 million from bipartisan, proven public safety measures and “billions from mental health and substance use treatment,” while highlighting the 1,500 people who participated in the Jan. 6 event and were pardoned by President Donald Trump.
In closing, the Wren Collective reminds readers that everyday neighbors are fighting back against these injustices and abuses of power, urging people to stand up for the right to speak out and, ultimately, to take “fascism” to court.
Follow the Vanguard on Social Media – X, Instagram and Facebook. Subscribe the Vanguard News letters. To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit davisvanguard.org/donate or give directly through ActBlue. Your support will ensure that the vital work of the Vanguard continues.
