36 Hours in Donald Trump’s America

The most dangerous feature of the reality TV president's relentless assault on American democracy may be that it already has been normalized

By Harry Litman Talking Feds

In the first few months of Trump's return to power, it was a regular trope to ask, “Are we in a constitutional crisis?” In my mind, the answer was already yes, because the January 6 pardons announced on Trump’s first day ushered in a corrupt, bizarro world that trashed constitutional values and the rule of law.

Others remained agnostic. But within a few months—perhaps after the freezing of trillions of dollars of approved grants to universities in March; or the brutal nationwide sweeps hunting down immigrants in April; or the acceptance of the “palace in the sky” from Qatar in May—most of us stopped asking the crisis question and began to take it as a given.

And what that entails, it seems to me, is a recognition that our longstanding constitutional democracy is at genuine risk of falling to Trump-instigated authoritarianism.

That grim analysis has become more or less pervasive. And yet, the serious assaults on democracy have continued without commensurate alarm. They’ve become so routine, in fact, that it’s hard to absorb or even notice them all as they occur.

Trump and his administration are taking a jackhammer to the foundations of democratic government in real time—and many Americans have become desensitized to the ongoing demolition job.

Consider that in a 32-hour span between Thursday morning and Friday night of last week, there were four separate actions that unmistakably advanced the authoritarian agenda.

In a functioning democracy, each one would have generated front-page headlines and scathing editorials. Taken together, they reflect a regime that is not just flirting with authoritarianism—it’s already well upstream. And in our already turbulent waters, some of these barely caused a ripple.

1. Ghislaine Maxwell Transferred to “Club Fed.” Friday at noon we learned that the Bureau of Prisons had approved the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell to a minimum-security women’s camp in Texas—facilities colloquially known as “Club Fed.” This followed a secretive and highly irregular meeting between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Maxwell’s lawyer.

Maxwell, who was convicted of federal sex trafficking offenses and complicit in some of the most grotesque crimes in recent memory, was flatly ineligible for such a placement under existing BOP guidelines. Her transfer required special dispensation, which is almost never granted in high-profile cases involving violent or exploitative crimes.

Given the extraordinary, and plainly inappropriate, two-day interview that Deputy Attorney General (and former Trump defense attorney) Todd Blanche conducted with her, it’s clear this was a reward—offered in exchange for potential cooperation.

But not cooperation in the usual sense, where a convict helps prosecute another criminal in service of the public good. This was a calculated political favor, offered to someone who might protect Trump by staying silent—or perhaps by offering “information,” true or not, that counters the growing chorus tying Trump to Epstein.

In any event—and this is the unavoidable critical point—there was no legitimate law enforcement or public-interest rationale.

The favor, granted in the name and with the power of the American people, was extended solely to serve Trump’s personal political ledger. It’s a complete dereliction of duty and misuse of official power—a corruption of the Department’s core responsibilities, warped to serve Trump's private political needs.

2. Trump Fires Head of Labor Statistics After Jobs Report. Two hours later, Friday at 2 PM, Trump abruptly fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer after a weaker-than-expected jobs report rattled markets and undercut his “America Ascendant” economic messaging.

The Labor Department, long insulated from political meddling, is charged with producing neutral, apolitical data. McEntarfer, an economist with bipartisan credentials, had no role in “spinning” the numbers—she simply released the report.

But Trump is incapable of believing in apolitical public servants. His assessment of the report is: “I believe the numbers were phony. So you know what I did? I fired her. I did the right thing.”

Her ouster is chilling: a clear message that economic facts must conform to political narratives, and that the measure of facts is how they promote the maximum leader.

The move was met with stunned silence from most of the mainstream press and only mild protest from economic circles. But it amounts to a firing squad aimed at statistical independence.

3. DOJ Opens Investigation into Jack Smith. On Saturday afternoon, we learned that the Office of Special Counsel has opened an investigation of none other than Jack Smith, the lead prosecutor in both the January 6 and classified documents cases against Trump.

The rationale was that Smith might have violated the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal employees from using their government jobs to engage in political activity. The supposed violation? That Smith sought to move the prosecutions forward quickly enough to conclude them before the 2024 election—or, in the Trump administration’s view, that he was trying to influence the outcome.

It’s hard to know where to begin with this absurdity.

But one glaring issue is the Trump administration’s own avalanche of politicized conduct—Blanche’s improper visit to Maxwell being just one example. Consider Alina Habba’s tenure as interim U.S. Attorney in New Jersey: she publicly stated her aim was to help flip the state red, and then made a string of blatantly partisan decisions. The same goes for Bondi, Bove, and much of the executive branch chosen for their willingness to violate their oaths in service of Trump’s political interests.

But the issue isn’t just that this investigation is laughable. It’s that it’s part of a larger campaign to punish Smith for doing his job. The goal is to erase the historical record, which clearly reflects the importance of Smith’s work. Imagine if the country had simply looked the other way after a violent attempt to halt the peaceful transfer of power—arguably the single most important moment for any democracy.

Because Smith agreed to take on that essential task—and carried it out with restraint, care, and resolve—he now faces massive legal bills, criminal exposure, and a perverse campaign to recast him as a villain. This is retaliation, thinly disguised as oversight. It’s corruption through and through.

4. Jeanine Pirro Confirmed as U.S. Attorney for D.C. A few hours later, Saturday evening at about 8 PM, the Senate confirmed Jeanine Pirro as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, the largest U.S. Attorney’s office in the DOJ. It’s a post that oversees prosecutions related to January 6, government corruption, and, potentially, Trump himself.

Pirro, a Fox News firebrand and longtime Trump loyalist, couldn’t be more ill-suited for the job: she repeatedly amplified false election claims and conspiracies on air. She was personally named as a defendant based on her on-air promotion of false claims—a case that Fox had to settle for $787.5 million and an acknowledgment that their election coverage was false.

Pirro’s confirmation was pushed through by a straight party-line vote over objections from D.C. Bar leaders, former DOJ officials, and Senators, who declared that “Ms. Pirro has proven to be a willing accomplice in weaponizing the justice system.”

Her prosecutorial experience is dated and slim; her TV credentials, ironclad.

Pirro is only one of a cadre of U.S. Attorney nominees with a track record of hostility to the DOJ and a willingness to overlook their oaths of office when Trump’s interests are in play. It’s a disastrous crew, guaranteed to set the DOJ credo of impartial justice without fear or favor on its ear.

31 hours and 36 minutes. That’s how long elapsed from the announcement of Maxwell’s transfer to Pirro’s confirmation.

And that wasn’t a fluke or some freakish concatenation of corruption. Had I widened the lens just slightly, I could have captured four more episodes, each staggering in its own right:

• The Fatburger Case Quietly Dropped
  On July 29, the Justice Department filed an unopposed motion to dismiss corporate fraud and tax charges against Andrew Wiederhorn, the Trump donor and former CEO of Fat Brands, accused of orchestrating a $47 million concealment scheme. The Department previously had fired the career prosecutor handling the case.

• L.A. Bribery Charges Downgraded to Misdemeanor
  That same day, the LA office gave an outrageous sweetheart deal to a deputy sheriff convicted of violating federal civil rights law by assaulting and pepper-spraying a woman. The office made it a misdemeanor and recommended no jail time. (The judge insisted on a 4-month sentence.)

• DHS Invoking Its Rule Expanding Deportation Authority
  On Thursday, DHS issued a sweeping new rule redefining who can be summarily removed from the country. By invoking vague “national security” grounds, the administration has effectively sidelined judicial review in immigration cases, especially for lawful residents from Muslim-majority countries. Legal advocates are calling it a revival of the Alien Enemies Act—with no limiting principle.

• DOJ Complaint Letter Against Judge Boasberg (Link)
  Earlier in the week, Pam Bondi filed a ludicrous, partisan complaint against Judge Jeb Boasberg. It’s a baseless broadside aimed at punishing a widely respected judge for rulings that happen to displease Trump and his allies.

Each of these moves further dismantled the structure of democratic governance: intimidating prosecutors, gutting oversight, rewarding cronies, ignoring facts, and weaponizing law enforcement.

It’s tempting to think you’ll know when democracy truly starts to die. Sirens, maybe. Marches. But in truth, it comes as a slow bleed—hidden in agency memos and personnel changes, not tanks in the streets.

That’s the true danger of Trump 2.0. Not that it’s louder. That it’s quieter.

The machinery of democracy is being disassembled not with riots, but with HR forms and press releases. The firings, the transfers, the dropped charges, the strategic appointments—they become familiar and no longer provoke outrage. Often they barely register.

This is how democratic systems die in the 21st century—not with cannon shot, but with steady corrosion that comes no longer to feel exceptional.

We are now well past the threshold point. A constitutional crisis is no longer looming. It’s here—unfolding in real time, under the cover of bureaucracy and legal twaddle, in the dog days of summer.

This isn’t a prelude to authoritarianism—it’s the second act.

We have to keep sounding the alarm. We have to refuse the new normal. We have to fight.

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Image: Photo illustration by The Week.