Wake Up, America: The Rule of Law Is on the Line!

The Democratic Club of Greater Tracy stands firmly against authoritarian overreach and the abuse of power.

Marc Elias, one of the foremost defenders of democracy and the rule of law, lays out in stark detail what we’ve feared: a pattern of political retribution and legal intimidation targeting Democrats across the country. This is not just an attack on individuals, it’s an attack on the very foundation of our democracy.

As Democrats, we believe in accountability, transparency, and the rule of law, not the weaponization of justice to silence dissent. Elias’s timeline is a wake-up call, and we urge our community to stay informed, stay active, and stand united in defense of democratic values.

Read his powerful piece below. ⬇️

Message from Marc Elias:

June 20, 2025

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This week, the legacy media finally caught up to what I’ve been writing about for months: the use of federal government power to intimidate, investigate and prosecute political opponents. Slowly but surely, the Trump administration has begun executing its abuse of criminal law to target its perceived enemies. And it seems that people are finally starting to notice.

However, most of the coverage fails to connect the various dots from one outrage to another. Drawing a parallel between the mistreatment of a U.S. senator and the comptroller of New York City is easy — but it misses several other instances of government abuse dating back to late January.

So, for this week, I want to start by offering a more complete timeline of what has happened so far:

Jan. 21, 2025: Acting D.C. U.S. Attorney sends a letter threatening a criminal investigation to Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer.

Feb. 17, 2025: Acting D.C. U.S. Attorney sends a similar letter to Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia.

Apr. 9, 2025: Trump signs executive orders directing investigations into two former officials from his first administration for publicly disagreeing with and criticizing him.

Apr. 25, 2025: FBI arrests liberal Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan in connection with immigration detention at a courthouse. She was subsequently indicted on May 13.

May 8, 2025: Media outlets report that the Department of Justice is criminally investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James.

May 9, 2025: ICE agents arrest Newark’s Democratic mayor, Ras Baraka, for attempting to visit a detention facility in his city.

May 19, 2025: Trump’s acting New Jersey U.S. Attorney charges Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver in connection with the same visit to an ICE detention facility. She was subsequently indicted on June 10.

May 28, 2025: Department of Homeland Security agents handcuff a Democratic congressional staffer in Manhattan after bursting into a congressional office without a warrant.

June 6, 2025: ICE agents arrest and charge prominent labor leader David Huerta in connection with an anti-ICE protest.

June 9, 2025: Trump says he thinks “it would be a great thing” if the White House Border Czar arrested Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

June 12, 2025: DHS agents tackle, drag and handcuff California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla for attempting to question the DHS Secretary at a press conference in his state.

July 17, 2025: Masked ICE agents manhandle, handcuff and arrest the New York City Comptroller and Democratic mayoral candidate after he asks whether they have a warrant to detain a man leaving a court hearing.

Yes, this week’s violent arrest of Brad Lander is shocking and wrong — or as Gov. Hochul put it, “bullshit.” But this is only the latest in a long list of actions the Trump administration has taken to target political opponents. And it is not the only threat to democracy Trump posed this week.

On Sunday, Trump instructed ICE agents to target “America’s largest cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York [because] these, and other such cities, are the core of the Democrat Power Center.”

The next day, he repeated his intention to undermine Democratic cities again. While standing alongside world leaders at the G-7 summit in Canada, he falsely claimed: “Biden allowed 21 million people to come into our country… Most of those people are in the cities. All blue cities, all Democrat-run cities. And they think they are going to use them to vote. Not going to happen.”

I know some of you may be tired of me writing about this topic. It was the subject of my analysis at the end of last week, and I’ve written various takes on it this week as well. I’ve sounded this alarm on several podcasts and in interviews.

I can’t overstate this enough: we are facing a serious threat to democracy. The abuse of prosecutorial power to arrest and intimidate the political opposition is upon us. It is a constitutional crisis. The media and the broader public are beginning to wake up to this, and I intend to keep speaking out until they do. I just hope it’s not too little, too late.

The Weekly Top Line

We often hear pro-democracy activists warn against becoming desensitized to creeping authoritarianism. Whether you call it shifting the Overton window, normalizing the abnormal or boiling a frog, the result is the same.

To prevent this, we must always include the broader context. Listing the details of each incident is intended to be a resource for you when future abuses of the criminal process target Democrats.

Fools and Cowards of the Week

Mike Lee has consistently proven himself to be a despicable figure. Needless to say, it was sadly in character of him to spread lies about the assassination of two Democratic officials in Minnesota. Equally in character — if not more shameful — was the silence of his Republican colleagues in denouncing his obscene social media posts. The posts were eventually deleted, but only after two Democrats — Sens. Tina Smith and Amy Klobuchar — confronted him.

For once again failing to meet even the minimum threshold of decency, Senate Republicans are the cowards of the week.

The Week’s Siren 🚨

During a hearing this week, Democratic Sen. Mazie Hirono asked the Secretary of Defense if he would abide by a court order declaring that “deployment of troops into our cities is not legal.” Rather than agree, Hegseth responded: “I don't believe district courts should be determining national security policy. If it goes to the Supreme Court, we'll see.”

As an officer of the United States, Hegseth took an oath to uphold the Constitution. As the civilian head of our military, his answer is dangerously unacceptable.

Overlooked This Week 👀

John Eastman, one of the architects of the legal effort to overturn the 2020 election, lost his appeal to retain his California bar license. A three-judge review panel rejected his effort to overturn the disbarment, citing his conduct and lack of remorse. His last chance lies in an appeal to the California Supreme Court.

Watching Next Week

Next week is likely to mark the end of the Supreme Court’s term, which means a wave of high-profile case decisions is coming. Based on the last few years, I am not optimistic about how these final opinions will land. But it also marks the beginning of the Supreme Court retirement watch. While I don’t necessarily expect any surprises, it’s something worth keeping an eye on." - Marc Elias