Trump’s War on the First Amendment Escalates as He Goes on Another Revenge Spree: An Executive Watch Roundup
Our early-May selection of the president's latest and greatest assaults on the rule of law
We launched Executive Watch, a real-time tracker of presidential abuses of power, early in Trump’s second term. Since then, Executive Watch has been meticulously documenting the illicit actions emanating from the White House.
Below is our biweekly selection of new entries. You should bookmark this page that contains a chronological scroll of the abuses and this post that sorts and lists them under our 5 P categories:
After reading this roundup, tell us in the comments: Which of these abuses is the most troubling, and why?
May 6, 2026
Trump Seeks to Quash E. Jean Carroll’s Defamation Suit by Substituting Sue-Proof Uncle Sam as the Defendant
Category: Power Consolidation
One of the few times Donald Trump has been held accountable is when a jury ruled that he had sexually assaulted columnist E. Jean Carroll and then defamed her by lying about it—and then he did it again, and they hit him with even larger damages. Naturally, Trump is now trying to get the Department of Justice to save him even from this.
Politico reports:
In a Tuesday filing, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Brett Shumate said the government would seek to use the Westfall Act to swap Trump for the U.S. as the defendant in the lawsuit. That would require dismissal of the case because the federal government can’t be sued for defamation. A panel of appeals court judges previously denied the U.S.’s effort to insert itself as the defendant.
The act gives federal employees immunity from some civil damages when they are found to have been acting within the scope of their employment. While Trump was president when he made the comments at issue in Carroll’s lawsuit, it would be highly unusual for the government to intervene on the president’s behalf at this stage, post trial and verdict. …
Carroll’s lawsuits have become some of the last major personal legal burdens dogging Trump through his second term. Though Trump also faced a state criminal conviction and a civil fraud lawsuit in the period between his presidencies, the conviction came with no punishment and an appeals court tossed the half-billion financial penalty imposed on Trump in the civil case, though it upheld the fraud ruling.
Carroll’s lawsuits, for which Trump owes a total of $88.3 million plus interest, concern Carroll’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her in a Manhattan department store in the 1990s and then defamed her by denying her account, calling her a liar.
To be clear, Donald Trump and his family have used his position to increase their fortune by billions of dollars since he regained office, of which $80 million is a tiny fraction. This is not about the money. This is about Trump trying to establish that his status as president provides him complete immunity from all accountability.
May 5, 2026
Trump’s DOJ Killed Probe Into Puerto Rico Prison Officials Who Offered Inmates Drugs for Republican Votes
Category: Political Corruption
Donald Trump likes to claim that elections are rigged—when he loses them. But what happens when the Justice Department finds evidence of an election actually being rigged, not just rigged, but rigged by a Hispanic prison gang? That’s exactly what they found in Puerto Rico—and the incoming Trump administration quashed the investigation to shield a pro-Trump governor.
ProPublica has the exposé:
Leaders of the prison gang known as Los Tiburones, or the Sharks, were selling drugs to inmates not only for money, but for their votes. Specifically, votes for now-Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón, a longtime Republican and supporter of President Donald Trump, investigators found.
To make sure the inmates—many of whom were addicted—complied, the gang’s leaders threatened violence and to withhold drugs, the investigators learned. Corrections employees in on the plan looked the other way as the gang, formally known as Group 31, ran the enterprise.
What at first seemed like a routine drug case had turned into something bigger. Puerto Rico, along with just a couple of U.S. states, allows inmates to vote. Puerto Ricans living in the territory can vote in all contests except federal general elections. It is a felony to willfully offer money or gifts in exchange for support at the polls. A conviction carries fines of as much as $250,000 and imprisonment of up to two years.
Investigators had gathered solid evidence of election fraud implicating both inmates and staff, and they were working toward determining whether González-Colón or her campaign was involved, four people with knowledge of the case told ProPublica. …
But as federal prosecutors prepared an indictment against the inmates and staff in November 2024—just days after Trump won the election and González-Colón clinched the governorship—they received a surprising directive. Their bosses in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico instructed them to exclude the voting-related counts against the inmates and all charges against the prison staff, an investigation by ProPublica found. …
Soon after Trump took office, the lead prosecutor, Jorge Matos, was told by a supervisor to take the investigation no further, according to four people familiar with the case.
“Before the election, it was definitely full steam ahead,” said one person familiar with the case. “After the election, that all changed.” …
This sheds light on the administration’s rhetoric about being tough on crime, and on drugs, and on “election integrity.” All of that is just rhetoric, to be invoked as and when it serves the interests of gaining power and persecuting Trump’s enemies—then dropped as needed to ensure impunity for his friends and supporters.
April 30, 2026
Trump Yet Again Pushes FCC to Ignore the First Amendment and Punish ABC for Not Firing Jimmy Kimmel
Category: Presidential Retribution
Donald Trump already tried to fire Jimmy Kimmel once for making fun of him. Now he’s doing it again, sending FCC Chairman Brendan Carr to threaten ABC’s broadcast licenses as punishment for the network allowing Kimmel to perform one of a comedian’s most basic functions: making fun of the president.
CNN reports:
President Donald Trump says ABC had “better” fire Jimmy Kimmel soon, in his latest broadside against the network and its popular late-night comedian.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Thursday morning, “When is ABC Fake News Network firing seriously unfunny Jimmy Kimmel, who incompetently presides over one of the Lowest Rated shows on Television? People are angry. It better be soon!!!”
ABC’s parent company Disney has shown no sign of wavering despite Trump’s pressure and the FCC’s almost unprecedented challenge to ABC’s station licenses. …
Trump has railed against Kimmel for years, but this latest controversy began last week when Kimmel made a joke about First Lady Melania Trump looking like an “expectant widow.”…
Then, on Tuesday, the Trump-aligned FCC ordered Disney into an early renewal process for its eight ABC station licenses—a move widely seen as a form of government punishment.
The fact that this is described as almost unprecedented reveals one of the problems that will eventually need to be fixed. The FCC has excessive discretion over broadcast licensing that has long allowed it to subject broadcasters to arbitrary power. This has a ripe potential for abuse, which Trump and Carr are taking full advantage of.
April 30, 2026
The Secretary of War Is Mocking the Need to Obtain Congressional Authorization to Continue to Warmonger in Iran
Category: Policy Illegality
It has been 60 days since Donald Trump started a war in Iran without approval from Congress. By the terms of the War Powers Act, this is the point at which he can no longer use the already thin excuse that this is an “emergency” that allows the president to act on his own. But now Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is making an unconvincing attempt to wriggle out of that requirement.
The Washington Post reports:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued Thursday that the Trump administration can continue the Iran war despite a Vietnam-era law that requires Congress’s approval after 60 days of fighting, in an apparent attempt to stave off the rapidly approaching deadline.
His comments came in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee where Hegseth asserted that an ongoing ceasefire between Washington and Tehran “pauses” the countdown.
The Trump administration did not ask Congress to authorize the Iran war before launching joint strikes with Israel on Feb. 28. Friday [May 1] marks the 60-day deadline, after which the War Powers Act requires approval from lawmakers for hostilities to continue.
Hegseth declined to say whether the administration would seek lawmakers’ consent, deferring to the White House. A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sen. Roger Wicker (Mississippi) the Armed Services Committee’s Republican chairman, told reporters after the hearing he has “not been too concerned” about the 60-day deadline and declined to say whether the Trump administration should seek approval from Congress.
Waging war without the approval of Congress is a flagrant violation of the Constitution. Unfortunately, that last paragraph indicates what made this possible: the determination of the Republican majority in Congress to abdicate its authority. But the powers granted to Congress in the Constitution were mandated by the people and cannot be surrendered.
April 29, 2026
Trump’s New DOJ Lackeys’ Bogus Indictment of James Comey Violates the First Amendment to Advance His Retribution Agenda
Category: Presidential Retribution
Donald Trump has had to burn through a lot of Justice Department officials because they wouldn’t set their reputations on fire to pursue a petty revenge campaign against people he perceives as his political opponents. But now he has found enough pliant lackeys to file a second bogus indictment of former FBI Director James Comey.
CNN reports:
Former FBI Director James Comey was indicted Tuesday over a photo of seashells officials said threatened President Donald Trump, marking the administration’s second attempt to prosecute one of his biggest political opponents, three sources first told CNN.
The charges, approved by a grand jury in the Eastern District of North Carolina where Comey allegedly took the photo, include making a threat against the president and transmitting a threat in interstate commerce, according to court documents. …
The new case represents a reinvigorated effort to satisfy Trump’s demands to investigate his own foes, including Comey, who he sees as a key leader in the perceived effort to “weaponize” the justice system against him.
It also comes less than a month after the president dismissed Attorney General Pam Bondi. Trump had for weeks complained that Bondi was not aggressive enough in executing his agenda. …
Tuesday’s indictment is centered on a picture Comey posted on social media last May, of shells on a beach writing out the numbers “86 47.” He wrote in the caption, “Cool shell formation on my beach walk.” …
When used as slang, the number 86 can refer to getting rid of or tossing something out. Trump is currently the 47th president.
If “86” is what the lawyers call a “true threat,” then as CNN observes elsewhere, a lot of people are in trouble. But of course it’s not a threat of violence. This is a lie invented to punish someone Trump doesn’t like. The charade of having to pretend to debate this shows how Trump is attempting to distort, not just the legal system, but the very process of public debate.
April 29, 2026
King Charles Praises American Democracy as Trump Calls Himself a King
Category: Power Consolidation
Donald Trump has a fondness for depicting himself as a king. He did it last year with memes showing him with a crown—something particularly distasteful as we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. And he just couldn’t help himself when he was visited by an actual monarch, Britain’s King Charles III.
The U.K.-based Independent reports:
As King Charles addressed Congress on how executive power is “subject to checks and balances,” the White House’s official X account posted a photo of the British monarch with President Donald Trump captioned: “TWO KINGS.”
King Charles III emphasized the importance of the U.S.-U.K. alliance as well as NATO in his historic address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday afternoon, during his four-day state visit with Queen Camilla.
As the royal praised American democracy to cheers and applause from lawmakers, the White House posted an image on X of Charles and Trump earlier in the day.
It showed the two men sharing a jovial moment on the South Lawn of the White House and was captioned: “TWO KINGS,” complete with crown emoji.
It’s more than a little ironic that as we approach the 250th anniversary of America’s independence from Britain, the British king is now less of a monarchist than our current president.
April 28, 2026
King Trump Wants to Put His Picture on US Passports to Commemorate 250 Years of American Democracy
Category: Power Consolidation
In an attempt to equate himself with the government, an authoritarian leader usually plasters his own image over anything and everything in the country, particularly anything relating to state authority. Donald Trump has been draping his image over federal buildings, is trying to put it on a coin—and now wants to have his face glaring out at you from your passport.
The Bulwark broke the story:
State Department is close to finalizing a radical redesign of the U.S. passport to include a picture of President Donald Trump, The Bulwark has learned from two sources with knowledge of the redesign, including one who shared images currently under consideration.
The redesign is ostensibly part of a larger celebration of the 250th anniversary of American independence. It comes as the Treasury Department prepares to produce coins featuring Trump’s image—both a controversial $1 coin in general circulation and an “as large as possible” commemorative gold coin—and as the National Park Service emblazons Trump’s face on its park passes. Both of those redesigns were justified as being part of the 250th anniversary celebration.
According to the images of the passport redesign provided to The Bulwark, the inside cover of the new State Department-issued document will feature a scowling Trump—taken from his second inaugural portrait—superimposed over the Declaration of Independence, as well as the president’s signature in gold. …
No modern U.S. passport has featured the image of a sitting president, and no foreign passport has featured “the head of state of any country,” Kolla said. While passports used to bear the signatures of the officials in whose name they were issued, American passports are issued in the name the secretary of state, not the president.
The sickening irony is that many of these things are being done under cover of America’s 250th anniversary. But that means that, to celebrate 250 years of America’s rejection of absolute monarchy, we will be putting one man’s face on everything in our government, announcing the accession of what is in effect a new monarch.
April 24, 2026
Hegseth Undermines the Independence of Pentagon’s Newspaper by Firing its Watchdog
Category: Power Consolidation
One of the central aspects of a democratic society is a nonpartisan military. Even more remarkable is our ability to maintain, within that military, an independent non-partisan media institution, the longstanding military newspaper Stars and Stripes. Naturally, the Trump administration is chipping away at that achievement.
The Hill reports:
The Pentagon recently ousted the U.S. military newspaper Stars and Stripes’s ombudsman, the person meant to monitor the outlet’s editorial independence and report concerns to Congress.
“Apparently the Pentagon also doesn’t want you to hear from me anymore about threats to the editorial independence of Stars and Stripes. They fired me,” Jacqueline Smith, wrote Thursday in an op-ed published in the newspaper. …
The ombudsman role for the publication, which Smith took on in December 2023, is meant to serve as a watchdog monitoring the paper’s independence. Congress created the position in 1991 after military personnel in the late 1980s attempted on multiple occasions to suppress unfavorable news of the Iran-Contra affair and other issues, she wrote, adding that the ombudsman must report to lawmakers at least once a year.
“As required, I have told the House and Senate Armed Services committees in recent months of my great and growing concern about attempted control of the newspaper by the Pentagon,” Smith wrote. …
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on Jan. 15 announced the department would modernize the paper’s operations, “refocus its content away from woke distractions that syphon [sic] morale, and adapt it to serve a new generation of service members.” …
The changes at Stars and Stripes are part of a series of actions meant to restrict Pentagon reporters under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has sought to bar certain journalists from the building and set limits on how they seek out information from government sources.
This is part of the Trump administration’s larger quest to consolidate power by suppressing the reporting of any facts or opinions that contradict their preferred narratives, starving the public of the information they need to make informed decisions.
© The UnPopulist, 2026
Follow us on Bluesky, Threads, YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and X.
We welcome your reactions and replies. Please adhere to our comments policy.
 | A guest post by
|
I think Power Consolidation is most dangerous of the choices. All the others can be mitigated or punished. Unless power is consolidated in magat or oligarch hands.
Every rape victim I have ever met could tell you exactly what day it happened especially those who reported it to the police. Who could forget something like that? Yet, Jean Carroll not only did not report being raped to the police, she does not even know what year it happened. There is a simple reason why she cannot afford to state what day Trump is supposed to have raped her in the Bergdorf department store. If she said what day this happened, Trump might be able to prove he was elsewhere that day.