Skip to content Skip to footer

Empire Files: Trump Expands Police-State Crackdown on the Left

After Trump’s inauguration, nearly 200 protesters and journalists now face up to 70 years in prison on baseless charges.

At Trump’s inauguration, around 200 protesters and journalists were mass arrested and now face up to 70 years in prison on baseless charges. Many other legal assaults on civil liberties are in the works around the country, from treating anti-fascists as “domestic terrorists”, to legislation protecting drivers who run over peaceful marchers.

To explore what this means for US activists today, Abby Martin sits down with constitutional rights lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, head of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (JusticeOnline.org), a premiere legal organization defending protest rights. Verheyden-Hilliard has litigated, and won, several cases against the US government for mass arrests and other types of repression.

Help Truthout resist the new McCarthyism

The Trump administration is cracking down on political dissent. Under pressure from an array of McCarthy-style tactics, academics, activists and nonprofits face significant threats for speaking out or organizing in resistance.

Truthout is appealing for your support to weather this storm of censorship. We’ve launched a fundraising campaign to find 300 new monthly donors in the next 3 days. Will you be one?

As independent media with no corporate backing or billionaire ownership, Truthout is uniquely able to push back against the right-wing narrative and expose the shocking extent of political repression under the new McCarthyism. We’re committed to doing this work, but we’re also deeply vulnerable to Trump’s attacks.

Your support during our fundraiser (3 days left) will help us continue our nonprofit movement journalism in the face of right-wing authoritarianism. Please make a tax-deductible donation today.