THE AUTHORITARIAN PLAYBOOK is new series from KALW Public Media on the Trump administration's authoritarian actions and policies. Every week, we'll summarize the latest news, put it in historical context, and find out how people are responding.
During the 2024 election, KALW presented "Project 2025: What’s In It?" a series that explored the controversial plan from the Heritage Institute that outlined the Far Right’s agenda for a potential second Trump presidency.
Throughout the campaign, the Trump team distanced itself from Project 2025 and claimed it knew nothing about it. But ultimately, they staffed the highest levels of the new administration with many of the folks who developed it.
THE AUTHORITARIAN PLAYBOOK, charts how the administration is moving with unprecedented speed to turn Project 2025 into a reality that is fundamentally reshaping the United States government, our institutions and norms.
We'll summarize the latest developments news, put them in historical context, and find out how people and organizations are responding.
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Randi Weingarten's new book is a love letter to public school educators and an expose of the well-funded campaign behind attacks on teachers and the war on knowledge. -
Over 59,000 people are in ICE detention. Sixty-five percent had no convictions and 93 percent had no violent convictions, according to data obtained by Cato. -
Lisa Graves discusses her new book, "Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights." -
Raoul Peck, the acclaimed Haitian filmmaker, discusses his film that examines how George Orwell "foretold a chilling, all-too-believable authoritarian future."
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Trump says Smithsonian museums promote "divisive, race-centered ideology," and focus too much on "how bad slavery was." How is the public responding? -
The Center for Biological Diversity says Trump's actions on environmental protections could lead to irreversible climate catastrophe if they go unchallenged. -
Trump and his allies immediately responded to Kirk’s murder by blaming the "far-left" and left-wing extremism without knowing who did it or what the motivation was. -
Historian Kevin Kruse will discuss the ramifications of the Trump administration rewriting, whitewashing, and erasing history. How are educators responding? -
More than 150,000 federal workers have resigned, according to The New York Times. That number does not include the thousands of people who were laid off or fired. -
Professor Barbara Walter says the thing that scares her the most is the "police state being built around us, in real time, disguised as something meant to protect us."
