Politics• 7 min read
Trump’s 7 most authoritarian moves so far
Analysis by Aaron Blake, Aug 13, 2025
The story of President Donald Trump’s first seven months back in office is the consolidation of power.
He has bulldozed the obstacles that often stood in his way in his first term and constantly tested boundaries, in an almost single-minded pursuit of more authority.
Whether you think that’s a good thing (because that’s what the country needs) or a bad thing, that’s objectively the state of affairs. Trump has for years made no secret of his disregard for the limits of his power, and he’s governing accordingly.
In recent days alone, he and his administration have taken major steps on this front.
One is his federalization of the DC Metropolitan Police Department and his deployment of the National Guard to the nation’s capital to deal with what he says is out-of-control crime. The former step is unprecedented, and the latter is extraordinary – given the guard is usually only called in for widespread disturbances like riots.
Another step concerns Trump’s politicization of government data. After the president fired the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics over a jobs report he disliked, the question was whether the financial markets could trust government data moving forward, given the message Trump was sending. But rather than soothing those fears with a well-regarded consensus pick, Trump picked a MAGA loyalist.
And finally, there’s the snowballing number of investigations of Trump’s political opponents — which, as of last week, was growing at a rapid clip.
Given all of that, it’s a good time to run through the most significant and consequential Trump power grabs of his second term.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: Trump’s 7 most authoritarian moves so far | CNN Politics
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