Yes, we're seeing cracks in the armor, with more Rs beginning to show some willingness to stand up to the administration. That's why we need to seize the opportunity now to widen them! 1/2 www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...

Big thanks to @MilesTaylorUSA for featuring @representus 's work to put targeted pro-democracy pressure on Congress in his new defiance.org site, and to @JimAcosta for his great interview with us! m.youtube.com/watch?v=xGYk...

Delighted to speak with Nicole Wallace on MSNBC about @represent.us’s Congressional Courage Campaign, to put targeted, real pressure on Congress to assert its power and hold the administration to account.

Nobel Peace Prize winner, Venezuelan María Corina Machado has stood up to Maduro's regime, which arrests critics, rigs elections, and silences dissent. If Trump wants a Nobel, he might start by *not* copying Maduro's tactics: www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace...

Congress has the duty and authority to exert oversight over DOJ. With Bondi's agency ramping up politicized prosecutions, we need to put pressure on Congress to do its job, ask the tough Qs, demand accountability: act.represent.us/letter/bondi...

💯! That's why at @represent.us we've been working to fix corruption and build a govt accountable to the people.

It's not about getting back at Comey, Letitia James, or Soros. It's about silencing you. My latest post: open.substack.com/pub/mariamcf...

Whatever you think about Comey, his indictment yesterday indictment under Trump pressure is cause for alarm. It builds on years of Trump efforts to take over the FBI/DOJ, starting with his firing of Comey in 2018. But this is not a hopeless situation. 1/8 www.bbc.com/news/article...

STEWART: “Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether— we’re the banana peel in the coal mine… authoritarians are the threat to comedy, music, art, thought… progress.” Nailed it.

In Colombia, a single assassination triggered more than 50 years of war. I documented the resulting horrors, which did nothing to solve the country's problems. My reflections on rising political violence in the US, and the way forward: open.substack.com/pub/mariamcf...

I grew up in a country devastated by political violence, and decades later, the scars are still there. Nobody should want or support that for the US. Part of the point of genuine democracy, rule of law, etc, is to resolve differences peacefully and fairly.

The US political system has long been corrupt. But this administration is taking corruption to a new level. Thanks to #MichaelDouglas for explaining, and calling on YOU to join the nonpartisan movement for a US govt that works for the people, not just the powerful. m.youtube.com/watch?v=64Wn...

The conviction of Colombia’s once-untouchable ex-president is a sign of hope amid autocracy’s rise—my latest in @theguardian.com today. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Corruption is at peak levels in the US. But calling that out without tackling the corruption already in the system sounds hypocritical to many. We need real action, on both today's corruption and the ways the system has long been rigged. My latest: open.substack.com/pub/mariamcf...

"Firing the top statistical official... puts us in dangerous territory far from an accountable and reality-based government.” says ‪@gretchentg.bsky.social‬ of Union of Concerned Scientists. Agreed! www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/u...

🚨 BREAKING: The Senate Homeland Security & Government Affairs Committee just advanced a bill to ban members of Congress, the President, and VP from trading stocks. The vote was 8–7. All Democrats voted yes, Josh Hawley (R-MO) was the only Republican to join them.

The Senate's confirmation to the 3rd Circuit of Emil Bove, despite not only three whistleblower complaints, but also his role in the appalling Eric Adams dropping of charges, is an alarming step toward radical politicization of the judiciary. www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

“I’d rather die... than to keep living through this experience," said one of the men (most of whom had no criminal records) Trump sent to El Salvador's CECOT prison. Powerful @propublica.org reporting on the men's experiences of torture there: www.propublica.org/article/vene...

Fmr Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been convicted of bribing a witness who tied him to paramilitaries. My book, There Are No Dead Here, tells the story of the vicious paramilitaries' rise on Uribe's watch. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/w... 1/5

ICE risks overplaying its hand, turning ppl against it, as it becomes "a massive, un-uniformed, masked domestic army... that critics fear will have carte blanche to arrest, detain and deport persons without... due process, whether they enjoy legal status or not." www.politico.com/news/magazin...

There are now TWO whistleblowers saying Emil Bove suggested DOJ ignore court orders. That's on top of the role he played in the sketchy Eric Adams deal. He makes me think of courts in Venezuela, mere tools for the president... is that what the Senate wants for the US? edition.cnn.com/2025/07/27/p...

Great piece by Vanita Gupta on how “the foundations of American freedom” are at stake with the administration’s efforts to go after civil society and nonprofits. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/o...

Wow, not even trying to hide it...

We can turn the tide on rising corrupt autocracy in the US--I know that from years of experience. But we need to move a lot more people who are on the fence--both within the system and outside it. Check out my new Substack post and subscribe: open.substack.com/pub/mariamcf...

Excellent piece by former US Ambassador to Hungary, warning US elites: "Don’t dupe yourselves. The illusion that you are smarter than the strongman... is just that — an illusion. Now, more than ever, your principled leadership matters." www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...

One in five Trump nominees and top officials own crypto, which the administration is now basically choosing not to regulate. Bitcoin's price has surged 70% since the election. Doesn't get more swamp-drainy than this www.washingtonpost.com/politics/int... @ence.bsky.social @cqzakrz.bsky.social

BIG $ ALERT! Congress is about to pass a bill pushed by the crypto industry (armed with a $140M war chest) that critics say could put all of us at risk of a big financial crisis. www.politico.com/live-updates... 1/7

Newsweek just reported that four members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats alike, bought stock in defense companies while sitting on committees that oversee military budgets. These companies receive billions in government contracts.

Kudos to @senjeffmerkley.bsky.social for pressing AG Bondi for answers about President Trump's memecoin dinner. It was one of the most corrupt things we've ever seen from Trump, and that's saying a lot.

Trump I: "It is the policy of this administration to dismantle, decimate and eradicate MS-13." Trump II: The cases against top MS-13 guys is being dropped due to “important foreign policy considerations.” www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...

DOJ plan to prioritize revoking citizenship includes Cases a US Attorney refers "or in connection with pending criminal charges if those charges do not fit within one of the other priorities" "Any other cases referred to the Civil Division that the Division determines to be sufficiently important"

Bombshell story sheds light on what Bukele apparently got from his deal with Trump, aside from $: DOJ is dropping charges vs top MS13 leaders and abandoning an investigation of a corrupt pact between the gang and Bukele. It's sending them to El Salvador. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/u...

The courts will not save us from rising corrupt autocracy. The Supreme Court made that clear this week, in rulings that weaken the judiciary's authority. As Justice Sotomayor said today, the court has "abdicate[d]" its role in defending the rule of law. www.npr.org/2025/06/27/n... 1/5

Trump has nominated Emil Bove, a DOJ official and former personal lawyer, to a lifetime seat on a federal appeals court. A new whistleblower complaint says Bove suggested defying court orders affecting Trump’s deportation plans.

The Bove allegations should be treated as something akin to Watergate, or Iran Contra. The administration was attempting to do something they *knew* was illegal (anticipating the courts saying as much), and then trying to COVER IT UP. Only here instead of it being run out of the WH or NSC, it’s DOJ

More evidence in support of an already overwhelming case: the Senate should reject Mr. Bove's nomination to the judiciary. Justice Dept. Leader Suggested Violating Court Orders, Whistle-Blower Says www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/u...

Will President Trump’s war in Iran finally get some members of Congress to grow a spine? Days before Trump’s strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites without congressional approval, Reps. Massie (R) and Khanna (D) introduced a bipartisan resolution to block unauthorized military action.

This was not a full-page ad I was expecting to see in the Sunday NYTimes today

With the attack on Iran, US democracy enters an even riskier time. Wars generate fear and confusion, and create useful excuses for concentration and abuse of power. I experienced it in Peru, and warned of US risks in 2017 in @lareviewofbooks.bsky.social: lareviewofbooks.org/article/in-p...

Mind-boggling investigation of DOGE's takeover of social security. Check out the timeline for how Musk, Katie Miller, jumped on a false Fox News claim and amplified it to dramatically exaggerate fraud claims: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/u...

Sending the military to LA sends an intimidating message to all who might speak against the Trump administration’s policies. But freedom of speech and peaceful assembly are core democratic values protected by the constitution—and that, not Trump, is still the highest law of the land.

Important read--Nayib Bukele, emboldened by Trump's lawlessness, is engaged in an alarming campaign of repression in El Salvador, including the detention of a leading human rights lawyer. Nhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/29/trump-el-salvador-nayib-bukele

Still basking in the glow of the American Democracy Summit, hosted by @represent.us in Phoenix recently. So many great connections and energy! More soon, but here’s my opening address, on the task ahead and some reasons for hope! www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cw8...

Are Elon Musk and DOGE benefiting from the changes they’re imposing on U.S. government and bureaucracy? Listen to ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson explore this question in his latest investigation on two DOGE aides, Christopher Young and Gavin Kliger. 📽️: @carissaqmb.bsky.social

Dean Erwin Chemerinsky Trashes Trump’s Terrible Scheme for Rendering Courts Toothless www.justsecurity.org/113529/terri...

"Thus far, Trump’s presidency has been a reign of lawless aggression by a tyrannical wannabe king, a rampage of presidential lawlessness," says Judge Michael Luttig in this must-read piece: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Qatar has figured out what Trump cares about: luxe perks and personal deals. But there's a reason accepting foreign gifts is unconstitutional: so presidents make decisions based on national, not personal interest (whatever former Qatar lobbyist Pam Bondi claims!) www.cnn.com/2025/05/11/p...

Debating whether we’re in a constitutional crisis falls into an authoritarian trap—while we wait for red lines to be crossed, the destruction happens in the gray areas. My latest: open.substack.com/pub/mariamcf...

US democracy is being hollowed out from within--I've seen this many times before elsewhere. As I told the @csmonitor.bsky.social, it's not about whether a red line is crossed--the destruction happens in the gray areas. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics... @represent.us

"Show courage. This is not simply a display of moral strength. It is also an effective strategy for fighting back against creeping authoritarianism." Powerful message to Americans by @yaqiu.bsky.social, who has lots of experience facing down Chinese repression. www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/o...