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The Front Pages of Christopher P. Winter

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A Nation At Risk

4 March 2025

Never believe that autocracy cannot happen in America. It may already be taking root.

The Autocracy Team Takes Root

"Simple Promises for Simple People"

In the year 1983, the United States National Commission on Excellence in Education issued its report. That report, titled A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform, is considered a landmark in the history of American education. The report was primarily authored by James J. Harvey, who wrote, "the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a People... If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war."

Today, 45 days into Trump's second term, the things his administration is doing again place our nation at risk. Here I will summaraize a few of them. Read through these summaries and think about what they mean. Who in today's world would benefit from them? Who and what would be put in jeopardy?

Trump 21 January 2025	Signs order giving temporary security clearances to staffers whose background checks have not been completed.
Meeting in Oval Office 31 January 2025	Trump & Vance host President Zelenskiy at televised meeting to discuss deal for Ukraine. Trump and Vance berate their guest for not being grateful enough, expel him from the White House. No deal is reached. Brian Glenn of Real America's Voice asks President Zelenskiy why he doesn't wear a suit. Although Reuters and AP are barred from the meeting, a reporter from the Russian news agancy Tass is present.
Pam Bondi 5 February 2025	Her first day on the job, Trump's Attorney General disbands the Foreign Influence Task Force, a unit that investigtes violations of the Foreign Agents Surveillance Act. She disbanded Task Force KleptoCapture, started in 2022 to enforce sanctions on Russia. She halted a years-old law enforcement effort to combat secret influence campaigns by China, Russia, and other nations that sow chaos in American elections.
John Ratcliffe 5 February 2025	To comply with a Trump directive, the CIA sends list of recently hired CIA employees to White House OPM over an unclassified channel.
Pete Hegseth 12 February 2025	Visiting Europe, Hegseth says it's "unrealistic" for Ukraine to expect regaining its pre-2014 borders, or to join NATO.
Trump 13 February 2025	Trump says Russia should be readmitted to the G7 group of nations. Its 2014 invasion of Ukraine was the reason it was expelled.
Steve Witkoff 16 February 2025	Trump's Midddle East envoy visits Moscow, meets with Putin for 3/5 hours, returns to say Russia was "provoked" into invading Ukraine; cannot name any concessions Russia expects to make in peace deal.
Trump 18 February 2025	Reacting to President Zelenskiy's comment that Trump lives in "a disinformation space," Trump falsely called him a dictator and claimed his approval rating was 4 percent (it's around 57%.)
Elon Musk 19 February 2025	Edward Coristine, a nineteen-year-old employee of DOGE, was installed at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Under the handle "Rivage," Coristine has a history of interacting with a cybercrime syndicate known as "The Com."
Trump 22 February 2025	Prepations begin for a visit by Putin to Washington, DC for a summit conference.
Trump 24 February 2025	On this date, third anniversary of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, the UN General Assembly passed two resolutions condemning Russia's aggression and calling for it to withdraw from Ukraine. The United States voted against the resolution which mentioned Russia as the aggressor, then abstained from voting on its own resolution after it had been amended to include that statement.
Trump administration 26 February 2025	First agency subjected to funding freezes and massive cuts was USAID. "Russia Welcomes USAID Cuts, Calls Agency 'Machine for Interfering'." -- Moscow Times. A federal judge ordered the funds restored, but the Supreme Court overruled him.
State Department 28 February 2025	The program that rebuilds Ukrainian power grid facilities after they are damaged by Russian attacks was ended.
Pete Hegseth 2 March 2025	Defense Secretary orders U.S. Cyber Command to halt offensive operations against Russia.
Senator Markwayne Mullins 2 March 2025	Mullins suggests it's no longer in US interest to remain a member of NATO.
John Ratcliffe 5 March 2025	The CIA Director pauses intelligence sharing with Ukraine, saying that Trump had asked him to do so.

References

A Nation at Risk (Wikipedia, 7 January 2025)
Who's that good for? (Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, 1 March 2025)
All of the Trump Administration's Major Moves in the First [43] Days (Karen Yourish, Eric Rabinowitz, Ashley Wu, Lazaro Gamio, Aishvarya Kavi & Minho Kim, New York Times, 4 March 2025)
Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Stop Offensive Cyberoperations Against Russia (Julian E. Barnes, David E. Sanger & Helene Cooper, New York Times, 2 March 2025)