Campaigns of Coercion

As I think many of you can tell, I put a lot of thought, time, and effort into each and every one of my posts here. I appreciate the thoughts, comments, reactions, and discussion I have had thus far and I still maintain hope that this evolves into a broader, bipartisan discussion regarding the current political environment. As you read the details I lay out today, please share more examples I may have missed. I will provide news sources in the comments.

“𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬.”

The news coming out of Washington D.C. has been incredibly difficult to keep up with. News that would have majorly shaken politics in a normal cycle has been a weekly, if not daily, occurrence. However, despite frequent breaking news, we hear relative silence from Congress. The quote above is attributed to Martin Luther King Jr. While the quote was spoken with regards to civil rights in the 1960s, 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠.

Today, I would like to talk again about the danger of the President freezing funding which has been authorized by Congress 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝. I will also reiterate that if there is fraud or abuse found in government spending, it should be disclosed and prosecuted. However, we have seen wholesale, indiscriminate cuts to large swaths of the government; we can tell these cuts are not done meticulously as we often have errors and blatant lies in reporting from DOGE, as well as workers being rehired, including those who work with U.S. Nuclear Weapons.

The President deciding unilaterally which 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 can be released, allows the President wide discretion to pressure his opponents to bend to his will; it is apparent that the President will pull any lever at his disposal, regardless if it is Constitutional.

Shortly after taking office, Los Angeles was continuing to deal with wildfires in the area. Despite the obvious need for emergency funding, Donald Trump repeatedly stated he was inclined to withhold federal aid to the state if they did cave to his demands. Now, numerous states are suing the administration for withholding congressionally approved funding as he demands they stop projects that are designed to mitigate the impacts of climate change. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Columbia University had $400 million in congressionally approved grants frozen by President Trump. In order to unfreeze these funds, which were unconstitutionally frozen by the President, Columbia University was required to come up with a plan to mitigate protests on campus; the protests themselves should easily be legal under the first amendment. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧.

On March 15th, President Trump aimed an Executive Order at the Paul Weiss law firm; the firm has a history of working with prominent Democrats and has worked on numerous high profile cases. The Executive Order signed by President Trump directly targeted this firm removing security clearances and banning them from all federal buildings. In order to stop this order from being enforced, the company agreed to a deal with the President, seemingly the President’s objective all along. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧.

After Pete Hegseth was nominated for Secretary of Defense, it was widely reported that Senator Joni Ernst was uncertain whether Hegseth should be confirmed. In order to sway Senator Ernst, the President’s allies embarked on a public campaign pressuring her to confirm the nominee or face the wrath of Trump voters in a primary campaign. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧.

Shortly after the 2024 election, President Trump sued CBS News over a ’60 Minutes’ interview claiming the program doctored footage of Kamala Harris. As reports swirl over a possible settlement from the parent company of CBS, Paramount Pictures, it seems President Trump is utilizing his position as head of the Executive Branch once again to coerce Paramount into submission. As Paramount looks to merge with Skydance, it will require FCC approval and President Trump will not allow the FCC to approve unless a settlement is reached. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧.

As we can see in the examples above, President Trump is using any possible power at his disposal to coerce Congress, constituents, companies, universities, and other organizations to bend to his will. While I largely believe that each of these groups should stand up for what is right and not give in to the pressure of the President, it seems they often relent. One of the biggest powers Donald Trump has at his disposal is funding that he has frozen 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬.

I do not know exactly what keeps Congress silent while the tornado of this Trump Administration continues to tear through Washington D.C. However, I do know that I will continue to share my frustrations with my representation, and I ask you all do the same. Once again, here are the local phone numbers of my members of Congress:

𝐂𝐡𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐲 – (𝟓𝟏𝟓) 𝟐𝟖𝟖-𝟏𝟏𝟒𝟓

𝐉𝐨𝐧𝐢 𝐄𝐫𝐧𝐬𝐭 – (𝟓𝟏𝟓) 𝟐𝟖𝟒-𝟒𝟓𝟕𝟒

𝐙𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐍𝐮𝐧𝐧 – (𝟓𝟏𝟓) 𝟒𝟎𝟎-𝟖𝟏𝟖𝟎