Trump just took this giant step towards authoritarian rule — and the media ignored it

The Trump FBI is drawing up an enemies list that could encompass well over half the US public: Do you “advance … opposition to law and immigration enforcement”? Do you have “extreme views in favor of mass migration and open borders”? Show an “adherence to radical gender ideology,” meaning you think trans people exist? Do you exhibit (what the Trump administration would interpret as) “anti-Americanism,” “anti-capitalism,” or “anti-Christianity”? Do you display “hostility towards traditional views on family, religion, and morality”?

Congratulations — you may be headed for Attorney General Pam Bondi’s “list of groups or entities engaging in acts that may constitute domestic terrorism.”

“Terrorism,” of course, is the magic word that strips you of all sorts of legal protections, especially in the post-9/11 era.

This is from a Justice Department memo obtained by independent journalist Ken Klippenstein (12/6/25) — which goes on to instruct the FBI to set up “a cash reward system” for people who turn in those promoting such thoughtcrime, and “establish cooperators to provide information and eventually testify against other members” of groups with these dangerous ideas.

This is the implementation of the Trump administration’s avowed policy of criminalizing dissent — in the words of the NSPM-7 decree, outlawing “organized campaigns of … radicalization … designed to … change or direct policy outcomes” (FAIR.org, 10/3/25; CounterSpin, 10/17/25) — and as such is another giant step towards authoritarianism. Establishment media didn’t see it that way, however.

As Klippenstein (12/9/25) pointed out, virtually no corporate media outlets covered this catastrophic memo, and those who did report on it did a generally poor job.

TheGuardian headline (12/5/25) was “Pam Bondi Tells Law Enforcement Agencies to Investigate Antifa Groups for ‘Tax Crimes,’” and Bloomberg Law (12/5/25) had “Bondi Orders FBI Extremism Intelligence Review with Antifa Focus” — completely misleading framing that suggests that if you’re not “Antifa,” the memo isn’t about you.

Here’s Reuters’ entirely unhelpful “summary” (12/4/25):

• Bondi orders FBI to prioritize domestic terrorism investigations
• Memo targets antifa and similar groups
• FBI to develop strategies to disrupt criminal networks
• DOJ calls for prosecuting extremist groups for tax crimes

The DOJ is issuing marching orders for a witch hunt, and Reuters presents it with a straight face as an effort to go after “domestic terrorism,” “criminal networks,” and “extremist groups” who commit “tax crimes.” Who could object to that?

Among corporate media outlets, only The Hill (12/5/25), a specialty outlet aimed at congressional staffers and lobbyists, conveyed the enormity of the directive. Its second paragraph read:

Bondi’s memo could be the starting point for charges against a number of left-leaning advocacy groups and nonprofits the Trump administration has accused without evidence of having ties to extremists.

The Hill‘s Rebecca Beitsch quoted Andrew Bataj of the group Whistleblower Aid: “This memo expressly seeks to redefine political dissent against the president as domestic terrorism.”

But beyond that, to get actual coverage of the threat DOJ is posing to civil liberties and democracy itself, you had to go to independent outlets like Democracy Now! (12/8/25) and the Lever (12/8/25). The counterrevolution will not be televised.

• Jim Naureckas is editor of FAIR (Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting). He is the co-author of "Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error." He was an investigative reporter for In These Times and managing editor of the Washington Report on the Hemisphere.