Newsletter: October 2025

Responding to Trump’s plan to ‘crush’ the ‘radical left’ 

The Trump administration is using the killing of Charlie Kirk to escalate government targeting of political dissent into a full-blown crackdown on its political adversaries, with White House officials blaming nonprofits on the left just hours after the murder. Days later, Trump issued an Executive Order designating the ideology “antifa” as a “domestic terrorist organization,” along with a presidential memo outlining a “trend of Radical Left violence.”

Defending Rights & Dissent is breaking down the legal and historical background for Trump’s threats on free expression to better inform news coverage of the crackdown and to empower fellow activists to fight back. 

In a new piece for Drop Site News, our Policy Director Chip Gibbons analyzed Trump’s National Security Presidential Memo (NSPM-7), which lays out a range of new authorities for several government agencies, tasking offices in the Treasury, the DOJ, and the FBI to apply their resources to targeting the left.

We also hosted a live-streamed deep dive on the legal underpinnings of the Executive Order and what it means for the FBI’s investigations into and surveillance of ‘antifa,’ building on years of counterterrorism policy. 

The Independent quoted our press release on the order, and war reporter Spencer Ackerman quoted from our live-stream breakdown.

Chip spoke with Mother Jones magazine about Trump following through on his promise (and previous efforts) to silence dissent, explaining what it really means for the White House to designate antifa—an ideology, not a single, formal organization—as a “domestic terrorist organization.” 

Looking at what these legal theories look like in practice, Chip spoke with Truthout about ICE expanding its tactics from mass deportation efforts to go after activists on the left, demanding social media company Meta (formerly Facebook) hand over information on accounts that track immigration raids. 

Finally, Defending Rights & Dissent joined more than 600 leading nonprofits on an open letter calling on the Trump administration to cease the targeting of nonprofit organizations in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s death.

Demanding Congress rein in Trump’s military aggression

The War Powers Act authorizes only Congress, not the president, to take the U.S. to war, and yet Trump is unilaterally ordering military strikes on civilian targets in the Caribbean in what he says is an effort to stop an ‘invasion’ of drugs from Latin America, killing at least 17 so far in the last month. 

Congress must invoke the Act to halt Trump’s aggression, which others in the administration have intimated is a step toward the White House’s ultimate goal of regime change in Venezuela. 

Defending Rights & Dissent hosted a live-streamed breakdown of the War Powers Act, explaining the U.S. history of extrajudicial killings and past legal justifications, and looking forward to what we can expect as Trump continues to increase tensions. 

Policy Director Chip Gibbons covered Trump’s targeted killings in Jacobin, putting it bluntly: “Trump lacks any congressional approval for military action against Venezuela or [Venezuelan gang] Tren de Aragua. Trump is engaged in murder, plain and simple.”

Defending Rights & Dissent mobilized thousands of activists to support Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-MN) War Powers Resolution and to stop Trump’s illegal attacks.

Mario Guevara was deported for practicing journalism

The U.S. has deported Atlanta-based journalist Mario Guevara to El Salvador on Friday, October 4, after holding him in detention for more than 100 days. Guevara was arrested while filming a ‘No Kings’ demonstration in Atlanta in June.

Before his deportation, Defending Rights & Dissent joined more than two dozen fellow press freedom groups in calling for Guevara’s release, citing the chilling effect his detention has on other reporters and Guevara’s First Amendment right to report on protest activity. 

As our Executive Director Sue Udry said, “The First Amendment plainly protects filming protests and police, so this is a clear-cut attempt to undermine the freedom of the press. Everyone who values our right to protest, to practice journalism, and to know what our government is doing should be joining this call for Mario’s release.”

Defending Rights & Dissent staff at Integrity Media Awards

Defending Rights & Dissent Policy Director Chip Gibbons and Communications Manager Nathan Fuller attended the inaugural Integrity Media Awards ceremony in Chicago last month, where WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange was given the first ever Courage in Journalism Award, accepted by Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton.

The ceremony was the first for Integrity Media, a new consortium devoted to funding and enabling independent news outlets and press freedom groups, free of corporate and government censorship.