Yesterday was the 100th day of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

Trump — and the sycophants that surround him — are weak, selfish, insecure
fools. But even weak, selfish, insecure fools can do untold damage when given
power.

And the Trump regime has done — is doing — stunningly vast damage. To the
American people at large. To entire groups of already marginalized people. To
individual members of our society. To our democracy. To our economy. To the rule
of law. To our health. To critical institutions like academia, business, and the
media. To America’s reputation and standing in the world. To our national psyche
and basic human decency. To millions upon millions of our fellow human beings
around the globe. To the very planet we all live on.

However ...

That is not the whole story.

That is not the whole story.

That.

Is.

Not.

The.

Whole.

Story.

People are fighting back.

We are preventing some damage, both big and small.

We are forcing the regime to take detours as it attempts a march toward
authoritarianism.

And we will win. We will reverse this insanity. We will find our way out of this national nightmare. All of us. Together.

Read on for a snapshot of some of what Public Citizen — that’s not just the
people who work here, it’s hundreds of thousands of people like you, from all
walks of life and every corner of the country, who read our emails, take action,
and even donate — has done in standing up to the regime through its first 100
days. (By the way, while we take some pride in how long this recap is, we
understand if you skim through it or if you read some now and some later.)

TAKING TRUMP TO COURT

Public Citizen has (so far) filed 13 lawsuits against the regime since Trump
returned to power.

1. January 20: Within minutes of Trump taking office, Public Citizen and a
partner group filed a lawsuit against his administration to push his so-called
Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to comply with the Federal Advisory
Committee Act, which requires balance and transparency in federal committees.

2. February 3: On behalf of the Alliance for Retired Americans, American
Federation of Government Employees, and Service Employees International Union,
we filed a lawsuit to stop Trump’s Treasury Department from illegally sharing
Americans’ information with DOGE.

3. February 4: Public Citizen sued the regime on behalf of Doctors for America
to reverse the unlawful deleting of critical health information from government
websites.

4. February 6: Public Citizen and our co-counsel filed a lawsuit on behalf of
the American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of
Government Employees against the regime for unlawfully dismantling the US Agency
for International Development (USAID).

5. February 7: Representing the University of California Student Association, we
and co-counsel sued Trump’s Department of Education for allowing DOGE access to
students’ and borrowers’ private information.

6. February 10: Representing AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition and Journalism
Development Network, we filed a lawsuit against the regime for unlawfully
freezing foreign assistance funding and ordering grantees to stop life-saving
humanitarian work.

7. February 13: Public Citizen and co-counsel sued the regime for unlawfully
attempting to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a critical
agency that protects everyday Americans from scams and has returned billions to
American consumers.

8. March 7: With co-counsel, Public Citizen sued the IRS on behalf of immigrant
rights organizations to prevent the unlawful sharing of tax data with
immigration authorities.

9. April 4: Representing the Association for Education Finance and Policy and
the Institute for Higher Education Policy, we filed a lawsuit challenging the
unlawful dismantling of the Institute of Education Sciences.

10. April 8: We brought a lawsuit on behalf of Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington against the regime for unlawfully taking down a public
database that shows how the administration is allocating federal funds.

11. April 14: Public Citizen sued the regime on behalf of environmental groups
seeking to restore online climate and environmental justice data tools removed
from federal agency websites.

12. April 15: Representing three impacted nonprofit organizations, we filed a
lawsuit challenging the regime’s unlawful termination of international labor
rights programs directed by Congress.

13. April 24: Public Citizen and co-counsel, representing several organizations,
sued the regime over its shuttering of the key civil rights and civil liberties
protection office within the Department of Homeland Security.

FIGHTING FOR COMMONSENSE PROTECTIONS

On Capitol Hill, in the media, and in the courtroom, Public Citizen is leading
the fight against the Trump regime’s stupid and corrupt deregulatory hysteria.

Executive Orders

Trump’s deregulatory executive orders have made clear that his regime is
undertaking one of the most radical and extreme attacks on public protections
our country has ever seen, all to the benefit of the wealthiest corporations.

On Day One, Trump rescinded President Biden’s EO 14094 on “Modernizing
Regulatory Review,” which reformed the rulemaking process to work in the
interest of the American people rather than corporate profits. Trump also issued
an absurd order demanding the elimination of 10 regulations for every new one.
More recently, Trump issued an order that directs agencies to repeal rules that
are purportedly out of compliance with various Supreme Court decisions — without
using the notice-and-comment rulemaking process required by law.

Public Citizen analyzed and criticized these moves, and we are mobilizing the
major pushback against the coming torrent of deregulatory actions.

DOGE Dismantling Federal Agencies

Right-wing ideologues and activists have long dreamed of shutting down
government agencies wholesale and firing government employees en masse . But this has always been a pipe dream, since Congress has never had the votes
to shut down protective agencies that are popular with the public. Now, with the
Trump regime ignoring checks and balances and constitutional limits left and
right, the moment has come.

The regime has gutted (or tried to gut) essential federal agencies like USAID,
the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Departments of Education
and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency in the name of so-called
“government efficiency.”

Public Citizen sued to stop the dismantling of both USAID and the CFPB, and
called on the Office of Government Ethics to direct Elon Musk and his agents to
desist from any activity related to the CFPB because of his spectacular
conflicts of interest.

More broadly, Public Citizen put forth an alternative vision for what a
government committed to “efficiency” would prioritize instead of deregulation,
dismantling agencies, and firing regulators. Our report showed where we can save
money and actually create efficiencies by doing things like cutting wasteful
Pentagon spending, stopping the privatization of Medicare, and more.

Partisan Hacks

Trump’s picks to implement his deregulatory agenda are mostly partisan
ideologues who will stop at nothing to impose their extreme anti-government
agenda, even if it means running roughshod over constitutional limits and checks
and balances.

Trump nominated Russell Vought, a staunch deregulation advocate and one of the
architects of Project 2025 , to head the Office of Management and Budget and the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau. Vought’s Project 2025 blueprint was so toxic and extreme that even Trump disavowed it on the campaign
trail.

Public Citizen lobbied against and called on the Senate to reject Vought’s
nomination. As co-chair of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, Public Citizen
helped build the case against Vought, and every Democrat in the Senate voted
against him.

Congressional Review Act

Republicans are exploiting a little-known law called the Congressional Review
Act, which allows Congress to hastily repeal regulations put in place near the
end of a previous administration with almost no debate and a simple majority
vote. For some historical context, this deregulatory loophole had been
successfully used only one time ever prior to Trump’s first term; Republicans then used it 14 times to overturn rules put in place during the latter months of the Obama
administration.

In effect, this obscure law has functioned as a way for Republicans — any time
they have a majority in both the House and Senate after a Democratic presidency
— to just throw out regulations they and their corporate backers don’t like,
even though they had every opportunity to block them in the first place through
the normal legislative process.

The Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, co-chaired by Public Citizen, has been
spearheading the effort to stop Congressional Republicans from abusing the CRA.

Gutting Enforcement

The Trump regime isn’t just rolling back regulations. In many cases it has
stopped enforcing the law against corporate wrongdoers. In effect, Trump has
given corporate America the green light to break the law with impunity by taking
agency cops off the beat. The regime has already halted or moved to dismiss
enforcement investigations and cases against more than 100 corporations, with
more cases against accused corporate criminals being abandoned every week.

Public Citizen’s is documenting the massive dropoff in enforcement, exposing it
to national media, and connecting the dots to which corporations, CEOs, and
industries have benefited.

Attacks on Independent Agencies

Trump has come up with a new way to assault the regulatory system. For the first
time in almost a century, the president has fired commissioners at multiple
independent agencies, denying them quorums and the ability to perform core
agency functions. This breathtaking power grab is a slap in the face to
Congress, which deliberately designed these agencies to be independent of the
president.

Public Citizen is tracking these firings and the quorum status at independent
agencies. Our coalition originated a public letter from numerous organizations
condemning Trump’s attacks on these agencies. And we called out Trump’s unlawful
firing of the two Democratic commissioners at the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC), noting that the only purpose of such a move is to further neuter the FTC,
leaving giant corporations free to cheat and scam, imperil our privacy, and grow
their monopoly power.

Anti-Regulatory Legislation

Not to be outdone, Republicans in Congress have joined Trump’s deregulatory push
by introducing and advancing a wide range of anti-regulatory bills. Public
Citizen, as co-chair of the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards, helped analyze
and lobby against these dangerous bills and is committed to ensuring they never
become law.

PLUTOCRACY AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST GALORE

Public Citizen is meticulously tracking the rampant plutocratic impulses and
conflicts of interest of the Trump regime.

Conflicted Appointees and Nominees
Donald Trump’s nominees for Cabinet positions and other important political
appointments are absolutely riddled with conflicts of interest. As was the case
in Trump’s first term, his second administration is handing people with clear
corporate conflicts of interest — like stakes in Big Oil companies, long
corporate lobbying careers, and seats on major company boards — the power to
regulate and oversee corporations. Public Citizen published a tracker for the
endless corporate conflicts of interest among Trump’s appointees. And we are
following the money and shining a blazing spotlight on this corruption sprawl.

Trump’s Meme Scheme
As Trump encourages people to purchase his meme “coin,” Public Citizen has
called for an investigation into whether Trump violated federal law barring the
president from soliciting gifts. And we have highlighted the egregious risk
inherent in the fact that since the meme can be purchased anonymously, unknown
actors — including potentially foreign governments — could, in essence, stuff
cash into the president’s pockets.

The Amazon River of Cash
Amazon is paying $40 million to license a documentary and a limited series on
first lady Melania Trump. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was seated just feet away
from Trump at the Inauguration. Amazon Prime has also begun to stream Donald
Trump’s old show “The Apprentice.” Trump and Bezos just came to some kind of
arrangement related to tariffs. Public Citizen has been bringing scrutiny to
these outrageous plutocratic maneuvers.

Firing Inspectors General
The Trump regime has fired over a dozen Inspectors General — independent
watchdogs tasked with rooting out fraud, waste, and corruption in government.
Public Citizen has been drawing attention to this watchdog wipeout — a recipe
for unfettered corruption cooked up by corporate lobbyists and served to the
American people by Trump sycophants whose hands are definitely not clean.

Amnesty for Corporate Criminals
As reported by Public Citizen investigators, the Trump regime dropped, withdrew,
or halted investigations and enforcement actions against over 100 corporations
in just its first two months. Examples include investigations and lawsuits
against alleged financial rip-offs, crypto violations, foreign bribery,
environmental harms, civil rights violations, and workplace discrimination.
Public Citizen has also highlighted that corporations facing federal enforcement
actions donated at least $50 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Dinner with Donald
Public Citizen has led calls for the regime to release the names of people
paying to attend million-dollar-a-plate candlelight dinners at Trump’s Florida
estate. In addition to Elon Musk, guests could include other government
favor-seekers such as federal contractors or the CEOs of companies previously
under investigation until the Trump administration stopped enforcement.

CONFRONTING THE TRUMP TEAM AND AGENDA

Opposing Trump’s Dangerous Cabinet Picks
Public Citizen aggressively opposed Trump’s unqualified and dangerous Cabinet
picks, drawing attention to their deeply problematic records, including Pam
Bondi as Attorney General, Pete Hegseth as Defense Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy
Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary, Kash Patel as FBI Director, and
more. (And don’t forget that people worked together to prevent former
Congressman Matt Gaetz from becoming Attorney General.)

Protecting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
As Trump and his lackeys look to undermine Social Security, privatize Medicare,
and gut Medicaid, Public Citizen worked with members of Congress and with
grassroots partners to call out these efforts and highlight that Medicare for
All is the real reform needed to guarantee health care for everyone in the
country.

Harms and Cronyism of Trump’s Tariffs
With Trump waging war on working people in America and across the world through
the misuse of tariffs, Public Citizen engaged Congress and the press to break
down the anti-immigrant intent of these policies. We issued a report on the
cronyism entailed in Trump’s tariffs. And we released a primer to the national
media explaining how the Trump tariffs are a shakedown on behalf of Big Tech.

Sounding the Alarm on Trump’s Withdrawal from WHO
When Trump announced his intent to withdraw the United States from the World
Health Organization, Public Citizen issued a report outlining the importance of
continued U.S. support for and participation in WHO, not just for the world’s
sake, but specifically for the safety of Americans as well.

MOBILIZATION

Public Citizen has been organizing and mobilizing with partners across the
country, holding meetings and press calls, and participating in protests —
including the nationwide “Hands Off!” rallies in early April, co-organized with
Indivisible, MoveOn, Working Families Party, and others, that drew over 100,000
people in Washington, D.C., and millions more at some 1,300 events all across
the country.

Here’s what one of us (Robert) said when he had the privilege to address the
rally in D.C.: “We are living under the most lawless, Constitution-trampling
administration in American history. ... There is only one thing that’s enough to
face down this authoritarian moment, and that is this movement here today!”

People sometimes wonder if demonstrations and protests make a difference. They
make all the difference.

Trump, like other authoritarians, aims to invoke fear and isolate people. When
we join together in large numbers, we overcome our fear, find our courage, and
feel viscerally that we are a majority. Trump and his henchmen have very
intentionally tried to create an air of invincibility around their actions, to
project dominance and cultivate hopelessness. When we’re together in large
numbers, we discover hope, feel our power, and build real power.

If you’ve been frustrated with how Democratic leaders have (or have not) been
responding to the Trump bulldozer, nothing is more important than these
demonstrations, which will stiffen Democrats’ spines. More generally, the entire
political conversation around Trump will never be the same. We’ve started to
take back control of the political narrative.

Demonstrations like these will inspire more and more Americans to join the
movement against Trump. And that — experience around the world has taught us —
is how you beat authoritarianism. Public Citizen is continuing to help organize
and publicize rallies for the weeks and months ahead.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUST US

When Pam Bondi was nominated to be Trump’s Attorney General, her extensive
record as a corporate lobbyist, combined with her apparent openness to obliging
Trump’s authoritarian desires, set off flashing red warning lights about the
potential for misuse and weaponization of the awesome powers of the Department
of Justice (DOJ).

Over the regime’s first 100 days, numerous actions taken by Bondi and DOJ
officials under her charge have shown that those initial fears were not
unfounded. For example:

* Bondi’s DOJ has opened the door to bribery by freezing enforcement under the
1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that bars bribes by U.S. businesses to win
overseas deals.

* Bondi’s DOJ has cancelled efforts to combat foreign influence in U.S.
politics by disbanding the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and paring back
enforcement of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

* Bondi’s DOJ has revoked free speech protections for journalists, allowing
authorities to compel reporters to expose confidential sources.

* Bondi’s DOJ has dropped a lawsuit to enforce voting rights and protect equal
access to the ballot.

* Bondi’s DOJ has ended a bribery and corruption case against the mayor of New
York City for political reasons.

* Bondi’s DOJ has demanded the names of thousands of FBI agents who — as part
of doing their jobs — investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S.
Capitol.

* Bondi’s DOJ has inserted highly partisan political appointees into
decision-making about sensitive matters including ethics recusals, bar
referrals, employee discipline, and the release of information sought by
Congress and inspectors general.

* Bondi’s DOJ has dropped a discrimination case against Elon Musk’s SpaceX
company.

* Bondi’s DOJ has disbanded its consumer protection unit and moved to halt or
dismiss dozens of enforcement investigations and cases against corporations,
including: 8 corporations facing DOJ Civil Rights Division cases and
investigations; 7 corporations facing DOJ Environment and Natural Resources
Division cases and investigations; 20 corporations facing DOJ and Securities
Exchange Commission cases and investigations into possible Foreign Corrupt
Practices Act violations.

* Bondi’s DOJ has encouraged Trump’s attacks on judges by saying the DOJ would
look into taking action against a federal judge for doing his job to uphold
the Constitution and the law.

One of us (Lisa) had the chance to testify in the U.S. Senate against Bondi’s
nomination, urging senators not to confirm her. Public Citizen is spotlighting
Bondi’s role in the authoritarian slide and investigating conflicts at the DOJ
and the get-out-of-jail-free cards it is dolling out to Big Business. And we
continue to lead protests around the country over DOJ lawlessness.

Believe it or not, even though this may be the longest email we’ve ever sent
you, it is not close to a comprehensive account of everything Public Citizen is
doing to confront the Trump regime in the courts, in Congress, in the media, and
in communities all across America.

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For progress,

- Lisa Gilbert & Robert Weissman, Co-Presidents of Public Citizen


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