Trump Is Weaponizing DOJ. It's Part of an Authoritarian Pattern.

Trump is now using legal threats to push a Federal Reserve member to resign.

Aug 24, 2025

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*Lisa D. Cook sworn in as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System | Federal Reserve photo via Flickr*

One trademark of an authoritarian regime is the use of the legal system to target political opponents and forgive friends. This has the effect of undermining our basic conception of the law as a set of rules that is fairly and cons…

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A guest post by

Don Moynihan

Professor of Public Policy, Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan. Immigrant. Researches and teaches about government, administrative burdens, and politicization.