It is time to acknowledge what has become tragically obvious: the Trump administration is essentially acting as a massive criminal enterprise. It lies, steals, extorts and murders – all while cloaked in the awesome authority of the state. It is on a crime spree that puts Al Capone to shame.
This is not hyperbole or hyperventilation. It is our reality, as the facts amply demonstrate. This administration has:
• Murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti, slandered them as “domestic terrorists” and “assassins,” and allowed their killers to walk free;
• Unleashed thousands of minimally trained ICE agents, recruited with explicitly white supremacist messaging, to inflict terror on people of color;
• Repeatedly violated the constitutional rights of citizens and non-citizens by arresting them for First Amendment-protected speech, raiding their homes without judicial warrants, and imprisoning them without due process;
• Killed dozens of civilians on the high seas solely on the unsubstantiated claim that they were drug runners (not that being drug runners would justify their summary executions without due process anyway);
• Released hundreds of imprisoned felons who brutally beat Capitol police officers on January 6;
• Converted the once-independent Department of Justice into an instrument of personal retribution via the prosecution of cooked-up lawsuits against the President’s enemies;
• Threatened to seize the territory of a sovereign nation (a NATO ally no less);
• Sought to imprison United States Senators simply for exercising their free speech rights by reminding military personnel of their undisputed duty to disobey illegal orders;
• Tried to impose ruinous and unconstitutional sanctions on some of the country’s largest law firms simply because Trump doesn’t like them;
• Violated court orders on a massive scale. As the Chief District Judge of Minnesota recently wrote, “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence;”
• Shaken down some of the country’s largest universities by illegally threatening to withhold funding; and
• Engaged in breathtaking corruption: as the conservative writer David Frum stated, “Trump’s scale of stealing and bribe-taking has never been remotely paralleled in any democratic country ever before.”
And that’s just for starters; there are dozens more examples.
It is difficult to comprehend the level of state-sponsored criminality we are witnessing because our country has never experienced anything like it. It is also difficult to absorb because it is happening so quickly, and on so many different fronts. In the words of the 2022 movie, it sometimes feels like “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” And that can be exhausting, numbing, and overwhelming.
But viewing the Trump administration as a massive crime syndicate allows us to be clear-eyed about what is coming down the road, and to plan accordingly. To take the most urgent example, there ought to be no question as to whether Trump will try to steal the midterm elections. Of course he will try to steal them. Criminals gonna crime. He tried to steal the 2020 elections, and the lack of any consequences for that supremely traitorous act only further emboldened him. It is every patriotic American’s duty to oppose the coming effort to nullify the will of the voters.
That this administration can reasonably be viewed as a criminal enterprise should not be cause for despair. The courts have rejected many of the administration’s power grabs and unconstitutional or illegal acts. The President is less popular than he has ever been. Prominent Republicans are defying him more than ever. The brave citizens of Minneapolis are showing us how effective organized resistance can be. And Bad Bunny, with his Super Bowl message that “The only thing more powerful than hate is love,” gave us reason to believe that kindness, compassion and decency will prevail.
James Speyer is a lawyer and a volunteer for Lawyers Defending American Democracy. He lives in Sharon.
The most powerful crime syndicate in history