Week 10: Signals & Strong-Arm Tactics
Leaked chats, election crackdowns, and third-term threats
Reading Time: ~5 minutes
Introduction
By late March, the Trump regime was no longer hiding its ambitions. A cabinet group chat leak exposed military secrets and contempt for allies, while a sweeping executive order threatened U.S. elections. Tariffs, military maneuvers, and third-term hints capped a week of authoritarian escalation.
Here’s what Week 10 looked like day by day.
TL;DR:
Monday, March 24: Signalgate leak reveals secret Yemen strike planning. Postmaster General DeJoy resigns.
Tueday, March 25: Trump signs election order requiring proof of citizenship and Election-Day ballot deadlines; threatens states with funding cuts. Navy gets a new Secretary; officials testify on Signalgate.
Wednesday, March 26: Trump imposes a 25% tariff on all foreign car imports, jolting global markets.
Thursday, March 27: Trump pulls Elise Stefanik’s U.N. nomination; Rubio revokes 300 student visas in crackdown on pro-Palestine speech.
Friday, March 28: Cabinet tours Greenland’s Pituffik Space Base.
Saturday, Mar 29: The Tesla Takedown global day of action erupted, with protests at Tesla locations worldwide. The White House Correspondents’ Dinner lost its host, Amber Ruffin.
Sunday, March 30: Trump openly muses about ways to defy the 22nd Amendment and seek a third term.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
— George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist
Monday, March 24
The Atlantic publishes a leaked Signal group chat—Operation Rough Rider—in which Vice President J.D. Vance, senior staff, and intelligence chiefs discussed imminent airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthis. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared launch times and missile details; CIA Director John Ratcliffe exposed an undercover officer; Vance and Hegseth mocked European allies. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz accidentally added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, triggering the leak. Hours after publication, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy abruptly resigns—a stunning move that weakens Trump’s control over the nation’s mail system and signals cracks inside an administration already scrambling to contain the breach.
Tuesday, March 25
Trump signs a sweeping election order requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections, mandating that all ballots be received by Election Day, and threatening to withhold federal funds from non-compliant states. Legal scholars warn the measure clashes with states’ constitutional control of elections. John Phelan is sworn in as the 79th Secretary of the Navy as intelligence chiefs face a blistering congressional hearing on Signalgate.
Wednesday, March 26
Trump announces a 25% tariff on all foreign car imports, threatening to upend global supply chains. The news hits markets instantly: General Motors shares slide roughly 3%, while Stellantis—parent of Jeep and Chrysler—drops 3.6%. Even domestic electric-vehicle giant Tesla warns of collateral damage. On X, CEO Elon Musk posts that “the tariff impact on Tesla is still significant,” underscoring how deeply U.S. companies are entangled in international production networks. Economists warn the measure could spark retaliatory trade wars, but Trump frames it as a nationalist victory.
Thursday, March 27
President Trump withdraws Elise Stefanik’s nomination as U.N. ambassador to preserve the GOP’s thin House majority. That evening, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces the revocation of more than 300 student visas, many held by pro-Palestine students. He boasts, “Every time I find one of these lunatics I take away their visa.” NBC News reports students often received no advance notice, leaving universities scrambling and sparking civil-rights outcry over free speech and due process.
Friday, March 28
Trump cabinet members visit Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, a strategically located U.S. outpost. Official statements are vague, but photos of the visit leak online, hinting at militarized Arctic ambitions.
Saturday, March 29
Tesla Takedown Global Day of Action exploded into being. Across more than 200 cities worldwide, protesters gathered outside Tesla dealerships and facilities, demanding divestment, boycotts, and accountability for Elon Musk’s role in Trump’s government. Organizers called for peaceful protest and rejected violence or property destruction as tactics, even as some Tesla facilities faced vandalism in the preceding weeks. Demonstrations ranged from picket lines in London to dance-party protests in Washington, D.C., and blockades of self-driving cars in San Francisco—an unmistakable show of global resistance to Musk’s alliance with authoritarian power.
The same day, the White House Correspondents’ Association canceled Amber Ruffin’s hosting gig, bowing to unexplained “security concerns” and underscoring the regime’s tightening grip on media events.
Sunday, March 30
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces plans to expand U.S. military forces in Japan with a new “war-fighting” headquarters aimed at China. Hours later, Trump tells NBC News he is “not joking” about pursuing a third presidential term, claiming “there are methods which you could do it” and calling a third run “in a way a fourth term because the 2020 election was rigged.” The 22nd Amendment clearly limits presidents to two terms, but Trump’s remarks mark his most direct challenge yet to that constitutional guardrail.
The Week in Trump’s Regime
Week 11 stripped away any pretense of restraint: secrets leaked from encrypted chats, an election order threatened the vote itself, tariffs rattled the global economy, and a president casually entertained a third term. Power was exercised as spectacle—leaks, decrees, and market shocks—each move daring the law to catch up.
This was not governance. It was a performance of dominance, where breaking norms became both message and method.
Next Week
Week 12’s Chronicle will track the fallout: court challenges to the election order, diplomatic pushback over tariffs, and the regime’s next maneuver to turn chaos into leverage.
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