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Hello Reader,
This week, Trump wreaks havoc on the free world, even where he seeks peace. He rewards dictators with White House dinners and MAGA hats while punishing democracies with unprecedented sanctions. He empowers the execution of a democracy and abandons another key American role in promoting global freedom. Yet surprisingly, he racks up a couple wins for liberty at home.
The Global Fight for Freedom
- America Hastens the Death of a Democracy
- Trump Exacts Revenge on Brazil
- Gaza Gangsters: Liberation or False Dawn?
- Pakistan's Tyrant Dons a MAGA Hat
- India Betrayed by Its "Great Friend"
Note: This week, I added Financial Times to my source list. Next week, I’ll publish a comprehensive list of all my sources.
Country names are followed by their 2025 freedom scores according to Freedom House. Regions—as opposed to recognized countries—are denoted with an asterisk.
"Democracy in El Salvador died today"
Opposition congresswoman Marcela Villatoro was right. Salvadoran Lawmakers erased presidential term limits Thursday, granting Nayib Bukele—the self-proclaimed "world's coolest dictator"—an unlimited hold on power.
Bukele has delivered impressive results—transforming Latin America's murder capital into one of the safest nations. But he’s done so by denying the majority of 80,000 suspected gang members due process. His 85% approval rating reflects gratitude from Salvadorans who can finally walk their streets, but his success masks systematic democratic destruction.
He fired Supreme Court justices and the attorney general in 2021, replacing them with loyalists who blessed his unconstitutional reelection. He has sent armed soldiers into parliament to intimidate legislators and forced hundreds of journalists to flee the country under threat of arrest. The brutal conditions of his notorious mega-prison epitomize authoritarian control.
Yet Trump has embraced the strongman, paying El Salvador $6 million annually to house American deportees and celebrating a model built on absolute power.
Trump didn’t directly cause this. But when “The Land of the Free” tacitly supports a democracy’s execution, the entire free world mourns.
This week, Trump slapped Brazil with 50% tariffs while wielding the Magnitsky Act—designed to punish genocidal generals and murderers—against Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. It was the first time America sanctioned a sitting judge in a functioning democracy.
Moraes is truly a menace. Operating with opacity, he's censored social media accounts while threatening American tech giants with shutdown for refusing his demands. When Elon Musk called him "Darth Vader," Moraes banned X and threatened Brazilian users with $9,000 daily fines. U.S. companies must comply with his punitive dictates or lose Brazil’s market entirely.
Meanwhile, President Lula da Silva’s approval rating has collapsed to an all-time low as inflation soars, the real crashes, and his coalition of anti-American dictators fractures.
Yet credible evidence shows the man Lula defeated, former president Jair Bolsonaro, was even more dangerous. As his lawyers drafted decrees to annul the 2022 election, his deputy chief of staff produced detailed assassination plans for Moraes and Lula, even listing the weapons required for Lula’s assassination.
Trump’s true motivation is defending Bolsonaro, his ideological ally. Yet ironically, Trump's judicial interference will likely strengthen Lula precisely when economic failure was exposing his incompetence.
From the rubble of eastern Rafah, an unlikely rebellion rises. Commander Yasser Abu Shabab of The Popular Forces published a defiant manifesto in the Wall Street Journal last week, declaring independence from Hamas after it murdered his brother and cousin for securing aid—and slaughtered 52 civilians under their protection. Though Israeli officials admit “they are gangsters”, Shabab’s forces now control the region, promising security, but not democracy. Now families sleep without fear, aid flows without theft, and no children serve as human shields.
Arab governments now pressure Hamas to disarm, emboldened by Western nations recognizing Palestinian statehood. As Hamas defiantly refuses, their inability to stop the Popular Forces reveals unprecedented weakness.
Beyond the rebellion, a human catastrophe unfolds. Nearly 9 out of 10 Gaza households regularly go hungry. Desperate mothers survive on bread and water, unable to produce milk for newborns whose skin turns yellow from starvation as food prices skyrocket beyond reach.
This engineered starvation stems from Israel's blockade. After banning all aid in March, Israel replaced the UN's 400 distribution sites with just four militarized compounds. Since May, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food, with hundreds more gunned down by Israeli forces who claim they posed threats.
Israel's brutal war lacks any coherent endgame. Yet amid this manufactured hell, Hamas's stranglehold finally cracks. When gangsters can challenge terrorists, tyranny's defeat may be within reach. Yet true liberation remains a distant dream.
Stomping boots echoed through Pakistan's High Court in 2023 as military forces stormed the judiciary to drag away Imran Khan—cricket legend turned prime minister. The arrest sparked nationwide riots, with supporters attacking military installations in an unprecedented assault.
Khan was accused by Pakistan's intelligence service of selling state gifts for personal profit—not coincidentally after he accused them of plotting his assassination. Today, Pakistan's most popular politician languishes in jail facing over 150 charges, his three-year sentence extended to 14 in January.
This week, Pakistan's military dictatorship escalated its war on the opposition, sentencing 108 parliamentarians and Khan associates to 10 years each for participating in the protests.
The architect of this crackdown is religious zealot Asim Munir, who in May became only the second Field Marshal in Pakistan's history—more powerful than the Prime Minister. India blames Munir for the May Kashmir attack that killed 26 tourists.
Yet President Trump continues to court this regime. In June, Munir enjoyed an exclusive White House lunch—payback for nominating Trump for the Nobel Prize he covets and the promise of trillions in mineral wealth.
American credibility collapsed the day Trump handed this tyrant a MAGA hat.
While Trump rewards Pakistan's dictator with White House dinners, he punishes the world's largest democracy with crushing tariffs.
In April, when Pakistani militants executed 26 Indian citizens in Kashmir, Trump treated the massacre and India's response as morally equivalent, saying "I get along with both." Days later, he offered neutral mediation—clearly pandering for that Nobel.
Now Trump hammers India with 25% tariffs plus "penalties" for purchasing Russian energy. I support punishing Russia, and Trump's criticisms of India's trade barriers do have merit: India’s tariffs are among the world’s highest at 17% average. Yet Russia is India's largest oil supplier, presenting PM Narendra Modi—who Trump once called a “great friend”—a genuine economic challenge.
Modi's 2019 revocation of Kashmir's autonomy was provocative. His Hindu nationalist agenda has alienated India's 200 million Muslims while he erodes press freedoms. But he's also championed economic freedom and forged stronger U.S. ties. And India remains fundamentally democratic with competing parties and independent courts.
As democracy's most pivotal battleground, India requires more carrots and fewer sticks. With "great friends" like Trump, India might prefer its enemies. Modi has remained defiant.
Our American Democracy
The Biggest Deregulation in U.S. History?
This week, Trump's EPA launched a deregulation battle that could be the most consequential in American history, proposing to repeal Obama's 2009 "endangerment finding" that enabled sweeping CO2 regulations.
The EPA's legal authority for these regulations presents the ultimate test of whether unelected agencies can usurp Congressional power.
The saga began with 2007's Massachusetts v. EPA, where the Supreme Court ruled greenhouse gases qualified as "air pollutants," enabling Obama regulations that have cost businesses and consumers over $1 trillion.
The WSJ noted that CO2 "has no toxicological effects at ambient levels", and even Obama energy official Steven Koonin now questions the endangerment finding's assumptions. Yet climate scientists warn this repeal would "undermine decades of scientific progress” as 12 of the hottest years on record have occurred since 2009.
But Trump holds the constitutional high ground: recent Supreme Court decisions on agency overreach suggest the Court will rule in his favor.
If successful, the EPA projects $54 billion in annual savings. I only wish I was qualified to weigh the human cost with equal confidence.
Federal Judges Pummel Trump's Tariff Defense
It was a brutal day in court for Trump's trade warriors.
On Thursday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit demolished the administration's legal justification for worldwide tariffs, with eleven judges expressing deep skepticism about presidential overreach.
Trump's lawyers claimed the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act grants unlimited authority to impose tariffs during any declared emergency. The judges weren't convinced, questioning why tariffs should be read into an emergency statute when no president has ever used this law for trade taxes.
The constitutional problem is fundamental: Article I, Section 8 grants Congress—not the president—exclusive power "to regulate Commerce with foreign Nations" and "to lay and collect...Duties." Congress has delegated only limited tariff authority to presidents with strict requirements.
Justice Department attorney Brett Shumate desperately argued for boundless authority, but judges invoked the Supreme Court's 2024 Loper Bright decision—which makes courts skeptical of broad government interpretations of vague laws. As the court noted, presidents aren't monarchs.
Now we await the Federal Circuit's ruling, which could come within weeks. If escalated, I have faith the Supreme Court will ultimately reject Trump's constitutional overreach.
And save him from himself.
Trump Breaks Biden's AI Regulatory Shackles
This week, Trump's White House declared war on Biden-era regulations strangling America's AI revolution, proposing sweeping deregulation to help the U.S. dominate the technology arms race of our lifetime against China.
While American innovators poured unprecedented capital into AI, the Biden administration’s approach created massive obstacles. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump report identifies how the FTC—under the hyper-regulatory Lina Khan—burdened AI innovation with excess liability, delayed data center projects through endless litigation threats, and forced premature coal plant shutdowns while making new natural gas plants inordinately expensive.
Trump's liberation plan attacks every one of these bureaucratic chokepoints. Most crucially, the plan would encourage massive new gas plant construction that AI desperately needs.
Without abundant, dependable electricity, America's AI dreams die—and China's authoritarian model of control wins—making this a victory for global freedom.
Yet, as the WSJ notes, Trump’s immigration restrictions could starve AI of the foreign talent it desperately needs.
America's Quiet Retreat from Global Elections
Two weeks ago, America quietly abandoned its moral leadership role in protecting democracy worldwide. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a directive ending decades of US criticism of rigged foreign elections, burying it in bureaucratic language about "national sovereignty."
The move wasn't announced—it leaked through a Wall Street Journal investigation. Now, US embassies can only comment on foreign elections when there's a "clear and compelling foreign policy interest," effectively silencing America's voice against electoral fraud.
Dictators from Belarus to Venezuela are celebrating. As Human Rights Watch warned, "The U.S. Embassy may be the only entity able to shine a light on the bad and unfair processes." That light just went dark.
The bitter irony? Trump and Rubio invoke "national sovereignty"—the exact same argument Xi Jinping, Putin, and every authoritarian uses to justify crushing dissent. Yet these champions of sovereignty just sanctioned a sitting judge in democratic Brazil.
America once inspired freedom fighters worldwide. Now we've handed authoritarians their favorite talking point.
Signs Flash Red Amid Trump's Trade War
This week, comedian and astute political commentator Bill Maher admitted his predictions of economic collapse from Trump's trade war were wrong.
But they weren’t.
Maher conceded too soon. The second quarter GDP report revealed disturbing undercurrents beneath the 3% growth headline. Imports collapsed 30.3%, creating what the WSJ called "the weirdest GDP report ever." More alarming: private domestic investment plummeted 15.6% as businesses scrambled to adapt to Trump's "up-and-down trade policies."
And Trump escalated further this week, imposing his "new world tariff order" with rates reaching 50% on Brazil and 39% on Switzerland. The result? Economic uncertainty that's paralyzing business decisions.
Then Friday's jobs report delivered a devastating blow: only 73,000 new jobs in July, with May and June revised down by 258,000. Manufacturing, which Trump claimed he would revitalize, shed 11,000 jobs, continuing a three-month decline.
Trump's response? Fire the messenger—terminating the Bureau of Labor Statistics responsible for the report.
Classic Xi Jinping move.
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