Two hundred and fifty years into America’s history, I believe that we now face the most serious threat to our democratic republic since Ben Franklin uttered these words outside Constitution Hall in 1787: “A republic, if we can keep it.”
We are watching our constitutional republic in America move incrementally but steadily from self-governance toward authoritarian governance. The very foundation of democracy 鈥� the ability to hold valid, trusted elections 鈥� is under severe threat.
In September 2025,, a national security directive that, without regard to the First Amendment, decrees that any individual or organization that espouses “anti-American, anti-capitalist and anti-Christianity” or other views contrary to those of the administration can be treated as a terrorist.
An Interagency Working Group was established to enforce the executive order. The group is coordinated by the assistant to the president, Stephen Miller; directed by Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counter-terrorism and includes Kash Patel, the director of the FBI. Already, the Interagency Working Group has harassed, threatened, indicted or arrested protestors and activists. Nine people have faced criminal charges (eight have been convicted) for distributing publication materials and organizing a protest a Syracuse woman accused of posting an ICE officer’s name and home address was ; in Minnesota the with a variety of felonies including stalking and impeding federal agents; ands related to vandalsim and harassement during Palestine solidarity protests.聽 .
The architecture of this administration policy already includes a number of elements, including:
鈥� a network of public and private prisons far beyond projected conventional incarceration requirements by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. These are prisons for political prisoners;
鈥� a growing private army of ICE and Border Patrol agents, authorized to operate in cities, to patrol airports and to carry out other politically related activities;
鈥� the elimination of almost all of the personnel authorized to oversee the legality of various military operations;
The impact of this architecture can be seen in the recent attacks on the civic voter education and registration program in Ohio, the seizure of 2024 ballots in Atlanta, the pressure against voter counting in California, and the stated plans to operate in many states, particularly those that Trump lost in 2024.
President Trump is in a precarious position. The fiasco of the Iran war is increasingly obvious, and the country is feeling the increase in the inflation rate and the growing cost of everything from gasoline, groceries, housing and insurance. The president抖阴ap popularity continues to slide all across the country, including even in Alabama and in Iowa, where he could lose four seats in Congress.
The president has backed himself into a corner and is searching for a way out. The desperate press conference on Thursday, alleging that U.S. elections in 2020 were hacked,聽only highlights his drastic attempts to retain power.
Trump is expected to make election conspiracies a focus of his national address
What does he mean? He knows that he holds a portfolio of highly classified Presidential Emergency Powers (PEADS), initially designed for continuity of government in case of military emergency, natural disaster or health crisis. These were never authorized or reviewed by Congress, are held tightly in the Office of Legal Counsel, and their disclosure by any senior official would result in serious legal penalties.
Over the years, as the PEADS have been updated and expanded by each administration, some have leaked out. The emergency powers authorize such extraordinary actions as shutting down the internet, closing bank accounts and taking over all voting machines. The result of taking over elections will lead to the end of democratic accountability and the establishment of a dictatorship in America.
A group of researchers at Keep Our Republic joins many other analysts and legal experts in believing that this desperate president will define some set of events as a national emergency and, in response, will activate one or more of his PEADs. This, in turn, will certainly invoke a constitutional crisis as the president struggles to avoid impeachment. For him it is the White House or the jailhouse.
We call this 鈥淭he Rolling Coup.鈥�
Former Majority Leader Dick Gephardt and I have laid out the threat in 鈥淭he Rolling Coup鈥�; it can be found with other documentation on our website at Keep Our Republic ().
Individual elements of the president抖阴ap strategy have been reported -- the prisons, the army, the domestic terrorism declaration, Department of Defense activity, the arrest of protestors 鈥� 聽but very few reporters have put all the pieces together. To date, most policy experts, legal authorities, civic groups and business associations have not constructed this whole picture of the threats to America.
So what can we do about it?
Since the administration controls the House, Senate and Supreme Court, it remains for us all -- as citizen activists -- to use every available means to warn and organize our fellow citizens. From every organization, civic group, pulpit, press outlet and union hall, we must each be a modern-day Paul Revere, warning of the looming danger. We must ask our heretofore supine Congress, attorneys general from all the states, governors and all leadership to help to alert our drowsy country. (We have been trying to alert and help mobilize Colorado鈥檚 congressional delegation, but to date have received little encouraging response.
The time between now and Election Day is short, and there is no time better than now to begin. On behalf of our children and grandchildren, future generations and our country, thank you for your concern and action, and I look forward to hearing of your mobilization
Timothy Wirth represented Colorado in the U.S. House and then the Senate from 1975 to 1993 and has served as the Undersecretary of State, President of the United Nations Foundation and Chairman of Keep Our Republic. He is a Colorado resident who splits his time between Washington and Colorado.
