Specifically, Vance said that Trump ‘likes’ one of Sanders’ ideas for redistributing wealth — why does that sound familiar? — being realized from the massive profits of artificial intelligence companies (via The Mirror):

Vance, who is currently promoting a book about “finding [his] way back to faith,” took his pro-socialist/pro-fascist approach to the AI problem a step further by linking religion to the issue: “I think there’s like a deeply Christian concept to this,” he said. “There is a very deeply Christian concept that you have to give everybody in the country a seat at the table,” he explained.

While Trump, Vance, and MAGA will tell you that Trump and Sanders have nothing in common politically when it comes matters of corporate profits and wealth redistribution, it’s simply a fact that they are very simpatico in a host of areas.

For example, Trump announced the formation of the “U.S. Tech Force” in December 2025 to build out AI infrastructure using direct partnerships between private-sector tech giants and the federal government. The “U.S. Tech Force” consists of engineers and other specialists who will perform their tasks on behalf of the federal government, and includes nearly every Big Tech company you can think of (via Technocracy News):

Looking at the features of socialist and fascist ideologies, it’s quite clear that they have a specific common thread that links their desires for society (via Libertarian Europe):

Regarding these similarities, Ayn Rand wrote:

As I make clear in Chapter 14 of my book The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty, the marriage between Sanders’ socialism and Trump’s fascism isn’t all that unusual. In fact, it has been a reality for every president — Republican and Democrat — since 9/11. George W. Bush. Barack Obama. Donald Trump. Joe Biden. These four men — I refer to them as the founders of America’s police state — have worked in bipartisan fashion to destroy liberty.

The Big Tech/US Government partnership being promoted by the socialist ideology of Bernie Sanders and fascist policies of Donald Trump will ultimately give rise to an immortal dictator — a person who will have complete control of AI’s surveillance state.

While the scientific community has a lot to say about the world-altering impact of artificial intelligence on every aspect of our lives, they are eerily silent about its growing role in government and its destructive effect on our liberty, especially “the core democratic principles of privacy, autonomy, equality, the political process, and the rule of law.”

Trump has been quick to avail government of AI technology, but he has done little to nothing to ensure that the rights of the American people are protected. In fact, Trump’s AI ambitions have been marching on without any guardrails for transparency, accountability and adherence to the rule of law when it comes to the government’s use of the technology.

How do we protect liberty against the socialist ideology of Bernie Sanders and the fascist policies of Donald Trump when it comes to the development AI technology? The ability to do so may already be out of our hands. Here are just two examples:

In one of his first acts as president, Trump created the $2 trillion Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), via executive order, to “help maximize the stewardship of our national wealth” and to “invest in great national endeavors for the benefit of all of the American people.” We have since learned that the SWF has the end goal of implementing Universal Basic Income in response to massive job displacement due to AI advancements.

Donald Trump and the Deep State he claims to be dismantling turbocharged the surveillance state when he equipped the FBI with AI surveillance drones with facial recognition and other spying technology.

Whatever you choose to call Bernie Sanders (leftist, socialist, Democratic Socialist, Communist) and Donald Trump (dictator, authoritarian, fascist, king) the creation of a government-owned tech sector is the likely future facing America unless we rein in the Republican/Democrat duopoly… NOW!

The post Socialist Sanders and Fascist Trump: Two Sides of the Same Coin appeared first on Free the People.

After an extension was passed that extended the original April 20, FISA 702 will expire on April 30 unless it is reauthorized or the SAFE Act—a band-aid being pushed by Sen. Mike Lee—is passed.

But in the name of liberty, neither should happen (via an op-ed by Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute):

Contrary to the soul-searching rhetoric being fed to us by Trump and the Republican Party, the fact is that they have no problem with allowing FISA 702 to continue unchecked because they are big fans of warrantless government spying.

The lying hypocrisy of Trump and Co. concerning their objection to warrantless government spying was on display only months ago when Sen. Tom Cotton led a quiet push for an 18-month “clean reauthorization” of FISA 702 in the hope that Republicans could kick the can down the road until after the 2026 midterms—assuming we have them—when they can work on ways to make it permanent if they retain control of Washington.

The SAFE Act is a non-starter in the FISA 702 “reform” discussion. Do you remember the USA FREEDOM Act? It was a law pushed by Mike Lee back in 2015 in response to NSA spying under FISA and was supposed to reign in government’s blatant abuse of power. When the legislation passed, it was supposed to bring an end to bulk collection of metadata by the NSA and rein in the FISA Court, but it didn’t.

In the end, the FREEDOM Act failed, the NSA continued spying, and the FISA Court kept all its power after Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress approved the “periodic congressional reauthorization” of FISA Section 702 in 2018 until December 2023—putting it past the 2020 presidential campaign—when Speaker Mike Johnson and the Republican Party controlling the House at the time joined Joe Biden and the Democrats to reauthorize FISA 702 until April 2026, which brings us to where we are today.

From the beginning of his second term in office, Trump and the Republican Party made it clear that government power over all things was paramount to protecting and defending liberty, which is why they went right to work to ensure that FISA and government spying live forever.

During their confirmation hearings, Pam Bondi, John Radcliffe, and Tulsi Gabbard were grilled by Republicans about FISA Section 702. And while you’d think that the Republican-led Senate would be looking for people who would commit to supporting the Constitution, these charlatans demanded that each nominee commit to supporting the expansion of warrantless mass surveillance.

Tulsi Gabbard reversed her past opposition to mass surveillance under FISA after being pressured by Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn to support FISA—John Radcliff was already on board having previously worked in the CIA during Trump’s first term—and Pam Bondi assured Republicans that she considered FISA and the mass surveillance of Americans “legal” and a “very important tool” in the toolbox of the Department of Justice.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party are lying when they say that they want to get rid of FISA 702. For example, Trump called last month for an 18-month (just like Cotton) “clean extension” due to security concerns surrounding his unconstitutional war against Iran—an idea supported by Republicans in Congress (via TheHill.com):

A “clean extension” of FISA 702 like the one being pushed by Cotton and Trump would be the ultimate display of government arrogance and their complete disregard of liberty (via The Record):

Though FISA originated during the Cold War to gather foreign intelligence information, the current debate over Section 702 began around 2008, when Republicans joined the Democrat majority to legalize a surveillance program secretly created by the National Security Agency after 9/11. FISA Section 702 allows our government overlords to track the electronic communications of foreign terrorists, spies, and hackers without obtaining a warrant, but it has also provided government with communications data from an unknown number of Americans.

And here’s something to ponder: In a shocking post made on X recently, Thomas Massie revealed that he had read two top secret FISA documents: The secret FISA Court opinion regarding FBI noncompliance with FISA Section 702 statutory requirements, and a letter sent by Senator Wyden to the House that revealed ‘a secret government interpretation of FISA law’ (emphasis added).

I just viewed 2 Top Secret FISA docs.

1) FISA Court opinion that raises serious concerns about FBI implementation of FISA 702.

2) letter by Senator Wyden describing a secret government interpretation of FISA law.

The Constitution requires I vote No on FISA 702 reauthorization.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) April 16, 2026

Despite the rhetoric coming out of Washington, the SAFE Act won’t “reform” FISA 702 nor will a “clean extension” of existing law. To see warrantless government spying come to an end, Donald Trump and the Republican Party need to end their hypocrisy and strike FISA from the books before liberty in America is lost forever.

The post Ignore FISA 702 Rhetoric—Republicans Love Warrantless Government Spying appeared first on Free the People.

In a Truth Social post over the weekend, Trump suggested leveling “treason” charges against media outlets that he says are reporting false information about the Iran war even as the human and economic costs of his illegal military assault continue to mount (via Alternet.com):

Trump’s latest threat against the free press came after his Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr, threatened Saturday to pull the broadcasting licenses of media outlets he accused of “running hoaxes and news distortions.” Carr did not provide specific examples.

Following Carr’s threat, Trump posted a self-aggrandizing infographic bragging about how he has been “reshaping the media” into his own version of a state-run media that would make even Joseph Goebbels jealous:

Not to be outdone, the cosplay soldier-wannabe masquerading as the non-existent Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, also declared his displeasure with the media’s reporting on the Iran war when he expressed his desire to see CNN turned into a branch of Trump’s state-run media—to be run by David Ellison, the son of AI Tech Bro Larry Ellison (via CommonDreams.org):

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m thinking that regulatory approval by the Trump administration isn’t going to be all that hard to get, regardless of how “closely” some state AGs “scrutinize the agreement.” Case in point: Carr has already expressed his approval of the CNN takeover, telling CNBC last month that he thought it was a “good deal, and I think it should get through pretty quickly.” Shocking, right?

Donald Trump has never been a fan of the First Amendment rights to Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. Throughout his 2016 campaign and continuing throughout his first term, Trump routinely played the worn-out “fake news” card against any media outlet that reported stories that failed to massage his massive ego. Declaring them to be “the enemy of the people”—Joseph Goebbels would be so proud—Trump threatened to silence his critics in the press through the use of libel lawsuits and by revoking the broadcast licenses of major networks.

Trump began setting things in motion for the creation of a state-run media in the first year of his first term in office when he gave Sinclair a sweetheart deal that would have allowed the media giant to have control over a large majority of US households. In October 2017, his FCC Chairman, Ajit Pai—a holdover from the Obama administration—reinstated an old rule meant to pave the way for a $3.9 billion TV merger between Sinclair and Tribune—allowing the company to own enough stations to reach over 70% of US households.

Pai also issued a second decision that eliminated the requirement for TV stations to maintain local studios in the markets where they are licensed, thus opening the door for “local news” to be controlled in places like Washington, DC.

Combined, these decisions would have given Sinclair control of TV news in approximately 72 percent of US households. Besides the fact that this consolidation ran in direct opposition to the FCC’s mission of promoting competition, diversity, and locality of the public airwaves, there was a conflict of interest involved because Sinclair had close ties to Trump, Steve Bannon, and Breitbart News at the time.

So funny to watch Fake News Networks, among the most dishonest groups of people I have ever dealt with, criticize Sinclair Broadcasting for being biased. Sinclair is far superior to CNN and even more Fake NBC, which is a total joke.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 2, 2018

Do you remember when Jimmy Kimmel was suspended? After allegedly saying some unflattering things about Charlie Kirk following his assassination, Kimmel was given his walking papers by ABC’s parent company, the Disney Entertainment division of the Walt Disney Company. The decision came just hours after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr publicly criticized Kimmel’s remarks and suggested that regulatory consequences would follow.

It was during the Kimmel suspension that Trump re-opened his state-run media playbook and suggested that networks who were “biased” against him should have their broadcast licenses revoked. Speaking to reporters, Trump said, “They’re 97% against, they give me only bad press. They’re getting a license. I would think maybe their license should be taken away.”

Kimmel’s suspension also coincided with another media consolidation—Nexstar Media Group’s $6.2 billion merger with Tegna which is still awaiting FCC approval. Nexstar’s attempt to join Trump’s state-run media has been less direct and has taken a little longer to create.

We begin with (where else?) FOX News, the network home of his first-term advisor and shadow chief of staff, Sean Hannity. Like Sinclair, Trump wanted to reward the network that once branded itself “fair and balanced” for the part they played in his election in 2016. This is when, early in the second year of his first term, that Trump selected the former co-president of FOX News Bill Shine—after a major push from Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly—to the White House to serve in a senior communications role.

The selection was controversial at the time because, in addition to his tainted history of turning FOX into Trump TV, Shine’s past was clouded by his forced resignation from FOX News after his poor handling of sexual harassment scandals involving former Chief Executive Roger Ailes and the aforementioned Bill O’Reilly. After only a year on the job, Shine resigned as Trump’s communications guy to be the senior advisor to his 2020 re-election campaign.

After Trump’s loss, Shine took a position as an advisor with NewsNation, a news network owned by… you guessed it… Nexstar. One of the personalities featured on the upstart news network is none other than Bill O’Reilly who, in likely obedience to Nexstar execs, declared that the decision to cancel Jimmy Kimmel was about “responsibility,” not “censorship.”

Staying in Trump’s good graces has become standard operating procedure for media outlets who want to be a part of his state-run media, so caving to the FCC chair when he complains about a late-night TV host shouldn’t be all that surprising, particularly when we remember that Jimmy Kimmel wasn’t the first to go down (he was later reinstated).

Stephen Colbert was cancelled by CBS. A week following the cancellation, the FCC approved Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount CBS. And I’m sure this is purely coincidental, but Sinclair and Nexstar both own local CBS affiliates, with Nexstar being the largest independent operator of CBS affiliates. What are the odds?

Trump is openly advocating that media outlets be charged with “treason” for unfavorable coverage of his unconstitutional war in Iran, and his FCC chair is willing to hold broadcast licenses hostage if these outlets continue displeasing the dictator wannabe.

Better gird your loins, my fellow lovers of liberty. The state-run media Trump is creating is real, and there will be much more of his in the days ahead.

The post Trump Threatens Media With ‘Treason’ for Unfavorable Iran War Coverage appeared first on Free the People.

The uproar over the Ring/Flock Safety partnership was the result of a Super Bowl commercial touting how a new product known as “Search Party” could be used to help people find lost pets using the Ring Security systems installed on homes. People were rightfully concerned about how this same system might be used by the surveillance state to track people and one look at the video shows you why:

Following the uproar, the folks at Ring decided to terminate their partnership with Flock Safety because it would allegedly require more time and resources than they had anticipated (via Reclaim The Net):

Two key points in this statement: ICE has been using Flock Safety across the country, and Ring is electing to continue with their “current partners.” In other words, ICE’s tyranny and the surveillance state would live on, just with different players.

Concerning ICE’s use of Flock Safety, here’s one example of how they are using it to expand government’s surveillance capabilities. Imagine changing your normal routine by driving an alternate route to get to work when you are suddenly pulled over by the police and interrogated because you’re displaying “suspicious” activity. Well, imagine no longer because under a national Border Patrol license plate surveillance program, millions of American drivers across America are being spied on by Big Brother and detained for displaying travel patterns deemed to be suspicious.

The program uses AI technology—of course—that allows agents to monitor domestic travelers, pull over drivers for “suspicious” travel patterns, and detain not just illegal immigrants, but U.S. citizens as well (via Technocracy News and Trends):

“They are collecting mass amounts of information about who people are, where they go, what they do, and who they know … engaging in dragnet surveillance of Americans on the streets, on the highways, in their cities, in their communities,” said Nicole Ozer, the executive director of the Center for Constitutional Democracy at UC Law San Francisco, about the Border Patrol nationwide driver surveillance system.

As stated above, the foundation for this program was laid nearly ten years ago under Obama with help from the Republican-controlled Congress. In January 2015, the duopoly empowered the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to create a national database of license plates and driving habits of Americans. Though originally created to combat drug trafficking, the program was expanded to track other “criminals” and was made available to state-level law enforcement agencies.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party took it up a notch in January 2018 when they gave Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency-wide access to a nationwide license plate recognition database in the name of immigration control. And in October 2019, they pushed a bill to create a real-time national driver surveillance program known as the “Safe Drivers Act” (SDA), thus making everything a motorist has done available to law enforcement NATIONWIDE at the click of a button.

When Trump lost in 2020, portions of the surveillance program were put on hold, but they were picked up again when Republican frauds and liars joined Democrats to pass Joe Biden’s Infrastructure and Jobs Act that included a provision that allowed the development of a system capable of making government tracking of every trip you take a reality.

Here’s another real-life example of a time when Flock Safety was used by ICE in Loveland, CO (a city just north of Denver) in partnership with local law enforcement (via 9News.com):

U.S. Border Patrol primarily operates within 100 miles of the border but is legally allowed to operate anywhere in the United States, which is why predictive surveillance systems are now embedded into America’s roadways.

While Ring Security system may have killed its partnership with Flock Safety, their role in creating the surveillance state lives on in other programs, such as the Familiar Faces program, a facial recognition feature that identifies people appearing on your Ring cameras.

When you consider the incredibly small steps between “neighborhood cameras that recognize faces” and “neighborhood cameras that search for people,” we’re getting pretty close to the day when Ring will be used by the surveillance state for whatever purpose it wants—especially when you add the fact that Ring’s relationship with law enforcement under the Community Requests program, which Flock was supposed to plug into, will continue operating (one of the “current partners” they promised to work with, I guess).

Ring Security Systems, Flock Safety Systems, and other technologies are making it easier to expand the surveillance state, and while Ring has killed its partnership with Flock Safety, the infrastructure they created is still very much alive.

The post Ring Kills Flock Safety Partnership, but Surveillance State Still Lives appeared first on Free the People.

We begin with Attorney General Pam Bondi and a memo she released in early December 2025 ordering the FBI to comprise a list of “extremist” Americans found to be exercising their free speech rights to criticize Trump and his policies. And to show just how serious Trump was about this, he offered special funding programs bribes to states willing to help him and his flunkies in the FBI and DOJ round them up (via KenKlippenstein.com):

Bondi’s memo went down the punch list of so-called indicators of domestic terrorism identified by Trump in his National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 (NSPM-7) directive, which Bondi said her memo was intended to implement. NSPM-7 was essentially a declaration of war on just about anyone who wasn’t MAGA following Charlie Kirk’s assassination (his death is explicitly mentioned in the memorandum), but Bondi’s memo to the FBI was the plan for how Trump will wage it.

I should mention Trump appears to have taken his cues from Joe Biden, who once labeled people exercising their God-given, constitutionally protected right to free speech to protest government as domestic terrorists for pushing so-called “anti-government rhetoric” for expressing their “opposition to Covid measures.”

On the topic of destroying gun rights, Trump’s intentions in this area became clearer following the murder of Alex Pretti after Kristi Noem and White House advisor Stephen Miller slapped the “domestic terrorism” label on Pretti before the body was even cold. They were followed by Trump and a parade of administration talking heads who blamed Pretti for (legally) carrying a firearm:

Back to Pam Bondi for a moment… during her nomination for the AG job, I documented how she is simpatico with Trump concerning the matter of gun control.

Trump’s intentions concerning gun rights goes back to his first term in office. He openly embraced Nancy Pelosi’s gun-control agenda, banned bump stocks by executive order, pushed for enhanced background checks, and called for the expansion of red flag laws on a national level.

Trump was also willing to take on other parts of the Bill of Rights—such as the right to privacy and the right to due process—to advance his pro-gun control, anti-Second Amendment agenda:

Only a few days ago I asked a question once thought unthinkable: Would Trump and Hegseth order the military to shoot protesters? It turns out that the answer to that question is closer to being a “yes” than a “no,” especially when dealing with people who are found to be using their free speech and gun rights which, in the Orwellian world of Washington politics, qualifies as domestic terrorism.

The post Domestic Terrorism: How Trump will Destroy Free Speech and Gun Rights appeared first on Free the People.