A plain-language account of each week on the record — what happened, why it matters, and the throughlines that connect it. Every digest links to that week’s evidence in the archive.
Week 9 · March 15, 2025
A wartime deportation claim collided with the courts as the administration widened pressure on universities, agencies, media, and federal institutions.
The week opened with one of the administration’s most aggressive immigration moves yet: invoking the Alien Enemies Act to speed deportations and then pressing ahead even after a
Read the week →Week 8 · March 8, 2025
The administration widened its use of funding, immigration, and executive power while courts, protesters, and some institutions pushed back.
This week was defined by the expansion of executive pressure across multiple fronts at once.
Read the week →Week 7 · March 1, 2025
A week of executive escalation touched foreign aid, immigration, universities, federal agencies, and trade, while judges and a few institutions tried to slow or block parts of it.
The week opened with a sharp turn in foreign and domestic policy: the administration publicly pressured Ukraine, downgraded Russia as a cyber threat, and used executive power to
Read the week →Week 6 · February 22, 2025
A week of federal workforce upheaval, pressure on the press and states, and widening use of executive power over law, immigration, and public institutions.
The week opened with a mix of spectacle and coercion: Trump used CPAC to promise a historic deportation drive, repeated false election claims, and threatened states over
Read the week →Week 5 · February 15, 2025
A week of mass federal layoffs, escalating fights over courts and prosecutors, and new efforts to bring agencies, data systems, and public narratives under tighter political control.
The week was defined by a rapid widening of executive pressure across the federal government.
Read the week →Week 4 · February 8, 2025
A week of agency shake-ups, legal resistance, immigration escalation, and growing fights over information, oversight, and the civil service.
The week was defined by a rapid expansion of executive pressure across the federal government, paired with an equally rapid wave of court intervention.
Read the week →Week 3 · February 1, 2025
A week of agency seizures, legal pushback, tariff whiplash, and widening pressure on immigrants, public information, and the civil service.
The week opened with a burst of unilateral action and ended with courts, unions, and lawmakers scrambling to contain it.
Read the week →Week 2 · January 25, 2025
The administration moved quickly to weaken oversight, test control over federal spending, and widen immigration enforcement, while courts and civil society began to push back.
The second week of the new term was defined by speed and breadth.
Read the week →Week 1 · January 20, 2025
A first week defined by executive orders, immigration crackdowns, clemency for January 6 defendants, and rapid tests of institutional limits
The first week of the new administration unfolded as a concentrated burst of executive action.
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