What Now?

All citations in this piece refer to real events, policies, and appointments as of July 31, 2025. This is not fiction. It’s a report from the edge of the map.

Emma wrapped the photo in an old campaign T-shirt—the one with the eagle, faded now to ghost gray. Her dad in uniform stared back through the glass, one arm draped over her shoulder, the other in a sling from a war they stopped teaching in schools. She pressed the Bible shut over it like a lid. He told her once: the oath didn’t end when the gun did.

Outside, someone was lighting fireworks at noon. Wrong month. Wrong flag. But no one yelled this year. Not even the landlord, who’d stapled a fresh sign to the porch post: No Section 8. No Pets. No Exceptions.

She hadn’t been evicted, exactly. Just erased.

The SNAP card still worked—for now—but the shelves at the Save-A-Lot were bare past aisle two, and the clinic had closed without warning. “Pending audit,” said a paper taped crooked to the door. No forwarding number. No insulin.

“He was loyal—right up until the moment it mattered.”

The first thing they came for wasn’t the food or the meds. It was the words.

Words like equity. Inclusion. Climate. Words that made people feel like the Constitution had a pulse. They scrubbed those first. Then came the firings—civil servants with too much spine, too many degrees, or the wrong skin. Pete Hegseth now runs Defense like a game show, interviewing generals for loyalty. Not strategy. Not command. Just fealty.

The man who told DOJ attorneys to ignore court orders when judges blocked migrant deportation flights? He’s now a federal judge. Lifetime appointment.

They didn’t hide it. Kevin Roberts held up Project 2025 on Bannon’s show like a hymnbook—his voice reverent, his threat veiled as scripture. A “second American Revolution,” he called it. One that would stay bloodless—“if the left allows it to be.”

What he meant was: We will take this country. And if you object, we’ll make you bleed.

Emma read the headlines standing in line for rice and powdered milk, outside the clinic that used to refill her prescriptions.

Most of us still laughed. Said it was just cosplay. Political theater.

Then came the death no one wanted to say aloud.

Virginia Giuffre—abused, trafficked, disbelieved—died by suicide.

Not just a footnote to Epstein, but a casualty of everything they refused to stop. She was 15 when she folded towels in the Mar-a-Lago spa.

Trump called Epstein a thief. “He stole people,” he said. When asked who, he clarified: girls. Girls like her.

“It’s not ideology anymore. It’s appetite.”

They didn’t shrink government. They devoured it. Musk at the “Department of Efficiency.” Vought carving budgets like rotisserie chicken. Cancer research—cut. Air traffic control—cut. FEMA—gutted and privatized. But the ICE buses? Fully funded.

CBS agreed to install a political “bias monitor”—a clearance team that screened segments for ideological neutrality. In exchange, their $8 billion merger was approved by the same FCC chair who now brags about it on Newsmax. Universities were blackmailed into race-blind hiring or watched their grants vanish.

They claimed it was to fight antisemitism. But really, it was a template.

Columbia got its $1.3 billion lifeline—after stripping its DEI office, its gender studies program, and every tenured faculty who once signed a petition.

Emma scrolled through coverage on a borrowed phone, the screen cracked in an arc across her thumb.

When the EPA proposed deleting the rule that says carbon emissions endanger human life, they didn’t bother citing science. They just said regulation hurts consumers.

Freedom blinked at the top of the screen like a dare—one that meant heatstroke, blackouts, and rationed breath.

Emma didn’t cry when the clinic closed. Not when the insulin ran out. But she did when she saw the flag on a cereal box—red, white, and sold.

“Because corporate pain is holy now. And human pain is socialist.”

They’ll say this isn’t fascism. That you’re being dramatic.

But your kids now pray at their cubicles while your neighbor’s law degree is void if she once represented a Democrat. Your local news anchor has a hotline to the White House. Your church friend disappeared after a protest, and your senator says it’s “classified.”

Emma’s cousin—still in uniform—called to say his leave had been frozen. “New screening procedures,” they said. His commanding officer had spent the morning preparing for a personal interview. With Trump.

“They are not building a government. They are building a kingdom.”

Congress is asleep. Or worse—co-signing it all in exchange for tax cuts and flag pins. Medicaid slashed. Food aid obliterated. And buried in the reconciliation bill: “Trump Accounts.” A shiny new name for privatized Social Security.

Tomorrow, a federal court will decide if Trump’s new tariffs—issued under “emergency powers”—are even legal. Doesn’t matter. Brazil’s being punished anyway. Because they jailed Bolsonaro.

The revolution isn’t coming. It’s here.

And it’s bored with your think pieces.

So here is where the story fractures. Where reader becomes participant. Where we stop pretending the midterms will save us. Where we recognize that power doesn’t wait for ballots.

It seizes. It devours. It installs.

“You don’t counter that with civility.”

If your union doesn’t strike, form a new one.

If your senators won’t stand, primary them.

If your university caves, flood their boardroom.

If your news station lies, turn them off. Starve their ratings. Drown them in silence.

And if they outlaw protest itself—walk anyway. In packs. At night. With cameras. With lawyers. With resolve.

We are not the ones breaking the compact.

But we might be the only ones left to honor it.

Emma left the photo on the dash, angled toward the passenger seat. Her father’s face caught the light, the glass cracked down the center.

She turned the key anyway.

__________________

Bibliography

1. Media Matters for America. “Heritage Foundation President Celebrates Supreme Court Immunity Decision: ‘We Are in the Process of the Second American Revolution.’” July 2, 2024. https://www.mediamatters.org/project-2025/heritage-foundation-president-celebrates-supreme-court-immunity-decision-we-are Provides primary coverage of Kevin Roberts’ remarks on Steve Bannon’s webcast endorsing the Supreme Court’s Trump immunity ruling.

2. Hillyard, Vaughn. “Poll: Project 2025 Broadly Known, Severely Unpopular with Voters.” NBC News, September 10, 2024. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/poll-project-2025-broadly-known-severely-unpopular-voters-rcna172660 Details public opinion polling that found Project 2025 had extremely low approval ratings among all voter groups.

3. Kruse, Michael. “The Man Behind the Right’s New Plan for Power.” New York Times Magazine, January 21, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/21/magazine/heritage-foundation-kevin-roberts.html Profiles Kevin Roberts and his leadership of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initiative.

4. Democracy Docket. “What Is Project 2025—and Why Is It Alarming?” June 2024. https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-is-project-2025-and-why-is-it-alarming/ Explains the contents and implications of Project 2025 as a roadmap to authoritarian governance.

5. Heritage Foundation. Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. Washington, DC: Heritage Foundation, 2024. https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf Serves as the full text of Project 2025, outlining the proposed overhaul of the U.S. federal government.

6. Broadwater, Luke. “Right-Wing Groups Draw Up Plan to Dismantle the U.S. Government.” New York Times, July 3, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/03/us/politics/heritage-foundation-2025-policy-america.html Reports on how conservative organizations are preparing to implement Project 2025 within the federal government.

7. Marshall, Josh. “Here We Are.” Talking Points Memo, July 3, 2024. https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/here-we-are-2 Offers commentary on the erosion of institutional norms and the advance of the Project 2025 agenda.

8. Jaffe, Greg, and Maggie Haberman. “Trump’s Defense Secretary Interviews General Nominees.” New York Times, July 29, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/29/us/politics/generals-trump.html Reveals that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is requiring generals to interview personally with Trump.

9. Politico. “Federal Employees Can Now Preach Faith at Work.” July 28, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/28/trump-federal-employees-preach-faith-work-00480696 Covers new Office of Personnel Management guidance allowing proselytization in federal workplaces.

10. NPR. “Columbia University Settlement Details with Trump Administration.” July 25, 2025. https://www.npr.org/2025/07/25/nx-s1-5479240/columbia-trump-administration-settlement-details Details Columbia’s $221 million settlement and policy changes in exchange for restored federal funding.

11. Friedman, Lisa. “CBS Merger Approval Hinges on Conservative Media Compliance.” New York Times, July 24, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/business/media/fcc-skydance-merger-paramount.html Describes the FCC’s political conditions for approving the CBS–Skydance merger.

12. Pulliam, John. “Supreme Court Puts Humphrey’s Executor on Death Bed.” National Review, July 25, 2025. https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/supreme-court-puts-humphreys-executor-on-death-bed/ Analyzes how the Court’s decision undermines protections for independent federal agencies.

13. Friedman, Lisa. “EPA Proposes to Rescind Climate Endangerment Finding.” New York Times, July 22, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/22/climate/epa-endangerment-finding-rescind.html Breaks the story of the EPA’s attempt to erase the scientific basis for regulating greenhouse gases.

14. CNN. “Justice Department Whistleblowers Allege Lawbreaking in Migrant Deportations.” July 27, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/27/politics/justice-department-official-second-whistleblower Reports on DOJ officials being told to ignore court orders related to migrant flights.

15. CBS News. “Senate Confirms Emil Bove to Circuit Court.” July 30, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-emil-bove/ Details the Senate confirmation of Emil Bove despite whistleblower allegations of misconduct.

16. Politico. “Senate Confirms Emil Bove Despite Whistleblower Allegations.” July 29, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/29/senate-confirms-emil-bove-to-third-circuit-as-dems-fail-to-thwart-trump-pick-00482965 Reinforces bipartisan concern over Bove’s behavior and Trump’s judicial appointments.

17. The Hill. “Trump’s Tariffs Head Back to Court.” July 30, 2025. https://thehill.com/newsletters/the-gavel/5426300-trumps-tariffs-back-in-court/ Tracks ongoing legal challenges to Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs.

18. Mehrotra, Dhruv. “The FBI’s Epstein Prison Video Had Nearly 3 Minutes Cut Out.” Wired, July 15, 2025. https://www.wired.com/story/the-fbis-jeffrey-epstein-prison-video-had-nearly-3-minutes-cut-out/ Investigates discrepancies and edits in DOJ video footage from Epstein’s jail cell.

19. Reuters. “Trump Targets Brazil with Trade Squeeze.” July 30, 2025. https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/trumps-brazil-trade-squeeze-gives-tariff-challengers-fresh-legal-ammunition-2025-07-30/ Shows how Trump’s tariffs are being used to retaliate against foreign governments for political reasons.

20. Politico. “Bessent Says Trump Accounts Are Path to Privatizing Social Security.” July 30, 2025. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/30/bessent-trump-accounts-backdoor-privatize-social-security-00484859 Covers Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s remarks on the privatization of Social Security.

21. BBC News. “Sex Trafficking Victim Virginia Giuffre Dies by Suicide.” July 2025. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cyvn7ee3539o Reports on Giuffre’s death and the renewed scrutiny of Epstein’s connections to Trump.

22. The Washington Post. “Trump Links Epstein Rift to Employee Theft.” July 29, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/29/trump-epstein-virginia-giuffre-mar-a-lago-spa/ Details Trump’s comments on Epstein and Virginia Giuffre, raising new questions about his past.