Freedom Over Fascism: Resist Project 2025 for March 21, 2026
Gas prices spike as Trump wages war on Iran — now the government is threatening journalists and convicting protesters as terrorists. This is Project 2025.
They’re Counting on You to Look Away from Project 2025. Don’t.
Authoritarianism doesn’t just seize power — it silences anyone who might tell the truth about it. This week, the Trump administration sent gas prices soaring with a war it still can’t fully explain, then threatened to strip television licenses from stations covering that war too honestly. The Pentagon moved to turn a 160-year-old military newspaper into a potential propaganda outlet. And in Texas, a jury convicted eight protesters as domestic terrorists — for wearing black. These are not separate stories. They are one blueprint.
The Project 2025 playbook depends on you being too angry about gas prices to notice the press crackdown, and too overwhelmed by the war to notice the courthouse. Your attention is still the most powerful tool we have.
What Happened: This Week's Project 2025 Stories
⛽ Energy Secretary Admits: No Guarantees Gas Prices Will Drop After Trump’s War on Iran
Gas prices have surged more than 76 cents per gallon since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began, with the critical Strait of Hormuz closed to shipping and crude oil briefly hitting triple digits. The administration’s own energy secretary went on national television and admitted there are no guarantees prices will come down — while defending the pain as a short-term cost for long-term geopolitical gain. The administration’s own department projects prices won’t return to pre-war levels before the end of 2027. HuffPost
Why This Matters: When the government launches a war and working families feel it first at the pump, they deserve honest answers — not vague promises. This is not a market fluctuation. It is a policy choice, and ordinary people are paying the price.
📰 Hegseth Moves to Turn Military Newspaper Into a Pentagon Propaganda Arm
The Pentagon issued an 8-page memo requiring the independent Stars & Stripes military newspaper to publish content “consistent with good order and discipline” — military justice language that could expose staff reporters who are active-duty service members to court-martial for writing stories the Defense Department dislikes. The memo also bars the paper from using wire services like the Associated Press, cutting troops deployed in war zones off from independent news. Mother Jones
Why This Matters: Stars & Stripes has served U.S. troops since the Civil War. When the government threatens reporters with court-martial for honest journalism, it isn’t protecting the military — it’s using the military to shield itself from accountability.
📡 FCC Chair Threatens to Strip TV Licenses Over Iran War Coverage
The FCC chairman publicly threatened to revoke broadcast licenses from television stations he accused of running “hoaxes and news distortions” about the Iran war, directly echoing President Trump’s complaints. The move follows a pattern of regulatory intimidation — including CBS spiking a political interview out of fear of FCC retaliation, and the earlier suspension of a late-night host after administration pressure. Mother Jones
Why This Matters: The FCC’s own website states the First Amendment prohibits it from censoring broadcast content. Carr knows this. The threat is the point. When newsrooms self-censor out of fear, a free press dies — not through a ban, but through intimidation.
✊ Wearing Black to a Protest Is Now “Terrorism” Under Trump
A federal jury in Texas convicted eight people of material support for terrorism because they wore all-black clothing to a July 4th protest outside an ICE detention facility — even though only one person fired a weapon. The charges were escalated from attempted murder to terrorism only after Trump designated “antifa” a domestic terror group, despite it being a political identity, not an organization. Legal experts warn the verdict sets a precedent for criminalizing constitutionally protected protest. Truthout
Why This Matters: “Antifa” is not a group — and a jury just convicted people as terrorists for how they dressed. The government itself announced this will not be the last such case. Every activist and organizer who has ever marched should be paying close attention to what just happened in Fort Worth.
💔 Why It Matters and Who Is Harmed by Project 2025
Think about the truck driver watching gas prices eat his paycheck while the Energy Secretary shrugs on television. The military journalist weighing whether a story might cost them their freedom. The local news anchor wondering if tonight’s Iran report will trigger a license threat from Washington. The young activist who wore black to protest a detention facility and is now a convicted terrorist.
These are not abstract policy failures. Project 2025 was designed to make people feel this — the economic squeeze, the silenced press, the chilling effect that keeps the next protester home. The harm is already here. And the communities in its path — working families, truth-tellers, journalists, and anyone who dares to say this is wrong — are the same communities that have always been in the crosshairs of authoritarian power.
Why the Grassroots Resistance Can’t Wait
People Power United believes that an informed, organized community is the most powerful force for democracy. Every time you read, share, call your representatives, or show up — you are actively resisting Project 2025. You are not powerless. You are exactly who they are afraid of.
💥Your Power in Action: What You Can Do Today
Take Action: Block Trump’s AI-Powered Warrantless Surveillance of Americans
Take action: Tell Congress to pass the War Powers Resolution and stop Trump’s illegal war in Iran
📢 Take action: Submit an official comment rejecting the criminalization of dissent
💸 Take action: This Tax Day, tell Congress to tax the rich and make life more affordable for working people and families
🗳️ Take action: Tell Congress to stop the SAVE America Act and defend the right to vote
🪖 Take action: Tell Congress to stop Trump from sending American troops into Iran and vote no on the draft
🛑 Take Action Now: Tell Congress: Block the $10 billion scam to fund Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace
🗳️ Bonus action: Register to vote, vote in every election, and help your community do the same. Reproductive freedom is won and lost at the ballot box.
👑 Bonus action: Sign up for the next national No Kings Day of Action and show up in solidarity with everyone whose rights are under attack.
The movement for resisting project 2025 starts here.
🔍 The Bigger Picture: This Is What Authoritarianism Looks Like
Start a war. Spike the prices. When the press reports what’s actually happening, threaten to silence them. Designate your political opponents as terrorists. Use the courthouse to make the next protest feel too dangerous to attend. That is not governance. It is authoritarian consolidation — and it has a name: Project 2025. It is running on schedule.
Every authoritarian movement in history has used these same tools. And every one has eventually been stopped by people who refused to be silenced or scared. The Stars & Stripes editor who said no. The defense lawyer who told that Texas jury: you are the only ones who can stop this. The journalist who reports the story anyway. We are those people. People Power United exists because organized, informed communities are the only force that has ever beaten this playbook.
📢 What Comes Next: Keep Being Loud
⛽ GAS PRICES — Demand your Congressional representatives hold public hearings on the economic cost of the Iran war.
📰 PRESS FREEDOM — Contact your senators and representatives and demand they publicly oppose the Pentagon’s Stars & Stripes memo and FCC license threats. A free press is not negotiable.
📡 FCC ACCOUNTABILITY — File a public comment with the FCC opposing the use of licensing as a political weapon. Let Brendan Carr know the public is watching.
✊ PROTEST RIGHTS — Donate to the National Lawyers Guild and support those being prosecuted for lawful assembly.
Together, we can champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people’s will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.
Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests) Leader, People Power United
People Power United | In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry!
Join the Resistance
People Power United is a grassroots movement dedicated to resisting Project 2025 and defending democracy for everyone. If this newsletter informed or moved you, share it with someone who needs it. Follow us. Stay loud. We are stronger together.