In the Press

“Kristi Noem didn’t come up with the idea of calling protesters terrorists. Trump did,” said Amanda Carpenter, a former GOP Senate aide and now a researcher with the nonprofit group Protect Democracy.

“Trump owns the unlawful ICE operations,” said Carpenter, who was among many democracy advocates and authoritarian experts who warned that Trump would rule as an autocrat if returned to power. “He can move around and replace people in charge, but he is the one putting masked federal agents in the streets, issuing orders wrongly characterizing those who challenge his policies as domestic terrorists, and leading these authoritarian policies.”

Attorney Jared Davidson of Protect Democracy, representing the disenfranchised voters, said the ruling opens the door for disenfranchised voters in other southern states with readmission acts.

“While this decision applies only to Virginia, it provides a pathway for individuals in other former Confederate states across the South to have their voting rights protected,” Davidson said.

“The pardons for Jan. 6 rioters were extended to all violent criminals, his DOGE disaster with (billionaire donor Elon) Musk, his reckless foreign policy adventurism, gross politicization of the Justice Department and deployment of the military to 10 American cities are all instances where the stated threat was not taken seriously enough by people,” said Amanda Carpenter, once a Republican Senate aide and now a researcher with the Protect Democracy nonprofit group.

But intense, violent or even unlawful protests aren’t the same as widespread civil unrest.

“If invoked now, it would raise serious questions about the legality that the courts would consider,” said Ariela Rosenberg, a national security expert with the nonpartisan antiauthoritarian group Protect Democracy.

“This agreement marks another important step toward restoring trust in our public institutions,” Kenneth Parreno of Protect Democracy said in a statement.