Fredonia Project Sitrep 18 Us Domestic
DATE-TIME GROUP: 301800ZSEPTEMBER25
FROM: EMBASSY OF FREDONIA, WASHINGTON D.C.
TO: MFA NAGADOCHES
CLASSIFICATION: CONEOFSILENCE // FREDONIAN EYES ONLY
SUBJECT: SITREP 18 “THE FREDONIA PROJECT” – OBSERVATIONAL DISPATCHES FROM AMERICA IN CRISIS SEPTEMBER 12-30 2025
SUMMARY:
IN ACCORDANCE WITH MFA DIRECTIVE 1826-APRIL-1, THIS EMBASSY HAS INITIATED A REGULAR SERIES OF ANALYTICAL DISPATCHES REGARDING THE INTERNAL DYNAMICS OF THE UNITED STATES. THE SERIES, DESIGNATED “THE FREDONIA PROJECT,” WILL BE CIRCULATED UNDER STANDARD SITREP PROTOCOL. UNAUTHORIZED PUBLICATION HAS BEEN OBSERVED VIA THIRD-PARTY ENTITY KNOWN AS “THE STEADY STATE.” PRESUMED LEAK. NO ACTION REQUIRED.
The two weeks since our last Sitrep have seen the Trump Administration and their allies respond to every manner of event with a boiling cauldron of anger, vitriol and dishonesty, the likes of which can only be found in particularly nasty social media postings. Trump and his posse/s have broken laws, violated regulations, ignored truth, all with an eye toward performative nastiness and stoking division. And, we fear that we have not even come close to seeing the end of this.
On September 10, 2025, Charlie Kirk, an extraordinarily influential young conservative with very close ties to President Trump was murdered while he was speaking at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking at an outdoor campus event that thousands of people were attending. Kirk was rushed out of the area, and pronounced dead at the hospital a short time later.
The alleged shooter, Tyler Robinson, was arrested and charged with aggravated murder. Members of his family recognized Robinson from the surveillance photographs shown after the incident, and worked to have him peacefully surrender. DNA evidence was found on the weapon. Despite calls for restraint from some members of the Trump administration, Trump and his allies escalated the tensions and have continued to do so for the last 17 days.
The alleged shooter was raised in Washington, Utah, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He has two younger brothers, his mother is a social worker and his father is a business owner. The family has been described as Trump-supporting and Republican. (Ambassador Comment: The United States has witnessed political assassinations and violence before, after which the country’s leadership worked to establish and maintain calm while fully investigating the actual facts of the case. That is in the “before times;” President Trump and his allies have spent the time since the assassination whipping up fear and anger against the “other side,” the so-called ”left-wing terrorists of Antifa.”
For the record, Antifa stands for “anti-fascists” and began in the 1930’s in response to the increased number of fascist governments in Europe. Today, Antifa is an ideology that promotes democracy over fascism. It is loosely organized and as such it is difficult to determine the number of followers. People self-labeling as Antifa are extraordinarily active online, which leads some to believe that Antifa is a well-organized group with tens of thousands of adherents. It is not.)
In the wake of Kirk’s murder, freedom of speech was in danger of being suspended. Across the board, the Trump administration sought to define what could and could not be said about Charlie Kirk. In too many situations. Jimmy Kimmel accused “the MAGA gang” of using Kirk’s murder for political gain, and ridiculed Trump’s public grieving. ABC, a large TV network in the US, (Ambassador Comments: the “C” in the network’s name has nothing to do with Courage, whether applied to the original action or the rapid reversal of it.) indefinitely suspended Kimmel, which, unsurprisingly, thrilled Trump and emboldened him to continue his attacks on other late night tv hosts.
The public response to ABC’s suspension of Kimmel was rapid and significant and cited freedom of speech concerns. It included boycotts and economic actions against Disney which owns ABC. The reversal has been seen as a response to aggressive action against Disney and its suspension of Kimmel. On the first night of Kimmel’s return to ABC’s late night television, his viewership skyrocketed, and reached between 6.2 and 6.3 million viewers, the highest viewership ratings in a decade. Between his first night on tv and online over the following days, Kimmel’s monologue ultimately reached 26 million people. (Ambassador Comments: Disney was pretty brave during the Biden administration in standing up to Florida Governor DeSantis when he attacked Disney for being too tolerant of LGBTQ individuals. Not so much right now.)
Also, during this time, President Trump continued his crusade to weaken American democracy and sweep additional political power into the executive branch. Trump took executive actions, made public statements, and embarked upon policy initiatives, each of which had major impacts on the U.S. economy and the state of democracy.
Key events included an especially appalling “address” to the UN General Assembly which was a confused and meandering list of lies and distortions. Trump’s speech included fictions about reality, the UN itself, climate change, trade and economic policies, and appeared to create an alternate reality.
Other efforts by Trump during this time included aggressive new tariff and trade policies, federal workforce layoff threats tied to a potential shutdown, coal sector expansion measures, immigration restrictions, and moves to centralize executive authority. These actions and statements ensured additional significant economic turmoil, heightened uncertainty, and concentrated power in the executive branch. And, each statement Trump made, and each action he took, continued his battle against US democracy, norms and institutions. (Ambassador Comments: We have attended and watched UNGA speeches over the years, and this one seemed to be the most unhinged, the most fact-free, the most grievance-filled and grievance-motivated address anyone had ever seen, in the UN or in any government presentation ever. The Fredonian delegation watched in fascinated horror as the leader of the United States and the Free World ranted, raved and left the real world for some fictional place for over an hour. The audience at the UN experienced a new level of shock and alarm at Trump’s detached, disconnected and disjointed harangue. We all avoided making eye contact with the delegation from the US.)