Trump’s Two-Pronged Attack: Defund the Nonprofits, Bully the Lawyers

Trump’s Two-Pronged Attack: Defund the Nonprofits, Bully the Lawyers

What do you get when you mix funding freezes, targeted crackdowns on nonprofits, and bullying law firms out of representing them?

You get a legal and civil rights crisis—strategically engineered.

A Washington attorney just broke it down: The Trump administration is using a two-pronged strategy straight out of a manipulative playbook.

• Step 1: Freeze Funding Without Warning
  Nonprofits and small businesses—especially those involved in clean energy, D&I, and advocacy work—are seeing their federal funding vanish without explanation. Many are now suing the government, but in court, the administration plays a dirty trick: during discovery, they go fishing through compliance documents and retroactively invent reasons to justify the funding cuts. That’s not due process. That’s extortion with a smile.
  
  

• Step 2: Intimidate the Lawyers
  Law firms representing clients whose policies go against Trump’s agenda—especially those working with nonprofits—are being punished. The administration has allegedly revoked their federal clearance, restricted access to federal buildings, and even told agents not to meet with them. The message? Represent the wrong people, and your career gets shut down.
  
  

The American Bar Association has sounded the alarm, and hundreds of lawyers have signed protest letters—but the damage is done. Some firms are too afraid to take cases against the administration. And that’s the plan.

The outcome?

• Nonprofits can’t access critical funding.
  
  

• Patients in experimental medical trials are left without treatment.
  
  

• And those who could fight back legally… can’t find a lawyer to take the case.
  
  

When you destroy the resources and the right to representation, you silence dissent.

And that’s not just unethical—it’s un-American.