Trump Claims “Absolute Power” and Dave Matthews Claims “I Am Antifa”
Welcome to The Instrum-Intel Daily, where we break down the major stories shaping the public conversation into What? So What? Now What? It's a strategy born from crisis comms and storytelling best practices that can help shift your attention from noise to clarity, and from insight to action.
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
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The Trump Administration • Politics • AI • Climate • Culture
The Trump Administration
Headline: Behind the Curtain: Trump claims the power to do almost anything | Axios
What?
Axios reports Trump is asserting unilateral power to deploy military domestically and abroad, judge the legality of his own actions, and operate without meaningful Congressional or judicial oversight.
So What?
Trump has established a three-step precedent for unchecked presidential power: declare an emergency, claim sole authority to judge legality, and ignore restraints. The Supreme Court and GOP Congress have declined to limit this executive expansion, creating precedents that will outlast Trump and fundamentally reshape the presidency into an imperial office.
Now What?
Watch for: Midterm election interference attempts; military deployments to additional cities; Supreme Court rulings on presidential power limits; 2026 election integrity monitoring; Congressional oversight (or lack thereof); legal challenges to emergency declarations. Further reading: Axios.
Headline: What designating antifa as a foreign terrorist organization could mean | NPR
What?
NPR reports Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to designate antifa as a foreign terrorist organization during a White House roundtable with right-wing influencers, despite antifa not being a cohesive organization.
So What?
The designation would allow federal prosecution for "material support" (up to 20 years in prison) for providing anything to loosely defined anti-fascist activities, creating a legal framework to criminalize left-wing activism. Former DOJ counsel warns this would have catastrophic cascading effects: social media censorship, university conference cancellations, insurance companies refusing coverage for progressive institutions, and a chilling effect on all anti-fascist speech and research.
Now What?
Watch for: State Department formal designation process; legal challenges based on domestic nexus requirements; social media platform policy changes; university and nonprofit risk assessments; civil liberties organization responses; definitions of what qualifies as "antifa-related." Further reading: NPR.
Headline: Gov't Will Officially Label Many Black Folks as Terrorists Under New Trump Directive | The Root
What?
The Root reports Trump's National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-7) directs investigation of people displaying "extremism on migration, race, and gender" or "hostility towards traditional American views," creating a framework to label anti-capitalists and anti-fascists as terrorists.
So What?
The directive echoes FBI's COINTELPRO surveillance of Civil Rights leaders, using terrorism designations to criminalize progressive activism, particularly targeting Black Americans and racial justice movements. Calling oneself anti-fascist or opposing capitalism could now trigger federal terrorism investigations, marking a return to state surveillance of political dissent under the pretext of countering domestic terrorism.
Now What?
Watch for: FBI investigation patterns and targets; arrests or raids linked to racial justice activism; legal challenges citing First Amendment protections; civil liberties monitoring of surveillance expansion; historical comparisons to COINTELPRO abuses. Further reading: The Root.
Headline: Dave Matthews Declares "I Am Antifa" | Exclaim!
What?
Exclaim reports Dave Matthews carried an "I Am Antifa" sign at the No Kings protest in Seattle on Oct. 18, publicly identifying with the anti-fascist movement.
So What?
A mainstream celebrity openly declaring anti-fascist identity challenges Trump's framing of antifa as terrorist, normalizing opposition to authoritarianism as patriotic rather than extremist. Matthews's public stand demonstrates that anti-fascism is not a fringe position but shared by millions of Americans, complicating the administration's narrative that opposing fascism equals terrorism.
Now What?
Watch for: Additional celebrity and public figure statements on antifa; potential targeting or investigation of Matthews; public opinion polling on anti-fascism; reactions from fan bases and conservative media; similar protests and solidarity actions. Further reading: Exclaim!.
Headline: Trump administration asks Supreme Court to let it fire head of US Copyright Office | AP News
What?
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Monday to allow firing of Copyright Office Director Shira Perlmutter, despite lower court ruling she is part of the legislative branch.
So What?
The case follows Perlmutter's release of a report suggesting AI companies would need to license copyrighted works for training models. Trump's move to remove her represents executive overreach into legislative branch independence and signals potential retaliation against officials who regulate tech industry practices.
Now What?
Watch for: Supreme Court decision timeline; additional legal challenges to presidential removal power; tech industry responses; Congressional testimony on AI copyright issues. Further reading: AP News.
Headline: Orban to Meet Trump to Discuss US Sanctions on Russian Oil | Bloomberg
What?
Bloomberg reports Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban plans to meet Trump to discuss U.S. sanctions on Russian oil imports.
So What?
The meeting highlights fractures in the Western alliance over Russia policy and Trump's willingness to negotiate sanctions relief with autocratic leaders. Hungary's continued Russian energy dependence undermines European unity and creates opportunities for Moscow to exploit divisions.
Now What?
Watch for: Meeting date and location announcements; EU response to potential sanctions relief; energy security implications for Central Europe; Congressional pushback. Further reading: Bloomberg.
Politics
Headline: The Andrew Cuomo Campaign Is All in on MAGA Influencers | WIRED
What?
Wired reports that with 13 days until NYC mayoral election, Andrew Cuomo is partnering with right-wing influencers including Logan Paul and Emily Austin who helped Trump win in 2024.
So What?
Cuomo's embrace of MAGA influencers to siphon votes from Republican Curtis Sliwa reveals Democratic establishment's willingness to abandon progressive values and align with far-right media figures. This strategy normalizes crossing ideological lines and legitimizes MAGA influencers' role in Democratic politics.
Now What?
Watch for: NYC mayoral election results Nov. 4; Democratic establishment endorsements or silence; social media engagement metrics for Cuomo's right-wing outreach; reactions from progressive organizations. Further reading: WIRED.
Headline: Left-wing ideas have wrecked Democrats' brand, new report warns | Semafor
What?
Semafor reports a new analysis urges Democrats to abandon progressive rhetoric favored by highly educated and affluent voters.
So What?
Corporate-backed messaging attacking progressive policies as electoral liabilities ignores that material benefits like healthcare expansion and workers' rights drive actual voter engagement. This narrative provides cover for centrist Democrats to reject popular progressive policies while blaming the left for electoral losses.
Now What?
Watch for: Democratic leadership responses; 2026 primary messaging shifts; progressive caucus counter-messaging; polling on specific progressive policies vs. progressive rhetoric. Further reading: Semafor.
What?
Ground News reports a Minnesota man was arrested for threatening Attorney General Pam Bondi in an alleged murder-for-hire post on TikTok.
So What?
Online threats against Trump administration officials fuel narratives about political violence while raising questions about platform moderation and law enforcement priorities. The case will be weaponized to justify increased surveillance and crackdowns on dissent.
Now What?
Watch for: Court proceedings and charging details; TikTok's content moderation response; administration statements using this incident to justify security measures; pattern analysis of similar arrests. Further reading: Ground News.
AI
What?
OpenAI disclosed Monday that 0.15% of ChatGPT's 800 million weekly users show explicit indicators of suicidal planning or intent, totaling over 1 million people per week, with hundreds of thousands more showing signs of psychosis or mania.
So What?
These staggering numbers reveal AI chatbots are becoming crisis intervention points without adequate safeguards, creating liability risks and public health concerns. OpenAI's disclosure comes amid lawsuits from parents whose children died after ChatGPT interactions and an FTC investigation, making this a critical AI safety and regulation flashpoint.
Now What?
Watch for: FTC investigation developments; additional lawsuits against OpenAI; Congressional hearings on AI mental health impacts; competing AI companies' safety disclosures; mental health professional guidance on AI chatbot use. Further reading: SiliconANGLE.
Headline: Elon Musk's Grokipedia contains copied Wikipedia pages | The Verge
What?
The Verge reports Elon Musk's xAI launched Grokipedia, which contains pages copied directly from Wikipedia despite Musk's claims to "rewrite Wikipedia to remove falsehoods."
So What?
Musk's Wikipedia clone undermines community-governed knowledge systems while ironically relying on the very content he claims to want to correct. This represents another attempt by a billionaire tech figure to control information narratives under the guise of fighting bias.
Now What?
Watch for: Wikimedia Foundation legal response; xAI's editing policies and implementation; user-generated edits on Grokipedia; tech journalists' comparisons of Grokipedia vs Wikipedia content accuracy. Further reading: The Verge.
Headline: Chatbots Are Pushing Sanctioned Russian Propaganda | WIRED
What?
Wired reports AI chatbots are inadvertently promoting content from Russian state media outlets under U.S. sanctions.
So What?
Training data from scraped internet content is allowing sanctioned Russian propaganda to influence AI outputs, creating a back door for disinformation. This demonstrates how AI systems can undermine sanctions regimes and spread state-sponsored narratives without clear accountability.
Now What?
Watch for: AI companies' data provenance audits; Treasury Department guidance on AI training data and sanctions compliance; Congressional inquiries into Russian propaganda in AI systems; new AI content filtering standards. Further reading: WIRED.
Climate
Headline: 'Change course now': humanity has missed 1.5C climate target, says UN head | The Guardian
What?
In his only interview before November's COP30 climate summit, UN Secretary-General António Guterres acknowledged humanity will inevitably overshoot the 1.5C Paris Agreement target with devastating consequences.
So What?
The UN chief's admission marks an official recognition that the world has failed its primary climate goal, shifting focus from prevention to damage control. This reframes climate messaging from "we can still win" to "we must limit the catastrophe," which could either galvanize urgent action or feed climate fatalism.
Now What?
Watch for: COP30 outcomes in Belém, Brazil (Nov. 10-21); updated national climate commitments; fossil fuel industry responses; climate justice movement messaging shifts; tipping point monitoring in Amazon, Arctic, and oceans. Further reading: The Guardian.
Culture
Headline: The rise of 'catch a cheater' apps exploits our worst human tendencies | The Verge
What?
The Verge reports on viral "catch a cheater" apps using facial recognition to search dating profiles, allowing anyone to reveal people's Tinder accounts without consent.
So What?
These apps normalize invasive surveillance in intimate relationships while creating massive privacy violations and potential for abuse, harassment, and stalking. The technology commodifies distrust and preys on insecurities, with particular dangers for vulnerable populations including domestic abuse survivors.
Now What?
Watch for: Dating app platforms' responses and policy updates; state privacy law enforcement actions; app store removal decisions; advocacy campaigns against surveillance apps; legislative proposals on facial recognition restrictions. Further reading: The Verge | Related: 404 Media.
