Dissent Is Not a Crime: Trump’s 250th Anniversary Order and the Criminalization of Protest

The United States will soon mark its 250th anniversary—a milestone meant to celebrate democracy, freedom, and the voices that shaped the nation. But instead of honoring the spirit of dissent that fueled the country’s founding, Trump’s latest executive order signals a return to state-sponsored suppression. Framed as a plan to celebrate America’s history, this order revives 2020’s aggressive anti-protest laws, weaponizing monument protection as a pretext for criminalizing demonstrations, rewriting historical narratives, and tightening federal control over public spaces. It’s not just a policy—it’s a warning shot at activism itself.

If this sounds familiar, it’s because we’ve seen this playbook before. From Portland’s Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, where federal agents abducted demonstrators in unmarked vans, to Indigenous activists arrested for challenging colonial monuments, Trump’s first term saw protests met with tear gas, rubber bullets, and mass arrests. His new executive order cements that legacy, ensuring that future movements—whether for racial justice, abortion rights, or climate action—will face even harsher federal crackdowns. Under the guise of “protecting history,” this administration is preemptively criminalizing the next generation of activists.

History tells us what happens when the government decides which protests are “acceptable.” Suffragettes were arrested and force-fed for demanding the right to vote. Civil Rights activists were brutalized for marching against segregation. Anti-war protesters at Kent State were shot down for opposing militarism. And now, in 2025, we are witnessing another attempt to silence dissent before it even begins. The question is no longer if these laws will be used to suppress activism, but when—and against whom.

1. Policy Content and Intent – What This Order Actually Does

Breaking Down the Executive Order:

• Establishes the “White House Task Force on Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday”
  • Chaired by Trump himself, with direct oversight over the planning and execution of events.
  • Tasked with organizing a nationally coordinated celebration, ensuring agencies participate in patriotic events.
  • Places the Department of Defense in charge, signaling an unusual militarization of a national celebration.
• Revives the “National Garden of American Heroes”
  • Originally introduced in 2020 but scrapped by Biden, this initiative mandates a curated list of 250 American historical figures to be honored in a national monument park.
  • Critics argue it promotes a sanitized, right-wing view of history, ignoring figures central to civil rights and labor movements while elevating conservative icons.
• Reinstates Trump’s Executive Order on “Protecting Monuments”
  • Reinstates federal crackdowns on protests near historical monuments, which were heavily criticized for targeting Black Lives Matter and Indigenous rights activists.
  • This explicitly cites recent vandalism linked to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, linking civil protest to “criminal violence.”

The Bottom Line? While framed as a celebration of America, this is a deeply political move designed to assert a specific nationalist vision of history, criminalize anti-establishment protests, and cement Trump’s ideological legacy ahead of the 2026 election.

2. Historical Context – The Politics of Patriotism & Monuments in America

History warns us that national celebrations can be weaponized for political gain.

• The U.S. Bicentennial (1976) was largely a grassroots and bipartisan effort, avoiding political partisanship.
• Trump’s 4th of July “Salute to America” (2019) shifted this model, turning it into a military spectacle with tanks in the streets and Air Force flyovers—criticized as an authoritarian display of power.
• The “Lost Cause” Monument Movement (1900s-1950s) used public statues to reshape history, glorifying Confederate leaders and rewriting the Civil War’s legacy.
• Reagan’s 1984 “Morning in America” Campaign rebranded patriotism as conservative nationalism, tying historical celebration to political messaging.

This executive order is a continuation of this strategy—using historical commemoration as a vehicle for modern political control.

3. Broader Policy Context – Tying This to Project 2025

How This Fits Into Trump’s Broader Authoritarian Strategy

Direct Quotes from the 2025 Mandate for Leadership:

• “The next conservative administration must reclaim America’s historical narrative from radical revisionists.” (Pg. 134)​
• “Patriotic education and monument protection are necessary to reinforce national identity and pride.” (Pg. 141)​
• “The destruction or defacement of historical sites should be met with swift and severe legal consequences.” (Pg. 145)​

This order is NOT just about celebrating history—it is about controlling history.

4: Predicted Outcomes and Probability Estimates – A Reality Check

This executive order isn’t just symbolic—it sets the stage for real legal consequences and a federal strategy to control protest spaces and historical narratives. Below is a breakdown of likely outcomes, their probabilities, and the precedents that make them almost inevitable.

Key Takeaways

The federal crackdown on protest is not a hypothetical—it is an inevitability.
The intent of this order is clear: criminalizing acts of dissent under the guise of historical preservation.
The legal precedent established here will expand into other areas, increasing penalties for activists, restricting movement, and enabling broader federal surveillance.

My Last Word: A Nation That Criminalizes Protest Has Lost Its Way

I was there. Portland, 2020. I remember the burning in my lungs as tear gas filled the streets, the chaos of flashbang grenades exploding overhead, and the unmarked federal vans pulling people away in the night. I watched police shove peaceful demonstrators down city blocks until they reacted, moving them from street to street, never letting them rest, never letting them disperse on their own terms. I saw them slash the tires of protest support vehicles, their owners standing by helplessly as their means of escape, or aid, or shelter, was rendered useless.

I watched journalists arrested, their press credentials ignored.
I watched medics in bright red crosses dragged away as if their bandages were weapons.
I watched protesters kneeling in the streets be met with rubber bullets, their crime simply refusing to move.

Portland was not an isolated event.

Nationwide, the 2020 protests against racial injustice were met with violent suppression.

• CNN’s Omar Jimenez was arrested live on air in Minneapolis—for doing his job as a journalist.
• Law enforcement in Minneapolis slashed the tires of vehicles parked near protest sites, including those belonging to journalists and medics.
• Amnesty International documented excessive force in over 125 U.S. cities, where police used tear gas, rubber bullets, and batons against peaceful protesters.
• The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker recorded at least 117 journalists arrested or detained while covering the protests.

And yet, now we are being told that America needs even harsher laws against protest—framed under the guise of “protecting our national history.”

This Executive Order on America’s 250th Anniversary is not just about celebrating history. It is a trojan horse for criminalizing dissent, suppressing public outcry, and rewriting the past to justify its own existence.

A Law Designed to Silence Protest

This order reinstates Trump’s 2020 executive order protecting monuments, a policy that was used to justify federal crackdowns on protesters in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Now, as America approaches its 250th birthday, it is being repackaged as a patriotic necessity.

But let’s be clear: This is not about preserving history. It is about controlling the present.

Historical Parallels: When Governments Suppress Dissent

We have seen this exact playbook before.
The Suffragettes (1917) – Arrested and force-fed in prison for protesting outside the White House.
The Civil Rights Movement (1960s) – MLK was jailed for peaceful protest. If Trump’s 2020 monument protection laws existed then, civil rights activists would have been treated as criminals.
The Anti-Vietnam War Protests (1970s) – The FBI infiltrated and sabotaged the movement, branding student activists as national security threats.
Kent State (1970) – National Guard fired into a crowd of student protesters, killing four.
Portland (2020) – Federal agents kidnapped protesters off the streets, unmarked vans disappearing into the night.

A government that criminalizes dissent is a government that fears accountability.

I Dissent.

I dissent against a government that uses history to justify silencing the present.
I dissent against the criminalization of protest, of activism, of free speech.
I dissent against the idea that patriotism means blind obedience to power.

History is not owned by the government.
It is not a weapon to be wielded against those who challenge the status quo.
It is not a justification for erasing voices that demand justice.

If America is to truly celebrate its 250th anniversary, it must embrace its full history—not just the sanitized version convenient to those in power.

Protest is not a crime. Dissent is not disloyalty. A government that punishes resistance is not a democracy.

We have seen this playbook before. We cannot allow it to be rewritten.

Citations and Relevant Links

• Official White House Executive Order on the 250th Anniversary Celebration
• Project 2025: Mandate for Leadership – The Heritage Foundation
• Amnesty International: Police Violence Against 2020 Protesters
• U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Journalists Arrested at Protests
• Portland 2020: Federal Crackdowns & Police Tactics
• ACLU Report on Monument Protection Laws and Protest Criminalization
• The Role of Protest in American Democracy – Smithsonian Magazine
• Brookings Institution: The Politics of American Historical Narratives
• GTNM Substack Article: “Dissent Is Not a Crime – Trump’s 250th Anniversary Order and the Crackdown on Protest”