Weaponizing Treason: How Both Democrats and Republicans Use Fear to Silence Dissent and Hide Economic Crimes

Eric Blair Dec 30, 25

When Criticism Becomes a Crime

On December 29, 2025, The New York Times published a piece detailing Donald Trump’s past ties to Jeffrey Epstein and concerns about his health in office. Within hours, Trump took to Truth Social and denounced the Times as a “TRUE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE” and a “serious threat to national security.” He suggested the reporting was “treasonous” and called for serious consequences.

Whether you support Trump or not, this marks a dangerous trend. We are entering an era where criticism of political leaders—regardless of party—is no longer treated as fair debate, but as criminal dissent. This is not a partisan issue. It is a systemic one, and it goes far deeper than one man.

Treason: Redefined by Every Administration

Let’s be clear: the U.S. Constitution narrowly defines treason as “levying war against [the United States], or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort.” That’s it. There’s a reason the Founders were strict. In monarchies, the term “treason” was used to silence anyone who questioned the king. Our founders saw firsthand how governments use “national security” as a club to beat down opposition.

Yet here we are—250 years later—and the term has become a political weapon again. Trump’s recent accusations mirror those hurled by Democrats after January 6, and by Republicans under George W. Bush, when the Times revealed the U.S. government was secretly conducting warrantless financial surveillance on Americans through SWIFT, the global banking network.

That revelation wasn’t treason. It was journalism. And it uncovered real criminal activity by the federal government.

When Surveillance Is the Crime, Not the Leak

The 2006 surveillance story should have rocked the nation. Treasury officials admitted that the U.S. had conducted “hundreds of thousands” of warrantless searches into the financial data of ordinary citizens and businesses. This wasn’t oversight. This was spying—economic spying.

But what happened instead? Politicians from both parties attacked the reporters and called them the traitors. The actual criminals—the ones who violated the Fourth Amendment—faced zero consequences.

Sound familiar?

When Edward Snowden exposed similar surveillance in 2013, the government labeled him a traitor, too. Why? Because he proved what the public wasn’t supposed to know: that their privacy was an illusion and their data was being harvested on an industrial scale. Snowden’s courage came at the cost of his freedom, and still, the system he exposed remains fully operational.

The Real Threat: Truth, Transparency, and Accountability

When presidents, Congress, and the security state all treat truth-telling as a hostile act, you are no longer in a constitutional republic. You’re in a soft police state, where dissent is punished, and silence is rewarded.

The deeper concern isn't just censorship. It’s what the government is hiding while it points fingers.

Consider this: Trump’s Justice Department declared months ago that there was “nothing left” to reveal in the Epstein case. Then—on Christmas Eve, of all days—the FBI quietly admitted they’d just “discovered” one million previously unreleased documents. That’s not transparency. That’s a cover-up.

And it’s not just Epstein. The courts are still uncovering new evidence about Saudi involvement in the 9/11 attacks—evidence that contradicts the official story told by four different presidents over 24 years. The American people were lied to. Again.

But the press is the problem?

Free Speech Isn’t a Threat—It’s the Last Defense

There is a reason the First Amendment comes first. You cannot fix a broken system if you are not allowed to talk about it. The 1971 Supreme Court ruling in the Pentagon Papers case drew a firm line in the sand: the government cannot censor the press to protect itself from embarrassment. Period.

Justice Hugo Black wrote, “Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.” That applies whether the deception is coming from the left or the right. And when leaders start labeling all dissent as treason, it’s time for citizens to ask what they’re trying to hide—and why they’re so desperate to keep it hidden.

Why This Matters for Your Money

The connections here are not just philosophical—they are economic.

When governments surveil without warrants, they’re not just invading your privacy; they’re tracking your financial behavior.

When they suppress dissent, they’re laying the groundwork to criminalize independent thought, including noncompliance with monetary policy or tax enforcement.

And when both major parties normalize treating free speech as sedition, you can bet they’ll do the same with alternative financial systems—like crypto, precious metals, or anything else that allows individuals to exit the official monetary regime.

It’s already happening. Just ask the banks freezing accounts linked to crypto platforms, or the IRS’s new surveillance power over PayPal and Venmo. Just ask the Canadians who had their bank accounts frozen during peaceful protests in 2022. It’s not a question of if this will escalate. It’s already begun.

The Bottom Line: Join the Fight for Economic Freedom

The problem isn’t just Trump. It wasn’t just Bush, or Obama, or Biden. The problem is a system that uses fear, surveillance, and media manipulation to crush transparency—and then blames patriots, journalists, or whistleblowers for pulling back the curtain.

This is why personal financial independence is no longer optional. It’s essential.

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