Trump Seized Union Station. The Flood Has Begun.

From Union Station to your town square: the federal creep is no longer theory.

Trump Seized Union Station. The Flood Has Begun.

From Union Station to your town square: the federal creep is no longer theory.

The Jack Hopkins Now Newsletter #507: Wednesday, August 27th, 2025.

I. A City Under Siege…and a Nation at a Pivot

This morning…the Trump administration dramatically seized control of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station…once a symbol of national grandeur and unity.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Department of Transportation…would reclaim management of the colossal transport hub…trading Amtrak and its partner nonprofit stewardship…for direct federal control.

The station…declared “fallen into disrepair,” is now to be “reclaimed,” revamped… beautified…modernized…all under the iron hand of Project 2025.

This isn’t an isolated act; it’s another bold stroke in a sweeping federal consolidation. From policing the capital…to patrolling with National Guard troops…to displacing local democratic authority…the Trump administration is asserting unprecedented control…striking at the heart of municipal autonomy.

These moves are fast-moving, high-stakes. History is accelerating. Americans everywhere are waking up to a stark reality: Project 2025 isn’t a distant threat…it’s here…it’s bold…and it's breathing down the nation’s neck.

II. The Ugly Reality…or Is It Even Worse Than That?

Let’s be clear…and unwaveringly honest…about the gravity of this moment.

1. Federal Power Versus Local Sovereignty

What’s happening to Union Station isn’t just administrative. It’s a symbolic and literal stripping of D.C.’s sovereignty. The station sits within the shadow of the Capitol…and yet control…is being wrested away from local hands. That’s not progress…it’s precedent.

2. A Surge in Militarized Governance

Federally deployed National Guard troops now patrol city streets…clean up graffiti… and pick up trash…double-paid guardians standing in for local governments. While crime statistics may show some gains…trust is unraveling…and civil spaces are being militarized.

3. The Danger of Narrative: “Safety at Any Cost”

The administration frames these actions as restoration…“safe,” “beautiful,” “efficient.” But the cost is far greater: the suppression of dissent…the truncation of democratic norms…and the sacrifice of community trust on the altar of order.

4. A Rapid-Burn Project with No Pause Button

Project 2025 is not unfolding in months…but days. Managers ousted…agreements renegotiated…control formalized by September. The pace is relentless.

So yes…the picture is ugly. Vast power is being centralized. Civil institutions are under siege. And the machinery of governance is shifting…fast…slick…and shockingly unopposed so far.

III. What Comes Next? Eyes Forward: The Forecast

If Project 2025 continues to roll forward unchecked, the map of American governance will radically change.

1. Expansion of Federal Takeovers

Union Station will not end with Union Station. This is a template: strategic hubs…transportation…infrastructure…local police…become federal turf. Expect more cities and institutions to fall under direct control…justified by “efficiency” and “safety.”

2. Normalization of Federal Authority

Guard deployments…surveillance…civilian operations…cleanups…policing…even retail oversight…are blending into everyday life. Federal presence becomes municipal presence…subverting local democratic accountability.

3. Erosion of Democracy Through Incrementalism

One takeover…one trooper at a time…democracy erodes not with explosions but with infiltration. The norm shifts silently: federal management is seen as the new routine… the new default.

4. Resistance as the Tipping Force

But here’s the counter-force: awareness…mobilization…refusal to accept “inevitability.” Because Project 2025’s speed is its strength…and our awareness is its only brake.

IV. The Third Monkey’s Call: Don’t Let “It’s Too Late” Be Your Spiderweb

Imagine you're the third monkey climbing the ladder to Noah’s Ark. Behind you: the waters rising. The top two monkeys already reached safety. You’re next…but you hesitate…paralyzed by the flood. Those behind whisper: “It’s all over. Too late.”

This is the mindset Project 2025 is banking on: that Americans will see the federal creep…feel smothered by it…and surrender…not with one explosion…but with resignation. Don’t yield to that fatalism.

Hear this thunderous truth: Now is not the time to give in.

Resistance is not futile…it is urgent. Because resignation is the most dangerous word in the book of freedom.

V. Your Duty…Your Fire: Rise with Purpose

I’m not asking you to believe in fake hope…I’m invoking real obligation. Just like the third monkey…you must climb.

• Awareness Is Action. Spread the word. Write the op-ed. Share this newsletter. Illuminate what’s happening…not as abstract policy…but as erosion of our way of life.

• Engagement Is Power. Support local leaders…councils…grassroots movements. Watch budgets…vote in local elections…demand accountability from your representatives.

• Hold Infrastructure Sacred. Union Station isn’t just a transit hall. It's a public trust. Every takeover like this chips away at the public square…insist transit… public spaces…and local governance remain democratic.

• Reject Fatalism. Every time you hear “It’s too late,” respond: Not on my watch. Not while I breathe.

• Forge Forward. Our democracy needs people who refuse to be the third monkey who gives up. It needs people who climb…claw…and fight…not because victory is guaranteed…but because the fight itself is the declaration of freedom.

VI. This is Critical

Let’s stop mincing words.

What’s happening with Union Station isn’t about making trains run on time…any more than Mussolini’s promises were.

It’s about a test case. A dry run. A way to see if the American people…will shrug and swallow yet another pill of federal control…washed down with syrupy slogans about “safety” and “progress.”

And if you’ve studied power…and I have…you know what happens next.

First, they seize the places you see. Union Station. The airports. The monuments. They wrap the takeover in neon lights and make you cheer for the spectacle. Then…quietly… they sink their claws into the places you don’t see.

Budgets. Agencies. Hiring policies. Surveillance protocols. Pretty soon…the same hand that’s scrubbing graffiti at Union Station…is turning the key on your free speech… your town’s budget…your kid’s curriculum.

That’s not paranoia. That’s the playbook. It always has been.

Project 2025 at Warp Speed

Project 2025 is not politics. It’s not legislation. It’s not debate. It’s a sledgehammer.

And it’s swinging faster than anyone predicted. If you thought this would be a slow boil…forget it. They’ve turned the heat all the way up and the pot is already spitting.

And here’s where the fatalists get it wrong. The ones moaning “it’s too late.”

No…it’s not.

That line is the exact fertilizer tyranny grows in. That line is music to their ears. Because if you believe it’s too late…you stop fighting. You stop resisting. You hand them the keys and you even bow while doing it.

That is not who we are.

The Third Monkey Doctrine

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: be the third monkey climbing to Noah’s Ark. The sky cracking open…the rain already pouring…the storm about to drown the earth…and you climb anyway.

Because what’s the alternative? Standing in the mud…whining about how it’s too late… while the flood waters close over your head?

Hell no.

You fight because that’s what makes you alive. You fight…because the act of resistance itself…is the only antidote to despair. You fight…because future generations will either curse your cowardice…or rise on your courage. There’s no middle ground.

Voices From the Ground

“They told us it was about cleaning up a station. But when the Guard is patrolling your street, it doesn’t feel like progress—it feels like occupation.” — A Washington commuter

“I don’t care if they make the station shine like a diamond. If we’ve lost our say in who runs it, what did we gain?” — A small business owner near Union Station

“I gave 30 years of my life to those rails. Today, I feel like they were stolen overnight. This isn’t about service. It’s about power.” — Retired Amtrak engineer

You can’t tell me ordinary Americans don’t see through this charade. They do. They feel it in their gut. They may not articulate it in think-tank white papers…but they know.

And here’s the Hopkins truth: fear cuts two ways. It paralyzes the weak. It galvanizes the strong.

Which one are you?

Noah Didn’t Wait for Permission

I’m agnostic…but I still recognize the power of stories as a powerful communication tool. You want to know what kills movements? Waiting for permission. Waiting for the perfect moment. Waiting until someone else organizes the rally…calls the rep… writes the op-ed.

Newsflash: Noah didn’t wait for a committee vote. He started hammering the Ark… before a drop of rain fell. And the people who laughed at him…were the first to drown.

So here’s the raw deal:

You don’t need permission. You need urgency. You need the fire that says, “not on my watch.” You need to reject the easy lie of “it’s too late” and embrace the harder…scarier…truer path of it’s not too late if I move.

That’s what separates the spectators from the history-makers.

From Me…to You

I’ve seen people throw up their hands. I’ve seen good men and women give in because the mountain looked too steep. And I’ve buried friends…who wished they had one more chance to stand…one more chance to resist.

So let me put it in the plainest Hopkins terms possible:

If you think it’s too late…you’ve already lost.

If you think resistance doesn’t matter…you’re already complicit.

But if you understand that climbing…even when the sky is splitting and the flood is rising….is the only thing that gives meaning to this brief life we’ve been granted… then you’re already on the ladder.

And brother/sister…it’s starting to rain.

Climb.

VII. Final Words: The Storm Starts Now…Be the Lightning

Yes…the station has been seized. The Guard is patrolling. Project 2025 is unrolling. The asphalt is cracking…and the floodwater is rising.

But remember:

Light shines brightest in busts. Hope burns strongest at midnight. And democracy… democracy trembles…then rages at dawn when someone refuses to let gloom define them.

So climb…climb…climb. Be the third monkey who rises…who doesn’t whisper surrender….but bellows…from the heart of this storm:

“It’s not over. Not while I stand.”

So here we are. Union Station is no longer a train hub…it’s a warning flare. Project 2025 is not theory…it’s practice…and it’s practicing on you.

The question is not whether the flood is coming…it’s already here.

The only question that matters is whether you will stand…climb…and fight…or whether you’ll drown whispering “it’s too late.”

History doesn’t wait for the hesitant. It remembers the ones who moved anyway. And now it’s your move.

I’ll be back soon. Depending on how things go…maybe again by this evening’s end.

Yours in resistance,

-Jack