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What Happened Today – April 17

April 17, 2025
GovBrief Intensity Score 136 🔴
High intensity. Big news cycle.
This is an indexed score based on news activity.
100 = our permanent historical baseline.
Today is 36% above normal.
Previous 5 Days 152 | 136 | 144 | 88 | 104

7 Day Trending Story Categories: Courts, Federal Personnel, Criminal Justice
7 Day Trending Topics: DHS, ICE, Tariffs

😶😰 The silence is growing because speaking out gets punished.

This week, a sitting senator in his own party said she’s afraid of the repercussions from fighting Trump. A retired cybersecurity official quit his private job to defend himself against an improper government probe. Reporters at NBC and the AP are being sidelined. Agencies are being ignored. And truth is being twisted, buried, or discredited.

Trump isn’t just wielding power. He’s training people to fear it.

🛑 So speak. Show up. Push back. That’s how fear breaks.