A Warning to Federal Agents: Just Following Orders Will Not Save You
- john raymond
- Oct 13
- 2 min read
The Trump administration is approaching terminal velocity. Political gravity—like its physical counterpart—cannot be cheated forever, even by a man as skilled in blackmail and menace as Donald Trump.
The implosion is not a question of if but when.
Those who have hitched their careers, consciences, and pensions to this collapsing star would be wise to take note: when it goes, it will take you with it.
No uniform, badge, or clearance will protect those who break the law on behalf of a criminal regime. ICE, DHS, and FBI agents who have participated in unlawful detentions, disappearances, or politically motivated operations cannot hide behind the fiction of obedience. “Following orders” is not a defense in American law; it is an admission of guilt.
Legal Reality
Federal criminal statutes are unambiguous. Under 18 U.S.C. § 242, any officer acting “under color of law” who willfully deprives a person of constitutional rights is personally criminally liable.
Section 241 adds conspiracy liability even without an overt act. The Supreme Court’s Screws v. United States decision defines “willfulness” as intent to violate known rights, not robotic compliance with authority.
From Little v. Barreme (1804), where a naval officer was held liable despite presidential orders, through Nuremberg’s Principle IV, the message has been constant: illegality cannot be laundered through hierarchy.
Every officer’s oath is sworn to the Constitution—not to Donald Trump.
Political Reality
The edifice of this regime is built on coercion, deceit, and mutual incrimination. That makes it inherently unstable. Autocracies endure only while fear outweighs consequence; when the ratio inverts, collapse is instantaneous. Trump’s apparatus of intimidation—his threats, kompromat, and transactional loyalty—is already disintegrating under its own contradictions. The economy strains, the military seethes, the intelligence community distances itself, and even his allies in Congress quietly prepare their exit strategies. Every system, no matter how corrupted, eventually reverts to equilibrium. Political gravity is unforgiving.
Analytical Frame
Under the Raymond Method, Pillar One (Regime Security) explains why Trump demands personal loyalty over law: survival of the ruler supersedes all else.
Pillar Two (Asymmetric Warfare) reveals how he weaponizes bureaucratic obedience as cover for crimes that fracture accountability.
Pillar Three (Byzantine Traitor-General) predicts the scapegoating phase that always follows—where inner-circle loyalists are sacrificed to preserve the illusion of legitimacy.
When the implosion begins in earnest, agents and officials will discover they were never protected, only expendable.
Warning
Every command carries risk. The lawful order protects; the unlawful order incriminates.
The trap is deliberate—Trump’s genius lies in implicating others in his crimes to ensure their silence. But history shows that silence is not immunity.
From the SS guards at Nuremberg to the operatives of Nixon’s “plumbers,” every era’s enforcers face judgment once impunity collapses. This time will be no exception.
Physics Is Real
The Trump administration’s demise is baked into its physics. Lies cannot indefinitely counteract gravity. When it falls, the reckoning will not be abstract—it will be personal, judicial, and final.
Those within DHS, ICE, or the FBI who still believe their badges will shield them should re-read the statutes, recall their oaths, and decide whether they wish to be remembered as defenders of law or accessories to tyranny.
The implosion is coming. Choose your side before it does, because the right choice could save you.
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