We need a way to aggregate what Donald Trump is doing to this country

I'm calling for an army of volunteers to build a massive wiki that enumerates the things that are broken and will need fixing

News organizations, along with good-government groups and other interested parties, are doing a commendable job of chronicling the damage the Trump regime is doing to the government, the country, and the world.

But none of them, individually, is in a position to give the public the full picture. It’s just too much.

This is a feature of Trump’s strategy of “flooding the zone.” No one entity can possibly keep up.

And as we go forward, how can any one organization keep tabs on all the fallout? It’s not possible.

What we need is a central repository of information so that the full extent of the damage can be found in one place and assessed by the public -- and so that there’s a comprehensive record of what needs to be fixed and restored when the time comes to do so. (Sort of like a truth commission, but in real time.)

To aggregate all the existing information, organize it, and collect new data, we need a place, a process, and people.

The Place and the Process

Luckily, there’s a format for this sort of repository of knowledge: wikis. Wikis are collaborative websites that allow users to create, edit, and organize content collectively.

And there’s a great model for how to build something with the scale and function of what I’m talking about: Wikipedia.

Wikipedia is arguably the single best thing on the Internet in terms of both product and process. It’s built by a huge community of volunteers who create, edit, and fact-check content. Entries must be based on rigorous sourcing protocols and are extensively cross-referenced. Some volunteers become specialists in certain fields and take on responsibility for monitoring edits for vandalism and watching newly created articles for quality control purposes.

Wikipedia is searchable and scalable. It resists trolling. So far, at least, it’s even been invulnerable to censorship. It’s not perfect, but it self-corrects.

So what we need to do is build a Trumpepedia, or a Trumpwiki. (You come up with a better name. Please.)

The People

A project like this will inevitably require a lot of people. That means empowering citizens and groups to supplement the work of professional journalists and researchers. (Yes, call it citizens journalism if you wish.)

But the fact that it would rely on ordinary citizens to do something constructive in the fight back against the Trump/Musk agenda is not a bug, it’s a feature.

The single thing one hears the most from angry citizens – and there are many – is the plaintive cry of “What can I do?” The traditional answer is: march, call your representatives, and support activist groups.

But that isn’t enough for a lot of people.

Here, they could help document and assess the otherwise incalculable damage caused by Trump and Musk -- and create a roadmap for returning the country to normalcy. Wouldn’t that be satisfying and empowering?

What Would Be In the Wiki?

It may be hard to visualize what I’m talking about, partly because this would not be structured like Wikipedia.

This wiki would have a central, main page for the Trump Administration. And for top-level organization, I envision sections like

• People

• Agencies

• Issues

• Countries

• Executive Orders

• Legislation

• Eliminated Humanitarian Aid

• Eliminated Domestic Programs

• Firings

• Legal Challenges

• Corruption

• Targets

• Allies

• Societal Effects

• Human Rights.

“Agencies,” for example, would link to entries on each executive-branch agency. Those, in turn, would link to entries on each subagency, and so on, down to pages about each division, complete with its pre-Trump org charts, a summary of its responsibilities, how it was affected by Trump, a list of fired employees and what they did, and the fallout from Trump cuts.

“Issues” would include such topics as immigration, climate, and healthcare. The immigration section, for instance, would drill down to the point of telling the stories of as many deportees as possible.

“Targets” would include universities and law firms and the civil service. “Societal Effects” would examine the damage Trump has done to trans, gay, and minority communities, among others. And so on.

The good news is that there’s tons of material out there already from journalists and others. A wiki would put it all together and grow it.

One particularly valuable source of data for the wiki would be the vast array of trackers already being produced by news organizations, nonprofits and individuals, each monitoring and summarizing developments in areas they care about the most. I have a list here.

It’s all wonderful stuff. But it should be centralized, and in many cases expanded upon.

A Trump wiki would do all that and more. It would be a service to the country and the world. It would give volunteer contributors great satisfaction. It might even be the beginning of the healing.

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A project like this would clearly require a nonprofit home, funding, an august board, and infrastructure, as well.

What do you think? Is this doable? Do you have a better idea? Share your thoughts in comments or email me at froomkin@presswatchers.org.