The Trump Presidency Timeline
Documenting the chaos since day one. 1630 entries and counting.
killing democracy
trump’s 'billionaire first' plan: crush unions, call it populism
Trump’s ‘Billionaire First’ jobs program: one job for you, three yachts for them.
Donald Trump has spent the year waging what AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler calls an “unrelenting attack on working people,” which in Trump World is marketed as economic genius and blue-collar outreach. His big move: executive orders nuking collective bargaining rights for more than 1 million federal workers, because nothing says “I love the working class” like kneecapping their ability to negotiate for pay and protections.
The House just passed a bill to restore those rights, but the AFL-CIO is now bracing for a Senate fight in January, right as another government shutdown looms and the White House continues to insist that concerns about affordability are a “hoax.” Out in reality, workers are drowning in record credit-card debt just to buy groceries, while Trump’s “Billionaire First” agenda showers corporations and the ultra-rich with rewards and tells everyone else to be grateful for the vibes.
Unions, somehow, are now the last major institution most people actually trust, and they’re gearing up to turn that into a 2026 midterm battering ram. With Starbucks baristas on strike for a first contract and inequality exploding alongside AI-driven consolidation of wealth, Shuler is basically spelling it out: either workers get power and guardrails, or the future of the economy belongs entirely to Trump’s favorite people — the billionaires, the corporations, and whoever can afford to pretend this is all going great.
The House just passed a bill to restore those rights, but the AFL-CIO is now bracing for a Senate fight in January, right as another government shutdown looms and the White House continues to insist that concerns about affordability are a “hoax.” Out in reality, workers are drowning in record credit-card debt just to buy groceries, while Trump’s “Billionaire First” agenda showers corporations and the ultra-rich with rewards and tells everyone else to be grateful for the vibes.
Unions, somehow, are now the last major institution most people actually trust, and they’re gearing up to turn that into a 2026 midterm battering ram. With Starbucks baristas on strike for a first contract and inequality exploding alongside AI-driven consolidation of wealth, Shuler is basically spelling it out: either workers get power and guardrails, or the future of the economy belongs entirely to Trump’s favorite people — the billionaires, the corporations, and whoever can afford to pretend this is all going great.
Source: theguardian.com
#killing-democracy#forever-grifting
killing democracy
nothing says christmas like lying to children about coal and elections
Trump, surrounded by NORAD decorations, explains to an 8-year-old that coal is beautiful, elections he lost were actually wins, and that Santa is now a national security threat.
NORAD’s annual "track Santa" tradition is supposed to be a cute, nonpartisan moment where kids call in and chat with the president about reindeer and presents. Under Trump, it’s now a joint venture between the fossil fuel lobby and Stop the Steal. When an 8-year-old girl from Kansas City said she didn’t want coal for Christmas, Trump corrected her: it’s actually "clean, beautiful coal" — because nothing says holiday magic like marketing the dirtiest fossil fuel on Earth to children on live TV.
Trump then explained that the U.S. government is making sure Santa isn’t "infiltrated" and that we’re not getting a "bad Santa" sneaking into the country — in other words, he managed to work border paranoia into a call with a kid asking about presents. He also reminded another child that Oklahoma was "very good" to him in the election and told them not to ever leave the state, because apparently even Santa outreach has to double as a campaign stop now.
The real centerpiece, though, was Trump lying about the 2020 election to a child from Pennsylvania, claiming he won the state "actually, three times" and adding, "I bet your mom voted properly." So we’ve now reached the stage where election denial is just casual small talk with 8-year-olds. After the calls, he jumped onto Truth Social to wish a Merry Christmas to "Radical Left Scum" allegedly trying and failing to destroy the country, before bragging about how "respected" America is under him. But sure, tell me again how both sides are equally normal.
Source: nbcnews.com
#killing-democracy#full-stupid
killing democracy
trump tries to defund counterterrorism to own the sanctuary cities
The Trump administration, carefully weighing national security needs against the urgent priority of punishing blue states for not doing ICE’s paperwork.
The Trump administration had a fun new idea for "homeland security": strip more than $230 million in FEMA and DHS counterterrorism and disaster-prep grants from states that won't turn their cops into unpaid ICE agents. Because nothing says "keeping Americans safe" like yanking anti-terror and emergency response money from New York, Massachusetts, and D.C. to score Fox News points.
Unfortunately for the White House, US district judge Mary McElroy — a 2018 Trump appointee, no less — read the law instead of the press releases. In a blistering 48-page decision, she called it a "wanton abuse" of their grant powers and noted that this money funds actual life-or-death programs, citing the Brown University mass shooting response as one example. In other words, Trump’s DHS tried to hold counterterrorism funding hostage over immigration politics, and the judge replied: absolutely not, and also, are you people out of your minds?
Letitia James and a coalition of 12 state AGs dragged the administration into court and walked out with their funding back and a federal ruling that this little extortion scheme was "unconscionable" and unlawful. DHS, naturally, plans to appeal, because if there’s one thing this crowd hates more than immigrants, it’s the idea that federal money isn’t a personal political slush fund.
Unfortunately for the White House, US district judge Mary McElroy — a 2018 Trump appointee, no less — read the law instead of the press releases. In a blistering 48-page decision, she called it a "wanton abuse" of their grant powers and noted that this money funds actual life-or-death programs, citing the Brown University mass shooting response as one example. In other words, Trump’s DHS tried to hold counterterrorism funding hostage over immigration politics, and the judge replied: absolutely not, and also, are you people out of your minds?
Letitia James and a coalition of 12 state AGs dragged the administration into court and walked out with their funding back and a federal ruling that this little extortion scheme was "unconscionable" and unlawful. DHS, naturally, plans to appeal, because if there’s one thing this crowd hates more than immigrants, it’s the idea that federal money isn’t a personal political slush fund.
Source: theguardian.com
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
imperialism
trump discovers piracy, calls it foreign policy
Trump, staring at a map of Venezuela and Greenland like it’s the menu at a steakhouse, deciding which country’s resources to ‘reimburse’ himself with next.
Donald Trump has decided that international law is for losers and that Venezuelan oil on seized tankers is basically a Black Friday doorbuster for the United States. Asked what happens to the oil, he shrugged out loud: “Maybe we will sell it, maybe we will keep it … We’re keeping the ships also.” Because nothing says rules-based international order like “finders keepers” on the high seas backed by the Pentagon.
This isn’t a one-off brain worm, it’s a doctrine. Trump has spent years insisting the US should have “taken the oil” in Iraq, bragging in Syria that “we’ve secured the oil” and hinting ExxonMobil could just wander in and start pumping. Now he’s labeling fentanyl a “weapon of mass destruction” to justify a Venezuela pressure campaign that — surprise — just happens to involve grabbing their oil. In other words, it’s the Iraq War logic but with the PR department turned off and the looting turned up.
And when he’s not playing pirate in the Caribbean, he’s shopping for minerals like a Bond villain with a world map. He’s threatened using force to seize Greenland from Denmark for its cobalt, lithium, and rare earths, while his administration eyes a direct stake in a major mine there. He struck a deal with Ukraine offering “continued military support” in exchange for privileged access to its minerals and uranium — a neat little arrangement where security guarantees come with a resource rider. Meanwhile, he’s trying to block Iran from selling its oil to anyone, because only Washington is allowed to sell hydrocarbons, apparently.
Experts call this “resource imperialism” and “resource nationalism.” Trump just calls it Tuesday. He rails against the “green scam” at the UN, demands allies drill more fossil fuels, and treats climate science as an inconvenient rumor. Previous presidents at least pretended it was about “market stability” and “multilateralism.” Trump’s innovation is to rip off the mask and say the quiet part into a live mic: US power exists to grab oil, gas, and minerals wherever they are, and if that looks like 19th-century gunboat diplomacy with nukes, well, he thinks that’s what makes America “great again.”
Source: theguardian.com
#imperialism#killing-democracy
fascism
trump sends troops to protect new orleans from falling crime rates
National Guard troops prepare to "fight crime" in a city where the crime stats are dropping but the authoritarian vibes are absolutely skyrocketing.
Donald Trump has approved the deployment of 350 National Guard members to New Orleans through February, because nothing says "law and order" like sending troops into a city where violent crime is actually going down. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell insists the Guard will just be "supporting" federal law enforcement like DOJ and DHS, which in this administration usually means turning domestic policing into a joint military–police cosplay of authoritarian chic.
Louisiana’s Republican governor Jeff Landry is, of course, thrilled. He went on Fox News to praise Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for helping him "crack down on the violence" in a city that’s on pace for its lowest homicide numbers in decades. In other words, the data says "improving public safety", while the GOP says "send in the troops"—but sure, this is definitely about crime and not about putting a federal boot on the neck of a Democratic-led city.
All of this is happening while Border Patrol runs a months-long immigration crackdown in the area with a target of 5,000 arrests, neatly merging "urban crime" panic with "immigration invasion" hysteria. Several hundred people have already been arrested, just to make sure everyone gets the message that federal force is now a permanent background feature of daily life. Meanwhile, Trump has rewarded Landry’s loyalty by naming him special envoy to Greenland, the icy colony Trump keeps insisting the US needs to "take over"—because when you’re busy militarizing American cities, you might as well dabble in bargain-bin imperialism on the side.
New Orleans, which has long experience hosting the Guard for discrete events like the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, and post-attack security, is now being treated to an extended occupation framed as routine public safety. Crime is down, federal troops are up, immigration raids are ramping, and Republican officials are on TV calling it a win. Nothing is more "Trump era" than using falling crime as the excuse to normalize permanent paramilitary presence in blue cities.
Source: theguardian.com
#fascism#killing-democracy
killing democracy
america ruled by a very sleepy sun god
President Trump carefully not falling down the stairs on his way to confuse Albania with Armenia and declare victory over wind turbines.
Trump says he’s delivered “more positive change” than any administration in US history, which is certainly one way to describe a year spent nodding off in meetings, confusing Albania with Armenia, and inventing a fan-fiction backstory where his uncle mentored the Unabomber at MIT. Minor problem: the uncle was dead a decade before Kaczynski was identified and, also, Kaczynski never went to MIT. But sure, let’s hand this guy the nuclear codes and a microphone.
Across 2025, the 79‑year‑old president has treated the country to a highlight reel of deeply normal behavior: drifting off into two-minute rants about windmills driving whales “loco” and killing all the birds (scientifically: no), obsessing over how Barack Obama walks down stairs, and explaining his own foreign policy by mixing up entire countries. The White House solution? A rotating cast of flacks insisting his “mental sharpness is second to none” while former White House doc Ronny Jackson declares him the “healthiest president this nation has ever seen” — because nothing says medical credibility like pretending the guy who forgets which body part got an MRI is basically Captain America.
Meanwhile, the schedule for this supposed unstoppable dynamo of American greatness runs roughly noon to 5pm, with public events down nearly 40% from his first term. When he does surface, it’s often to call Somali immigrants “garbage” or to essentially blame Rob Reiner for his own death, all while periodically falling asleep in the Oval Office, in cabinet meetings, and at a cannabis reform presser. In other words: the substantive work of governing has been replaced by a fragile cult of personality frantically insisting that the emperor’s naps are actually 4D chess.
Democrats are reportedly planning to make his mental fitness a midterm issue, which the White House dismisses as partisan trash. But the real story here isn’t just whether Trump is mentally OK; it’s that an entire party, a tame physician, and a propaganda ecosystem are perfectly happy to let a visibly diminished man rage, doze, and ramble his way through the presidency — as long as he keeps signing the papers they put in front of him.
Source: theguardian.com
#killing-democracy#full-stupid
forever grifting
trump to big pharma: your profits are safe, we'll just shake down our allies
Trump explaining that the way to lower US drug prices is to keep Big Pharma rich and send the bill to France, because of course he is.
Trump looked at America’s obscene drug prices and, in a stunning twist no one saw coming, concluded the real villains are France, Germany, and Japan – not the pharmaceutical companies making record profits by charging whatever they can get away with. Instead of touching private insurers or pharma margins, he’s promising a fantasyland 700% price cut at home by forcing allies to jack up their own prices, because nothing says "standing up for American patients" like turning healthcare into a protection racket.
The article lays out how the US helped build the current global pharma regime – TRIPS, ironclad patents, and all – that funnels billions to shareholders while rationing lifesaving drugs by bank balance. Now that profits might be peaking and China, Cuba, and others are building their own state-backed pharma sectors, Washington’s answer (under Trump) isn’t "rein in corporate power" but "make our allies pay more so Pfizer doesn’t have to suffer." In other words, preserve the same rigged system that made insulin unaffordable in the first place, just with a side of geopolitical extortion.
European and Japanese governments are left in a fun little bind: domestic pharma and private insurers would love higher prices, but their voters and public health systems will explode the second hospital budgets are fed into the shareholder furnace. Trump is selling this as a populist crusade for cheaper drugs, but the actual plan is to keep Big Pharma’s profit machine intact, shift the pain onto other countries, and call it a win for American patients. It’s not healthcare reform, it’s a globalized shakedown operation – forever-grifting, but make it pharma.
Source: theguardian.com
#forever-grifting#money
full stupid
trump loves ai, hates risk assessment
Behold Stargate: a gigantic desert monument to the idea that if we build a massive A.I. temple and pump the stock market hard enough, the laws of economics will simply give up and move to Europe.
The Trump White House has discovered a new thing it doesn’t understand but will absolutely bet the country on: A.I. Asked if he was worried about an A.I.-driven bubble that could wreck the economy, Trump responded, “No, I love A.I.” — because nothing says serious risk management like answering systemic-financial-stability questions as if you’re picking an ice cream flavor.
In pursuit of a headline 4% growth number and some juiced tech stocks, the administration is showering A.I. giants with cash and regulatory hugs, while economists and even some Silicon Valley types keep pointing out tiny little details like “mass job losses,” “unsustainable hype,” and “possible financial havoc.” The White House response? Wave it all away and cheer Nvidia’s stock price like it’s the State of the Union.
In other words, we’re replaying the pre-2008 bubble, except this time the president is openly telling everyone he doesn’t see a downside and his economic team is on CNBC declaring an A.I. “boom” as if you can’t have booms without crashes. But sure, what could go wrong when an administration that already treats regulation as a personal insult decides that the best way to handle a world-altering technology is to close its eyes, hug the ticker tape, and hope the algorithm loves them back.
In pursuit of a headline 4% growth number and some juiced tech stocks, the administration is showering A.I. giants with cash and regulatory hugs, while economists and even some Silicon Valley types keep pointing out tiny little details like “mass job losses,” “unsustainable hype,” and “possible financial havoc.” The White House response? Wave it all away and cheer Nvidia’s stock price like it’s the State of the Union.
In other words, we’re replaying the pre-2008 bubble, except this time the president is openly telling everyone he doesn’t see a downside and his economic team is on CNBC declaring an A.I. “boom” as if you can’t have booms without crashes. But sure, what could go wrong when an administration that already treats regulation as a personal insult decides that the best way to handle a world-altering technology is to close its eyes, hug the ticker tape, and hope the algorithm loves them back.
Source: nytimes.com
#full-stupid#money#killing-democracy
fascism
bread, circuses, and a ufc cage on the south lawn
Trump pacing the Daytona 500 field in The Beast, helpfully demonstrating what it looks like when the cult of personality literally leads the race.
Donald Trump spent 2025 turning American sports into his personal traveling propaganda circus, because nothing says "hardest working president" like treating the Super Bowl, Daytona 500, UFC, Ryder Cup, and the US Open as an endless series of campaign walk-ins and camera-thirst photo ops. He buzzed Daytona with Air Force One, paced the field in "The Beast," and literally inserted himself into Chelsea’s Club World Cup trophy lift, because why let the athletes have a moment when Dear Leader needs content for Truth Social?
What looks like leisure is actually the strongman starter pack. Trump is following the Mussolini/Hitler/Putin playbook: launder power and legitimacy through sports spectacle while networks dutifully blast his entrances on loop. Stadium appearances become mini-rallies optimized for "heat"—boos and cheers are the same currency, as long as he dominates the jumbotron. Meanwhile, leagues and broadcasters bend the knee, with the USTA reportedly asking TV partners to censor protests and crowd reactions, because nothing screams "land of the free" like pre-clearing your cutaways with the White House.
Behind the scenes, the real game is pay-to-play. Trump uses luxury suites as donor petting zoos and soft diplomacy hubs: Rolex wines and dines him at the US Open, a sticky trade problem with Switzerland magically eases, and suddenly there’s a gold Rolex clock on the Resolute Desk like it’s an official state emblem. Mega-donor and Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson dumps about $100m into his re-election and casually waves around another $250m if he goes for an unconstitutional third term in 2028, because in this regime, term limits are just another optional rule like holding or traveling.
And now we’re staring down 2026, when the US-hosted World Cup, the Olympics, and an actual UFC card on the White House lawn are poised to merge the presidency with the fight card. In other words: the line between "sports" and "state propaganda" is dissolving in real time, and the American political system is letting a reality TV autocrat turn the jumbotron into a throne—but sure, tell us again how this is just "fun" and "normal" presidential outreach.
What looks like leisure is actually the strongman starter pack. Trump is following the Mussolini/Hitler/Putin playbook: launder power and legitimacy through sports spectacle while networks dutifully blast his entrances on loop. Stadium appearances become mini-rallies optimized for "heat"—boos and cheers are the same currency, as long as he dominates the jumbotron. Meanwhile, leagues and broadcasters bend the knee, with the USTA reportedly asking TV partners to censor protests and crowd reactions, because nothing screams "land of the free" like pre-clearing your cutaways with the White House.
Behind the scenes, the real game is pay-to-play. Trump uses luxury suites as donor petting zoos and soft diplomacy hubs: Rolex wines and dines him at the US Open, a sticky trade problem with Switzerland magically eases, and suddenly there’s a gold Rolex clock on the Resolute Desk like it’s an official state emblem. Mega-donor and Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson dumps about $100m into his re-election and casually waves around another $250m if he goes for an unconstitutional third term in 2028, because in this regime, term limits are just another optional rule like holding or traveling.
And now we’re staring down 2026, when the US-hosted World Cup, the Olympics, and an actual UFC card on the White House lawn are poised to merge the presidency with the fight card. In other words: the line between "sports" and "state propaganda" is dissolving in real time, and the American political system is letting a reality TV autocrat turn the jumbotron into a throne—but sure, tell us again how this is just "fun" and "normal" presidential outreach.
Source: theguardian.com
#fascism#forever-grifting#oligarchy
imperialism
trump’s ‘peace through strength’ gives gaza war, famine, and a photo-op truce
Democracy™ in action: U.S.-funded jets overhead, rubble below, and somewhere in Washington a press release calling this a ‘complex humanitarian situation.’
NBC walks through 2025 in Gaza: a year where Israel keeps bombing a trapped civilian population, famine spreads, and the U.S. response is basically, ‘have you tried more precision munitions and fewer calories?’ Schools, hospitals, and apartment blocks get turned into rubble, but don’t worry, State Department spokespeople assure us this is all happening under the strictest possible "rules of engagement" that somehow always end with starving kids.
Washington keeps shipping weapons and political cover while pretending to be the adult in the room pushing for a "truce"—which mostly means pausing the killing just long enough to restock the bombs and reset the talking points. The same administration that screams about border security is perfectly fine underwriting an open-air siege that manufactures refugees by the tens of thousands, because nothing says "defending democracy" like bankrolling collective punishment.
And when famine hits, the U.S. and its allies discover a bold new strategy: airdrop a few pallets of food, film it, and call it humanitarian leadership while backing the very blockade that created the famine. In other words, war as usual: military contractors eat well, politicians get to posture about "stability," and Gazans get to choose between being bombed quickly or starved slowly.
Source: nbcnews.com
#imperialism#killing-democracy#lawlessness
killing democracy
state department discovers free speech by banning critics from entering country
The State Department, bravely protecting American free speech by making sure critics of disinformation can’t physically enter the country to talk about it.
In the latest defense of "American free speech," the Trump administration has decided the best way to protect it is to… ban foreign critics from entering the country. The State Department has denied US visas to five people whose great crime is working against disinformation and online hate, including Imran Ahmed of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Clare Melford of the Global Disinformation Index. They’ve been officially rebranded as "radical activists" in the global "censorship-industrial complex"—because nothing says "we love open debate" like slapping dissidents with travel bans.
Also on the enemies list: former EU commissioner Thierry Breton, architect of the EU’s Digital Services Act, plus two leaders of German anti-hate group HateAid. Their sin? Supporting regulations that mildly inconvenience US tech billionaires and the right’s favorite disinformation firehoses. Macron and other European leaders are calling it "intimidation" and an attack on European digital sovereignty, while the Trump State Department insists it’s just defending American speech from the unspeakable horror of… foreign laws passed by elected parliaments.
In other words, the administration that screams about "censorship" any time a Nazi loses a blue check is now using federal power to blacklist researchers and regulators who track hate, disinfo, and platform lies. The targets call it an authoritarian attack on free speech and the rule of law, which is accurate but undersells the vibe: this is a loyalty test for US tech and a warning shot to anyone who thinks platforms should verify users or stop monetizing hate. But sure, tell us again how the real tyrants are the people asking Elon Musk to follow the law.
Source: bbc.com
#killing-democracy#fascism#forever-grifting
killing democracy
democracy? sorry, we’re redistricting that away
A map of the United States, helpfully updated to show where voters still matter and where the legislature already picked the winners.
President Trump spent 2025 speedrunning the part of the authoritarian playbook where you don’t bother winning more voters, you just draw fewer of the wrong ones. Republican legislatures across the country spent the year furiously carving up congressional maps like a Christmas ham, hunting for every last seat they could steal by line-drawing instead of, you know, persuading people. Because nothing says “confidence in your ideas” like having to gerrymander the map into modern art just to survive the next election.
Trump is reportedly leaning on GOP states to squeeze out maximum advantage before next year’s contests, while Democrats get a few scattered chances to counter in the courts or in the handful of states they still control. In other words: Republicans are playing a coordinated, nationwide power-maximization game, and Democrats are playing whack-a-mole with a butter knife.
So 2025 becomes the year where the House of Representatives is less about representing actual people and more about representing whichever party controls the cartographers. But sure, tell us again how this is all about “election integrity” and not about pre-rigging the scoreboard before voters even show up.
Source: npr.org
#killing-democracy#oligarchy#full-stupid
pro life
support the troops, unless they need an abortion
VA hospital entrance, now featuring a new sign: "We honor your sacrifice, but not your bodily autonomy."
The Trump-Vance administration has decided that nothing says "thank you for your service" like denying raped veterans basic medical care. The Department of Justice quietly issued a memo declaring that the Department of Veterans Affairs is not "legally authorized" to provide abortions, even in cases of rape, incest, or serious health risk. The VA, ever the loyal foot soldier, immediately complied, snapping shut access to care that Biden-era rules had finally opened up for veterans in the post-Roe hellscape.
The internal memo, leaked and published by Democracy Forward, carves out a tiny, grudging exception: doctors can still act if a veteran is literally about to die from pregnancy complications. Miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or a clinician determining that care is "necessary to save a veteran’s life" might still be allowed — assuming, of course, lawyers and political appointees don’t overrule the medical chart. But counseling about abortion? Care in cases of rape or incest? That’s gone, because nothing screams "pro-life" like forcing a veteran who survived combat and sexual assault to navigate a patchwork of state bans on her own dime.
More than half of female veterans live in states that have banned or are likely to ban abortion. Biden’s VA policy was one of the few lifelines left; Trump’s team is cutting it off while the formal rule rollback slowly oozes through the bureaucracy. In other words, they’re not even waiting to finish the paperwork before slamming the door. As Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward put it, the move is callous and inhumane. But sure, tell us again how this administration "backs the troops" while it turns VA hospitals into enforcement arms for forced birth.
Source: theguardian.com
#pro-life#healthcare#killing-democracy
killing democracy
supreme court temporarily rediscovers posse comitatus
Live look at Chicago, which the White House insists is in open rebellion, as federal judges squint and say, "We’re gonna need more than Fox B-roll for that."
The Trump administration went to the Supreme Court demanding permission to federalize and deploy the Illinois National Guard to "protect" immigration agents in Chicago, because nothing says "normal law enforcement" like rolling in the troops over local objections. The Court, in a rare moment of remembering what the law is, said no—at least for now—pointing out that the statute Trump invoked only kicks in when the regular military can't restore order, and that tiny inconvenience called the Posse Comitatus Act still exists.
In an unsigned order, a 5–4 majority (three conservatives plus the three liberals) noted that the government "failed to identify a source of authority" to let the military execute civilian law in Illinois. Translation: you don't get to cosplay dictatorship just because you're mad at Chicago. Illinois and Chicago had already argued that this was less about "rebellion" and more about Trump punishing political enemies, and lower courts agreed there was no credible evidence of the "lawless chaos" the administration keeps insisting is everywhere Democrats live.
Naturally, Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch were furious that the Court didn't just wave through the deployment, with Alito announcing his "serious doubts" about the majority's reasoning—because if the president wants to send troops into opposition cities over protests, who is the Constitution to say no? Meanwhile, Trump's broader campaign to impose federal control on Democratic-led cities—D.C., Los Angeles, Portland, and beyond—rolls on, backed by a string of Supreme Court wins. But in this case, even this Court decided that using the National Guard as an ICE goon squad crossed a line. For now.
Source: nbcnews.com
#killing-democracy#fascism
killing democracy
trump screams ‘judicial coup,’ judges buy guns and cancel credit cards
Federal judges upgrading home security and dodging swat teams because the president can’t handle losing in court — truly the shining city on a hill the Founders envisioned.
In the latest episode of "Who Wants To Be A Fascist?", longtime Reagan-appointed Judge John Coughenour blocked Trump’s blatantly unconstitutional stunt to gut birthright citizenship — and immediately discovered what happens when you anger the guy whose fanbase thinks the Constitution is a deep-state plot. Within days, someone "swatted" the 84-year-old judge, falsely reporting that he’d murdered his wife and barricaded himself in his home, then followed up with a fake bomb threat in his mailbox. After four decades on the bench, Coughenour finally did something he’d never felt compelled to do: he took a gun home from the courthouse because the American president and his enablers had whipped up a mob against him.
He’s not alone. Judges across the country who ruled against Trump or dared defend judicial independence are now living like they’re in witness protection. They’re upgrading home security, changing driving routes, moving houses, freezing hacked credit cards, and warning their families to scrub personal info from the internet. One Trump-appointed judge received death threats after crossing Dear Leader; another judge, Stephen Bough, blocked a Trump deportation scheme and was rewarded with creepy 1 a.m. pizza deliveries to his home — and to his daughter’s house 800 miles away — because nothing says "respect for law and order" like weaponizing DoorDash. The U.S. Marshals are now treating surprise pizzas as potential intimidation ops, possibly from foreign actors, which is definitely a normal thing in a functioning democracy.
Meanwhile, the administration that lit the match is insisting it’s just telling the "truth." Stephen Miller calls adverse rulings a "judicial coup," Attorney General Pam Bondi sneers about "low-level leftist judges," and MAGA influencers daydream publicly about impeaching judges who get in the way of the agenda. Then White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson shows up to deliver the punchline: any suggestion that this relentless demonization might be fueling threats is "deeply unserious," and actually, Trump "cares deeply" about judicial safety. In other words: they slam the gas pedal on delegitimizing the courts, watch the threats spike, and then swear they’re just humble truth-tellers while the judges buy guns and move houses — but sure, tell us more about how this is all very normal and not at all how democracies die.
He’s not alone. Judges across the country who ruled against Trump or dared defend judicial independence are now living like they’re in witness protection. They’re upgrading home security, changing driving routes, moving houses, freezing hacked credit cards, and warning their families to scrub personal info from the internet. One Trump-appointed judge received death threats after crossing Dear Leader; another judge, Stephen Bough, blocked a Trump deportation scheme and was rewarded with creepy 1 a.m. pizza deliveries to his home — and to his daughter’s house 800 miles away — because nothing says "respect for law and order" like weaponizing DoorDash. The U.S. Marshals are now treating surprise pizzas as potential intimidation ops, possibly from foreign actors, which is definitely a normal thing in a functioning democracy.
Meanwhile, the administration that lit the match is insisting it’s just telling the "truth." Stephen Miller calls adverse rulings a "judicial coup," Attorney General Pam Bondi sneers about "low-level leftist judges," and MAGA influencers daydream publicly about impeaching judges who get in the way of the agenda. Then White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson shows up to deliver the punchline: any suggestion that this relentless demonization might be fueling threats is "deeply unserious," and actually, Trump "cares deeply" about judicial safety. In other words: they slam the gas pedal on delegitimizing the courts, watch the threats spike, and then swear they’re just humble truth-tellers while the judges buy guns and move houses — but sure, tell us more about how this is all very normal and not at all how democracies die.
Source: nbcnews.com
#killing-democracy#fascism
killing democracy
historic shutdown, tariff brain genius, and the vibes recession
Americans bravely simulating a thriving economy by maxing out their cards on rent, medical bills, and AI gadgets while Trump calls it the greatest boom in history.
Trump’s miracle economy update: GDP grew at a robust 4.3% in Q3, which we are only hearing about now because the historic Trump shutdown jammed up the Commerce Department so badly they couldn’t even release numbers on time. Nothing says "stable business environment" like a president who both tanks the first quarter with sweeping global tariff threats and then turns off the government’s lights so the statisticians can’t tell you how bad his ideas were.
Meanwhile, the supposed boom is powered by people spending more on hospitals, nursing homes, prescription drugs, and computer hardware to feed the AI hype machine. In other words, Americans are going broke trying not to die and training the algorithms that will replace them, but sure, "consumer spending is strong." Inflation is down to 2.7%, wages are still (barely) beating prices, and yet the cost of rent, electricity, and health insurance keeps chewing through paychecks so fast that only rich shoppers are keeping retail afloat.
Despite the topline "win," business and residential investment are falling, the job market is softening, and people tell pollsters they feel like their finances are circling the drain. Trump, naturally, insists everything is amazing; the latest NPR/PBS/Marist poll says only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, his worst score yet. So the official numbers say the economy is growing, the president says he’s a genius, and most people say they’re one surprise bill away from disaster — but remember, questioning the vibes is fake news.
Meanwhile, the supposed boom is powered by people spending more on hospitals, nursing homes, prescription drugs, and computer hardware to feed the AI hype machine. In other words, Americans are going broke trying not to die and training the algorithms that will replace them, but sure, "consumer spending is strong." Inflation is down to 2.7%, wages are still (barely) beating prices, and yet the cost of rent, electricity, and health insurance keeps chewing through paychecks so fast that only rich shoppers are keeping retail afloat.
Despite the topline "win," business and residential investment are falling, the job market is softening, and people tell pollsters they feel like their finances are circling the drain. Trump, naturally, insists everything is amazing; the latest NPR/PBS/Marist poll says only 36% of Americans approve of his handling of the economy, his worst score yet. So the official numbers say the economy is growing, the president says he’s a genius, and most people say they’re one surprise bill away from disaster — but remember, questioning the vibes is fake news.
Source: npr.org
#killing-democracy#full-stupid#money
anti immigration
trump solves slavery in mauritania by deporting its victims back to it
Mauritanian immigrants in Ohio, waiting to find out whether America will let them work or just ship them back to the country where slavery never really ended.
In Ohio, a few thousand Black Mauritanian immigrants fled a country where slavery still exists and the government treats them like an unwanted underclass, only to discover that the United States under Donald Trump is running its own deportation lottery. After a perilous trek through Turkey, Colombia, and the Darién Gap, they land in Lockland, Ohio, where Fox News and the New York Post promptly declare them an existential threat because nothing says "serious journalism" like blaming blocked drains and low water pressure on refugees from modern-day apartheid.
The Trump administration, ever alert to any opportunity to punch down, notices the rightwing panic and happily folds these families into its "vast deportation web". ICE is now scooping Mauritanians up at mandatory check-ins and traffic stops, then shipping them back to a country where Black people are still enslaved and routinely abused. At least 90 people have already been deported since Trump’s inauguration, and over 19,000 Mauritanian cases are now clogging immigration courts—because when you flee a regime that jails musicians for complaining about electricity, America’s response is to threaten to send you right back.
Local volunteers are scrambling to get people bikes so they can get to low-wage jobs at food plants and factories, while immigration judges in Cleveland and ICE agents treat court dates like baited traps. In other words, people "just come here to work," and the administration’s answer is: great, now get in line to be deported to a country where you might be enslaved again. But sure, tell us more about how this is all about "law and order" and not a racist, performative crackdown on one of the smallest and most vulnerable immigrant communities in the country.
The Trump administration, ever alert to any opportunity to punch down, notices the rightwing panic and happily folds these families into its "vast deportation web". ICE is now scooping Mauritanians up at mandatory check-ins and traffic stops, then shipping them back to a country where Black people are still enslaved and routinely abused. At least 90 people have already been deported since Trump’s inauguration, and over 19,000 Mauritanian cases are now clogging immigration courts—because when you flee a regime that jails musicians for complaining about electricity, America’s response is to threaten to send you right back.
Local volunteers are scrambling to get people bikes so they can get to low-wage jobs at food plants and factories, while immigration judges in Cleveland and ICE agents treat court dates like baited traps. In other words, people "just come here to work," and the administration’s answer is: great, now get in line to be deported to a country where you might be enslaved again. But sure, tell us more about how this is all about "law and order" and not a racist, performative crackdown on one of the smallest and most vulnerable immigrant communities in the country.
Source: theguardian.com
#anti-immigration#racism#killing-democracy
killing democracy
trump calls press 'enemy of the people,' cops take notes
A journalist in a press vest and helmet, moments before law enforcement demonstrates what "enemy of the people" means in practice.
The Freedom of the Press Foundation just dropped a fun little data point: in 2025, US journalists have been assaulted almost as many times as in the previous three years combined. The spike comes as Trump returns to office, ramps up mass deportations, and revives his greatest hit, calling the press the "enemy of the people"—because nothing says "land of the free" like turning news-gathering into a contact sport.
Most of the 170 documented assaults this year happened at protests against the administration’s immigration crackdown, where law enforcement decided that the real threat wasn’t unconstitutional deportations without due process, but people with cameras and press badges. Reporters and photographers were batoned, shot with pepper balls and "less-lethal" rounds, and blown up with explosive devices from a safe 40 feet away, just to make sure nobody gets too clear a picture of how "Operation Midway Blitz" actually looks on the ground.
A federal judge in Chicago had to issue a restraining order literally telling ICE and DHS "don’t beat the people clearly marked as journalists unless they’re committing a crime"—a standard that used to be implied by the whole Constitution thing. The government responded by insisting the area was in a "vise hold of violence" to justify indiscriminate force, and the judge politely translated that as: "That narrative simply is untrue." In other words, they lied to defend assaulting the press, then appealed the ruling because of course they did.
But remember, we can’t prove a direct line from Trump’s years of media-bashing to cops treating reporters like enemy combatants. He only calls them liars, delegitimizes their work, brands them enemies of the people, and runs an administration whose policies and rhetoric "reflect hostility towards the press" and could be seen as condoning violence. Totally mysterious how we ended up with journalists getting shot and clubbed for doing their jobs. Must be a coincidence.
Source: theguardian.com
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
anti immigration
trump solves immigration by un‑legalizing immigrants
A Venezuelan migrant stares at a dead CBP One app, discovering the Trump administration’s newest legal pathway: "have you tried not coming at all?"
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new innovation in immigration policy: if you cancel enough legal pathways, everyone becomes illegal. More than 1.6 million immigrants have lost their legal status in the first 11 months of Trump’s second term — people who followed the rules, used parole programs, visas, asylum, or Temporary Protected Status, and were explicitly told by the U.S. government they could live and work here. Now that same government is yanking their status preemptively and suggesting they kindly deport themselves, because nothing says "rule of law" like retroactively criminalizing compliance.
Immigration advocates point out that this is the largest effort in U.S. history to strip deportation protections from people who are here legally. Todd Schulte of FWD.us notes that no president from either party has ever made "revoking the work authorization and legal status for millions" a central governing goal. But Trump’s people are proud of it: USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser framed it as saving taxpayers from the "financial burden of unlawfully present aliens" — a neat little phrase that quietly ignores the fact that many of these people were lawful until Trump personally decided they shouldn’t be.
Not content with detonating existing programs, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is now "pausing" the diversity visa lottery because one alleged shooter entered via that route in 2017 — the policy equivalent of banning cars because someone committed a crime while driving. Meanwhile, the White House brags that Trump has done more to limit both legal and illegal migration than any administration in history, pausing and revoking visas like party favors in reverse. In other words, the plan isn’t to fix the system; it’s to shrink the definition of who gets to be legal in America until it fits neatly inside Stephen Miller’s skull.
Immigration advocates point out that this is the largest effort in U.S. history to strip deportation protections from people who are here legally. Todd Schulte of FWD.us notes that no president from either party has ever made "revoking the work authorization and legal status for millions" a central governing goal. But Trump’s people are proud of it: USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser framed it as saving taxpayers from the "financial burden of unlawfully present aliens" — a neat little phrase that quietly ignores the fact that many of these people were lawful until Trump personally decided they shouldn’t be.
Not content with detonating existing programs, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is now "pausing" the diversity visa lottery because one alleged shooter entered via that route in 2017 — the policy equivalent of banning cars because someone committed a crime while driving. Meanwhile, the White House brags that Trump has done more to limit both legal and illegal migration than any administration in history, pausing and revoking visas like party favors in reverse. In other words, the plan isn’t to fix the system; it’s to shrink the definition of who gets to be legal in America until it fits neatly inside Stephen Miller’s skull.
Source: npr.org
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy
killing democracy
trump orders, whatley obeys: north carolina tries elective monarchy
Michael Whatley, proudly auditioning for the role of ‘Most Loyal Senate Intern to Dear Leader’ while North Carolina voters pretend this is still a normal election.
Michael Whatley is running for Senate in North Carolina the old-fashioned way: by waiting for Donald Trump to call and inform him that he’s already decided. According to Whatley, Trump phoned after Sen. Thom Tillis bowed out and basically said, “You’re going to run, you’re going to win, so congratulations” — because nothing says representative democracy like the president assigning Senate seats over the phone like it’s a mid-level promotion at Trump Org.
Whatley, former RNC chair and current professional Trump loyalist, has responded by Velcroing himself to Trump so hard you can practically hear the ripping sound. Onstage at a pre-Christmas rally, he declared Trump “the most transformational president in our lifetime” and pledged to be his “ally” in the Senate — not an ally to North Carolinians, mind you, but to “our great president.” In other words, it’s not a Senate race, it’s a loyalty audition.
Meanwhile, the MAGA base is deeply inspired by…someone else. Steve Bannon says Whatley’s “not MAGA,” grassroots Republicans are openly calling him “an awful candidate,” and Young Republicans at a tacky sweater party are pining for Lara Trump instead — because if you’re going to be a vassal state, you might as well get a real member of the dynasty. Lara, for her part, is using her Fox News show to boost Whatley while bragging about how they “cut the fat” at the RNC, which is a polite way of saying they turned the national party into a fully-owned Trump family asset.
So North Carolina’s “critical” Senate race boils down to this: Roy Cooper, a popular ex-governor who’s actually won statewide races against Trump’s numbers, versus a handpicked former party apparatchik whose main qualification is that he’ll never, ever distance himself from the president. If Whatley wins, Trump keeps his four-seat Senate cushion and his personal Praetorian Guard. If he loses, it’s one tiny crack in the facade of the imperial presidency. But sure, tell us more about how this is just normal politics and not a slow-motion attempt to turn the Senate into the Mar-a-Lago Board of Directors.
Source: nbcnews.com
#killing-democracy#oligarchy