Monsters 'R Us
Most of Planet Earth now knows cruelty is the point of Trump 2. But if anyone implausibly needs more evidence, meet Rev. Edward Nalwamba, a 79-year-old, pro-democracy Ugandan priest who spent over a year in ICE detention. When he went in, he was fit; at his long-delayed release last week, fellow detainees had to carry him to a car because officials wouldn't let him take his wheelchair that far. To ICE, he charged, "You are an animal...They forget they are dealing with human beings."
In the last 18 months, the Trump regime has deported nearly a million people, and killed at least 60, including two U.S citizens in cold blood and broad daylight. The family of one, Renee Good, has filed two federal civil lawsuits over her Jan. 7 murder, alleging wrongful death, "negligent infliction of emotional distress," conspiracy to conceal evidence, and coordinated campaigns of "aggression and abduction" against ethnic communities and "intimidation and violence" against their allies. And of course it has detained, terrorized, traumatized or shattered the lives of untold thousands, the vast majority with no criminal history.
One was the good Rev. Nalwamba, who arrived in the U.S. in 2002 for a religious conference. Having publicly condemned human rights abuses by the Ugandan government, and subsequently heard from colleagues that government agents were pursuing him, he decided to stay in Colorado and apply for asylum. In 2010, after his application was denied, he began living peaceably in Lakewood under a 15-year ICE supervision order, reporting to immigration officials as required, working as a health aide for people with developmental disabilities, and serving as a pastor at nearby Resurrection Anglican Fellowship until he retired two years ago.
In September 2025 he was arrested by ICE; they charged he was under a removal order dating back to 2010, and that he'd failed to "cooperate with efforts to obtain travel documents" before a deadline, aka to help with his own deportation in a timely manner. He was taken to the GEO Group's private ICE detention facility in Aurora, where for over a year DHS repeatedly vowed to deport him and then didn't. On Oct. 20, after his lawyers filed a second habeas corpus petition, Judge Cyrus Chung ruled feds had exceeded a “presumptively reasonable” six months of holding time with "no concrete plan” to return him to Uganda, and ordered his release.
When he was detained, Nalwamba was a fit 77-year-old who regularly walked, exercised and played ping pong. Inside, his health quickly deteriorated. He caught pneumonia which persisted for weeks, lost over 30 pounds and the ability to walk, developed a stubborn cough, chest pain, scratchy throat, headache and fatigue that were never treated - and besides, "You don’t want to go to the hospital - they shackle you like a bull.” "He walked in. He can't walk now," noted Colorado Sen. John Hickenlooper. "They want the misery of one person to be known by others. It's a low-rent form of terrorism to make people so scared they'll self-deport."
Along with the barbaric cruelty, observers also blasted the "staggering hypocrisy" of a regime that simultaneously charged Biden et al "targeted" Christians yet in their voter intimidation efforts sent ICE into churches, interrogated church staff, and detained and abused a church elder. Last week, because they hadn't alienated Christians enough by picking a fight with the Pope, they also turned a supposed prayer gathering of Catholic bishops into a sleazy photo op, prompting two angry Archbishops to apologize, charge they'd been "manipulated," and clarify this was "in no way an endorsement of the president, his policies, or his party."
In the final, petty degradation meted out to Rev. Nalwamba, detention officials told his attorneys they would ensure his safe passage on release with a wheelchair and escort, and then reneged on it all. The wheelchair couldn't go out to the gate, they insisted, nor could vehicles approach it. Hickenlooper: "There is no excuse for this cruelty. None.” In the end - no surprise here - it was two young mensches also being released who hooked their arms together - one lawyer: "It was heartbreaking and it was infuriating" - carried the reverend to his waiting car, and went on their way: "They didn't even give me a chance to say thank you.".
After his release, a buoyant Nalwamba said he’s “in another world." He talked to his children, he's well fed, he’s staying with a family who lent him an electric scooter to get around. The next day, he visited a health clinic to get a chest X-ray, blood work, TB testing. He looks forward to physical therapy and reconnecting with his church community: "I am a happy man." Except for the monsters, still here. DHS said they were "forced" by "an activist judge" to release "an illegal alien" who "chose to overstay his welcome in violation of our nation's laws." Most vitally, "He remains in the country illegally," under a removal order, without legal status.
So much, or not yet for Obama's Michigan citing of "a decency we should expect from our public officials." Attorneys plan to reopen Nalwamba's asylum case; conditions in Uganda have seriously deteriorated with widespread crime, unrest and targeting of political opponents and a U.S. "Do not travel" advisory in effect. At the same time, says attorney Joy Athanasiou, she has never seen "this inhumanity and cruelty" over 20 years of working with detained clients. Before, there were under 1,000 habeas corpus petitions a year; now there are about 90,000, a demand "100 times greater than what we can provide.”
Nalwamba says his thoughts remain with those innocents still inside a callous, corrosive environment worse than any maximum security prison. He loves the America he has lived in for almost 26 years, he says, and has always thought African and other countries should aspire to be like the U.S. But no more, he adds, not without drastic change. Those other countries, he argues, treat their livestock better than he was treated. "It's as if they've gotten used to treating people that way, like they're taking care of goats or cows,” he said. “I have never imagined human beings treated like I saw in this place."
The Rev. Edward Nalwamba Photo by Resurrection Anglican Fellowship
'Batshit Insane': As Extreme Weather Worsens, Trump's FEMA Head Tells States to Prepare to Handle Disasters on Their Own
As the climate crisis intensifies extreme weather events, President Donald Trump's head of federal disaster relief sent a stark message to states on Tuesday: You're on your own.
Politico reported that Cameron Hamilton, the administrator of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), told state officials at the National Emergency Management Association’s annual meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, that they would need to allocate resources to respond to most disasters without help from the federal government.
“Every state must have the appropriate financial reserves” and other abilities “to ensure that recovery efforts can start immediately and not necessarily be held up simply because of the federal [disaster] declaration process,” Hamilton said, according to a recording of his remarks obtained by the outlet.
“A future that I hope we would shoot for is one where we wouldn’t require as many disasters because the capability of states is so high and so substantial,” Hamilton added, referring to presidential authorizations of federal disaster aid.
Trump has instituted dramatic cuts to FEMA that have hampered its response to disasters. When Texas faced floods last year that killed at least 138 people, for example, the administration’s spending restrictions delayed FEMA’s deployment of search-and-rescue teams for more than 72 hours, while lapsed call-center contracts left thousands of survivors’ calls for assistance unanswered.
While cutting its workforce, Trump has suggested FEMA is "very bureaucratic" and "very slow" and has floated shutting the agency down entirely, shifting its responsibilities to the states. Yet a FEMA report released Friday found that state disaster agencies are "typically understaffed and underfunded, and many depend heavily on federal assistance."
Hamilton's speech comes days after the publication of an internal memo stating that FEMA would “strengthen state and local emergency management capacity." The memo, also obtained by Politico, said that "reducing federal dependency requires partners to build, maintain, and exercise the capabilities needed to manage incidents effectively."
President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott meet with local emergency services personnel as they survey flood damage along the Guadalupe River on July 11, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"This is just the latest step in Trump’s agenda to push the cost of disasters onto states who are already stretched thin," said Mia Logan, a senior adviser to Climate Power. "States rely on federal disaster aid to rebuild roads, bridges, and the communities where people live and work. From his first days in office to now, Trump’s message to Americans has been consistent: If extreme weather hits, you’re on your own, because help is probably not coming.”
Dana Fisher, an American University professor who studies climate politics, has stressed that Trump is pulling back disaster aid "even though the United States is experiencing more disasters as the climate changes."
"The hottest US summer on record left millions of Americans facing life-threatening heatwaves," she wrote for The Conversation. "Extreme heat and drought set the stage for wildfires. Flooding from powerful storms and days of heavy rainfall inundated communities in several states. And now a ‘Super El Niño,’ on top of already rising temperatures and sea levels, is expected to make extreme events worse, at least into spring 2027."
Firefighters battle the Eaton Fire on January 8, 2025, in Altadena, California. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
Dan Koh, a former Biden White House official who helped coordinate federal disaster responses, called placing the recovery burden on states "batshit insane."
"I worked with FEMA in the White House," he wrote on social media. "States don’t have the budget for this."
He pointed to Hurricane Katrina as an example: The storm caused about $108 billion in damage, nearly six times Louisiana's entire 2005 operating budget of about $18.7 billion.
"There are many states with minuscule emergency management offices and budgets," wrote Eric Holdeman, the former emergency management director for King County, Washington, in a blog post. "There are states with slim rainy-day funds and no capacity to make up for a lack of federal disaster recovery funds—without RAISING TAXES."
He suggested that the scarce federal funds that remain could be wielded by presidents as a political tool—something Trump has already done many times during his second term. An Associated Press investigation in July found that Trump had approved three-quarters of disaster aid requests from states he won in 2024, compared with less than half from states he lost.
On the campaign trail last month, Trump told North Carolina voters the state would not receive disaster recovery funds for Hurricane Helene unless Republican Michael Whatley won his competitive Senate race, though he later said he was "only kidding."
Trump has also used disaster recovery to coerce states into adopting specific policies. In California, he threatened to withhold assistance for recovery from last year's devastating wildfires unless the state adopted voter identification requirements and changed its water policies.
Hamilton told state officials on Tuesday that changes to federal disaster assistance could begin “in the next six months”—just as the developing El Niño is expected to intensify extreme weather through next spring.
In response, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom—who is expected to run for president in 2028—wrote that "Donald Trump's FEMA has a message to Americans during hurricane season and ahead of a historic El Niño: DROP DEAD."
Trump Doesn't 'Give a Damn' About Iran War Price Hikes—His Oil and Gas Holdings Are Up to $81.6 Million
Just how much extra is the public paying at the pump because of the eight-month conflict? As of Monday, the national average was $4.29 a gallon for gasoline and $6.35 for diesel, according to the American Automobile Association.
An online tracker from the Costs of War Project at Brown University estimates US residents have paid at least $144.6 billion more for fuel—$79.8 billion for gasoline and $64.79 billion for diesel. That's over $609 per household, just for gasoline.
Data from the congressional Joint Economic Committee suggest the impact could be even worse. As JEC Democrats' Monday report notes, the panel found that US households "have now spent an additional $101 billion on gasoline since the start of the Iran War, or an average of $856 in gas costs per family."
A state-by-state breakdown in the report—released just days ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the remainder of Trump's second term—reveals that price increases for gasoline have hit some areas particularly hard. Wyoming, a Republican stronghold, has had the highest hike per household, at $1,454.
Rounding out the top 10 are Utah ($1,240), Alabama ($1,232), Montana ($1,180), Mississippi ($1,141), South Dakota ($1,122), Idaho at ($1,108), North Dakota ($1,087), New Hampshire ($1,029), and Iowa ($1,010). Trump won all of those states but New Hampshire in 2024—when he campaigned on a promise to serve the interests of the climate-wrecking fossil fuel industry if its executives dumped $1 billion into his run, while also claiming he would lower costs for working people.
Meanwhile, the report stresses, Trump's oil and gas holdings could have nearly doubled this year, growing by as much as $35.8 million, for a total of up to $81.6 million—and 94% of his 2026 industry stock purchases occurred after he went to war with Iran, which has restricted ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The document details Trump's holdings—which are reported in ranges—in Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Marathon Petroleum, Occidental Petroleum, Phillips 66, Valero Energy, and Williams Companies. It also warns that "the true value may in fact be higher given that Trump has yet to report stock transactions for September or October, and because he has a history of filing his transactions much later than the law requires."
The graph published by the congressional Joint Economic Committee on October 26, 2026 shows US President Donald Trump's stock holdings in oil and gas companies.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), the JEC's ranking member, declared that "Trump's Iran War has forced Americans to pay much more at the pump while Big Oil rakes in profits and the president's own stock wealth in the oil and gas industry continues to balloon."
Trump has faced scrutiny and criticism for cashing in on the conflict he created, which the White House has tried to dismiss by pointing out that the president's "stock and bond portfolio is independently managed by third-party financial institutions."
Such comments have not appeased critics, including Hassan, who said that "as Trump—the country's highest-ranking public employee—continues to own and trade stocks in companies that stand to benefit from his decisions, his actions raise major concerns about conflicts of interest. Unfortunately, this is nothing new from this administration and only reinforces that the president puts his own financial interests above the American people."
