LIVE COVERAGE
Whoosh And They're Gone
Well that was fun. In last week's welcome bit of comic relief, we got the vapid rise and rapid fall - despite requisite blonde hair, faux smile and passing resemblance to Ivanka - of "manifestly unqualified" Barbie News Reader and fake Chinese lawyer Katie Zacharia after a brutal debut. So much for MAGA meritocracy. SAD! Zacharia set a new speed record - half a Mooch - in a job akin to Spinal Tap drummer. But the question remains: When will the incompetent male dolts get fired?
While by far not the most substantive Trump blunder, it was one of the most cringeworthy, exposing (again) the profound ineptitude of his shambolic rule just before voters go to the polls to render judgment on it. In less than a week, Zacharia managed to get plucked from right-wing obscurity, be "shoehorned" into a job far beyond her skillset, humiliate herself before millions, go on Fox and stammeringly fail to redeem herself, and get fired by a capricious, perennial loser who got famous fake-firing people on TV and now daily exposes his own clownish unfitness for his job. One astute observer: "I'm starting to think this Donald guy might not have any idea what he's doing."
Born Kate Sharon Black in 1984, Zacharia grew up in California in the "liberal cesspool” of Cambria; she was the conservative “black sheep” of her family "thanks to the great, late Rush Limbaugh, who raised me as a kid on the radio." Describing a clash with woke patrons of her "cardio kickboxing gym," she said the owner once asked her not to wear her "Trump 2024" hat but "I would never take my Trump hat off to appease the left." A Pizzagate, Qanon and Stop the Steal buff, she was a "huge fan of ICE and Border Patrol" who briefly worked for Kristi Noem and a commentator for right-wing TV before being spotted by Trump, maybe because she scheduled her gigs when she thought he'd be watching. Totally normal.
Officials looking to replace Karoline Leavitt had reportedly narrowed down the list of candidates "only to find that (they'd) said something negative about (Trump)," which of course wouldn't do for the fragile toddler. Thus did uber-obsequious, ringlet-bottle-blonde "lizard person" Zacharia take to the podium, blare "Good morning!!" in a sing-songy screech, and stumble through a smiley, halting, inflection-challenged briefing about Trump's "historic one-day war," "attendance at record highs as enthusiastic hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas," a "booming economy....and a, um, he, great relationship...with Venezuela...um, and...my president, excuse me, my husband, that's a good one..." Not.
After the one question on Ukraine, and the famous, “I’ll have to get back to you on that,” it was over. 14 minutes, or forever in bimbo time. It got worse. The oft-repeated claims of being a lawyer when she’d failed the bar - weirdly, thanks Hannity - and of working in China on “international transaction law” when she was basically a paid intern. The verdict: "A train wreck," "a joke hire," "talk about a public execution," "between the 3rd-grade level reading and the fake attorney in China thing, brutal." Anti-DEI,.scandal-plagued Rick Santorum's glowing review: She was "not even close to the worst." Trump's lazy excuse: "I told her, 'If I were you, I'd reconsider.'" Fox: She's "transitioning" out of the job she held for 14 minutes.
It was a made-for-the-Internet spectacle. The White House declared, "She’ll be remembered as one of the all-time greats." America proclaimed, "She's gonna be a punchline for a very long time." Democratic strategist Mike Nellis clarified, "She wasn't fired because she lied,” a Trump requisite, but because "she was a bad liar." Another requisite: Michael Steele mused no more "blonde white female pronouncing his noise in a way that makes him feel good.” Some selfishly mourned the loss: "Please let her last long enough to hold a second briefing - I need the joy." Some empathized with SNL writers stuck with Friday night rewrites. Some were shocked: "I can't believe her husband, I mean president, fired her."
Though no press secretary really matters because Trump daily lies, veers, makes things up, some speculated on the next one: Scott Jennings, Katie Miller, Melissa McCarthy doing Sean Spicer. The Borowitz Report announced it's George Santos, who was "thrilled...I will bring to this job my experience not only as a lawyer but as a doctor and astronaut.” Also, he was cutting short his reunion tour "with his fellow Beatles." Some noted Zacharia "was press secretary longer than she was a lawyer." Others asserted they'd had blueberries, bananas, takeout and lettuce in their fridge longer than she had her job. Also that the U.K's Liz Truss lasted longer, as did the head of lettuce that often competed with her.
Some mulled Zacharia's future: "Next: memoir and book tour," "Now she can go back to studying for the bar, or at least its cocktail menu," "She is leaving 'to spend more time with my children, who will teach me how to read.'" A guy met her years ago on a cruise ship: She was telling a friend she'd partied the night before and slept in. They told her she'd missed them crossing the equator that morning. She said, "Oh, what did it look like?" Some waxed lyrical: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives." Some lamented inflation: "I remember when you could get a few months of work out of a press secretary. Now they're like those new batteries - they look like they'll last but whoosh and they're gone."
In honor of her historic reign, Wikipedia’s “List Of Humorous Units Of Measurement” was updated to include the “Zacharia,” a “fractional unit of a Scaramucci,” the previous record for Anthony Scaramucci's 11 days as press secretary in Trump's first term. The change prompted heated debate, pained mathematical equations, admiration: "Nobody thought anything could go faster than the speed of Mooch, but here we are." There were questions - Are Mooches a metric system? Would that be 45 centi-Mooches? - and answers: "They convert at a 5/11 ratio." Talk turned existential: "A Scaramucci was a measure of time. A Zacharia is more ethereal, a measure of being, a disconnect between one’s story and one's purpose...Beautiful really."
And there was anger Zacharia got fired but Trump's still here, that the media and GOP have let him "get away with LYING ABOUT EVERY GODDAMNED THING...from 2015 SPOUTING THAT OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE SHIT AND EVERY OTHER FUCKING LIE HE’S TOLD SINCE." And, in the last few months, that half of eight female officials have resigned or been fired, all replaced by men. That consistently inept, unhinged, corrupt, sick idiots like Hegseth, Patel, Lutnick, Goebbels, Vance etc lie, cheat, rave, royally screw up yet keep their jobs. What the fuck. Meanwhile Zacharia, still sketchy, posts altered photos from the Oval Office and declares the guy who threw her under the bus "kind, wonderful, gracious, thoughtful, enthusiastic and hard-working...No one will ever make America great the way he has and continues to." Damn, we hope not.
Helpful Press Secretary conversion table.Image from Bluesky
Clean Power Funding Surpasses Fossil Fuels, But Rich Nations Keep Bankrolling Dirty Energy: Report
For the first time on record, major international public financial institutions are providing more financing for clean energy around the world than for fossil fuels. But wealthy nations, including the United States, continue to pour billions into oil and gas, hampering the global energy transition, according to a new report.
On Wednesday, two environmental advocacy groups—Oil Change International and Friends of the Earth US—published an analysis of new data on public financing from Group of 20 (G20) nations and multilateral development banks for clean energy projects, such as wind and solar, and planet-warming fossil fuels, including oil, gas, and coal.
They found that from 2023-25, public financing for clean energy averaged at least $52.7 billion annually, compared with just $36.3 billion for fossil fuels. The report attributes the shift mostly to multilateral development banks, while G20 nations' own development and export financing continued to favor fossil fuels.
“This new dataset represents a tipping point. Clean energy financing overtaking fossil fuel financing for the first time is an important milestone," said Claire O'Manique, public finance researcher at Oil Change International. "But it doesn't mean we can sit back and count our wins.”
The level of clean energy financing, the group said, is still far below what is needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, a threshold beyond which the risks of devastating climate impacts increase.
That's largely thanks to four main culprits. Canada, Japan, the United States, and Italy accounted for around 75% of fossil fuel financing from G20 countries during this period.
Canada provided an annual average of $12.5 billion in fossil fuel financing—mostly for domestic projects. Japan averaged about $4.5 billion annually despite a G7 commitment to end public support for new international fossil fuel projects by 2022. Italy likewise averaged $3.8 billion annually, breaking a pledge to end international fossil fuel financing.
Over the same period, the US provided an annual average of about $3.6 billion in fossil fuel financing, mostly through its Export-Import Bank, compared with just $1.5 billion for clean energy.
The data from 2025, the first year of President Donald Trump's second term, is particularly striking. That year, the US provided nearly $8 billion in financing for fossil fuel projects compared with just $2.5 million for clean energy—roughly 3,200 times as much.
This included a loan of up to $4.7 billion for a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, despite allegations that soldiers guarding the project committed war crimes. British and Dutch backing has since been withdrawn from the project.
"Important progress is being made to move the world’s largest economies away from supporting fossil fuels and shift that financing toward renewable energy projects," said Kate DeAngelis, economic policy deputy director at Friends of the Earth US. "Unfortunately, laggards, including the United States and Japan, are continuing to prop up the fossil fuel industry instead of helping countries transition to sustainable economies.”
The report also found that less than 2% of the clean energy financing tracked reached low-income countries, despite their unmet energy needs. Meanwhile, nearly half of the funds went toward projects in the highest-income countries, according to World Bank classifications.
The five largest recipients of clean energy financing were all high- or middle-income countries: France, Poland, and Spain fall into the former category, while Brazil and India fall into the latter.
"A just transition will not happen at the scale required without governments actively steering it through redirecting and mobilizing public finance," O’Manique said. "Wealthy governments must move first and fastest to phase out fossil fuels at home and meet their climate finance obligations."
"We are running out of time," she said. "Without a fossil fuel phaseout and public finance being redirected to drive a just energy transition, we will continue to see escalating climate disasters that come at a huge human and economic cost, such as the deadly glacial flood disaster in Nepal.”
From Healthcare and Fuel Costs to Tariffs, Trump GOP's Policies 'Crushing' Small Businesses
Arizona-based Gabe Hagen said Tuesday that "to keep my business afloat, I invested my 401(k) savings and leveraged my home equity as collateral for additional capital, putting my family's financial security on the line to sustain my business and employees."
"I raised my prices, but sales have just flattened out because customers are ordering less," explained Hagen, who founded the Tempe coffee roasting company Brick Road Community Corporation. He's among over 1,000 US small business owners polled by the national coalition Small Business for America's Future from mid-August to early October.
Among those surveyed, 77% have seen customers spend less, delay purchases, or trade down recently, with 46% saying that shoppers are spending "significantly less." Meanwhile, owners like Hagen are increasingly enduring more financial stress, with many cutting their own pay or pulling money from personal savings to keep their companies operating.
The survey exposes how "a combination of factors is crushing small business," the coalition said in a statement announcing its resulting report—which highlights soaring costs for everything from fuel to healthcare, and was released just weeks away from the US midterm elections that will determine control of Congress for the latter half of Trump's second term.
"Costs are hitting Main Street from every direction at once and Washington doesn't seem to care about the needs of small business owners," said Walt Rowen, the coalition's co-chair and president of Susquehanna Glass Co., a family-owned glass manufacturer in Columbia, Pennsylvania that's been around for over a century.
Rowen—whose company is located in a key swing state—noted that "my business is a good example of what is happening. We've been navigating erratic tariff policies that have disrupted our supply chains, and now my heating oil costs $4,000 to $6,000 a month."
"We've lived through the Depression, wars, and recessions," he said. "Heating my factory in this current economy is some of the hardest math I've ever had to do, and I'm expecting the bill to jump 30% to 40% this winter. This survey shows us that I am far from alone. Small business owners everywhere are comparing this economy to some of the worst moments we've had this century."
The survey shows that 83% of small business owners are concerned about their company's financial health over the next year, including 44% who are very concerned. Three-quarters called this one of the hardest economies of their careers, with over half drawing comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic, and nearly a third pointing to the Great Recession.
A similar share (78%) accused decision-makers in Washington, DC of putting large corporations first, and 72% said running their business is harder than it was a year ago—with 85% citing inflation and rising prices as the source of strain. Majorities saw increases for utilities (72%); fuel (68%); transportation, shipping, or supplies (64%); business services (64%); healthcare and health insurance (54%); and employee wages and benefits (53%).
Those soaring costs have had consequences. Two-thirds of surveyed owners said they canceled, delayed, or scaled back investments in equipment, facilities, or technology. Over half did the same for hiring and expansion to new markets. Nearly two-thirds skipped or reduced their own pay, and 52% said their personal debt has increased in the past year.
Rising costs can be clearly connected to decisions by Trump and congressional Republicans—many of whom are up for reelection next month, as the GOP tries to hang on to its slim majorities in both chambers.
The president returned to power early last year having campaigned on a mass detention and deportation agenda, despite arguments from economists and elected Democrats that his approach was not only inhumane but economically risky. A clear majority of surveyed owners (61%) said that immigration enforcement has hurt the small business economy.
Trump and Republican lawmakers also enacted a 2025 budget package that cut federal healthcare spending and did not extend Affordable Care Act enhanced premium tax credits. Among surveyed business owners who buy their own insurance coverage through an ACA marketplace, 90% saw their premiums rise after the subsidies expired. Nearly three-quarters also said they fear rising health insurance costs will make it harder to hire and keep needed employees.
The administration's shifting tariff policy and refund process have caused further stress: 59% of owners said trade-related cost increases have made it harder to run their business, and only 3% have filed refund claims since the US Supreme Court's February ruling against many of Trump's tariffs.
Trump's illegal war on Iran continues to drive up fuel prices. The construction of artificial intelligence data centers—which the president has encouraged—is also increasing energy costs. Nearly three-quarters of those surveyed are worried about the impact of electricity demand from new AI facilities. Around the same share is concerned about the consequences of the new armed conflict in the Middle East, which the GOP-controlled Congress never authorized, but has refused to end.
In a social media post about all the findings, Small Business for America's Future urged, "Lawmakers, make your next decision with Main Street in mind."
'Power Lies at the Hands of the People': Thousands of No Kings Events Rally Voters for 2026 Midterms
More than 3,000 No Kings rallies held in all 50 US states on Saturday sought to rally voters to the polls ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
While past No Kings demonstrations have focused on protesting the policies of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, Saturday's demonstrations were geared toward helping Americans ensure that their vote is counted in next month's elections.
On the No Kings website, organizers described the events as "a day of nonpartisan voter participation, being in community with each other, and making sure every eligible voter has a plan, knows their options, and is ready to make their voice count."
Speaking at a No Kings event in Atlanta, Georgia, Indivisible co-founder Leah Greenberg emphasized how important early voting will be to stopping any attempted meddling by the Trump administration in the elections.
"In America, power lies at the hands of the people, and we express our power at the ballot box," said Greenberg. "Nobody knows better than the folks here that that right was never given by the powerful, it was demanded by generations of dedicated, brilliant, fearless organizers who put their lives and their freedom on the line to demand that this nation live up to its promises."
Leah Greenberg: No Kings is a deceptively simple statement. It is a statement that in America, power lies at the hands of the people, and we express our power at the ballot box.
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— Indivisible ❌👑 (@indivisible.org) October 17, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Greenberg outlined how Trump has tried to attack the voting process throughout his second term, including his unprecedented mid-decade redistricting campaign and his attempts to restrict the right to vote by mail.
"They want chaos, fear, and confusion at the polls," said Greenberg. "Voting early is the first step in how we protect those rights. A vote cast today can't be lost to a long line or a closed polling place."
In a Thursday interview with journalist Steven Beschloss, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin said he hoped the No Kings rallies would drive "the biggest turnout in midterms in American history," which he said was important "because we have an authoritarian" in Trump "who will take advantage of any uncertainty."
Minnesota Democratic US Senate candidate Peggy Flanagan, whose state came under siege last winter from federal immigration agents, expressed support for the No Kings rallies in a Saturday social media post.
"This year, Minnesotans showed the world that we don't do kings," Flanagan wrote. "Today, we're doing it again. No matter where you are, make your voice heard."
The demonstrations also earned a thumbs up from Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.).
"No kings. No authoritarians. No warmongers. No despots," Ramirez wrote. "All across the country, Americans are taking to the streets and organizing to defend our neighbors and our democracy! Remember that you have rights."
Attendance estimates for Saturday’s No Kings protests were not available as of this writing, though past rallies have drawn as many as 8 million people nationwide.
As Rubio Heads to India, US Progressives Sound Alarm About Repression and Surveillance of Protests
On the eve of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's trip to India, six progressives in the House of Representatives on Friday sounded the alarm over the Indian government's response to recent protests, including its alleged spying on American soil.
"We write with concern regarding a pattern of repression, wrongful detention, and excessive use of force by security forces during student protests in Delhi and other localities across India," Democratic Reps. Jesús "Chuy" García (Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Jim McGovern (Mass.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Ilhan Omar (Minn.), and Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) said in a letter to President Donald Trump's top diplomat.
"The United States-India relationship has historically been rooted in democratic values, constitutional governance, and strong people-to-people ties," they wrote. "As the world's largest democracies and state parties to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the US and India have an obligation to promote and defend the rights to freedom of assembly and expression. It is in this spirit of shared values and obligations that we raise the following concerns."
As the letter lays out, protests began in June after the leak and subsequent cancellation of India's medical college entrance examination. While the demonstrators initially demanded reforms to the education system, including the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) movement ultimately "grew to give voice to a broader set of grievances, including high levels of youth unemployment, government corruption, and barriers to democratic participation."
In recent weeks, "tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of major cities across India to protest... the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which has purged more than 130 million people from voter rolls since 2025," the letter details, noting that protesters have called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
At least "hundreds of people have been detained by police across India since October 10, including CJP movement leaders, protesters, and journalists," the lawmakers highlighted. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party has also closed some public spaces, used unwarranted force against unarmed demonstrators, and ordered telecommunications companies to shut down mobile internet services in a bid to thwart protests.
However, the Democrats aren't just alarmed by actions across India; they also pointed to "reports that Indian diplomatic missions in the United States hired photographers to surveil protesters on American soil," with members of US human rights groups and the Indian diaspora disclosing that they were recorded at protests in Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.
"These incidents raise particular alarm in light of India's documented pattern of engaging in transnational repression, including through the weaponization of consular services, harassment, intimidation, and physical violence," the members of Congress wrote. "It is unacceptable that individuals on United States soil may not exercise their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, guaranteed to them by the US Constitution and international law for fear of retribution by a foreign government."
The lawmakers asked Rubio's department to:
- Press the Indian government to initiate thorough, transparent, and independent investigations of alleged human rights violations connected to the law enforcement response to protests;
- Encourage the release of any individuals detained in contravention to Indian and international law for peacefully exercising the rights to freedom of expression and assembly;
- Thoroughly investigate reports that Indian diplomatic missions engaged in the surveillance and intimidation of protesters within the United States; and
- Pursuant to Section 6 of the Arms Export Control Act, assess whether India has engaged in a consistent pattern of acts of intimidation or harassment directed against individuals in the United States and is thus ineligible for arms sales.
Rubio is expected to meet with Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar in Mumbai on October 20. However, Rubio—a former US senator expected to run for president in 2028—and the second Trump administration more broadly have also been widely criticized for authoritarian behavior and their records on human rights.
After Rubio attacked Amnesty International, the globally renowned group argued earlier this week that "as secretary of state, he has launched a wholesale attack on the concept of human rights." Specifically, he has:
- Eviscerated the US government's human rights infrastructure;
- Vowed to wreck international human rights institutions;
- Championed the US administration's extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific; and
- Continued to arm Israel as it commits genocide in Gaza.
Further, "as the head of the National Security Council, he has not ensured the release of investigations into mass killings of civilians in US airstrikes in Yemen and Iran," Amnesty noted. "He's leading US attempts to destroy the international justice system. That includes a campaign to, in his words, 'dismantle' the International Criminal Court."
More broadly, the second Trump administration has repeatedly generated fears of interference in next month's midterm elections, weaponized the federal government against the president's political "enemies," spent taxpayer dollars on far-right propaganda, punished journalists and outlets deemed unfriendly to the GOP agenda, pursued a deadly mass detention and deportation effort, slaughtered hundreds of people by bombing alleged drug-trafficking boats on the high seas, and much more.
Democratic Senators Aim to Block Trump Nuclear Deal With Saudi Arabia
US Sens. Ed Markey and Jeff Merkley on Thursday continued to push back against President Donald Trump's proposed nuclear energy agreement with Saudi Arabia, setting up a vote on legislation that could block the deal before it takes effect.
"Giving Saudi Arabia access to US civilian nuclear energy technology without ironclad protections to make sure it doesn't provide a foundation for a nuclear bomb is unacceptable," declared Merkley (D-Ore.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who co-chairs the Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group with Markey (D-Mass.).
Under Section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act, Congress has 90 days of continuous session to review the deal. The pair of senators introduced a joint resolution of disapproval, on which the Senate is set to vote after November 29. The JRD would need to pass both GOP-controlled chambers by veto-proof majorities to actually block the agreement.
I refuse to let the U.S. sleepwalk into a dangerous nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. The law gives Congress the power to review and block a deal like this.@markey.senate.gov and I are making sure the Senate fulfills that responsibility before it’s too late.
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— Senator Jeff Merkley (@merkley.senate.gov) October 15, 2026 at 12:37 PM
The senators are alarmed that Trump's agreement lacks a "gold standard" provision barring Saudi Arabia from reprocessing spent fuel or enriching uranium. They are also alarmed that the proposal doesn't require allowing International Atomic Energy Agency investigators to confirm that the nation is not trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
"It is essential that nations pursuing civilian energy programs agree to the 'gold standard' of restrictions on fuel reprocessing and enrichment and rigorous inspections to ensure that a nuclear energy program doesn't become a covert nuclear weapons program," Merkley argued. "We can't sleepwalk into a decision this consequential. The law gives Congress the power to review and block a deal like this, and the Senate will now have the chance to fulfill its statutory responsibility before it's too late."
The details of the agreement have concerned not only progressive senators, but also nuclear nonproliferation experts.
"The US-Saudi nuclear deal is about megatons, not megawatts. Trump should not be sharing nuclear bomb technology with a nation that US intelligence says may want nuclear weapons," said Markey. "This deal is the starting gun for a Middle East nuclear arms race. Congress must reject it."
The introduction came roughly a month after Markey and Merkley partnered with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for another JRD designed to block a $5 billion conventional weapons sale to Saudi Arabia, which includes over 10,000 joint direct attack munition guidance kits and a similar number of "dumb bombs" that can be combined to create precision weapons.
"I am deeply concerned by the kingdom's human rights abuses, the security of the region as the war in Iran rages on, and the proxy war that is escalating between Iran and Saudi Arabia in Yemen," Markey said at the time. "Further escalation in the Saudi-Iran proxy war will worsen an already dire humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen and risks setting off a nuclear arms race between Iran and Saudi Arabia."
'Blatant Hypocrisy': Trump Signs Executive Order on Women’s Health—While Attacking Women's Health
"This is an attempt to change the headlines, not women’s lives.”
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to promote women's health. But advocates say it's an example of "blatant hypocrisy" after his administration slashed healthcare access and medical research funding.
The initiative, promoted by First Lady Melania Trump, establishes a new Women's Health Division within the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and a White House task force to advance research into conditions disproportionately affecting women, like heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, cancer, and endometriosis.
During a speech on Monday, Trump said the task force "will mobilize the entire federal government to coordinate action focused on improving women's health." He added that it would be led by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom he said "has been fantastic" even though he’s "a little different."
Critics were quick to point out that the order doesn’t provide any new research funding and that the Trump administration has canceled nearly half a billion dollars in NIH research funding, some of which supported research into the very diseases the order mentions.
Following years of growth in women's health research, a Washington Post analysis found that under Kennedy, the number of competitively funded NIH research projects mentioning women fell by 31% in 2025, amid the administration's crusade against so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
In April, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)—who faces a tough reelection campaign—criticized these cuts, saying that "the administration's emphasis on canceling diversity-related grants has resulted in less research aimed at women's health."
The new order also revokes two Biden-era directives on women's health research, which had helped secure nearly $1 billion in funding. Trump's order provides no additional research funding. It also does not specify what will happen to the existing funds.
"Women’s health has long been ignored as a federal priority, and while we agree that steps must be taken to close disparities in women’s healthcare, it’s hard not to point out the blatant hypocrisy of this unfunded order coming from an administration that is actively decimating healthcare access for women," said Dorianne Mason, senior director of health equity and contraceptive access at the National Women's Law Center (NWLC).
"From the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s cuts to Medicaid and the defunding of Planned Parenthood, to gutting the federal Office of Minority Health and slashing funding for women’s health research, this administration has made it clear that it doesn’t actually care about women’s healthcare needs, despite what this weak executive order attempts to convey," she added.
Last year, Trump signed a GOP budget law that cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid—a program that finances maternity care, reproductive healthcare, as well as routine health services for around 39 million low-income women.
Under Kennedy, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has rescinded federal guidance protecting emergency abortion access and launched a medical review that could restrict access to abortion pills.
“With RFK Jr. at the HHS helm, millions of women are paying more for healthcare and have less access to services they need,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care. “Secretary Kennedy has tried to scrap any research grant or program that dares to fix women’s health disparities—and disproportionately fired women doctors and career scientists en masse. He’s fought tooth and nail to restrict access to abortion medication even when the lives and health of women depend on it, including patients dealing with a horrific ectopic pregnancy."
Polls show that Trump and Republicans are performing dismally among women. According to a Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll released Sunday, just 30% of women said they approved of Trump’s job performance, and 61% wanted Democrats to control Congress.
Noting that the midterm elections were just weeks away, Mason said Trump's announcement of a women's health initiative "is an attempt to change the headlines, not women’s lives.”
Toxic Betrayal: Report Details How Trump Duped His MAHA Base by Appeasing Corporate Interests
The MAHA movement "reminded the American public of the dangers of toxic chemicals in our air and water... But then the Trump administration either did nothing—or gave industry permission to pollute more.”
It's been seven months since more than 30 leaders of the "Make America Healthy Again" movement told the Trump administration that they were losing patience, and demanded to see evidence that the US Environmental Protection Agency took seriously millions of Americans' concerns about toxic "forever chemicals" and microplastics.
"MAHA is a mandate, not a marketing campaign," the advocates told EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, calling for an end to both corporate-friendly loopholes in regulations and the "revolving door" that saw chemical lobbyists hired by the agency tasked with regulating the industry.
But on Monday, the government watchdog Public Citizen revealed that 20 out of 21 environmental chemicals that the White House pledged to address in its May 2025 "MAHA Report" have been subject to less, not more, regulation under the Trump administration.
For nine of the chemicals, including the carcinogenic herbicide atrazine, mercury, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—often called forever chemicals—President Donald Trump and his top officials have loosened public health regulations.
For 10 of them, the administration has taken none of the action promised in the MAHA Report, and in the case of the cancer-causing herbicide glyphosate, Trump issued an executive order not only endorsing the use of the chemical but mandating its production—a year after Bayer, the parent company of the chemical firm that uses glyphosate in popular weedkiller Roundup, donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural campaign.
Public Citizen found just one substance, microplastics, for which the administration has "taken any step toward regulation, and at best it was a baby step"—announcing in April that microplastics may be considered for regulation in the future and that the government would study measuring and removing them from the human body.
The report identifies the lifted limits on forever chemicals, loosened regulations on air pollution, and action on glyphosate as "among the most egregious betrayals" of the MAHA movement that helped elect Trump.
"These examples show how the Trump administration’s retreat on chemicals in the environment is failing to keep Americans healthy," reads the report.
Despite the warning from MAHA leaders earlier this year, Public Citizen research director Peter Whoriskey wrote, the administration's conduct has shown that "MAHA is worse than an empty slogan. It’s a sham."
Nearly two years into Trump's second term in office—despite the fact that MAHA leader Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the president's secretary of health and human services—key regulatory posts have been filled by former industry lobbyists and officials, such as David Fotouhi, who as the deputy administrator of the EPA is the agency’s second-highest official.
During his legal career, Fotouhi defended the company International Paper when it was sued for contaminating the environment with forever chemicals.
Eight out of 10 top leadership roles at the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention and the Office of Air and Radiation are filled by "officials, lawyers, and lobbyists who previously worked for chemical oil, chemical, and agriculture companies," reads the report.
"For years, Kennedy, like other leaders in the MAHA movement, accused federal regulators of being controlled by corporate lobbyists and failing to protect Americans from dangerous industrial and agricultural chemicals. Accordingly, they campaigned to curtail corporate influence at the EPA and other federal agencies," wrote Whoriskey.
But with Kennedy at his side, "the Trump administration has not only accommodated industry demands but appointed industry lobbyists and other officials to senior positions in the EPA."
The report also takes aim at persistent claims by Trump administration officials, including in the MAHA Report, that they will use "gold standard science" to evaluate environmental dangers.
The White House has made that all but impossible by disbanding the Office of Research and Development, which has conducted research on the impact of chemicals on humans, the report says.
The government's top air pollution research facility in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was also shut down, while all the members of the EPA's Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee were ousted.
“The MAHA Report reminded the American public of the dangers of toxic chemicals in our air and water,” said Whoriskey in a statement. “It was described as a ‘call to action.’ But then the Trump administration either did nothing—or gave industry permission to pollute more.”
Mahmoud Khalil Asks Supreme Court to Weigh In On Fights Against 'Unlawful Attempts to Detain and Deport People'
"The Supreme Court must uphold the power of habeas courts to free people from retaliatory detention and prevent the weaponization of the immigration system to punish dissent."
Attorneys representing former Columbia University student organizer Mahmoud Khalil on Monday asked the US Supreme Court to hear a challenge to an appellate ruling that overturned a judge's determination that his 2025 detention by federal immigration officials was unconstitutional.
Khalil, a legal US permanent resident who was born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, was arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in March 2025 and detained on claims that his activism was "adverse to the foreign policy interests of the United States."
US District Judge Michael Farbiarz, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, freed Khalil from ICE custody, arguing that his detention was unwarranted since he was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community.
However, the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals overruled Farbiarz's decision on the grounds that federal courts did not have jurisdiction to rule on immigration cases.
In making his appeal to the Supreme Court to hear his case, Khalil said the outcome would determine "whether I, and all immigrants in this country, can actually challenge this administration’s unlawful attempts to detain and deport people solely in retaliation for their First Amendment protected speech."
Baher Azmy, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents Khalil, argued that the appeals court's decision was in error because federal courts should always have jurisdiction over cases involving core rights such as habeas corpus petitions.
"Our most fundamental constitutional principles have always prevented the president from sending people into detention on a whim or out of spite," said Azmy. "Access to the critical protections of habeas corpus is an essential check on the kind of arbitrary detention here, which the administration wants free rein to accomplish, by punishing Mr. Khalil for nothing other than constitutionally protected speech."
Alina Das, director of the New York University Immigrant Rights Clinic, which is also representing the former student, said the Trump administration's detention of Khalil violated his core constitutional rights, while also chilling the speech of both US citizens and noncitizens who "fear retaliation against themselves or their loved one."
"The Supreme Court must uphold the power of habeas courts to free people from retaliatory detention," said Das, "and prevent the weaponization of the immigration system to punish dissent."
'Hands Off Our People!': Fury After ICE Agents Break US-Born Man's Arm in Long Beach
“ICE has no place terrorizing our streets or subjecting our residents to random stops and harassment simply because of the color of their skin," said the city councilwoman representing the district.
Residents of Long Beach, California and their elected officials are among those condemning a Saturday assault by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that left a US citizen hospitalized with a broken arm and a community demanding an end to ICE terror.
Ricardo Gonzalez, a 40-year-old former Long Beach city employee born in Hanford, California, was riding his electric bicycle near Elm Avenue and 56th Street in North Long Beach on Saturday when federal agents in an unmarked vehicle allegedly struck him, tased him twice, and handcuffed him, his daughter, Leslie Gonzalez, told the Long Beach Watchdog.
In a differing account, a neighbor who witnessed the incident told The Long Beach Post that an agent jumped out of the unmarked vehicle and tackled Gonzalez to the ground.
Video recorded by Sherman Austin, founder of stopice.net, shows ICE agents handcuffing Ricardo, who is lying face-down in the gutter repeatedly screaming that his arm is broken and that he needs medical aid.
As the incident unfolded, community members, including volunteers with anti-ICE rapid response groups, converged on the area to confront the agents and warn residents of their presence. But instead of staying inside, many people came out to intervene as Gonzalez was brutalized.
Residents were reportedly already on edge due to the presence of numerous unmarked law enforcement vehicles in the neighborhood since early Saturday morning.
According to the Post, neighbors demanded to see a warrant for Gonzalez's arrest and placed trash cans and their own bodies in the way of agents' vehicles to stop them from leaving.
“If they try to take one of us, they’re going to have to take all of Long Beach,” resident Patricia Velazquez told the Post.
One neighborhood resident accused agents of making racist remarks to people who gathered to confront them, including saying that they didn't "look legal."
During a roughly hourlong standoff, agents grabbed two women—both US citizens—and forced them into the backs of different vehicles, according to the Post. One bystander told the outlet that community members distracted agents while others freed the detained women by sneaking up and opening the doors of the cars in which they were held.
"I’m proud of the neighbors who documented and stood up for the family being terrorized by ICE," Congressman Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said Sunday on social media. "[President] Donald Trump and his inhumane and illegal deportation machine must be stopped. Long Beach stands with our community and our immigrant families. ICE is not welcome in Long Beach. Abolish ICE."
ICE is not welcome in Long Beach.
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— Rep. Robert Garcia (@robertgarcia.house.gov) October 18, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, a Democrat, said in a video posted to Instagram that "ICE doesn’t belong in our city and this activity undermines community safety and public trust."
"No family should have to live in fear in their own neighborhood," Richardson stressed. "Our residents deserve to feel safe."
"To our immigrant communities: You are part of Long Beach. You belong here. And you deserve to feel safe here," the mayor added. "Whatever happens at the federal level, our responsibility remains the same: protect our residents, respond to emergencies, and keep our community informed."
Long Beach City Councilmember Tunua Thrash-Ntuk, a Democrat who represents the district where the incident took place, said Sunday that ICE agents need to keep their “hands off our people!”
“In a free country, no one should be riding their bike in their own neighborhood only to be subjected to an unprovoked assault by a government agent,” she argued. “ICE has no place terrorizing our streets or subjecting our residents to random stops and harassment simply because of the color of their skin. This lawless chaos demands our universal condemnation.”
Local police also faced criticism for their handling of the incident. Videos posted to social media showed Long Beach Police Department (LBPD) vehicles blocking streets and residents asking why officers were assisting in a federal immigration operation in apparent violation of state law.
LBPD subsequently issued a statement saying that ICE "requested emergency assistance" and that the department "does not enforce civil immigration law and does not participate in federal immigration enforcement," but also "cannot legally obstruct or interfere with federal enforcement operations."
It is unclear why ICE agents attacked Gonzalez. A neighbor told the Post that an agent accused Gonzalez of throwing something at their vehicle.
Despite his injuries, Gonzalez put his arm in a sling to go to a local park and watch his son play in a soccer match on Sunday.
“He’s just in pain. He can’t really sit down; it hurts when he gets up,” Leslie Gonzalez, his daughter, told the Watchdog on Sunday. “He’s just trying to get out of the house and move around. He didn’t just want to sit in the house and dwell all day.”
In a GoFundMe page titled "Support Ricardo's Fight for Justice and Recovery," Leslie Gonzalez wrote: "My dad is one of the hardest working men out there. Because of him I have a roof over my head and I have all the opportunities around me. Our family is everything because of him. We ask for your support and prayers during this awful time."
Leslie Gonzalez told the Watchdog: “I wouldn’t have believed in a million years that this would ever happen to my family."
“But that’s just a bad mindset to put yourself in," she added, "because it could happen to anyone.”
A ProPublica investigation published earlier this month documented more than 500 cases of US citizens detained by immigration agents since the start of the second Trump administration, including more than 100 people held after agents questioned their citizenship and at least 70 children and teenagers.
At least four US citizens—Ruben Ray Martinez, Keith Porter Jr., Renee Good, and Alex Pretti—have been killed by Department of Homeland Security agents during Trump's second term. More than 50 immigrants have died in ICE custody since January 2025.
“I've never seen so many US citizen encounters in all my years,” Darius Reeves, who oversaw ICE's Baltimore office before retiring last year, told ProPublica. “It’s an embarrassment.”
'She’s Going to Win,' Says Bernie Sanders After Weekend in Florida Backing Angie Nixon
"Trust me on this," Sanders said. "This is going to be a spark that is going to ignite the entire country."
Judging by the polls, progressive Democrat Angie Nixon faces an uphill battle as she contends for Florida’s US Senate seat. But after campaigning with her this weekend, Sen. Bernie Sanders is confident she's being underestimated.
"She’s going to win," Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote on social media Sunday night, after making four stops across a state that's long been written off as a GOP stronghold.
"They say Florida is a red state, but you know what I'm hearing?" Sanders said. "Working people everywhere are sick and tired of the same old politics and policies. They want real change."
Nixon, a state representative and former labor leader, has already shown that calls for change can galvanize voters. Running on what she's called a "Working Families Guarantee"—which includes Medicare for All, free childcare, paid leave, and stronger bargaining power for workers—she unexpectedly defeated the better-funded, establishment-backed centrist Alex Vindman in August's Democratic primary.
In an election season where Republicans are expected to face a reckoning over rising prices and shameless self-enrichment by President Donald Trump and his allies, Nixon's message seems to be resonating in Florida. Despite the past decade's massive influx of wealthy retirees, a strong base of working-class supporters, particularly in Florida's politically neglected Black communities, has mobilized behind her.
At a rain-drenched rally in Tampa on Saturday, about 2,200 people watched as Nixon spoke with what the Tampa Bay Times called "a preacher’s charisma," hitting back at Republican Sen. Ashley Moody’s attempts to characterize her platform as "radical."
"If believing that a child with cancer should get treatment they need whether their parents can afford it or not is radical, then call me radical," Nixon thundered. "Then I guess I'm a radical, Ashley. I guess I'm radical as hell."
"Where I come from, none of that is radical," she continued. "That is just plain common sense. That is basic human decency."
Nixon has called for Moody to be jailed over her actions as the state's attorney general. In 2024, Moody approved the diversion of $10 million from a Medicaid fraud settlement—which would have benefited low-income Floridians, including children—to political campaigns supporting Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and other Republicans.
"Are you all ready to fight back?" Nixon shouted to a roaring crowd in Tallahassee on Sunday. "Are you all ready to put an end to the corruption that's driving up our prices and ruining our democracy?"
"Well, I am ready, too!" she said, as supporters stood behind her waving signs reading "Freeze the Rent," "Tax Billionaires," and "Protect Social Security."
While recent polls still show Nixon trailing Moody in the final weeks of the campaign, her fundraising in the third quarter of the year has soared, and other major figures in the Democratic Party from progressives like Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) to establishment liberals like Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) have campaigned with her in person.
With gas prices continuing to soar as Trump threatens dramatic escalations in his war with Iran, signs of a coming electoral apocalypse for Republicans are flashing ever brighter.
Democrats now lead by around nine points on the generic congressional ballot, and Trump's approval has dipped to historic lows. The GOP's fundraising arms have begun diverting resources initially for swing states like Georgia and North Carolina to protect territory once thought safe—in South Carolina, Kansas, Ohio, and, yes, even Florida.
The 2026 cycle has already challenged the long-standing conventional wisdom that chasing Republicans to the right is a necessity to win voters in purple and red states.
With similar populist messaging, Abdul El-Sayed and Troy Jackson are leading Republican opponents in Michigan and Maine, respectively. James Talarico is favored to become the first Democrat to win a statewide election in Texas since the Clinton administration. Meanwhile, Dan Osborn, Josh Turek, Adam Hamilton, and Sherrod Brown are all hanging tough in states that Trump won by double digits in 2024.
But a win by Nixon—a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who, unlike other progressives, won her primary largely with support from the state's lowest-income, least college-educated constituencies—would signify more than just a backlash to "the most dangerous president in the history of the United States," Sanders said.
"This election is not only important for the people of Florida in getting a senator who is going to fight for you," Sanders told the Tallahassee crowd. "Trust me on this, after Angie wins, this is going to be a spark that is going to ignite the entire country."
As Millions Struggle to Get By, Plutocrat Working to Kill California Billionaire Tax Dines With Trump
"He’d rather working class kids die because they can’t afford healthcare than pay his fair share in taxes," Sen. Bernie Sanders said of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
Billionaire Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who has spent more than $100 million fighting a proposed wealth tax in California, shared a lavish dinner with billionaire US President Donald Trump over the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida as millions of American families struggle to afford groceries, healthcare, and other necessities.
Brin was seated directly to the billionaire president's left during the fundraising dinner, which was hosted by the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc. On Trump's right was Greg Brockman, president of the leading artificial intelligence firm OpenAI.
The proposal that Brin is trying to defeat would impose a one-time, 5% tax on California's billionaire residents and use the revenue to offset the damage of unprecedented federal Medicaid cuts, which Trump signed into law last year. The proposal will appear on California's November ballot as Proposition 40.
"When Sergey Brin, the 4th richest man alive, isn’t dining with Trump, what’s he doing? He’s spending $138 million against California’s 5% billionaire wealth tax," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in response to pictures of Brin and the president.
"He’d rather working class kids die because they can’t afford healthcare than pay his fair share in taxes," added Sanders, a vocal proponent of the tax. "Obscene."
Brin, who moved his primary residence from California to Nevada late last year to avoid the potential tax, is the primary funder of Building a Better California, a group that is trying to defeat the proposed levy and sponsoring competing measures.
Earlier this month, Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom—who opposes the billionaire wealth tax—endorsed Proposition 42, a measure backed by Building a Better California. If passed, the initiative would cancel out the proposed billionaire tax and prohibit future wealth taxes.
In an op-ed for The Guardian on Monday, US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote that he stands "with the nurses and healthcare workers who put Prop 40 on the ballot."
"Newsom stands with Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, and Elon Musk, Trump backers who all oppose it," wrote Khanna, who is considering a presidential run in 2028. "If they paid this tax, they would be worth the same as they were on Labor Day of this year. That’s the speed at which their wealth is growing. The tax would raise about $100 billion, 90% of it for healthcare. It would help keep 3 million Californians from losing coverage. Trump’s cuts could cost Medi-Cal more than $30 billion a year, and this tax would help fill that gigantic hole."
"In Trump’s America, working people pay more than they should, while billionaires are so unburdened that they are becoming trillionaires. In the America we seek, billionaires and trillionaires will pay their fair share, while working people will be unburdened," the congressman added. "Will California this November stand with the working class or the oligarchs?"
'Backing Settler Terrorists Is Its Policy': IDF Ignored Distress Calls Before Attack on Diplomats
"European diplomats got a glimpse of everyday life for Palestinians in the West Bank."
The Israeli military reportedly ignored repeated distress calls before masked settlers attacked a group of European diplomats with metal bars during a visit to the illegally occupied West Bank this past weekend, sparking international outrage.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that "despite the warnings, security forces were not sent to the area to prevent the attack or intervene as it unfolded." The outlet noted that "an activist who was in the area following reports of attacks on Palestinian olive pickers sent a report of the settlers' attack to a phone in the brigade's operations room used to receive messages from settlement security coordinators. The soldiers in the operations room did not recognize the sender's number, so they ignored the message and did not relay it to forces in the field."
In the Saturday attack, settlers targeted diplomats from France, Belgium, and Poland, as well as Catholic representatives. Israeli authorities said Monday that they had arrested 10 suspects as part of an investigation into the incident, but critics expressed doubt that the Israeli government would hold the perpetrators to account given the general pattern of impunity for violent settlers.
"It was clear to me this had to come for Israel to save face," Mairav Zonszein, a senior analyst on Israel at the International Crisis Group, wrote in response to the arrests. "They probably will be released shortly."
The attack on diplomats came a day after Israeli settlers in the West Bank brutally attacked 63-year-old Heidi Levine, a photojournalist with The Washington Post and a US citizen. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement casting doubt on Levine's account and news reports, and said the incident was under investigation.
Netanyahu's office took a similar line following the Saturday attack on European diplomats, saying in a statement, "The more serious the accusation, the greater the demand for compelling evidence."
Video of masked Israeli settlers striking European diplomats and elected officials near Taybeh, a Christian village in Palestine. The 78-year-old French mayor Bernard Baudoux was thrown to the ground and beaten with iron bars.Make no mistake: If the Israeli government wanted to put an end to this, they could within minutes. They don't.Just like Biden pretended that he wanted a ceasefire, but in reality worked tirelessly to enable Israel's genocide.They are playing the same trick on us again.
— Trita Parsi (@tparsi) October 18, 2026
France's foreign affairs ministry denounced the attacks on diplomats as "acts of terror" and called on Israeli authorities to "arrest the perpetrators of this extremely serious assault and bring them to justice." Bernard Baudoux, a French mayor who was attacked, said he was "struck with metal bars and kicked before being thrown to the ground."
"We were finally able to get back to our vehicles," Baudoux added.
Breaking the Silence, an Israeli anti-occupation group, said in a statement on Sunday that "European diplomats got a glimpse of everyday life for Palestinians in the West Bank."
The group added that the IDF "will always have a bureaucratic excuse" for not acting to prevent such attacks, "but the real reason is that backing settler terrorists is its policy."
"This horrifying routine serves a purpose," the group said. "Through daily terror and economic strangulation, it aims to drive Palestinians off their land. The ultimate goals: ethnic cleansing and annexation."
The attacks also drew condemnation from lawmakers in the US, where Republicans and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman recently blocked legislation aimed at shining light on Israeli abuses in the West Bank.
"I condemn the brutal settler attacks on American photojournalist Heidi Levine, European diplomats, and Palestinian olive harvesters in the West Bank," US Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement on Sunday. "Prime Minister Netanyahu must act now to stop settler violence, protect civilians, and ensure those responsible are brought to justice. The impunity must end."
'This Is So Appalling': Barack Obama Delivers Blistering Rebuke of Trump's Ilhan Omar Deportation Plot
"The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president."
Former President Barack Obama on Sunday spoke out against the Trump administration's plot to strip Rep. Ilhan Omar of her US citizenship and remove her from the country.
In a lengthy social media post, Obama said the administration's attack on Omar (D-Minn.) violates "a basic principle of American democracy that the government can’t selectively target individuals simply because of their political beliefs or what they say."
Obama's post came nearly one week after agents at the US Department of Homeland Security conducted a raid of Omar's home. Days after the raid, the Wall Street Journal reported that the raid on Omar was part of an effort to build “a case to strip her of her US citizenship and ultimately deport her."
"To understand why this is so appalling, it’s important to know the facts," Obama wrote. "Congresswoman Omar came to this country with her father when she was 12 years old. Five years later, her father became a naturalized citizen. If Ilhan had been 18 at the time, she would have had to apply for citizenship separately. But because she was 17, she became a naturalized citizen automatically."
Obama noted that President Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted Omar "as someone who he believes does not belong in this country," and accused the president of seizing upon an "unsubstantiated theory that she was actually 18 when her father was naturalized" to carry out his deportation plot.
"The full weight of the federal government is being brought down on a law-abiding elected official because she has dared to criticize the president," Obama wrote. "And it’s not the first time this has happened. Under President Trump, the Justice Department has repeatedly gone after those he considers his political enemies—from the Attorney General of New York, to the former head of the FBI, to members of the Federal Reserve."
Obama concluded by warning that letting Trump's actions go unchallenged would set a terrible precedent that even the president's allies could one day live to regret.
"If this becomes the new normal, there’s no reason to believe it will stop with [Omar]," Obama wrote, "or that future presidents, in either party, won’t do the same."
Trump rose to political prominence last decade by spreading a racist conspiracy theory falsely claiming that Obama was born in Kenya, and thus ineligible to be president.
GOP Operatives 'Taken Aback' as Rural Voters Blame Billionaires for Economic Woes: Report
"Trump told everybody one singular truth. He said the system is broken... and unfortunately, it turned out that he was lying about all the ways they were going to fix these things," said Montana Democratic congressional candidate Sam Forstag.
Rural voters who have long been the Republican Party's core base are expressing major discontent with the current state of the US economy, which has been hurt by President Donald Trump's tariffs and his illegal war with Iran.
While it's not clear that rural voters are ready to abandon the GOP to support Democrats, a recent focus group showed they appear receptive to populist economic appeals.
According to a Sunday CNN report, Republican operatives were recently "taken aback" when they spoke with rural voters who blamed "billionaires" and "corrupt politicians" for the country's economic woes.
These operatives were surprised, CNN wrote, because they had "never seen government corruption emerge as a top issue for so many Republican voters in congressional races."
This comes as Republicans across the country have increasingly come to rely on contributions from billionaires, and in particular SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has funneled at least $276 million to GOP groups and his own super political action committee (PAC) since July alone.
Democrat Sam Forstag, who is making a populist economic pitch in his campaign in Montana's 1st Congressional District, told CNN that voters' concerns about corruption are now "all out in the open," and he said many of Trump's current political troubles stem from his broken promises to fix a rigged system.
"Trump told everybody one singular truth," said Forstag. "He said the system is broken... and unfortunately, it turned out that he was lying about all the ways they were going to fix these things."
Forstag's comments were echoed by Arthur Ray Lambert, a Colorado horse trainer who explained his disappointment with Trump in an interview published by The New York Times on Sunday.
"We thought that the president was going to come in with his team and fix stuff," Lambert said. "And at first, he sounded good. But now, I hate to say it, but I think it’s time for him and his team to get out of there and somebody else come in."
Joseph Kennedy, a Colorado cattle and sheep farmer, told the Times he felt "bamboozled" after voting for Trump, and would instead sit out the upcoming election.
"I’m over politics," Kennedy explained. "I’ve dropped out."
Journalist Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, in a story published by The Atlantic last week, wrote that residents she spoke with recently in rural Arizona are both disappointed with Trump's economy and disgusted by political corruption.
"Almost all told me they are angry about Trump’s decisions to start a war and spend hundreds of millions of dollars ornamenting a capital city they will never see," Sanchez wrote. "They lamented the corruption they see as endemic in the government and in large corporations, and denounced billionaires, whom they view as capitalizing on their pain."
A Fox News poll released last week found that 60% of voters say they are “extremely concerned” about government corruption, which is higher than the 58% who are extremely concerned about inflation and the 50% who are extremely concerned about gas prices.
Fears of Big Tech Censorship Grow After Meta Suspends No Kings Instagram Account
Meta has also been accused of trying to sabotage Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's campaign.
Fears of big tech platforms censoring progressive political movements are on the rise after social media giant Meta temporarily shut down the Instagram account of the No Kings coalition on Saturday.
According to No Kings, Meta suspended its official account, which was being used to post videos and images of demonstrations throughout the US, at approximately 1:00 pm Eastern time on Saturday.
The account was restored roughly two hours later, but its administrators were still blocked from posting new content for hours after.
When asked about why the account was taken down, Meta told No Kings that it "made a bad call," without elaborating.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone would subsequently offer a more detailed explanation in a Saturday social media post.
"When accounts post, share or comment at very high frequencies it can trigger automated systems," Stone wrote. "That's what happened with the No Kings IG account in the lead up to today's day of action. Unfortunately, that automated action was clearly taken in error. Everything is now working as it should and we sincerely apologize."
Leah Greenberg, co-founder of No Kings sponsor Indivisible, was not buying Meta's official explanation.
"This excuse does not match the facts," Greenberg wrote. "We will look forward to a detailed explanation of what happened here and how Meta will take steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) called Meta's suspension of the account "outrageous," and vowed to "put this on the January investigation list" should Democrats retake control of Congress after the 2026 midterm elections.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked if Meta was "censoring free speech to appease [President] Donald Trump," and added that "we the people deserve answers."
The suspension of the No Kings account was just the latest example of alleged Big Tech censorship.
Bleecker Street, the distributor of director Alex Gibney's four-hour documentary about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, told The Hollywood Reporter on Saturday that TikTok had permanently suspended the film's promotional account.
Messages shared with The Hollywood Reporter revealed that TikTok accused the Musk documentary account of violating its rules regarding political content, although it was not clear what those violations were.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that while "TikTok has no official affiliation with Elon Musk... it is partly owned by [Oracle founder] Larry Ellison, who gets a rough moment in the doc when a text from him offering to pay billions to the mogul to help finance his Twitter acquisition is shown."
In Brazil, the campaign of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last week filed a legal complaint accusing Meta of shutting down accounts promoting his candidacy while using its algorithms to promote content produced by the campaign of far-right rival Flávio Bolsonaro.
As The Associated Press reported on Thursday, a judge in Brazil's top electoral court sided with Lula's campaign, ruling that Meta "cannot reduce the distribution of political content, restrict searches, or remove posts in a way that creates an imbalance between Lula and Bolsonaro."
Attorneys representing Lula's campaign said the lawsuit against Meta was necessary because content produced by the president and his supporters "faces delivery restrictions, without any justification or transparency," while "profiles acting as political operatives for the opposing side... receive a disproportionate and artificial reach, garnering more views even than global celebrities."
Meta has consistently denied that it is biased against Lula's campaign, and it accused the president in a court filing of using "minor technical issues" to spin "a political narrative" against the company.