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A man on the ground was shot during the third day of protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin on August 25, 2020. (Photo: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The first night of the 2020 Republican National Convention featured Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple famous for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protestors in front of their mansion in St. Louis. The next night, armed right-wing vigilantes confronted Black Lives Matter protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin where two people were shot to death and a third severely injured. Kyle Rittenhouse, a seventeen-year-old Illinois resident, was charged with murder.
In Tweets, public statements, and mass campaign emails over the last few months, Trump has repeatedly referred to those protesting police killings as dangerous criminals and terrorists. In doing so he has amplified the conspiracy theories of the far right, and authorized the violent stances of Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other organized paramilitary and individual armed volunteers who have shown up in greater numbers at Black Lives Matters protests in recent months.
No other president or presidential candidate has so openly courted far-right violence. The closest comparison would be segregationist third-party candidate George Wallace in the tumultuous election season of 1968. During the urban uprisings that rocked the US in the latter half of the 1960s, small armed right-wing groups formed to defend white communities across the country, reflecting Wallace's (and then Nixon's) calls for "law and order."
One difference though is that in 1968, such groups were considered so extreme that even Wallace's presidential campaign was cautious in its approach to them. One Wallace campaign staffer wrote to the national office about a group they were courting in Northern New Jersey, fearful of bad publicity while covetous of their support: "Since the last Newark riots, the North Ward has become a terrified white ghetto," he wrote. "Evolving from this terror the whites of the North Ward have organized rifle squads, groups trained in karate and judo, and guerilla warfare. Their headquarters is a karate studio. It gave me the jim-jams just visiting the place. This group will produce thousands of Wallace supporters. However, their publicity has been so adverse, including some national television, that none of this group should be electors. I told them to stay away from the news media as far as their support of the Governor is concerned."
"Experts have tracked hundreds of far-right incidents in recent months, and hundreds of acts of violence including lethal shootings. Such counter-protests are meant to intimidate and quell antiracist demonstrations, which is a likely why police have either taken a hands-off approach, openly thanked groups for their support, or actively colluded with them." Half a century later, by contrast, the campaign of one of the two major political parties has openly used militia groups as security at national campaign events, has employed Bikers for Trump - a group that Trump has threatened would attack his political enemies, and has elevated figures like the McCloskeys as defenders of freedom against the "Marxism" of Black Lives Matters and mobs in the streets.
What does it mean that far right has migrated to the center of the party system? Heavily-armed counter-protestors at an anti-Black Lives Rally in Salem, Oregon I spoke with in July repeated conspiracy theories about both Antifa and Black Lives Matter, claiming that "patriots" like him were there not to cause violence but prevent property destruction. Far-right vigilantes have shown up across the country armed with semiautomatic weapons and strong beliefs about the evil of their political adversaries Experts have tracked hundreds of far-right incidents in recent months, and hundreds of acts of violence including lethal shootings. Such counter-protests are meant to intimidate and quell antiracist demonstrations, which is a likely why police have either taken a hands-off approach, openly thanked groups for their support, or actively colluded with them.
The increasing frequency, size and violence of these far-right vigilante episodes pose a particularly distinct threat in this election season. In Trump's frequent references to the criminality and violence of Black Lives Matter protests he ties them to his Democratic opponent. This, along with the Republican candidate's incessant warnings about the illegitimacy of election's outcome produces the conditions for election-related violence by a right that believes it has the right and duty to assume power as guardians of the republic.
In the days after the shooting of Jacob Blake and the uprising that followed, a group calling itself the Kenosha Guard created a Facebook event called "Armed Citizens to Protect our Lives and Property" which was reposted across far-right media, including Infowars, garnering thousands of promised attendees. As militia groups have elsewhere, this one asserted sovereign authority on behalf of the local citizenry to defend against protestors seen as dangerous mobs. One post from the militia's "commander," directed to the Kenosha police chief asked "that you do NOT have your officers tell us to go home under threat of arrest as you have in the past. We are willing to talk to KPD and open a discussion. It is evident that no matter how many Officers, deputies and other law enforcement officers that are here, you will still be outnumbered." The post doesn't so much distinguish the militia from the police as much as blur the lines of their job description on the streets. Maybe this is why the Kenosha police offered them bottles of water, gratitude, and safe passage.
It is in this context that the teenaged Kyle Rittenhouse travelled from his home in nearby Antioch, IL to Kenosha. Hours before the shootings, Rittenhouse was interviewed by the Daily Caller, where he earnestly explained his intent to the videographer: "People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business. And my job also is to protect people. If someone is hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle; I've gotta protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit." An enthusiastic defender of people, property and lawful authority, Rittenhouse's commitment to care and protection were, in the current political context, put in the service of paramilitary aggression, racial conflict, and death.
Kyle Rittenhouse defies easy comparison with someone like Dylann Roof, the young white man who massacred nine people in a Black church in Charleston in 2015. Where Roof has a ghoulish pallor and is adorned white nationalist symbols like the Rhodesian flag, a round-faced, grinning Rittenhouse sports red, white and blue Crocs while he cradles his long gun. He is identified in his hometown newsletter as a "fire protection cadet," and showed himself on Facebook participating in a program for youths interested in law enforcement. He seems to tick off a checklist of Boy Scout qualities: trustworthy, helpful, cheerful, obedient, brave, Indeed, Tucker Carlson actually weighed in to champion his actions as exemplary. "How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would? Everyone can see what was happening in Kenosha. It was getting crazier by the hour." Unlike Roof, Rittenhouse erases the distinction between racial nationalism and civic nationalism, making anti-black violence a kind of community service which can be applauded on Fox News.
Back in 1968, George Wallace's goal of achieving ballot status in all fifty states ultimately depended on building a network of far-right elements: John Birch Society members, neo-Nazis, Minutemen, and other groups steeped in racism and conspiracy theory. At one point, one of the chief Wallace organizers in Los Angeles revealed to Turnipseed a cache of artillery in the back of a pickup truck. As Turnipseed later recounted, "I asked the guy, 'What's going on?' And he told me, 'We're doing maneuvers.' 'Well, with who?' I asked him, 'The National Guard?' 'No,' he said, 'we're a private group, a militia.' So I asked him, 'Well who are you armed against? The Communists gonna get you?' 'No,' he replied, 'we're more concerned with Rockefeller interests and the Trilateral Commission.' I just looked at the guy, you know? What could I say?"
Today, the equivalents of these groups no longer dwell on the political margins, no longer elicit mockery or disbelief from mainstream political campaigns, let alone from right-wing third parties. They are more numerous, more legitimized, more deadly, more tied to local law enforcement, and more consequential to the fortunes of the one of the two major parties. Black Lives Matter, the largest protest in U.S. history, is the only social force actively opposing them in the streets.
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The first night of the 2020 Republican National Convention featured Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple famous for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protestors in front of their mansion in St. Louis. The next night, armed right-wing vigilantes confronted Black Lives Matter protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin where two people were shot to death and a third severely injured. Kyle Rittenhouse, a seventeen-year-old Illinois resident, was charged with murder.
In Tweets, public statements, and mass campaign emails over the last few months, Trump has repeatedly referred to those protesting police killings as dangerous criminals and terrorists. In doing so he has amplified the conspiracy theories of the far right, and authorized the violent stances of Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other organized paramilitary and individual armed volunteers who have shown up in greater numbers at Black Lives Matters protests in recent months.
No other president or presidential candidate has so openly courted far-right violence. The closest comparison would be segregationist third-party candidate George Wallace in the tumultuous election season of 1968. During the urban uprisings that rocked the US in the latter half of the 1960s, small armed right-wing groups formed to defend white communities across the country, reflecting Wallace's (and then Nixon's) calls for "law and order."
One difference though is that in 1968, such groups were considered so extreme that even Wallace's presidential campaign was cautious in its approach to them. One Wallace campaign staffer wrote to the national office about a group they were courting in Northern New Jersey, fearful of bad publicity while covetous of their support: "Since the last Newark riots, the North Ward has become a terrified white ghetto," he wrote. "Evolving from this terror the whites of the North Ward have organized rifle squads, groups trained in karate and judo, and guerilla warfare. Their headquarters is a karate studio. It gave me the jim-jams just visiting the place. This group will produce thousands of Wallace supporters. However, their publicity has been so adverse, including some national television, that none of this group should be electors. I told them to stay away from the news media as far as their support of the Governor is concerned."
"Experts have tracked hundreds of far-right incidents in recent months, and hundreds of acts of violence including lethal shootings. Such counter-protests are meant to intimidate and quell antiracist demonstrations, which is a likely why police have either taken a hands-off approach, openly thanked groups for their support, or actively colluded with them." Half a century later, by contrast, the campaign of one of the two major political parties has openly used militia groups as security at national campaign events, has employed Bikers for Trump - a group that Trump has threatened would attack his political enemies, and has elevated figures like the McCloskeys as defenders of freedom against the "Marxism" of Black Lives Matters and mobs in the streets.
What does it mean that far right has migrated to the center of the party system? Heavily-armed counter-protestors at an anti-Black Lives Rally in Salem, Oregon I spoke with in July repeated conspiracy theories about both Antifa and Black Lives Matter, claiming that "patriots" like him were there not to cause violence but prevent property destruction. Far-right vigilantes have shown up across the country armed with semiautomatic weapons and strong beliefs about the evil of their political adversaries Experts have tracked hundreds of far-right incidents in recent months, and hundreds of acts of violence including lethal shootings. Such counter-protests are meant to intimidate and quell antiracist demonstrations, which is a likely why police have either taken a hands-off approach, openly thanked groups for their support, or actively colluded with them.
The increasing frequency, size and violence of these far-right vigilante episodes pose a particularly distinct threat in this election season. In Trump's frequent references to the criminality and violence of Black Lives Matter protests he ties them to his Democratic opponent. This, along with the Republican candidate's incessant warnings about the illegitimacy of election's outcome produces the conditions for election-related violence by a right that believes it has the right and duty to assume power as guardians of the republic.
In the days after the shooting of Jacob Blake and the uprising that followed, a group calling itself the Kenosha Guard created a Facebook event called "Armed Citizens to Protect our Lives and Property" which was reposted across far-right media, including Infowars, garnering thousands of promised attendees. As militia groups have elsewhere, this one asserted sovereign authority on behalf of the local citizenry to defend against protestors seen as dangerous mobs. One post from the militia's "commander," directed to the Kenosha police chief asked "that you do NOT have your officers tell us to go home under threat of arrest as you have in the past. We are willing to talk to KPD and open a discussion. It is evident that no matter how many Officers, deputies and other law enforcement officers that are here, you will still be outnumbered." The post doesn't so much distinguish the militia from the police as much as blur the lines of their job description on the streets. Maybe this is why the Kenosha police offered them bottles of water, gratitude, and safe passage.
It is in this context that the teenaged Kyle Rittenhouse travelled from his home in nearby Antioch, IL to Kenosha. Hours before the shootings, Rittenhouse was interviewed by the Daily Caller, where he earnestly explained his intent to the videographer: "People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business. And my job also is to protect people. If someone is hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle; I've gotta protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit." An enthusiastic defender of people, property and lawful authority, Rittenhouse's commitment to care and protection were, in the current political context, put in the service of paramilitary aggression, racial conflict, and death.
Kyle Rittenhouse defies easy comparison with someone like Dylann Roof, the young white man who massacred nine people in a Black church in Charleston in 2015. Where Roof has a ghoulish pallor and is adorned white nationalist symbols like the Rhodesian flag, a round-faced, grinning Rittenhouse sports red, white and blue Crocs while he cradles his long gun. He is identified in his hometown newsletter as a "fire protection cadet," and showed himself on Facebook participating in a program for youths interested in law enforcement. He seems to tick off a checklist of Boy Scout qualities: trustworthy, helpful, cheerful, obedient, brave, Indeed, Tucker Carlson actually weighed in to champion his actions as exemplary. "How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would? Everyone can see what was happening in Kenosha. It was getting crazier by the hour." Unlike Roof, Rittenhouse erases the distinction between racial nationalism and civic nationalism, making anti-black violence a kind of community service which can be applauded on Fox News.
Back in 1968, George Wallace's goal of achieving ballot status in all fifty states ultimately depended on building a network of far-right elements: John Birch Society members, neo-Nazis, Minutemen, and other groups steeped in racism and conspiracy theory. At one point, one of the chief Wallace organizers in Los Angeles revealed to Turnipseed a cache of artillery in the back of a pickup truck. As Turnipseed later recounted, "I asked the guy, 'What's going on?' And he told me, 'We're doing maneuvers.' 'Well, with who?' I asked him, 'The National Guard?' 'No,' he said, 'we're a private group, a militia.' So I asked him, 'Well who are you armed against? The Communists gonna get you?' 'No,' he replied, 'we're more concerned with Rockefeller interests and the Trilateral Commission.' I just looked at the guy, you know? What could I say?"
Today, the equivalents of these groups no longer dwell on the political margins, no longer elicit mockery or disbelief from mainstream political campaigns, let alone from right-wing third parties. They are more numerous, more legitimized, more deadly, more tied to local law enforcement, and more consequential to the fortunes of the one of the two major parties. Black Lives Matter, the largest protest in U.S. history, is the only social force actively opposing them in the streets.
The first night of the 2020 Republican National Convention featured Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple famous for pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protestors in front of their mansion in St. Louis. The next night, armed right-wing vigilantes confronted Black Lives Matter protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin where two people were shot to death and a third severely injured. Kyle Rittenhouse, a seventeen-year-old Illinois resident, was charged with murder.
In Tweets, public statements, and mass campaign emails over the last few months, Trump has repeatedly referred to those protesting police killings as dangerous criminals and terrorists. In doing so he has amplified the conspiracy theories of the far right, and authorized the violent stances of Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other organized paramilitary and individual armed volunteers who have shown up in greater numbers at Black Lives Matters protests in recent months.
No other president or presidential candidate has so openly courted far-right violence. The closest comparison would be segregationist third-party candidate George Wallace in the tumultuous election season of 1968. During the urban uprisings that rocked the US in the latter half of the 1960s, small armed right-wing groups formed to defend white communities across the country, reflecting Wallace's (and then Nixon's) calls for "law and order."
One difference though is that in 1968, such groups were considered so extreme that even Wallace's presidential campaign was cautious in its approach to them. One Wallace campaign staffer wrote to the national office about a group they were courting in Northern New Jersey, fearful of bad publicity while covetous of their support: "Since the last Newark riots, the North Ward has become a terrified white ghetto," he wrote. "Evolving from this terror the whites of the North Ward have organized rifle squads, groups trained in karate and judo, and guerilla warfare. Their headquarters is a karate studio. It gave me the jim-jams just visiting the place. This group will produce thousands of Wallace supporters. However, their publicity has been so adverse, including some national television, that none of this group should be electors. I told them to stay away from the news media as far as their support of the Governor is concerned."
"Experts have tracked hundreds of far-right incidents in recent months, and hundreds of acts of violence including lethal shootings. Such counter-protests are meant to intimidate and quell antiracist demonstrations, which is a likely why police have either taken a hands-off approach, openly thanked groups for their support, or actively colluded with them." Half a century later, by contrast, the campaign of one of the two major political parties has openly used militia groups as security at national campaign events, has employed Bikers for Trump - a group that Trump has threatened would attack his political enemies, and has elevated figures like the McCloskeys as defenders of freedom against the "Marxism" of Black Lives Matters and mobs in the streets.
What does it mean that far right has migrated to the center of the party system? Heavily-armed counter-protestors at an anti-Black Lives Rally in Salem, Oregon I spoke with in July repeated conspiracy theories about both Antifa and Black Lives Matter, claiming that "patriots" like him were there not to cause violence but prevent property destruction. Far-right vigilantes have shown up across the country armed with semiautomatic weapons and strong beliefs about the evil of their political adversaries Experts have tracked hundreds of far-right incidents in recent months, and hundreds of acts of violence including lethal shootings. Such counter-protests are meant to intimidate and quell antiracist demonstrations, which is a likely why police have either taken a hands-off approach, openly thanked groups for their support, or actively colluded with them.
The increasing frequency, size and violence of these far-right vigilante episodes pose a particularly distinct threat in this election season. In Trump's frequent references to the criminality and violence of Black Lives Matter protests he ties them to his Democratic opponent. This, along with the Republican candidate's incessant warnings about the illegitimacy of election's outcome produces the conditions for election-related violence by a right that believes it has the right and duty to assume power as guardians of the republic.
In the days after the shooting of Jacob Blake and the uprising that followed, a group calling itself the Kenosha Guard created a Facebook event called "Armed Citizens to Protect our Lives and Property" which was reposted across far-right media, including Infowars, garnering thousands of promised attendees. As militia groups have elsewhere, this one asserted sovereign authority on behalf of the local citizenry to defend against protestors seen as dangerous mobs. One post from the militia's "commander," directed to the Kenosha police chief asked "that you do NOT have your officers tell us to go home under threat of arrest as you have in the past. We are willing to talk to KPD and open a discussion. It is evident that no matter how many Officers, deputies and other law enforcement officers that are here, you will still be outnumbered." The post doesn't so much distinguish the militia from the police as much as blur the lines of their job description on the streets. Maybe this is why the Kenosha police offered them bottles of water, gratitude, and safe passage.
It is in this context that the teenaged Kyle Rittenhouse travelled from his home in nearby Antioch, IL to Kenosha. Hours before the shootings, Rittenhouse was interviewed by the Daily Caller, where he earnestly explained his intent to the videographer: "People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business. And my job also is to protect people. If someone is hurt, I'm running into harm's way. That's why I have my rifle; I've gotta protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit." An enthusiastic defender of people, property and lawful authority, Rittenhouse's commitment to care and protection were, in the current political context, put in the service of paramilitary aggression, racial conflict, and death.
Kyle Rittenhouse defies easy comparison with someone like Dylann Roof, the young white man who massacred nine people in a Black church in Charleston in 2015. Where Roof has a ghoulish pallor and is adorned white nationalist symbols like the Rhodesian flag, a round-faced, grinning Rittenhouse sports red, white and blue Crocs while he cradles his long gun. He is identified in his hometown newsletter as a "fire protection cadet," and showed himself on Facebook participating in a program for youths interested in law enforcement. He seems to tick off a checklist of Boy Scout qualities: trustworthy, helpful, cheerful, obedient, brave, Indeed, Tucker Carlson actually weighed in to champion his actions as exemplary. "How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would? Everyone can see what was happening in Kenosha. It was getting crazier by the hour." Unlike Roof, Rittenhouse erases the distinction between racial nationalism and civic nationalism, making anti-black violence a kind of community service which can be applauded on Fox News.
Back in 1968, George Wallace's goal of achieving ballot status in all fifty states ultimately depended on building a network of far-right elements: John Birch Society members, neo-Nazis, Minutemen, and other groups steeped in racism and conspiracy theory. At one point, one of the chief Wallace organizers in Los Angeles revealed to Turnipseed a cache of artillery in the back of a pickup truck. As Turnipseed later recounted, "I asked the guy, 'What's going on?' And he told me, 'We're doing maneuvers.' 'Well, with who?' I asked him, 'The National Guard?' 'No,' he said, 'we're a private group, a militia.' So I asked him, 'Well who are you armed against? The Communists gonna get you?' 'No,' he replied, 'we're more concerned with Rockefeller interests and the Trilateral Commission.' I just looked at the guy, you know? What could I say?"
Today, the equivalents of these groups no longer dwell on the political margins, no longer elicit mockery or disbelief from mainstream political campaigns, let alone from right-wing third parties. They are more numerous, more legitimized, more deadly, more tied to local law enforcement, and more consequential to the fortunes of the one of the two major parties. Black Lives Matter, the largest protest in U.S. history, is the only social force actively opposing them in the streets.
"Congressman Bresnahan didn't just vote to gut Pennsylvania hospitals. He looked out for his own bottom line before doing it," said one advocate.
Congressman Rob Bresnahan, a Republican who campaigned on banning stock trading by lawmakers only to make at least 626 stock trades since taking office in January, was under scrutiny Monday for a particular sale he made just before he voted for the largest Medicaid cut in US history.
Soon after a report showed that 10 rural hospitals in Bresnahan's state of Pennsylvania were at risk of being shut down, the congressman sold between $100,001 and $250,000 in bonds issued by the Allegheny County Hospital Development Authority for the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
The New York Times reported on the sale a month after it was revealed that Bresnahan sold up to $15,000 of stock he held in Centene Corporation, the largest Medicaid provider in the country. When President Donald Trump signed the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law last month, Centene's stock plummeted by 40%.
Bresnahan repeatedly said he would not vote to cut the safety net before he voted in favor of the bill.
The law is expected to cut $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade, with 10-15 million people projected to lose health coverage through the safety net program, according to one recent analysis. More than 700 hospitals, particularly those in rural areas, are likely to close due to a loss of Medicaid funding.
"His prolific stock trading is more than just a broken promise," said Cousin. "It's political malpractice and a scandal of his own making."
The economic justice group Unrig the Economy said that despite Bresnahan's introduction of a bill in May to bar members of Congress from buying and selling stocks—with the caveat that they could keep stocks they held before starting their terms in a blind trust—the congressman is "the one doing the selling... out of Pennsylvania hospitals."
"Congressman Bresnahan didn't just vote to gut Pennsylvania hospitals. He looked out for his own bottom line before doing it," said Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal. "Hospitals across Pennsylvania could close thanks to his vote, forcing families to drive long distances and experience longer wait times for critical care."
"Not everyone has a secret helicopter they can use whenever they want," added Tal, referring to recent reports that the multi-millionaire congressman owns a helicopter worth as much as $1.5 million, which he purchased through a limited liability company he set up.
Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told the Times that Bresnahan's stock trading "will define his time in Washington and be a major reason why he will lose his seat."
"His prolific stock trading is more than just a broken promise," said Cousin. "It's political malpractice and a scandal of his own making."
"If troops or federal agents violate our rights, they must be held accountable," the ACLU said.
As President Donald Trump escalates the US military occupation of Washington, DC—including by importing hundreds of out-of-state National Guard troops and allowing others to start carrying guns on missions in the nation's capital—the ACLU on Monday reminded his administration that federal forces are constitutionally obligated to protect, not violate, residents' rights.
"With additional state National Guard troops deploying to DC as untrained federal law enforcement agents perform local police duties in city streets, the American Civil Liberties Union is issuing a stark reminder to all federal and military officials that—no matter what uniform they wear or what authority they claim—they are bound by the US Constitution and all federal and local laws," the group said in a statement.
Over the weekend, the Republican governors of Ohio, South Carolina, and West Virginia announced that they are deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to join the 800 DC guardsmen and women recently activated by Trump, who also asserted federal control over the city's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
Sending military troops and heavily-armed federal agents to patrol the streets and scare vulnerable communities does not make us safer.
— ACLU (@aclu.org) August 18, 2025 at 12:08 PM
Trump dubiously declared a public safety emergency in a city where violent crime is down 26% from a year ago, when it was at its second-lowest level since 1966, according to official statistics. Critics have noted that Trump's crackdown isn't just targeting criminals, but also unhoused and mentally ill people, who have had their homes destroyed and property taken.
Contradicting assurances from military officials, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the newly deployed troops may be ordered to start carrying firearms. This, along with the president's vow to let police "do whatever the hell they want" to reduce crime in the city and other statements, have raised serious concerns of possible abuses.
"Through his manufactured emergency, President Trump is engaging in dangerous political theater to expand his power and sow fear in our communities," ACLU National Security Project director Hina Shamsi said Monday. "Sending heavily armed federal agents and National Guard troops from hundreds of miles away into our nation's capital is unnecessary, inflammatory, and puts people's rights at high risk of being violated."
Shamsi stressed that "federal agents and military troops are bound by the Constitution, including our rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, due process, and safeguards against unlawful searches and seizures. If troops or federal agents violate our rights, they must be held accountable."
On Friday, the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration to block its order asserting federal authority over the MPD, arguing the move violated the Home Rule Act. U.S. Attorney General Bondi subsequently rescinded her order to replace DC Police Chief Pamela Smith with Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terry Cole.
Also on Friday, a group of House Democrats introduced a resolution to terminate Trump's emergency declaration.
The deployment of out-of-state National Guard troops onto our streets is a brazen abuse of power meant to create fear in the District.Join us in the fight for statehood to give D.C. residents the same guardrails against federal overreach as other states: dcstatehoodnow.org
[image or embed]
— ACLU of the District of Columbia (@aclu-dc.bsky.social) August 18, 2025 at 7:23 AM
ACLU of DC executive director Monica Hopkins argued Monday that there is a way to curb Trump's "brazen abuse of power" in the District.
"We need the nation to join us in the fight for statehood so that DC residents are treated like those in every other state and have the same guardrails against federal overreach," she said.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness estimates that the proposal could increase the number of homeless people in the US by 36%.
As US President Donald Trump moves forward with a nationwide purge of homeless people from America's streets, his administration is moving to kill a program that has helped many of those in need find permanent housing.
The White House's fiscal year 2026 budget proposes ending a program under the Department of Housing and Urban Development known as Continuum of Care, which has helped cities across the country address or, in some cases, nearly eliminate their homelessness problem.
To receive federal funds, cities are required to adopt community-wide plans to end homelessness with the goal of moving people from the streets into shelters and then into stable housing.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness describes Continuum of Care as "the federal government's key vehicle for distributing homelessness funds."
As the Washington Post reports, Dallas has become a model for the program's effectiveness:
Instead of shuffling people to other neighborhoods, [the city] offered wraparound social services—and a permanent place to live.
The approach worked. Even as homelessness nationwide has surged to record levels, Dallas has emerged as a national model. The city declared an end to downtown homelessness in May after more than 270 people moved off the streets.
Other places, it says, have used Continuum of Care to substantially reduce homelessness, including San Bernardino, California, and Montgomery County, Maryland.
But the White House budget, unveiled in May, would eliminate Continuum of Care, instead shifting its resources to the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program, which prioritizes shelters and transitional housing, as well as mental health and substance abuse counselling, rather than "Housing First" solutions.
The National Alliance to End Homelessness says the administration's plan to consolidate the program "would place thousands of projects and the hundreds of thousands of people they serve at risk."
The Alliance estimated that the proposal would effectively end funding of permanent supportive housing for 170,000 residents and potentially increase the number of homeless people in the US by 36%.
In addition to eliminating Continuum of Care, the White House budget cuts $532 million in funding to the federal government's Homeless Assistance Grants account. That money, the Alliance says, could fund over 60,000 Rapid Re-Housing Units—enough to serve 8% of the US homeless population.
"Between 2023 and 2024, homelessness increased by 18%, yet this proposal would strip funding for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)'s homelessness programs by 12%," said Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. "That is a recipe for disaster. We know that these programs have been chronically underfunded for decades."
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has declared an all-out war on the nation's homeless population. In July, he signed an executive order requiring states and cities to remove homeless people from public places, expanding cases where they must be involuntarily committed to psychiatric hospitals, and requiring sobriety preconditions for them to receive housing assistance.
During his federal takeover of Washington, DC, Trump ordered homeless people in encampments to move "FAR from the Capital." Press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said those who refuse to accept services at a shelter will face jail time.
The advocacy group Housing Not Handcuffs reported Friday that "police evicted and destroyed the property of homeless people throughout DC, throwing away people's personal belongings, including tents and other property."
"Homelessness is a market failure, a housing problem," said Rob Robinson, a formerly homeless community organizer in New York City, in USA Today. "Rent prices have exceeded income gains by 325% nationally since 1985. Rates of homelessness are tied to rental affordability."
"The White House's recent moves toward the criminalization of homelessness and forced institutionalization," he said, "ignore decades of research and real-world outcomes."
"If Donald Trump really wanted to help people and solve homelessness, he would use his power to lower rents and help people make ends meet," said Jesse Rabinowitz from the National Homelessness Law Center. "Estimates show that taxpayers are spending over $400,000 a day for Trump to use the DC National Guard for photo ops. Why can they find money for that but not for housing and help?"