US Politics

Against Illinois governor JB Pritzker’s objections, Donald Trump’s Pentagon has ordered hundreds of national guard troops to join his regime’s assault on Chicago communities. Trump subsequently called for Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s mayor, and Pritzker to be jailed for not supporting his agenda. These are simply the latest steps in Trump’s plan not to govern as the president of all Americans but to rule as the dictatorial head of a punitive factional state. Federal funding to Democratic cities is being slashed through executive maneuvers; the justice department is conducting politically targeted investigations and arrests; and the military is being deployed to intimidate fellow citizens. Los Angeles, Portland, my home town of Chicago and other cities have been cast as enemies to be subdued, not communities to be served.This weaponization of federal power represents a sharp break with constitutional tradition. It’s not merely ideological hostility; it is economic coercion and the exercise of violence in service of a president’s whim. The Trump regime is selectively starving Democratic jurisdictions of federal funds, even as their residents continue to pay billions in federal taxes, with blue states accounting for over 60% of the federal government’s revenue. We are being compelled to subsidize our own political subjugation.As the anthropologist Janet Roitman argued in her study of taxation and sovereignty in central Africa, acts of “fiscal disobedience” emerge not simply as refusals to pay but as political interventions that expose ruptures in the reciprocal obligations underlying fiscal authority. Taxation is never merely technical. It is the material expression of political belonging and shared obligation. When the state weaponizes fiscal power against certain communities while continuing to demand unquestioned revenue from them, it undermines its own claim to legitimate authority. In such contexts, withholding or conditionally redirecting tax flows can become a way to re-politicize the fiscal relationship. It makes explicit that the state has already broken the social contract. Blue states today occupy precisely this position: forced to fund a federal government that is actively targeting them, their residents and their institutions.Faced with this reality, Democratic governors need more than legal complaints and rhetorical protest. They need fiscal strategies of resistance commensurate with the scale of the attack. And one of the most provocative – and potentially powerful – ideas available is the creation of state-administered escrow accounts, or “in trust” funds, to temporarily hold federal tax revenues until the federal government upholds its constitutional obligations and withdraws its authoritarian threats.This may sound radical, but it is less secessionist than it may at first appear. It would not involve refusing to pay federal taxes outright, which would open individual taxpayers to prosecution. Instead, the state would act as a temporary custodian, receiving payments from residents and businesses equal to their federal tax liabilities, holding them in trust for the federal government, and releasing them only when certain constitutional conditions are met – such as the partisan cessation of federal defunding and the withdrawal of military deployments unauthorized by targeted states.Such a maneuver would constitute a form of civil disobedience by a state, legally risky and certain to entail confrontation. But Democratic cities and states, progressive non-profits, universities, non-white immigrants, and public health institutions are already facing direct conflict with Trump’s government. This strategy would reset the terms of the conflict and reclaim power against an increasingly brazen Trump regime. It would also underline for everyone the authoritarian, violent nature of the federal government’s tactics rather than allowing them to proceed under the thin guise of “law and order”, as Trump leverages his control over legal systems to wage war against his personal enemies. It would transform what is now a one-sided assault into a constitutional struggle.How it could workStates could establish this system through legislation to create a tax receivership fund, explicitly designated as a trust account for federal tax liabilities. Residents and businesses would make payments into this account instead of directly to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The state would acknowledge these payments as received on behalf of the federal government, and pledge to remit them in full once specific, legally defined conditions were met – say, the restoration of suspended federal funding and reversal of other punitive actions that violate constitutional guarantees.Importantly, this scheme does not purport to nullify federal taxes or claim state sovereignty over them. It functions as a conditional remittance mechanism, akin to an escrow arrangement in contract law. Of course, the Trump-controlled IRS, which has already been weaponized by the regime, would not quietly accept this. It would likely treat payments into the state trust as non-payment and impose penalties. Legal challenges would ensue. But that is precisely the point: to force a constitutional confrontation over whether the federal government can target states for political punishment while continuing to demand unquestioned fiscal obedience.For such a strategy to work, it cannot be the isolated action of a single state. A state acting alone could be punished, scapegoated, or financially squeezed into submission. But if multiple states act simultaneously, they can transform isolated legal defiance into a coordinated assertion of constitutional co-sovereignty.Here, article I, section 10 of the constitution could offer an eventual tool: interstate compacts. These are agreements between states – subject to congressional consent, and thus not likely legally viable until and unless Democrats win back congressional majorities – that allow them to formally coordinate policy, pool resources, and create collective governance structures. With or without congressional approval, blue states could form a “fiscal sovereignty compact” to coordinate the legal, fiscal, and political strategies involved in holding federal taxes in trust. It could standardize escrow mechanisms across member states, ensuring legal coherence and shared administrative capacity; create a pooled legal defense fund to support court battles; coordinate triggers for releasing funds, so that the federal government faces a unified set of demands; and protect against selective federal retaliation by presenting a united front representing tens of millions of residents and trillions in economic output.This compact would not need to involve all blue states to be effective. A coalition of economically powerful states – such as California, Illinois, New York, Massachusetts, and Washington – could represent a staggering share of federal revenue. If even a portion of federal tax remittances from these states were held in trust, the federal government would face not an isolated legal challenge but substantial fiscal obstacles to its current belligerence.Building an anti-fascist federalismTrump’s use of the federal government to punish political enemies represents an authoritarian turn in American governance. It betrays the basic premise of federalism – that states are coequal entities within a constitutional framework, not mere provinces under imperial command – that was the supposed cornerstone of the Republican party before it sold what little soul it had to a conman. Lawsuits and press conferences are inadequate responses to this kind of assault. What’s needed are mechanisms that translate state and citizen dissent into material leverage. Escrow accounts, when deployed through a coordinated strategy, do precisely this: they turn the flow of money, the lifeblood of federal power, into the explicit site of political struggle.Such a move could have wide-rippling political effects. It would give residents a concrete way to participate in opposing the Trump regime, transforming legal disputes into collective political action. It would also force the supreme court, which is increasingly aligning itself with Trump against the constitution, to directly confront fundamental questions about the balance of state and federal power. Given the corruption of the courts, courtroom victory is neither the expectation nor the point in this strategy; it is instead to use the law to draw clear constitutional and fiscal battle lines – to make states active protagonists rather than passive targets.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSkeptics will call the above proposal unconstitutional, impractical or politically reckless. They are not wrong to note the risks. Under current federal tax law, states have no role in federal revenue collection. Courts might enjoin such efforts quickly. Administratively, state governments would need to build new fiscal infrastructure to receive and track payments. And Trump will seize on any opportunity to paint blue states as “insurrectionists” who must be violently crushed – but the regime is already inventing fictions to justify this regardless of on-the-ground realities.Acknowledging risks is not the same as accepting them as decisive. The legal barriers to fiscal disobedience are formidable in part because the federal government has never before faced coordinated, large-scale challenges of this kind from wealthy states representing a majority of national tax revenue. The courts are not mechanical; they are political actors that respond to the balance of power and the perceived legitimacy of claims. Even if states ultimately lose in court, the process itself would publicly expose the authoritarian abuse of fiscal powers, force constitutional confrontation rather than quiet capitulation, and potentially reshape the political terrain.As is evident from Chicago – where I am writing this with Black Hawk helicopters flying overhead night and day and where my friends, patients, elected representatives, and neighbors are being assaulted in their homes, in hospitals, and on the streets by federal agents acting with total disregard for either reality or legality – a rapid escalation of political violence in America is well under way. The Trump regime has made clear that it will continue to expand its campaign of violence with total impunity if we do not respond. In this context, refusing to counter fascism because retaliation might follow is not prudence; it is surrender.State-administered escrow accounts will not solve the crisis of American democracy, but they could help shift the terrain of struggle away from unilateral federal domination and toward a contested, negotiated, and coordinated anti-fascist federalism much better equipped to contest the destruction of US democracy.Trump is breaking the outer limits of the constitutional order and bending law to his advantage. It’s time for blue states to do the same.What’s giving me hope nowAlthough I’ve written above about large-scale strategy, it is small everyday acts of care between neighbors and co-workers seeking to protect one another within my Chicago community that give me confidence fascism will not consume us. I collaborate with local mutual aid and organizing collectives – such as the CHAAD Project, which supports vulnerable Chicago bar and restaurant workers – to remember that genuine change in society arises from giving and receiving care, and sharing joy and hospitality, with those around you. It is only from that basis that collective ethical and political life can acquire power great enough to topple fascism – and to replace it with a genuine democracy that fosters difference rather than seeking to annihilate it.

Eric Reinhart is a political anthropologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst More

Americans in every state marched in protest against the Trump administration, giving voice to concerns that the country is sliding into authoritarianism.Millions turned out nationwide with signs, marching bands, a huge banner with the US constitution’s preamble that people could sign, and inflatable costumes ranging from bananas to SpongeBob SquarePants to frogs, which have in particular emerged as a sign of resistance beginning in Portland, Oregon.The rallies are a turnaround from just six months ago, when Democrats seemed at a loss as to how to counter Republicans’ grip of the White House and both houses of Congress after stinging national election losses.“What we are seeing from the Democrats is some spine,” Ezra Levin, a co-founder of Indivisible, a key organizing group, told the Associated Press. “The worst thing the Democrats could do right now is surrender.”‘We are here to stand firm,’ Chicago mayor tells No Kings protestersChicago’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, told a crowd on Saturday that the Trump administration had “decided that they want a rematch of the civil war”, which the white supremacist Confederacy lost to the Union in the 19th century.“We are here to stand firm and stand committed that we will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower, we will not submit,” Johnson said. “We do not want troops in our city.”Read the full storyRepublicans subdued as millions marchRepublican voices were mostly silent as No Kings rallies and marches against Trump administration policies unfurled on Saturday, many in the spirit of a street party that countered the “hate America” depiction advanced by senior members of the party.Read the full storySurvivors of US strike on alleged drug boat may be sent to Colombia and EcuadorThe Trump administration is moving to send the two survivors of Thursday’s strike in the Caribbean overseas to Colombia and Ecuador rather than seek long-term military detention for them, four US officials and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.It means that the US military will not have to grapple with thorny legal issues surrounding military detention for suspected drug traffickers, whose alleged crimes do not fall neatly under the laws of war, legal experts say.Read the full storyUS Senate poised to approve industry lobbyist to lead chemical safety at EPAThe Senate is expected to approve Donald Trump’s nomination of an industry lobbyist to lead the US Environmental Protection Agency’s chemical safety office.If the nominee, Douglas Troutman, is confirmed, the top four toxics office positions at the EPA will be held by former chemical industry lobbyists, raising new fears about the health and safety of the American public, consumers and workers, campaigners say.Read the full storyUS border authorities tell airlines to disregard ‘X’ sex markers on passportsUS Customs and Border Protection implemented a rule this week that will require airlines to disregard “X” sex markers on passports and input an “M” or “F” marker instead.While the courts have continued to prevent the Trump administration from outright banning a third gender marker, this week’s rule can still serve to make the lives of trans and non-binary people more difficult, said Andy Izenson, senior legal director at the Chosen Family Law Center.Read the full story What else happened today:

Disgraced former House member George Santos walked free from prison, provoking criticism from both sides of the political spectrum. Robert Zimmerman, the Democratic candidate Santos beat in 2022 to represent New York’s third congressional district, said in a statement that he had “no doubt that Santos will ultimately end up in Trump’s cabinet”.

A Vermont state lawmaker has resigned over racist and antisemitic chat messages that circulated within the Young Republican political group, another substantial consequence in a scandal that on Friday saw the New York state Young Republicans’ charter revoked.
Catching up? Here’s what happened on 17 October 2025. More

Millions are expected to show out for protests on Saturday at more than 2,500 locations across America, from small towns to large cities, to speak against the Trump administration.No Kings, the coalition behind a mass demonstration in June, is again calling people to the streets to send the simple message that Donald Trump is not a king, pushing back against what they see as increasing authoritarianism.Several US cities now have a militarised presence on the ground, most against the will of local leaders. Trump has promised to crack down on dissent as part of an ongoing retribution campaign. Still, organisers say they expect to see one of the largest, if not the largest, single day of protest in US history.
What are the No Kings protests?
A coalition of left-leaning groups is again leading a day of mass demonstrations across the US to protest against the Trump administration. The coalition spearheaded a previous No Kings protest day in June, drawing millions to the streets to speak out against the president on the same day Trump held a military parade in Washington.The protests are called No Kings to underscore that America does not have kinds of absolute rulers, a ding against Trump’s increasing authoritarianism.“‘NO KINGS’ is more than just a slogan; it is the foundation our nation was built upon,” a website for the protests, nokings.org, says. “Born in the streets, shouted by millions, carried on posters and chants, it echoes from city blocks to rural town squares, uniting people across this country to fight dictatorship together.”
Where are they happening?
Organisers say there are more than 2,500 protests planned across the country, in the largest cities and in small towns, and in all 50 states. It is part of a distributed model where people protest in their own communities rather than travelling to large urban hubs to show that discontent with Trump exists in all corners of the US.For the 18 October day of action, organisers have identified several anchor cities: Washington DC; San Francisco; San Diego; Atlanta; New York City; Houston, Texas; Honolulu; Boston; Kansas City, Missouri; Bozeman, Montana; Chicago and New Orleans.The protests start at different times depending on location. The No Kings website has a map with details for each location.Read more about who organised the protests, why organisers are asking protesters to wear yellow, what Trump has said about them and more in our Q&A here:Here are some more images of other No Kings protests underway in several US states including North Carolina, Florida, Arizona, and Vermont.Screenwriter and director Tony Gilroy, who created the Star Wars series Andor, was among the thousands of people who gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday afternoon for the No Kings protest.Andor, starring Diego Luna as the protagonist, follows Cassian Andor’s journey as a thief-turned-spy for the Rebel Alliance — the good guys whose ranks eventually go on to include characters such as Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo — in a crusade to take down the Galactic Empire.“We spent six years making a show about the fascist takeover of a galaxy, far, far away,” he said. “We didn’t think we were making a documentary.”Gilroy said the show offered a clear model for what authoritarian rule looks like – and how to resist it.“We spent a lot of time thinking about sacrifice and courage, and the incremental encroachment of authoritarianism and how it works,” he said. “I think I would have been. I think I would have been here anyway, but the show is only amplified my understanding of it – my understanding of the sort of karaoke fascist playbook, but also my appreciation for the varieties of courage it takes for people to resist.”Gilroy was dismayed by the “vacuum” of leadership among the anti-Trump resistance but saw reason to be hopeful as he looked out at the gathering crowd of Angelenos waving American flags and No Kings posters.The rally in Portland has turned into a massive march, now filling the city’s Hawthorne Bridge with thousands filling the streets leading to the bridge.I just witnessed a remarkable scene further back in the crowd, as protesters carrying handmade signs passed a trio of street performers, dressed as Donald Trump, whose head was entirely constructed of Cheetos, JD Vance and Kristi Noem.Just behind the performers, a group of nine people in black bloc clothing held a banner with the slogan “Organize to Attack the State” and chanted for insurrection and revolution.At least one Portlander passing the group suggested that they looked like entirely “fake antifa”.Fake or not, they were massively outnumbered by a crowd that included hundreds of people in animal costumes, making the protest feel more like a carnival than anything at all threatening.Crowds are amassing outside of City Hall in Los Angeles, where many protesters are carrying American flags and organizers are handing out sunscreen and water.A group is dancing to a live band play as street vendors sell hot dogs and elote. There is a large contingent of inflatable costumes – I’ve spotted a frog, a shark and a duck.Many people are also waving Mexican flags, which have become a sign of resistance and protest amid the Trump administration’s violent immigration crackdown in the city.There are plenty of signs denouncing Ice and Trump’s deportation campaign. “If you don’t care that he’s a felon, you shouldn’t care if someone is undocumented,” said one, referencing Trump’s 34 felony convictions by a New York jury.Before the march begins, a speaker just led the crowd in a chant: “Fuck Trump. Fuck Ice.”A panoply of speakers in Atlanta addressed both national problems like draconian immigration enforcement and the erosion of civil liberties, as well as issues of sharp local concern, as when a representative of Play Fair ATL – a coalition of anti-homelessness advocates and rights groups – took the stage.Play Fair intends to hold Atlanta to commitments to refrain from sweeping homeless people from the city’s streets ahead of the World Cup next year, skeptical of mayor Andre Dickens’ resolve to resist demands by FIFA and Trump.The suggestion that support for antifa–that is, antifascism–is tantamount to support for terrorism drew particular scorn from protesters.“I think that’s absurd,” said Nicky Cooper, a software developer in Atlanta. She wore a shirt with an antifascist symbol on it to the rally. The labelling of people as somehow sympathetic to terrorism is chilling, she said. “I mean, we’re leaving a digital trail of this. You know? I have antifascism mentioned on my social media stuff. I mean, I’m not a ‘member’ of antifa, because how do you join antifa? So it’s like, who the hell are we looking for here?”Comments by defense secretary Pete Hegseth to an assembly of high ranking military leaders last month featured prominently in the words of speakers and the reaction of protesters.Brian Woods, 65, from Lawrenceville, is a former Army communications staff sergeant. “I thought it was unnecessary. It goes against what we know as military people.” He marveled at the decision to put that many leaders in the same room at the same time, potentially providing an immense military target to America’s enemies. “He could have said that over one of their so-called secured lines,” a dig by a commo guy at Hegseth’s Signal chats. “They have a bulletproof mentality, so they just do things recklessly, without real thoughts that go into those types of conversations and communications.”Atlanta’s protest march concluded at 2 PM without incident, traveling down streets hallowed in civil rights history from the Atlanta Civic Center to the state capitol building about 1.2 miles away. At least 35 other affiliated No Kings Day protests demonstrations progressed across the state, from Brunswick near the Ice detention center in Folkston on Georgia’s southern border, to Dalton in the heart of Marjorie Taylor Greene’s northwest Georgia district.Initial crowds of about 10,000 in Atlanta contracted a bit as the day progressed, but turnout was roughly equivalent to those in June in Atlanta, and more widely dispersed across the state.Erik Malewaski, a college professor who lives in Marietta–where protests also had been planned–attended the Atlanta event anyway.“I did the Marietta protest last time, and I wanted to see exactly what would go down here, particularly I thought we may get speakers like Warnock and Stacey Abrams.”As well he did. Both senator Rev Raphael Warnock and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Abrams described the actions of the federal government under President Donald Trump as fascist in plain terms.“They want us to believe that we’re in danger if we speak up…that if we assemble like the First Amendment tells us we can, that there’s a problem,” Abrams said, arguing that the attacks on press freedoms and the firing of outspoken Trump critics like Karen Attiah and Jimmy Kimmel are discrete steps on a path to autocracy. “They want to break democracy forever.” said Abrams. “Their destination is to take our country from us.”I am in downtown Portland, where many thousands of No Kings protesters, many in inflatable animal costumes, are rallying in a riverfront park.A small group of eight counter-protesters in Maga hats and Charlie Kirk shirts have been making their way through the crowd, trying to antagonize demonstrators by blaring air horns and shouting praise for Trump and transphobic slurs through megaphones.The group is led by Tommy Allen, a pro-Trump streamer who was recently charged with assault by Portland prosecutors for punching a protester outside the Ice facility in south Portland during a skirmish instigated by Nick Sortor, a conservative influencer.Their IRL trolling has led to jeers from some members of the crowd, but they have largely been ignored so far. One man, holding a sign in favor of trans rights, repeatedly screamed at the Trump supporters that they were “bootlickers”.Other protesters alerted Portland police officers to the fact that Allen seemed to be trying to provoke conflict, while recording video, and that he was recently arrested. Officers on bicycles seemed to be tracking the movements of Allen and his group from a distance.The New York police department posted on social media that most rallies across the city had ended and that there had been no arrests, adding that more than 100,000 people showed up to peacefully protest.“The majority of the No Kings protests have dispersed at this time and all traffic closures have been lifted,” the NYPD wrote. “We had more than 100,000 people across all five boroughs peacefully exercising their first amendment rights and the NYPD made zero protest-related arrests.”Good afternoon from Los Angeles, where more than two dozen No Kings protests are planned across southern California.In California, San Diego and San Francisco have been identified as the “anchor” cities for the No Kings protests, but a major demonstration is expected to kick off in downtown Los Angeles, at Gloria Molina Grand Park.Here activists are encouraging voters to pass “Prop 50” – a ballot initiative to redraw California’s congressional boundaries to give Democrats an additional five seats to offset the Republican-drawn and Trump-sought gerrymander in Texas.Earlier this morning, a group of protesters formed a human banner on Ocean Beach in San Francisco that read, according to the local ABC affiliate, “No Kings Yes on 50”.Reports are coming in that more than 200,000 people in the Washington DC area rallied near the US Capitol during the No Kings protest today. The event is of the largest nationwide mobilization since president Trump returned to office.Millions took to the streets today across more than 2,700 cities and towns, marking a day of defiance against Trump’s authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics, and the militarization of American cities.Many people at protests across the nation appear inspired by “Operation Inflation”, an initiative where demonstrators wear colorful and inflatable costumes to protests, usually resembling an animal or Pokémon-type character.The trend started with a protester dubbed the Portland Frog, who began dressing in an inflatable frog costume to attend Ice protests.The Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, has joined the No Kings protesters in New York.“I proudly marched side-by-side with labor unions and so many more of our fellow citizens in NYC,” he wrote on social media. “We have no dictators in America. And we won’t allow Trump to keep eroding our democracy.”From my colleague Siri Chilukuri in Chicago:The No Kings protest kicked off in Chicago, Illinois, at Grant Park’s Butler Field at noon. There are at least 10,000 people as the speeches begin. An intergenerational group of protesters has gathered, most with signs opposing Ice’s presence in Chicago or mocking Donald Trump.Many flags, signs and T-shirts read, “Fuck Ice”, and others read “Hands Off Chicago”, a rallying cry that began when Trump first announced his intent to send the national guard into the city. Other signs read “Resist Fascism” and “Hands off our Constitution”.Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke to the crowd, which erupted in cheers when he took to the stage.“They have decided that they want a rematch of the civil war,” he said.“We are here to stand firm and stand committed that we will not bend, we will not bow, we will not cower, we will not submit. We do not want troops in our city.”The crowd erupted in chants of “Fuck Donald Trump” while the Illinois representative Jonathan Jackson spoke to the crowd. Later, as ACLU Illinois’s communications director Ed Yohnka spoke, the crowd chanted: “USA! USA! USA!”Senator Dick Durbin, Lt Gov Juliana Stratton, Representative Chuy García, President of the Cook County board of commissioners Toni Preckwinkle, as well as local aldermen and state representatives were in attendance. More

A celebration marking the US marines’ 250th anniversary will shut down a major freeway artery through southern California on Saturday as the military plans to fire live 155mm artillery shells over the site.The California highway patrol announced the closure at 6am Saturday, saying it would shut down an approximately 17-mile (27km) stretch of Interstate 5 for four hours near Camp Pendleton, a 125,000-acre (50,585-hectare) base in Oceanside in north-western San Diego county. The closure will remain in effect from 11am to 3pm.The event in question will include a live-fire amphibious capabilities demonstration at Red Beach, according to a statement from the US marine corps. JD Vance, a former enlisted marine who served in Iraq, is scheduled to speak to at least 15,000 marines, sailors, veterans and families expected to attend. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth will also deliver remarks.“The capabilities demonstration will feature integrated Navy and Marine Corps operations across air, land and sea,” the Marines’ statement said.The US Marine Corps insisted that the event will comply with established safety protocols, and “no public highways or transportation routes will be closed”.The CHP said in a statement that the military event will involve “live ammunition being discharged by the federal government over the freeway” and made the call to temporarily close a portion of the freeway due to the safety risk and distractions to drivers.Earlier in the week, California governor Gavin Newsom had decried the plans to fire live rounds over Interstate 5, calling it an “absurd show of force” and “totally uncalled for ”.On Saturday morning, Newsom was concerned that the stunt could put Californians in harm’s way. “Flying live rounds over a busy highway without coordination between state, federal, and local partners isn’t just wrong – it’s dangerous,” Newsom posted on social media.The criticism underscored the growing tensions between Donald Trump and the California governor, who has frequently called out decisions by the president’s administration.This celebration was granted no exception from Newsom’s ire. “Using our military to intimidate people you disagree with politically doesn’t make you look strong,” Newsom said. “It makes you look weak. It’s reckless, it’s disrespectful, and yet another action beneath the office of the presidency.”Earlier in October, the navy hosted the president aboard an aircraft carrier off the coast of Virginia to celebrate the same military anniversary. Trump turned that event into a political rally.This show of force coincides with No Kings rallies and marches being held across the US, including several locations in California, aligning behind a message that the nation’s slide into authoritarian rule under Trump needs to stop.Newsom cautioned those participating in the rallies: “I urge our nation to use this weekend’s No Kings marches as a declaration of independence against the tyranny and lawlessness currently running this country. Use your voice. ACT PEACEFULLY. Protect yourself and your community. THERE ARE NO KINGS IN THE UNITED STATES.”In a statement to the New York Times, a spokesperson for Vance, William Martin, said Newsom was misleading the public about the safety risk for the event on Saturday. He said it was routine training.“If Gavin Newsom wants to oppose the training exercises that ensure our Armed Forces are the deadliest and most lethal fighting force in the world, then he can go right ahead,” Martin said.Matt Rocco, the California department of transportation spokesperson, said: “This is all because of the White House-directed military event, that for the safety of the public, we need to shut down the freeway since they’re sending live ordnances over the freeway.”Rocco said the I5 closure could cost up to another two hours of trip time for those commuting between San Diego and Los Angeles. The freeway carries 80,000 travelers and $94m in freight through the corridor daily, according to the governor’s office. Passenger rail services running parallel to the I5 have also been canceled for the afternoon. More

A Vermont state lawmaker has resigned over racist and antisemitic chat messages that circulated within the Young Republican political group, another substantial consequence in a scandal that on Friday saw the New York state Young Republicans’ charter revoked.State senator Samuel Douglass, the only elected official known to have taken part in the leaked group chat exposed by Politico, resigned Friday over his participation.In a statement posted online, the 26-year-old Douglass said he was “deeply sorry for the offense” caused by his comments. He added that his decision to step down, effective Monday, “will upset many, and delight others, but in this political climate I must keep my family safe”.Douglass had been under pressure from Vermont governor Phil Scott and state senate minority leader Scott Beck to step aside since Politico obtained and published the chats online.In one exchange, Douglass replied to a message about a “very obese Indian woman” by saying: “She just didn’t bathe often.” In another, Douglass was said to have described how a Jewish person may have made a procedural error. His wife, Brianna Douglass, also on the chat, responded with an antisemitic remark, Politico reported.Other messages in the chat reflected factional infighting in the Young Republicans that included calling Minnesotan members a slur for gay men and other LGBTQ+ people, Nebraskans “inbred cow fuckers” and members from Rhode Island “traitorous cunts”. There was a reference to a “fat stinky Jew” along with comments and jokes about gas chambers, torture and rape, according to Politico.In his resignation statement, Douglass said the comment “was an unflattering remark about a specific individual, absolutely not a generalization” – and said he hoped to “mend bridges to the best of my ability”.His statement also said that he and his wife, who have recently welcomed their first child, had received “some of the most horrific hate one could imagine”, including threats of violence.Political violence has been a dominant topic in the US in part because of the 10 September killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and the 14 June shootings that killed Minnesota’s former house speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and wounded state senator John Hoffman – her fellow Democrat – and his wife, Yvette.Douglass said he had also “reached out to the majority of my Jewish and BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] friends and colleagues to ensure that they can be honest and up-front with me”.Douglass and his wife had earlier resigned from their positions from the Vermont Young Republicans.On Tuesday, after Politico reported on the Telegram chat, governor Scott said, “there is simply no excuse” for “the vile, racist, bigoted, and antisemitic dialogue”.He added that “those involved should resign from their roles immediately and leave the Republican party – including Vermont state senator Sam Douglass”.JD Vance downplayed the exchanges as “edgy” and “offensive jokes” told by “kids”, though most members of the group were between the ages of 24 and 35. Vance pointed to leaked messages sent by Jay Jones, a Democrat running for attorney general in Virginia, who suggested a political opponent deserved “two bullets to the head”.“I really don’t want us to grow up in a country where a kid telling a stupid joke – telling a very offensive, stupid joke – is cause to ruin their lives,” Vance said, after in September he demanded consequences for those who made comments about Kirk’s death that he found to be offensive.On Saturday, Beck said Douglass’s resignation marked the end of a “difficult week” in Vermont.“Senator Douglass’ resignation is the first step in Vermont’s healing, and his family’s healing,” Beck told the Washington Post More

The party of family values strikes againMeet Cory Mills, a Republican congressman representing Florida. He is rabidly anti-abortion, incredibly anti-immigration, and obsequiously pro-Trump. Earlier this year, perhaps in a desperate bid to get Dear Leader to notice him, he introduced a bill, dubbed the “DON-ument Act”, which would make the wall on the US-Mexico border a national monument.In the great tradition of Republican congressmen from Florida (hello, Matt Gaetz!), it turns out Mills may also be a misogynistic creep. On Tuesday, a Florida judge granted a protective order against Mills at the request of his former girlfriend, Lindsey Langston, the reigning Miss United States. Langston, who is 19 years younger than 45-year-old Mills, told authorities she started a romantic relationship with the lawmaker in 2021, when Mills was still married but reportedly separated from his wife.According to Langston, after the breakup, Mills threatened to release nude images of her and harm any future boyfriends. The congressman has called the allegations “false” and hasn’t been charged with a crime, but, according to the New York Times, the judge said he did not find Mills’ “testimony concerning the intimate videos to be truthful” and granted an order restricting Mills from going within 500 feet of his ex’s residence or referring to her on social media. The court found that Langston “has reasonable cause to believe she is in imminent danger of becoming the victim of another act of dating violence”.Langston reportedly ended their relationship in February. That month also saw news reports that Mills was being investigated for an alleged assault on a 27-year-old woman called Sarah Raviani. This wasn’t his wife, if you’re trying to keep track. Rather, according to WRC-TV in Washington, who obtained an earlier version of the police report, Raviani was his “significant other for over a year”. When the authorities turned up she had bruises on her arm and that same police report, according to USA Today, “states Mills instructed the victim to lie about how she obtained bruises on her arms”. Raviani told the Daytona Beach News-Journal her bruising was caused by a medical condition and Mills, who has denied wrongdoing, was not arrested or charged with anything.Mills doesn’t just seem to have issues with these romantic partners; he seems to have quite a few problems meeting his financial obligations. Earlier this year the Republican was accused of failing to pay $85,000 in rent. His landlord tried to evict him after he failed to pay his monthly $20,833 rent between March and July. Most congressmen get paid $174,000 a year so I can understand why he struggled to pay an annual rent that was far higher than his salary. Mills, for his part, blamed an online payment problem for the issue and said he ended up paying his back rent later. The claims against him were dismissed.Poor old Mills always seems to get blamed for problems that are absolutely not his fault. He is also facing an investigation by the House ethics committee over allegations he held contracts with the US government while in Congress, in relation to a weapons company he founded a decade ago. So far, this investigation doesn’t seem to have had much impact on his career.We hear all the time about how the GOP is the party of law and order and family values. What, you might be wondering, do Mills’s colleagues have to say about all his run-ins with the law? Not much!“You have to ask Representative Mills about that,” said Mike Johnson, the House speaker, when asked about the allegations against Mills this week. “He’s been a faithful colleague here. I know his work on the Hill. I don’t know all the details … Let’s talk about things that are really serious.”Yes, let’s talk about things that are really serious, shall we? Because clearly being investigated for allegedly assaulting one girlfriend and then allegedly threatening to release sexual videos of another girlfriend aren’t serious at all. Certainly nothing that might disqualify someone from being a politician in a country that is led by an adjudicated sexual predator.From Matt Gaetz to Mills to Pete Hegseth to Roy Moore, the list of people in Trump’s orbit accused of sexual misconduct seems to grow by the day. And yet, funnily enough, a common theme among Republican men accused of sexual misconduct is that it’s trans people who are the real threat to women. “We must stop the lefts attack on women,” Mills wrote on X in 2022. “We must stand to protect women from biological males competing unfairly,” Mills wrote in another X post. If Mills is what Republicans “protecting” women looks like, I think I’ll pass.Costa Rica’s president limits abortion to life-threatening casesFulfilling a promise he had previous given religious conservatives, President Rodrigo Chaves has limited abortion access to situations when the mother’s life is in danger. Before running for president in 2022, Chaves worked at the World Bank, where he was accused of sexually harassing various women and was eventually sanctioned for misconduct. He has denied the allegations. Seems like he would fit in well with the Republican party.Virginia Giuffre on her abuse at the hands of Epstein and Maxwell“So many young women, myself included, have been criticised for returning to Epstein’s lair even after we knew what he wanted from us,” Giuffre writes in her posthumous memoir, an extract of which is published in the Guardian. “But that stance discounts what many of us had been through before we encountered Epstein, as well as how good he was at spotting girls whose wounds made them vulnerable. Several of us had been molested or raped as children; many of us were poor or even homeless. We were girls who no one cared about, and Epstein pretended to care … And then, he did his worst to them.”TikTok watches are desperate for a Crock-pot cauldronThere’s been a lot of toil and trouble brewing on WitchTok recently, after Crock-Pot apparently reneged on its promise to make a slow cooker in the shape of a cauldron. Not very sensible to get on the bad side of internet witches; they have quite the track record.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionKim Kardashian is now selling a thong with a built-in pubic wigIt’s called “the ultimate bush”, costs $32, and comes in 12 different colours. You can tell the Kardashians are fading from relevance because Kim keeps pulling these desperate and somewhat Goop-y stunts.Oscar Wilde’s library card reissued 130 years after being revoked over gay convictionI’d love to hear what the ghost of Wilde has to say about this. You know it would be pithy.Queer and trans immigrants allege forced labor and sexual assault in Ice facilityIn multiple legal complaints, immigrants detained at a South Louisiana Ice Processing Center have said they were made to perform hard manual labor for as little as $1 per day. They also allege queer people were targeted by an assistant warden who harassed and sexually assaulted them.The week in pawtriarchyChicago’s Roscoe Village is home to a funny-looking shape in the sidewalk that looks like a rat fell at high speed from outer space into wet concrete. The ro-dent, known as the Chicago Rat Hole or “Splatatouille”, has become something of a viral sensation and tourist attractions. Turns out, however, that no rats were harmed in the making of the hole. Rather, after conducting a serious scientific inquiry, a team of researchers now believes there’s a 98.67% chance the hole was actually made by a squirrel. It’s a sad tale, but at least that poor squirrel made its mark on the world.

Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist More

When Emily Gardiner first started paying attention to politics, she was 15, just beginning high school in 2016. It was the start of the first Trump administration, a moment that politicized a lot of young Americans.Now 23, Emily works as a library assistant in eastern Connecticut and is rewriting the second draft of her adult fantasy novel. She describes herself as “definitely leftist, not liberal”.“I was raised by parents who were politically active,” Emily said, “but I think a lot of my views also come from being Indigenous. My community puts a lot of value in sovereignty.”She adds: “I think for a lot of us who identify as leftist versus liberal, we feel that both the Democrats and the Republicans have kind of capitulated in a way to authoritarianism.” She believes billionaires have too much influence over the Democrats and that “liberals are a little bit less socially active, more prone toward centrism, willing to compromise their values”.Her words echo a generational sentiment among young people and young women in particular: that moderation feels like surrender in a time when so much is at stake. Across the country, generation Z women like Emily represent the most leftwing demographic in modern US history.Such is not the case with the men of gen Z, whose views tend to skew more in line with the national average, according to a recent 19th News/SurveyMonkey poll. The polling found that only 26% of gen Z women approve of the job president Trump is doing, compared with 47% of gen Z men. The national average is 43% approval.“There’s definitely a gender divide,” said Lily, a 24-year-old from North Carolina who works in legal services. “A lot of men of my age group I’ve noticed are more right-leaning.” She believes this comes down to the fact that many of the issues that leftists care about more directly impact women compared to men. Women have to care about politics because their health and safety depends on it.“Unfortunately, I think people often only care about issues that affect them,” she said.For Rebecca J, a 26-year-old from Washington DC, politics were “never optional”.“I’m trans,” she said. “So politics has always kind of been in my life.” Raised in a conservative household, she describes herself as “a socialist, but more of a social democrat, think of it like a leftist by European standards.”What matters to her most now are material conditions. “Economic issues are very important,” she said. “All these social issues we’re grappling with like abortion, trans rights, queer rights, they’re all downstream of the economic issues.”Rebecca is a former tech worker and now works in delivery services. The instability colors everything, she believes. “People are so overwhelmed just getting food on the table. It’s convenient for billionaires that a large chunk of the population is distracted by culture wars instead of asking why rent is unaffordable.”Like many of her peers, she sees the Democratic and Republican parties as a closed duopoly “both failing,” as she puts it “because they don’t want to fix it. That’s their strategy”.Research shows that Gen Z is less likely than older cohorts to believe in meritocratic narratives about upward mobility. Younger people are notably more skeptical that hard work alone is enough to guarantee success.And much like Emily and Rebecca, more gen Zers are choosing to reject the label of “democrat” or “liberal”, feeling that the terms and the Democratic party as an institution no longer represent their stance on many issues.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionRachel, a 26-year-old office worker from Michigan, also shares this sentiment. “I identify as left, not liberal,” she said. “‘Liberal’ is used to describe the Democrats and I’m much further left to the point that I don’t want to be considered under the same umbrella. Liberalism is still a capitalist ideology, and I consider myself an anti-capitalist.”For Lily, the issues that feel most urgent are reproductive rights as well as economic inequality. “Definitely healthcare, women’s healthcare specifically, the situation in Gaza, and anything economic affecting our work,” she said. “We’re passionate, but disappointed in our party. I think a lot of people my age would like the Democratic party to go in a different direction, more left.”Internet algorithms also play a significant role in shaping an individual’s worldview. Younger people are more likely to be regular news consumers on platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and Reddit. Research shows that algorithms used by social media platforms are rapidly amplifying extreme misogynistic content, especially when it believes the user is a young male.Gen Z men are more likely than baby boomers to believe that feminism has done more harm than good. Experts cite the influence of social media figures like Andrew Tate and the polarizing effects of online content as major contributors to this attitude shift.For gen Z women, it’s clear the leftward drift is deeply rooted in proximity to risk. Their generation came of age amid climate crisis, debt, job insecurity, and the growing threat of authoritarianism. They do not see compromise as civility, but rather as danger. If older generations saw politics as negotiation, Gen Z women see it as self-defense.“Both parties are in the pockets of billionaires,” as Emily puts it.“We don’t feel represented.” Lily said, adding “a lot of people in power now are older, and they’re men. Maybe they just don’t understand the position that a young woman is in.” More