Trump administration

Subterms

    More stories

    • 138 Shares169 Views

      in US Politics

      Judge orders Trump administration to continue Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood

      by

      The Trump administration must continue reimbursing Planned Parenthood clinics for Medicaid-funded services, a federal judge ruled on Monday, in an escalating legal war between the reproductive health giant and the White House over Republican efforts to “defund” Planned Parenthood.Days after Donald Trump signed his sweeping tax bill, Planned Parenthood sued over a provision in the bill that ended Medicaid payments for one year to abortion providers that received more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023, such as Planned Parenthood. The new court order, from US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston, will protect Medicaid funding for all Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide while litigation in the case continues.The order also replaces and expands a previous edict handed down by Talwani, which initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments only to Planned Parenthood affiliates that did not provide abortions or did not receive at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani wrote in her Monday order.“In particular, restricting members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”More than 80 million people rely on Medicaid, the US government’s insurance program for low-income people.It is already illegal to use Medicaid to pay for most abortions, but Planned Parenthood clinics – which treat a disproportionate number of people who use Medicaid – rely on the program to reimburse it for services such as birth control, STI tests and cancer screenings.In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood had argued that it would be at risk of closing nearly 200 clinics in 24 states if it is cut off from Medicaid funds. These closures would probably be felt most strongly in blue states, since they are home to larger numbers of people who use Medicaid. A Planned Parenthood affiliate in California has already been forced to close five clinics as a result of the “defunding” provision.Planned Parenthood estimated that, in all, more than 1 million patients could lose care.“We will keep fighting this cruel law so that everyone can get birth control, STI testing and treatment, cancer screenings and other critical healthcare, no matter their insurance,” the Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s president and CEO, Alexis McGill Johnson, said in a statement after the Monday ruling.Planned Parenthood is battling overwhelming political and economic headwinds. Even if it prevails against the Trump administration, its affiliates could still be removed from Medicaid in red states, thanks to a June decision by the US supreme court in favor of South Carolina in a case involving the state’s attempt to kick Planned Parenthood out of its Medicaid program.  On Monday, the state of Missouri also sued the Planned Parenthood Federation of America – the mothership organization that knits together Planned Parenthood’s network of regional affiliates – over accusations that the organization downplayed the medical risks of a common abortion pill, mifepristone, “to cut costs and boost revenue”. The lawsuit, which asks for more than $1m in damages, is part of an ongoing campaign by anti-abortion activists to cut off access to mifepristone.More than 100 studies, conducted across dozens of countries and over more than three decades, have concluded that mifepristone is a safe way to end a pregnancy.The Associated Press contributed reporting More

    • 225 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump news at a glance: president hails US-EU trade deal as House speaker weighs in on Epstein controversy

      by

      Donald Trump has hailed what he called “a powerful deal” on tariffs with the European Union to avert a damaging transatlantic trade war after months of tough negotiations between the two sides.“It solves a lot of stuff and was a great decision,” the US president said of the agreement after meeting the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, in Scotland. The “important” partnership involved the EU agreeing to spend tens of billions of dollars more on US energy products, Trump said.US House speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, said he would have “great pause” about granting a pardon to Ghislaine Maxwell while another House Republican said it should be considered as part of an effort to obtain more information about Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.Here’s more on this and the day’s other key Trump administration stories:Trump and von der Leyen announce US-EU trade dealDonald Trump has announced a tariff deal with the European Union to end months of difficult negotiations between Washington and Brussels after meeting the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland.“This is really the biggest trading partnership in the world so we should give it a shot,” the president said before the private meeting started.Von der Leyen described it as “a huge deal” that would bring “stability” and “predictability” to both sides.Read the full storyMike Johnson would have ‘great pause’ about a Ghislaine Maxwell pardonUS House speaker Mike Johnson said he would have “great pause” about granting a pardon or commutation to Ghislaine Maxwell while Kentucky Republican representative Thomas Massie said a pardon should be on the table for the jailed Epstein confidante if she were to give helpful information around the Epstein case.On Sunday – after deputy attorney general Todd Blanche met with Maxwell last week –Johnson was asked on NBC about the possibility of a pardon and said: “I think she should have a life sentence at least … That she orchestrated it and was a big part of it, at least under the criminal sanction, I think is an unforgivable thing. So again, not my decision, but I have great pause about that, as any reasonable person would.”Read the full storyTop medical body concerned at RFK Jr’s reported plans to cut preventive health panelA top US medical body has expressed “deep concern” to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures, including cancer screenings, should be covered by insurance companies.The letter from the the American Medical Association comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Kennedy plans to overhaul the 40-year old US preventive services task force because he regards it as too “woke”, according to sources.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      Thai and Cambodian leaders will meet on Monday for talks to end hostilities, Thailand said, after pressure from Donald Trump to end a deadly border dispute.

      UK prime minster Keir Starmer will recall his cabinet from their summer break for an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis this week as cross-party MPs warned his talks with Donald Trump provided a critical juncture in helping to resolve the conflict.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened on26 July. More

    • 175 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      ‘Get over it’: some middle America Trump supporters remain unfazed over Epstein files tumult

      by

      It has united luminaries of the far right, from media personality Tucker Carlson to activist Laura Loomer, from tech billionaire Elon Musk to congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. Typically unwavering in support of Donald Trump, all have criticised his administration’s handling of files about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.But in towns and cities across the US, a more complicated and nuanced picture emerges, serving as a reminder that – like any other political constituency – Trump voters are not a monolith.Some of the US president’s supporters are undoubtedly animated by the Epstein issue and urging Congress to push for greater transparency. “It’s the number one phone call that we get. By far,” Eric Burlison, a Republican congressman from Missouri, told CNN this week. “It’s probably 500 to one.”But others seem to be shrugging off the crisis as they have so many others that seemed to threaten Trump’s political career. They remain fiercely loyal to a president they believe is delivering low inflation, strong border security and sweeping reversals of progressive policies. They are willing to take White House advice to “trust in Trump”.That was the prevailing mood this week in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a former steel town and Democratic stronghold that swung heavily for Trump in last November’s election.“Trump is right about everything, no matter what he does,” was the blunt take of Teddy, 55, wearing a Stars and Stripes hat and sitting on a bench in Central Park in downtown Johnstown. “Epstein – he’s dead, that’s it, it’s over.”Did he have no concern that Trump’s name is reportedly listed in the Epstein files which have yet to be made public? “That’s a bunch of bullshit,” said Teddy, who didn’t want to give his last name. “The world should move on, get over it.”Curt, 51, another Trump supporter in Central Park, who was recently released from state prison, expressed similar views. The only people who were in a nervous state about Trump’s relationship with Epstein were Democrats, he said.“Epstein was a piece of shit and got what he deserved. As for Trump, they haven’t come up with any evidence that he actually did anything,” he said.Pennsylvania was crucial in tipping Trump over the line of 270 electoral college votes needed to win the White House. Rural areas in the west of the state responded especially favourably to his promises to bring back manufacturing, reduce living costs and drive out immigrants. Trump won Cambria county, which includes Johnstown, by 69% to Kamala Harris’s 30%.View image in fullscreenAt the local Walmart, Pam, who also asked not to give her last name, said she didn’t believe that Trump’s name was in the files. “Trump has morals – it may not seem like he does, but deep down he does. He wanted to protect the United States when nobody else did.”As for media coverage of the story, she said: “My uncle was in the Secret Service. He used to tell me that everything you see on TV is what they want you to believe, not what is actually happening.”Trump has been under growing pressure from political friends and foes alike to release more information about the justice department’s investigation into Epstein, a disgraced financier who officials ruled died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.After Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, promised to disclose additional materials related to possible Epstein clients and the circumstances surrounding his death, the justice department reversed course this month and said there was no basis to continue investigating and no evidence of a client list.That sparked an outcry from some of Trump’s base of supporters who have long believed the government was covering up Epstein’s ties to the rich and powerful. On Friday, Trump denied reports that he was told by Bondi in May that his own name appeared in the Epstein files.Yet interviews by the Guardian in multiple states found Republicans generally willing to give Trump the benefit of the doubt – and suspicious that he is the victim of a double standard.Gavin Rollins, a lawyer from Orlando, Florida, acknowledged disappointment in the way the administration’s initial communications raised expectations but praised Trump for doing a “phenomenal job” overall.“I think on the Epstein thing, I wish things had been handled a little bit differently,” he admitted. “I think the rollout was less than smooth. I would say that it’s important but I also believe in giving grace to people and he’s gotten so many things right.”Jeff Davis, the Republican party chair in Greenville county, South Carolina, accused the media of using the Epstein controversy to falsely portray a divide in the Maga (Make America great again) movement.He said: “I think the Epstein issue is obviously critical and important but I think what most people care about is that the Trump agenda – the Maga ‘America first’ agenda – is being promoted. I think [Epstein is] being used as a distraction.”Davis added: “We can walk and chew gum at the same time. They need to pursue the Epstein thing to the nth degree but I think most people are interested in the results of the things that the Trump administration is doing, as opposed to analysing this issue from the old days.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMary Smith, the party chair in Dickson county, Tennessee, said: “If Donald Trump’s name is linked to something, it’s like a shark fest, whereas if it’s somebody else’s name attached, ‘Oh, it’s no big deal,’ and it’s swept under the rug. I get so tired of that whole focus on Trump.”Despite Democrats’ efforts to keep attention focused on the Epstein saga, some are ready to move on. James Bennett, who runs a lumber company and is Republican party chair in Calhoun county, Alabama, said: “As far as I’m concerned with Trump, it’s about run its course. I know the Democrats are the ones out there trying to put gas on the fire, but you know, the fire’s about out.”That may prove wishful thinking. Just 17% of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the Epstein case, a weaker rating than the president received on any other issue in a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll last week. Among Republicans, 35% approve and 29% disapprove, while the rest said they are unsure or did not answer the question.Whit Ayres, a Republican consultant and pollster, draws a distinction between Trump voters who identify as part of the Maga movement and those attracted by his pledges to bring down inflation, juice the economy, close the southern border and tackle “woke” culture.“For the Maga group, this is a very big deal,” Ayres said. “Many of them bought into all the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein, whether it was the fact that he abused a bunch of kids and then covered it up or symptomatic of a widespread deep state conspiracy protecting elites and the privileged in general.“For the other people who voted for Trump, it is disturbing but not as compelling as it is for the Maga crowd. They are more interested in whether he is going to be able to bring inflation down than they are in Epstein. That’s not to say that Epstein is not a disturbing story for them, but it’s more a matter of perspective.”Yet another survey published this week again challenged the conventional wisdom. An Economist/YouGov poll found that Republican voters who identify as “Maga” were more likely to approve of how the president is dealing with the Epstein investigation (56%) than those who do not (38%). Overall among Republicans, 45% approve and 25% disapprove, with the remaining 30% unsure.One such Maga voter is Mike Boatman, 57, who has attended about a hundred Trump campaign rallies, including the one last year in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the then Republican nominee survived an assassination attempt. His faith remains unshaken.“I’m backing President Trump,” said Boatman, an independent contractor from Evansville, Indiana. “He knows more than what we know about the situation. There’s more important concerns for me than the Epstein files.“There’s so much that President Trump needs to get done. He’s got three and a half years to get it done. Don’t get me wrong, I’m against paedophiles and whoever has done that with Epstein should be punished. But there’s more important things.”Still, the story continues to dominate headlines and put heat on Republicans in the House of Representatives. They went on recess a day early to avoid holding a vote on releasing Epstein material. Mike Johnson, the House speaker, insisted the Epstein case is “not a hoax” despite Trump using that very word.The president has been defiant, describing supporters hung up on the issue as “weaklings” who were helping Democrats. “I don’t want their support anymore!” Trump said in a social media post.This week, he sought to distract his followers by making the baseless claim that Barack Obama and his officials fabricated intelligence reports to assert that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, accusing his predecessor of treason. Next he might try something even more extreme to change the narrative.Reed Galen, president of the Union, a pro-democracy coalition, said: “My real fear is that he gets us into some sort of Wag the Dog thing where all of the distraction isn’t working so he decides to throw up some gigantic bright, shiny object that gets us all in trouble.”But otherwise Galen is sceptical that the Epstein scandal will have far-reaching political implications. “To me, the flip side of this is: what difference does it make? I shouldn’t say that as a means of diminishing the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein or the pain of his victims. I’m looking at this from a purely electoral perspective.“He’s not going to leave office. The midterms are 15 months, 16 months away. Do I think this is fodder for the left and the media and even the true Magas who are like, ‘What’s happening?’ Yeah. Do I think that ultimately, a year from now, we’ll be talking about this? Hard to believe.”

      This article was amended on 27 July 2025. Trump won Cambria county by 69% to Kamala Harris’s 30%, not by 68% to Joe Biden’s 31% as an earlier version stated. More

    • 175 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      Top medical body concerned over RFK Jr’s reported plans to cut preventive health panel

      by

      A top US medical body has expressed “deep concern” to Robert F Kennedy Jr over news reports that the health secretary plans to overhaul a panel that determines which preventive health measures including cancer screenings should be covered by insurance companies.The letter from the the American Medical Association comes after the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Kennedy plans to overhaul the 40-year old US Preventive Services Task Force because he regards them as too “woke”, according to sources familiar with the matter.During his second term, Donald Trump has frequently raged against organizations and government departments that he considers too liberal – often without any evidence. The US president, and his cabinet members such as Kennedy, have also overseen huge cuts and job losses across the US government.The taskforce is made up of a 16-member panel appointed by health and human services secretaries to serve four-year terms. In addition to cancer screenings, the taskforce issues recommendations for a variety of other screenings including osteoporosis, intimate partner violence, HIV prevention, as well as depression in children.Writing in its letter to Kennedy on Sunday, the AMA defended the panel, saying: “As you know, USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians’ efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services.”“As such, we urge you to retain the previously appointed members of the USPSTF and commit to the long-standing process of regular meetings to ensure their important work can be continued without disruption,” it added.Citing Kennedy’s own slogan of “Making America healthy again,” the AMA went on to say: “USPSTF members have been selected through an open, public nomination process and are nationally recognized experts in primary care, prevention and evidence-based medicine. They serve on a volunteer basis, dedicating their time to help reduce disease and improve the health of all Americans – a mission well-aligned with the Make America Healthy Again initiative.”According to the Affordable Care Act, public and private insurance companies must cover any services recommended by the Preventive Services Task Force without cost sharing.In a statement to MedPage Today, Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon did not confirm the reports, instead saying: “No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS’ mandate to Make America Healthy Again.”Reports of Kennedy’s alleged decision to overhaul the taskforce come after the American Conservative published an essay earlier this month that described the taskforce as advocating for “leftwing ideological orthodoxy”.It went on to accuse the panel of being “packed with Biden administration appointees devoted to the ideological capture of medicine”, warning that the “continued occupation of an important advisory body in HHS – one that has the capacity to force private health insurers to cover services and procedures – by leftwing activists would be a grave oversight by the Trump administration”.In response to the essay, 104 health organizations, including the American Medical Association, issued a separate letter to multiple congressional health committees in which they urged the committees to “protect the integrity” of the taskforce.“The loss of trustworthiness in the rigorous and nonpartisan work of the Task Force would devastate patients, hospital systems, and payers as misinformation creates barriers to accessing lifesaving and cost effective care,” the organizations said.In June, Kennedy removed all 17 members of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel of vaccine experts. Writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he accused the committee of having too many conflicts of interest.Kennedy’s decision to overhaul the immunization panel was met with widespread criticism from health experts, with the American Public Health Association executive director Georges Benjamin calling the ouster “a coup”.“It’s not how democracies work. It’s not good for the health of the nation,” Benjamin said. More

    • 188 Shares179 Views

      in US Politics

      Democrats use new tactic to highlight Trump’s gutting of Medicaid: billboards in the rural US

      by

      The road to four struggling rural hospitals now hosts a political message: “If this hospital closes, blame Trump.”In a series of black-and-yellow billboards erected near the facilities, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seeks to tell voters in deep red states “who is responsible for gutting rural healthcare”.“UNDER TRUMP’S WATCH, STILWELL GENERAL HOSPITAL IS CLOSING ITS DOORS,” one sign screams. The billboards are outside hospitals in Silex, Missouri; Columbus, Indiana; Stilwell, Oklahoma; and Missoula, Montana.The fate of rural hospitals has become a politically contentious issue for Republicans, as historic cuts pushed through by the GOP are expected to come into effect over the next decade. Donald Trump’s enormous One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) cut more than $1tn from Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans, insuring more than 71 million adults.“Where the real impact is going to be is on the people who just won’t get care,” said Dave Kendall, a senior fellow for health and fiscal policy at Third Way, a center-left advocacy organization.“That’s what used to happen before we had rural hospitals – they just don’t get the care because they can’t afford it, and they can’t get to the hospital.”In response to criticism, Republicans added a $50bn “rural health transformation fund” just before passage of the OBBBA. The fund is expected to cover about one-third of the losses rural areas will face, and about 70% of the losses for the four hospitals where Democrats now have nearby billboards. The rural health fund provides money through 2030, while the Medicaid cuts are not time-bound.That is already becoming a political football, as Democrats argued in a letter that the money is a “slush fund” already promised to key Republican Congress members.“We are alarmed by reports suggesting these taxpayer funds are already promised to Republican members of Congress in exchange for their votes in support of the Big, Ugly Betrayal,” wrote 16 Democratic senators in a letter to Dr Mehmet Oz, Trump’s head of Medicare and Medicaid.View image in fullscreen“In addition, the vague legislative language creating this fund will seemingly function as your personal fund to be distributed according to your political whims.”Rural hospitals have been under financial strain for more than a decade. Since 2010, 153 rural hospitals have closed or lost the inpatient services which partly define a hospital, according to the University of North Carolina Sheps Center for Health Services Research.“In states across the country, hospitals are either closing their doors or cutting critical services, and it’s Trump’s own voters who will suffer the most,” said the DNC chair, Ken Martin, in a statement announcing the billboards.The OBBBA is expected to further exacerbate those financial strains. A recent analysis by the Urban Institute found rural hospitals are likely to see an $87bn loss in the next 10 years.“We’re expecting rural hospitals to close as a result – we’ve already started to see some hospitals like, ‘OK, how are we going to survive?’” said Third Way’s Kendall.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionA June analysis by the Sheps Center found that 338 rural hospitals, including dozens in states such as Louisiana, Kentucky and Oklahoma, could close as a result of the OBBBA. There are nearly 1,800 rural hospitals nationally, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), a healthcare research non-profit.That perspective was buttressed by the CEO of the National Rural Health Association, Alan Morgan, who in a recent newsletter said 45% of rural hospitals are already operating at a loss.“When you remove $155bn over the next 10 years, it’s going to have an impact,” he said.In the fragmented US healthcare ecosystem, Medicaid is both the largest and poorest payer of healthcare providers. Patients benefit from largely no-cost care, but hospitals complain that Medicaid rates don’t pay for the cost of service, making institutions that disproportionately rely on Medicaid less financially stable. In rural areas, benefit-rich employer health insurance is harder to come by; therefore, more hospitals depend on Medicaid.But even though Medicaid pays less than other insurance programs, some payment is still better than none. Trump’s OBBBA cut of more than $1tn from the program over the coming decade is expected to result in nearly 12 million people losing coverage.When uninsured people get sick, they are more likely to delay care, more likely to use hospital emergency rooms and more likely to struggle to pay their bills. In turn, the institutions that serve them also suffer.“This is what Donald Trump does – screw over the people who are counting on him,” said Martin, the DNC chair. “These new DNC billboards plainly state exactly what is happening to rural hospitals under Donald Trump’s watch.” More

    • 225 Shares189 Views

      in US Politics

      We do not comply: how do we disrupt the momentum of Trump’s cruelty? | V (formerly Eve Ensler)

      by

      The exterminating force of Project 2025 is plowing through the culture, the government and people’s hearts and bodies like a drunk on a violent tear. We wake each morning, holding our breath to bear witness to the new devastation: PBS and NPR defunded, cuts to the fight against human trafficking, Medicaid gone for millions, Ice working to surveil critics, tons of food for the poor ordered burned and wasted.The momentum of cruelty always feels inevitable. Cruelty is by definition “a callous indifference to or pleasure in causing pain”. For those of us who have suffered physical, political, racial and emotional abuse, it feels like a familiar steamroller of violence. We only have to witness the cries of parents being separated from their children, men screaming out for “libertad” from cages in Everglades detention center (AKA Alligator Alcatraz), non-violent protesters beaten for trying to stop a genocide, to be frozen in that same incapacitating dread and fear.What is the antidote to this destructive environment of mendacity possessing us now with fear, ennui and self-mutilating rage?Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, a powerhouse activist and brilliant organizer, told me: “It’s not decided where we go yet. Which is why it feels tense. What we know is that there’s no going back to an old normal because our economic system has failed us and our governmental structure is being destroyed. They’re trying to replace what was with this minority rule of disgustingly wealthy humans dictating what can happen not only in this country, but globally.“We’ve gotta block and build at the same time. That means confronting both elected officials and the corporations that are lifting them up. We need to make sure that we are gumming up their ability to successfully implement any sort of action, whether it’s policy or otherwise, that takes more power and rights and access to life-saving resources away from our communities.”So how do we gum up their momentum; how do we become refusers, artists of disruption, interrupters of their hateful and life-destroying trajectory? How do we clear the noise and fear in our heads so that we are able to hear the call of our inner morality?“The thing that I love about being non-cooperative and non-compliant with the Trump administration,” Ash-Lee told me, “is its accessibility: people have all sorts of abilities, all sorts of means, regardless of class, regardless of identity, to find a tactic that fits for them. What keeps you up at night enough to make you active? Trump says we shouldn’t ask people for warrants. We demand warrants. When a business puts a ‘No Kings’ sign up or a ‘No Ice’ sign in their window, they’re not complying. And we need more people to do that wherever they are,” she said, “whether it’s a general saying, ‘I’m not gonna command my troops to do this,’ whether it’s troops becoming conscientious objectors, whether it’s us boycotting Target and T-Mobile.”This tyrannical white supremacist landscape is erasing our sense of existence and meaning. Daily forms of rebellion birth us back into our bodies and our purpose. Non-compliance is art, as art is meant to defy the status quo, question the givens, expand the boundaries of knowing and freedom. And as you courageously make your mark of refusal, you carve a path for others to be brave. Non-compliance is praxis, stretching and transforming the muscles of our discontent into impactful and embodied action.There are a multitude of ways that we can make their lives miserable by taking small risks and huge ones. Like folks in California sitting in their cars outside the hotels where the Ice agents are and just lying on their horn for hours. Or people towing Ice vans away that are parked illegally. Or the Harlem baseball coach who knew all his kids were American-born. When Ice invaded the field, he told his kids to get inside the batting cage and stay silent. He said he was willing to die for his kids to get home.“And non-complying is also filling in the gaps of resources and care that they are taking away. They’re already closing rural hospitals where we live because our governor didn’t expand Medicaid,” Ash-Lee told me. “So residents must build an alternative like country people and Black folks across the country have been doing on their own accord for decades, if not centuries, creating community spaces where we can both line dance, do some boots-on-the-ground organizing, get your blood pressure checked, get your mammogram in the mobile unit, get your teeth cleaned, whatever. All of those things are not complying.”I think of the man who suggested we all dress in Ice suits with masks and Oakley sunglasses and enter detention centers and free immigrants. Or my white British friend who was in a store in Nevada when Ice invaded and they started harassing Latinos for their identification. He stepped up and calmly asked why they weren’t asking for his ID. He asked simply without hostility. He asked it three times. Even though they continued, he momentarily disrupted the trajectory of cruelty and forced them to bring consciousness to what they were doing. Or the Rev Mariann Budde’s staring down Trump and his billionaire cronies in the first row of a Washington church in January, calmly and fearlessly demanding compassion for immigrants, refugees and LGBTQ+ communities.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionAnd this is the time for artists to speak out, to disembed themselves from a fascist system, to place principles over profit and self-advancement. To be what Viet Thanh Nguyen calls “disagreeable”. Yes, of course there are risks. But at this moment, with the jackboots in the streets and at our door, when each hour another liberty is being erased, and those who speak truth to power are being removed from TV, from universities, from cultural centers, when the cultural platforms are being removed themselves, speaking out is not just an obligation, it’s survival.And there are artists beginning to organize. The poet Michael Klein is creating a new podcast calling writers “to take our language back in writing a way through the various veils of deceit–an act, which in itself, has always been a form of resistance”. Meena Jagannath, a movement lawyer, is gathering artists and activists in salons to deepen our collective investigation and imaginative co-creation. She told me: “Our charge in these times is to support each other in building protagonism – a sense that we have agency to contest fascist narratives about how the world is and should be. It needs to be a collective, creative and responsive process that takes in what’s going out there and alchemizes it into a more expansive imagination of what could and should be.”So in a nod to the late great Mary Oliver, I ask you, what is the one precious, wild creative act you are doing to impede this nightmare?

      V (formerly Eve Ensler) is a playwright and activist and the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls More

    • 238 Shares99 Views

      in US Politics

      Trump news at a glance: president tells Europe to ‘stop the windmills’ ahead of EU and UK trade talks

      by

      Donald Trump spent the night at his family-owned golf resort in Scotland but took time to criticise European leaders over wind turbines and immigration, claiming there won’t be a Europe unless they “get their act together”.“I say two things to Europe. Stop the windmills. You’re ruining your countries. I really mean it, it’s so sad. You fly over and you see these windmills all over the place, ruining your beautiful fields and valleys and killing your birds,” he said.“On immigration, you better get your act together or you’re not going to have Europe any more.”Intensive negotiations continued on Saturday between the EU and the US before a crunch meeting in Scotland between Trump and the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, seeking to avert a costly trade war.Here’s more on this and the day’s other key Trump administration stories.Trump skips press meeting to play golf before US-EU talksDonald Trump abandoned a scheduled meeting with the press on Saturday morning for a round of golf at his seaside course in Turnberry, with music blaring from the buggy he drove.During what is billed as a four-day family visit to Scotland, Trump is meeting European leaders and the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, raising hopes of new and refined trade deals with the EU and the UK.On the prospects of an EU trade deal, the US president has said there are “20 sticking points”. When asked what they were, he said: “Well, I don’t want to tell you what the sticking points are.”He described Ursula von der Leyen as a “highly respected woman” and said the meeting on Sunday with the EU chief would be “good”, rating the chances of a deal as “a good 50-50”.Read the full storyDemocrats request copy of Epstein ‘birthday book’ House Democrats on Friday sent a letter to the attorneys representing the estate of Jeffrey Epstein requesting a copy of the so-called “birthday book” that reportedly contains a crude poem and doodle from Donald Trump in celebration of the late sex offender’s 50th birthday.In the letter, California congressmen Ro Khanna and Robert Garcia say the contents of the book may be “essential” to congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein controversy. In the letter, they ask for a “complete and unredacted” copy of the book by 10 August.Read the full storyDoge reportedly using AI tool to create ‘delete list’ of federal regulationsThe “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those it deems to be no longer required by law.Read the full storyTrump says Cambodia and Thailand agree to ‘immediate’ ceasefire talksThailand and Cambodia have agreed to “immediately meet” to work out a ceasefire, according to Donald Trump, who spoke to the leaders of both countries as he sought an end to clashes that continued for a third consecutive day.In social media posts, Trump said: “Both parties are looking for an immediate ceasefire and peace”, adding he would not negotiate a trade deal with either side until the fighting stopped.Read the full storyUnease as crowded Cotswolds braces for JD Vance’s summer holidayThe narrow lanes and honeyed stone walls of Stow-on-the-Wold are not the setting where one would expect to see an angry altercation. But could this charming UK town soon find itself at the heart of the angry US culture wars?According to reports, the US vice-president, JD Vance, will be holidaying in the Cotswolds with his family next month, and protesters are determined to let him know just how warm the welcome will not be in England’s chocolate box countryside.Read the full storyWoman who fled Cuba for asylum arrested at US immigration courtroomJenny, 25, entered the US legally, but Ice agents arrested her after a hearing, part of a growing trend of court detentions.Read the full storyMen freed from El Salvador mega-prison endured ‘state-sanctioned torture’, lawyers sayVenezuelans whom the Trump administration expelled to El Salvador’s most notorious megaprison endured “state-sanctioned torture”, lawyers for some of the men have said, as more stories emerge about the horrors they faced during capacity.Read the full storyCan a rural hospital on the brink survive Trump’s bill?Republican lawmakers voted for the “big beautiful bill” but cuts to Medicaid will hit hard in rural areas like Missouri’s poorest county, Pemiscot.The Pemiscot Memorial hospital has long been the destination for those who encounter catastrophe in this rural stretch of farms and towns. Yet its days of serving its community may be numbered.Read the full storyHundreds removed from ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ detention camp, DeSantis saysFlorida has begun deporting people from the notorious “Alligator Alcatraz” detention camp, the state’s governor said, and deportations are expected to increase in the coming weeks.At a press conference at the controversial facility, Ron DeSantis said “hundreds of illegals have been removed” from the facility. He later clarified that most of those were flown from Alligator Alcatraz to other detention facilities in the US.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      A debating opponent of the leftwing media figure Mehdi Hasan in a controversial viral YouTube video was previously the organizer of two violent far-right protests in Berkeley, California, in 2017, the Guardian can reveal.

      Authorities in Michigan are investigating after multiple people were stabbed at a Walmart in Traverse City, police said on Saturday.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened on 25 July 2025. More

    • 150 Shares159 Views

      in US Politics

      Doge reportedly using AI tool to create ‘delete list’ of federal regulations

      by

      The “department of government efficiency” (Doge) is using artificial intelligence to create a “delete list” of federal regulations, according to a report, proposing to use the tool to cut 50% of regulations by the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s second inauguration.The “Doge AI Deregulation Decision Tool” will analyze 200,000 government regulations, according to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, and select those which it deems to be no longer required by law.Doge, which was run by Elon Musk until May, claims that 100,000 of those regulations can then be eliminated, following some staff feedback.A PowerPoint presentation made public by the Post claims that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) used the AI tool to make “decisions on 1,083 regulatory sections”, while the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau used it to write “100% of deregulations”.The Post spoke to three HUD employees who told the newspaper AI had been “recently used to review hundreds, if not more than 1,000, lines of regulations”.During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump claimed that government regulations were “driving up the cost of goods” and promised the “most aggressive regulatory reduction” in history. He repeatedly criticized rules which aimed to tackle the climate crisis, and as president he ordered the heads of all government agencies to undertake a review of all regulations in coordination with Doge.Asked about the use of AI in deregulation by the Post, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said “all options are being explored” to achieve the president’s deregulation promises. Fields said that “no single plan has been approved or green-lit”, and the work is “in its early stages and is being conducted in a creative way in consultation with the White House”.Fields added: “The Doge experts creating these plans are the best and brightest in the business and are embarking on a never-before-attempted transformation of government systems and operations to enhance efficiency and effectiveness.”Musk appointed a slew of inexperienced staffers to Doge, including Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old who was previously known by the online handle “Big Balls”. Earlier this year, Reuters reported that Coristine was one of two Doge associates promoting the use of AI across the federal bureaucracy. More