Economic D-Day
Week of August 14-20, 2026
Published in conjunction with The Nation magazine, TRACKING THE CRISIS is a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. This round-up is produced by humans, not by Artificial Intelligence. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Iran-U.S. MoU expires amid escalating rhetoric from both sides; Trump vows to unleash ‘Economic D-Day’ on Iran, claims Strait of Hormuz as U.S. territory while Iran threatens strikes on Gulf internet, U.S. bases in Europe. Monday, August 17 marked the end of the 60-day ‘ceasefire’ period between the United States and Iran as outlined in the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed by both parties in June. During that time, at least three rounds of kinetic strikes were exchanged as the prospect of real negotiations to end the war faded, resulting in a state of ‘neither war nor peace’ as the United States faced dwindling military options against Iran’s hold over the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran held firm on its demands, including an end to the reimposed U.S. blockade on Iranian ports, the lifting of sanctions, unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad and payment of war reparations.
Over the weekend, Trump Administration officials continued to promote a renewed economic pressure campaign against Iran, with Treasury Secretary Bessent promising to impose measures of “economic isolation like the world has never seen” against Iran. Lawmakers in the House and Senate continued to press Pete Hegseth on conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln as Hegseth, Trump and Navy officials downplayed supply logistics difficulties that have resulted in crashing morale and increasing desperation among the crew. Reports of similar difficulties on the USS Tripoli and other deployed vessels began to surface, as Hegseth continued to assure the public that the U.S. could maintain its blockade against Iranian ports ‘indefinitely.’
Meanwhile, an average of 12 ships per day continued to move through the Strait of Hormuz, mainly through the Iranian-approved shipping channels, although several more reportedly passed with their transponders turned off. Strikes on ‘unauthorized’ vessels continued, including two UAE-flagged ADNOC tankers, for which the UAE denounced Iran while Iran denied responsibility. On Friday, August 14, during a speech at a police academy in Long Island, New York, Trump declared that as soon as he was done ‘defeating Iran,’ the Strait of Hormuz would become a U.S. territory. Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi responded on X, saying the Strait “cannot be seized by tweet, nor by aircraft carrier, nor by issuing an order, nor by an election speech.” Reiterating that the Strait of Hormuz has “always been Iranian,” Gharibabadi told Trump to “face up to the reality” that the United States has suffered a strategic defeat, and that “as long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and cease your fanciful delusions, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi reiterated over the weekend that talks with Oman regarding joint management of the Strait of Hormuz were ongoing, and that technical discussions were underway to delineate a new shipping route, saying: “The routes that existed previously are no longer functional, so a new route needs to be defined. For now, we are designing a temporary route, which can then, at a later stage, be turned into a final route.” He stressed that the negotiations with Oman were a “separate matter” to the question of reopening the Strait and/or negotiations with the United States, both of which remained contingent on the U.S. meeting Iran’s conditions; and that while some messages were being exchanged through intermediaries, no official talks between the belligerents were on the horizon.
The official expiration of the MoU on August 17 brought an end to hopes of a renewed ceasefire and return to diplomacy, as both sides escalated their belligerent rhetoric and raised the stakes of the current standoff. Trump, frustrated with the paucity of military options available to him, ‘lashed out’ at enemies and allies alike as the expiration neared.
On Sunday, Trump instructed the Pentagon to “substantially reduce” its joint military exercises with South Korea, cutting the annual defense drill by nearly a week after it was already underway, citing the fact that Seoul declined to join the United States in the “de-nuclearization” of Iran. He also cited his “very good relationship” with Kim Jong Un, telling reporters on Wednesday that he planned to meet with the leader later in the year and that North Korea had 57 nuclear weapons, ‘accidentally’ disclosing classified information on the country’s nuclear capability. Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister and spokesperson for the DPRK, dismissed Trump’s overture, denying Trump’s claims of a planned meeting as “not even worth commenting on” and saying that if Trump had intended the comment “as some kind of ‘goodwill measure’, they will not get the answer they desire.” Pyongyang then fired a barrage of at least 10 short-range ballistic missiles into the ocean to underscore its point.
As the MoU expired on Monday morning, Trump went on Fox News to reiterate his claims, saying that Iran was “dying” and that they should “put up the white flag of surrender.” He also denied Pentagon warnings amid documented evidence that the United States had depleted its munitions stockpile, saying “what we have used so far [in the war] is peanuts.” He also expressed displeasure with Oman for continuing negotiations with Iran on management of the Strait of Hormuz pursuant to Article 5 of the MoU, and threatened again to “bomb the s**t out of Oman” if it “gets in the way” of Trump’s efforts to reopen the Strait on his terms. He said Iran won’t make the deal he thinks was necessary, and expressed confidence that he was in no hurry to restart negotiations with Iran, although he said the U.S. had established a “backchannel” directly with the IRGC.
The IRGC denied Trump’s claim of a “backchannel” being established, which a senior spokesman attributed to Trump’s “delusions and nightmares resulting from defeat and desperation in the war”; nor would the IRGC talk to Americans, due to “broken promises and the dark experiences of repeated and constant violations of agreements by the United States.” The Times of Israel reported this week that Tulsi Gabbard had contacted Iraqi Kurdish leader Nechirvan Barzani in May to reach out to the IRGC and establish a backchannel in order to suss out any divisions between what they perceived as ‘hardliners’ in the armed forces and the ‘pragmatic’ diplomats heading the Iranian negotiating team. Axios reported Sunday that the United States had been informed that the IRGC fully stood behind the negotiating team. On Monday, a drone attack targeted Barzani’s office in Erbil, Iraq, which was initially blamed on Iran; Foreign Minister Araghchi blasted the ‘reckless’ attack on Barzani’s office and warned that “Kurdish friends should be vigilant against false-flag ploys to sow discord between neighbors.”
Meanwhile in Tehran, Iranian officials revealed some of the cards they held after 60 days of a ceasefire which Foreign Ministry spokesman Baghaei said had already been “entirely moot” since the United States violated the terms of the MoU just days after its signing. Parliamentary Speaker and chief negotiator Ghalibaf declared Iran’s victory in the war in a speech Monday morning, saying that in both military and political terms, Iran had won the war “in the most literal sense of the word” and that the MoU, whose 14 points reflected Iranian demands and terms for negotiation, stood as a “document of honour for this victory.”
Brigadier General Yadollah Javani, a senior officer in the IRGC, said Monday that Iran was poised to shift from its previous defensive posture to an offensive one, following the mandate of “maximum deterrence” established by newly appointed IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmad Vahidi. IRGC deputy commander-in-chief Mostafa Izadi claimed that Iran had destroyed more than 200 enemy aircraft in the course of the war, and that efforts to destabilize Iran both internally and externally had failed. Javani also told Iranian state media that Iran’s new approach is “evolving to meet and exceed the needs of modern warfare,” warning that “The enemy should know that it cannot catch us off-guard… instead, it is the enemy that must anticipate strategic surprises.” Iran also said they were prepared for “U.S. ground operations,” offering bounties of $30,000 for every U.S. soldier killed or captured should a ground war commence.
On Tuesday, Trump posted a picture on Truth Social of the Strait of Hormuz with a circle drawn around it, with the caption “New U.S. Territory,” which was reposted on official White House social media accounts. Iranian deputy foreign minister Gharibabadi responded to the post, saying “Trump’s delusion regarding the Strait of Hormuz will either be corrected, or we will correct the delusions of this delusional man.” The Iranian consulate in Hyderabad mocked Trump’s claim, posting a picture of the United States with California blocked out in blue, claiming California as Iranian territory to make the point that anyone can draw a circle on a map and say it’s theirs.
The IRGC responded more seriously to Trump’s threats of annexation and escalation against Iran, as sources divulged to the Financial Times that Iran has weighed attacking U.S. military targets in Europe if Trump decided to escalate the war. The plans reportedly included targeting the Bezmer air base in Bulgaria, as well as U.S./NATO facilities in Cyprus. Separately, the sources also revealed that the IRGC had a plan to cut the undersea fiber optic lines in the Strait of Hormuz that supplied Internet access to most of the Gulf region, including newly built AI data centers in the UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, should the United States escalate its aggression.
Also on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon was mulling a large-scale pullback and diminished U.S. military presence in the Middle East once the Iran war was over. This comes as MSNOW and Washington Post reports revealed that Hegseth “hid” from lawmakers and the public the true extent of the damage Iranian strikes had done to U.S. bases in the Gulf, including the Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, which had served as the main resupply hub to warships deployed to the region.
Meanwhile, Turkish president Erdogan urged Trump on Tuesday to pursue talks with Iran, offering Turkiye’s support in mediation. Three hours later, Israel bombed an airbase in Syrian territory that Turkish officials had been helping to renovate, claiming that the strike was intended to “prevent a Turkish military buildup in the area.” According to Axios, the strike “frustrated” U.S. officials at a time when the Trump Administration had been building up good relations with Syria to the point that Trump felt he could claim the nation’s relative stability as a positive foreign policy achievement. Syria also condemned the attacks in letters to the UN Secretary General and the Security Council. The U.S. envoy to Turkiye, Tom Barrack, said he was “deeply concerned” over the attack, calling it “an unnecessary escalation that does not advance regional stability."
A statement from Netanyahu’s office said that Syria and Israel had a “status quo” security agreement that Syria was “on the edge of breaching” because it was “permitting Turkish troops to deploy at an airbase near Aleppo.” Syria denied that such an agreement existed between Israel and Syria. The strike against Turkish assets could also constitute an early test of the mutual defense pact signed two weeks ago between Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan. Araghchi spoke to Iranian news media warning of Israel’s propensity to sabotage negotiations in the region, saying: “The Zionist regime was and remains the biggest opponent and obstacle to the implementation of the memorandum of understanding. They made every effort to prevent such an agreement from being reached, every effort to make this agreement fail, and every effort to prevent it from being implemented.”
By Wednesday, traffic in the Strait of Hormuz was back down to zero as shipping companies were once again reluctant to traverse the Strait given the rising tensions in the region. Trump took to Truth Social to announce that the United States was undertaking “the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country.” Calling the operation an “ECONOMIC D-DAY,” Trump promised “economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale,” with a sanctions policy aimed not only at Iran, but at “ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran,” warning that any country that does business with Iran “will face TREMENDOUS economic consequences.”
Araghchi responded on X early Thursday, posting newly released graphs of the U.S. national debt as it passed $40 trillion dollars, saying: “The so-called “Economic D-Day” is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs. Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat – and enmity of Iranians. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.”
Petrodollar system in crisis: Bond markets on edge as global sell-off sends Treasury yields to 2007 levels; Bessent initiates buy-back intervention to stem capital flight as U.S. debt tops $40 trillion, allies join Chinese RMB exchange. On Wednesday, August 19, U.S. national debt passed $40 trillion for the first time, riding an accelerated wave of debt-fueled spending driven by the costs of the Iran war and Trump’s historic tax cuts for the rich enacted in 2025, in addition to normal government spending. While U.S. public debt has been rising at an accelerated pace in the 2020s, passing the $40 trillion milestone months ahead of schedule as predicted by the Congressional Budget Office, in combination with concerns over oil price-driven inflation and the AI bubble and the surge in corporate bond issuance to fund hyperscaler tech companies’ data centers, has shaken investor confidence in the U.S. economy as a whole.
This watershed event set off a global bond sell-off on Wednesday, affecting nearly all major economies; long-term yields climbed to multi-decade highs as investors abandoned the no-longer-safe haven of government bonds, mostly in favor of gold, corporate bonds and hard assets. Another catalyzing factor in the U.S. Treasury sell-off was the Bank of Japan’s emergency intervention to save its own collapsing currency, which has continued to decline despite U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s historic intervention two weeks ago, in which he sold U.S. euro reserves to buy up to $10 billion in Japanese bonds to prop up the falling currency for approximately six hours. This time, the Bank of Japan – the largest holder of U.S. Treasuries – had no choice but to dump $26 billion in Treasuries to save its own currency, flooding the market with bonds no one wanted to buy and sending 30-year Treasury yields to 5.33%, its highest level since the financial crisis of 2007.
Faced with an intensifying feedback loop of rising costs of borrowing – which would exacerbate concerns about U.S. indebtedness, cooling demand for U.S. bonds as investors demanded higher yields for holding long-term government debt – Bessent announced on Wednesday that the Treasury would be doubling its limit for buy-backs of government bonds. Bessent announced that the emergency program, which involves selling short-term government debt to buy back “at least” $4 billion in long-term bonds, would run from September 9 to November 4, prompting speculation that the intervention was also politically timed to hold back the costs of borrowing for ordinary Americans until after the midterm elections. Wednesday’s announcement helped steady the market, pushing 30-year Treasury yields down to around 5.18%; however, the calm was short-lived as yields rose again on Thursday, spiking back up 5 basis points to close at 5.24%, providing even more fuel for investor fears that the U.S. Treasury has lost control of the yield curve and its own spiraling debt.
While the mainstream financial press has invoked general cyclical explanations for the bond rout, from the onset of corrective/recessionary dynamics in the debt cycle to the emergence of the infamous “bond vigilantes” phenomenon whereby markets ‘punish’ governments for excessive intervention in free markets, other analysts note that the unique confluence of factors like the Iran war and subsequent decline of U.S. geopolitical hegemony may point to an even deeper and more epochal shift than a normal boom-bust cycle.
Michael Hudson, in his recent publication “The Imperial Objectives of America’s Oil War,” traces the trajectory of the Iran war in the context of the larger and more existential question of U.S. political economy in terms of its “desperate” struggle to “maintain its world oil monopoly as a chokepoint.” Hudson’s point of departure is the rapid decline of the dollar’s status as the world’s sole reserve currency for the buying and selling of oil, which had ironically been eroded over years of U.S. sanctions against oil-producing nations like Russia and Iran, and dramatically accelerated since February by Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz and its ability to demand fees for oil shipping transactions in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.
Since the onset of the current conflict in the Persian Gulf, a “de-dollarization” trend has been growing among nations that have been forced to sell U.S. Treasuries in order to obtain enough dollar liquidity to buy oil at elevated prices and/or repatriate capital in order to prop up their own currencies, and those that are seeking alternatives to holding U.S. debt in the face of an astronomically expensive military quagmire whose spiraling costs are making the United States’ balance sheet look more unsustainable by the day. China, in particular, has been using its enormous trade surpluses to buy gold at record rates, accumulating the amounts of hard asset wealth necessary to back the renminbi as an alternative reserve currency.
Along with Russia and Iran, which had already been using China’s yuan-backed digital cross-border payment clearing platforms, CIPS and mBridge, as an alternative to the U.S. dollar-denominated SWIFT system in order to work around U.S. sanctions, other nations are now looking to find greater stability in a new international economic order that is “not subject to U.S. veto, obstruction and control” in the face of Trump’s unpredictable and destabilizing actions in the realm of international trade. According to Hudson, “their efforts are now catalyzing a global fracture that has been long in the making, but which only today has the critical mass that countries have needed to achieve independence from U.S. control.” Another advantage to China’s digital platforms is that they enable cross-border payment clearing in as little as 30 minutes at a fraction of the cost compared to the nearly 80-year-old SWIFT system. This shift, Hudson explains, poses an “existential challenge” to U.S. affluence and underpins the motivation behind the Trump Administration’s military adventures, first to take over Venezuela (which was also subject to U.S. sanctions and thus an active participant in China’s alternative system), and then in its actions against Iran.
As of 2024, China had signed bilateral currency swap agreements with over 40 nations, although the majority had not yet drawn upon such agreements while the U.S. dollar remained a steady safe haven for capital investment. The current volatility in the U.S. market, however, has now driven even U.S.-allied nations towards greater integration with China’s RMB-denominated currency exchange. On August 10, Deutsche Bank became the first foreign bank in Europe to be designated an official clearing bank for cross-border RMB transactions for European businesses and financial institutions, giving Europe direct access to China’s capital markets and liquidity infrastructure without being mediated through the U.S. dollar. The ECB, still stinging from Bessent’s unprecedented move to dump Euros without notifying the central bank, has nevertheless been quietly repatriating its capital reserves away from U.S. Treasuries to gold and Euro-denominated assets, and is launching its own backstop liquidity system in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Also this week, Canada and China announced their intentions to strengthen trade ties, particularly in the fields of clean energy and EV markets. Canada is allowing imports of China’s BYD electric vehicles, and China is considering opening BYD factories in Canada, much to the dismay of the U.S. auto industry, which has been heavily dependent on exports to Canada and has seen Canadian purchases of U.S. vehicles drop by as much as 22%. This may have motivated Trump’s latest outburst against Canada, when he threatened a 50% tariff on Canadian goods before backing off this week just hours before the tariff was to be implemented. And two weeks ago, Argentina – whose right-wing government is closely allied with the Trump Administration – also renewed its RMB-denominated currency swap line with China, locking in yuan reserves estimated at US$18 billion until 2031, much to the dismay of the U.S. Treasury.
Despite Bessent’s intervention, which may inject some ebb and flow dynamics into U.S. markets until the midterm elections, retail and institutional investors remain skeptical of the U.S. bond market’s ability to stabilize beyond the short term. U.S. housing markets are already collapsing under the pressure of high mortgage rates, and high costs of borrowing will only depress the struggling U.S. labor market more as businesses and consumers are unable to borrow what they need to stimulate growth. Hudson sees an epochal economic depression looming unless, as he says, a new international financial order is able to “make rules and arrangements to prevent debt dependency and impoverishment” as an alternative to the financial austerity policies generally imposed by the IMF- and U.S.-dominated financial order in times of crisis.
Tracking the Money: Trump family crypto scheme is given conditional bank status by Trump-appointed regulators. In what critics describe as the Trump Administration’s latest “brazen act of self-dealing,” Trump appointee Jonathan Gould, head of the United States’ Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), granted the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business, World Liberty Trust Co. (WLTC), conditional approval for its application to become a federally chartered bank. The status would allow WLTC to operate as a national trust bank, which differs from a commercial bank in that it does not take direct deposits, but would have the ability to issue and redeem dollar-denominated stablecoins (USD1) for actual U.S. dollars. WLTC would profit from interest on the reserve assets needed to back the stablecoins while the digital currency remains in circulation, creating “incentives” to draw more U.S. companies and investors to use the cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange.
The move has stunned lawmakers and financial watchdogs, leading Sen. Elizabeth Warren to comment: “President Trump is now the first president in history to approve, operate, and supervise his own bank. This is the most brazen act of self-dealing our financial system has ever seen – and Congress cannot allow it to stand.” Last year, Congress passed the GENIUS Act, a regulatory framework for stablecoins and other digital assets which made this latest move by World Liberty Trust possible. Warren and nine other Senate Democrats, in reaction to the move, introduced the Ending Presidential Corruption in Banking Act this week in a bid to block its final approval, and ban companies with potential conflict-of-interest ties to federal officials to receive such approvals in the future.
In terms of its status as a digital asset, World Liberty’s stablecoin has actually been rather unstable since its debut in 2025, its value falling precipitously several times as volatility has rocked crypto markets. However, analysts talking to The Guardian note that its new bank status gives a motivation for investors to buy and hold the coin “if they want to appease Trump, because they want to gain favor with Trump or in some way help Trump for whatever reason.” Politico notes that “the decision stands to give new powers and federal credibility to a venture in which Trump and his family retain a substantial financial interest. It’s also among the most direct official actions that the administration has taken involving the president’s private finances.”
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Democratic socialist insurgency continues as DSA member Angie Nixon wins Florida senate primary. Florida State Rep. and DSA member Angie Nixon, 42, has become the latest in a line of progressive victors in the midterm elections, as she overcame a heavily-funded, party establishment-favored opponent to clinch the Florida Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in a 12-point lead. Nixon’s opponent, retired Lt. Col. Alex Vindman, is best known for his role as a key witness in Trump’s first impeachment trial, and raised $16.3 million in campaign funds compared to Nixon’s $975,000. Nixon, a former community organizer, ran a heavily grassroots campaign, saying she sometimes slept on the couches of friends and family members as she traveled around the state knocking on doors to advocate for her affordability-focused platform, incorporating such policies as Medicare for all, a $25 federal minimum wage, free childcare and a national rent freeze. During her tenure in the Florida statehouse, she made headlines for introducing a Gaza ceasefire measure in 2023, and she is currently facing two misdemeanor charges for a sit-in protest she led against GOP-led redistricting in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s office earlier this year.
As has been the case for other progressive wins this election season, Nixon’s victory came as a shock to many, as prediction market Kalshi had her chances of winning at less than 10% heading into election night. Mirroring William Lawrence’s House primary win in Michigan, Nixon seems to have also been somewhat underestimated by her opponent, as Vindman declined to debate her in the leadup to election night. The response to Nixon’s win follows a pattern as well: her victory was met with immediate concerns about broader “electability,” with moderate analysts claiming she will have to abandon her DSA affiliation and more progressive platform elements to stand a chance against Republican incumbent Ashley Moody (who was notably appointed, rather than elected, to the role by DeSantis after Marco Rubio resigned to become U.S. Secretary of State). These claims aren’t echoed universally, however, nor are they clearly reflected in polling. The Hill notes that many of Nixon’s platform points, including universal healthcare, free childcare, and a federal minimum wage increase, are all policies that poll quite strongly amongst Democratic voters and retain a net positive disposition from the broader public. Vindman himself responded to the loss with an endorsement of Nixon at his campaign watch party, saying, “She put in the hard work. She loves this state as much as I do.”
Media fights back: Trump’s FCC hit with lawsuits over suppression of press freedom; USA Today union journalists protest Palantir partnership. Disney’s ABC filed a first amendment lawsuit against the FCC this week, arguing that FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s early review of ABC’s broadcast licenses constitutes retaliation against the company related to the Trump administration’s high-profile conflicts with The View and Jimmy Kimmel. The suit opens with the line, “Government censorship is deeply un-American,” and directly quotes a recent Supreme Court decision regarding the NRA which stated that the government may not “use the power of the State to punish or suppress disfavored expression,” going on to argue that the FCC’s action does just that. Carr shot back at the company in interviews this week, telling NPR in an interview that Disney is being “jumpy,” and implying that the suit comes from a fear of what reviews may uncover; he argued that the license review is intended to ensure broadcasters operate in the public interest and adhere to the President’s policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion. On Disney’s side, CEO Josh D’Amaro has doubled down on the company’s position in interviews, telling CNBC, “We’re very principled on this. We’re going to stand up to what we believe is journalistic and integrity, and we’re not going to be told how to run that side of our business.”
In other media news, thirty-one USA Today Co. associated unions, representing around 800 workers, are calling for the company to cut ties with technology and defense company Palantir, shortly after USA Today Co., the largest newspaper chain in the country, announced a partnership between the two companies earlier this month during the company’s Q2 earnings call. In a statement released by The NewsGuild - Communication Workers of America (TNG-CWA), unionists highlight Palantir’s AI surveillance tools and role in ICE crackdowns, saying that the partnership constitutes an “inherent conflict of interest” due to Palantir’s role as “a major player in the news we cover,” and arguing that the contract “fails the journalists who have been assaulted and falsely arrested while covering immigration enforcement actions and protests.” A number of USA Today employees also engaged in walkouts this week protesting the company’s broader use of AI tools in the newsroom, using “No Slop in Our Shop” as a rallying cry in posts on social media.
Border wall construction halted in Big Bend National Park as environmental groups push for permanent ban. Construction of a controversial section of border wall spanning portions of Texas’s iconic Big Bend National Park has been paused this week after massive bipartisan backlash from area residents, advocacy and environmental groups, and local officials. The park holds significant ecological importance as a dark sky sanctuary and protected wildlife corridor along the Rio Grande, as well as functioning as a part of the area’s flood protection infrastructure as noted in the Presidio Municipal Development District’s lawsuit aiming to halt construction. Big Bend is also a major driver of the local economy, as it saw 561,000 visitors and brought in an estimated $51.6 million to the area through tourism in 2024, and the stretch of the Rio Grande it covers also serves as a crucial drinking water source for livestock raised in the region. Many critics have also decried the wall as unnecessary due to the area’s ruggedness and isolation; this claim is backed by CBP’s own data, which indicates that the Big Bend sector sees the fewest migrant apprehensions of any section of the U.S. southern border. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott announced the construction pause in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter) earlier, stating that the pause would extend until he could “get down there and do a personal evaluation, talk to some stakeholders, talk to some local law enforcement in that area.”
The viral anti-Flock camera trend consolidates as the ‘De-Flock America’ movement plans for collective action. A viral social media campaign of unclear origin is calling for a “De-Flock America” night on Halloween this year, as ALPRs and other forms of AI-enhanced surveillance become ever more unpopular across political lines nationwide. Posts promoting the campaign have spread across X, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook, inviting the public to use the relative anonymity of costumes to blend in with Halloween crowds and block or damage Flock cameras in their communities as part of a decentralized and autonomous collective action. The campaign comes across a backdrop of already-present mass action against the cameras, with scores of incidents of vandalism and obstruction of cameras making headlines in recent months, dozens of cities dropping or canceling contracts, and some police departments following the LAPD’s lead in distancing themselves from Flock amidst backlash around police misuse of Flock databases and several high-profile “false positive” incidents. This week also marks DeFlock’s “National Week of Action Against ALPRs,” a call for participants to engage with city councils, town halls, and other events to urge local governments to end ALPR contracts, with the advocacy group’s website advertising 482 participating cities nationwide.
Air Force Major re-arrested for Trump protest. Active duty U.S. Air Force Major Jason Watson is now under pre-trial detention following an arrest for protesting in uniform against the Trump administration and calling for the President’s impeachment. Watson first gained national attention on July 1st of this year, when he was arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol Building for “crowding, obstructing, or incommoding” after he continued to protest on the Capitol steps against repeated warnings from U.S. Capitol Police. After the initial arrest, Watson was placed under a gag order pending trial; his pre-trial detention came a day after he defied the order by giving an interview to CNN in which he again criticized the President and repeated his calls for impeachment. Although the Air Force has stated that Watson has yet to be formally charged with anything, the case highlights the restrictions placed on service members against publicly criticizing elected leaders, as Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states that any commissioned officer who uses “contemptuous words” against the President, Congress, and other named officials may be subject to court martial, and Defense Department rules restrict troops in uniform from participating in partisan political activity. Military.com notes that Article 88 is rarely used, and the last conviction on its grounds came in 1965 when Lt. Henry Howe was court-martialed for carrying a sign critical of President Lyndon B. Johnson while participating in an off-post peace rally in civilian clothes.
