Free Speech
Week of September 12-18, 2025
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, 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. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Trump Administration and MAGA honor Charlie Kirk’s ‘free speech’ legacy with sweeping crackdown on critical speech and liberal, left institutions. The Trump Administration and MAGA wasted no time in responding to the assassination of Charlie Kirk at the hands of 22-year old Tyler Robinson, who appeared in court for the first time on Tuesday, September 16 as he faced aggravated capital murder charges. Many questions, amid a flood of conspiracy theories and disinformation, still abound as to his true motivation for the killing. According to court documents filed this week, Robinson had planned the murder a week in advance and had apparently confessed to the murder in text exchanges with his roommate, with whom prosecutors claimed he had a romantic relationship, as well as to some gaming friends in a Discord chat. Robinson had been confronted by his parents, who recognized him from FBI photos, and confessed to a pastor who turned him in to the police. While prosecutors have not found any links tying Robinson to any group or ideology, the Trump Administration, MAGA pundits and global far-right movements (along with a handful of centrists) have lionized Kirk as a crusader for free speech and conservative values who was ‘martyred’ by the so-called ‘terrorist Left’, vowing retaliation against anyone who publicly criticizes his polarizing actions and legacy. A mass doxxing campaign started shortly after the shooting, which claims to have received more than 60,000 reports of critical comments about Kirk on social media, has gotten dozens of people fired from their jobs, including professors, students and workers at several colleges, firefighters, and journalists such as Karen Attiah, the Washington Post’s last remaining Black opinion columnist, and MSNBC’s Matthew Dowd, who said a ‘right wing media mob’ targeted him after making critical comments. On Monday, September 15, JD Vance took over as guest host of Kirk’s podcast and vowed retribution against ‘liberal NGOs’, claiming that the Left was responsible for most political violence as a ‘statistical fact’ even though every study of politically motivated violence in the United States over the last few decades has shown that the vast majority of violent acts are committed by right-wing extremists.
The seemingly coordinated effort to censure Kirk critics has quickly taken an authoritarian turn as the Trump Administration and its allies have seized the opportunity to persecute political opponents and criminalize dissent in what some are calling a new McCarthyism. White House adviser Stephen Miller laid out the Trump Administration’s plans to “use every resource” of the federal government to “identify, disrupt, dismantle, and destroy” left-wing and liberal institutions. This week, as the Justice Department removed its own study documenting the growing threat of right-wing extremist terrorism in the United States, Attorney General Pam Bondi declared she would target ‘protestors’ for engaging in ‘hate speech’ and investigate businesses who refused to print posters for Kirk memorials; she was later forced to walk back her statement after sparking a backlash among legal scholars and even MAGA supporters for blatant disregard of the First Amendment. Deputy AG Todd Blanche later clarified that the DOJ sought to investigate ‘organized’ protestors for possible prosecution under the RICO Act, which Trump echoed in comments targeting George Soros, whom he accused of funding resistance to ICE in military-occupied cities after Code Pink protestors heckled him at a Washington, D.C. restaurant last week. The Bulwark posted a video of Trump being questioned about the right to protest, in which Trump is heard saying he’s “not so sure” about the First Amendment.
In an echo of the McCarthy era, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and about a dozen members of the Republican ‘Freedom Caucus’ called for forming a ‘select committee’ to investigate the “money, influence, and power behind the radical left’s assault on America and the rule of law.” Pete Hegseth announced the military would be taking disciplinary action against dozens of active service members who criticized Kirk, and Marco Rubio claimed the State Department has revoked or denied visas to foreign nationals who ‘celebrated’ Kirk’s death; the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee even introduced legislation allowing Rubio to revoke passports of U.S. citizens accused of ‘supporting terrorism’ but backtracked and withdrew the measure a day later. A House resolution to censure Rep. Ilhan Omar for criticism of Kirk was fast-tracked by GOP Rep. Nancy Mace after the two lawmakers sparred on social media, but failed by just one vote after four Republicans crossed the aisle to tank the measure, prompting a rage-filled meltdown from Mace against her fellow party members. On Wednesday, Trump announced he plans to designate ‘Antifa’ as a ‘major terrorist organization’, although experts, including Trump’s former FBI director Christopher Wray, acknowledge that ‘Antifa’ is not a single organization but a broad ideological outlook shared by a range of movements. Nonetheless, progressive nonprofits are bracing for a crackdown amid Trump and Vance’s threats to leverage the IRS against left-leaning groups.ABC pulls Jimmy Kimmel off the air after being pressured by FCC for Kirk criticism, as Trump’s war on media dissent escalates. On Tuesday, September 16, ABC pulled late-night network TV staple Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air indefinitely after Kimmel’s comment about MAGA ‘finger-pointing’ over Charlie Kirk’s assassination in his Monday night monologue prompted FCC chair Brendan Carr to threaten regulatory action against ABC and its parent company Disney. The move sparked outraged reactions from the entertainment industry including fellow late night host Stephen Colbert, whose show was cancelled by CBS in July after he made comments criticizing the Trump Administration’s deal with Paramount. Critics decried Kimmel’s suspension as an escalation of Trump’s war on major media outlets whose coverage he dislikes, and a chilling step down the road to authoritarian censorship and the death of the free press. On Monday, Trump filed a $15 billion defamation suit against the New York Times aimed at three investigative reporters who published a less-than-glowing account of Trump’s rise in the business world. Although legal experts doubt the lawsuit has any merit, and the 85-page complaint was struck down by a federal judge on Friday due to its ‘inexcusably’ long, ‘tedious and burdensome’ content, NYT editors and journalistic watchdogs warned that Trump’s use of lawfare as an intimidation tactic is just the tip of the iceberg of a larger, often closed-door campaign to silence dissent and control the press.
On his Lever podcast, David Sirota points out how Trump’s attacks against Kimmel and Colbert are unfolding in the context of accelerating consolidation of corporate media monopolies as their networks’ parent companies pursue billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions requiring FCC approval (Disney/Nexstar/Sinclair and Paramount/Skydance, respectively). Kimmel’s dismissal appeared to confirm the suspicions of media watchdogs that the Trump Administration is using the FCC’s licensing power as leverage to pressure billionaire owners of major media corporations into purging dissenting voices to secure approval for their business deals; a worrying trend that journalists at CNN are watching as they brace for Paramount/Skydance’s planned takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. FCC chairman Brendan Carr, who once upon a time denounced censorship of late-night comedians, has recently embraced Trump’s ideas regarding social media and big tech and authored a chapter devoted to the FCC for Project 2025. On Thursday, Trump floated a warning to the press by hinting that the FCC could revoke the licenses of broadcasters who aired unfavorable coverage of the Trump Administration, which former president Obama slammed as “precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent.” Many moderate Republicans who once championed free speech rights stopped short of criticizing Carr, while top House Democrats called for Carr’s resignation and Rep. Ro Khanna filed a motion to subpoena Carr over his public threats to ABC over Kimmel; and law professor Aziz Huq publicly encouraged Kimmel to sue the Trump Administration, citing what he called a ‘powerful constitutional claim’ that could act as a legal bulwark in defense of the free press.Hanging death of Delta State University student Trey Reed and shooting at homeless camp in MN raise threats of ‘stochastic violence’ stoked by the militant far right. Amidst the high-profile row around the appropriate level of reverence for Charlie Kirk in the wake of his murder, the body of 21-year-old student Demartravion ‘Trey’ Reed was found hanging from a tree on the Delta State University campus in what many feared and condemned as a ‘lynching’. Authorities in Bolivar County, Mississippi ruled the death a suicide, citing ‘no evidence of foul play’ and sought to dispel social media rumors that Reed’s legs and arms had been broken. Representatives for Reed’s family say that Reed was a “fun and loving spirit” who had only been at the university for a month before the incident, and that the family was seeking ‘more answers’ regarding the circumstances of his death, including claims by campus police that there were multiple ‘videos’ of the incident in their possession that have not been made public. The family has retained famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who said “we cannot accept vague conclusions” from authorities in the case, given that the family had received ‘inconsistent and conflicting’ information from the police in the initial days after Trey’s death. Crump is pushing for authorities to show the alleged videos to the family, while Colin Kaepernick is funding an independent autopsy on the family’s behalf. The NAACP and members of the Congressional Black Caucus are calling for a closer investigation into the incident, especially in the wake of last week’s ‘terroristic’ threats affecting seven HBCU campuses one day after Kirk’s murder.
As some experts, politicians and pundits called for calm and de-escalation of polarizing rhetoric fanning tensions on both sides of the Kirk debate, others worry that aggressive rhetoric and conduct from some groups on the far right is escalating threats of violence against Black Americans and other targeted groups. After a Fox News host this week called for ‘involuntary lethal injections’ for homeless people, saying “just kill ‘em,” a shooting at a homeless encampment in Minneapolis less than two days later injured over a dozen people; the host eventually walked back his statement after days of backlash. Numerous social media videos from Huntington Beach, CA this week showed neo-Nazis marching at a Charlie Kirk vigil shouting “White men, fight back!” and the Charlottesville slogan “unite the Right”; reports say they later assaulted a man at the vigil who called them “un-American.” The Guardian reports that neo-fascist ‘active clubs’ are surging in numbers in the wake of Kirk’s death as militants entice new recruits with promises of vengeance and racist camaraderie. Trump has repeatedly downplayed far-right extremist violence while continuing to put blame on the left, which extremism experts warn could embolden and enable more violence from racist and far-right extremists, further fueled by the polarizing ‘blame game’ over Kirk.Kirk’s death reignites ‘campus speech wars’ incited by TPUSA’s Professor Watchlist, as targeted faculty recall experiences and face new threats amid the Trump Administration’s drive to rewrite U.S. history and curriculum. The Chronicle of Higher Education this week declared that a ‘new chapter in the campus speech wars’ has begun in the wake of Kirk’s death, as numerous college professors, students and campus workers face censure and termination for critical remarks after his assassination last week in a renewed wave of censorship on campuses. The Guardian recalls how Kirk and TPUSA “turned campuses into battlefields” in the culture wars, setting the scene for the Trump Administration’s second-term assaults on higher education institutions. Key to Kirk’s arsenal was the Professor Watchlist, which ‘doxxed’ hundreds of ‘radical’ and ‘leftist’ college professors over the last decade, exposing many of them to a flood of harassment, stalking, rape and death threats that forced some to retain security guards or write under pseudonyms as their lives became a ‘living hell’ that impacted their family life and workplace safety, forcing some to leave academia entirely. Some on the list report experiencing an intensified wave of threats after Kirk’s assassination. The chairman of Michigan State’s Faculty Senate sent an email to fellow faculty that denounced the killing while acknowledging that Kirk’s “demagoguery endangered a great many people.” While some media commentators see the Trump Administration’s new crackdown on left and liberal institutions as a bitter irony given Kirk’s emphasis on free speech, many of the targeted faculty see it as an extension of the environment of censorship and persecution they had already experienced. On Wednesday, September 17, UC Berkeley handed the Trump Administration a list of 160 names of students and faculty as part of the government’s ‘antisemitism’ investigation into campus activists, a list which included Jewish professor Judith Butler, who publicly shared her response to the university as a warning that the allegations are being used as a ‘cudgel’ to “suppress speech and threaten people.”
As higher education reckons with the fallout of these controversies, a coalition of conservative and far-right groups, including Turning Point USA and PragerU, has quietly begun working with Education Secretary Linda McMahon to “promote patriotic education” in the nation’s K-12 schools. Earlier this week, the Trump Administration redirected $137 million previously allocated for minority students to a new initiative, led by McMahon’s former nonprofit America First Policy Institute, that prioritizes grant funding for schools that implement a ‘patriotic education’ civics curriculum written by the coalition. While few specifics about the initiative are known, many educators fear it will promote a ‘whitewashed’ version of history based on white nationalist narratives that have been pushed by groups in the coalition. Observers point out that the federal government is prohibited by law from engaging in "any direction, supervision, or control over the curriculum" in schools. This week, the Trump Administration stepped up its purge of ‘woke’ history at the Smithsonian, which a White House official criticized for its ‘overemphasis on slavery’, and is pressuring public museums across the country to remove content deemed ‘disparaging’ to the nation. He also ordered the National Park Service to take down content relating to slavery and Native Tribes, including an iconic Civil War-era photograph of an enslaved man with scars on his back housed at a National Park site in Georgia, and to remove books about slavery from NPS exhibits and gift shops.U.S. destroys two more alleged Venezuelan ‘drug boats’, escalating military tensions as fears grow of a new war for regime change. On Monday, September 15, the Trump Administration disclosed that the military conducted a second strike on an alleged drug boat near the coast of Venezuela, killing three people. The Pentagon barred senior House staffers from a briefing on the strike, as Congressional Democrats continue to pressure the Trump Administration to show evidence to address unanswered questions and back up its claims legitimizing last week’s boat strike that killed 11. On Tuesday, Trump told reporters that a previously undisclosed third boat had also been “knocked off” by military forces; both the White House and Pentagon declined to disclose any further details as Trump issued a warning to Venezuelan president Maduro to “stop sending” drug gangs and prisoners to the United States. Trump also signaled on Tuesday that the military was preparing to take military action against Latin American cartels moving drugs over land, warning narcotraffickers that “we will track them, kill them, and dismantle their networks throughout our hemisphere – at the times and places of our choosing.” Venezuelan president Maduro condemned the strikes as a ‘heinous crime’ against civilians, saying Trump is trying to provoke a ‘major war’ in the Caribbean whose ultimate aim is “regime change for oil.” Maduro announced on Wednesday that a special ‘naval militia’ has begun military exercises in the Caribbean, as he called Marco Rubio the “Lord of Death” and reiterated that Caracas would “fully” exercise its right to defend itself. The Wall Street Journal reports Pentagon lawyers and other DOD officials are raising concerns about the dubious legality of the strikes and its implications for U.S. military personnel in the region, but feel like they are being sidelined or deliberately ignored by senior decision-makers. On Wednesday, JD Vance bragged about the success of the strikes and joked that “I wouldn’t go fishing in that part of the world right now”, drawing a sharp rebuke from GOP Sen. Rand Paul for the “despicable” and “thoughtless” remarks. As speculations abound that Trump is preparing for a new war in Latin America, a former Pentagon official warned that Trump has “not thought through” the full implications of a hot conflict on the continent that he fears America is “wholly unprepared to confront.” Senate Democrats introduced a joint resolution on Friday seeking to limit Trump’s war powers and stop the U.S. from engaging in military actions that Congress has not approved.
Trump deploys National Guard to Memphis, threatens Boston as ICE agents kill man in Chicago suburbs. On Monday, September 15, Trump signed an executive order authorizing the use of National Guard forces to crack down on crime in Memphis, saying the intervention was requested by Tennessee Republican governor Bill Lee. Trump also reiterated his intent to send military forces into Chicago, after having backed away from previous such threats in the face of opposition from city and state leaders. As Memphis residents braced for the military occupation, mayor Paul Young told CNN he was ‘not happy’ about the plan and was looking for ways to reduce crime in the city. On Tuesday, a group of civil rights advocates, elected Democrats and ACLU leaders condemned the decision as a “cruel intimidation tactic,” urging state and local leaders to stay strong and protect their residents. State representative Justin Pearson denounced the intervention as “nothing more than a power play for more authoritarianism” from the Trump Administration, accusing them of using the “myth of Black criminality” to take over Black-led cities. Trump also threatened to take back federal control of D.C. law enforcement this week after mayor Muriel Bowser slammed GOP lawmakers for a “disgraceful” House hearing that continued to paint D.C. as a ‘dystopian hellhole’, renewing calls for D.C. statehood. House Republicans passed four bills this week setting policies for D.C. law enforcement that further eroded home rule for the city, including rolling back police chase restrictions, eliminating the city’s ability to select local judges and allowing children as young as 14 to be tried as adults. ICE agents in Chicago shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, an immigrant day laborer and father of two, after agents claimed he tried to flee a traffic stop and dragged an officer with his car. Gonzalez’s family called for more answers and for ‘justice to be done’ as activists, friends and neighbors gathered at the spot where Gonzalez was killed. ICE agents were not wearing body cameras at the time of the incident. A lawyer for the family said Gonzalez had no criminal background outside of minor traffic violations, and was a “hardworking, respectful” man willing to comply with the law and anything the courts required.
Fired CDC director Susan Monarez testifies before Congress as RFK Jr.’s hand-picked vaccine panel restricts vaccine access for children. Susan Monarez, the Senate-confirmed CDC director fired by HHS Secretary RFK Jr. less than a month into her appointment, testified before the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday, September 17 along with former CDC Medical Chief Debra Houry, who resigned in protest after Monarez’s firing. The two former health officials described the “extraordinary turmoil” within the CDC and the nation’s health agencies, including how RFK Jr. and his team repeatedly rebuffed scientific data on vaccine efficacy. Monarez says he pressured her to ‘rubber-stamp’ his new policies, demanding that she ‘commit in advance’ to support every recommendation from a vaccine panel that he had recently purged and replaced with vaccine skeptics. He also allegedly barred Monarez from talking to lawmakers about what was going on inside the agency, directing her to route her concerns through political appointees instead. She also warned lawmakers that the U.S. public health system is “headed to a very dangerous place” with RFK Jr. in charge, and believes his vaccine policies will accelerate the return of preventable diseases that will “have our children harmed by things they don’t need to be harmed by.” Houry told senators she resigned because after a decade as the agency’s chief medical officer, her role under RFK Jr. had been “reduced to a rubber stamp” as Kennedy “censored CDC science, politicized its processes and stripped leaders of independence,” and that she was testifying to give “real examples of the damage the CDC is experiencing,” saying RFK Jr. spread misinformation about vaccines and pressured staff to “insert unproven treatments into CDC guidance.” Earlier in the week, HHS lawyers leaked information to Reuters regarding their concern that RFK Jr.’s new appointee, vaccine skeptic Retsef Levi, had been given sweeping new powers to appoint panel members, set work priorities and issue guidance for COVID-19 vaccines. The New York Times has published the CDC’s new org chart of vaccine policymakers, along with profiles of the new appointees highlighting their problematic views. RFK Jr.’s new hand-picked Advisory Panel on Immunization Practices met for the first time this week, and voted to rescind the recommendation that children under 4 receive the ‘combined’ mumps, measles, rubella and varicella (MMRV) vaccine. Experts and healthcare providers called the resulting schedule ‘confusing,’ and others reported that panel members had objected to the presence of experienced physicians in the room. Separately this week, dozens of scientists and health researchers published an analysis with data projections outlining the implications of the CDC’s new COVID-19 restrictions, showing how a universal recommendation will save thousands more lives; and urged adults and healthy seniors to get booster shots as soon as possible before the new restrictions limit access to the vaccine.
Tracking the Money: Trump, UAE crypto deal called ‘biggest bribery scandal since Teapot Dome’. A special investigative report published by the New York Times this week unearthed previously unreported connections between the Trump family, Trump Administration Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and the ruling family of the United Arab Emirates, highlighting the blurred lines between personal, diplomatic and business relationships surrounding two back-to-back, multi-billion-dollar deals that enriched the personal fortunes of all involved. The first of the deals involved Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, chair of UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, who deposited $2 billion into World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency startup founded by the Witkoff and Trump families. Two weeks later, the White House announced that it would allow the UAE unlimited access to purchase sensitive advanced AI chips whose sale to foreign buyers had been highly restricted due to national security concerns. Many of the chips were destined for G42, a company owned by Sheikh Tahnoon. Negotiations around the export deal brought in another key White House official, Trump’s crypto czar David Sacks, who was given broad powers to shape tech policy even as he continued to work for private Silicon Valley companies. The NYT report revealed new details about how the deals were made that raised concerns even among officials within the Trump Administration regarding national security as well as the numerous conflict-of-interest entanglements between the parties; not to mention the large self-enrichment payoffs for both the UAE and the Trump family, who pocketed over $3 billion in profits from crypto deals over Trump’s first six months in office. Experts said if true, the deal would represent the “largest public corruption scandal in the history of the United States” by far; Senator Elizabeth Warren remarked that “to call this corruption does not do justice to the scale of harm that these deals have done to our national security,” while others called it the “biggest bribery scandal since Teapot Dome,” putting the Trump Administration in an “absolutely impeachable” position. Robert Reich puts the scandal in perspective of Trump’s larger crypto agenda that has now exposed millions of American workers’ pension funds and U.S. Treasury securities to the highly volatile dynamics of crypto market speculation, which puts the entire global economy at risk in the event of a cryptocurrency ‘flash crash’.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Hollywood fights back against free speech crackdown after Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air. As Jimmy Kimmel left his studio for the last time following his suspension by ABC over critical Charlie Kirk comments, a group of protestors gathered to cheer Kimmel on and voice their outrage over the Trump Administration’s attacks on free speech. Other late night comics, such as Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart, gave shout-outs of solidarity to Kimmel as they continued making Trump jokes and addressed threats to free speech but steered clear of mentioning Kirk. Jon Stewart performed his whole Thursday night show as a Jonathan Swift-style satire, debuting a new “government-approved” format complete with a gold-trimmed set and admonishing his audience to “shut the f**k up” during times their laughter might expose uncomfortable truths. Two big Hollywood unions, SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America, issued statements in defense of Kimmel, his writers, and First Amendment rights for all artists in the industry as Illinois governor JB Pritzker called for protests against ABC and Disney on MSNBC. The Writers Guild called for an emergency protest on Thursday at the Disney studios in Burbank, California; about 200 union members turned out on short notice and lined the sidewalks with protest signs as cars honked in solidarity. Demonstrators told reporters that the protest was about “more than just one comedian” as they voiced worries about a broader crackdown on free expression in the entertainment industry. The 50501 Movement is calling for a broad campaign against ABC, Disney, Nextar and Sinclair with several options for action, including boycotting ABC and Disney shows, brands and streaming services, a letter-writing campaign and a call for pickets outside local ABC affiliates nationwide. The Washington Post’s employee union also issued a statement in support of fired columnist Karen Attiah, saying that her firing betrayed the newspaper’s mission.
UN Commission and Sen. Bernie Sanders call Israel’s assault on Gaza ‘genocide’ for the first time as Senate Dems call for Palestinian statehood and Sumud Flotilla sails toward Gaza with international support. After a landmark UN Commission of Inquiry report released on Monday, September 15 found that Israel had committed at least four ‘acts of genocide’ against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday became the first U.S. Senator to publicly call Israeli actions in Gaza a ‘genocide’, releasing a statement on his webpage outlining the facts and saying “the conclusion is inescapable: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.” For years, activists have decried Sanders’ avoidance of the term; Sanders now joins a select group of about a dozen House members, including Squad members and lone MAGA detractor Marjorie Taylor Greene, who have also used the term ‘genocide’ to denounce Israeli government actions. Sen. Jeff Merkley and Rep. Ro Khanna announced plans to introduce a first-ever resolution in Congress to recognize Palestinian statehood; while the measures are expected to fail, it reflects a growing shift among U.S. lawmakers as well as overwhelming opposition to the genocide amongst the mainstream Democratic Party rank and file that is increasing pressure on Congress to halt U.S. military aid to Israel.
Sixteen nations threw their weight behind the 50-vessel Global Sumud Flotilla that is now sailing towards Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli aid blockade. After mysterious attacks hit two vessels harbored in Tunis, the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, and Türkiye issued a joint statement calling on Israel to “refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla,” warning that “any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability.” Most of the 16 nations are also supporting South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. U.S. veterans sailing with the Flotilla released a report and a statement calling for “all hands on deck” as “humanity is literally at stake, in Gaza/Palestine as well as in the States.” Actors Hannah Einbinder and a keffiyeh-clad Javier Bardem expressed solidarity for Palestine during their acceptance speeches at the Emmy Awards, as other stars in attendance sported the distinctive red pins of the Artists4Ceasefire movement.
Ghost of Epstein haunts Trump’s UK visit as thousands fill London streets in protest. Trump’s second state visit to the United Kingdom was quite literally overshadowed by the specter of Jeffrey Epstein as a wide range of diverse protests and thousands of protestors expressed disdain for Trump and the “special relationship” between the United States and United Kingdom officially touted by Trump, Keir Starmer, and King Charles III, and called on their government to “show some backbone.” Epstein and Gaza figured as prominent themes in mass protests organized by the Stop Trump Coalition that brought thousands of people into the streets of London as well as other protest actions, such as the massive projections of photos showing Epstein with Trump and Prince Andrew that adorned Windsor Castle on Tuesday night. Four members of the political group Led by Donkeys were arrested for the ‘stunt’, which the group called a “ridiculous” and “Orwellian” reaction to the protest action. Another protest group, calling themselves Everyone Hates Elon, attempted to put the ghost of Epstein in Trump’s face on Wednesday as they drove through Windsor in a giant advertising truck with a billboard depicting the Trump/Epstein photo; police arrested two of the campaigners as well as two journalists covering the action and confiscated the truck. Hundreds of students also staged walkouts throughout the country in protest of Trump’s state visit, and climate groups took aim at the AI deals being forged between the two countries. While Trump did not visit Parliament, the mass protests in London brought together a diverse range of social movements in a joint demonstration that not only aimed to “defeat the politics of Trumpism” but also to promote "an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation". Social media was delighted when a BBC News reporter getting quotes from protestors happened to interview classic Doctor Who star Sylvester McCoy without being aware of who he was. Protest actions culminated in a massive “Together for Palestine” concert at Wembley Arena staged to raise money for Gaza relief, featuring podcaster Mehdi Hasan who spoke in support of journalists under fire in Gaza as well as protest singer Billy Bragg, who said he came to the event because “Donald Trump is a man who acts with impunity and that's really dangerous. I'm here to protest against that, because liberty without equality is privilege… That's what Trump represents, and that's what I'm here to protest against."
Upcoming Protests and Events.
Saturday, September 20: 350.org, the Women’s March, and over 100 endorsing organizations are organizing a national Day of Action to Make Billionaires Pay, to coincide with the U.N. General Assembly meeting and Climate Action Week in New York City. More information on local actions can be found at MakeBillionairesPay.US.
Saturday, September 20: Entertainment industry activists are calling for a demonstration to protest Jimmy Kimmel’s firing and protect free speech at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California starting at 12pm. More information can be found on Bluesky.
Thursday, September 25: The Democracy Collaborative, the People’s Network for Land and Liberation, Glór na Móna, and Trademark Belfast will present a transatlantic webinar from 10:00am-12:00pm Eastern Time titled “Trump, I Do Mind Dying: Lessons for U.S. Cities from the Military Occupation of the North of Ireland,” which brings together activists from U.S. cities and veterans of the Irish Republican and civil rights movements for a discussion of strategies to respond to Trump’s troops on U.S. streets and lessons from the military occupation of communities in the North of Ireland – an exercise in knowledge-sharing and international solidarity. To register, visit the Democracy Collaborative’s event page.
Thursday, September 25: The Chronicle of Higher Education will present the first of its monthly Fall Webinar Series on “Trump and Higher Ed: Understanding the Latest” as Chronicle journalists unpack the latest developments out of Washington and analyze the Trump Administration’s evolving impact on higher education. More information and an RSVP link can be found on their website.
Saturday, October 18: The No Kings Coalition has set the date for its next nationwide No Kings Protest and Day of Action on October 18, and are encouraging those interested to sign up for updates on actions in their local area, or to support the growing effort to bring millions of people into the streets.
Lawsuit Updates.
A federal judge ruled on Friday, September 12 that the Trump Administration acted illegally when it directed the mass firing of thousands of probationary workers as part of DOGE’s effort to downsize the federal workforce. While the judge did not order their employment to be restored, he directed agencies to send letters to probationary workers affirming that they were not terminated for cause, which restores workers’ eligibility for unemployment and other benefits.
A Los Angeles protester was acquitted of assault charges against a federal agent during widespread protests in June, even after a Border Patrol agent testified to witnessing the assault. Defense lawyers questioned the agent, USBP Section Chief Gregory Bovino, who led a phalanx of National Guard troops into MacArthur Park in June, about previous comments he made referring to undocumented immigrants as “scum”; a jury came back with an acquittal just over an hour later. The decision racks up another win for protestors in a pattern of decisions plaguing U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who has struggled to obtain federal indictments against protestors who have disrupted ICE operations.
