Power Grab
Week of August 22-28, 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 targets Chicago, Baltimore as next cities for military occupation as new executive orders reveal next steps in domestic crackdown. Last Friday, August 22, Trump announced the Pentagon has drawn up plans to expand his military occupation of Washington D.C. to other cities, singling out Chicago and Baltimore as his next targets. As ICE coordinated with the military to use a Chicago-area Navy base to host and stage a ‘strike team’ of federal agents for its Chicago incursion, state and local leaders strongly denounced the plan with statements from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth and Governor J.B. Pritzker. Pritzker denounced Trump’s ‘authoritarian creep’ in a speech over the weekend, saying federal agents are “neither wanted or needed here”; Trump lashed out at Pritzker’s remarks, saying he has the “right to do anything I want to do” at a Cabinet meeting later in the week. As billboard trucks circled Chicago’s Trump Tower with messages saying “Don’t Come to Chicago,” Pritzker doubled down, threatening to prosecute military and federal agents who commit crimes against “his people,” promising a high-stakes confrontation experts warn could escalate into a national crisis as other city mayors vowed their defiance in public statements. Like in D.C., local statistics show Chicago’s crime rates dropped significantly over the first half of 2025. As National Guard troops from 19 states mobilize to aid Trump’s immigration and crime crackdowns in major cities, critics denounced the Administration’s manipulation of crime data as a “manufactured crisis” to advance Trump’s ‘authoritarian power grab’ in the name of ‘law and order’. On Monday, August 25, Trump signed an executive order directing the DOD to create a standing National Guard unit that would be deployed as a ‘quick reaction force’ to ‘quell public disturbances’ anywhere in the United States. The order also established an ‘online portal’ to recruit U.S. citizens ‘with relevant background and experience’ to join these units and be federally deputized ‘to enforce federal law’, sparking alarmed reactions from observers who warned Trump was building a ‘paramilitary force’ that would permit “random fascist vigilantes” to quash domestic dissent. Civil Rights Corp executive director Alex Karakatsanis called the order “one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen in U.S. politics,” and retired U.S. Army Major General Randy Manner noted that while the orders are technically legal, it reminded him of “what happened in Germany in the 1930s.”
D.C. families on edge amid expanded military presence, draconian prosecutions as Trump touts policies, plans for a new ‘comprehensive crime bill’. Back-to-school week in Washington D.C. felt remarkably different to local residents as city officials, community organizers and parents navigate keeping their families safe amidst a “climate of fear” in the occupied city. Black parents are renewing hard conversations with their children around police violence and racial profiling, while immigrant families are living in fear after ICE agents raided a bilingual daycare facility on Tuesday morning. The National Guard announced this weekend that troops in D.C. are now carrying weapons as Republican lawmakers introduced a bill to extend Trump’s control over D.C. law enforcement beyond the statutory 30-day limit under the Home Rule Act, a move that could cost taxpayers billions as the federal government shells out an estimated $1 million per day for troops to carry out routine city tasks such as landscaping and trash pickup in addition to accompanying ICE. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced on Wednesday, August 27 that the federal government will be assuming management of D.C.’s Union Station, pledging to ensure the transit hub “isn’t dirty” and eradicate “homelessness” on the premises. Local courts are buckling from the ‘deluge’ in new caseloads as D.C. prosecutors throw the book at people arrested under the occupation per Jeanine Pirro’s direction, slapping federal felony charges on what would otherwise have been low-level offenses as judges are ‘flabbergasted’ by the spree of ‘spurious’ charges and reported law enforcement abuses circulating through their courtrooms. Trump announced on Tuesday that he would seek the death penalty for all D.C. murder cases as a “very strong preventative” measure, which legal experts say will be difficult to get past local juries and the municipal code, which abolished capital punishment in 1981. Despite the show of force, observers note that Trump’s draconian policies have done little to actually stop crime in the city or punish ‘offenders’; D.C. prosecutors this week failed to obtain an indictment against Sean Dunn, who was charged with felony assault for throwing a sandwich at ICE officers two weeks ago, echoing the difficulties of federal prosecutors in Los Angeles to indict protestors. On Monday, Trump signed two new executive orders to advance his crime policy agenda in D.C.; one outlawed flag burning, which the Supreme Court ruled was a protected activity under the First Amendment in 1989, and the other ending cashless bail, claiming the practice encourages criminals even though nationwide studies have shown that it does very little to influence crime rates and only serves to exacerbate inequality. Despite the contradictory realities of his newest attempts at crime policy, Trump announced on Wednesday that he was working with Republicans on a ‘comprehensive crime bill’, a plan with few details that took many ‘puzzled’ GOP lawmakers by surprise. Washington insiders claim the push for a new crime bill is a political trap to exploit Democrats’ weaknesses on law-and-order issues ahead of midterm elections.
CDC in chaos as Trump fires director and leaders resign over vaccine policy as COVID-19 cases surge and FDA restricts access to booster shots. Amid a new nationwide surge in COVID-19 cases and COVID-related hospitalizations, the Trump Administration precipitated a crisis at the Centers for Disease Control on Wednesday, August 27 by firing its new CDC director, Susan Monarez, less than a month after she was sworn into office. The Health and Human Services Department announced the ouster on social media without an explanation for the shakeup; but shortly afterwards, lawyers representing Monarez posted a vigorous statement claiming Monarez was being targeted for refusing to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts,” rebuking the HHS for “weaponizing public health for political gain” and “putting millions of American lives at risk.” The lawyers say Monarez is fighting her dismissal, which they maintain is legally invalid since she is a Senate-confirmed official and only Trump himself can fire her. CDC insiders told the New York Times that earlier in the week, Health Secretary RFK Jr. had called Monarez into his office to deliver ‘an ultimatum’ pressuring her to fire key agency leaders and back his advisers on vaccine policy or resign her position; she refused to do either, which a colleague said crossed ‘red lines’ that would have compromised her integrity as a person of science. Three top-ranking CDC leaders resigned in protest after Monarez’s dismissal, publicly condemning RFK Jr. for compromising the agency’s mission and putting lives at risk and warning that without Monarez, a key guardrail against the rise of misinformation and “undue influence and ideology” within the agency had been lost; the three officials also gave personal testimonies on their resignations to the Washington Post. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the agency’s top official on respiratory illness and immunization, published a scathing rebuke of RFK Jr.’s “radical non-transparency” in the service of a political agenda that “will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.” Daskalakis also condemned RFK Jr.’s moves to “erase transgender populations” and “cease… critical HIV programming,” claiming that “eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated”; noting that his own grandfather lost his life standing up to fascist forces in Greece, he said he was resigning “to make him and his legacy proud.”
Monarez’s firing and the high-ranking departures left the CDC leaderless and spiraling into turmoil; one public health expert said “the whole chain of command has been disrupted,” likening it to “getting rid of your generals in the middle of a war.” RFK Jr’s actions have eroded public trust in the agency, which is still reeling after a gunman pumped over 500 bullets into CDC headquarters, killing one. CDC staffers shared their despair that the “last stalwarts” with the power and position to defend science-based public health against RFK Jr’s political agenda have gone; one current official who worked under one of the directors who resigned said “people will die because of this,” while another called RFK Jr’s MAHA agenda “the work of a death cult.” The day Monarez was dismissed, the FDA approved new COVID-19 vaccine guidelines that restrict booster shots to ‘high-risk’ people; adults 65 and older, with younger people only eligible if they have an underlying condition that puts them at risk for severe disease. The American Association of Pediatrics released a statement saying that the new guidelines restricting vaccine access to children is “deeply troubling” and “creates a dangerous vulnerability for children and their families” as the nation enters peak season for respiratory viruses. The FDA ruling comes after a bombshell investigative report revealed that the CDC under RFK Jr.’s leadership failed to contain the deadly measles outbreak in Texas which spread to 19 states earlier this year, finding that the Trump Administration sowed fear and confusion, hampering the CDC’s emergency response capacity when it “mattered the most.” Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician, notably broke with the GOP line to call for Congressional review of Monarez’s firing and to cancel an upcoming meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices due to “serious allegations” concerning the “membership and lack of scientific process” after RFK Jr. fired all standing members of the expert panel and replaced them with hand-picked political allies. On Thursday, the White House announced the appointment of RFK deputy Jim O’Neill to replace Monarez as CDC head while RFK Jr. is scheduled to testify before a Senate Finance Committee panel next week.Trump fires Fed governor Lisa Cook as his pattern of ‘retribution’ against political opponents puts the spectre of authoritarian power in the spotlight. In a dramatic escalation of the Trump’s ongoing assault on the Federal Reserve, Trump announced on Monday, August 25 that he was firing Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors effective immediately; a move without precedent that rattled investors and bond markets as well as central bankers around the world who fear being caught in the political storm between Trump and Fed chair Jerome Powell. Cook said she has no plans to step down and vowed to fight the ‘illegal’ action; on Thursday, her lawyers formally filed suit against the Trump Administration, claiming the president has ‘no legal authority’ to remove her from the board. Legal experts agree that the move is legally dubious as Congress limits the president’s authority to remove Fed officials except for cause. The Trump Administration claims ‘cause’ for firing Cook on the basis of mortgage fraud allegations brought by ‘prominent Trump sidekick’ Bill Pulte, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency; Cook’s lawyers claim that she has not been charged with a crime and the allegations do not meet the legal standard. While financial markets remained largely unfazed by Trump’s action to undermine the central bank’s ‘sacrosanct’ independence, observers note that by moving against Cook, Trump may be setting up a much more consequential test of presidential authority against the judiciary and rule of law – the relevant question being to what extent the conservative Supreme Court is willing to place any limits on Trump’s bid for unchecked power as he pursues retribution against perceived enemies and advances authoritarian rule, precedent by precedent through what Steven Greenhouse has called “government by shakedown.” Cook is just the latest of several opponents Trump has targeted, and not even the first against whom Trump has weaponized ‘mortgage fraud’ as a pretense. Just over the last couple of weeks, egged on by far-right pundits, Trump has gone after dozens of political opponents and critics, including ordering an FBI raid on the home of his former National Security Advisor John Bolton; calling for racketeering charges against George Soros, bogeyman of right-wing conspiracy theories; railing against network giants ABC and NBC for airing critical coverage, threatening to pull their broadcast licenses; attacking dozens of judges who have ruled against him, including filing a suit attempting to remove an entire 15-seat federal bench in Maryland; and tapping a Missouri attorney general with a history of politically motivated prosecution of Democrats as co-director of the FBI. So far, the Supreme Court has consistently placed its thumb on the scales in favor of Trump; this week, Neil Gorsuch and Bret Kavanagh rebuked lower courts for questioning SCOTUS rulings that overturned injunctions against Trump executive orders, drawing criticism from legal experts who slammed the court’s ‘hubris’ as it increasingly issues ‘emergency’ rulings with no justifying argument. Observers note that Cook’s firing tests SCOTUS precedent allowing the president to fire the heads of independent agencies, only equivocating on a “bespoke Federal Reserve exception” to placate Wall Street. Rolling Stone notes the outsized influence of conservative dark-money giant Leonard Leo, who pushed for Trump appointees to stack the Supreme Court and grease the wheels for a far-right takeover of the political mainstream. Thomas Drake traces the evolution of retribution politics from his own persecution under George W. Bush to the raid on Bolton’s home this weekend, noting how “successive administrations have weaponized national security law and rules to silence inconvenient voices, censor dissenters and prosecute whistleblowers,” laying the groundwork for Trump’s authoritarian turn.
Minnesota school shooting puts transgender people in MAGA’s crosshairs. As authorities investigate the possible motives behind Wednesday’s horrific mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis that killed two children and injured 17 others, MAGA-aligned pundits are weaponizing the transgender identity of shooter Robin Westman to call for further prosecution of transgender people. As more details emerge regarding the violent and obsessive writings of Westman, a 23-year-old former student of the school who turned the gun on herself after the shooting, the right-wing blogosphere fixated on Westman’s transgender identity and apparent desire to de-transition as an apparent cause for the violence, calling gender dysphoria a ‘mental disorder’ and demonizing trans people as “dangerously delusional” and “crazy,” citing a non-existent ‘pattern’ of trans shooters used by the far right as a scapegoating tactic after violent incidents. Trans commentator Alejandra Caraballo notes how right-wing rhetoric turned openly genocidal in the wake of the shooting, as Infowars pundit Owen Shroyer celebrated the shooting as an “unbelievable victory” for the right’s campaign against the trans community. Marjorie Taylor Greene and other MAGA-aligned lawmakers used the incident to renew calls for outlawing gender-affirming care and Republican commentator Joey Mannarino called for all trans people “to be locked away and studied.” Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey issued a warning against ‘villanizing’ trans people as a result of the shooting as authorities zeroed in on Westman’s expressions of hate towards all groups of people and her obsession with mass shooters. Internet commentators have linked Westman’s posts to online communities connected to the global neo-Nazi network Terrorgram, which Alternet reports are cultivating a dark subculture encouraging young people’s obsessions with mass murder, distributing terror manuals along with memes promoting white supremacy, misogyny and homophobia. The shooting also occurred in the same week that a wave of ‘swatting’-style mass shooting hoaxes hit college campuses across the country, sparking panic among students returning for the fall semester; as the FBI investigated the hoax’s origins, focusing on foreign groups that perpetrated similar campaigns in the past, extremism researchers found evidence linking the hoaxes to the far-right online group Purgatory.
Immigration updates: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Alligator Alcatraz, ICE escalations. Less than a week after being reunited with his family after 160 days in ICE detention, Kilmar Abrego Garcia was arrested again and taken into ICE custody on Monday, August 25 when he showed up to an immigration check-in as a condition of his release last week. The Trump Administration announced its intention to deport Garcia to Uganda over the weekend, although a federal judge prohibited his removal until at least October 6, when Administration officials are ordered to testify to the court about the government’s efforts to re-deport him. Before he was taken into custody, Garcia addressed a rally of supporters, reporters, unions, and family members who gathered outside Baltimore’s ICE headquarters, imploring the crowd to “promise you will continue to pray, resist, fight, love and continue to demand freedom.” The Seattle Times reported that ICE and CBP officers arrested at least two firefighters working on contract crews as they fought the active Bear Gulch wildfire in Washington state’s remote Olympic peninsula, sparking outrage from fellow firefighters who blasted the treatment of colleagues who “risked their life to save the community”, as well as from Sen. Patty Murray, who blasted the Trump Administration for undermining wildland firefighting by ‘decimating the Forest Service’ and described immigration policy as “fundamentally sick,” decrying the move to detain firefighters on the job as being as “immoral as it is dangerous.” As witnesses report ICE checkpoints stopping cars on the Arizona-California border, the Trump Administration filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court this week asking for a stay of the Ninth Circuit Court’s temporary restraining order prohibiting federal agents from using racial profiling to arrest or stop individuals in California. A growing number of eyewitness videos on social media reveal a pattern of aggressive tactics used by masked ICE officers to detain migrants, including smashing car windows, using tasers, and in at least one case, teargassing a public school; one CNN reporter who witnessed an ICE arrest at their neighborhood gas station described spending “days” looking for information on the man who was arrested. AI surveillance company Flock announced this week that it was “suspending all federal pilots” after reports surfaced that CBP had searched more than 80,000 automated license plate reader cameras as local police departments unknowingly shared data with federal agencies. As deportation flights hit record highs, carriers are reportedly attempting to disguise planes and hide flight details as more migrant advocates gather at airports to track and witness the flights and spread information to affected communities. Florida state officials claim that the controversial Alligator Alcatraz is being “emptied of immigrant detainees” and may reduce its population to zero over the next few days after a federal judge upheld a ruling ordering the closure of the facility by the end of October. ICE is working on setting up many alternative detention sites, including a former WWII Japanese internment camp in Texas, where mystery surrounds a $1.2 billion Army contract to build what would be to date the largest detention center in the United States. GovExec reports that the Trump Administration has granted DOJ the power to deputize any attorney as an immigration judge, “erasing existing standards” on the qualifications and experience requirements needed to serve in those roles. As the Department of Homeland Security uses its newly supersized budget on an aggressive recruitment campaign for ICE, issuing videos that use religious imagery to portray immigration enforcement as a ‘holy war,’ current and former officers told Reuters that internal pressures and community protests are taking a toll on ICE agents who are struggling with burnout and frustration in order to keep pace with the administration’s demands. The Trump Administration froze most non-ICE training programs for federal enforcement workers this week as it redirected all training resources to accommodate expedited training for ICE recruits; the Wall Street Journal describes how programs to prepare new officers have adapted their curriculum to include tactical handling of street protests during a DHS tour of a facility in Georgia.
International companies halt shipments to U.S. in de-facto trade embargo as de minimis tariff exceptions expire, punitive tariffs against India, Brazil take effect. As economists warn of the looming ‘sticker shock’ hitting U.S. consumers as a consequence of Trump’s tariff war, international mail carriers suspended parcel shipments to the United States from over 25 countries across Europe and Asia, as well as Australia and Mexico, in anticipation of the August 29 deadline ending the ‘de minimis’ tariff exception that previously allowed duty-free movement for small packages under $800 and was eliminated via Trump executive order in July as a casualty of the global tariff war. Bloomberg characterized the suspensions as a de facto “tariff-induced embargo on the U.S.” as international shipping giant DHL explained the suspensions were “likely temporary” as companies navigate “new processes required by the U.S. for postal shipping.” Other national mail carriers cited tariff uncertainty and logistical challenges, including the lack of systems that can handle payments for the varied customs duties based on the country of origin’s tariff level set by the Trump Administration. According to the Washington Post, only a half-dozen service providers have been certified by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to collect and pay duties on international mail. The suspensions are already disrupting the global e-commerce industry that, according to CBP data, processed more than 1.3 billion shipments in the last fiscal year. A small exemption will still exist for “gift” shipments valued under $100, although DHL noted that those shipments would be subjected to greater scrutiny to prevent misuse. Wired reports that the end of the exemption will result in increased international shipping costs ranging from $80 to $200 per parcel, impacting individual sellers and consumers on sites like Etsy and Ebay as well as mostly lower-income consumers in the United States who rely on discount e-commerce sellers like Temu and Shein for low-cost goods. Trump’s doubled tariff rates against India also went into effect this week at 12:01 AM on Wednesday, August 27, impacting over two-thirds of India’s export market to the U.S., including pharmaceuticals; experts warned consumers to brace for a spike in drug prices as India accounts for fully one-half of all generic medicines taken in the United States. Citing the imperative not to compromise on the nation’s energy security, Indian Prime Minister Modi prioritized diversifying its trade relationships to the rest of the world over making a deal with the Trump Administration as a response to the new tariffs, as other entities such as the EU scramble to meet Trump’s demands in the name of business stability. Coffee industry groups warned this week that the 50% punitive tariff imposed on Brazil by the Trump Administration will hit consumers in short order as global prices for arabica coffee surged over 30% in August. Trump this week also threatened punitive tariffs and export restrictions on countries whose regulations “discriminate against” American big tech corporations, such as the UK’s digital services tax and the EU’s Digital Services Act which limits the power of tech companies like Meta, Google and Apple. The European Commission responded with a statement on Tuesday asserting the bloc’s “sovereign right” to regulate the activities of large tech firms.
Tracking the Money: U.S. economy on thin ice as AI-fueled stock boom, crypto expansion masks persistent fragility from a weakened job market and stagflation. Despite the appearance of ‘market resilience’ buoying sentiments in the financial sector, signs of economic fragility in the actually existing U.S. economy have renewed fears of a ‘Trump recession’ as stagnation in the job market, combined with ‘sneakflation’ as companies pass the tariff burden to customers, pose greater risks to economic stability in the United States and abroad. While worries of inflation due to the tariff war dominate the economic news, the New York Times notes how a significant portion of Americans’ economic anxieties also stem from a decimated social safety net. Moody’s reports that up to 22 U.S. states, accounting for one-third of GDP, are either ‘already in’ a recession or are at high risk of entering recession within the next year, while another 13 states are ‘treading water’ economically. While current jobs data suggests that companies are managing to hold on to jobs amid a slowdown in new hiring, Fortune highlights the growing phenomenon of ‘quiet cracking’ as half of U.S. workers are reaching a ‘breaking point’ of burnout and fraying mental health, costing companies up to $438 billion in productivity losses. Many states are shedding jobs due to DOGE-fueled cuts in federal contracts, immigration enforcement, and a slowdown in consumer spending as data shows how red states have become the biggest losers from Trump’s economic policy reforms. Citing their ties to “anti-white” DEI, Trump and Vought defunded vital transportation programs in red states and froze funding to the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund which supports community lending to small businesses and underserved rural communities, sparking bipartisan backlash and efforts to release the funds. With all eyes turning to Trump’s battle with the Federal Reserve, the Wall Street Journal warned that liquidity issues were perhaps more important as markets and banks run low on cash. As the boom in AI investment increasingly props up the overall economy, with some estimates showing it accounting for nearly half of U.S. economic growth over the past year, fears of another bubble-driven financial crash are growing as the rally in tech stocks loses steam and an MIT study released this week found that 95% of AI applications failed to deliver profits. While the much-anticipated Nvidia earnings report indicated strong numbers on the surface, other analysts pointed to indicators that clouded investor optimism, including strained U.S.-China trade relations and a slowdown in data center construction. A Stanford study showed that AI has reduced job prospects for younger, entry-level workers by at least 13%, promising little relief for a struggling job market. Bloomberg reports that smaller firms are relying more heavily on cryptocurrencies to boost flagging stock prices as Trump Administration policies push for an expanded role for cryptocurrency to boost a flailing economy, including in 401(k) retirement funds, commercial banking and even home mortgages. But on the heels of a wild week for crypto giants Bitcoin and Etherium, reports from regulatory watchdogs warned of dire risks to the global financial system as highly volatile crypto assets become further entwined with traditional financial institutions; another report issued this week warned that consolidation of the crypto mining market has put Bitcoin production in the hands of just two companies, corrupting its core model and heightening ‘systemic risk’ of financial disruption.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Following D.C.’s example, communities in Chicago prepare to resist Trump’s federal incursion. As Trump threatens to expand his ‘federalized’ crime crackdown to Chicago, local leaders, community organizers and residents are preparing to resist a potential military incursion of their city with the same tenacity that has kept D.C. locals hot on the heels of federal agents and National Guard troops. Mutual aid group Remora House describes how ‘the whole city is fighting back’ well into the third week of occupation as D.C. residents’ anger against ICE officers boiled over Wednesday culminating in a tense standoff as ICE agents surrounded a bilingual elementary school. The Washington Post describes how local judges and jurors are pushing back against Jeanine Pirro’s prosecutions of arrestees as successive grand juries refuse to indict for small offenses such as the infamous sandwich-throwing incident. After Governor J.B. Pritzker delivered his rebuke to Trump’s threats at a press conference on Monday, August 25, city and state officials have been working in close coordination to formulate response plans. Although officials admitted not much could be done to block deployment on legal grounds, citing the precedents set by Los Angeles and D.C., state Attorney General Kwame Raoul said he was working on a legal strategy to execute if troops arrived, and Pritzker vowed late Thursday to bring charges against any troops who commit crimes against city residents. Without information from the federal government on the occupation’s logistical plans, Mayor Brandon Johnson is reportedly working with Chicago Police to formulate responses based on the city’s playbook for last year’s Democratic National Convention. Police superintendent Larry Snelling stressed that CPD will not cooperate with ICE agents conducting raids in the city. Black-led community organizations gathered in Daley Plaza Thursday for a ‘solidarity’ press conference announcing their collective effort to develop a 30-day response plan for neighborhoods, which will establish mutual aid hubs, Know Your Rights trainings and sanctuary spaces throughout the city. New coalitions are forming to protect vulnerable communities targeted by Trump’s orders to lock up unhoused and disabled people. Survivors of gun violence in Chicago spoke out on Tuesday morning to contradict Trump’s claim that the crackdown will make the city safer, saying the occupation will “escalate fear” and “retraumatize families” that have endured violent incidents. Labor leaders organizing the “Workers Over Billionaires” demonstration in Chicago already scheduled for Labor Day said that the planned protest is taking on a whole new meaning under Trump’s threats, and vowed to take to the streets if troops came to the city, as other urban leaders across the country are uniting their voices with Chicago and D.C. in opposition to Trump’s authoritarian agenda.
Dozens of CDC staff stage a mass walkout to protest the firing of CDC director Susan Monarez and demand the ouster of ‘quack’ Health Secretary RFK Jr. On Thursday, August 28, one day after the HHS announced its dismissal of CDC head Susan Monarez for refusing to support RFK Jr.’s vaccine policy reforms, CDC workers staged a mass walkout in solidarity with Monarez and the four CDC senior officials that resigned their posts in protest of RFK Jr.’s agenda, which they see as undermining science-based public health and vaccination policies. Workers lined the sidewalks outside the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters to give a hero’s welcome to the four scientists as they left their jobs for the last time, gathering to honor those whom the workers called “the people that protect America.” CDC workers also raised their voices in anger against RFK Jr. and Trump’s ‘destructive policies,’ chanting “USA, not RFK” as one observer noted that he had “never seen so many public servants protest the mismanagement of a government.” Associated Press livestreamed the protest on YouTube. Stand Up for Science is urging the public to sign on to a petition to Congress calling for RFK Jr.’s removal as Health Secretary, and 5 Calls Civic Action Network has distributed a call script for constituents to call their local representatives with the same demand.
20 years after Hurricane Katrina, FEMA staffers issue ‘Katrina Declaration’ warning that Trump cuts will cause more ‘Katrina-like’ disaster response failures. As the 20th anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina disaster approached this week, nearly 200 FEMA employees signed on to the “Katrina Declaration,” an open letter to members of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council and several House and Senate committees warning that under the Trump Administration and DHS secretary Kristi Noem, FEMA is “enacting processes and leadership structures” that erode its capacity to respond effectively to disasters, risking a repeat of the institutional failures that led to the ‘man-made’ tragedies experienced in Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath. Over Trump’s second term in office, DOGE reforms cut over one-third of FEMA’s staff and froze over $100 billion of funding for disaster recovery and preparedness projects nationwide. Kristi Noem enacted a controversial ‘cost control’ policy requiring her personal sign-off on any expenditure over $100,000, creating a ‘bottleneck’ that delayed critical response resources to Texas towns affected by catastrophic floods by at least four days. In recent weeks, the DHS has attempted to redirect over $4 billion of FEMA funds to ICE and reassigned FEMA staff to immigration enforcement, while Trump has repeatedly stated his desire to phase out the agency entirely after this year’s hurricane season. While most of the Katrina Declaration signatories signed anonymously out of fear for their jobs, all 36 employees who signed publicly were suspended by the Trump Administration on Tuesday night. Last month, 144 EPA employees who signed on to an open letter criticizing Lee Zeldin were similarly suspended in retaliation for their dissent. Stand Up for Science has published the Katrina Declaration on its website, now urging the public to sign on and support the 36 suspended staffers by demanding that Congress honor the four requests stated in the petition, which includes protecting FEMA employees from “politically motivated firings.”
More GOP lawmakers draw protest and criticism from angry constituents for their support of destructive Trump policies. As the ‘endless August recess’ draws to a close, many Republican lawmakers tasked with selling the ‘big, beautiful’ budget bill in their home districts have faced rude awakenings at townhall meetings as angry constituents turned on their elected officials over the impact of Trump policies. In Missouri, Rep. Mark Alford was told to “take your head out of Trump’s ass!” by a ‘pissed’ Polk County constituent who said he was at risk of losing his family farm after cuts eliminated the USDA aid programs he relied upon; he also called Trump a ‘dictator’ and told Alford to ‘start taxing wealthy corporations’ if the GOP wanted to fix the budget. After several similar comments from constituents that were ‘sick of all the lies,’ a frustrated Alford responded, “If you didn’t want to hear my lies, why did you come here?” Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman was “relentlessly booed” for three meetings in a row as she doubled down on her support for Trump’s tariff policy. NY Rep. (and erstwhile gubernatorial candidate) Elise Stefanik was jeered at a dedication ceremony in her district as protestors called her a “traitor” and “Nazi” and others demanded the release of the Epstein files. Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson was heckled by veterans and Medicaid recipients protesting the loss of their healthcare benefits and questioning the deployment of Ohio National Guard troops for Trump’s Washington D.C. takeover. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Maine, Sen. Susan Collins faced a crowd of nearly 200 angry residents who yelled “shame!” and “you don’t ever listen to us!” as constituents lobbied criticisms of her support for Trump actions on the budget, the Supreme Court, and Israel’s war on Gaza.
Upcoming Protests and Events.
Monday, September 1: The AFL-CIO, 50501 Movement and May Day Strong Coalition are calling for a nationwide ‘Workers Over Billionaires’ mobilization on Labor Day to stop the ‘Billionaire Takeover’ of government and society. More information on local actions can be found at MayDayStrong.org or https://www.mobilize.us/mayday/map/; in Chicago, General Strike Illinois will be holding a Labor Day Fest with teach-ins, sign making, food and more on August 30th to prepare for the demonstrations.
Tuesday, September 2: Democratic Socialists of America will be holding a mass organizing call online to “Fight Fascism, Build Socialism” starting at 4pm PT / 7pm ET. More information and an RSVP form can be found on their website.
Thursday, September 4: The Brennan Center for Justice will be holding an online webinar on “The Next Phase of the Fight,” featuring legal experts who will discuss the biggest stories of the summer, including gerrymandering, elections, and presidential abuses of power. More information and an RSVP link can be found on their website.
Friday, September 5: AltCDC will be holding a ‘Protect the EPA’ rally in Cincinnati from 3:30-5:30pm in front of EPA offices to protest the agency’s gutting of collective bargaining agreements and support EPA staff. More information can be found on Bluesky.
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.
Lawsuit Updates.
Politico profiles lawyer Abbe Lowell, a longtime Washington litigator who has become the go-to counsel for officials on the receiving end of Trump’s political retribution campaigns. Lowell’s clients include Lisa Cook, the Fed governor challenging her removal, New York attorney general Letitia James, also targeted by the Trump Administration on the pretext of ‘mortgage fraud’, and former January 6 prosecutors who were forced out of their positions at the Justice Department.
In another judicial rebuke to gerrymandering, a federal judge ruled that Utah’s 2021 redistricting map illegally violated voters’ rights and ordered the state to redraw the map before the 2026 midterm elections.
