Trump Agonistes
Week of May 2-8, 2026
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. 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
Trump’s ‘Operation Freedom’ to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz canceled after less than 24 hours as Iran asserts its chokehold; ceasefire is de facto over as United States, Iran, Israel, Hezbollah, UAE exchange strikes. The United States and Iran remain in an on-again, off-again stance on negotiations, neither side willing to back down from their red lines while Trump, after a string of failed gambits, continues to reach for ways to withdraw from the war while saving face. Analysts say this, for Trump, means nothing less than ‘unconditional surrender’, which the United States has no leverage to extract from Iran; Trump refuses to recognize the strategically weaker position of the United States as he continues to “keep doing what he’s doing” (escalate) and “getting what he’s getting” {more strategic defeats from Iran, which has held escalation dominance for most of the war’s progression). Over the May Day weekend, Trump once again rejected Iran’s latest proposal for an agreement to end the war, this time based on 14 points centered around reparations and guaranteeing peace in the region, ending the war within 30 days, and deferring nuclear negotiations until a later date. Trump rejected the revised plan, telling reporters that he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years.” Military activity picked up pace in the early hours of Saturday, May 2, as Hezbollah launched a series of ‘targeted’ strikes on Israeli positions in Southern Lebanon and the Israeli military destroyed a Lebanese convent, drawing condemnation from the Catholic community who described it as a “deliberate” attack on a sacred site. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmail Bagahei slammed Trump on social media for a comment Trump made Friday to reporters describing the U.S. Navy’s seizure of an Iranian tanker vessel as “a very profitable business” and saying “we’re kind of like pirates”; Bagahei said Trump’s boast was a “direct and damning admission of the criminal nature of their actions against international maritime navigation.”
On Sunday, May 3, Trump announced the military operation “Project Freedom” would commence on Monday to ‘escort’ out of the Strait of Hormuz some of the over 2,500 ships from neutral countries that are still trapped behind the chokepoint. Having ‘technically’ ended ‘Operation Epic Fury’ on Friday just before the 60-day ‘emergency’ period under the War Powers statute expired, Trump cast the new operation as a ‘humanitarian’ mission to provide aid to tens of thousands of sailors still trapped in the Strait. Responding to what sounded like intent to run the blockade, the Iranian parliament’s national security commission chief, Ebrahim Azizi warned that any U.S. interference in the ‘maritime regime’ Iran has established inside its territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz will be “considered an act of war.” He also dismissed Trump’s ‘blame game scenarios’ and declared that the critical waterway will “not be managed by Trump’s delusional posts.” The Israeli military touted new purchases of F-15 and F-35 fighter jets for what Defence Minister Israel Katz touted as central to their new $5 billion ‘Shield of Israel’ plan to “give the military a lasting qualitative edge.” The new hardware arrived amid a surge of U.S. military aircraft to the Middle East, making a return to hostilities appear all the more imminent.
‘Project Freedom’ began operations on Monday, May 4; Trump Administration officials rushed to tell major news outlets that it was not an ‘escort mission’ as Trump had initially characterized it, which gave the impression the Navy would physically accompany vessels, but would have more of a ‘guiding’ role. The Iranian Parliament and IRGC warned that any U.S. intervention in the new maritime regime in Strait of Hormuz is going to be regarded as a violation of the ceasefire, and Iran will engage with U.S. naval forces accordingly. Shortly after the announcements were made, a clip of an Al Jazeera interview with an oil tanker captain stuck in the Gulf went viral; Raman Kapoor said he has not been given approval from his company to attempt crossing the strait, and “No ships would want to show their courage and pass through the Strait of Hormuz unless it is officially declared safe to transit.” The IRGC issued a new map of the Strait of Hormuz showing the portion of the strait that is in Iranian territorial waters and therefore under their control as IRGC spokesman Sardar Mohebbi reiterated Iran’s policy on passage through the Strait: “There has been no change in the management process of the Strait of Hormuz. Any maritime movement of civilian and commercial vessels that complies with the transit protocols issued by the IRGC Navy and takes place through the specified route in coordination will be safe and sound. Other maritime movements that are contrary to the principles announced by the IRGC Navy will face serious risks. Violating vessels will be forcefully stopped.” Less than an hour later, the Fars News Agency issued a report from the IRGC claiming that 2 of their missiles hit a U.S. Navy ship that attempted to cross the strait, a claim CENTCOM denied.
The UAE sounded the alarm of incoming missile strikes for the first time since the ceasefire took effect, accusing Iran of attacking an Emirati oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. Late in the afternoon, Iran claimed it had confronted 2 U.S. destroyers who had turned off their radars as they sailed across the Sea of Oman towards the Strait of Hormuz. The IRGC said they issued a verbal warning, and after being ignored issued a ‘second warning’ by firing a cruise missile and drone at the warships. CENTCOM and U.S. officials again denied the report. UAE claimed their Israeli air defense systems were ‘engaging’ missiles and drones being fired from Iran; a large fire broke out at UAE’s Fujairah facility after UAE claimed it was struck by an Iranian drone; Iran did not confirm or deny responsibility for the strike. CENTCOM claimed to have struck and sunk six Iranian ‘fast boats’ in the Strait of Hormuz, as they again warned the Iranian navy to steer clear of U.S. military assets. By Tuesday, there was no question that an escalation of hostilities was underway. Oil surged to well over $114 a barrel as Trump warned in a morning briefing that Iran would be “blown off the face of the earth” if it attacks U.S. vessels participating in Project Freedom. IRGC political officer Yadollah Javani shot back, warning that any U.S. attempt to intervene in the Strait of Hormuz would be met with a “decisive and crushing response.”
The day also saw a dizzying number of turn-arounds and contradictory information coming out of the region that culminated in the ‘pause’ to Project Freedom barely 48 hours after it began. New information about Monday’s strikes was released: Iran claimed that the six ‘fast boats’ destroyed by the U.S. Navy were not IRGC boats, but civilian boats carrying goods and innocent passengers. Hegseth said that “we have established a powerful red, white, and blue dome over the Strait of Hormuz” as the United States’ “gift to the world,” yet also said the U.S. “doesn’t need to enter Iranian waters or airspace” as part of opening the Strait (there are still no U.S. warships actually present within 200 miles of the Strait of Hormuz, as they stay out of Iranian missile range in the Sea of Oman and Arabian Sea). The Western world rallied around the UAE over the strike on their oil facility at Fujairah, which wounded three Indian nationals; Tehran still denied responsibility, saying they never had a plan to hit Iranian infrastructure, but also said guardedly that the fire was a “result of U.S. adventurism.” South Korea announced they were ‘considering’ joining Project Freedom, but withdrew after assessing the damage done to a vessel that was hit in the Strait on Sunday. Hegseth claimed the U.S. had cleared a path through Omani waters for ships to pass through the Strait, but a few hours later, Iranian officials said the passage may be too “rocky, shallow and risky” for commercial traffic, and that two vessels had already gotten stuck. Israel continued to expand its deadly sphere of force inside Lebanon and Gaza, killing dozens of civilians despite both being under ceasefires.
Trump proclaimed again that the United States has “completely destroyed Iran’s entire army” and that Iran wants to make a deal” because they are desperate to survive; he said Iran should ‘do the smart thing’ as their economy fails because “I want to win.” The U.S. Treasury issued sanctions against at least 10 individual firms and people, including five Chinese ‘teapot’ oil refineries. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce, in an unprecedented move, issued a formal injunction ordering the firms to ignore the U.S. sanctions in the first known use of its 2021 Blocking Rule, meant to curb foreign overreach. Analysts said that ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping later this month, Marco Rubio, speaking at the White House about Project Freedom, said “we’re not doing it only because we were asked, but we are the only ones who can” open the Strait of Hormuz, and that Washington’s preference is to restore Hormuz’s status to “the way it was… anyone can use it, no mines in the water and no one paying tolls,” which was indeed its state before the United States and Israel attacked Iran. Rubio said the U.S. government has been in touch with shipping companies about getting their boats out of the Strait of Hormuz, but companies and insurers remained skittish and skeptical of U.S. capabilities to physically protect shipping lanes. A classified intelligence report leaked to the Washington Post revealed that Iran not only has the capability to outlast the U.S. blockade for at least another four months or more, but it has retained significant missile capability despite months of bombardment by the Americans and Israel. Over 75% of their mobile launchers remain operative, and 70% of their ballistic missiles; and they have also been able to restore and rebuild nearly all of their underground launch facilities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi, as he made his way to China for diplomatic talks, posted on X that “there is no military solution to a political crisis” as he warned the United States to resist being “dragged back into a quagmire by ill-wishers” (meaning Israel), and extended the same warning, pointedly, to the UAE. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bagahei extended a similar message on Iranian state media Tuesday, saying Gulf states should stop “borrowing” their security from countries outside the region. Reiterating that Iran has “no animosity towards any country of the region,” he went on to say that recent events prove that the U.S. military presence in the Gulf “is a liability and brings nothing but insecurity.” Bagahei also reiterated Iran’s denial of responsibility for the attack on UAE, saying that Tehran had “exclusively” directed their attacks at the United States. Analyst and Tehran University fellow Mohammed Eslami told Al Jazeera that the UAE’s decision to “become an Israeli proxy” in the region will not be tolerated by Iranians; increasingly isolated in the region, the Emiratis find themselves “in many different conflicts, not just with the Iranians but also the Saudis, with Qatar and also Oman.” While those three countries have been carefully hedging their positions throughout the conflict, the UAE is the only Gulf nation that has thrown in fully on the U.S./Israeli side, getting their own ‘Iron Dome’ missile shield and volunteer troops for their efforts, which had already failed at least once in the past 48 hours.
An IRGC spokesperson claimed that Iran had not carried out the recent strikes on the UAE, including the one that damaged the Fujairah oil facility, and opined that the UAE should “not become a nest for Americans, Zionists, and their military forces and equipment.” The UAE snapped back at Iran, saying it would not tolerate “any allegations or threats that undermine its sovereignty, national security, or independent decision-making,” and that their choice of partnerships were a “sovereign matter.” Military analysts increasingly warned of the delicate situation developing in the Strait, where any ‘miscalculation’ of strategy or tactics in the region could become ‘catastrophic’ for either side. The Washington Post released satellite images this week showing the extensive damage to hundreds of U.S. military targets throughout the Gulf, including “hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft and key radar, communications and air defense equipment.” Photos of the damage suggest that the strikes were highly precise, indicating that the U.S. military had “underestimated Iran’s targeting abilities, not adapted sufficiently to modern drone warfare and left some bases under-protected.”
On Tuesday evening, Trump announced that Project Freedom would be “paused” temporarily, citing a request from Pakistan and progress towards a final agreement with Iran. Later, it was revealed that the decision was made after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait suspended U.S. access to their airspace and bases. Trump said a deal with Iran is “very possible” after “very good talks” over Wednesday and Thursday, but Iran has not yet formally responded to the latest U.S. proposals. Israel once again imperiled the delicate peace process by bombing Beirut and pushing further into Lebanon, engaging Hezbollah troops on the ground, as well as bombing Gaza City, killing the son of a Hamas leader. The U.S. State Department accused Hezbollah of trying to ‘derail’ the Israeli-Lebanon peace process. The United States and Iran continued to trade strikes on Thursday, as three U.S. Navy warships were attacked by Iran, the U.S. bombed Iranian ports, and talks appeared to be falling apart yet again, Foreign Minister Araghchi mused aloud about how “every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure.” Affirming that “Iranians never bow to pressure,” he wondered whether recent U.S. moves were deliberate pressure tactics or the work of “a spoiler once again duping POTUS into another quagmire.”
Redistricting wars heat up in Tennessee, Louisiana, Virginia, and other Southern states in wake of Supreme Court decision. Last Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision gutting a key provision of the Voting Rights Act touched off or heated up redistricting fights in many Southern states this week as Republican-controlled legislators rushed to codify the new voting landscape before the midterm elections. This new landscape, rather than expand democratic participation, is about rolling back the democratic gains of the last several decades with gerrymandering as a key vehicle. According to Democracy Docket, civil rights advocates “warn the country is entering a new era of mid-decade gerrymandering – one in which states redraw congressional maps outside the normal once-per-decade redistricting cycle to maximize partisan advantage after the court’s ruling.” The new ruling’s effects are already being felt, especially in Southern states, from federal elections in Louisiana to state legislatures in Virginia to local elections in Texas. On Monday, May 4, Florida Governor Ron deSantis signed a new map that was fast-tracked through the Republican-controlled legislature, giving Republicans up to four more seats; it already has three lawsuits filed against it for violation of Florida’s Fair District Amendment. The South Carolina House approved a sine die amendment allowing lawmakers to return after adjournment to take up congressional redistricting, ostensibly to target SC’s 6th Congressional District represented by Jim Clyburn, once the highest-ranking Black member of Congress; the only Democratic-held congressional seat in the state that has long been a focus of Republican redistricting efforts.”
In Louisiana, Governor Jeff Landry has suspended its upcoming House primaries and will keep them suspended “until such time as determined by the Legislature.” Secretary of State Nancy Landry said that “while U.S. House races will remain on ballots through Election Day, any votes cast in those races will not be counted.” The ACLU filed a lawsuit Thursday asking the state court to block Gov. Jeff Landry and Sec. of State Nancy Landry from canceling congressional elections on the basis that it effectively disenfranchises state voters. The League of Women Voters of Louisiana, the Louisiana state conference of the NAACP, the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, and three individual voters also filed suit in a state court in Baton Rouge on Friday, seeking a temporary restraining order. The action comes less than a week after the Supreme Court decision, which is highly unusual since the Supreme Court generally waits 32 days before issuing a directive to the lower courts. Landry had asked the court to speed up that process in order to make the redistricting effective for the midterm elections; on Monday, the court approved the expedited request for only the second time in 25 years. The decision sparked a searing rebuttal from dissenting judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who blasted the conservative majority: “Not content to have decided the law, it now takes steps to influence its implementation… and just like that, our principles give way to power.” Her strongly worded statement sparked a fierce debate between Jackson and Alito, who called her accusations “baseless” and “insulting”; and revealed the longstanding tensions that had been brewing in the court since the conservative majority began using the ‘shadow docket’ to push through Trump’s executive orders last year.
Tennessee’s Republican-controlled legislature is also moving fast to eliminate its only remaining Democratic seat by carving up the majority-Black district in Memphis and Shelby County into three districts, most likely giving Republicans the ability to flip the seat that represents the city of Memphis. According to the New York Times, Trump spoke directly to Tennessee’s governor Bill Lee after the ruling, and top Republicans in the legislature have been gearing up to fast-track its passage. The state’s Democratic legislators likened the vote to a “Jim Crow process”; prompting State representative Justin Jones to protest by calling House Speaker Cameron Sexton the “grand-wizard in chief” and handing him a Confederate flag. Hundreds of protestors occupied both chambers of the legislature, drowning out the final vote tally with yelling, protestations, and chants of “Hands Off Memphis!” Several protestors were removed from the chamber by state police. The bill passed mainly on party lines, although three Republicans abstained, voicing opposition to the measure.
Since Trump introduced the notion, the redistricting wars have also produced a race to the bottom between Democrats and Republicans as Democrats moved to gerrymander districts for their own benefit, as in California last year. The latest Democratic effort in Virginia, where mid-decade redistricting was approved by voters two weeks ago, was struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court Friday on procedural grounds. In addition, Virginia State Sen. Louise Lucas, one of the state Democratic lawmakers who authored the bill, had her legislative office and businesses raided by the FBI this week in what Fox News claimed to be a ‘major FBI corruption investigation’; although no charges, public court filings or any other evidence corroborating this claim has been made available. The latest in a string of Black women in government to be targeted by the Trump Administration, Lucas blasted the raid on her offices as an “act of political intimidation.” Media watchers as well as fellow lawmakers are crying foul on the ‘investigation,’ questioning the timing and conduct of the investigation as well as several other very convenient coincidences occurring in and around the town of Portsmouth, where Lucas has her offices and cannabis business. Lucas issued a statement on X after the raid, saying: “Today’s actions by Federal agents are about far more than one state senator; they are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people… What we saw fits a clear pattern from this administration: when challenged, they try to intimidate and silence the voices who stand up to them.”
Trump pulls troops from German bases as rift with NATO turns into schism as Europe prepares to go it alone. After his spat with Trump last week regarding his criticism of Trump’s war on Iran, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and other European leaders are taking the first steps toward envisioning a future without the United States at the helm of regional security. Last week, Trump announced the withdrawal of 5,000 troops from German bases as a kind of punishment for Merz’s comments saying Trump has been ‘humiliated’ by Iran for his lack of strategy in pursuing the war. Other ‘punishments’ Trump has envisioned for European countries that did not play the ‘coalition of the willing role’ included expelling Spain from NATO (which cannot technically be done), reassessing U.S. support for Britain’s colonial claim to the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands, higher tariffs on the EU, and more troop withdrawals from Spain and Italy. Marco Rubio flew to Italy this week in an attempt to build bridges with Giorgia Meloni, a former Trump ally who turned against Trump and Israel’s campaign in Iran and Lebanon, and Pope Leo XIV, who has been drawn into an ongoing online ‘beef’ with Trump since the war started. Speaking to reporters at the tail end of his trip to Italy, Rubio said that if NATO allies are refusing permission to use U.S. bases to project force, that is a “problem and has to be examined.” Calling himself a longtime supporter of NATO, Rubio perhaps said the quiet part about the ‘mutual defense’ alliance out loud when he mentioned “one of the advantages of being in NATO is that it allows us to have forces deployed in Europe and bases that allow us a logistical ability to project power in case of contingencies.” Analysts are saying that Europe’s refusal to be a ‘coalition of the willing’ for Trump’s war of choice in the Middle East, as well as Trump’s responses, appears to have ‘broken’ something fundamental about the alliance that had been built for Cold War deterrence objectives. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk questioned whether the United States would show up for mutual defense in the case of a Russian attack, and urged the EU to become a “real alliance” that could act as a defense body for the continent.
Former NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen called for an entirely new European defense alliance this week, saying that “President Trump has raised so many doubts about his commitment to Article 5 and to the defense of Europe that there can be only one conclusion for Europeans: we must stand on our own feet and be able to defend our continent ourselves.” Current NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was forced to admit that “Europe got the message loud and clear” on defense after Trump’s threat to withdraw troops, and said “Europeans are stepping up for a bigger role and stronger NATO.” Two weeks ago at the EU summit in Cyprus, the European Commission committed to exploring the viability of an institution founded on Article 42.7, the mutual defence clause of the EU Treaty as an alternative to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, on which NATO was founded. Rubio’s meeting with Meloni Friday was described as upbeat and hopeful, despite coming after her speech for a domestic audience Thursday when she carefully distanced herself from Trump’s orbit, considered too politically toxic even for the European far right, to save her political chances given the heightened economic insecurity from the Strait of Hormuz crisis. Trump himself has given strong signals that he may pull the United States out of NATO – which he will need the approval of two-thirds of Congress to do – or atrophy its role to where it is functionally irrelevant. European countries, led by Germany, are ramping up their defense budgets, but creating a new ‘security architecture,’ as has been mentioned several times by leaders, entails a re-envisioning of political leadership as well as nuclear deterrence.
That Europe perceives threats that are heightening the urgency of its defense push is evident, given its enmity towards Russia and Cold War-style need to contain its influence. Ex-NATO commander Philip Breedlove says that the Iran schism has exposed a “West more divided than its adversaries”; a fractured NATO leaves the fate of Ukraine uncertain, as drones from Russia crashed in NATO airspace this week; and the Baltics are on edge after a ‘mystery’ drone flew 40 miles into Latvian airspace and struck an oil depot. In Moscow, Victory Day in Europe was marked by more modest celebrations and Putin denouncing NATO; and more complicated yet, the Israelis are beginning to set their eyes on NATO member Turkey as the next target for Greater Israel’s war of expansion. More generally, the NATO conundrum, like that of the Gulf Cooperation Council, is indicative of the realignment challenges all states that have yoked themselves to U.S. hegemony are facing as the Iran war has precipitated American primacy’s rapid decline.
Also in the news this week.
New U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy document focuses on ‘hemispheric threats’ including drug traffickers, Antifa, transgender people. The Trump Administration unveiled its new Counterterrorism Strategy document on Wednesday, May 7. Written by controversial figure Sebastian Gorka, who called it his “life’s work,” the Strategy identifies the “left-wing,” “anti-Fascists,” “Anarchists” and “radically pro-transgender” ideologies as threats equivalent to jihadi groups like al Qaeda and ISIS, or narco-traffickers. As the “three major types of terror groups” the United States is said to face, national counterterrorism activities will “prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist.” In March, nine activists were charged with ‘domestic terrorism’ under this new designation after a police officer was shot at an ICE facility in Prairieland, Texas. Eight defendants were activists who believed they were attending a peaceful ‘noise demonstration’ and had no knowledge of any planned violence, but were convicted of ‘providing material support to terrorists’ evidenced, prosecutors say, by operating a printing press distributing left wing zines, retweeting anti-fascist tweets on twitter, or "Providing their body as camouflage for others to do the enumerated acts.” The Trump Administration designated antifa a foreign terrorist organization in September; Gorka said they would “map them at home, identify their membership” and use law enforcement tools to “cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent.” He emphasized that the new counterterrorism strategy targets ideology as much as specific organizations, and the Strategy claims there are “deepening links” between “left-wing extremists” and Islamist groups such as ISIS.
Trump fires the entire National Science Foundation Board. Twenty-two scientists who serve on an independent board to oversee the nation’s nearly $9 billion science funding agency were dismissed this week by the Trump Administration in another blow to scientific research and education in the United States. The scientists apparently received a message from the Presidential Personnel Office thanking them for their service and one sentence which simply read: “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I’m writing to inform you that your position as a member of the National Science Board is terminated, effective immediately.” As a result of the sudden firings, the fate of the $9 billion program, which includes scientific research grants and fellowships awarded annually by the National Science Foundation, is in limbo. Democratic lawmakers slammed the cuts as “a dangerous attack on the institutions and expertise that drive American innovation and discovery”. One scientist described how her stomach dropped when she heard the news, knowing that “the last bastion of accountability and transparency and scientific expertise has been dismantled overnight.” Another warned: “Without that body, really, the agency is now fully at the behest of the White House.”
Spirit Airlines becomes first major corporate casualty of the oil crisis. Budget airline Spirit ceased operations on Saturday, May 2 after having failed to secure a creditor for a $500 million government bailout support program amidst the Iran war-precipitated global oil shock. An industry giant and lifeline for working-class travelers that walked the line of solvency even in better times, Spirit accounted for 5 percent of U.S. flights at its peak, and kept fares lower in markets where it competed against larger carriers. It is the first airline carrier to collapse due to a doubling of jet fuel prices as a result of the Iran war oil shock. A final meeting of the company’s board ended without an agreement to rescue the company. The sudden closing will result in nearly 5,000 layoffs with no severance package; Spirit workers have opened GoFundMe campaigns to pay the rest of their bills for the month. Some rural airports, like Arnold Palmer Airport outside of Pittsburgh, may also close down due to having no flights left. Budget carriers in Canada are perceiving the closure as a bellwether of hard times ahead. A grassroots campaign to buy back the troubled airline is gaining steam on the Internet.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Voting Rights, racial justice groups fight Voting Rights Act rollback, gerrymandering in Tennessee and other Southern states. Protests are erupting in Southern states just days after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled to constrain a key provision of the Voting Rights Act that ensured representation for districts where the majority of voters were of a minority group. In Tennessee and Alabama, two states that moved within days of the ruling at the personal behest of Trump to begin passing new gerrymandered maps to eliminate the state’s remaining one or two Democratic seats, grassroots protests erupted as Democratic lawmakers and activists decried the resurgence of what they called “Jim Crow 2.0.” In Tennessee, lawmakers locked arms on the House floor and refused to move as crowds demonstrated from the gallery and outside of the State House. Tennessee state police were called to physically remove several protestors from the chamber. On the final day of the special session in Tennessee, three arrests were made as protestors activated shrill personal alarm devices to “sound the alarm” on voting rights and burned Confederate flags to disrupt the floor vote. As protestors were escorted out, they hid the alarms under seats, making troopers take several extra minutes to find and disable them. Protestors also held demonstrations outside the Florida state capitol in Tallahassee, where the state legislature passed a gerrymandered map within 48 hours of the ruling. Democratic candidates and voters in Tennessee filed a lawsuit overnight to challenge the new voting rules; and the NAACP filed a second lawsuit the next day. One Tennessee lawmaker has called for Memphis to secede from the state. Memphis was the state’s last remaining majority-minority district, represented by the lone Congressional Democrat for the state before the new map broke up the district and Black vote into three portions.
Migrant detainees in Michigan launch hunger strike to call attention to conditions inside the privately owned and operated ICE detention facility. At the North Lake ICE detention center in Baldwin, Michigan, the largest ICE facility in the Midwest, hundreds of detainees launched a hunger strike on April 22 to protest “dangerous conditions, poor medical care, and limited legal recourse for detainees.” According to records, 87 emergency calls were made from the facility between June 2025 and January 2026 for “sick unknown” cases and unconscious or unresponsive detainees. The facility is privately owned and operated by GEO Group, one of the largest ICE contractors. The facility, which opened in June 2025, houses around 1,000 detainees, 300 of whom are reported to be on strike. Activists with a detainee support group have confirmed that the detainees are also striking from their internal GEO Group jobs as laundry, cleaning, kitchen and janitorial staff. A statement released by No Detention Centers Michigan read: “We demand competent doctors, better medical care – the food here is absolute garbage – and, above all, an end to the procedural delays we are suffering through inside these walls… We are being held prisoner arbitrarily. The majority of us meet all the requirements to be released, yet judges capriciously deny us bond and the basic rights to which we are entitled. We need to get out of here and to be treated like human beings.” Neither DHS nor GEO Group have been willing to confirm that a hunger strike is taking place at the facility; DHS denies the claims of poor conditions, with one official saying, “For many illegal aliens, this is the best health care they have received their entire lives.”
Israel intercepts Global Sumud Flotilla near Crete as activists are detained, with allegations of abuse. The second Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza set sail from Barcelona on April 12. By April 30, the flotilla, which consisted of 58 boats and over a thousand participants from 100 countries, the largest civilian maritime convoy of its kind, was near the Greek island of Crete in international waters when boats began to be intercepted by the Israeli Defence Forces. 22 boats were captured by IDF forces, and 175 activists were detained. All but two were brought to Crete, where they were released at the airport and sent back to their home countries. Thirty-five activists reported having endured physical and/or sexual abuse while in Israeli custody. Two activists, Brazilian national Thiago Avila and Spanish-Swedish national Saif Abu Keshek remained in Israeli custody and were brought to Israel; Abu Keshek was “suspected of having ties to terrorist organizations” and Avila was “suspected of illegal activity.” Both have remained in custody until this week, when Israeli courts agreed to hand them over to immigration authorities in the next few days pending deportation. Hadeel Abu Salih, the lawyer who represented the pair in Israeli court, called the abduction in international waters and holding in state custody with no charges for over three weeks a “clear violation of international law.” The remaining boats, which now number around 57 small sailing ships accompanied by Greenpeace’s storied ship Arctic Sunrise, have continued to sail towards Gaza, and as of this writing, are nearing the coast of Turkey.
