Explaining the Right is a weekly series that looks at what the right wing is currently obsessing over, how it influences politics—and why you need to know.
In December, the Trump administration quietly removed Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth as holidays where visitors would be given free admission to national parks.
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By Nicole Foy and McKenzie Funk for ProPublica
Immigration agents have put civilians’ lives at risk using more than their guns.
An agent in Houston put a teenage citizen into a chokehold, wrapping his arm around the boy’s neck, choking him so hard that his neck had red welts hours later. A black-masked agent in Los Angeles pressed his knee into a woman’s neck while she was handcuffed; she then appeared to pass out.
Jennings argued that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey (D) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) made statements that could be considered “threats.” Host Abby Phillip wasn’t having it.
Injustice for All is a weekly series about how the Trump administration is trying to weaponize the justice system—and the people who are fighting back.
Welcome back to another week of the Trump administration’s war on America—led by one of its most loyal soldiers, Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The Department of Justice has been a busy little bee as of late, what with all the suing and being sued. Oh, and let’s not forget the terrorizing of Minnesota, of course.
A cartoon by Pedro Molina.
Since Virginia first became a commonwealth in 1776, only men have held the post.
He also immediately began talking about himself in the third person.
The White House deputy chief of staff argued that America has a right to Greenland because “tiny” Denmark can’t defend its territory against U.S. military force.
All That’s Left of You is a new feature film that looks at 70 years of Palestinian history through the lens of one family’s experience over three generations. Democracy Now! speaks with Palestinian American director and actress Cherien Dabis, who says the film is about “looking for meaning in grief and choosing humanity even in the most difficult of circumstances, which Palestinians have done and do every single day.
A federal appeals court on Thursday delivered the Trump administration a victory in its efforts to deport Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, opening the door for his rearrest. Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University when he was arrested in March and detained for months. He missed the birth of his son, Deen, while in detention.
Following Minneapolis protests in response to the ICE killing of Renee Good, President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act Thursday, a move that would allow him to send military forces to the city. Trump’s comments came after a second person was shot by ICE following a traffic stop. “Trump probably sees this as a civil war,” says Baher Azmy, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights. “This, as we all know, is being leveraged as part of an autocratic power grab.
A new investigation by ProPublica finds over 40 cases of immigration agents using potentially fatal chokeholds and other moves that can cut off breathing. “These arrests are playing out around the country, and often in full view of cameras and witnesses,” says ProPublica reporter Nicole Foy. She also reports that at least 170 U.S. citizens have been arrested by immigration agents.
When Becky Pepper-Jackson started middle school, she wanted to join her school’s track and field team. Like many girls her age, she was excited to make new friends and cultivate a passion for a sport. But unlike the other girls on her school’s track and field team, Pepper-Jackson is trans.
A new report finds the number of people in ICE detention has nearly doubled in Trump’s first year back in office, driven by indiscriminate arrest policies that have locked up more and more people without criminal records, “an unprecedented situation for immigration detention.” We break down the numbers with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, which published the report.
With Iran gripped by nationwide protests that activists say have left at least 2,600 people dead, we recently spoke with renowned Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, whose latest film, It Was Just an Accident, was shot entirely in secret inside Iran and won the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. The film has since been shortlisted for an Oscar in the international feature category. Panahi dedicated a recent New York Film Critics Circle Award to Iranian protesters.
The FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson this week and seized her electronic devices, part of a leak probe into a government contractor accused of mishandling classified government materials. Natanson has reported extensively on the Trump administration’s changes to the federal bureaucracy, including mass layoffs of government workers.
When Becky Pepper-Jackson started middle school, she wanted to join her school’s track and field team. Like many girls her age, she was excited to make new friends and cultivate a passion for a sport. But unlike the other girls on her school’s track and field team, Pepper-Jackson is trans.
A new report finds the number of people in ICE detention has nearly doubled in Trump’s first year back in office, driven by indiscriminate arrest policies that have locked up more and more people without criminal records, “an unprecedented situation for immigration detention.” We break down the numbers with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, which published the report.
Reporter Ken Klippenstein’s latest investigation into the inner workings of the Trump regime finds that immigration enforcement agencies ICE and Border Patrol have relaxed recruitment and deployment guidelines in an effort to fill the administration’s sweeping deportation goals.
“They didn’t ask very many questions.” Independent journalist and U.S. military veteran Laura Jedeed recounts how she was hired as a deportation officer by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after a six-minute interview at a job fair in Texas, despite never signing any paperwork, not having completed a background check, likely failing a drug test, and publicly sharing her opposition to the Trump administration and its anti-immigrant crackdown.
Trump’s immigration enforcement surge continues to rock Minnesota, just a week after the ICE shooting of Renee Good, a mother of three and U.S. citizen in Minneapolis. The Minnesota Star Tribune reports that the number of federal agents now in Minneapolis and Saint Paul outstrips the 10 largest Twin Cities metro police departments combined. “We don’t want ICE in our neighborhoods.
We look at All the Walls Came Down, a new short documentary directed by filmmaker Ondi Timoner that looks back at the devastating 2025 fires in Los Angeles, which destroyed Timoner’s home and left the historically Black community of Altadena in ruins. The film, which has been shortlisted for an Academy Award, follows community organizer Heavenly Hughes as residents confront the aftermath of the fires and organize to rebuild their town.
The Trump administration’s all-out war on Somali people continues.
In the latest move, the brittle and ghoulish White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced on X that President Donald Trump is ending Temporary Protected Status for Somalis.
“Somali migrants with TPS will be required to leave the country by March 17,” she wrote.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
The U.S.
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Related | ICE killed an unarmed citizen. Republicans keep trying to justify it.
Yet another GOP lawmaker announced on Tuesday that he will not seek reelection in November, joining a long list of Republicans choosing to head for the exits or run for different office rather than return to possibly minority status in 2027.
Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida said in a statement that his fifth term will be his last, opening up the Sunshine State’s 2nd Congressional District for the first time in a decade.
Many of those who call themselves journalists these days have a very different set of standards than the old guard. That was resoundingly apparent when MAGA “independent journalist” Nick Shirley sat down with fellow creator Andrew Callaghan for an interview and their conversation highlighted major pitfalls within the journalistic creator economy.
A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.
Abolish ICE? America is warming to the idea.
More and more people are turning on Trump’s deportation gestapo.
Some Republicans find a spine—with Trump ‘doubling down on stupid’
Finally, Republicans have found a line that Trump can’t cross.
The tech billionaire appeared to give Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) the easiest layup of her career by amplifying an easily debunked conspiracy theory about her.
As President Trump threatens Iran, Venezuela, Mexico, Greenland and more, renowned historian Alfred McCoy says the United States is “an empire in decline,” following a predictable pattern of militarism abroad and political instability at home as it loses power and influence on the world stage. “American politics become increasingly contorted and irrational,” says McCoy.