Contributing Writers

We look at the influence of Trump’s top budget adviser and the architect of Project 2025, Russell Vought, over the Trump administration’s policies and Trump himself. Vought is “the driving force behind the [government] shutdown” and “basically a second commander-in-chief, a shadow president,” says ProPublica reporter Andy Kroll, who spent months researching Vought for an extensive profile on the Office of Management and Budget director.

“We are under attack by our own federal government,” says Democratic Congressmember for Illinois Delia Ramirez about Trump’s immigration crackdown in Chicago. “What we’re seeing is an agency that has gone rogue, that has been emboldened and that thinks that they’re above the law.” She urges Americans to report and record ICE activity to strengthen future legal battles, “because what ICE is stating and what we’re seeing in the community in the streets is inconsistent.

Immigrant rights and labor icon Dolores Huerta, now 95 years old, is continuing her lifelong activism as immigration raids intensify across the country. She addressed the No Kings rally in Watsonville, California, this weekend to speak out against the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda. “This is ethnic cleansing,” Huerta tells Democracy Now! “We have never seen such horrific, horrific attacks on our people.

An estimated 7 million people took part in No Kings rallies Saturday to protest President Trump’s authoritarian policies. Organizers say protests were held at about 2,600 sites across all 50 states in what was one of the largest days of protest in U.S. history, surpassing the first No Kings day of action in June. One of the biggest mobilizations was in Washington, D.C., where Trump has fired thousands of federal workers and sent in National Guard troops to patrol the streets.

“Even after having released almost 2,000 people last week, the Israeli military is still holding about 9,000 Palestinians, in what it calls security prisoners or detainees,” says Sari Bashi, an Israeli American human rights lawyer and former program director at Human Rights Watch. “Only about a thousand of them have actually been convicted of any crime. The vast majority of people being held are being held without trial.

We speak with Al Jazeera reporter Ibrahim al-Khalili in Gaza, where the shaky ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to be holding despite sporadic violence. Gaza officials say Israeli forces have repeatedly violated the agreement, including when they opened fire on a civilian bus, killing 11 members of a Palestinian family attempting to return home in Gaza City.

Even as President Trump has cracked down on dissent and sent troops into multiple cities, organizers of Saturday’s anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests expect millions to join at least 2,500 rallies across all 50 states and several U.S. territories. The turnout could surpass the 5 million protesters who turned out for “No Kings Day” events in June.

There are growing questions over the legality of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. “These are sitting ducks, and we are simply engaged in cold-blooded murder of individuals who may or may not be drug smugglers,” says David Cole, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. Cole says that President Trump is “committing homicide” by killing people without trial.

Just days after the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, President Trump has issued new threats against Hamas, saying Thursday the United States would back a military intervention against the group if it fails to uphold the ceasefire agreement.
“There is the fear all the time that the war will be renewed,” says Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who joins us from Ramallah.

The Department of Defense has introduced a new press policy requiring the Pentagon to authorize any reporting on itself. Top TV news outlets have rejected the pledge; only the far-right outlet One America News has agreed to sign on. Dozens of reporters with the Pentagon Press Association turned in their government-issued press badges and left the building Wednesday rather than agree to the rules.

Even as President Trump has cracked down on dissent and sent troops into multiple cities, organizers of Saturday’s anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests expect millions to join at least 2,500 rallies across all 50 states and several U.S. territories. The turnout could surpass the 5 million protesters who turned out for “No Kings Day” events in June.

There are growing questions over the legality of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. “These are sitting ducks, and we are simply engaged in cold-blooded murder of individuals who may or may not be drug smugglers,” says David Cole, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. Cole says that President Trump is “committing homicide” by killing people without trial.

Just days after the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, President Trump has issued new threats against Hamas, saying Thursday the United States would back a military intervention against the group if it fails to uphold the ceasefire agreement.
“There is the fear all the time that the war will be renewed,” says Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who joins us from Ramallah.

The Department of Defense has introduced a new press policy requiring the Pentagon to authorize any reporting on itself. Top TV news outlets have rejected the pledge; only the far-right outlet One America News has agreed to sign on. Dozens of reporters with the Pentagon Press Association turned in their government-issued press badges and left the building Wednesday rather than agree to the rules.

The Department of Defense has introduced a new press policy requiring the Pentagon to authorize any reporting on itself. Top TV news outlets have rejected the pledge; only the far-right outlet One America News has agreed to sign on. Dozens of reporters with the Pentagon Press Association turned in their government-issued press badges and left the building Wednesday rather than agree to the rules.

Even as President Trump has cracked down on dissent and sent troops into multiple cities, organizers of Saturday’s anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests expect millions to join at least 2,500 rallies across all 50 states and several U.S. territories. The turnout could surpass the 5 million protesters who turned out for “No Kings Day” events in June.

There are growing questions over the legality of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean. “These are sitting ducks, and we are simply engaged in cold-blooded murder of individuals who may or may not be drug smugglers,” says David Cole, professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. Cole says that President Trump is “committing homicide” by killing people without trial.

Just days after the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas went into effect, President Trump has issued new threats against Hamas, saying Thursday the United States would back a military intervention against the group if it fails to uphold the ceasefire agreement.
“There is the fear all the time that the war will be renewed,” says Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent for the Occupied Palestinian Territories, who joins us from Ramallah.

The Department of Defense has introduced a new press policy requiring the Pentagon to authorize any reporting on itself. Top TV news outlets have rejected the pledge; only the far-right outlet One America News has agreed to sign on. Dozens of reporters with the Pentagon Press Association turned in their government-issued press badges and left the building Wednesday rather than agree to the rules.

The Supreme Court appears ready to strike down Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, threatening the equal representation of Black voters, and potentially greenlighting Republican gerrymandering ahead of the 2026 midterm election. The case concerns Louisiana’s six congressional districts, two of which are majority-Black, in approximate proportion to the Black population of the state.

We speak to Argentine journalist Pablo Calvi about the U.S. government’s multibillion-dollar bailout for Argentina, which could grow from $20 billion to $40 billion as Argentina is rocked by an ongoing economic crisis. “I don’t see that the bailout would benefit the Argentine people or the American people, for that matter,” says Calvi. Instead, he believes the tech industry will reap the financial rewards from its ties to U.S.

Palestinians who have been released from Israeli prisons as part of the hostage exchange with Hamas are describing physical and psychological torture, medical neglect, deprivation and more. Moureen Kaki, a Palestinian American aid worker with Glia International who has been interviewing the returnees, joins us from Khan Younis to share some of their stories. Most were captured and imprisoned without charge by the Israeli military in the past two years.

We get an update from Gaza as the ceasefire there concludes its first week. Despite the agreed-upon cessation of hostilities, the Israeli military has continued its deadly attacks on Palestinians. Israel’s pledge to let in the 600 aid trucks needed daily to fill the dire need among the starving population has likewise fallen short. “We do not have enough supplies entering Gaza,” says Rachael Cummings, who is with Save the Children International in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.

As Trump threatens to send more federal troops to Chicago, grassroots movements have mobilized to protect immigrants from ICE raids. Democracy Now!’s Juan González, who is based in Chicago, reports that there have been “meetings all around the city, at college campuses and in neighborhoods, to build this self-defense group.