EVERY REPUBLICAN WHO DOESN’T STAND UP SHARES THE BLAME

Every Republican, especially those in Congress, who does not resist the undemocratic and illegal actions and his administration shares the blame for what’s happening. The Republican Party of Trump is a dark shadow of its former self. Many past Republican leaders would be horrified.

Every Republican, especially those in Congress, who does not stand up and push back against the undemocratic, unconstitutional, and illegal actions of Trump and his administration shares the blame for what’s happening. They are enabling a Trump dictatorship or monarchy. Congressional Republicans are unilaterally surrendering their constitutional powers. The Republican Party of Donald Trump is a dark shadow of its former self. Many past Republican leaders would be horrified.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

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Although President Trump and his administration get blamed (and rightly so) for the undemocratic and illegal policies and actions they’re taking, every Republican, especially those in Congress, who does not stand up and push back is also to blame. This includes Governors, state Attorneys General, state legislators, Mayors, and others, as well as former elected Republican officials. If there was a loud chorus of Republicans, including current and former elected officials, standing up and criticizing Trump and his administration, it would make a dramatic difference.

Silent and acquiescent Republicans, particularly those in Congress, are enabling the dismantling of democratic norms, processes, and institutions. Congressional Republicans are unilaterally surrendering their constitutional powers to the Trump administration. They are ceding the separation of powers, which is the Constitution’s remedy for potential executive tyranny (and the tyranny of the King of England). They are enabling a Trump dictatorship or monarchy.

Congress by its inaction and, on occasion, by its actions is: [1]

Surrendering the power of the purse, i.e., the appropriation of funds and the requirement that the executive branch spend money as appropriated.
Surrendering the power to legislate and set policy, e.g., on immigration policies and enforcement, declarations of war and use of military force, tariff and trade policies, etc.
Surrendering meaningful scrutiny of Trump appointees and agencies.
Surrendering oversight of the President and his actions, i.e., any Congress with any integrity would have impeached and convicted Trump multiple times for his unconstitutional and illegal acts.

In the current budget crisis and government shutdown, Trump is refusing to meet with Democrats to negotiate a resolution, Republican House Speaker Johnson is refusing to even have the House in session to work on budget bills or compromises, and Republican Senate Majority Leader Thune is refusing to hold any meaningful negotiations with Democrats on a resolution to reopen the government. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to withhold available funds for food assistance (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP]), which puts food on the table for 41 million Americans (roughly 1 out of every 8 residents).

Even before the government shutdown, the Trump administration was illegally withholding (aka impounding) funds appropriated by Congress. Head Start programs, which provide early education and child care, as well as other supports, to low-income children under school age and their families, have been forced to cut back and now, with the shutdown, some are closing. This jeopardizes young children’s growth, development, and health, and means parents can’t go to work because they don’t have child care. Foreign aid, research grants, and emergency response funds for natural disasters are other examples of illegally withheld funding.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is illegally using public and private funds to finance favored people and initiatives, such as paying military personnel, funding ICE, prosecuting personal enemies, deploying the National Guard and military personnel on American soil, and demolishing part of the White House and building Trump’s new ballroom. [2]

Republicans and Americans who are not standing up and calling out these undemocratic, unconstitutional, and illegal actions are unpatriotic and share the blame. These actions are hurting Americans and undermining our democracy.

The Republican Party of Donald Trump is a dark shadow of its former self. Ronald Reagan, John McCain, Bob Dole, George H. W. Bush, and many other past Republican leaders would be horrified at the behavior of today’s Republicans and Republican Party.

[1] Nader, R., Fein, B., & Fisher, L., 10/31/25, “The spinelessness of Thune and Johnson is destroying American democracy,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/johnson-thune-congress)

[2] Hubbell, R., 10/27/25, “Democrats continue to stand strong,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/democrats-continue-to-stand-strong)(

HARMS OF THE TRUMP / REPUBLICAN BUDGET

The Trump / Republican budget just enacted will increase the federal debt, make college less affordable, harm our (and particularly women’s) health as well as our health care system, and hurt states’ finances. Please contact your members of Congress and tell them you oppose these budget cuts. Ask them to explain to their constituents the toll the budget will take on every day Americans and on our society.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

The Trump / Republican budget just enacted will increase the federal debt, make college less affordable, harm our (and particularly women’s) health as well as our health care system overall, and hurt states’ finances (among other things). My previous post documented harm to seniors because of cuts to Medicaid, cuts to Medicare, and the weakening of Social Security. I also noted the harm to millions of non-seniors due to the cuts to Medicaid and food assistance.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has just issued its final report on the budget: it will increase the deficit by $3.4 trillion over ten years and result in 10 million Americans losing health coverage from Medicaid (among other things). Low-income children and families will be among the groups hit hardest with about 37 million children losing their healthcare coverage from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). The money from the huge increase in the deficit and the harmful cuts in vital programs helps pay for tax breaks for millionaires and large corporations, as well as grotesque increases in the budgets for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the military. [1]

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S TOTAL DEBT CEILING RAISED: While most people know that the Trump / Republican budget bill increased the annual budget deficits, few are aware that the bill also included a big, $5 trillion increase the federal government’s overall amount of allowable, accumulated debt, i.e., the debt ceiling. You may remember that Republicans threatened to shut down the federal government – and sometimes did – and created crises over the increasing of the debt ceiling when Democrats were president. Despite Republicans supposed concern about the amount of the federal debt, they were happy to increase the debt limit 27 times when Republicans Reagan and George H. W. Bush were president. But when Democrat Clinton was president, the Republicans shut down the federal government twice over increases in the federal debt, although ultimately the debt ceiling was increased eight times during the Clinton presidency. Under Republican president George W. Bush, the debt ceiling was increased eight times without Republican opposition. Under Democrat Obama, the debt ceiling was increased or suspended five times with Republicans threatening government shutdowns and creating crises over their supposed concern over the debt.

These Republican-created debt ceiling crises resulted in dramatic stock market declines and the downgrading of the federal government’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s for the first time ever. In Republican Trump’s first term the debt ceiling was suspended three times with no Republican objections. Under Democratic President Biden, the Republicans returned to their hypocritical objection to increasing the debt ceiling and created another crisis. They also threatened, for the first time in history, to use the filibuster in the Senate to block an increase in the debt ceiling. So, the Republicans’ big increase in the debt ceiling and the annual federal budget deficit in the recent budget bill dramatically underscore the hypocrisy of their claims to be concerned about the federal budget deficit and the debt ceiling.

MAKING COLLEGE LESS AFFORDABLE: The Trump / Republican budget bill reduces and caps the total amount that students and parents can borrow to pay for college from federal sources. It raises interest costs and shuts down or weakens programs that allow loan forgiveness for low-income graduates and those in public service jobs. For new student loans, there are only two repayment plans, both of which are far more expensive than the current options. These changes will cost student borrowers about $355 billion over ten years most of it from repealing reduced loan payments for graduates in low-paying jobs. These budget savings come directly out of the pockets of student borrowers to help pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and increased funding for ICE and the military. [2]

MAKING HEALTH CARE FOR WOMEN LESS ACCESSIBLE: The Trump / Republican budget bill prohibits Medicaid funding from going to any organization that is primarily engaged in family planning services and got more than $800,000 from Medicaid in 2023. Note that federal law already prohibits federal funding from paying for almost all abortions.

The budget bill targets Planned Parenthood because of its abortion services, but it will also dramatically affect many other women’s health care services and many other providers of health care for women. While Planned Parenthood performs about 400,000 abortions a year, it also provides over 5 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted infections, over 2 million family planning and contraception services, and over 400,000 cancer screenings and prevention services. The loss of Medicaid coverage for these services will harm many low-income women.

An example of the impact on non-Planned Parenthood providers is Maine Family Planning. It will lose about $2 million in Medicaid reimbursements (one-fourth of its total budget) for its non-abortion services to roughly 3,500 patients in rural Maine, such as cancer screenings, pregnancy testing, treatment for sexually transmitted infections, and family planning counseling and contraception services. It operates 18 clinics and for about two-thirds of its patients it is their only health care provider. [3]

HARMS TO THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM AND STATES’ FINANCES: The Trump / Republican budget bill will harm the overall health care system by reducing the revenue it receives from Medicaid and Medicare by hundreds of millions of dollars. States simply do not have the resources to fill this gap. Higher insurance premiums and higher co-payments for services from patients will occur. States’ finances will be harmed as at least some states will use their funds to make up for some of the lost federal funding that supports low-income individuals and families. It is estimated that 51,000 preventable deaths will occur each year because of the cuts to the health care system. [4]

For example, in Massachusetts, it’s estimated that the federal budget cuts will reduce payments to MA health care providers by as much as $3.5 billion per year. About 326,000 MA residents (almost 5% of the population or 1 of every 20 people) are projected to lose their health insurance due to the budget cuts. Hospitals are projected to lose $424 million in revenue. As a result, some hospitals will close and some will stop providing services that are less profitable, such as psychiatric and obstetrical care. Emergency rooms may close. Massachusetts (and other states) will be forced to step in and subsidize critically important services, especially in rural areas. Hundreds of rural hospitals across the country are likely to close as they are more dependent on Medicaid revenue than urban / suburban hospitals. [5]

The budget’s new Medicaid work requirements will mean that millions of Medicaid recipients will lose coverage even though they are working or qualify for an exemption from the work requirements because of a disability, for example. They will lose their coverage because they are unable to assemble the necessary paperwork and to jump through all the hoops of presenting it quickly enough to avoid being cut off. By the way, the budget bill also requires them to do this twice a year rather than once a year as is currently required.

Please contact your members of Congress and tell them you oppose these budget cuts. Urge them to speak out against the Trump / Republican budget and to explain to their constituents the toll the budget will take on them and our society.

You can find contact information for your US Representative at http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and for your US Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm.

[1] Hubbell, R., 7/23/25, “Resisting while in political exile,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/resisting-while-in-political-exile)

[2] Kuttner, R., 7/16/25, “Gutting the student loan program,” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2025-07-16-gutting-student-loan-program/)

[3] Whittle, P., & Mulvihill, G., 7/17/25, “Trump’s new bill affects more than Planned Parenthood,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[4] Anderson, S. & Koshgarian, L., 7/9/25, “10 ways the GOP’s big ugly bill could hurt you,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/10-harms-big-ugly-bill)

[5] Globe Editorial, 7/17/25, “One big disaster for Massachusetts health care,” The Boston Globe

REPUBLICAN BUDGET HARMS SENIORS (AMONG MANY OTHERS)

The recently enacted Republican budget bill will harm seniors by reducing Medicaid spending, weakening Social Security, and cutting Medicare. These (and other) budget cuts are being made to help pay for large tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

The Republican budget just passed by Congress and signed by President Trump will harm seniors by reducing Medicaid spending, cutting Medicare, and weakening Social Security. Before I get into some of these details, a couple of notes on other provisions of the bill, of which there are many in the nearly 1,000-page bill’s language. As you probably know, 12 million people are projected to lose their health care due to Medicaid cuts of roughly $1 trillion (yes, trillion) over the next ten years. Medicaid provides health insurance for low-income families and seniors including long-term care for millions of seniors (see more below). Cuts to food assistance programs, primarily the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), will increase hunger for millions of families, including many new mothers and babies where malnutrition may have long-term effects on the babies’ development.

All the cuts in the budget are being made to help pay for large tax cuts for wealthy individuals and corporations. Note that the big tax cuts take effect right away, while many of the program cuts don’t go into effect until after the 2026 election. The Republicans hope that because people won’t be experiencing the program cuts before the election that it will be easier to con voters into voting for Republicans.

Most people know that the budget will increase the federal budget’s annual deficits by over $300 billion for a total of $3 trillion (yes, trillion) over the next ten years. However, few people are aware that the bill increases the federal government’s overall amount of allowable, accumulated debt, i.e., the debt ceiling, by $5 trillion. (I’ll document the Republicans’ hypocrisy on raising the debt ceiling in a future post.)

The Trump administration and Republicans are pumping out lots of disinformation about the budget bill in an attempt to keep the public from understanding the harm it will do.

For example, within hours of the passage of the bill, all of you who are seniors, tens of millions of Americans overall, received an email from the Social Security Administration stating that “The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits” and that “The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries.” [1]

These statements are misleading at best. Only about a quarter (25%) of seniors will see any tax benefit from the bill’s provisions – quite different from the figures used in the Social Security Administration’s email.The bill does not directly eliminate or even reduce taxes on Social Security benefits. What the bill does is temporarily increase the standard income tax deduction by $6,000 for seniors 65 and over. [2] Sixty-four percent of seniors receiving Social Security benefits ALREADY pay no tax on their Social Security payments. This percentage will increase to 88% due to the bill’s provisions. Furthermore, the people who will benefit will be those Social Security recipients who are better off and the richest will benefit the most. By the way, the increase in the income tax deduction will expire in 2028 when Trump’s term in office is ending. [3] [4]

Furthermore, the message from the Social Security Administration didn’t mention that, overall, the budget bill will weaken Social Security by reducing the revenue that flows into the Social Security system. Currently, the Social Security trust fund, built up over many years to help pay Social Security benefits, is projected to run out of money in 2033. After that, Social Security revenue would only be able to pay 77% of promised benefits. Under the Republican budget bill, the Social Security trust fund will run out of money one year earlier, in 2032, and its reduction of future Social Security revenue means that benefits after 2032 would be even lower than the currently projected 77% of the promised level. [5]

The Republican budget’s cuts to Medicaid will harm low-income seniors who qualify for Medicaid (and that they receive in addition to Medicare – which covers all seniors). In particular, it will harm the roughly eight million seniors and people with disabilities whose long-term home and community-based care services are paid for by Medicaid and the 1.5 million seniors in nursing homes. About two-thirds of all nursing home residents are covered by Medicaid. The budget’s Medicaid cuts will significantly reduce revenue for long-term care services and facilities. As a result, 25% of nursing homes are projected to close and over half are likely to have to reduce staff to remain financially viable. Therefore, finding nursing home care, let alone good quality care, will become even more difficult than it is now. [6] [7]

In addition to the direct cuts to Medicaid (government health care coverage for low-income families and seniors), the Republican budget will also force cuts to Medicare (government health care coverage for all seniors). Because of the budget’s large increases in the federal government’s annual budget deficits, the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) Act of 2010 requires across-the-board budget cuts. A mandatory cut of about $50 billion a year to Medicare for each of the next ten years will be required. This cut will take place immediately (while many of the explicit program cuts in the budget are delayed until after the 2026 elections). [8]

Please contact your members of Congress and tell them you are opposed to (or even horrified by) budget cuts that will harm seniors. Tell them you are particularly upset that these cuts are being used to give wealthy individuals and corporations tax cuts. Urge them to speak out against these cuts and to explain to their constituents the toll the Republican budget is taking on seniors and others.

[1] Social Security Administration, 7/3/25, “Social Security applauds passage of legislation providing historic tax relief for seniors,” Press Release (https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#2025-07-03)

[2] Hubbell, R., 7/7/25, “Stay on task: Overwhelm the opposition,” Today’s Edition Newsletter (https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/stay-on-task-overwhelm-the-opposition)

[3] Edelman, L., 7/15/25, “Seniors score, gamblers get rolled in Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’,” The Boston Globe

[4] Siegel Bernard, T., 7/8/25, “Social Security email misleading,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times

[5] Johnson, J., 7/4/25, “Trump Social Security chief applauds budget bill that will harm Social Security’s finances,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-social-security-budget-bill)

[6] Lawson, A., 6/30/25, “The Republican nursing home apocalypse,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/gop-nursing-homes)

[7] National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, Feb. 2025, “Medicaid facts with links to state data,” (https://nacdd.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/250204_NACDD-Medicaid-Fact-Sheet.pdf)

[8] Dayen, D., 7/3/25, “Republicans are cutting Medicare. Not only Medicaid, Medicare.” The American Prospect (https://prospect.org/politics/2025-07-03-republicans-cutting-medicare-not-only-medicaid/)

EXAMPLES OF THE SOCIETAL TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The actions of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are inflicting a serious toll on our society. Examples include their efforts to defund foreign aid and public broadcasting, their weakening of our cybersecurity defenses, and their efforts to eliminate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not to mention all the horrible things in the budget bill.

(Note: If you find a post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

The actions of the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are taking a heavy toll on people, on our society, and on our democratic institutions. Here are some examples.(See this previous post for more examples.)

ACTION #1: Republicans in U.S. House recently passed a bill to rescind $9.4 billion of previously approved funding for foreign aid ($8.3 billion) and public broadcasting ($1.1 billion). The good news is that the Trump administration is tacitly acknowledging that it is illegal for it to cut congressionally approved funding through executive orders or actions by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The vote to pass the bill was 214 to 212 and occurred only after Republican Speaker Johnson had pressured a few Republican representatives to switch their “no” votes and support the bill. [1] Republicans in both the House and the Senate have expressed concerns about this bill.

The bill would rescind funding for foreign aid programs that some of them support, such as President George W. Bush’s emergency AIDS program that has saved over 25 million lives around the globe. These cuts will ultimately harm health and result in deaths here in the U.S. as diseases spread across international borders.

It also would rescind funding that supports 1,500 public TV and radio stations, including many in rural, Republican areas where they are a vital, local resource.

ACTION #2: The Trump administration is weakening America’s cybersecurity defenses at a time when the likelihood of cyberattacks is growing. Trump fired the general who led the National Security Agency and other leaders of our cybersecurity agencies. He has cut staffing and funding for cybersecurity agencies. [2]

This makes no sense because the likelihood of cyber warfare is growing as global tensions and conflicts escalate – in Ukraine, the Middle East, and over Taiwan. U.S. adversaries Russia, Iran, China, and North Korea all have significant cyber warfare capabilities, and there are signs of cyber activity cooperation among them. Cyberattacks can be used for espionage – to steal valuable corporate or government information. Or they can be used to disrupt public infrastructure such as electric power supplies, phone and Internet services, hospitals, banks and financial services, and water supply systems. Recently, Russian hackers disabled the automatic control systems at a rural Texas municipal water plant. This was probably just a test of their capabilities or a warning about what they can do.

ACTION #3: The Trump administration, Republicans in Congress, and their wealthy backers in the financial industry are working hard to eliminate or at least emasculate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). The CFPB was created in response to the financial industry corruption that caused the 2008 financial collapse and resulted in millions of Americans losing their homes due to abusive and fraudulent mortgages. Since its creation, the CFPB has returned more than $21 billion to consumers through enforcement actions on illegal behavior by financial companies. It has also saved consumers untold additional money through its regulation of the financial industry. [3] For example, it has capped exorbitant fees such as credit card late payment penalties and bank account overdraft charges.

The Trump administration and Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have been trying to cut CFPB funding, fire its employees, and eliminate the agency. On February 14, a federal judge ordered a halt to these actions. The Trump administration responded by placing most of the CFPB staff on administrative leave and preventing them from performing their jobs.

On June 10, the head of enforcement for the CFPB resigned, writing: “It is clear that the bureau’s current leadership has no intention to enforce the law.” [4] (Russell Vought is the Acting Director of the CFPB and the Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as well as a key author of Project 2025.)

To benefit the wealthy executives and corporations in the financial industry, the Trump administration is persistently trying to eliminate the only independent agency protecting consumers from predatory and illegal practices of financial industry companies.

YOUR ACTION: Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to oppose these actions of the Trump administration in every way they can. Urge them to speak out against these actions and to explain to their constituents the toll Trump administration’s actions are taking on them and our society.

[1] Edmondson, C., 6/12/25, “House votes to claw back $9 billion for foreign aid and public broadcasting,” The Boston Globe from the New York Times

[2] Klepper, D., 4/21/25, “Nations ready cybersecurity defenses,” The Boston Globe from the Associated Press

[3] Economic Policy Institute, 6/12/25, “Trump administration attempts to close the CFPB, block agency’s work,” (https://www.epi.org/policywatch/trump-administration-closes-the-cfpb/)

[4] Economic Policy Institute, 6/12/25, see above

EXAMPLES OF THE SOCIETAL TOLL OF TRUMP ADMINISTRATION ACTIONS

The Trump administration and Republicans are taking a serious toll on our society. Examples include their sanctioning of unnecessarily aggressive and violent tactics by federal police, their false claims of fighting antisemitism, and their attacks on transgender girl athletes.

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are taking a serious toll on our society. Examples include their sanctioning of unnecessarily aggressive and violent tactics by federal police, their false claims of fighting antisemitism, and their attacks on transgender girl athletes. It’s valuable to document the damage and the toll for multiple reasons.

(Note: If you find this post too long to read, please just skim the bolded portions. Thanks for reading my blog!)

The Trump administration is taking a serious toll on our society, in addition to its toll on individuals’ well-being and safety. (See this previous post for examples of the human toll).

Overall, the toll the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are taking on people, on our society, and on our democratic institutions is immense. The more one looks and the deeper one looks the more damage one sees. At some point it can seem meaningless to document the damage in detail – it’s just omnipresent and unimaginable. And it’s depressing to think about it all.

This is what Project 2025 envisioned and planned to do. However, the swiftness, scope, and cruelty of the actions in these first few months has, I think, been a shock to almost everyone. Part of this is that I’m not sure anyone – even Trump and the Project 2025 authors – anticipated the involvement and aggressiveness of Musk.

I do think it’s valuable to document the damage and the toll for multiple reasons. Here are some reasons to do so:

To identify and make us appreciate all that the federal government does for us, which I think all of us took for granted, at least to some extent.
To identify opportunities for push back and responses that facilitate individuals’ involvement based on where personal interests, experiences, and/or expertise allow each of us to be uniquely effective.
To provide evidence and arguments that will convince more and more people to turn out to vote and to vote against Trump and Republicans. This provides talking points for all of us to use in convincing others to get engaged and to vote. (Note: Democrats also must present powerful reasons to vote for Democrats; something Democrats have not done well, to say the least.)
To identify what will need to be repaired and rebuilt once the Trump administration and Republican control of Congress are over.

Here are some examples of the toll the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are inflicting on our society:

EXAMPLE #1: With Trump’s authorization and encouragement, federal police forces (including Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the FBI) are using unnecessarily aggressive tactics. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), perhaps following their example, has also engaged in unnecessarily aggressive tactics in response to the recent, largely peaceful protests in LA. (See this previous post, which includes more on the unnecessarily aggressive tactics of the Trump administration in LA, the exaggerated reporting of violence by the mainstream media, and a note on the kidnapping-type tactics of ICE in detaining people.)

Jeremy Lindenfeld, a reporter for Capital & Main, a California-based non-profit news source, has reported based on firsthand experience that peaceful protesters in Los Angeles have faced aggressive use of force that violates police crowd-control protocols. He has experience with this because he’s previously covered Black Lives Matter protests and demonstrations on the Israel – Palestine conflict. He reports that in LA he “witnessed law enforcement agencies deploy crowd-control weapons with greater intensity and more indiscriminately than [he] ever had before.” [1] He witnessed clearly identified members of the press being targeted and injured by the police’s use of weapons.

EXAMPLE #2: The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are using Jewish Americans as political pawns. They claim to be fighting antisemitism on college campuses and in protests over the war in the Middle East. However, this is just an excuse to attack colleges and individuals who don’t share their right-wing political views. Attacking colleges and universities is part of Project 2025 and something Vice President Vance has been talking about since at least 2021. [2]

The insincerity of the claims by Trump, members of his administration, and some Republican members of Congress that they are concerned about antisemitism is belied by their support (and pardoning) of January 6, 2021, insurrectionists who attacked the U.S. Capitol carrying Nazi flags and symbols, as well as spouting Nazi rhetoric. Trump also described neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, VA, in 2017 as “very fine people.” Trump has hosted antisemites at his home at Mar a Lago and his biggest financial supporter and (until very recently) his co-president, Elon Musk, has engaged in antisemitic rhetoric and actions on multiple occasions.

EXAMPLE #3: The Trump administration and many Republicans are using LGBTQ+ individuals, and particularly transgender children, as pawns for political purposes. They are vilifying transgender children and denying them access to medical care as well as normal participation in everyday life.

Trump and many Republicans have targeted transgender girls playing public school and college sports. The number of these athletes is tiny and clearly should be handled on a case-by-case basis. Nonetheless, Trump and company are trying to ban their participation in sports. (Note: the NCAA reports that out of 500,000 college athletes, ten are transgender girls.)

Trump has targeted Maine over its laws that allow transgender girls to play on girls’ high school sports teams. He has tried to cut funding for Maine’s schools and to impose other penalties, but Governor Mills has fought back and has prevailed in court.

Recently, one of the very few transgender girls competing in high school sports in Maine won an event at a track meet. A Maine state legislator, Laurel Libby, on national TV, used Trump’s talking points to attack transgender girl athletes. She claimed that they are “pushing many, many of our young women out of the way on their ascent to the podium.” This is false because there aren’t that many transgender girl athletes and because they aren’t, by any stretch of the imagination, dominating girls’ sports. (Note: None of the ten fastest high school girl runners nationally in the events this girl ran is a transgender girl.) [3] Furthermore, Libby endangered the girl by posting a picture of her winning a race and portrayed transgender athletes as violent and dangerous during a legislative hearing.

The girl who finished second in the race won by the transgender athlete stated, “I don’t feel like first place was taken from me. Instead, I feel like a happy day was turned ugly by a bully who is using children to make political points. … No one was harmed by [the transgender girl’s] participation in the girls’ track meet, but we are all harmed by the hateful rhetoric of bullies, like Rep. Libby, who want to take sports away from some kids just because of who they are.”

[1] Lindenfeld, J., 6/10/25, “Police violently crack down on L.A. protests,” Capital & Main (https://capitalandmain.com/police-violently-crack-down-on-l-a-protests

[2] Abraham, Y., 4/3/25, “Don’t be fooled,” The Boston Globe

[3] Wilkins, B., 5/15/25, “2^nd-place runner in high school race rips Maine GOP lawmaker for attacking trans winner,” Common Dreams (https://www.commondreams.org/news/transgender-student-athletes-maine)