Habeas Corpus
Week of March 7-13, 2025
Welcome to TRACKING THE CRISIS, a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the new 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
Arrest, visa revocation of pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil sends ‘chilling’ message for free speech as Trump Administration targets campus protests. On Saturday night, ICE agents arrested Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil at his home and is holding him in an ICE detention facility in Louisiana pending deportation. Khalil, a Palestinian born and raised in Syria, is a legal permanent resident of the United States under an F-1 student visa and one of the lead student negotiators for Columbia during the pro-Palestine campus encampment movement in spring of 2024. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on X that the arrest was part of a larger effort, announced by Trump on Monday, to revoke green cards and visas of ‘pro-Hamas’ student protestors – an effort Axios reports is being assisted by AI searches of statements made by students on social media. Trump warned on Monday that Khalil’s arrest would be the “first of many” in a crackdown on campus protest. The State Department’s legal justification for Khalil’s arrest relies on an obscure provision of the Cold War-era Immigration and Nationality Act, a McCarthyite 1952 law that codified immigration restrictions for ‘subversives’ and was used by the initial lawmakers to target Jewish Holocaust survivors from Eastern Europe suspected of being Soviet agents. Khalil’s arrest occurred just after the Trump Administration canceled $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia University, citing the university’s failure to ‘comply with federal anti-discrimination laws’ by allowing protests characterized as ‘anti-Semitic harassment’. Axios reports that Khalil appealed to Columbia University for protection the day before his arrest. The arrest and planned deportation of Khalil has raised alarms across the political spectrum as a ‘trial run’ for wider suppression of free speech in the United States under the Trump Administration. On Monday, the Department of Education issued a statement announcing the investigation of 60 universities that experienced pro-Palestine demonstrations during the protest wave of 2024, including universities that have voluntarily complied with the Administration’s new directives. Various commentators warn of the implications of Khalil’s arrest as precedent, including its place in history as a development of the War on Terror and US support for suppression of dissent abroad, a prelude to broader mass deportation programs planned by the Trump Administration, an evolution of longstanding GOP aspirations to suppress campus protest, and an increasing chill effect on academic freedom as right-wing organizations such as Turning Point USA seek more presence and influence on college campuses.
Budget showdown looms as Senate Democrats reject House’s stopgap spending bill and plan an end run around government shutdown. As the budget resolution passed two weeks ago by House Republicans galvanized intense pushback from Democrats and Republican constituents over proposed Medicaid cuts and threatened a government shutdown, House Speaker Mike Johnson on Saturday revealed what he hoped would be a ‘clean’ stopgap bill as a short-term plan to continue government spending through September. While the continuing resolution still sparked some concerns among GOP lawmakers, House Republicans, aided by pressure from Trump and Vance, largely voted along party lines to pass the stopgap measure on Tuesday. As the bill passed to the Senate, Democratic senators refused to commit to passing the bill, which includes provisions weakening Congressional oversight of executive actions. On Wednesday, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer announced that Senate Democrats would reject the bill, renewing the threat of a government shutdown. As Senate Democrats weighed the apparent dilemma of allowing a temporary spending bill that would ‘give a blank check to Trump’ or trigger a government shutdown that could give Elon Musk more power to cut federal agencies while putting the blame on Democrats, Schumer pursued a last-minute gambit on Wednesday night by proposing his own 30-day continuing resolution to push for bipartisan renegotiation of the budget while putting the onus back on Republicans to avert a government shutdown. Majority Leader John Thune on Thursday morning appeared willing to entertain the Democrats’ amendment; as of this writing the Senate is in continued discussion and the outcome remains uncertain.
Stock markets tank as Trump tariffs destabilize global economy. On Monday, U.S. markets recorded the worst rout of the year; the Dow Jones plummeted nearly 900 points and NASDAQ recorded its biggest meltdown since 2022 as investors fled to bonds en masse amid growing panic around the state of the global economy in light of Trump’s refusal to rule out a recession and escalating tariff wars with Canada, China, and the European Union. Despite Trump’s election-season promises to pursue a ‘pro-growth’ agenda, the Administration’s more recent economic message of “no pain, no gain” has wiped over $4 trillion of value from U.S. markets, erasing all gains since his inauguration. On Tuesday, Trump met with top corporate business leaders at the annual Business Roundtable, defending his tariff policies against calls from the group to put an end to the trade war and sparking greater confusion among the business community by denying recession fears; FTC chair Andrew Ferguson also addressed the group, noting that the Administration would be selectively regulating mergers and acquisition deals based on unclear criteria. Markets closed on a volatile note as investors declared markets were “sick and tired” of Trump’s chaotic policy moves. On Wednesday, Trump increased tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%, prompting the EU to impose retaliatory measures targeting up to €26 billion of American industrial and agricultural exports – primarily from red states – and Canada imposed a 25% duty on over $20 billion of U.S.-made products. The New York Times has provided a timeline of the tariff wars as Trump swings back and forth on trade policy, sometimes within a matter of hours. The moves sparked consternation among Republican lawmakers as well as state governors worried about the impact on farmers. Despite a small bump in markets on Wednesday from a relatively mild inflation report, by Thursday stock markets officially slid into correction territory, heightening the risk of a financial crisis.
What trade war and global uncertainty may look like for Main Street and working-class Americans. As Trump and his allies signaled impending ‘economic pain’ for all Americans in the near future, consumer angst hit a high across all income levels this week. NBC News explores the implications of increasing ‘stagflation’ on consumer prices, the labor market, and real wages for working people. Bloomberg notes how rising prices for a broad range of everyday products will hit low-income households the hardest, as Reuters notes how Trump’s tariff policies are unlikely to prompt a large-scale renaissance of American manufacturing. CNN reports that impacts on small businesses could hit the hardest levels since 1973. The Washington Post has published a map of where and to what extent economic instability could affect American jobs; and CNBC reports on how the EU’s new tariffs will affect specific regional economies in the United States. The San Francisco Chronicle outlines how Trump’s retaliatory 200% tax on European wine and spirits is sowing chaos in California’s wine country; and NBC News reports on how China tariffs could affect ethnic enclaves across the country that are reliant on imports of culturally specific goods.
Trump’s moves to consolidate executive power undermine structural pillars of U.S. Constitutional government. On Friday, Talking Points Memo reported on a leaked email from a White House official outlining a legal strategy to exert executive control over independent agencies and circumvent Senate confirmation of appointed officials. With over a hundred active lawsuits challenging DOGE and Trump’s executive actions, Trump’s executive order last week targeting a top law firm attempts to set chilling rules over legal challenges to the Administration, including the stripping of security clearances and access to federal records and contracts for legal firms, as well as requiring plaintiffs to pay security bonds in the case of injunctions that block an executive order. According to legal analysts, Supreme Court Justice John Roberts has signaled a willingness to overturn precedent in regards to Trump’s power to remove and appoint judges, a move that could undermine the rule of law through weakening the ability of the judicial branch to act as a check on presidential power. Experts warn that as recent firings of top officials at government watchdog agencies undermine the power of independent regulation and oversight of media and elections, Trump may gain the ability to manipulate official data as he sees fit, and could even disrupt the election cycle to circumvent term limits to remain president for a third term – and perhaps beyond. A new legal review paper authored by Rohan Grey comprehensively unpacks the attempts by DOGE and the world’s richest man to seize control of the Treasury payments system and the implications for a constitutional crisis, noting: “A nation in which a single government IT official can effectively commandeer all federal budget activity is a nation vulnerable to attack and compromise by a dictatorial president.” Observers have also commented on the complicity of the GOP-controlled Congress, citing a small clause in the Republican spending bill that would prevent Congress from voting on Trump’s ‘emergency’ powers to levy tariffs at will. Jamelle Bouie notes in the New York Times how the impending constitutional crisis exposes a long-term degradation of constitutional norms and the vulnerability of the republic to an autocratic president and oligarchic coup.
Immigration updates: New ICE director, rising detentions as Trump doubles down on migrant crime narrative. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem announced the appointment of Todd Lyons as ICE’s acting director on Sunday. Noem noted Lyons’ long-standing working relationship with border czar Tom Homan, saying he would “lead the agency to target, arrest and deport illegal migrants through working with local law enforcement." Lyons, previously head of Boston’s ICE office, was praised as “the toughest enforcement and removal operation chief in the country” by anti-immigration advocates in Boston as the city faced retaliation from the Trump Administration for its sanctuary city policies. Noem also announced plans to stamp out media leaks warning communities of ICE raids by using lie detectors on employees. On Tuesday, the Miami Herald reported that Trump is considering adding Cuba and Haiti to the Administration’s travel ban list, in addition to Afghanistan and Pakistan which was announced last week. On Thursday, Trump took his birthright citizenship order to the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn three lower court decisions that placed a pause on the policy. Also on Thursday, DHS announced that migrant detention centers were at full capacity as the agency eyed private contractors for the expansion of detention facilities. Detainees in multiple states reported shortages of food, clothing, hygiene products, and other basic needs in detention centers as the number of incarcerated migrants rapidly increases. A Canadian woman arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border while trying to obtain a visa for a job in Los Angeles reports that she was put in chains and revealed the “inhumane” conditions inside the ICE facility where she was detained. AP reports that two Republican PR firms were awarded non-competitive contracts for DHS’ $200 million ad campaign to praise Trump for his crackdown on illegal immigration. Trump continued to push the narrative of migrants as criminals this week, as the Department of Interior announced the renaming of Texas’ Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge to honor Jocelyn Nugaray, a girl who was allegedly murdered by ‘illegal immigrants’ affiliated with Venezuelan gang Tren de Agua in 2024. On Tuesday, the Independent reported that the Department of Justice had deleted a webpage featuring a study which showed that undocumented immigrants are only half as likely to be arrested for violent crimes as U.S. citizens. The New York Times reports that businesses around the country, from senior care centers to restaurants and the hospitality industry, are struggling as more immigrants are staying home due to deportation fears.
Deadline looms for second round of mass layoffs as multiple federal services impacted by DOGE cuts. On Thursday, federal agencies faced a deadline to submit plans for a second wave of mass layoffs as a California judge ordered the Trump Administration to reinstate thousands of federal workers who were laid off in recent weeks. The Justice Department refused to allow OPM head Charles Ezell to testify on the mass firings of probationary employees in a Thursday hearing challenging the Administration’s justification for the firings for ‘performance’ reasons. Last Friday, the Trump Administration announced a unilateral end to collective bargaining for over 50,000 TSA workers, raising alarms for other public sector unions. NPR reports on the hundreds of federal buildings slated for lease terminations, comprising up to a quarter of the government’s total real estate, nearly wiping out many public-facing offices providing services for the public; including a number of Tribal BIA and Indian Health Service offices. The Administration has also frozen $60 million in federal housing contracts, stalling hundreds of affordable housing projects across the country. On Tuesday, USAID officials directed staff to shred or burn classified material and personnel documents without confirming that the agency had complied with the Federal Records Act. Fortune Magazine reported on Monday that DOGE had rolled out an AI chatbot to automate several government tasks and replace fired workers. Cuts to the FAA have significantly chilled airplane travel as a slew of recent crashes have made travelers more fearful and prompted pilots to take on the task of reassuring passengers. The New York Times reported on the bleak atmosphere inside the IRS as massive cuts have hit the agency at the height of tax season; one ousted official has ‘vowed revenge’ on DOGE for “trying to politicize human capital.” On Thursday, the United States Postal Service announced plans to cut up to 10,000 employees, as Postmaster General Louis DeJoy signed an agreement with DOGE to “assist in identifying and implementing efficiencies” in the department. NBC News reports on how the mass layoffs are taking a toll on federal employees’ mental health, and how pregnant employees are struggling with the stress of finding insurance coverage and new work after being fired.
Trump Administration cuts hit education services around the country. On Tuesday, the Department of Education announced plans to fire 1,300 employees, cutting its workforce by half; DOE offices also closed on Wednesday for ‘security’ reasons and staff were ordered to leave the building by 6pm on Tuesday. AP reports that the federal student loan website was shut down as of Wednesday. On Friday, Trump signed an executive order limiting eligibility for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to exclude graduates working for nonprofits that engage in “what we consider to be improper activities.” U.S. students studying in foreign countries under the Fulbright scholarship received an email that their funding was frozen indefinitely, leaving some students stranded. The New York Times reports that universities around the country are cutting back on budgets and student admissions due to uncertainty around federal funding, “sowing chaos” on university campuses as research grants, scholarships, and NIH funding for laboratories are frozen. Tribal schools, including Haskell University, were “immediately and severely impacted” by the cuts, reminiscent of a long history of U.S. government ‘broken promises’ to Indian Country.
Environmental regulations gutted as Trump moves to increase logging in National Forests, privatize public lands, and eliminate environmental justice. Last week, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to find ways to bypass environmental regulations in order to increase commercial logging in National Forests, and appointed former lumber industry executive Tom Schulz as head of the U.S. Forest Service. Trump also explored creating a federal committee nicknamed the “God Squad” with the authority to approve projects impacting protected endangered species. After thousands of mass layoffs to National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service staff, Mother Jones reports this week on how congressional Republicans are building support for a sell-off of public lands. The State Department announced on Wednesday that it will no longer share air quality data from embassies to the EPA’s AirNow monitoring system, affecting the ability of scientists to analyze the effects of air quality on communities worldwide. On Wednesday, the Trump Administration announced the rollback of dozens of regulations controlling pollution from vehicles, power plants, and manufacturing. EPA head Lee Zeldin announced plans on Wednesday to shutter all of the agency’s environmental justice offices, and canceled 400 grants for environmental justice and diversity initiatives as dozens of nonprofit environmental groups found themselves locked out of the EPA’s payment system on Tuesday.
Trump Administration attempts to reverse progress on climate change, as NOAA cuts jeopardize public safety. Trump’s purge of climate and DEI language in federally funded programs have left farmers in the lurch as hundreds of farm projects that mention climate have been stalled. Climate-related cuts this week include the ending of HUD’s Green Resilient Retrofit program, ‘targeted’ cancellation of Biden-era wind energy programs, and cuts to USAID that could wipe out nearly a tenth of global climate finance. As the purge of federal climate actions prompt oil companies to drop renewable goals and increase drilling, Politico reports on the Administration’s attempt to produce research showing how global warming benefits humanity in order to overturn a key EPA ruling on greenhouse gas emissions. NOAA announced plans this week to cut 20% of its staff, impacting the National Weather Service’s ability to deliver potentially lifesaving information on weather forecasts during a particularly intense winter storm season. The Trump Administration also canceled disaster training for meteorologists this week, hampering the agency’s ability to inform and respond to natural disaster events. The Revolving Door Project has published a report outlining the many implications of the agency’s staffing cuts to public health and safety.
As deadly measles outbreak spreads, RFK Jr. embraces fringe theories as federal cuts impact public health. A second death from measles was reported last week in Texas, as new cases spiked over 35% in just a few days; the outbreak has now spread to over a dozen states as New York and California reported new cases this week. Despite HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr’s assurances that tackling the measles outbreak is a ‘top priority’ and issuing a statement encouraging MMR vaccinations last week, he continued to issue conflicting public health advice downplaying vaccines, including recommending vitamins and cod liver oil as treatment, and attributing the main drivers of the outbreak to ‘poor diet and health’. CNN reports that ‘extraordinary measures’ were required to contain a previous measles outbreak in 2019. As the CDC launched a new study on a popular Internet theory linking vaccines and autism, the Trump Administration abruptly pulled its nomination of Dave Weldon to lead the CDC, as his anti-vax views made it unlikely that he would secure enough votes for confirmation. As part of the push to slash federal budgets, RFK Jr. declined to renew millions of dollars in research funding at the NIH, canceled approximately 40 grants for studies related to vaccine hesitancy, and issued a list of keywords, including ‘cancer moonshot,’ ‘gender ideology,’ ‘vaccines,’ and ‘measles,’ to flag projects at the National Cancer Institute for further scrutiny. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is facing cuts of up to half of its staff; and Johns Hopkins, the nation’s leading institution on health research, announced that the Trump Administration had cut over $800 million dollars in NIH funding for its local and international health research efforts. On Tuesday, RFK Jr. convened the first meeting of his Make America Healthy Again Commission in private, as he urged food companies to limit chemical additives in food products.
Safety threats to transgender people escalate with prison transfers, passport restrictions, targeting of transition care, and conversion therapy. Over the weekend, the Guardian reported that transgender women prisoners were being transferred to men’s prisons despite court orders barring the Bureau of Prisons from transferring transgender inmates per Trump’s executive order. The Advocate notes that the Prison Rape Elimination Act requires prison officials to assess the risk of sexual violence for inmates, as one judge noted that transgender plaintiffs had “straightforwardly demonstrated that irreparable harm” would follow from the transfers. Attorneys for the prisoners report that prison staff are changing trans inmates’ gender markers and subjecting trans women to invasive searches by male guards, among other violations of their civil rights. The State Department’s restrictions on transgender passport rules have left trans travelers stranded in foreign countries, with many transgender people in a position where they feel unsafe to travel. Doctors administering gender-affirming care are reporting increasing incidents of threats to their safety, as trans people feel increasingly unsafe in their daily lives. The LA Times reports on how more transgender Americans are looking to move abroad to escape an increasingly unsafe environment in the United States. The Supreme Court announced on Monday that it will take up a case regarding LGBTQ+ conversion therapy in Colorado, in which a decision may potentially roll back protections for trans and gay people from harmful and coercive treatments. A new report this week by Media Matters finds that lack of coverage for trans issues in most mainstream media outlets has left Fox News as the dominant media voice covering transgender subjects and shaping the public narrative. On Thursday, CNN issued a call for transgender people to contact the outlet with their stories on how the Trump Administration’s policies are affecting them. In Congress, a foreign affairs committee meeting abruptly ended when GOP chair Keith Self misgendered Sarah McBride, the first transgender person elected to Congress; she responded by calling Self “Madam President,” sparking an argument between Republican and Democratic committee members.
Tracking the Money: conflicts of interest and privatization under the Trump Administration. Last week, the Treasury Department announced it would no longer be enforcing parts of the Corporate Transparency Act, a 2021 law aimed at curbing the use of shell companies to conduct illicit financial activities. Public Citizen released a report finding that the Trump Administration has dropped 89, or one out of every five, current enforcement investigations and actions against corporations during Trump’s first six weeks in office. Politico reports this week on the flood of white-collar criminals vying for presidential pardons as Trump opens the door to ‘corporate clemency’. As 130 House Democrats sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Melanie Krause demanding answers regarding over 7,000 layoffs at the IRS, Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out that “wealthy tax dodgers” stood to benefit most from cuts to compliance personnel. Elon Musk has personally backed a Delaware bill, written by Musk’s own lawyers, to limit shareholders’ ability to hold corporate executives accountable for mismanagement while also restoring Musk’s $56 billion pay package from Tesla. As the Republican budget bill threatens to slash Medicaid funding, the American Medical Association is quietly lobbying behind the scenes to raise Medicare fee payouts for physician providers. Wired reports that amid sweeping cuts to regulatory agencies, an advocacy group called the Freedom Cities coalition has been meeting with the Trump administration to draft legislation allowing the establishment of “freedom cities” where corporations can engage in “clinical trials, nuclear power startups, and building construction” without prior approval from federal agencies. Bloomberg reports on Donald Trump Jr.’s role at investment firm 1789 Capital, which is teaming up with Elon Musk to invest in Musk companies like xAI and SpaceX to create a “parallel economy” benefiting MAGA supporters. The New York Times reports this week that Elon Musk has informed Trump advisers of his plans to put $100 billion into PACs controlled by Trump’s political operation. While DOGE scrutinizes federal services for “waste” and terminates leases on federal buildings, HuffPost reports on Trump’s weekend golf excursions costing taxpayers at least $18.2 million; and the Intercept reports on the Pentagon’s multi-million dollar portfolio of 145 golf courses serving military facilities. Justice Department attorney Elizabeth G. Oyer claims she was dismissed from the DOJ one day after refusing to recommend the restoration of Mel Gibson’s gun rights that were revoked after his 2011 domestic violence conviction. This week, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders pushed HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. to disclose the details of a series of private dinners at Mar-A-Lago between RFK Jr, Trump, and pharmaceutical executives from Pfizer and Eli Lilly.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Academics, students, and communities mobilize in solidarity with Mahmoud Khalil and to defend free speech. On Monday, over 1000 protestors gathered in New York City’s Foley Square for an emergency action to protest ICE’s arrest of pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Kahlil last Saturday night. On the same day, a federal judge blocked Khalil’s planned deportation pending a detention hearing later in the week. Over the next few days, protests continued in New York as demonstrations in solidarity with Khalil and free speech rights spread to campuses across the country: Jewish students at Columbia University organized a campus demonstration on Tuesday along with rallies at Stanford and University of Wisconsin, at UC Berkeley and Birmingham, Alabama on Wednesday, and at Iowa State on Thursday. Columbia professor James Schamus published an open letter to his fellow Jewish faculty members to join in solidarity with Khalil and his supporters to defend free speech and academic freedom. Protestors also confronted immigration czar Tom Homan in Albany on Wednesday, as New York Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani asked Homan “do you believe in the First Amendment?” On Thursday, activists with Jewish Voice for Peace crowded the lobby of Trump Tower to protest Khalil’s continued detention, resulting in nearly 100 arrests. Also on Thursday, Khalil’s legal team filed an appeal arguing for his immediate release, citing that the arrest was in violation of the First Amendment.
#TeslaTakedown protest movement gains momentum at dealerships across the country. Tesla cars and dealerships have become a focus for widespread anger against Elon Musk and the Trump Administration as “Tesla Takedown” protests spread across the country, prompting Trump himself to defend Musk this week by showing Tesla cars on the White House lawn as GOP lawmakers such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Tesla shareholder, pushed to label protests as “domestic terrorism.” While a few actions have included vandalism such as the destruction of Cybertrucks, the majority of the protests have been peaceful, with some activists organizing weekly demonstrations at their local Tesla dealership. Other actions have seen confrontations between protestors and MAGA supporters. In New Orleans, a Cybertruck participating in a Mardi Gras parade was pelted with beads and received boos from the crowd. The electric car brand’s popularity has plummeted in recent weeks even among those who already own them, as celebrities publicly donate their cars and embarrassed Tesla owners attempt to disguise their cars to avoid hostility. Tesla owners looking to sell off their cars are finding limited resale value and are having trouble finding buyers, as “no one wants to own them” in light of Musk’s controversial actions in government. As Trump increasingly lashes out against the protests, activists say they take it as a sign that the protests are working. Tesla sales have plummeted worldwide as its stock hit its lowest point in five years this week, wiping nearly $148 billion off of Elon Musk’s personal net worth. More Tesla Takedown protests are scheduled for this weekend; a searchable map and calendar of local protests can be found at this site.
Republicans and Democrats face pressure from constituents at local townhalls. As the House moved into recess this week, Democratic legislators saw a marked uptick in attendance at townhall meetings, while Republicans were urged not to hold them at all as they faced increasing anger from constituents. More than 10,000 people attended a Bernie Sanders rally in Michigan, and thousands more flocked to rallies in Wisconsin as part of Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. Rep. Mark Pocan drew a capacity crowd in his home district as he challenged his Republican colleague Derrick Van Orden to face constituents and be transparent about what the GOP is doing in Washington. The Washington Post reports that “buyers’ remorse is boiling over” at Republican townhalls as constituents push back against their representatives over Trump policies. Videos of confrontations at GOP townhalls are going viral on social media as representatives are heckled, sometimes devolving into shouting matches with angry voters. In North Carolina, a veteran received a standing ovation as he was dragged out of a townhall with Rep. Chuck Edwards after shouting at the lawmaker over his support for Trump and Musk’s mass firing of federal workers. Over the weekend, GOP leadership told Republicans to stop holding public events, prompting a public outcry and demand for representatives to face constituents in several districts. Despite the House GOP campaign chairman declaring that “voters will reward us” for cutting the size of government, some Republicans face potential political defeat should the party allow cuts to Medicaid to go through. While Democratic lawmakers are seeing increased support and engagement at their townhalls, they have also faced increasing pressure from frustrated constituents worried about cuts to federal services, with many asking them to fight harder against the Trump-Musk agenda.
Democrats fractured over ‘feeble’ resistance, differing strategies to confront Trump agenda. As House Democrats head into their annual policy retreat this week and Senate Democrats weigh the possibility of a government shutdown, internal schisms between centrist and progressive factions of the party are becoming more apparent as the party struggles to muster a robust opposition to the Trump Administration. The New York Times broadly outlines the party’s differing approaches ranging from accommodation to resistance, while rank-and-file Democratic voters grow increasingly frustrated over Congressional Democrats’ feeble response and are demanding more from their leaders. Party insiders are also divided on what to do amid growing criticism; progressive activists want the party to embrace a populist fighting agenda, while longtime campaign operative James Carville suggested the party “roll over and play dead” as a tactical maneuver. Former Clinton pollster Doug Schoen said he was “actively considering” leaving the Democratic Party out of frustration over their ‘irrelevant’ opposition in the present moment. An internal poll conducted this week by Navigator Research found that Democratic constituents are rapidly losing trust in the party, with a majority finding the Democratic leaders to be “elitist” and “not looking out for working people.” An academic study of mainstream political strategies in Europe found that “accommodative strategies…lead to more voters defecting to the radical right.”
Anti-Trump boycotts go global as consumers reject Trump’s trade war and corporate support for Trump policies. As the Trump Administration’s oscillating tariff strategy destabilizes global trade, consumers around the world are pushing for an international boycott of U.S. products. World leaders facing the prospect of tariffs are watching Canada this week as the nation fights back against Trump’s escalating rhetorical and economic targeting of the country. The New Republic weighs the potential cost of a global boycott against U.S. products, as online groups helped consumers choose non-U.S.-made alternatives to commonly purchased goods. A marketing poll conducted this week showed roughly 1 out of 10 Amazon shoppers planned to participate in the week-long boycott of Amazon and other companies owned by Jeff Bezos that started on March 7. Airbnb faced boycott threats this week as well after co-founder Joe Gebbia announced he would be joining the DOGE team. The Christian group Faithful America registered more than 12,000 pledges to boycott “one or more” companies that align with Donald Trump and his policies as part of their Lenten fast. U.S. News & World Report profiles seven major corporations facing boycotts over Trump policies.
Federal worker resistance. Business Insider reported this week on the many “random acts of protest” by which federal workers are quietly resisting Trump and DOGE in their workplaces. As DOGE’s cuts to the Social Security Administration took effect, workers and supporters hit the streets in protests at federal buildings across the country. A veteran locked himself to a signpost outside the White House on Tuesday to protest cuts to the VA. After Labor Department employees won their struggle to reinstate their jobs last week, Gwynne Wilcox, the first Black woman to chair the National Labor Relations Board, was met with cheers from dozens of colleagues upon her return to the office on Monday. The AFGE vowed this week to fight the Trump Administration’s unilateral rejection of collective bargaining rights for tens of thousands of TSA workers. Fired workers at the 18F tech division are inviting federal workers and citizen users of online government services to submit their stories of how tech tools have helped them navigate federal systems, and list ways to help federal workers preserve essential services. AFGE, the biggest union for federal workers, also urged Senate Democrats this week to vote no on the GOP spending bill, stating that a government shutdown is preferable to the Trump/Musk CR. The Federal Unionists Network held a mass organizing call on Thursday for federal workers and supporters to share stories and hear about a new campaign of actions and town halls to “Save Our Services.” Democracy Forward has invited federal employees terminated in the first wave of firings to join a mass appeal to the MSPB to reinstate their jobs - workers have until Friday, March 14, to sign up at CivilServiceStrong.org. Yale 360 featured an interview with Canadian geographer Eric Nost to talk about Canadian scientists’ rapid response efforts to download and preserve U.S. federal data in danger of being scrubbed off U.S. government websites.
Grassroots Protests around the country this week and upcoming. Thousands of people gathered in Washington DC and in 31 states to “Stand Up for Science” in a mass day of action on Friday. Researchers and doctors took to the streets to protest the Trump Administration’s deep cuts to scientific research, laboratories and educational institutions. Scientists also rallied in France in solidarity with U.S. researchers. The American Prospect outlined ways that local communities can still organize for climate action under the Trump Administration. On Saturday, Women’s Day marches took to the streets in several cities to “Unite and Resist” Trump and Project 2025, joining with International Women’s Day rallies around the world. A caravan of activists traveled from Chicago to Washington DC last week to support Mayor Brandon Johnson’s testimony defending Chicago’s sanctuary city policies. JD Vance confronted protestors in Cincinnati over Ukraine policies, claiming protestors ‘chased’ his 3-year-old daughter, while a video shared on social media showed a more peaceful situation. Democracy Docket reports on the many ways that ‘organic resistance’ is showing up to protest the Trump agenda. Upcoming protest rallies announced this week include:
A three-day “Descend on DC” series of actions in Washington DC, beginning with a ‘Veterans’ March’ on Friday, March 14 at the National Mall; a ‘Media March’ on Saturday, March 15 at Fox News Headquarters; and a ‘Save America’ protest against Project 2025 on Sunday, March 16, at the Heritage Foundation.
A National Day of Protest in solidarity with the Descend on DC action on March 14th, encouraging activists to rally at state Capitols and Tesla dealerships in their local community.
A protest at University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA on March 19th against Turning Point USA, a campus group known for sponsoring right-wing extremist speakers and supporting neo-Nazi movements.
The group Advocates for Trans Equality is calling for activists to flood public comment channels at the State Department on March 20th to block/reverse changes to passport rules that hurt transgender travelers.
Indivisible Chicago is holding a Rally for Trans Visibility on Sunday, March 30th at the Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago.
A March for Immigrant Workers is being called for Cesar Chavez Day, March 31st, at Memorial Park in Delano, CA. The event is sponsored by the United Farm Workers, SEIU, and the California Federation of Labor Unions.
A new website called the Big List of Protests is aggregating calls for upcoming local actions around the country.
LGBTQIA+ resistance and community defense for transgender people. On Saturday, drag artists staged a rally outside the Kennedy Center to protest Trump’s takeover of the institution and the cancellation of queer shows. As LGBTQ+ and disability rights organizations mobilize to resist Trump’s crackdown on nonprofits, advocates also warned the DNC against softening their position on trans rights in any attempt to compromise with Republicans on policy. Waging Nonviolence featured an article from LGBTQ+ grassroots organizers this week, sharing experiences and lessons learned from the movement for trans liberation in the South. Humanitarian groups in Mexico are offering safe haven to trans migrants on the border, as they advocate for strengthening asylum policies for groups targeted by the Trump Administration. The Intercept reports on how health providers are using lessons learned from defending abortion rights to continue serving trans patients with gender-affirming care despite legal and policy attacks from the Trump Administration. The AP profiles Karen Ortiz, an administrative judge at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission who continued to pursue cases on behalf of LGBTQ+ people despite Trump Administration directives to drop the cases. ProPublica has published an in-depth account of the confrontation between the state of Maine and the Trump Administration over allowing transgender athletes to compete in school sports. Online activists have launched the Queer Liberation Library, an online archive of over 1,200 LGBTQ+ related books to support queer youth deprived of essential information by local school book bans.
Lawsuit Updates.
CNN reports this week on the growing chorus of judicial voices challenging Trump’s overreach of executive power and erosion of constitutional norms.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ordered the ‘urgent release’ of DOGE-related documents under the Freedom of Information Act, citing the “vast and unprecedented power” and “unusual secrecy” surrounding the agency which has already effected vast changes in the federal government.
On Wednesday, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order against Trump’s executive order targeting law firm Perkins Coie, which had wide-ranging implications for the ability to mount legal challenges against the Administration.
On Monday, a federal judge reaffirmed a preliminary injunction against the implementation of Trump’s executive order to eliminate DEI policies in every agency of the executive branch.
The organization Climate United has filed a suit against the EPA for ‘illegally’ freezing over 20 billion dollars in funding for climate change-related projects. The funding freeze has left many nonprofits without the ability to complete projects or pay staff.
Native American Tribes and students sued the Bureau of Indian Education on Friday over cuts to staff and services, leaving Haskell University with acute shortages in faculty and staff for student services.
Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Treasury, Department of Education, and the Small Business Administration for failing to comply with FOIA requests for information about DOGE and its activities within the three agencies.
On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected a bid by Republicans to forestall a set of lawsuits brought by Democratic states to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate change.
The pro-democracy group Free Speech for People argued that the Trump Administration’s “blatant disregard for the judicial branch” constitutes grounds for impeachment. Over 250,000 people have signed a petition calling to impeach Trump for a second time, garnering support from Democratic Rep. Al Green who signaled his willingness to bring articles of impeachment against Trump.
