Trade War
Week of March 28-April 3, 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
Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs take effect, precipitating global economic shock. In the days leading up to Trump’s tariff deadline of Wednesday, April 2, markets, consumers, analysts, and countries around the world braced for the anticipated global upheaval. Alternet reported that “even the rich” were bracing for higher consumer prices and volatility in stock markets. Dismal 1st Quarter reports for 2025 added to economic worries over the anticipated tariffs. Automakers who had met with Trump last week were warned not to raise prices, while Trump said in a Sunday interview he “couldn’t care less” about how car prices would be affected, apparently confident that U.S. consumers would choose domestic brands. Bloomberg reported that hedge funds prepared for the shock by selling off stocks at record rates in March. Chinese president Xi Jinping urged global CEOs to protect global supply chains as the East Asian economic giants vowed to respond as a bloc to Trump tariffs.
On Wednesday, April 2, Trump unveiled his sweeping global tariff plan, imposing a 10% tariff across the board on all imported products, with additional ‘reciprocal’ tariffs raised against U.S. trade partners. Markets reacted immediately, with Asian and European markets falling precipitously. U.S. market reaction followed on April 3 to the tariffs, characterized as “worse than the worst-case scenario” for Wall Street, with the biggest one-day nosedive since 2020 and the worst market opening since 2001 as investors fled U.S. stocks and braced for further stagflation and retaliatory measures. Over $2.5 trillion was wiped from the U.S. market on April 3, and the exchange value of the U.S. dollar suffered its worst one-day loss on record as the U.S. economy emerged as the ‘biggest loser’ from global market reaction. The CEO of furniture company Restoration Hardware was caught off guard by the market dip, exclaiming “oh shit” in the middle of an earnings call as the company’s stock price dropped 44 percent. An infographic shared on social media details the companies and sectors most affected by the market losses, with U.S. tech companies taking the brunt of the impacts. World leaders condemned the escalation of Trump’s global trade war as China and the European Union considered retaliatory countermeasures; French president Emmanuel Macron urged companies to pause investment in U.S. industries and eyed retaliatory measures specifically against U.S. Big Tech companies and Elon Musk in particular, while China moved to align itself with countries hardest hit by the tariffs, particularly other Asian countries. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Thursday that “the system of global trade anchored on the U.S. … is over.” Shipping executives warned of the impacts the tariffs would have on maritime trade routes, while even the oil industry, exempted from Trump’s tariffs, experienced hard losses from the stock rout. Trump reacted positively to the shocks on Thursday evening, saying: “I think it’s going very well…the markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country’s going to boom. And the rest of the world wants to see, is there any way they can make a deal.” The Wall Street Journal warned that Thursday’s market losses could be “just the beginning” of a bigger crash in stocks and bond yields as the economy slips into recession.
Congress attempts political damage control as impacts of Trump tariffs set to hit U.S. consumers and businesses. Republican lawmakers worried about the political fallout of Trump’s tariff plan and its predicted impact on red states and districts sought ways for Congress to push back against the tariffs, which took effect on Wednesday, April 2. Hours after Trump announced the tariffs, GOP Senators joined Democrats to vote 51-48 on a resolution to reject the declaration of ‘trade emergency’ Trump used as a justification to enact 25% tariffs on Canadian imports. Republican Senator Chuck Grassley and Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell introduced a bill on Thursday to require Congressional approval for new tariffs, hoping to buck the arbitrary power of the president. Conservative economists and industry leaders also blasted the tariff plan, calling Trump’s numbers “made up” and anticipated legal challenges as investors, global leaders and even Trump aides struggled to understand Trump’s intentions. Grist has detailed the impact of tariffs on U.S. innovation and industry; by Thursday, layoffs were already being announced at major companies, including auto supplier Stellantis which laid off 900 employees in Michigan and Indiana, and Whirlpool Corporation, which laid off one-third of its workforce at an Amana plant in Iowa. The Washington Post has detailed the potential impact of the tariffs on average American consumers, as the tariffs will affect the price of consumer goods from automobiles to eggs and many other everyday items like clothes and coffee. Bloomberg has published a running tracker of Trump tariffs and their impact on exported and imported goods worldwide.
International students under threat as Rubio revokes visas and ICE detains more students over Palestine, activist causes. On Friday, March 28, hundreds of international students woke up to a message from the State Department urging them to ‘self-deport’ over connections to Palestine and other activist causes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio boasted publicly about revoking over 300 visas of people engaged in pro-Palestine activism that he characterized as “lunatics.” Zeteo reports that many students’ legal statuses have been rescinded without their or their university’s knowledge. Last week, the Trump Administration issued a directive to foreign consulates on new requirements to ‘vet’ student visas, including surveillance and scrutiny of students’ social media posts especially on Palestine. Mother Jones reports on how ICE is targeting and detaining more students over Palestine activism in violation of court orders barring their rendition. Eight international students at Arizona State University and ten students at Colorado State and University of Colorado have had their visas revoked this week for unstated reasons. This weekend, another student was detained by ICE at the University of Minnesota, and a Russian researcher at Harvard was detained and is facing deportation, presumably because of her opposition to the Ukraine war. CNN has published profiles on what is known about the nearly dozen student activists who have been targeted or detained by ICE in the last two weeks. Several of these students have been transferred across the country to a Louisiana detention center that has faced allegations of human rights abuses. A new map project is tracking the now over 800 people who have been ‘disappeared’ by ICE without due process, presumably for political reasons.
Trump Administration threatens more universities with funding freezes as institutions change policies to appease Trump and deflect threats. This week, the Trump Administration escalated its actions against higher education institutions as Columbia president Katrina Armstrong stepped down over Columbia University’s controversial capitulation to Trump Administration demands. Ivy League schools Harvard and Princeton became the next top institutions targeted for federal funding, as the Trump Administration froze several dozen research grants at Princeton on Tuesday, April 1; and on Thursday, April 3, Brown University became the latest Ivy League school under threat as the Administration threatened to freeze $510 million in grants over protests on its campus. As Harvard came under scrutiny for nearly $9 billion in federal funds, Harvard president Alan Garber began making proactive changes to placate the Trump Administration, including dismissing leaders of its Center for Middle Eastern Studies, cutting staff and pausing its Religion and Conflict educational initiative, and ending its research partnership with the West Bank’s Birzeit University. As the Justice Department trained its sights on Stanford, UC Berkeley, UCLA and UC Irvine over affirmative action admissions policies and diversity programs, other universities scrambled to change policies in order to appease the Trump Administration. The University of Michigan ended its once-exemplary diversity programs this week in an attempt to fend off Administration scrutiny of its funding; former Doctors without Borders head Joanna Liu reported that NYU had cancelled her scheduled lecture on medical conditions in Gaza due to fear of Trump Administration retaliation; Johns Hopkins instructed its staff and faculty ‘not to intervene’ in ICE operations on campus; and Florida Atlantic University sought an agreement with ICE to allow campus police to question and detain suspected immigrants. The Intercept also reported this week on pro-Israel group Canary Mission’s efforts to ‘blacklist’ University of Pennsylvania students, revealing its connections to UPenn’s board of trustees. The New York Times reported on how many universities are employing surveillance methods to investigate and report on students involved in campus protests, which could constitute a violation of civil liberties.
‘Bloodbath’ at public health agencies as mass layoffs gut FDA, CDC and NIH as infectious and chronic diseases are on the rise. On April 1, layoffs began of more than 10,000 employees at the Department of Health and Human Services, in what has been described as a ‘bloodbath’ purge of several public health agencies including the FDA and CDC. The ‘massive’ cuts were announced by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week as part of a restructuring of the Department to bring more functions directly under RFK Jr’s supervision, and directly impact the federal government’s capacity to regulate food safety and respond to infectious disease outbreaks, as well as federal trials, review, and approval of new medications. A list of eliminated divisions at the CDC circulated on social media this week outlines the broad range of public health initiatives impacted by the cuts, which physicians have warned ‘effectively dissolves’ the CDC and threatens lives. Other cuts resulted in decimating assisted living support for disabled people and seniors, ending patients’ clinical trials with no warning, undoing years of applied HIV/AIDS research, and eliminating the Office of Infectious Disease. Layoffs also effectively eliminated HHS offices tasked with responding to public records requests, contradicting RFK Jr’s earlier promise of “radical transparency” at the agencies. In addition to the layoffs, DOGE instructed HHS to eliminate 35% of contract funding at the National Institutes for Health and over $2.9 billion in contract cancellations at the CDC in sweeping, “careless” cuts that analysts say could “get people killed.” Terminated health workers spoke out to press and social media about the layoffs and their implications for public health, describing how they found out their jobs were terminated after being denied entry into their office buildings; others with discrimination grievances were told to contact an HHS official who had died last year; and workers at a San Francisco regional office described how their agencies had “been under attack” from RFK Jr. and the Trump Administration. A CDC worker published an emotional ‘love letter’ to colleagues as they awaited their fate; and other workers posted to platforms such as LinkedIn and Substack about their experiences and the wider consequences of firing a ‘generation’ of scientists dedicated to public health. As the current measles outbreak tops 500 cases over 19 states, and outbreaks of dengue and whooping cough impact several more U.S. states, HHS cuts have undermined childhood vaccine programs and suppressed forecasts and responses to the measles outbreak. As growing rates of chronic and infectious diseases cut the life expectancies of Americans across the economic spectrum to well below that of other advanced capitalist countries, experts warn that the cuts represent a dangerous setback for public health and safety and effectively ‘break’ the progress of science in the United States. SciMap has produced an interactive map of the economic impact of federal health cuts to communities throughout the country.
Federal judge holds hearing into use of Alien Enemies Act as Trump anti-immigrant agenda expands. Federal judge James Boasberg held a hearing on Thursday, April 3 ordering the Justice Department to ‘show cause’ in the Trump Administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport several Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. While no ruling was issued, Boasberg grilled DOJ officials over who advised the flights to keep going despite Boasberg’s temporary restraining order blocking the deportations. Finding it a ‘fair likelihood’ that the Trump Administration acted in violation of his court order, the judge is now ‘strongly considering’ officially holding Administration officials in contempt as early as next week. The court development comes days after the Trump Administration admitted to ‘mistakenly’ deporting a Maryland man with legal protected status to El Salvador due to an ‘administrative error’, while insisting there was no legal recourse to bring him back to the United States; a situation that brings up questions about the dangers of flouting due process in ICE’s mass deportation campaign. JD Vance attempted to justify the man’s continued detention as ‘acceptable collateral damage’, insinuating he had gang affiliations; statements without evidence that commentator Mehdi Hasan slammed as ‘racist’ lies. While criticism of the Administration’s El Salvador deportations continue to mount, even from traditional conservatives, ICE continued deportation flights to the facility this week as Trump Administration officials sought more partnerships with third-party countries for immigrant detention. The Lever exposes the ‘billion-dollar business’ of deportation flights, as ProPublica airs the concerns of flight attendants on deportation duty who say a disaster is “only a matter of time.” There are also increasing concerns regarding the targeting of immigrants with legal status by the Trump Administration and ICE, including unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, tech workers on H1B visas, green card holders traveling outside the United States, and even dual citizenship holders, who found themselves in the crosshairs of a new bill introduced by Republicans this week.
Critics, immigration advocates slam Trump Administration’s targeting of activists in mass deportation campaign. According to observers, the Trump Administration appears to be specifically targeting activists, employing its immigration sweep as a ‘McCarthy’-esque purge of dissidents; evidence includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s revocation of visas of several hundred student activists, the visa revocation of Nobel laureate, former Costa Rican president and vocal Trump critic Oscar Arias Sanchez, and last week’s detention of Washington farmworker union leader ‘Lelo’ Zeferino. A recent op-ed for the Washington Post discusses the First Amendment rights of non-citizens and the contradictions in immigration law that make immigrants vulnerable to abuse. Four Senators who visited the ICE facility at Guantanamo Bay this week slammed the Trump Administration’s ‘misguided’ mission as news emerged that over $40 million in taxpayer dollars have been spent to house a few hundred migrants at Guantanamo, many of whom had no criminal records. Zeteo profiles border czar Tom Homan and his ‘cruelty’ that epitomizes the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant agenda, and Right Wing Watch circulated a video from far-right activist Nick Fuentes who suggests that the Administration should ‘round up a few innocent people’ to send a message to dissidents.
Trump signs executive order stripping collective bargaining rights for federal workers. Late Thursday, March 27, Trump signed an executive order eliminating collective bargaining rights for a majority of federal agencies, impacting over one million federal workers. The move drew immediate backlash from federal unions and labor advocates; on Monday, March 31, the National Treasury Employees Union moved to sue the Trump Administration over the ‘illegal’ curtailment of federal workers’ rights to organize. The union-busting order rattled members of Trump’s own party, as Republican lawmakers sought to persuade Trump to rescind the order. On Thursday, April 3, a bipartisan bill seeking to stop Trump’s executive order was introduced into the House by Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Jared Golden (D-ME), facing off against a competing bill in the Senate that aims to ban federal unions. In recent weeks, the Trump Administration has made significant cuts to the Department of Labor, including removing the chair of the Merit Systems Protection Board and Democratic members of the National Labor Relations Board, and appointing a union-busting attorney to head the NLRB. This week, the Administration also quietly dismantled the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a small yet pivotal independent agency which provides collective bargaining and mediation services. On Thursday, April 3, some federal agencies sent notices to employees notifying them of their placement under ‘Schedule F’ status, which removes civil service protections and makes them “fireable at will.” Alternet reports on how Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts to federal agencies represent a return to ‘tyranny of the bosses’; and the Century Foundation this week published an op-ed by ten former agency heads detailing how the attacks on federal workers affect all workers.
Trump Administration aims to rewrite history at the Smithsonian; threatens cutoff of public school funding to end DEI programs, diversity curricula. On Thursday, March 27, Trump signed an executive order calling to “eliminate divisive narratives” from the Smithsonian Museum and restore monuments and statues that have been removed since 2020, urging the institution to focus its displays on “promoting American greatness.” Critics focused on particular phrasing within the order aiming to remove expressions of “improper ideology,” citing that the wording allows Trump to ‘rewrite history’ as he sees fit according to his anti-DEI agenda. Maryland Governor Wes Moore slammed the Trump Administration’s attempt to control the historical narrative through the Smithsonian order as “deeply disrespectful” to the people who shaped American history. Historians also weighed in on the Trump Administration’s move, pointing out Trump’s focus on a single exhibit portraying race as a ‘social construct,’ a fact supported by historical and scientific consensus; and noting that trying to control history through museums and libraries is a characteristic of fascistic regimes. Kevin Young, head of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, one of the institutions targeted by the Trump order, has been on personal leave for undisclosed reasons since March 14; Smithsonian head Lonnie G. Bunch III affirmed in a memo to staff that the institution will continue to operate “free of partisan ideology” despite Trump’s order. This week, the Trump Administration also took aim at public schools, threatening to withhold federal funding unless schools could ‘verify’ that they have eliminated DEI programs; the U.S. Department of Education gave public schools ten days to comply with its directive. The U.S. Naval Library removed 400 books in an anti-diversity purge this week, as the FCC began pursuing an investigation into Disney and ABC’s use of DEI in employment programs. The State Department also sparked outrage throughout Europe as embassies sent letters to European contractors asking them to eliminate DEI as a condition of doing business with the U.S. government; the State Department later downplayed the request as a “piece of paperwork.”
Trump, Noem gut FEMA and disaster programs as record-breaking tornadoes, flooding hit middle America. In March, Trump signed an executive order aiming to downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency and shift most of the responsibility for disaster preparedness and response to the states. Last week, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem expressed her ‘vow’ to eliminate FEMA entirely, raising concerns from disaster experts who say the move would leave vulnerable communities at risk. Congressional Democrats defended the agency, saying that its elimination is “out of the question.” This week, the Trump Administration froze over $10 billion in FEMA funding to states as part of a wholesale review of FEMA programs to ‘ensure they meet Trump’s immigration enforcement’ standards. States slammed the move, saying that FEMA grant funds were allocated by Congress and the freeze violates a court order blocking the Trump Administration from refusing to disburse federal grants. Grist reports on a leaked federal memorandum outlining the Administration’s intent to dismantle the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, FEMA’s largest disaster preparedness and climate adaptation program established in 2018. The Union of Concerned Scientists discusses 7 points from Trump’s FEMA executive order and its implications for states and communities already reeling from the effects of climate change. As Trump and Noem announced the changes to FEMA this week, wildfires continued to ravage parts of North and South Carolina, and a major storm brought tornadoes and flooding to a large swath of the central United States, killing 7 people. In New Orleans, commentators ponder the future of FEMA as the Southeast faces another potentially ‘busy’ hurricane season driven by warming temperatures in the Atlantic. As a top insurer warned this week that the climate crisis could destroy capitalism on a global level, and scientists published a grim warning this week on the health and safety effects of fossil fuels, the Trump Administration and the EPA set up a special email ‘hotline’ this week for fossil fuel companies to request exemptions from environmental regulation.
Social Security in chaos as service cuts, outages and payment changes cause anxiety among older Americans. Wired reported this week that DOGE has begun attempts to ‘update’ Social Security’s digital infrastructure, vowing to rebuild the complex system with modern code ‘within months’ - an ambitious task that experts say carries serious risks of coding errors, bugs and system failure. Already, staffing cuts at Social Security and announcements of new identity-verification procedures have caused havoc at regional offices, overwhelming call centers and online systems as beneficiaries attempt to ensure their checks will continue. The San Francisco Chronicle recounts various experiences of frustrated seniors in accessing Social Security services this week, and Talking Points Memo details accounts of a strange web outage this week that may point to DOGE already meddling with the system’s infrastructure. Elon Musk was blasted this week for repeating falsehoods about Social Security and immigrants, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned that Trump and Musk could make ‘backdoor’ cuts to Social Security without Congressional oversight. An interview with Institute for Policy Studies fellow Sam Pizzigati outlines how the current issues with Social Security service access may be a deliberate ‘sabotage’ on the part of Trump and DOGE to hasten the agency’s privatization, while Bernie Sanders warned that the lives of up to 67,000 Social Security recipients could be at risk due to Trump and Musk cuts and service issues.
Tracking the Money: conflicts of interest and privatization in the Trump Administration. Last week, Public Citizen released a report detailing the over 100 corporations whose regulatory enforcement cases have been dropped by the Trump Administration. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists released a report this week on DOGE’s cuts to the IRS, showing how the office that investigates billionaires’ tax evasion has been cut by 38% since January. A federal prosecutor in Los Angeles was fired on Friday, March 28 at the behest of the White House after an ex-Fatburger CEO lobbied the Trump Administration to intervene in his case. Wired has published a report mapping individual DOGE employees and their links to tech industry giants with interests in the direction of the federal government under Trump and Musk. The Revolving Door project reports on Trump companies’ crypto connections, as Politico details how a new crypto company managed by Trump’s two sons has derailed Congressional review of digital asset legislation. As more law firms capitulate to the Trump Administration’s demands this week, The Lever goes deep on the history of Big Law in politics, and the details surrounding law firms’ deals with Trump. On Wednesday, April 2, a federal judge dismissed the corruption case against disgraced New York mayor Eric Adams, albeit not without criticism of the DOJ, whose request to drop the charges was largely seen as a quid pro quo after Adams agreed to cooperate with the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement in New York City. The Intercept reported this week on a historic first for a U.S. president as Trump issued a pardon for a corporation - a crypto firm which had been convicted and fined $100 million for money laundering. As Elon Musk gained more notoriety for pouring millions into the Wisconsin State Supreme Court race, the Brennan Center for Justice explores the increasing influence of billionaire money in judicial elections.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
Trump Administration and ICE actions to chill campus speech galvanize campus protests. Last week, the ACLU released a letter from detained activist Mahmoud Khalil detailing the circumstances of his arrest and urging students everywhere to continue to “defend the right to protest for Palestine.” On Monday, March 24, Columbia professors rallied outside the university gates, blasting Columbia’s administration for capitulating to Trump. The protest follows on the heels of an open letter signed by members of the Columbia History department urging resistance to Trump actions, and a boycott effort against Columbia supported by nearly 1,000 teachers, academics, and organizations. Middle East Eye notes that Columbia faculty protests highlight threats to free speech while sidelining the underlying issue of Palestine; an off-campus action mounted on Thursday by Columbia student workers marched to free Palestine and Mahmoud Khalil as well as reinstate students and union leaders who were expelled for supporting pro-Palestine protests. Less than 24 hours after Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk was arrested by ICE, over 2,000 students and local activists rallied at Powder House Park to demand the release and safe return of Ozturk and commit to protecting vulnerable members of the community; a dispatch from the protest can be read here. On Thursday, March 27, activists rallied at Boston’s City Hall protesting Ozturk’s detainment, including a moment of silence for the dead in Gaza and those disappeared by ICE. At Cornell, targeted student Momodou Taal released a statement on The Intercept encouraging activists to “escalate for Palestine.” As Penn State faces a $175 million funding freeze from the Trump Administration, campus unions urged the university to fight back against the freeze and protect its DEI programs. The Chronicle of Higher Education featured an article this week detailing lessons learned from Hungarian universities’ fightback against Viktor Orban’s authoritarian attempts at repression.
Democratic leaders fear ‘Tea Party-style’ revolt from progressive, liberal base as anger grows over inaction. As Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez drew record crowds for their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour this past weekend, Democratic leaders worried about facing a ‘Tea Party-style’ revolt from both progressive and liberal rank and file constituents who are growing ever angrier over leaders’ lack of resolve in resisting Trump and Musk’s actions to gut the federal government. As calls grew for Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer to step down after his capitulation over the budget bill, some House Democrats have tried harnessing the base’s populist anger to ‘appeal to working people over economic issues.’ Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, eyeing a Senate seat in 2026, started a group this week called the ‘Dignity for Work Institute’ to “illustrate the plight of workers in a country where both major parties have forgotten their concerns.” As House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries struggled to weigh his strategic options, moderate House Dems are bracing for a “tsunami of primary challenges” from younger, more economically progressive candidates who are preparing to challenge traditional leadership. Meanwhile, in Florida’s special election to replace Reps. Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz who have taken positions in the Trump Administration, Democratic challengers in these two ‘deep-red’ districts are out-fundraising the GOP favorites in an election widely believed to be a referendum on ‘buyers’ remorse’ among Trump voters. The New York Times reports that Progressive Caucus member Ro Khanna is challenging JD Vance directly in a series of talks scheduled for April.
Tesla Takedown protests continue to grow despite FBI crackdown, MAGA opposition; global day of action planned for March 29. Protests against Elon Musk and DOGE continued at Tesla showrooms across the country for a sixth straight week as organizers claim the movement is “bigger than ever” amid escalating threats from the Trump Administration. Tesla owners are trading in their cars at record rates to disassociate themselves from Elon Musk, leading to a collapse in resale prices in a parallel slide to Tesla’s cratering stock price. Despite Attorney General Pam Bondi’s threat of ‘severe consequences’ to protest organizers for ‘domestic terrorist’ acts of vandalism at Tesla dealerships, federal law enforcement experts find no connection between the incidences of vandalism, determining the culprits to be “lone offenders.” So far, three people have been charged with vandalism at Tesla dealerships. Meanwhile, MAGA supporters have begun counterprotesting at several locations; a pardoned January 6th rioter has been “standing guard” over Tesla vehicles in Tennessee, and a Florida man faces charges for attempting to drive his SUV into Tesla protestors. Despite the opposition from the Trump Administration and its supporters, Tesla Takedown organizers are pushing ahead with plans for a Global Day of Action at 500+ Tesla locations worldwide on March 29th; a map of local protests can be found at this link.
Constituents in Republican districts hold ‘empty chair’ townhalls to air grievances in the absence of their Representatives. Despite instructions from Republican leadership to cancel Congressional townhalls amid growing constituent anger, voters in red districts are holding “empty chair” townhalls to air their grievances publicly. Over 900 people showed up in Kentucky in an ‘empty chair’ townhall meeting to express frustration at Rep. Andy Barr, refuting Barr’s claims that the crowd was made up of ‘paid protestors.’ 1,400 constituents packed an ‘empty chair’ townhall in Ohio, where organizers directed questions to ChatGPT in lieu of the two Republican lawmakers who were invited to attend. Over 2,000 signatures were delivered to Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett demanding a townhall as staffers locked the office to keep out protestors. In Little Rock, nearly 800 constituents filled a local venue to capacity as Rep. Tom Cotton skipped the event to attend a $7,000 per plate fundraiser instead. GOP lawmakers who did hold townhalls faced fierce confrontations from constituents angry about the direction the Trump Administration and DOGE has taken against federal services. Two GOP representatives in Utah faced calls of ‘shame’ and ‘do your job’; Iowa Rep. Chuck Grassley faced down shouts from elderly constituents angry about Social Security cuts; and Wyoming Rep. Harriet Hageman fielded angry questions from veterans. Democrats were not immune from constituent anger; several hecklers were removed from a Colorado town hall with Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Brittany Petersen after shouting that the Dems were not doing enough to protect the environment and stand up to Trump. Rep. Ro Khanna visited several California red districts this week in an attempt to connect with Republican voters frustrated at their party’s collusion with the Trump Administration and DOGE. Alternet reports on the overall atmosphere of voter frustration surrounding townhall events.
National data shows a surge of grassroots and local protests across the country, supplanting large centralized actions as a characteristic of Trump Resistance 2.0. A group of Harvard researchers analyzing protest data have shown that although attendance at individual protests is smaller than during the first Trump Administration, the cumulative number of localized protests this year have more than doubled the protest count at the same point in 2017. Analyses have shown that protests under Trump 2.0 are far more diverse in tactics, and growing in number and impact as activists focus on local actions and community defense. The Conversation discusses the lasting impact of protests from the first Trump Administration as a way of giving hope to today’s protestors. The New Republic has published a guide for fledgling protest organizers, as Indivisible maintains a running calendar of local actions and volunteer opportunities.
Federal Worker & Labor actions. Postal workers with the National Association of Letter Carriers mounted demonstrations this week against privatization of the U.S. Postal Service, promising to “fight like hell” against proposed cuts to the agency. On Tuesday, March 25, federal workers rallied in Chicago against DOGE’s job cuts to the EPA. In response to Trump’s executive order dismantling the Department of Education, Sunrise Movement activists held a ‘study-in’ protest at the Department’s D.C. headquarters, while a coalition of teachers unions, school districts, and other educators united to challenge Trump’s order in court. AFGE members rallied in Richmond, Virginia on Friday, March 21 to protest the Trump Administration’s attack on federal workers. Federal workers rallied in Iowa City this past weekend to protest layoffs at the VA, where many employees remain out of work despite a federal judge’s order to reinstate them. Canadian MP Charlie Angus posted photos from a rally at the American consulate in Toronto to protest Trump’s annexation ambitions and express solidarity with federal workers. Senate Democrats have launched a whistleblower portal where federal workers can securely submit information about DOGE’s actions at federal agencies. Fired workers from the federal government’s 18F tech division have been posting blogs outlining what their work has done to help Americans access federal services. Former Department of Health and Human Services workers have launched a new website to collect information about the impact of cuts to HHS services and staff. The federal worker-led Save Our Services campaign has organized a rapid response network with a website where workers can sign up for local actions and organizing opportunities.
Upcoming protest actions and events.
Saturday, March 29: information on Tesla Takedown Global Day of Action local protests can be found here.
Sunday, March 30: Several cities will be holding rallies for Trans Day of Visibility in solidarity with LGBTQIA+ communities.
Monday, March 31: United Farm Workers, SEIU California, and the California Federation of Labor Unions will be holding a mass march in Delano, CA in honor of Cesar Chavez Day and to defend immigrant workers against the Trump Administration’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.
Monday, March 31: The group We Rise United is calling for a ‘Cyber Blackout Monday’ to boycott online retailers tied to tech billionaires.
Tuesday, April 1: The science and education-oriented group Kill the Cuts will be holding a mass organizing call over Zoom to prepare for an April 8th Day of Action against the Trump Administration’s cuts to research and education.
Saturday, April 5: Indivisible and the 50501 Movement is organizing a National Day of Action for ‘Hands Off 2025’. Details on the mass action in Washington DC can be found at this link; and information on local protests can be found on the event calendar.
May 1st: Socialist Alternative has called for mass actions around the country to protest Trump and Musk and demand an end to imperialist wars. The May Day Detroit Coalition has posted local plans on its website.
Lawsuit updates.
A federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order blocking Perkins Coie law firm employees from entering government buildings, stating that the order is “retaliatory in nature” given that the firm worked with Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016.
On Monday, March 24th, several teachers’ unions and school districts filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s order to lay off over 1,300 workers from the Department of Education.
On Monday, March 24th, a Republican-appointed federal judge ruled against Texas A&M’s decision to shut down a student group’s “Draggieland” drag show on First Amendment grounds; the show will proceed on Thursday.
On Monday, March 24th, a federal judge barred DOGE from accessing student loan information and other sensitive data from the Department of Education.
On Tuesday, March 25th, several civil rights and immigration service groups filed a motion to temporarily block the order to freeze Homeland Security grants and provide emergency relief to organizations affected by the funding freeze.
On Tuesday, March 25th, the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration for threatening to defund Columbia University and restrict academic freedom.
On Wednesday, March 26th, DC ACLU and Democracy Forward filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump Administration on behalf of federal workers who were targeted for their participation in DEI programs.
On Wednesday, March 26th, the Public Citizen Litigation group and several immigrant rights organizations filed a lawsuit against a Trump Administration plan to share private information from the IRS with ICE in an attempt to identify immigrants for deportation.
