US politics

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The second administration of President Donald J. Trump has already started working its special magic across the Washington, D.C. capital region. Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have fired tens of thousands of federal workers, with more to come. Those who have lost their jobs include people who […]

Donald Trump

Can Fortress Europe survive Trump, Putin and the new Political Dark Age?

John Feffer

( Tomdispatch.com ) – The news of Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest surprised me. It’s not that I doubted the former leader of the Philippines was guilty of the horrific crimes detailed in his International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Duterte himself boasted quite openly of the mass killings he’s been accused of. But I always thought […]

Climate Crisis

Your Gasoline Car is an Engine of Trump’s Fascism: Resistance requires going Green

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Mussolini defined fascism as the “merger of state and corporate power.” But not all corporations are equally complicit. Obviously, our current fascist moment is driven in part by a merger of the US government with the portfolio of companies owned by Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The focus on the […]

African-Americans

Making America White Again: The Deafening Silence of Trump’s Black Supporters

Clarence Lusane

( Tomdispatch.com ) – During the 2024 election campaign, candidate Donald Trump’s most controversial rally occurred at New York’s Madison Square Garden. A comedian on the program referred to the island of Puerto Rico — and by implication Puerto Ricans — as garbage. He and the Trump campaign were rightfully pilloried and called out for […]

Featured

Signalgate shows Trump bombing of Yemen just for Show, Ignores Dead Yemeni Children

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The high-level Trump administration Signal message thread on bombing Yemen on which someone on the staff of National Security Adviser Michael Waltz included The Atlantic‘s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg is what is impolitely called in the military a SNAFU (Situation Normal All F*cked Up). Yes, it is a security breach of […]

Authoritarianism

The “War on Terror” Comes Home in the Trump Era

Karen J. Greenberg

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Four years ago, I published Subtle Tools, a book on the erosion of American democratic norms in the face of what came to be known as the Global War on Terror. Both what had been done in the name of “national security” in response to the 9/11 attacks and how it […]

Boycotts

Trouble at Tesla and Protests against Trump’s Tariffs suggest consumer Boycotts are starting to Bite

The Conversation

By Erin O’Brien, Griffith University and Justine Coneybeer, Griffith University (The Conversation) – When the United States starts a trade war with your country, how do you fight back? For individuals, one option is to wage a personal trade war and boycott products from the US. President Donald Trump has said no nation will be […]

China

Can Trump’s Plan to Target China for its Oil Imports from Iran Succeed?

Neil Thompson

London (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has reinstated the maximum pressure campaign of his first administration on Iran. Trump wants to push Iran into ending its nuclear programme, and the White House has tried to severely curtail Iran’s oil exports as way of putting […]

Democracy

Trump rages to snuff out Democracy’s Candle: Will we Rage against the Dying of its Light?

Rebecca Gordon

( Tomdispatch.com ) – Allow me to stipulate that I do not wish to die. In fact, had anyone consulted me about the construction of the universe, I would have made my views on the subject quite clear: mortality is a terrible idea. I’m opposed to it in general. (In wiser moments, I know that […]