The State Department said it has revoked the visas of at least six people for their comments on the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The agency revoked visas from nationals of countries including Argentina, South Africa and Mexico, the department said in a social-media post Tuesday. The department didn’t say if the people were in the country at the time their visas were revoked and didn’t specify what kinds of visas they held or when the visas were revoked.
In one screenshot shared by the agency, a person identified as an Argentine national said Kirk “devoted his entire life spreading racist, xenophobic, misogynistic rhetoric.” A German national wrote “when fascists die, democrats don’t complain,” according to the post.
“The United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans,” the department said.
You may wonder if the State Department has assigned people to go through the social media feeds of every visa holder, which actually wouldn’t be surprising. But no. They don’t need to:
Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, said the day after Kirk’s death that he had directed consular officials to “undertake appropriate action” after seeing social-media posts that glorified violence.
“Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the @StateDept can protect the American people,” Landau said in a post on social media.
They’ve got American citizens informing on their neighbors just like the Stasi. It’s a money saver.
Axios reports on the few, the brave few, who are starting to feel something stiffening in their spines:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia: Once one of Trump’s most loyal and outspoken supporters on Capitol Hill, Greene (along with Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie) has been vocal in calling on the White House to release the Epstein files. And Greene has seemed to echo Democrats in chiding GOP congressional leaders over the shutdown.
“I’m carving my own lane,” Greene posted on X last week, adding that she was “absolutely disgusted” that health insurance costs for millions of Americans would soar if the GOP-led Congress doesn’t extend the tax credits Democrats are demanding to end the shutdown.
2. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt: He told The New York Times that he disagreed with Trump’s decision to send Texas National Guard troops to Illinois as part of the president’s crackdown on crime. Stitt, like scores of Democrats, called it a violation of “states’ rights.”
“Oklahomans would lose their mind” if Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) “sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration,” Stitt said.
3. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox: He took to X over the weekend to express his unhappiness about the Trump administration canceling North America’s largest solar power project, saying, “This is how we lose the AI/energy arms race to China.”
4. Vivek Ramaswamy: Theformer GOP presidential candidate, now running for Ohio governor, made clear he disagreed with the administration’s pressuring of ABC that led to the brief suspension of late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, a frequent Trump critic.
5. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas: He compared FCC chair Brendan Carr’s implied threats to broadcasters such as ABC to mafia tactics, calling them “dangerous as hell.”
Cruz said he plans to introduce a bill to make it easier for people to sue the government for censorship.
6. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine: The senator, who’s up for reelection next year, criticized White House budget director Russ Vought last week over his decision to permanently lay off thousands of federal workers during the shutdown.
“Regardless of whether federal employees have been working without pay or have been furloughed, their work is incredibly important to serving the public,” Collins said.
Check out Marge and Joe:
When the right loses both Joe Rogan and Marjorie Taylor Greene on the issues in the same week, you know it’s going to get rough for Republicans.
Joe Rogan on ICE: “The way it looks is just horrific.”
QAnon queen MTG on the economy: “I’m just living in reality from here on out.” pic.twitter.com/QOJpVNMyiN
Alex Jones: "[Pam] Bondi's not bad, she's just lazy. [Dan] Bongino is emotional and a big baby. [Kash] Patel is compromised and it's just so sad." pic.twitter.com/Od5kFu9r1i
I don’t know if any of this adds up to something bigger shifting. But it’s interesting especially coming from Greene, Cruz and Stitt. They’re true blue MAGA.
More than 20 world leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Monday for a summit focused on ending the war in Gaza. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi described the conference as bringing “a single message to mankind: Enough war. Welcome to peace.”
The summit followed a landmark hostage and prisoner exchange. Yet the emotional scenes as people returned to Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank represent only the end of the initial phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan. (“The phases are all a little bit mixed in with each other,” he conceded in Egypt.) At the end of Monday’s gathering, Trump signed a document with the leaders of Turkey, Egypt, and Qatar—though there weren’t any Israeli and Palestinian representatives present and it is unclear what the document said.
What comes next is even hazier. Michael J. Koplow writes that the deal forces three reckonings that will shape Israel’s future. For Gaza, which lies in ruins, the damage is hard to comprehend: More than 67,000 Palestinians were killed in 700-plus days of war. Just before the cease-fire began, FP’s John Haltiwanger spoke with Mathieu Bichet, a deputy medical director at Médecins Sans Frontières, about the myriad challenges of reconstruction.
Trump remains central to the question of governance in Gaza—if frustratingly opaque as to his intentions. The U.S. president is nominally director of the so-called Board of Peace proposed by the cease-fire agreement, but on Monday, he seemed to hedge, noting that he has many other commitments. As major issues such as Hamas’s disarmament remain unresolved, Palestinians face a dilemma, Omar H. Rahman writes: “Every concession made by Hamas is irreversible, while every concession made by Israel can be undone.”
He said he spoke with Hamas today and they’re totally ready to disarm so it’s all good. Trump Gaza Resort is on the way!
Trump: “I spoke to Hamas, I said you will disarm right? They said, yes sir we will disarm.” https://t.co/PVBO90evMy
Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.
They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.
William Hendrix, the Kansas Young Republicans’ vice chair, used the words “n–ga” and “n–guh,” variations of a racial slur, more than a dozen times in the chat. Bobby Walker, the vice chair of the New York State Young Republicans at the time, referred to rape as “epic.” Peter Giunta, who at the time was chair of the same organization, wrote in a message sent in June that “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber.”
Giunta was referring to an upcoming vote on whether he should become chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, the GOP’s 15,000-member political organization for Republicans between 18 and 40 years old.
“Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man. We only want true believers,” he continued.
Two members of the chat responded:
Everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber. And everyone that endorsed but then votes for us is going to the gas chamber.
🔥RH
BW
When do we start bullying dude?
AK
We have a solid 3 people who can prob have them want to jump
BW
If they vote for us why would they be gassed?
AK
When do we bring that side out?
PG
Im going to create some of the greatest physiological torture methods known to man.
in reply to
“If they vote for us why would they be gassed?”
We only want true believers.
🔥RH
JM
Can we fix the showers? Gas chambers don’t fit the Hitler aesthetic
❤️PG🤣AK
AK
I’m ready to watch people burn now
JM
We gotta pretend that we like them. “Hey, come on in. Take a nice shower and relax”. Boom – they’re dead
They’re so fun and smart. And they show the kind of good judgment we need in our young leaders.
The 2,900 pages of chats, shared among a dozen millennial and Gen Z Republicans between early January and mid-August, chronicle their campaign to seize control of the national Young Republican organization on a hardline pro-Donald Trump platform. Many of the chat members already work inside government or party politics, and one serves as a state senator.
Together, the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders.
“The more the political atmosphere is open and liberating — like it has been with the emergence of Trump and a more right wing GOP even before him — it opens up young people and older people to telling racist jokes, making racist commentaries in private and public,” said Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for the last 60 years. He’s also concerned the words would be applied to public policy. “It’s chilling, of course, because they will act on these views.”
The dynamic of easy racism and casual cruelty played out in often dark, vivid fashion inside the chats, where campaign talk and party gossip blurred into streams of slurs and violent fantasies.
There’s a lot of talk among the Democrats about the need to turn the page and make room for a new generation of leadership. I think that’s right. But keep in mind that the Democrats aren’t the only ones. Look what’s coming down the pike on the other side.
They have learned a lot from Trump. When confronted, many of them said that they thought the chats were doctored. So we have the whining and blaming to look forward to as well.
On US peace negotiations between Israel and Gaza: “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the PM of Israel urging him not to cut a deal right now because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign.” pic.twitter.com/IbJQXPurbO
Trump denied doing that, asserting that Netanyahu “knows what he’s doing.”
“I did encourage him to get this over with. You want to get it over with fast. Have victory, get your victory, and get it over with. It has to stop, the killing has to stop,” Trump added.
“From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,” Trump said at the event just a few hours after his press conference, adding that it “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack.”
“I will give Israel the support that it needs to win but I do want them to win fast,” Trump added.
Yeah. 14 months later and tens of thousands more dead, Trump takes his victory lap.
Over the past ten years we’ve seen countless letters signed by experts and former officials decrying something President Donald Trump has said or done. Whether it’s scientists, economists, national security and intelligence veterans or doctors, just to name a few, thousands of people with impeccable credentials and decades of experience have put their reputations on the line by publicly sounding the alarm about the Trump administration’s illiberal, destructive policies. None of it has seemed to make any difference.
But those five-alarm warnings are still important and necessary, if only to maintain an historical record of dissent should we manage to emerge from this dark time with some shell of our nation intact. Legal scholars, former judges and law professors are having a collective heart attack over what the administration, particularly the Justice Department and Supreme Court, are doing to the rule of law and the Constitution. Right now, the only bulwark appears to be the lower courts.
Before the 2024 election, the New York Times interviewed fifty highly respected members of the legal establishment. Both parties were evenly represented; those interviewed had held essential jobs in every presidential administration since Ronald Reagan. Most told the Times they were concerned about a second Trump term based on what he had done in the first.
Even so, some who had previously worked with Trump vouched for the Justice Department’s inherent integrity, stressing that, given the department’s structure, it would be very difficult for its employees to act in bad faith. And since Trump preferred appointees with elite credentials, they assumed he would only hire qualified and experienced people. When the Times recently caught up with these former officials, their hair was on fire.
“Eight months into his second term,” they reported, “Trump has taken a wrecking ball to those beliefs. ‘What’s happening is anathema to everything we’ve ever stood for in the Department of Justice,’ said another former official who served in both Democratic and Republican administrations, including Trump’s first term… The responses captured almost universal fear and anguish over the transformation of the Justice Department into a tool of the White House.”
The story noted that, this time, many more refused to speak on the record because they feared retribution from the White House, which is chilling in itself, if unsurprising. For every political elite who has the guts to speak out right now, there are five more who have been cowed into silence.
Remember, this group includes half Republicans, quite a few of whom worked for Trump in the first term. And yet “all but one of the respondents rated Trump’s second term as a greater or much greater threat to the rule of law than his first term. They consistently characterized the president’s abuses of power — wielding the law to justify his wishes — as being far worse than they imagined before his re-election.”
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration in January, we knew congressional Republicans would rubber stamp everything the president wanted, so there’s no surprise there. And it was no secret that the administration would be prepared to push the envelope beyond anything from Trump’s first term. Nevertheless, I didn’t think Trump would appoint internet trolls and far-right agitators, such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino — who became the director and deputy director of the FBI — to such important roles. Even loyalists like Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, I expected, would be concerned about maintaining a face of seriousness and professionalism.
The Times pointed out that in Trump’s first term, especially toward the end, the system held mainly because even sympathetic loyalists like former Attorney General Bill Barr and Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to go along with the president’s bogus election claims. This time around, the former officials know that will not happen: “‘No one in the room now will say no,’” said the Justice Department official from Trump’s first term. The lesson Trump drew from his first term, the former official continued, is that the lawyers who talked him out of ‘bad ideas’ were the wrong kind of lawyers.”
These former insiders were apparently unable to see just how radicalized Trump and his accomplices had become once having learned how to maneuver the levers of power. No one is more responsible for that than the Supreme Court.
The court’s immunity decision alone gave Trump the green light to do whatever he wanted and let everyone else pick up the pieces. Coupled with the misuse and abuse of the court’s emergency — or “shadow” — docket, the conservative majority has only reinforced the idea that the president is to be given total latitude without constitutional restraint.
A number of lower court judges have expressed concern about the high court’s terse orders on these shadow docket rulings, most of which have overturned their judgments to favor the president’s position — and leaving them vulnerable to threats from right-wing commentators, and even the White House. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller recently posted on X that judges who rule against the president are committing “legal insurrection” and claimed: “There is a large and growing movement of left-wing terrorism in this country. It is well organized and funded and it is shielded by far-left judges, prosecutors and attorneys general. The only remedy is to use legitimate state power to dismantle terrorism and terror networks.”
It takes courage to maintain integrity in the face of comments like that by someone with such power.
Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh have all issued rebukes to lower courts that deigned to question their reasoning. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, appearing on Fox News over the weekend, explained that the court didn’t want to provide reasoning for using the shadow docket to overturn these lower court rulings — many of which actually upheld established precedent in denying Trump’s radical power grabs — because the justices might change their minds later. Meanwhile, the author of the immunity decision, Chief Justice John Roberts, has appeared so blind to the consequence and destruction the court has wreaked that leading legal scholars have compared him to Roger Taney, the chief justice whose illustrious reputation was forever defiled by his Dred Scott opinion.
Some have suggested that all this adds up to a constitutional crisis. Justice Barrett had insisted it does not. But there can be little doubt we are in the midst of an historic legal emergency — and, so far, the only people who appear to be preventing our system of justice from crumbling entirely are the states and lower federal courts. May they have the fortitude to hold out, or things will get much worse.
Honestly, I loaded the NYT front page this morning and instantly thought that the man on the left was ICE until I saw the AK. The cutline identifies him as a “Hamas gunman.” The man on the right is from CBP/ICE.
Candidate Donald Trump urged his 2016 rally crowds to “knock the crap out of” protesters. Of another protester, he said, “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.” He made no secret of his desire to bust heads to keep people in line. (Actually, to have others bust heads on the coward’s behalf.) Americans elected him anyway. And again in 2024 after he’d incited a violent insurrection over losing the 2020 election. What you see is what you get with Trump. A majority of Americans who routinely pledge allegiance to our democratic republic see an autocrat and voted for him.
Trump reaffirmed his desire to rule a police state since retaking the White House. He’s remodeled the Oval Office to look more like a Saddam Hussein palace. His family and several aides are raking in crypto cash from Persian Gulf states, allege Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Elissa Slotkin (D-MI). Trump accepted a tricked-out 747 from Qatar, a state he once decried as “a funder of terrorism at a very high level.” Now all is forgiven, and Qatar is “a steadfast ally in pursuit of peace, stability, and prosperity, both in the Middle East and abroad.”
Like treasure-hunter Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) in Romancing the Stone (1984), Trump ain’t cheap, but he can be had.
In Egypt celebrating the historic ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, Trump rhapsodized about how little crime there is in the autocracy run by Egyptian strong man Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.*
Trump on Egypt: "They have very little crime. Because they don't play games. That's why. Like we do in the United States with governors that have no idea what they're doing." pic.twitter.com/at7ceM6fI8
“They have very little crime, because they don’t play games, that’s why. They don’t play games like we do, in the United States, with governors that have no idea what they’re doing,” Trump said. “But they don’t have crime. I ask about crime, and they almost don’t even know what I’m talking about.” Because autocracies bust dissident heads, that’s why. And worse.
Egypt is categorized as “not free” by an analysis from Freedom House, a democracy advocacy organization that formed to rally the world against the threat of Nazi Germany nearly a century ago. Political opposition in Egypt is nearly nonexistent. Civil liberties that are currently taken for granted in the U.S., such as the right to protest or the freedom of the press, are choked by the tight fist of the Egyptian government, which has been dominated by the military since a 2013 coup.
“Most of Egypt’s provincial governors are former military or police commanders,” Freedom House assessed.
Trump’s ongoing project to turn the U.S.A. into his own police state puts him at odds not only with blue-state governors where he seeks to deploy troops, but the chair of the National Governor’s Association, Kevin Stitt (R) of Oklahoma.
“Oklahomans would lose their mind if Pritzker in Illinois sent troops down to Oklahoma during the Biden administration,” Stitt told The New York Times.
This is insane!
Don Lemon interviews an American citizen who was rounded up by ICE and thrown in the back of a moving truck with 40 other people.
The Trump administration offers a bad-faith rationale for deploying federalized National Guard troops to Chicago and Portland. Protests there against brutal and seemingly random roundups by ICE have sparked loud protests. Talking Point Memo observes:
Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, blocked Guard deployment in Illinois from the bench Thursday, calling the administration’s characterization of protests as “rebellions” — terminology the law requires in order to trigger the power to deploy troops — “audacious.”
She mentioned, when the Justice Department lawyer brought up threats to federal officers, that “mine started about 10 minutes after I got this case.”
Shorter Perry: Put a sock in it.
Still, the Trump administration and its allies are so confident that they’ll ultimately prevail in the courts that Trump has kept on the shelf a backup plan to invoke the Insurrection Act, which gives the president extremely broad latitude to deploy the military for law enforcement activities, per multiplereports.
Read: “Knock the crap out of” anyone who refuses to bow.
In Portland, an ambulance was summoned to the ICE office to treat an injured protester (not clear how he was injured). But when the patient was loaded inside, ICE officers refused to let the ambulance leave and threatened to shoot the ambulance driver: https://t.co/flnNSv7ce4
Trump and his pet psychopath, Stephen Miller, are asking Americans to accept the dismantling the U.S. Constitution turning their “land of the free” into an autocratic police state under the promise of illusory safety and crime reduction. Benjamin Franklin had scornful words for any people who would do accept that.
The New Republic spotlights attorneys forsaking big money to take on bigger bad guys.
The NYU School of Law currently is tracking 434 legal challenges to the Trump administration’s hollowing out of the Constitution. Those challenges, Matthew Wollin notices, involve a certain kind of lawyer, “Big Law” attorneys willing to give up big bucks to fight legal battles worth waging.
Trump 2.0 made a point of targeting those most able to restrain his grab for power and to defend the targets of his retribution campaign. Initially, many kowtowed to threats he issued by executive order. Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps went down early. “Then came Wilkie Farr, then Millbank; and then the rest of them began to fall like dominoes—including Kirkland & Ellis, which is the largest law firm not just in the United States but in the whole world.” Eleven of the country’s most presigious law firms capitulated and cut deals.
But some attorneys from those firms quit in disgust, giving up six- and seven-figure salaries to fight to preserve democracy. Imagine.
This movement of lawyers away from the capitulating law firms was highly directed, with many of them ending up at organizations that were expressly devoted to fighting the fights that their former firms wouldn’t. This included not only existing firms but brand-new organizations devoted to defending the rule of law—organizations that are now handling much of this new wave of litigation on behalf of high-profile public servants suing Trump over their jobs.
Lowell & Associates is one such organization. It is a firm that was launched this past May, headed by a veteran Washington lawyer. Lowell quickly scooped up two of the aforementioned Skadden associates (Cohen and Frey) who publicly quit in protest. The firm’s self-stated mission? “The provision of pro bono and public interest representation in matters that defend the integrity of the legal system and protect individuals and institutions from government overreach and other threats to fundamental rights.” They are currently representing Lisa Cook, three senior FBI agents who were fired for improper political reasons, and Susan Monarez, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others.
The Washington Litigation Group is another firm that emerged in the months following Big Law’s Big Capitulation. It is a new “boutique non-profit firm” that was launched this past August, and whose stated mission is to “represent individuals and institutions who have been unlawfully targeted for exercising their rights.” It hired Nathaniel Zelinsky, an associate who left Milbank in the aftermath of the deal, and is currently representing three members of the Financial Oversight Management Board who were improperly relieved of their positions; Tara Twomey, who was ousted from her position as the director of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees; and Cathy Harris, a former member of the Merit Systems Protection Board who was removed by Trump from her post, among others.
Wollin cites other attorneys and firms who made public that they placed their dedication to the law above Big Law’s commitment to profit. Rapidly shifting focus to defending democracy is a “striking devlopment,” Wallin believes, “particularly in an industry that is not exactly known for its rapid innovation.” Young attorneys not yet jaded by their profession now sort 850 prospective employers into “Caved to Administration,” “Complying in Advance,” “Other Negative Action,” “Stood Up Against Administration’s Attacks” and “No Response.”
It is difficult to say with certainty if it is the existence of these new organizations that has enabled so many public servants like Lisa Cook and Rebecca Slaughter to affirmatively take their fight to Trump, or whether these firms are simply good at being in the right place at the right time. But the degree to which this particular type of litigation has increased in tandem with these new organizations’ involvement certainly suggests that there is some correlation.
[…]
In short, by doing something so blatantly unconstitutional that nobody else ever dared to do it—attack lawyers for representing his political opponents—Trump inadvertently may have managed to do the one thing no one else thought possible: make highly paid lawyers stand up for what they believe in.
These heroes are not household names. If America survives Trump 2.0 perhaps Hollywood movies and TV shows will change that.
On October 9th, 2020, then-President Trump issued an official Columbus Day Proclamation, which read in part:
Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities, and his achievements with transgressions. Rather than learn from our history, this radical ideology and its adherents seek to revise it, deprive it of any splendor, and mark it as inherently sinister. They seek to squash any dissent from their orthodoxy. We must not give in to these tactics or consent to such a bleak view of our history. We must teach future generations about our storied heritage, starting with the protection of monuments to our intrepid heroes like Columbus. This June, I signed an Executive Order to ensure that any person or group destroying or vandalizing a Federal monument, memorial, or statue is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I have also taken steps to ensure that we preserve our Nation’s history and promote patriotic education. In July, I signed another Executive Order to build and rebuild monuments to iconic American figures in a National Garden of American Heroes. In September, I announced the creation of the 1776 Commission, which will encourage our educators to teach our children about the miracle of American history and honor our founding. In addition, last month I signed an Executive Order to root out the teaching of racially divisive concepts from the Federal workplace, many of which are grounded in the same type of revisionist history that is trying to erase Christopher Columbus from our national heritage. Together, we must safeguard our history and stop this new wave of iconoclasm by standing against those who spread hate and division.
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we honor Indigenous peoples’ strength, courage, and resilience. We celebrate the vast contributions of Indigenous communities to the world. And we recommit to respecting Tribal sovereignty and self-determination and working to usher in a new era of our Nation-to-Nation relationships.
The history of America’s Indigenous peoples is marked by perseverance, survival, and a deep commitment to and pride in their heritage, right to self-governance, and ways of life. Since time immemorial, Indigenous peoples have built and sustained powerful Tribal Nations, cultivated rich cultures, and established vibrant communities. And their discoveries and knowledge still benefit us today. But because of our Nation’s failed policies of the past, generations of Native peoples have faced cruelty, violence, and intimidation. They were forced to leave their homelands, prohibited from speaking their own languages and practicing their sacred traditions, and forced into assimilation. Indigenous lives were lost, livelihoods were ripped away, and communities were fundamentally altered. Despite the trauma and turmoil, Indigenous peoples have persisted and survived. Their stories are testaments to the bravery and resolve of generations to preserve their heritage, cultures, and identities for those to come after them.
Today, Indigenous peoples lead in every way, share their histories, and strengthen their communities. They are also stewarding lands and waters, growing our shared prosperity, and celebrating the good of our Nation while pushing us to tell the full truth of our history. Indigenous peoples have long served in the United States military, fighting for democracy. And Indigenous communities continue to be an integral part of the fabric of the United States, contributing so much to our shared prosperity. […]
From day one, I have worked to include Indigenous voices at the table in all we do. I have appointed Native Americans to lead across the Federal Government, including the Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland — America’s first Native American Cabinet secretary — and so many others serving in key roles in my Administration. I was proud to re-establish the White House Council on Native American Affairs to help coordinate policy. Together, we have taken historic steps to improve the consultation process between Federal agencies and Tribal Nations. […]
When my Administration reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act in 2022, we included historic provisions to reaffirm Tribal sovereignty and expand Tribal jurisdiction in cases where outside perpetrators harm members of their Nation. And recognizing the ties of Indigenous peoples across North America, I supported a Trilateral Working Group with Canada and Mexico to ensure Indigenous women and girls in all three countries can live free from violence.
My Administration is also preserving important ancestral Tribal lands and waters. I have protected and conserved more than 42 million acres of our Nation’s lands and waters. I established, expanded, or restored 11 national monuments. […]
On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we recognize that it is hard work to heal the wrongs of the past and to change course and move forward, but together, nothing is beyond our capacity. May we take pride in the progress we have made to establish a new era of Tribal sovereignty and Indigenous self-determination — one grounded in dignity, respect, and friendship.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 14, 2024, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities. I also direct that the flag of the United States be displayed on all public buildings on the appointed day in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation.
Today [October 13, 2025] our Nation honors the legendary Christopher Columbus — the original American hero, a giant of Western civilization, and one of the most gallant and visionary men to ever walk the face of the earth. This Columbus Day, we honor his life with reverence and gratitude, and we pledge to reclaim his extraordinary legacy of faith, courage, perseverance, and virtue from the left-wing arsonists who have sought to destroy his name and dishonor his memory. […]
Commissioned by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, Columbus and his crew boarded three small ships — the Niña, Pinta, and Santa Maria — to set sail on a perilous voyage across the Atlantic. He was guided by a noble mission: to discover a new trade route to Asia, bring glory to Spain, and spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to distant lands. […]
Guided by steadfast prayer and unwavering fortitude and resolve, Columbus’s journey carried thousands of years of wisdom, philosophy, reason, and culture across the Atlantic into the Americas — paving the way for the ultimate triumph of Western civilization less than three centuries later on July 4, 1776.
Outrageously, in recent years, Christopher Columbus has been a prime target of a vicious and merciless campaign to erase our history, slander our heroes, and attack our heritage. Before our very eyes, left-wing radicals toppled his statues, vandalized his monuments, tarnished his character, and sought to exile him from our public spaces. Under my leadership, those days are finally over — and our Nation will now abide by a simple truth: Christopher Columbus was a true American hero, and every citizen is eternally indebted to his relentless determination. […]
Oh…did I mention that missive came from The Resolute Desk of (returning) President Donald J. Trump? Unlike his Oval Office predecessor, he has not issued a companion proclamation that also acknowledges Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Perhaps that is because Trump’s illustrious Secretary of, uh…”War” has already made this administration’s stance regarding the history of America’s Indigenous people quite clear:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a video post [this past September] that soldiers who participated in the 1890 massacre of more than 250 women, men, and children at Wounded Knee will keep Medals of Honor that many have said should be rescinded.
On December 29, 1890, some 500 troops of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment surrounded a group of Lakota people who were camped at Wounded Knee Creek on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
The Lakota had been forced to march to Pine Ridge from the Standing Rock Indian Reservation after U.S. Indian Agency Police killed Lakota Chief Sitting Bull, who led his people during years of resistance to U.S. government policies that forcibly relocated Indigenous people from their homes to reservations.
The troops entered the camp to disarm the Lakota. During a brief scuffle between a soldier and a Lakota man who refused to surrender his weapon, the rifle fired, alarming the rest of the troops. The soldiers began firing on the Lakota, many of whom tried to flee the assault. The attack left more than 250 Lakota dead; over half of those killed were women, children, and elderly tribal members, and most of the dead were unarmed.
Despite the extreme cruelty and the killing of so many innocent people, Medals of Honor were given to 19 soldiers for their actions and conduct. For generations, Native American groups, including the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and the National Congress of American Indians, advocates, state lawmakers from South Dakota, and members of Congress have called for the awards to be rescinded.
A century after the massacre, Congress apologized to the descendants of the people killed at Wounded Knee, but did not revoke the awards, AP reported. […]
“We’re making it clear that (the soldiers) deserve those medals,” Hegseth said, before adding that “their place in our nation’s history is no longer up for debate.”
“We salute their memory,” he said in closing. “We honor their service, and we will never forget what they did.”
Even a stopped clock…
I actually agree with the Secretary on that last part: we should never forget what they did.
At any rate…in honor of this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, I’ve selected 10 related films that are well worth your time.
Arctic Son — I first saw this documentary (not to be confused with the unrelated 2013 film Arctic Son: Fulfilling the Dream) at the 2006 Seattle International Film Festival. Andrew Walton’s film is a classic “city mouse-country mouse” story centering on a First Nations father and son who are reunited after a 25-year estrangement. Stanley, Jr. was raised in Washington State by his single mom. Consequently, he is more plugged in to hip-hop and video games than to his native Gwich’in culture. Troubled by her son’s substance abuse, Stanley’s mother packs him off for an extended visit with Stanley Sr., who lives a traditional subsistence lifestyle in the Yukon Territories. The initially wary young man gradually warms to both the unplugged lifestyle and his long-estranged father. Affecting and heartwarming.
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith — One of the highlights of the “Australian New Wave” that flourished in the 70s and 80s, writer-director Fred Schepsi’s 1978 drama (adapted from Thomas Keneally’s novel, which is loosely based on a true story) is set in Australia at the turn of the 20th Century.
Jimmie Blacksmith (Tommy Lewis) is a half-caste Aboriginal who goes out into the world to make his own way after being raised by a white minister and his wife. Unfortunately, the “world” he is entering from the relative protective bubble of his upbringing is that of a society fraught with systemic racism; one that sees him only as a young black man ripe for exploitation.
While Jimmie is inherently altruistic, every person has their limit, and over time the escalating degradation and daily humiliations lead to a shocking explosion of cathartic violence that turns him into a wanted fugitive. An unblinking look at a dark period of Australian history; powerful and affecting.
Dead Man — Rhymes with: “deadpan”. Then again, that could describe any film directed by the idiosyncratic Jim Jarmusch. As far as Kafkaesque westerns go, you could do worse than this 1995 offering (beautifully photographed by the late Robby Müller).
Johnny Depp plays mild-mannered accountant and city slicker William Blake (yes, I know) who travels West by train to the rustic town of Machine, where he has accepted a job. Or so he assumes. Getting shooed out of his would-be employer’s office at gunpoint (a great cameo by Robert Mitchum) turns out to be the least of his problems, which rapidly escalate. Soon, he’s a reluctant fugitive on the lam. Once he crosses paths with an enigmatic Native American named Nobody (the wonderful Gary Farmer), his journey takes on a mythic quality. Surreal, darkly funny, and poetic.
The Emerald Forest — Although it may initially seem a heavy-handed (if well-meaning) “save the rain forest” polemic, John Boorman’s underrated 1985 adventure (a cross between The Searchers and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan) goes much deeper.
Powers Boothe plays an American construction engineer working on a dam project in Brazil. One day, while his wife and young son are visiting the job site on the edge of the rain forest, the boy is abducted and adopted by an indigenous tribe who call themselves “The Invisible People”, touching off an obsessive decade-long search by the father. By the time he is finally reunited with his now-teenage son (Charley Boorman), the challenge becomes a matter of how he and his wife (Meg Foster) are going to coax the young man back into “civilization”.
Tautly directed, lushly photographed (by Philippe Rousselot) and well-acted. Rosco Pallenberg scripted (he also adapted the screenplay for Boorman’s 1981 film Excalibur).
The Gods Must Be Crazy — Writer-director Jamie Uys’ 1984 cult favorite is a spot-on allegory regarding First World/Third World culture clash. The premise is simple: A wandering Kalahari Bushman named Xi (N!xau) happens upon a discarded Coke bottle that has been carelessly tossed from a small plane. Having no idea what the object is or how it got there, Xi spirits it back to his village for a confab on what it may portend. Concerned over the uproar and unsavory behavioral changes the empty Coke bottle ignites within the normally peaceful community, Xi treks to “the edge of the world” to give the troublesome object back to the gods. Uys overdoes the slapstick at times, but drives his point home in an endearing fashion.
The Last Wave —Peter Weir’s enigmatic 1977 courtroom drama/psychological thriller concerns a Sydney-based defense lawyer (Richard Chamberlain) who takes on five clients (all Aboriginals) who are accused of conspiring in a ritualistic murder. As he prepares his case, he begins to experience haunting visions and dreams related to age-old Aboriginal prophesies. A truly unique film, at once compelling, and unsettling; beautifully photographed by Russel Boyd. Lurking just beneath the supernatural, metaphysical and mystical elements are insightful observations on how indigenous people struggle to reconcile venerable superstitions and traditions while retaining a strong cultural identity in the modern world.
Mekko — Director Sterlin Harjo’s tough, lean, and realistic character study is set in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Rod Rondeaux (Meek’s Cutoff) is outstanding in the lead, as a Muscogee Indian who gets out of jail after 19 years. Bereft of funds and family support, he finds tenuous shelter among the rough-and-tumble “street chief” community of homeless Native Americans as he sorts out how he’s going to get back on his feet. Harjo coaxes naturalistic performances from his entire cast. There’s a lot more going on here than initially meets the eye; namely, a deeper examination of Native American identity,
Powwow Highway — A Native American road movie from 1989 that eschews stereotypes and tells its story with a blend of social and magical realism. Gary Farmer (who resembles the young Jonathan Winters) plays Philbert, a hulking Cheyenne with a gentle soul who wolfs down cheeseburgers and chocolate malts with the countenance of a beatific Buddha. He has decided that it is time to “become a warrior” and leave the res on a quest to “gather power”.
After choosing a “war pony” for his journey (a rusted-out beater that he trades for with a bag of weed), he sets off and is waylaid by his childhood friend (A. Martinez) an A.I.M. activist who needs a lift to Santa Fe to bail out his sister, framed by the Feds on a possession beef. Funny, poignant, uplifting and richly rewarding. Director Jonathan Wacks and screenwriters Janey Heaney and Jean Stawarz keep it real. Look for cameos from Wes Studi and Graham Greene.
This May Be the Last Time — Did you know that the eponymous Rolling Stones song shares the same roots with a venerable Native-American tribal hymn, that is still sung in Seminole and Muscogee churches to this day? While that’s far from the main thrust of Sterlin Harjo’s documentary, it’s but one of its surprises.
Harjo investigates a family story concerning the disappearance of his Oklahoman Seminole grandfather in 1962. After a perfunctory search by local authorities turned up nothing, tribal members pooled their resources and continued to look. Some members of the search party kept up spirits by singing traditional Seminole and Muscogee hymns…which inform the second level of Harjo’s film.
Through interviews with tribal members and musicologists, he traces the roots of this unique genre, connecting the dots between the hymns, African-American spirituals, Scottish and Appalachian music. The film doubles as both history lesson and a moving personal journey.
Walkabout — Nicholas Roeg’s 1971 adventure/culture clash drama introduced audiences to charismatic Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil (who also appears in another film on my list, The Last Wave). Gulpilil is an Aboriginal teenager (“Black Boy” in the credits) who unexpectedly encounters a teenage “Girl” (Jenny Agutter) and “White Boy” (the Girl’s little brother, played by Luc Roeg) while he is on a solo “walkabout” in the Australian Outback. The sun-stroked and severely dehydrated siblings have become stranded as the result of a family outing gone terribly (and disturbingly) awry. Without making any promises, the Aboriginal boy allows them to tag along; teaching them his survival techniques as they struggle to communicate as best as they can. Like many of my selections here, Roeg’s film challenges us to rethink the definition of “civilization”, especially as it pertains to indigenous cultural identity.
The course of America’s future, and therefore the fate of the world, now rests on how much one perversely aristocratic old man is or isn’t yelling at his TV at any given moment. We were cursed to keep living out this reality as soon as Donald J. Trump was reelected last year.
The idea that world events and life-or-death political decisions should turn on what one elderly US citizen sees on a television set sounds like it should be the premise for a dystopian satire written in the 1970s by the most hysterical, screeching Marxist novelist seeking to magnify the moral rot and decadence of a declining American global empire. In late 2025, though, it’s just how the country does business.
The president of the United States is invading multiple US cities and liberal strongholds, in troop deployments that are now the primary component of his vast, lawless, smash-and-grab efforts to shred the nation’s constitutional and democratic order, all in the service of his personality cult. And his enthusiasm for doing so is partially, and meaningfully, fueled by how mad he gets while binge-watching hours and hours of TV, current and former Trump advisers tell Zeteo.
There is nothing more important in understanding what fuels Trump and his henchmen than this. it’s a feedback loop. They feed him, he feeds MAGA and back again.
Read the whole thing. Zeteo is the new media outfit run by Mehdi Hassan and he’s hired some of the best writers like Suebsaeng. This is an important observation and he does a great job breaking it down.
