Tag Archives: Trump Administration

Newsweek: Chicago producer’s arrest by border patrol agents raises legal questions

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A legal analyst has warned that the arrest of a Chicago TV producer by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents on Friday could have been a direct violation of a recent court order in the city.

Debbie Brockman, a producer for Chicago television station WGN-TV, was apprehended by border patrol agents in a residential area of the city on Friday.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed her arrest in a statement to Newsweek stating that she “was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer.” As did WGN though it mentioned Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) instead. WGN added no charges were filed were filed against Brockman.

For the senior writer covering the courts for Slate, Mark Joseph Stern, her arrest “appears to be in direct violation of a temporary restraining order prohibiting DHS officers from arresting journalists.” The officers who arrested, he wrote on Bluesky, “may well be subject to contempt of court.”

Why It Matters

Immigration agents, under the direction of the Donald Trump administration, have been scouring the streets of Chicago for illegal immigrants to deport, sparking protests across the city. 

On Thursday, a federal judge in Chicago issued a temporary restraining order banning federal agents from using riot control weapons and other force against protesters and journalists covering demonstrations, who are not posing a threat to law enforcement. 

The order from District Judge Sara Ellis also forbids agents from arresting, threatening to arrest, or deploying physical force against journalists unless they have established probable cause that they have committed a crime. 

What To Know

Videos circulating on social media show a woman, who later identifies herself as Debbie Brockman, being held to the ground by masked officers before being handcuffed and loaded into a silver van. In some of the videos, onlookers can be heard calling the agents “fascists” and telling them to “get out of our neighborhood, get out of our city”.

According to what witnesses told WGN, another person had been arrested in the Lincoln’s Square neighborhood before the journalist and was already in the federal agents’ van when Brockman was put into it. Residents said that immigration agents seemed to be targeting men working on a nearby property. Brockman, according to her employer, is a U.S. citizen.

Stern shared on Bluesky a screenshot of the temporary restraining order’s text, which reads: “It is hereby ORDERED that Defendants, their officers, agents, assigns and all other persons acting in concert with them (hereafter referred to as ‘Federal Agents’), are temporarily EN/joined in this judicial district from: a. Dispersing, arresting, threatening to arrest, threatening or using physical force against any person who they know or reasonably should know is a journalist, unless defendants have probable cause to believe that the individual has committed a crime.”

At time of writing, Newsweek has found no video evidence, released by the DHS or other sources, showing Brockman assaulting federal agents.

What People Are Saying

Tricia McLaughlin, who oversees the DHS’s public outreach, said of the arrest in a statement provided to Newsweek: “U.S. border patrol was conducting immigration enforcement operations and when several violent agitators used their vehicles to block in agents in an effort to impede and assault federal officers.

“In fear of public safety and of law enforcement, officers used their service vehicle to strike a suspect’s vehicle and create an opening. As agents were driving, Deborah Brockman, a US citizen, threw objects at border patrol’s car, and she was placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer.

“This incident is not isolated and reflects a growing and dangerous trend of illegal aliens violently resisting arrest and agitators and criminals ramming cars into our law enforcement officers. These attacks highlight the dangers our law enforcement officers face daily—all while receiving no pay thanks to the Democrats’ government shutdown.”

In a statement to Newsweek, WGN said: “A WGN-TV creative services employee was detained by ICE.  She has since been released, and no charges were filed against her.  Out of respect for her privacy, we will have no further statements about this incident.”

Josh Thomas, a resident of the area where Brockman was arrested, the Lincoln’s Square neighborhood, told WGN: “I heard yelling and screaming and honking. I ran downstairs to see what was going on. It looked like Border Patrol agents in a minivan had slammed some lady to the ground. And so, I ran up to her and asked her for her name. She said she was a WGN employee.”

Resident Giordana Mahn told WGN: “I’m scared for my community. I’m scared for anyone who is Black or brown. You’ll see in the video, the [WGN employee] wasn’t Black or brown […] they are terrorizing anyone. Everyone in Chicago.”

What Happens Next

According to WGN, Brockman was released from federal custody at 3 p.m. on Friday, local time, and no charges were filed against her. As of 6 p.m. on Friday, the TV station said, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney in Chicago had confirmed no charges had been filed in Brockman’s case.

Chicago producer’s arrest by border patrol agents raises legal questions
A legal expert warned that a Chicago producer’s arrest on Friday might have violated a judge’s recent restraining order.

https://www.newsweek.com/chicago-producer-arrest-border-patrol-agents-raises-legal-questions-10864909

CNN: Trump announces 130% tariffs on China. The global trade war just came roaring back

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President Donald Trump announced he will impose an additional 100% tariff on goods from China, on top of the 30% tariffs already in effect, starting November 1 or sooner. The threat is a massive escalation after months of a trade truce between the two nations.

“The United States of America will impose a Tariff of 100% on China, over and above any Tariff that they are currently paying,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social Friday afternoon. “Also on November 1st, we will impose Export Controls on any and all critical software.”

Trump’s announcement is tied to Beijing ramping up export controls on its critical rare earths, which are needed to produce many electronics. As a result, Trump appeared to call off a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that was scheduled for later this month in South Korea.

Trump’s initial message Friday, delivered via a Truth Social post, in which he threatened “massive” new tariffs, was ill received by investors on Friday as fears of a spring déjà vu, when tariffs on Chinese goods soared to a stunning 145%, set in. Markets closed sharply lower on Friday after Trump’s initial comments, with the Dow falling by 878 points, or 1.9%. The S&P 500 was down 2.7%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbled 3.5%.

While Trump doesn’t always act on his threats, investors, consumers and businesses still have reason to worry.

The two largest economies depend on each other

The United States and China are the world’s two largest economies. Although Mexico has recently replaced China as the top source of foreign goods shipped to the United States, America depends on China for hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of goods. Meanwhile, China is one of the top export markets for America.

In particular, electronics, apparel and furniture are among the top goods the United States receives from China. Trump has pushed CEOs, especially in tech, to move production to the United States, but he’s softened his approach in recent months as business leaders have satisfied the president with announcements of hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in US manufacturing — even if they continue to make the bulk of their products overseas.

Shortly after imposing minimum 145% tariffs on Chinese goods — an effective embargo on trade, Trump issued an exemption for electronics, making them subject to 20% tariffs instead. The move was, in many ways, an acknowledgment that the Trump administration understood the pain he was inflicting on the US economy through his sky-high tariffs.

Then, in May, US and Chinese officials further established the interdependence of trade by agreeing to lower tariffs on one another. China brought levies on American exports down to 10% from 125%, and the United States brought rates down to 30% from 145%.

Both countries’ stock markets rallied as a result.

It was only a matter of time

Trump on Friday claimed trade hostility from China “came out of nowhere.” But in reality, it’s been bubbling up for months.

For the United States, a critical part of trade agreements has been to ensure China will increase its supply of rare earth magnets. Yet despite several apparent breakthroughs, Trump has in recent months repeatedly accused China of violating the terms.

Trump first responded by putting restrictions on sales of American technologies to China, including a key Nvidia AI chip. Many of these restrictions were later lifted.

Then came the Trump administration’s announcement that it would soon impose fees on goods transported on Chinese-owned or -operated ships. China countered with a similar plan on American ships that took effect Friday.

In short: Trump has already demonstrated there’s no limit to how high he’ll go with tariffs on China, and Xi has shown no mercy in how he chooses to retaliate.

But Trump’s ability to continue to impose tariffs on a whim could soon end, pending the verdict in a landmark case kicking off in the Supreme Court next month. Xi, however, faces no such constraints.

Trump announces 130% tariffs on China. The global trade war just came roaring back | CNN Business
President Donald Trump announced he will impose an additional 100% tariff on goods from China, on top of the 30% tariffs already in effect, starting November 1 or sooner. The threat is a massive escalation after months of a trade truce between the two nations.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/economy/trump-china-tariff-threats-economy

ABC News: Special education staff decimated after shutdown firings: Sources

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“Who the heck is going to administer this program?”

The nation’s special education services have been significantly impacted after Friday’s mass layoffs within the Department of Education and it could have an immediate impact on children with disabilities, education department sources told ABC News.

“Do people realize that this is happening to this population of vulnerable students?” one education department leader told ABC News.

“[If] there’s no staff, who the heck is going to administer this program? That’s the absurdity of this,” the source, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, added.

The department leader stressed that several employees within the offices of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitative Services Administration — the two divisions that make up the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) — were cut over the weekend.

The agency enforces the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the law creating a free and appropriate education for children with disabilities, and funds special education services to the tune of around $15 billion.

The education department leader called the layoffs to this division “ridiculous,” contending that families of special needs students will be harmed.

“There is a risk that the money to educate their children will not be given to the state, and that their access to support and advocacy for their children with special needs will no longer continue because there is no staff available to administer IDEA,” the department leader noted.

The education department is the smallest cabinet-level agency in the U.S. government.

At the start of the Trump administration, the department had just over 4,000 employees. After buyouts, early retirements, voluntary separations and a Reduction in Force, the agency was shrunk nearly in half earlier this year.

Multiple sources said several departmental offices have now been gutted again, including the offices of Communications and Outreach, Elementary and Secondary Education and other divisions.

A lawsuit brought by the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union of federal workers, said the education department RIFed 466 employees – or at least another 20% of the agency’s workforce — during the shutdown.

Rachel Gittleman, the president of AFGE Local 252, believes all remaining offices in OSERS below the senior executive services level were RIFed Friday.

“The RIF of OSERS and OESE doubles down on the harm to K-12 students and schools across the country, which are already feeling the impacts of a hamstring Office for Civil Rights (OCR) from the March RIF,” she said.

News of the shutdown RIF was surprising for many within the special education offices. The employees who lost their jobs are distraught, according to the source familiar with the RIF.

Education department sources also told ABC News that the job cuts could hamstring states.

“If this RIF notice is carried out, the Department of Education can no longer administer IDEA,” one source said. “I have no staff to put the money out and to monitor the states.”

Critics of the Trump administration’s plans to shutter the agency told ABC News that preserving IDEA is one of their top concerns. It is a statutory program mandated by law and has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon, whose mission is to return education power and responsibilities to the state and local level, has attempted to assuage concerns by stating that the department would continue to fully fund and carry out all of Congress’ statutorily required programs.

But the education department leader told ABC News that the latest RIF flies in the face of McMahon’s pledges.

“She’s consistently said she’ll protect IDEA,” the source said. “Well, now, this is not protecting IDEA if they’re getting rid of the team,” adding, “What is she doing with IDEA? Who’s going to administer it?”

The Department of Education did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

President Trump has said the Health and Human Services Department under Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will handle the special needs and nutrition programs for students, but that transfer has not happened yet.

Meanwhile, the education department leader predicts remaining staff within the special education division will not be equipped to take on the responsibility of those who were fired.

“That’s like taking a surgeon and telling them you’re now a brick layer or telling a brick layer you’re now a surgeon: It’s like you just don’t do that,” the leader said. “It’s just so absurd.”

Special education staff decimated after Trump administration shutdown firings: Sources
The nation’s special education services have been significantly damaged after Fridays’s mass layoffs within the Department of Education, sources told ABC News.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/special-education-staff-decimated-after-trump-administration-shutdown/story?id=126432474

ABC News: Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi, DOJ officials caught off guard by Tish James indictment

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Sources said that Tish James’ indictment for alleged fraud came as a surprise.

Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi and other senior leadership of the Justice Department were caught off guard Thursday by news that the Trump-installed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia had presented to a grand jury seeking an indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

While [Bimbo #3] Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and other DOJ officials had expected Lindsey Halligan would move forward in seeking to indict James, against the recommendation of prosecutors in the office who had investigated for months the claims she committed mortgage fraud, they were not informed until after Halligan had already presented the case, sources said.

“The Justice Department is united as one team in our mission to make America safe again and as stated previously Lindsey Halligan is fully supported by the AG, DAG, and the entire team at Main Justice,” a Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

The news that Halligan was making her presentment was not news, however, to Ed Martin — who was appointed to several senior leadership positions at DOJ by President Trump after his nomination to be the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. failed to earn support from Republican senators earlier this year.

Martin, who goes by his self-described nickname “Eagle Ed” posted on his ‘X’ account Thursday morning an image of an eagle flying over the Brooklyn Bridge – and reposted the image Thursday evening following news of James’ indictment.

As ABC News previously reported, Martin and Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, who initially made the criminal referral to DOJ over James’ mortgage applications, have in recent weeks clashed with senior leadership of the department as they’ve demanded more aggressive actions to prosecute President Trump’s political enemies.

In a Truth Social post last month, President Trump publicly urged [Bimbo #3] Bondi to move “now” to prosecute his enemies and said he was appointing Halligan to lead the office and “get things moving.”

One former senior DOJ official said it would be extraordinary for leadership at the department to not be informed of a pending indictment of a major political figure like James, which would more typically be led by the department’s Public Integrity Section. Staff in that office has been eliminated to just two officials down from roughly 30 since Trump’s inauguration, according to sources.

Despite her being initially caught off guard by Halligan’s presentment, [Bimbo #3] Bondi posted on ‘X’ following James’ indictment, “One tier of justice for all Americans.”

Pam Bondi, DOJ officials caught off guard by Tish James indictment: Sources
Sources said that Tish James’ indictment for alleged fraud came as a surprise.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=126401855

So many people to abuse, so much revenge to be exacted, so many lives to turn upside down & inside out, that poor bimbo bitch Bondi just can’t keep up with it all!

The Hill: Opinion: Wake up, MAGA: Trump’s disapproval rating is a real problem

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In recent months more than one friend has said to me “Don’t you think Trump is doing great?” On each occasion my friend seemed perplexed when I say “No, he is not doing great.” 

When I get into the reasons — management style, rhetoric, policies and the constant self massaging of an outsized and out of control ego — my friends are further perplexed. Talk about Trump’s numbers in the polls invariably leads to a counterpunch that the polls are always wrong or that a specific poll is rigged to make Trump look bad.

So for all my MAGA friends who think things are going great, let’s put some facts on the record. This is not about one poll from an organization that leans left. This is about multiple polls from multiple respected outlets. 

This is undoubtedly where American public opinion is, and MAGA and the White House needs to accept it and change accordingly. Failure to do so will effectively end the Trump administration with Democratic majorities in the Congress issuing subpoenas on a daily basis.

The current state of the Democratic Party is the best thing Republicans have going for us as we approach the 2026 midterm election. High-ranking elected Democratic officials seem incapable of coherently and concisely explaining what their party stands for. Vehement opposition to everything Trump says or does is not a winning message. 

In a normal political environment, Republicans would be staring at a disastrous showing. Lucky for them 2026, as of now, does not look like it is going to be a normal political environment. I would caution my fellow Republicans that placing our electoral destiny in the hands of our opponents and hoping they continue to screw up is not a strategy with which any of us should be comfortable.

The president’s overall approval in the polls is consistently underwater, meaning his disapproval exceeds his approval. That would not be terribly concerning until you dig into the specifics as to why that is. 

Many polls ask if respondents approve or disapprove on the economy, inflation, tariffs, immigration, deportations, crime control, national guard in cities. On all of those specific policy issues Trump is underwater, on most questions significantly, meaning a majority disapprove.

I am not talking about one poll here where the pro and anti-Trump split is close. The polls are close to unanimous on the lack of popularity of Trump administration policies. 

Outside of border control, for which Trump deserves great credit and liberals still do not understand was a major factor in their 2024 defeat, Trump’s actions and policies do not receive majority support. In fact, they are not close to earning majority support.

In the September Washington Post poll, 70 percent of respondents said tariffs are increasing the prices they pay for basic necessities. Seventy percent! Also in that same poll, by a margin of 59 percent to 40 percent, respondents disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy. That 70 percent is referring to the tariffs which are the basis of the Trump administration’s economic plan for America.

Hello: Is anyone in the White House awake?

Part of Trump’s problem is that when he talks about the economy, he talks about how tariffs will be great for American consumers. What he sees as positive voters overwhelmingly see as a negative. Trump’s overall lack of attention to the economy, inflation and consumer sentiment is a huge negative for the administration.

The administration’s political success depends a lot more on the price of coffee and ground beef than it does on Jimmy Kimmel’s latest stupid comment. The Trump administration requires a significant mid-course correction.

The president’s predisposition is to take things to the extreme. When he does that with his rhetoric, Americans can laugh it off. When he does that with policy it is more difficult to write it off.

President Trump sees himself as an agent of change who wants to change America into his likeness. Americans are not buying the president’s vision of what he wants the future to have in store for them.

Constitutional conservatives are sounding alarm bells about the administration’s effort to suppress criticism. The White House and its MAGA supporters need to cut back on their goals, and especially their tactics, and soon.

As President Reagan used to say “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20 percent traitor.”

Trump needs to quickly recalibrate his desires down from 100 percent to 80 percent. If he fails to do so, MAGA will fade into political history alongside the Square Deal, the Fair Deal, the New Frontier and a Thousand Points of Light, none of which left America with anything resembling an identifiable political constituency.

Wake up, MAGA: Trump’s disapproval rating is a real problem
This is undoubtedly where American public opinion is, and MAGA and the White House needs to accept it and change accordingly.

https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/5545377-trump-approval-rating-decline

Independent: White House admits Trump’s message to [Bimbo #3] Bondi to prosecute enemies was supposed to be a DM: report

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Apparent error provides another glimpse into radically reshaped Justice Department under Trump’s command

Donald Trump’s Truth Social post urging Attorney General Pam [Bimbo #3] Bondi to prosecute his perceived political enemies without “delay” was intended to be a private message, according to administration officials.

A post from the president’s account September 20 addressed to [Bimbo #3] “Pam” demands “justice be served” against his former FBI director James Comey, who was indicted five days later.

Trump — suggesting in his post that the prosecution of his favored targets is retribution for his impeachments and indictments against him — believed he had sent [Bimbo #3] Bondi the message directly, and was surprised to learn it was public, The Wall Street Journalreported.

[Bimbo #3] Bondi was reportedly upset over his mistake, which Trump quickly sought to correct with a follow-up message roughly one hour later praising [Bimbo #3] Bondi for doing a “GREAT job.”

The error has provided a glimpse into a radically reshaped Department of Justice, stripped of its historic independence with both [Bimbo #3] Bondi and Trump at the helm.

When asked about the message in a Senate oversight hearing this week, [Bimbo #3] Bondi replied: “I don’t think he said anything that he hasn’t said for years.”

Comey pleaded not guilty to lying to Congress and obstruction in his first court appearance on the charges Wednesday. A trial date is tentatively scheduled to begin January 5, 2026, but Comey’s attorneys are expected to try to have the case thrown out altogether, citing Trump’s “vindictive” prosecution.

Trump’s message to [Bimbo #3] Bondi is likely to be at the heart of that motion, showing the judge overseeing that case that the president directed the nation’s top law enforcement official to investigate a target he labeled “guilty” before any charges were brought against him.

The Trump administration has ousted dozens of officials and government attorneys deemed insufficiently loyal to the president’s agenda, but in his September 20 post, the president singled out Erik Siebert, the now-former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia — who Trump himself nominated and then pushed out of the role after he resisted pressure to prosecute Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Trump complained that “nothing is being done” against Comey, James and Senator Adam Schiff, who are “all guilty as hell,” in his social media post.

He complained that “we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past,” despite Siebert being one of Trump’s own nominees for the job.

Trump called him a “woke RINO, who was never going to do his job,” and said he “fired him” because he wouldn’t take up the case against Comey.

His personal attorney Lindsey Halligan “is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot,” Trump wrote in the message to [Bimbo #3] “Pam.”

“We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” Trump wrote. “They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT.”

Three hours later, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was nominating Halligan, who has no prosecutorial experience.

Before Halligan entered office, federal prosecutors repeatedly sought to make a case against charging Comey, who is now the first former senior government official facing criminal charges under Trump’s retribution campaign.

According to an internal memo in which career prosecutors explained why they would not seek an indictment, prosecutors determined that a central witness — Comey’s longtime friend Daniel Richmond, a law professor at Columbia University — would prove “problematic” and likely prevent them from establishing a case, according to ABC News.

Richmond’s testimony would result in “likely insurmountable problems” for the prosecution, the memo stated.

In a highly unusual move, Halligan presented the case to a grand jury herself, and the grand jury voted to indict him last month.

A majority of the grand jury voted against charging Comey with one of three counts presented by Halligan, according to court documents. Comey was indicted on two other counts — making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding — after only 14 of 23 jurors voted in favor.

During her contentious confirmation hearing in January, [Bimbo #3] Bondi promised to end what she has called the partisan “weaponization” of the agency against perceived political enemies — echoing claims from Trump and his allies who have characterized the president’s own federal indictments as a politically motivated conspiracy against him.

In that hearing, she did not explicitly rule out prosecuting Trump’s targets. Asked again Tuesday whether she had any instruction from the White House to investigate anyone, [Bimbo #3] Bondi refused to answer. “I’m not going to discuss any conversations,” she said.

Trump, [Bimbo #3] Bondi and law enforcement across the Justice Department — now filled with loyalists and attorneys to dominate agencies that the president claims were weaponized against him — are also targeting other prominent Democratic officials as well as progressive fundraising groups and an array of ideological opponents the administration alleges are tied to acts of terrorism.

Prosecutors in Maryland are expected to bring charges against former national security adviser turned Trump critic John Bolton, according to WSJ, following a raid at his home in August. A case file on a federal court docket remains sealed.

Former FBI director Christopher Wray, another Trump appointee who remained in office under Joe Biden, also is under investigation, according to the newspaper, though the subject of the probe is unclear.

Trump’s message to Bondi to prosecute enemies was supposed to be a DM
Apparent error provides another glimpse into radically reshaped Justice Department under Trump’s command

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/bondi-truth-social-trump-james-comey-b2842585.html

MSNBC: Steve Rattner: Red states use Obamacare more; health care cuts hit red states hardest

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Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner discusses how the government shutdown is impacting health care.

Steve Rattner: Red states use Obamacare more; health care cuts hit red states hardest
Morning Joe economic analyst Steve Rattner discusses how the government shutdown is impacting health care.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/steve-rattner-red-states-use-obamacare-more-health-care-cuts-hit-red-states-hardest/vi-AA1O92u4

Independent: Protesters take to the streets of Chicago as National Guard troops are deployed in Trump’s crime crackdown

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“Donald Trump, you stupid clown; ICE ain’t welcome in this town,” protesters chanted

Hundreds of protesters have poured onto Chicago’s streets to condemn President Donald Trump‘s decision to send Texas National Guard troops into the city.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Texas National Guard troops were headed to protect the Broadview ICE facility.

Later that evening, a military spokesperson told the Associated Press the Texas National Guard troops who had arrived in Chicago were protecting federal property in the city.

Though the total number of National Guard troops in Chicago is unclear, a mission summary from the U.S. military said there would be 200 soldiers from the Texas National Guard and another 300 from the Illinois National Guard.

Locals responded to the National Guard’s incursion into the city by marching through downtown Chicago. The city’s mayor and the state’s governor have vehemently opposed the Trump administration’s plan to send troops to the Chicago area.

The protest was broadly opposed to Trump’s immigration crackdowns and his decision to send troops into the city.

“We can stand up for people that can’t stand up for themselves,” Jinah Yun-Mitchell, 59, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “The rule of law is falling apart, so we all need to do something to make sure that it doesn’t keep going in this direction.”

Another protester, who declined to share his last name to protect himself and his family, told Block Club Chicago that he was marching for people he personally knows who have been detained by ICE.

“In my community where I teach, there’s kids not coming to school for a month at a time because they’re scared of what can happen to them,” he told the outlet. “I’m overwhelmed with blinding anger and depression for the people who are being affected.”

He said ICE agents “shot my friend in the face” with non-lethal rounds during another demonstration at an ICE facility.

The gathered protesters made their message to Trump and the masked federal agents clear, chanting: “Donald Trump, you stupid clown; ICE ain’t welcome in this town.”

Trump has justified sending troops to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, by insisting that federal immigration agents need protection in the wake of a shooting that killed two detainees at an ICE facility in Dallas. Trump is not sending the National Guard to Dallas, where the shooting actually occurred.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has moved to block the National Guard deployment, and a ruling on that request is scheduled for Thursday.

Pritzker called the military deployments “Trump’s invasion,” and Trump called for Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to be jailed.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” the president wrote on Truth Social.

Johnson said he was “not going anywhere” and that he would “stay firm as the mayor of this amazing city.”

Pritzker wrote on X that Trump was sprinting toward “full-blown authoritarianism.”

“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?” he wrote. “Masked agents already are grabbing people off the street, separating children from their parents. Creating fear.”

The president has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act if the courts rule that his use of the National Guard is illegal.

“If I had to enact it, I’d do that,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”

As the decision looms, the National Guard and those opposing Trump in Chicago are taking to the streets.

Earlier on Wednesday, Alderman Jesse Fuentes — who was handcuffed by a federal agent on Friday — spoke to the gathered protesters.

“As your alderperson, not just of the 26th Ward because every Chicagoan matters, I will make sure that we utilize every legislative tool at our disposal to slow ICE down to protect our neighbors,” Fuentes said, according to Block Club Chicago.

Chicago protesters take to the streets as Texas National Guard arrives
“Donald Trump, you stupid clown; ICE ain’t welcome in this town,” protesters chanted

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/chicago-protesters-national-guard-trump-ice-b2842176.html

Storyfull: ‘No Trump, No ICE, No Troops’: Chicago Protesters Oppose National Guard Deployment

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A large crowd of demonstrators paraded through Chicago streets on Wednesday, October 8, to oppose the deployment of National Guard troops and the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in the city. Footage captured by Brendan Gutenschwager shows numerous protesters chanting, “No Trump, no troops” and “I believe that we will win,” while holding up signs and marching through Downtown Chicago, stopping in front of the Trump International Hotel. Some of the signs read, “Fight for immigrants and workers rights,” “Hands off Chicago,” and “No troops in our streets.” US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, despite Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s refutal. Pritzker called the move “unlawful and unconstitutional.” The Trump administration also planned to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon, before Judge Karin Immergut temporarily blocked the motion.

‘No Trump, No ICE, No Troops’: Chicago Protesters Oppose National Guard Deployment
A large crowd of demonstrators paraded through Chicago streets on Wednesday, October 8, to oppose the deployment of National Guard troops and the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in the city. Footage captured by Brendan Gutenschwager shows numerous protesters chanting, “No Trump, no troops” and “I believe that we will win,” while holding up signs and marching through Downtown Chicago, stopping in front of the Trump International Hotel. Some of the signs read, “Fight for immigrants and workers rights,” “Hands off Chicago,” and “No troops in our streets.” US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, despite Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s refutal. Pritzker called the move “unlawful and unconstitutional.” The Trump administration also planned to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon, before Judge Karin Immergut temporarily blocked the motion. Credit: Brendan Gutenschwager via Storyful

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/no-trump-no-ice-no-troops-chicago-protesters-oppose-national-guard-deployment/vi-AA1O7EpT

Daily Beast: Trump, 79, Posts Totally Made Up Poll Numbers in Wild Late-Night Posting Spree

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The president rehashed a dubious graphic posted by the White House.

President Donald Trump raged late into the night, sharing a misleading poll graphic that claimed more than half of voters approve of his performance in his second term.

The president posted an image previously circulated by the White House, which asserted he had a 57 percent approval rating instead of the verifiable number of 49 percent.

The source listed in the graphic was Rasmussen Reports. At the time of Trump’s repost, Rasmussen’s daily tracker showed his actual approval rating at 47 percent, not 57 percent, according to the pollster’s official website.

The last time Trump’s Rasmussen approval rating came close to 57 percent was Jan. 23, just three days into his term, when the pollster recorded it at 56 percent.

White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson told the Daily Beast on Wednesday, “President Trump and his policies are wildly popular with the American people.”

When previously contacted, the White House referred the Daily Beast to Rasmussen posting the claim on X that Trump’s “single overnight approval for last night” was 57.11 percent.

Included in Rasmussen’s post was Trump’s White House portrait and a congratulatory message to White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino on his engagement.

Rasmussen did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast asking how it arrived at that number, why it wasn’t listed on its daily tracking poll, or the definition of an “overnight approval rating.”

Trump also amplified other controversial posts. He logged onto Truth Social to reshare a post in which he promoted an unproven link between autism and the pain reliever Tylenol.

In an all-caps rant, he claimed in that post that pregnant women should avoid taking acetaminophen “UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY” and to avoid giving it to young children “FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON.”

The medical community and officials including Senate Majority Leader John Thune have raised concerns over the claims. Trump did not cite evidence to support his claim.

Trump also posted what appears to be a letter from the 1960s by former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. It seems to reference an episode mentioned in a History.com article the president also shared, which describes President John F. Kennedy’s decision to federalize the Alabama National Guard to halt Gov. George Wallace’s blockade of the University of Alabama in 1963.

It comes as the Trump administration embarks on an aggressive new crime crackdown, pushing to expand federal law enforcement operations in major cities and deploy the National Guard to urban areas.

“My goal is very simple. STOP CRIME IN AMERICA!” Trump added in another post.

Trump, 79, Posts Totally Made Up Poll Numbers in Wild Late-Night Posting Spree
The president rehashed a dubious graphic posted by the White House.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-posts-totally-made-up-poll-numbers-in-wild-late-night-posting-spree

Deranged imbecile president!