We’re less than 10 weeks out from the midterm elections, and Americans witnessed a whipsaw of news about mail-in voting this week that some experts fear could sow confusion and chaos as Nov. 3 nears.
On Monday, the Supreme Court sided with Donald Trump, issuing an emergency order allowing his administration – for the time being – to move forward with implementing his executive order to restrict mail-in voting. By Thursday, the lower court judge overseeing the case had again temporarily blocked the plan after those challenging the Trump administration refiled the case to comply with the high court’s ruling. The case could soon be headed back to the Supreme Court.
We get it. It’s confusing – and that confusion and chaos are exactly what Trump and his cronies want for an election that Republicans are expected to lose big. Hopefully, this time, democracy wins out.
When they weren’t trying to disenfranchise voters, Trump and his allies continued other efforts to harm democracy, undermine the Constitution, and hurt societies worldwide. From U.S. Central Command blacklisting journalists to ICE making a record number of arrests, here’s ‘This Week in Democracy ‘ – Week 84’:
Saturday, Aug. 22 – Trump’s Financial Disclosure Reveals Timely Trades
Bloomberg reported that Trump made more than 1,000 stock trades during the month of June. The president invested in SpaceX less than two weeks before the Musk-led company’s initial public offering, bought Boeing stock the same day the Navy issued an $880 million contract to the manufacturer, and purchased shares of Palantir just weeks before the company received a $10 billion contract with the U.S. Army.
The White House says there are no conflicts of interest with Trump’s investments, claiming they are independently managed, and the assets are in a blind trust.
Sunday, Aug. 23 – U.S. Strikes First Boat Since June
The U.S. military conducted a strike on a boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing two people. It marked the first known strike by the military, which the UN has described as extrajudicial killings, in two months.
Another strike was conducted on Tuesday, killing four people in the Caribbean and bringing the death toll to at least 227 over the course of 68 strikes since the Trump administration began them last year.
Monday, Aug. 24 – Trump Admin Plans Largest Visa Revocation in U.S. History
AP reported that the Trump administration plans to carry out the largest single mass revocation of visas in U.S. history as the State Department plans to revoke the business and tourist visas of up to 200,000 people who have sought asylum between 2016 and 2026.
Meanwhile, The Intercept reported that the U.S. Central Command has a secret list of journalists blacklisted by its press office, according to a spokesperson who threatened to add one of the outlet’s reporters to “the list of people to disregard.”
Tuesday, Aug. 25 – ICE Arrests Reach Record High
AP reported that ICE arrested almost 50,000 people during the month of July, marking the largest number of arrests in a single month since Trump returned to office.
That marked a 15% increase compared to June, with 20,000 of the arrests taking place in Texas and Florida.
Wednesday, Aug. 26 – Trump Administration Targets Palestine Action
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that the Trump administration sanctioned the British pro-Palestine group, Palestine Action, as part of its crackdown on left-leaning organizations and movements. It’s yet another example of the Trump administration targeting pro-Palestinian groups.
The move comes as Palestine Action appeals a designation by the British government that proscribed the group as a “terrorist” organization, a decision UN human rights chief Volker Türk called a “disturbing” misuse of the UK’s counter-terrorism legislation.
Thursday, Aug. 27 – Trump Admin to Ramp Up Deportation Flights to Haiti
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is expected to expand deportation flights to Haiti from once a month to once a week, a move that could potentially result in the removal of hundreds of additional Haitians each month.
The expansion follows the Supreme Court’s June ruling that cleared the way for the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, despite the fact that the State Department has warned against visiting Haiti “due to the risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, unrest, and limited health care.”
Friday, Aug. 28 – Another Court Strikes Down Unconstitutional ICE Policy
For the eighth time, a federal appeals court ruled that ICE’s policy to detain almost all undocumented immigrants without a hearing is unlawful, finding that the agency violated mandatory detention laws, as well as the Fifth Amendment.
Undocumented immigrants who have been in the U.S. for decades “are entitled to due process rights beyond those provided to noncitizens at the border,” the majority opinion reads.
Did you miss previous weeks of ‘This Week in Democracy’? Catch up here. And check out more of Zeteo’s reporting from this week below:
As I read the preceding series of brief comments I got a little nauseous and felt kind of like somebody had punched me in the stomach when I didn't expect it. When I feel like that, I know what it means. It means I'm having trouble finding or seeing the America I've known and loved the last 72 years. It's because when I look around I see our government perpetrating actions and policies and sometimes crimes so vastly Un-American in their nature and consequences that I have to blink twice and collect myself to be sure I'm still in America and not back in El Salvador in the early 1980s during the worst years of their then raging Civil War, where I saw so much of what's happening here now, happening there then. I remember when I got back to the States I felt like I was again able to start breathing fresh air, almost as if I had been suffocating there in Central America and not realized it. And now, all these years later, The Spectre has appeared again, and here in my own country. But one thing I know, I'm going to do everything I can, as little or as much as that may be at this time in my life, to send that Spectre far away from here with its tail between its legs to whatever hell hole it came out of and then seal the top. And I remember Benjamin Franklin: "If we can keep it", he said. "If we can keep it".
So the anti-genocide group, Palestine Action who have not killed or even hurt anyone, are designated terrorists by the largest purveyor of terror in the world! Of course with their partner, Israel!