Today in Second Trump: Iran war, USAID cuts, climate, concentration camps, anti-trans agenda

Andrea Pitzer writes today:

"At this point, we’re over eighteen months into the second Trump administration. Officials have unleashed countless crises in health, science, medicine, government services, military affairs, foreign affairs, and several other arenas. On top of it all, we’re trapped in a totally unnecessary and unbelievably dangerous war that’s following the plot of Groundhog Day.

In addition to the war, there are, to my mind, three particularly significant horror shows unfolding right now—ones that may be easier for most Americans to ignore or fail to notice than the war. The first, which I try to mention almost every week, is the ongoing death toll of the cuts to USAID. We are on track for millions of deaths to take place before the end of the first Trump administration. The second, which is also easy to miss, despite current conditions, is climate change. The third — which is the focus of this post and the one I write most about on here — is the war on immigrants and the concentration camp system that Trump and Stephen Miller have prioritized expanding exponentially while they are still able to.

* * *

...the same tactics and dynamics that radicalized a significant minority of Americans against immigrants are now in play against trans people. We’re just witnessing an earlier stage of the demonization. A story out this week about U.S. Army Captain Kai Proce traces the Department of Defense’s systematic removal of trans people from service through shameful hearings in which the outcome has been decided by top brass before each session even begins."

Previously

Stoking ‘Trans Panic’?! We Have to Create Other Political Narratives: Andrea Pitzer’s video on ‘Ending Trans Panic’ (my 5-min read on Medium, Apr 2, 2026)

Bari Weiss as CBS president

CBS News boss Wendy McMahon exits amid Trump pressure, Brian Stelter, CNN, May 19, 2025

Denny Carter says:

"The Trump regime announced today that it would dispatch a “truth arbiter” who will monitor all CBS coverage to ensure the network does not criticize the regime’s fascist agenda or broadcast stories that might conflict with the push to unravel democratic self governance in the United States. It’s a sickening turn in our drift toward all-out authoritarianism – I’m begging corporate leaders to read one fucking book – and it’s one born out of the right’s bad faith, like every other major accomplishment their movement has secured in its slow-motion coup." ("The Media Bias Wars Are Over," Bad Faith Times, Aug 8, 2025)

As someone said in a deleted Bluesky post: "...at some point you bend the knee so far that you are just kneeling..."

Kennedy Center Board President weighs in on CBS controversy

[image or embed]

— I. B. Cole (@ibc.bsky.social) December 22, 2025 at 10:53 AM

Stephen Miller is Bari Weiss's boss? "White House official Stephen Miller on Tuesday had an extreme response to what he called a “revolt” at CBS: “Fire” everyone who objected to CBS News boss Bari Weiss yanking a “60 Minutes” segment at the last minute." (HuffPost)

Bari Weiss Is Doing Exactly What She Was Installed at CBS to Do: By pulling a “60 Minutes” segment, the new editor-in-chief is torching the network’s credibility to protect the Ellison family’s interests. Adam Johnson, December 22 2025

This is quite a read about the BW attack on 60 Minutes. I'm glad it also highlights the incredibly solid reporting in the piece, a fact that has been largely overlooked in this red hot debate about Weiss' actions. Yes, what Sharyn Alfonsi & her team did here is journalism. Damn good journalism.

[image or embed]

— @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) (@newsjennifer.bsky.social) December 31, 2025 at 11:52 AM

Dan D'Addario’s take on the new CBS Evening News is unflinchingly and deservedly brutal. “… a Weissian willingness to bulldoze past that which might seem too untidy for whatever hypothetical viewer he and his editor have in mind.” Good on him and Variety. variety.com/2026/tv/colu...

[image or embed]

— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner.bsky.social) January 6, 2026 at 12:06 AM

Read more: David Letterman Wrecks 'Idiots' At CBS News Over Rightward Shift The former "Late Show" host ripped the leadership at his old network's news division. Ben Blanchet, HuffPost, Jan 10, 2026

Sources: Bari Weiss has privately been deeply frustrated by the negative reaction to her CBS tenure and has blamed subordinates for not stanching the criticism (New York Times) Main Link | Mediagazer Permalink

— Mediagazer (@mediagazer.com) January 13, 2026 at 7:50 AM

Tuesday morning: New CBS boss promises “huge emphasis on scoops.” Tuesday evening: CBS Evening News anchor interviews his mom. www.yahoo.com/entertainmen...

[image or embed]

— Bill Grueskin (@bgrueskin.bsky.social) January 28, 2026 at 9:33 AM

"The White House threatened to take legal action against CBS following anchor Tony Dokoupil's recent interview with the president if their discussion didn't air in full.

"He said, 'If it’s not out in full, we’ll sue your ass off,'" Leavitt told Dokoupil, according to The New York Times.

Trump had also told Dokoupil he owes his job to him during the interview."

— HuffPost, Jan 26, 2026

this email offers no details about what the actual offer is and you have to opt in before you find out lol

[image or embed]

— Joshua Erlich (@joshuaerlich.bsky.social) January 28, 2026 at 7:06 PM

Simply incredible

[image or embed]

— Phil Lewis (@phillewis.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 7:43 PM

I'm not saying CBS News is now a pedophile protection racket, just that it wouldn't be doing much differently if it weren't

[image or embed]

— Subscribe to Radio Free America (link in bio) (@kleinman.bsky.social) February 2, 2026 at 9:16 PM

The party against cancel culture loves canceling everyone. deadline.com/2026/02/step...

[image or embed]

— Wajahat Ali (@wajali.bsky.social) February 17, 2026 at 2:46 AM

The richest man owns X. The second and third richest men control Google. The fourth richest man owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The fifth richest man owns The Washington Post. And now the sixth richest could soon take over both Paramount and Warner Bros. See the problem here?

[image or embed]

— Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) February 26, 2026 at 6:40 PM

This is very bad. Handing CNN to Bari Weiss/David Ellison is very, very bad.

[image or embed]

— Parker Molloy (@parkermolloy.com) February 26, 2026 at 6:07 PM

@semafor.com is such a perfect example of softball brunchlord media and the feckless way it normalizes and downplays radical censorial authoritarians reading this you'd barely be aware that Carr is a free speech trampling extremist (who in his free time guts telecom and media consumer protections)

[image or embed]

— Karl Bode (@karlbode.com) February 26, 2026 at 1:17 PM

March 20, 2026: Layoffs at CBS!

March 20, 2026: CBS News Radio Is Shutting Down After Nearly 100 Years Of Operation, Marita Vlachou

Six months into Bari Weiss’ overhaul of CBS News, new ratings data obtained by Status shows its flagship programs are shedding viewers at an alarming rate, collapsing to historic lows and accelerating the network’s decline. Details in @status.news: www.status.news/p/cbs-news-r...

[image or embed]

— Status (@status.news) March 24, 2026 at 9:39 PM

David Ellison says 70% of Americans are centrist. Surveys tell a different story: Paramount Skydance CEO has repeatedly cited the statistic when laying out the approach that CBS News and potentially CNN would take, Jeremy Barr, Guardian, 6 Apr 2026

CBS News Streaming Staffers To Walk Out Tuesday

Bari Weiss Dialogue, February 17, 2021

Paramount Officially Acquiring The Free Press and Making Bari Weiss CBS News Editor in Chief: Report, Sarah Rumpf, Mediaite, Oct 2, 2025

CBS settling

CBS News Producer Warns ‘Shifting Set of Ideological Expectations’ In Bombshell Farewell Note: Alicia Hastey wrote that the network’s changes pressure “producers and reporters to self-censor.” Pocharapon Neammanee, HuffPost, Feb 12, 2026

60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley accuses Bari Weiss of ‘murdering’ show: Pelley reportedly rebuked CBS ousting show’s executive producer, executive editor and two top correspondents. Jeremy Barr in Washington, Guardian, 1 Jun 2026

oh no what a terrible and completely unforeseeable thing to happen to one of the leading intellectual lights of her generation

[image or embed]

— Anjali Dayal (@anjalikdayal.bsky.social) May 19, 2026 at 2:14 PM

1. This is an extremely satisfying read. 2. Pelley is going to be replaced by someone who is at least willing to attest that everything Weiss is doing is great. www.status.news/p/scott-pell...

[image or embed]

— Matthew Gertz (@mattgertz.bsky.social) June 1, 2026 at 12:22 PM

Trump’s War On The Free Press Reaches A Terrifying New Milestone We’re watching a journalistic institution crumble in real time — revealing the chilling cost of the president’s war on media. HuffPost Editors Jun 2, 2026

Scott Pelley fired by CBS after ‘60 Minutes’ clash with management Brian Stelter, CNN, June 2, 2026

What's happening to CBS News is what the tech oligarchs call "parallel" strategy. Buy an existing institution, gut it, and convert it into a right-wing zombie version of itself. They are doing this to media, government, education, biotech, defense tech, etc. Some call it the "Network State."

— Gil Durán (@gilduran.com) June 2, 2026 at 9:24 PM

she did warn us

[image or embed]

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper.com) September 11, 2025 at 11:31 AM

Experience, Knowledge, and Talent Need Not Apply Trump suck-ups are poisoning America — not just inside the U.S. government Robert Reich, Jun 08, 2026

Veteran '60 Minutes' Star Has 'A Feeling' About Bari Weiss' Future — And She Won't Like It "I hope it’s going to come to an end, but I don’t have a great deal of confidence in Bari Weiss to do what she says that she’s going to do,” the "60 Minute" veteran said of the recent turmoil. Pocharapon Neammanee, HuffPost, Jun 12, 2026

Warner on CBS: I was embarrassed that the president went before our country and networks like yours carried this as news as opposed to a rehash of falsehoods. It is incumbent upon you and any responsible journalist to pushback on this.

[image or embed]

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) July 16, 2026 at 9:04 PM

CBS claimed “thousands” of 9/11 families wanted Zohran Mamdani banned from the anniversary ceremony. Then a journalist demanded the evidence—and the network quietly rewrote its story. #ZohranMamdani #CBSNews #MediaAccountability

[image or embed]

— Moments to Remember | News (@moments2remember.link) July 28, 2026 at 2:56 PM

Shocked not shocked that Bari Weiss hired yet another right wing opinion writer with no actual news reporting experience. That's her jam. However, I am shocked that Ross is only 46. Wow.

[image or embed]

— @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) (@newsjennifer.bsky.social) July 28, 2026 at 4:15 PM

While Douthat is a leading authoritarian thinker (he praised Orban for seeking to destroy higher education in Hungary), he -- like Bari Weiss -- is not a journalist.

[image or embed]

— davidrlurie (@davidrlurie.com) July 28, 2026 at 4:34 PM

Had Bari Weiss been hired by CBS-Paramount to secretly run a "Producers" scam and destroy all of "60 Minutes"'s value as quickly as possible it's difficult to imagine what should would've done differently.

— Ken Tremendous (@kentremendous.bsky.social) July 28, 2026 at 4:37 PM

It's fun watch Bari Weiss grasping her way to figuring out what journalism is through her hires at 60 Minutes. Is it when you ask a prominent person a question and nod? Is it when you make sure that something Benny Johnson said on Twitter makes it into a reported story despite it not being true?

— David_j_roth (@davidjroth.bsky.social) July 28, 2026 at 4:02 PM

US allowing data centers to be built on public land

Data center to be built on public land.

An Incomplete List of Successful Anti-Data Center Legislation, Matthew Gault, 404 Media, May 25, 2026

Call for papers: ''CONGRESO ESTÉTICA(S) DEL HORROR: FILOSOFÍA, CINE Y LITERATURA'

Abierto el plazo de recepción de propuestas de comunicación
Deadline: 11 de septiembre de 2026
Toda la información aquí

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Dpto. Filosofía y Sociedad UCM (@dpto.filosofiaysociedad)

Call for papers: '𝗔𝗽𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹𝘆𝗽𝘀𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁? 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱'

𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀 (250 words) + short bio (50 words): 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟭, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲

If accepted: full article (8,000–9,000 words) due by January 31, 2027.

Full details

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Centre for Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic Studies (@capasheidelberg)

U.S. Latino vote, 2024 presidential election

Quote:

"One of the other things I was really surprised about was how nearly a decade of brutal, dehumanizing anti-immigrant rhetoric from the right instead of creating a racial solidarity consciousness among Latinos offered them a choice. That is the choice that has been offered to immigrants throughout our history, which is to either remain the maligned and dehumanized other or opt in and be white. Just be white, you know which is the greatest thing in the world to be, apparently.

And Latinos literally have that option on the census, they're not a race. They're white people who may or may not be of Spanish-speaking origin, It's not surprising in the sense that many people have predicted that this would be what would happen. But I think that the scale of it, and in response to such pre-genocidal rhetoric. Rhetoric that fully dehumanized immigrants, made them into mortal threats, that created a blood libel narrative."

— How to compete with the right-wing meaning-making media machine: Writer and policy wonk Heather McGhee on how Democrats failed to reach voters on policy, why having Beyoncé on your side isn't enough, and what it will take to build a left media in the Trump years. The Ink, Nov 11, 2024

When Trump said he would arrest someone, he meant he was going to arrest you.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by EL PAÍS US (@el_paisus)

ICE killed three men in a week

The murders will continue until the murders are allowed to continue.

[image or embed]

— A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) July 16, 2026 at 12:42 PM

The murder of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo:

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was murdered by ICE. His three sons called him “El mundo entero” — the whole world. They watched as their whole world died in a video posted on Facebook. Lorenzo was our neighbor and fellow Texan. He deserves justice.

[image or embed]

— James Talarico (@jamestalarico.bsky.social) July 12, 2026 at 1:17 PM

The son of the man shot and killed by ICE: I am Ronaldo Salgado, the oldest son of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. He should've been picking up the last of his guys before heading to finish up construction. Unbeknownst to all of us, my dad had been shot inside his van by ICE agents in unmarked cars.

[image or embed]

— Headquarters (@headquartersnews.bsky.social) July 9, 2026 at 10:13 AM

His father grieves.

Mexico demands an investigation.

ICE Officer Who Shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo ‘Switched Guns’ Afterward: Witness: Witness accounts of the fatal ICE shooting were published as part of new legal filings this week. Matt Shuham, HuffPost, Jul 22, 2026

Two other men died later in the week.

I wrote: This Week, Three Men Are Dead After Encountering ICE: The U.S. regime continues to wage violence in the streets, 3-min read, July 14, 2026

Trump Says ICE 'Cannot Give Up' Traffic Stops, Undercutting Reported Agency Directive: “The men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” the president said. Marita Vlachou, HuffPost, Jul 15, 2026

While someone attempted (for whatever reason, perhaps only a performative one) to temporarily halt the ICE tactic of stopping vehicles on the road, on July 15, Trump overturned that decision and said it was game on for stopping vehicles again. (Trump overturns suspension of ICE traffic stops, White House official says, Priscilla Alvarez, Kit Maher, Julianna Bragg, CNN, July 15, 2026)

Tom Homan is blaming Democrats. Invalid response.

Senator doesn't regret funding ICE. (Collins Won’t Say She Regrets Funding ICE After Killing in Maine: “Maine does not need a senator who signs the checks and hopes for the best from Donald Trump,” said one Democratic US Senate candidate. Julia Conley, Common Dreams, Jul 15, 2026) Invalid response.

An ICE officer fired at an SUV fleeing a car stop in Pennsylvania. That’s not how it should happen, policing experts say. Shimon Prokupecz, Nicki Brown, CNN, July 18, 2026

"Border Czar Tom Homan claimed the several deaths springing from confrontations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents might not have happened if the deceased were following orders before he admitted he hadn’t seen crucial video evidence from one of the cases." (HuffPost, July 19, emphasis mine)

Federal Agents Were Told FBI Will No Longer Investigate ICE Confrontations: Senior officials deny such a change is in the works, despite guidance shared with agents around the country in recent days. New York Times, July 19, 2026