Tag Archives: Trump

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick – The American Immigration Council

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick is Senior Fellow at The American Immigration Council. He previously worked as a Staff Attorney at the American Immigration Council, working on impact litigation, Freedom of Information Act litigation, and practice advisories. Prior to joining the Council, he was an Immigrant Justice Corps Fellow and Staff Attorney at the Immigration Law Unit of The Legal Aid Society in New York City, representing immigrants placed in removal proceedings because of a prior criminal conviction.

Of course the implications for those from other countries, both documented and undocumented, are dire, but the implications for American rule of law and democracy are also increasingly disturbing. Things are happening so fast, norms are being shattered, judicial rulings are being ignored. To find out what’s going on, we spoke with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on December 5, 2025 via Zoom.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

The Trump Administration Won’t Stop Firing Immigration Judges https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/12/deportation-judge-trump-immigration-court-purge-federal-plaza-new-york-city/

Putting Military Lawyers in Charge of Immigration Courts Is Problematic—and “Unlawful” https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/09/trump-administration-military-lawyers-jags-immigration-court-judges/

“The Entire System Will Collapse”: Inside the Purge of US Immigration Courts https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/trump-immigration-courts-firing-doge-nonsensical-system-collapse-eoir/

ICE Investigations, Powered by Nvidia https://theintercept.com/2025/11/01/ice-nvidia-software-hsi-surveillance/

Trump’s Military Occupations of U.S. Cities Cost $473 Million and Rising https://theintercept.com/2025/11/11/cost-trump-national-guard-military-occupation/

The Contempt of Court Buck Stops With … Kristi Noem? https://talkingpointsmemo.com/morning-memo/tcontempt-of-court-kristi-noem-emil-bove-alien-enemies-act

Chicago Protestors Reel After Fending Off Federal Charges https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/chicago-protestors-reel-after-fending-off-federal-charges

ICE Is Targeting Workers. Here’s How Employers and Unions Are Fighting Back. https://truthout.org/articles/ice-is-targeting-workers-heres-how-employers-and-unions-are-fighting-back/

Trump’s Thanksgiving Attack on Immigrants Likened to ‘Stuff You Hear Coming Out of White Nationalists’ https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-immigration-national-guard

Stephen Miller Is an Immigration Hypocrite. I Know Because I’m His Uncle. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/

Trump is using a tragic shooting to demonize millions https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/03/trump-national-guard-shooting-anti-immigration-push

Trump’s Immigration Forces Are Recklessly Deploying ‘Less Lethal’ Weapons. Protestors Are Getting Maimed https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/trumps-immigration-forces-deploy-less-lethal-weapons-protests-are-getting-maimed

A Tale of Two ICEs https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/12/02/a-tale-of-two-ices/

Reverse Migration Is Not A Cure. It Will Only Make America Weak and Alone https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-reverse-migration

Charlotte activists met the immigration crackdown with ‘bless your heart’ resistance https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/23/activists-immigration-charlotte-north-carolina

A groundswell of activism takes hold in the US: ‘We are a bridge to the future’ ttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/21/us-activism-protests-boycotts-mutual-aid

20 states and D.C. sue DOJ to stop immigration conditions on funds for crime victims https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/20-states-and-d-c-sue-doj-to-stop-immigration-conditions-on-funds-for-crime-victims

The Education Department’s Forgotten Antiracist Origins https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/29/opinion/education-department-trump-antiracist.html

DHS Spends Millions Of Taxpayer Funds To Get Its Own Fleet Of Deportation Planes: Report https://www.huffpost.com/entry/scotus-blockbuster-case-2026-golden-globe-noms_n_6936a122e4b0a1c98be2a8f0/liveblog_6939a59fe4b028000c59fa6c?origin=home-latest-news-unit

Kristi Noem reportedly tried to buy 10 engineless Spirit Airlines planes that airline didn’t own https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/08/kristi-noem-spirit-airlines-planes

Trump administration moves to deny visas to factcheckers and content moderators https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/trump-administration-us-visa-crackdown

Arizona congresswoman says she was ‘pepper sprayed’ at protest against ICE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/05/adelita-grijalva-arizona-pepper-spray-ice-protest

Senator says ICE ‘attack dog’ caused ‘horrific’ injuries to unresisting man as he was detained https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/06/us-senator-ice-attack-dog-horrific-injuries

Leah Litman LAWLESS: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

University of Michigan Law Professor, Leah Litman teaches and writes on constitutional law, federal courts, and federal post-conviction review. Her research examines unidentified and implicit values that are used to structure the legal system, the federal courts, and the legal profession. With her fellow law professors, Kate Shaw and Melissa Murray, she co-hosts the popular podcast, Strict Scrutiny, providing in-depth and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court – its cases, culture, and personalities.

Her book, LAWLESS: HOW THE SUPREME COURT RUNS ON CONSERVATIVE GRIEVANCE, FRINGE THEORIES, AND BAD VIBES, is published by Atria/One Signal Publishers. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse wrote this: “Lawless is a lively narration of how big special interests captured the Supreme Court and redeployed it to deliver on the least popular policy planks of the Republican Party. Litman ably documents the Court’s devolution, as it was yoked into service to a political party and a billionaire class.”
We spoke with her on May 6, 2025.

Trump asks Supreme Court to allow cancellation of legal status for 500,000 immigrants https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/08/trump-supreme-court-parole-00336940

Trump Administration Live Updates: U.S. Welcomes White South Africans Given Refugee Status https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05/12/us/trump-news

David H. Souter, Republican Justice Who Allied With Court’s Liberal Wing, Dies at 85 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/us/david-souter-dead.html

150 Former Judges Tell Pam Bondi They’re Not ‘Deranged’ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/former-judges-pam-bondi-letter_n_6819403de4b085c2f857aeb9

Trump order targeting law firm Perkins Coie is unconstitutional, judge rules https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/02/trump-perkins-coie-unconstitutional

Ketanji Brown Jackson Gets Standing Ovation For Slamming ‘Relentless Attacks’ On Judges https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kentanji-brown-jackson-slams-relentless-attacks-on-judges_n_681486aae4b0c3c651ebe017

TRUMP’S BIGGEST BENEFICIARY: HIMSELF https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/27/opinion/trump-crypto-musk-spacex.html

Trump receives widespread backlash to social post calling himself ‘king’ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/19/trump-backlash-social-media-king

Wisconsin Judge Arrest: What We Know https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/26/us/wisconsin-judge-hannah-dugan-arrest.html

The US used to be the gold standard for press freedom. Not any more https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/28/press-freedom-us-trump

The Henchmen Strategy: What Trump Is Doing To Make The Law His Own https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-henchmen-strategy-what-trump-is-doing-to-make-the-law-his-own_n_680fe032e4b0a4f4db7f0bfd

Trump warns ‘nothing will stop me’ at rally to celebrate 100 days in office https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/29/trump-100-days-rally-michigan

Hegseth Directs 20% Cut To Top Military Leadership Positions https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ap-us-pentagon-leadership-cuts-pete-hegseth_n_681923a9e4b09d0e11f7c9a5

Judge Orders Elections Board to Certify Democrat’s Victory in Contested N.C. Race https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/us/north-carolina-supreme-court-federal-ruling.htm

Trump’s Justice Department Is Squandering Its Biggest Asset https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/05/06/trump-justice-department-trust-supreme-court-00329222

Judge strikes down Trump executive order punishing prominent law firm https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-law-firms-executive-00324973

Trump asks Supreme Court to let DOGE access sensitive Social Security data https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-doge-supreme-court-social-security-00324876

Trump’s immigration ‘shock and awe’ is losing in the court of law https://www.politico.com/news/2025/05/02/trump-immigration-court-losses-00324683

US supreme court allows Trump trans military ban to take effect https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/06/trump-trans-military-ban-court

E.P.A. Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/climate/epa-energy-star-eliminated.html

Feds Urged To Investigate Pizzas Sent To Judges Using Name Of Judge’s Murdered Son https://www.huffpost.com/entry/federal-investigation-pizza-deliveries-judges_n_681a0193e4b09d0e11f86cad

No One Has Ever Defeated Autocracy From the Sidelines https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/opinion/trump-authoritarianism-democracy.htm

Henry Giroux & Michael Klare

Returning in our first segment, is Paulo Freire Distinguished Scholar in critical pedagogy and Chair for Scholarship in the Public Interest at McMaster University, Henry Giroux.

In our second segment is Michael Klare, who is a Five Colleges professor emeritus of Peace and World Security Studies, whose department is located at Hampshire College. He is currently the secretary for the Arms Control Association board of directors, and a senior visiting fellow working on emerging technologies—such as lethal autonomous weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles—and how arms control strategies can mitigate their adverse impacts.

We spoke with Henry Giroux on March 24, 2025 from his home in Hamilton, Ontario, and Michael Klare on March 25th from his in Washington, D.C. Our conversation with Michael Klare begins at 25:05.

What a week! When we interviewed Michael Klare, the news of the Signal Group Chat had just broken. Since then, more has come to light. We were able to report that against the wishes of the government of Greenland, Usha Vance, Michael Waltz (he of the inclusion of the Atlantic’s Editor in Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in the infamous group chat) and Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, would be coming, whether Greenland wanted them to or not. Then, Vice President JD Vance announced he didn’t want “Usha to have all the fun,” so he would be coming, too. Then, the Prime Minister of Denmark condemned Trump’s escalated rhetoric. Now, The visit by the Americans is to be limited to the US Military Base in Northern Greenland. That’s as of the afternoon of March 27th. Who knows what will have happened by airtime on March 28th? Word has it that Greenlanders have created red MAGA caps – Make America Go Away.

We ended the program with the news from the talented Marsh Family, who turn current events into parodic art. They are a British mom, dad, 2 brothers and 2 sisters. We shared “You Were Not Supposed to Message It Through” and “I Put Up Tariffs.” Although we were not able to include them in the audio, due to copyright/royalty issues, the links to them are included below.

Articles and videos pertinent to this edition of Forthright Radio:

You Were Not Supposed to Message It Through https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPfwtXulKS4

I Put Up Tariffs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DyNjjSxO8s

Trump’s Reign of Cruelty: Gangster Capitalism and the Unraveling of the Social https://www.laprogressive.com/progressive-issues/gangster-capitalism

Law in Mahmoud Khalil’s Case Was Once Struck Down — by Trump’s Sister https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/us/politics/mahmoud-khalil-trump-sister-law.html?searchResultPosition=1

Trump is setting the US on a path to educational authoritarianism https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/17/trump-us-path-educational-authoritarianism

Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/26/yale-professor-fascism-canada

Government Science Data May Soon Be Hidden. They’re Racing to Copy It. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/climate/government-websites-climate-environment-data.html

A New Military-Industrial Complex Arises https://tomdispatch.com/a-new-military-industrial-complex-arises/

How a Cheap Drone Punctured Chernobyl’s 40,000 Ton Shield https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/world/europe/drone-chernobyl-shield-ukraine-war.html

Pete Hegseth’s Dangerous War on America https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-hegseth-woke-democracy-military-dei/

Trump Confronts a Rising China https://tomdispatch.com/trump-confronts-a-rising-china/

Town Hall Bozeman Public Library 3-21-25 https://kgvm.org/show/town-hall-bozeman-public-library-3-21-25/

Veterans Rally Helena, MT 3-14-25 https://kgvm.org/show/veterans-rally-helena-mt-3-14-25/

A Montana Senator Seeks to Be Trump’s Voice in Beijing https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/22/world/asia/trump-china-xi-daines.html?searchResultPosition=1

UN Moves to Expand Autonomous Weapons Discussions https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2024-12/news/un-moves-expand-autonomous-weapons-discussions

Beyond a Human “In the Loop”: Strategic Stability and Artificial Intelligence https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2024-011/beyond-the-loop

Democrat vows to ‘stop Doge’s illegal power grab’ at non-profit peace institute https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/18/don-beyer-musk-doge-usip

Countries must bolster climate efforts or risk war, Cop30 chief executive warns https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/18/countries-must-bolster-climate-efforts-or-risk-war-cop30-chief-executive-warns

Chinese state media celebrates Trump’s cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/mar/18/chinese-state-media-celebrates-trumps-cuts-to-voice-of-america-and-radio-free-asia

Inside the El Salvador mega-prison where Trump is sending hundreds of immigrants https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-deportation-el-salvador-cecot-prison-b2716191.html?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

‘Segregated facilities’ are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/03/18/nx-s1-5326118/segregation-federal-contracts-far-regulation-trump?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

Justice department removes disability guidelines for US businesses https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/justice-department-disability-business-guidelines

Major-power conflict ‘no longer unimaginable’, Australian intelligence review finds https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/mar/21/australia-independent-national-intelligence-review-2024

Senator Claude Malhuret on the End of American Democracy https://washingtonspectator.org/senator-claude-malhuret-on-the-end-of-american-democracy/

Trump’s firings of federal workers with DEI jobs were illegal, complaint claims https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trumps-firings-federal-workers-with-dei-jobs-were-illegal-complaint-claims-2025-03-26/

Jade Sasser CLIMATE ANXIETY AND THE KID QUESTION and Mark Rank THE RANDOM FACTOR

This edition of Forthright Radio features two university professors whose books were published this month by the University of CA Press.

First, we hear from University of California Riverside’s Department of Gender and Sexuality Studies Professor, Jade Sasser, about her latest book, CLIMATE ANXIETY AND THE KID QUESTION: Deciding Whether to Have Children in an Uncertain Future. Her award-winning 2018 book, On Infertile Ground: Population Control and Women’s Rights in the Era of Climate Change, analyzed the shifting role of environmentalists in shaping activism and international policy advocacy focused on population, reproductive rights, and reproductive justice. In CLIMATE ANXIETY AND THE KID QUESTION, she investigates the impacts of climate change, racial injustice, and other existential threats, on reproductive decisions.

In our second half, we welcome back George Washington University’s Herbert S. Hadley Professor of Social Welfare, Mark Rank, whose book THE RANDOM FACTOR: How Chance and Luck Profoundly Shape Our Lives and the World Around Us, was published just this week. His research and teaching have focused on poverty, social welfare, economic inequality, and social policy.

Articles pertinent to this edition:

H.R.957 – Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act 117th Congress (2021-2022)
H.R. 3302: Protecting Moms and Babies Against Climate Change Act 118th Congress https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/118/hr3302/summary

‘Children won’t be able to survive’: inter-American court to hear from climate victims https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/apr/22/inter-american-court-climate-hearing-hear-from-victims-barbados

‘I am starting to panic about my child’s future’: climate scientists wary of starting families https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/10/climate-scientists-starting-families-children

The Far Right’s Campaign to Explode the Population https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/04/28/natalism-conference-austin-00150338

‘The Pressure Is Working’: Biden Weighs Climate Emergency Declaration https://www.commondreams.org/news/climate-change-national-emergency?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=b6968bca63-Top+News%3A+Thu.+4%2F18%2F24+w%2F+fundraiser&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-b6968bca63-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Pediatricians say climate conversations should be part of any doctor’s visit https://grist.org/health/pediatricians-advised-talk-patients-parents-climate-change/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=weekly

GOP State AGs Ask EPA to ‘Eviscerate’ Crucial Environmental Justice Tool https://www.commondreams.org/news/gop-epa-title-vi?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=4bdd8521e2-Top+News%3A+Wed.+4%2F17%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-37878a46b5-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Sterilization Procedures Have Surged Among Young People Following “Dobbs” https://truthout.org/articles/sterilization-procedures-have-surged-among-young-people-post-dobbs/?utm_source=feedotter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FO-04-15-2024&utm_content=httpstruthoutorgarticlessterilizationprocedureshavesurgedamongyoungpeoplepostdobbs&utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=e9461d45e9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_04_15_08_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_bbb541a1db-e9461d45e9-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

‘I felt like a freak because I didn’t want children’ https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c72pnllv8nko

‘Catastrophic’: Biden Admin Approves Largest Offshore Oil Export Terminal https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-offshore-oil-terminal?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=1180bb9681-Top+News%3A+Mon.+4%2F15%2F24&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-37878a46b5-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Guest column: Global warming presents more danger than guns https://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/opinions/guest_columnists/guest-column-global-warming-presents-more-danger-than-guns/article_7f6d09de-f770-11ee-8032-1f184cd657b2.html

Cecil Williams, reverend who turned a church into a safe haven, dies aged 94 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/23/reverend-cecil-williams-san-francisco-california-dies-aged-94

‘A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose’: can Allan Lichtman predict the 2024 election? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/apr/26/allan-lichtman-prediction-presidential-election

Alfred McCoy – IN THE SHADOWS OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF US GLOBAL POWER

This edition of Forthright Radio was originally broadcast on October 4, 2017, the 60th anniversary of the launching by the Soviet Union of Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, which triggered the Space Race.

Our guest today, Professor Alfred McCoy, writes of this and much more about the history for global dominance in his latest book, IN THE SHADOWS OF THE AMERICAN CENTURY: THE RISE AND DECLINE OF US GLOBAL POWER, just published by Haymarket Books.

Alfred McCoy, who holds the Harrington Chair in History at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, has been shaking up our understanding and beliefs about the role of the United States in the world since 1970, when he co-edited LAOS: WAR AND REVOLUTION .

His research led him to publish THE POLITICS OF HEROIN IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, in 1972, which led to his testifying before the foreign operations subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee in June of that year about the role of the CIA in the production and distribution of heroin. Among his numerous other books are POLICING AMERICA’S EMPIRE: THE UNITED STATES, THE PHILIPINES AND THE RISE OF THE SURVEILLANCE STATE; A QUESTION OF TORTURE: CIA INTERROGATION, FROM THE COLD WAR TO THE WAR ON TERROR. In 2012 Yale University awarded him the Wilbur Cross Medal for work as “one of the world’s leading historians of Southeast Asia and an expert on … international political surveillance.”

In this interview, we discuss the geopolitics of global dominance; the covert netherworld of U.S. government agencies colluding with international drug cartels at the same time the military ineffectively attempts to eradicate opium production in Afghanistan; the rapid rise of China as a dominant force; cyberwarfare; the vulnerability of our and much more.