Democracy Now!

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is less than two months away from taking office in New York City. Mamdani's history-making campaign, grounded in community organizing, propelled the little-known Assembly-member to victory. Candidate Mamdani famously began the campaign polling at just 1% and overcame the intense scrutiny, Islamaphobic attacks, criticism for his support for Palestinian rights, and more. By election day, more than 2 million New Yorkers had cast their votes, a turnout record that hasn't been matched going back more than half a century.His success is in part due to massive on-the-ground organizing and an operation of more than 104,000 volunteers. We knew that we wanted it to be very big," says Tascha Van Auken, field director for Zohran Mamdani's mayoral campaign. We prioritized developing leadership and bringing in as many volunteers as possible."

Democracy Now! speaks to William Hartung about his new book The Trillion Dollar War Machine" and who profits from the United States' runaway military spending that fuels foreign wars. Hartung says that U.S. policy is based on profit" and calls for a rethinking of our foreign entanglements. We haven't won a war in this century. We've caused immense harm. We've spent $8 trillion," he says.

252 Venezuelan immigrants in the United States were flown to El Salvador in the dead of night and indefinitely imprisoned at the Salvadoran mega-prison CECOT, the Terrorism Confinement Center. The detainees had no ability to communicate to the outside world before they were finally released to Venezuela in a prisoner exchange. The men were subjected to beatings almost daily upon arrival," says Noah Bullock, executive director of Cristosal who co-authroed a report with Human Rights Watch documenting human rights abuses and torture in the prison.The report also found that the prison guards were clearly trying to hide their identities while they were torturing these Venezuelan migrants," says Juan Pappier, Americas deputy director at Human Rights Watch.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced the launch of Operation Southern Spear to target suspected drug traffickers in South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The U.S. now has 15,000 military personnel in the region. Over the past two months the U.S. has blown up at least 20 boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. 80 people have been killed in what are extrajudicial executions under international law," says Juan Pappier, Americas deputy director at Human Rights Watch. The Pentagon claims the boats were carrying drugs but officials have acknowledged they don't know who has been killed.Progressives and people of goodwill - of the U.S. and Puerto Rico - it's time for those of us here to stand up and say that where we will not support any attempt to bring back the old gunboat diplomacy and to invade another Latin American country, and we need to do it soon, because this stuff is moving very quickly," says Democracy Now!'s Juan Gonzalez.

Hegseth Announces Operation Southern Spear" to Target Narco-Terrorists" Across Hemisphere, 900,000 Palestinians Face Flood Risk as Heavy Rains Compound Gaza's Misery, Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinian Children in Raid Near Hebron as Settlers Set Fire to Mosque, Russian Attacks on Ukraine Kill at Least 6 in Kyiv, 2 in Odesa Region, Trump Administration Says It May Never Report October's Inflation and Job Loss Data, Federal Agents Release Chicago Teacher Arrested by ICE at Child Care Center, Trump Administration to Deploy Border Patrol to Charlotte and New Orleans, US Bishops Condemn Dehumanizing Rhetoric and VIolence" of Trump's Mass Deportation Campaign, US Issues New Visa Restrictions Discriminating Against People With Medical Conditions, Spaceflight Firm Founded by Jeff Bezos Lands First Stage of Giant Rocket, Challenging Musk's SpaceX, Katie Wilson Wins Seattle Mayor's Race After Insurgent Campaign Demanding Affordability, Workers Strike at Dozens of Starbucks Stores Across U.S. to Demand Union Contracts

We had the cure for death from malnutrition, and we took it away." We speak to surgeon and health policy expert Atul Gawande about the Trump administration's near-total dismantling of USAID. Gawande, the head of global health at USAID during the Biden administration, is featured in the short film Rovina's Choice, filmed at a refugee camp at the border between Kenya and South Sudan earlier this year. We play an excerpt from the film and discuss the impact of USAID cuts on humanitarian crises around the world. Gawande says hundreds of thousands of deaths have already occurred as a result of the loss of aid. We're seeing early deaths, like the malnutrition cases, and then we'll see the wave that's more to come."

Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was finally sworn into office by House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday, fifty days after winning her seat in Congress. Grijalva won a special election to fill the seat left vacant when her father, longtime Congressmember Raul Grijalva, died in March. Up until yesterday, Johnson had refused to swear in Grijalva in an effort to block her from submitting the final signature on a discharge petition to force a vote on the Justice Department's full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. We air Grijalva's first House speech and speak to her from Capitol Hill on her first full day in office.

After months of delays, House Republicans have released tens of thousands of pages of documents from Jeffrey Epstein's estate, after Democrats earlier publicized emails suggesting that President Trump was aware that Epstein was abusing and trafficking young girls and women. In one of those emails, Epstein wrote that Trump knew about the girls." Trump's allies say the larger set of documents released Wednesday afternoon provide evidence of Epstein's later animosity towards Trump and support Trump's claims that he was not previously aware of Epstein's crimes. Still more evidence - namely, photographs and videos - may soon be publicized, as a petition for the House to vote on the full release of the Epstein files" received its final signature from newly-sworn in Congressmember Adelita Grijalva. There is a lot more to come," says Spencer Kuvin, a lawyer who represents several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse and who has reviewed much of the still-unreleased evidence, which is currently under a court protection order. The FBI does have more information that needs to be released."

Trump Signs Stopgap Spending Bill, Ending Longest-Ever U.S. Government Shutdown, Blatantly Corrupt Self-Dealing": Spending Bill Rider Allows GOP Senators to Sue DOJ for Up to $1M, Speaker Johnson Swears In Arizona Congressmember Adelita Grijalva After 50 Day Delay, Trump Knew About the Girls": House Democrats Release New Jeffrey Epstein Emails, Israeli Warplanes Continue to Bomb Gaza Cities Despite Ceasefire Deal, Israel's Knesset Advances Death Penalty Bill for Individuals Charged With Terrorism, United Nations Calls for Ceasefire and Humanitarian Aid Corridor in Sudan, Climate Action Tracker: World on Pace to See Global Temperature Rise of 2.6 Degrees Celsius, Climate Activists Launch People's Summit Flotilla at COP30 U.N. Climate Talks in Brazil, Detainees at For-Profit ICE Jail Accuse Prison Guard of Sexual Assault and Harassment, Brother of Detainee Who Died in ICE Custody Sues Government

Democracy Now! speaks with the renowned Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi, the director of the new documentary Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk." The film is based on regular video calls Farsi made with the Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona in Gaza over the course of a year from April 2024 to April 2025.Hassona was killed with her family by an Israeli missile that targeted her apartment building in northern Gaza. The strike occurred just one day after she learned that the film centered around her life and work had been selected to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. It's something that I will never get over," says Farsi.

A new series by Drop Site News looks at Jeffrey Epstein's ties to Israeli intelligence and how he secretly brokered numerous deals for Israeli intelligence. Drop Site revealed that Epstein had played a role in brokering a security agreement between Israel and Mongolia and setting up a backchannel between Israel and Russia during the Syrian civil war.Epstein had an extensive relationship with Israeli intelligence, U.S. intelligence and the intelligence agencies of other countries as well," says Murtaza Hussain, reporter for Drop Site News. He was a dealmaker and a fixer at a very, very elite level."

The government shutdown has brought attention to food insecurity in the United States, as it disrupted the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps about 42 million people across the country. Delayed and partial payments have occurred despite the availability of contingency funds to keep the program going during the shutdown, because the Trump administration initially chose not to use those funds. 42 million Americans, 16 million of them children, are really struggling to be able to afford nutritious food for their health," says Mariana Chilton, child hunger expert. It's deeply concerning."

The longest U.S. federal government shutdown in history has entered its 43rd day. The House of Representatives is returning to session today to vote on a short-term funding bill to end the shutdown. The Senate approved the measure on Monday after seven Democrats and one independent backed the Republican bill even though the bill did not include an extension of the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which was a key demand for Democratic lawmakers. Some Democrats in the House are now calling for Senator Chuck Schumer to resign his position as minority leader - including Democratic congressmember from California, Ro Khanna. The President was panicking," says Khanna. He realized that he had lost the election over this. We caved too soon." Khanna also discusses his bill to force the public release of the Epstein files, surrounding the federal investigation into the serial sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Israeli Forces Killed 3 Palestinians in Gaza Despite the U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, 13-Year-Old Palestinian Boy Dies a Month After Israeli Forces Attacked Him in the Occupied West Bank, France Commits to Help the Palestinian Authority to Draft a Constitution for a Future Palestinian State, UK Suspends Sharing Intelligence With the U.S. Over Pentagon Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats, Protests Continue in Puerto Rico Against Trump Admin's Military Trainings in Arroyo, Speaker Johnson to Swear In Representative-Elect Grijalva as Gov't Shutdown Enters 43rd Day, Jack Schlossberg, Grandson of JFK, Announces Run for Rep. Nadler's Seat, Progressive Jewish Organizations Condemn Anti-Defamation League's Mamdani Monitor", Marion County in Kansas Agrees to Pay $3 Million After Police Raided Local Paper in 2023, WaPo: Trump Admin Plans to Allow Oil and Gas Drilling Off the California Coast, Our Land is Not for Sale": Dozens of Indigenous Leaders Protest at COP30 in Brazil

The new documentary Free Joan Little chronicles the landmark case of the first woman in U.S. history to be acquitted on the grounds of self-defense against sexual violence. Joan Little's 1975 murder trial inspired a national campaign for racial justice, prisoner's rights, and survivors' rights to self-defense. Director Yoruba Richen calls the movement to free Little a cry for justice" and Little's trial testimony about her assault by a prison guard a radical act" that helped expose the scourge of violence and abuse in jails and in prisons." Free Joan Little premieres this week at the DOC NYC Film Festival.

Last week, at the Spanish-immersion daycare center Rayito del Sol in Chicago, employee Diana Santillana was violently abducted and detained by immigration agents in front of parents and young children. My son was completely shut down emotionally after this happened," says Tara Goodarzi, the parent of a three-year-old who attends Rayito del Sol and witnessed the aftermath of the arrest. He was just so shocked by the state that his school and his safe place had transformed into." Goodarzi also shares how community members are resisting the Trump administration's anti-immigrant crackdown in Chicago, organizing protests, patrols, meal trains and rideshares to support immigrant neighbors.

We speak to The American Prospect's David Dayen about what could be the end to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, after seven Democratic Senators and one independent struck a deal with Republicans to pass a short-term government funding bill. Why would you end this?" asks Dayen, echoing many in the Democratic coalition who believe the deal was a poor strategic move for the anti-Trump opposition. Calls are now growing for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to step down. Donald Trump and the Republicans were being blamed for all of this chaos...and yet, days later this this group of Democrats with the tacit support of Chuck Schumer decide that they're going to end this and cave."

U.S. Senate Passes Bill to End Historic Government Shutdown, Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa Meets With President Trump at the White House, Reuters: European Officials Express Concern Over Next Phase of Gaza Ceasefire Deal, Pentagon Announces Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats in the Eastern Pacific, Killing 6 People, Supreme Court Declined to Hear an Appeal to Overturn its Decision on Same-Sex Marriage, Supreme Court Considers Challenge to Mississippi's Mail-In Ballot Laws, Private Prison Company Geo Group Seeking Immunity From Lawsuit in Case Before Supreme Court, Border Patrol Chief Gregory Bovino Reportedly Leaving Chicago, Trump Admin Attempting to Deport Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia, British Journalist Sami Hamdi to be Released From ICE Custody, Trump Threatens to Sue BBC for $1 Billion Over Broadcaster's Edit of Jan. 6 Speech, Whistleblower Claims Ghislaine Maxwell Plans to Seek Commutation From President Trump, Car Explosion in New Delhi Kills At Least 13 People, Car Explosion in Islamabad Kills At Least 12 People, Dozens of Prisoners Found Hanged in Ecuadorean Prison, Leaders and Delegates From More Than 190 Countries Gather in Brazil for the Opening of COP30 Climate Summit

Jelani Cobb, the acclaimed journalist and dean of the Columbia Journalism School, has just published a new collection of essays, Three or More Is a Riot: Notes on How We Got Here." The book collects essays beginning in 2012 with the killing of Travyon Martin in Florida. It traces the rise of Donald Trump and the right's growing embrace of white nationalism as well as the historic racial justice protests after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020. What we're seeing is a kind reactionary push to try to return the nation to the status quo ante, to undo the kind of demographic change, literally at gunpoint, as we are pushing people of color out of the country by force," says Cobb.

Over 5000 fossil fuel lobbyists were given access to U.N. climate summits over the past four years, a period marked by a rise in catastrophic extreme weather, inadequate climate action and record oil and gas expansion. This is climate obstruction at work," says Nina Lakhani, senior climate justice reporter for The Guardian US. She notes that lobbyists attend climate conferences to promote false solutions like carbon based carbon markets, carbon capture and storage - these market based solutions which are not going to save the planet."

The 30th U.N. climate change conference begins today in the Brazilian rainforest city of Belem, located at the mouth of the Amazon River. The summit opens as a major typhoon hit the Philippines killing at least eight people and displacing more than 1.4 million others. Typhoon Fung-wong hit as the Philippines is still recovering from Typhoon Kalmaegi which killed at least 224 people last week. Democracy Now! speaks with former Philippine climate negotiator Yeb Sano, chair of the Laudato Si' Movement, who warns that global steps to stop the climate crisis are too little and probably too late."

Trump Pardons Top Allies Involved in Efforts to Overturn Results of 2020 Election, 7 Democratic Senators Join Republicans to Pass Key Bill to End Government Shutdown, Trump Admin. Orders States to Stop Providing Full Benefits to SNAP Recipients, Tens of Thousands of Travelers Nationwide Impacted by Flight Cancellations, Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Killing 2 People, Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Villagers, Activists and Journalists in Occupied West Bank, Federal Judge Permanently Blocks Trump Admin From Deploying Troops to Portland, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson Calls on UN to Probe U.S. Gov't Over Immigration Crackdown, Video Shows Man Having a Seizure During ICE Arrest, Top BBC Executives Resign Following Backlash Over Edit of Trump Speech, Trump: U.S. to Boycott G20 Summit Hosted by South Africa, UN COP30 Climate Summit Opens Today in Belem, Brazil

The trailblazing human rights attorney Peter Weiss died November 3 at the age of 99. Weiss served on the board of the Center for Constitutional Rights for nearly five decades, where he worked to end South African apartheid and the Vietnam War, fought for nuclear disarmament and sought justice for victims of the U.S.-backed Contras in 1980s Nicaragua. He pioneered using the 1789 Alien Tort Statute in human rights cases. He also represented the family of U.S. journalist and human rights activist Charles Horman in a case against Henry Kissinger and others, after Horman was disappeared and killed in Chile soon after the U.S.-backed 1973 coup.He never ceased to push for a more just system, a more equitable system, along with his extraordinary wife Cora Weiss," says Peter Kornbluh, senior analyst at the National Security Archive. There's not enough words to describe how important Peter was to the progressive movement, to human rights, over these last decades."

The U.S. is continuing to blow up boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific despite growing international condemnation, while the Trump administration reportedly considers launching airstrikes on Venezuela or even assassinating President Nicolas Maduro.We are committing wanton criminal acts of assassination in the Caribbean [against] innocent people who haven't been found guilty of anything, and kind of setting the stage for an attack on Caracas itself in an attempt to take out its leader," says Peter Kornbluh, a senior analyst at the National Security Archive.Kornbluh also discusses the legacy of the Church Committee 50 years ago, which investigated abuses by U.S. intelligence agencies, including coups and assassinations abroad.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in a case challenging President Donald Trump's tariffs, with plaintiffs arguing that his unilateral levies on imported goods violate the Constitution, which grants Congress the power to impose taxes and regulate foreign commerce. The Trump administration has justified his unprecedented use of tariffs under a 1977 law known as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but several justices seemed highly skeptical of that argument, potentially putting President Trump's signature economic policy at risk.There is no genuine emergency. There is no war that is the precipitating basis for invoking IEEPA. And even if it were, it would not allow the imposition of tariffs," says legal expert Lisa Graves, founder of True North Research and co-host of the podcast Legal AF.Graves also discusses her new book, Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights.

In an unsigned order on Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to require U.S. passports to list travelers' sex assigned at birth, another blow to the rights of transgender, nonbinary and intersex people, who had been able to select sex markers aligning with their gender identity or to use a gender-neutral X. Thursday's order is an interim ruling while the passport case makes its way through lower courts.The harm and the targeting of this policy towards intersex, nonbinary and trans people is terrifying. It makes it very scary to travel, to trust that you'll be able to get through security, that you'll be able to get on your flight," says Arli Christian, senior policy counsel with the American Civil Liberties Union.We also get reaction to the order from actress and activist Laverne Cox, who says trans people will persevere despite the discriminatory policy. No matter what they say about our ID documents, we are still who we are, and we will find a way to be ourselves no matter what," she says.

Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Agree to Humanitarian Ceasefire, The World's Largest Mass Grave": Palestinians Say 10,000 Bodies Are Buried Under Gaza's Rubble, Israel Launches Wave of Airstrikes on Southern Lebanon, GOP Senators Block Resolution to Rein In Trump's Military Actions Against Venezuela, Senate GOP Continues Push to End Health Insurance Subsidies as Government Shutdown Enters 38th Day, Federal Judge Orders Trump Administration to Fully Fund November SNAP Payments, U.S. Airlines Cancel Thousands of Flights as Shutdown Takes Toll on Air Traffic Controllers, Death Toll in Crash of UPS Cargo Plane Rises to 13, Tesla Shareholders Approve Pay Package That Could Make Elon Musk a Trillionaire, Federal Judge Blasts Border Patrol Chief for Lying About Violence at Chicago-Area Protests, Jury Acquits Man Who Threw Sandwich to Protest Trump's Militarized Takeover of D.C., SCOTUS Allows Trump Administration to Restrict Gender Identity Markers on Passports, Typhoon Batters Vietnam After Carving Path of Destruction Through Philippines, Documents Reveal Exxon Funded Climate Denial Campaign Across Latin America, As COP30 Opens, Brazil's Lula Warns Window of Opportunity to Act on Climate Is Rapidly Closing, Nancy Pelosi, Who Served as First-Ever Female House Speaker, to Retire from Congress in 2027, NYC Mayor-Elect Mamdani Outlines Plan to Tax the Rich and Corporations to Fund Affordability, Pioneering Human Rights Attorney Peter Weiss Dies at 99

Palestinian writer Tareq Baconi joins us to discuss his new memoir, Fire in Every Direction, a chronicle of his political and queer coming of age growing up between Amman and Beirut as the grandson of refugees from Jerusalem and Haifa. While LGBTQ+ labels have also been used by the West as part of empire," with colonial projects seeking to portray Native populations as backward and in need of saving, there's a beautiful effort and movement among queer communities in the region to reclaim that language," says Baconi. I identify as a queer man today as part of a political project. It's not just a sexual identity. It expands beyond that and rejects Zionism and rejects authoritarianism, and that's part of my queerness."Baconi also comments on the so-called ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the election of Zohran Mamdani in New York City. Palestinians are the ones that have to govern Palestinian territory, not this international force that comes in that takes any kind of sovereignty or agency away from the Palestinians," he says.

A new special report from Futuro Media follows the Trump administration's federal immigration raids and the growing community resistance against them. Taken: The Agents Raiding Communities and the People Trying to Stop Them" documents how Latinos in the U.S. are being racially profiled, kidnapped," denied due process and forced to sign their own removal orders. This is psychological terror," says investigative journalist Maria Hinojosa. Trump is saying we should have ethnic cleansing against Latinos and Latinas, if it hasn't gone far enough."Hinojosa also comments on the recent public sexual harassment of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the growing public profile of Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino.

Amid federal immigration raids in the Chicagoland area, the mayor of one Chicago suburb is on the frontlines of the anti-ICE protest movement. Mayor Daniel Biss says what he has seen of federal immigration raids in Evanston, Illinois, amounts to an invasion from our own federal government." His office is now launching investigations into reports of federal agents brutalizing and threatening community members. They appear to have just started beating people up for no reason," Biss says. If that was anybody except for a federal agent, they would be under arrest."

Israel Kills at Least Two Palestinians in Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces Carry Out Raids in the Occupied West Bank, Killing a 15-Year-Old Boy, FAA Announces It Will Cut Traffic by 10% at 40 U.S. Airports Due to Government Shutdown, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Analysis: 5 Million People Will Receive No SNAP Benefits Despite Court Orders, Drone Strike Kills at Least 40 People at a Funeral in Sudan, DHS to End Deportation Protections for South Sudanese Immigrants, Federal Judge in Chicago Orders Authorities to Improve Conditions at Broadview ICE Jail, Federal Agents in Chicago Arrest Teacher at a Day Care in Front of Parents and Students, Federal Immigration Agents Arrest U.S. Citizen and Drive Off with His Daughter in Los Angeles, Mexican President Sheinbaum Presses Charges After Being Groped by a Man, California Republicans Sue to Block New Congressional Map Benefiting Democrats, Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Claims Trump Has Power to Impose Sweeping Tariffs, U.S. Asks U.N. Security Council to Lift Sanctions on Syria's President Ahmad al-Sharaa, NYC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Pledges to Hold ICE Agents Accountable

We get an overview of how Democrats won big across the United States in Tuesday's elections, with Daniel Nichanian, editor-in-chief of Bolts. Democratic Congressmember Mikie Sherrill won New Jersey's governor's race, and Abigail Spanberger flipped Virginia's governorship. In California, voters approved a new congressional map that could help Democrats pick up five additional congressional seats in a move to counter Texas's redistricting plan. Local races across the countries also saw widespread Democratic wins. Nichanian says he has never really quite seen this level of systematic win for pretty much anything that there was [for Democrats] to win."

At Zohran Mamdani's victory party at the Brooklyn Paramount on Tuesday night, Democracy Now! spoke with Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We're not going to be intimidated," Ocasio-Cortez said. We're going to fight for working families. We're going to stand with immigrants. We're going to stand with the diversity of this city."Brad Lander, former mayoral candidate who cross-endorsed with Mandani in the Democratic primary, commented on the power of having a Muslim New Yorker and a Jewish New Yorker say we are not going to allow Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams or Donald Trump or Elon Musk or Stephen Miller to weaponize fear and pit us against each other."This is such an incredible proof of concept of how to fight fascism," added the Canadian journalist, author and activist Naomi Klein.

Democracy Now! spoke with supporters celebrating Zohran Mamdani's win in the New York City mayoral race Tuesday night. Volunteers with the Democratic Socialists and other campaign organizers at the Brooklyn Paramount victory party described the night as surreal" and vowed to fight back against President Trump's agenda. Sumaya Awad, a NYC-DSA member, describes Zohran as a politician that doesn't put the platform and the mission at the expense of anyone."When people's needs aren't being met, they need an alternative, and so far, only the far right was providing an alternative in the form of authoritarianism, in the form of fascism, in the form of hate, turning against immigrants, against queer people, against Muslims," says Fahd Ahmed, director of DRUM Beats. What this campaign and our movement was able to do was offer a left alternative."

Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won the New York mayoral race, defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo. A year ago, Mamdani was polling at just 1%, but on Tuesday he became the first New York mayoral candidate to win over a million votes since the 1960s. Mamdani won despite being vastly outspent by Cuomo, who was backed by a group of billionaires. We play part of Mamdani's victory speech to supporters at the Brooklyn Paramount, in which he vows to stand up to President Trump and acknowledges his unlikely path to Gracie Mansion: I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this."

Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani Wins New York City Mayoral Race, Democrats Dominate First Major Elections of Trump's Second Term, Federal Shutdown Becomes Longest in U.S. History, Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, U.N. Secretary-General Warns Sudan's Civil War Is Spiraling Out of Control", Pentagon Announces Another Deadly Strike on Alleged Drug Boat, NBC News: Trump Admin Looking into Possible U.S. Military Mission Inside Mexico, U.N.: World Likely to Surpass 1.5 Degrees Celsius Climate Goal

We speak with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists Carol Leonnig and Aaron Davis on the day they publish their new book, Injustice: How Politics and Fear Vanquished America's Justice Department, which looks at how the DOJ during the Biden administration was overly cautious in pursuing cases against Trump and his allies over 2020 election interference, the January 6 riot and more. Attorney General Merrick Garland felt it was important to turn the page from Donald Trump" and not look too closely at abuses of power, says Leonnig, who also stresses many stubbornly brave people ... tried to do the right thing and could not succeed in this institution."

Dick Cheney, the former vice president and one of the key architects of the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, died Monday at age 84. Cheney served six terms in Congress as Wyoming's lone representative before serving as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush, when he oversaw the first Gulf War and the bloody U.S. invasion of Panama that deposed former U.S. ally Manuel Noriega. From 1995 to 2000, Cheney served as chair and CEO of the oil services company Halliburton, before George W. Bush tapped him as his running mate. As vice president, Cheney was a leading proponent of invading and occupying Iraq, which killed hundreds of thousands of people and destabilized the entire region. Dick Cheney also steadfastly defended warantless mass surveillance programs and the use of torture against detainees of the so-called war on terror. We speak with The Nation's John Nichols, author of multiple books about Cheney, who says the neoconservative leader had a very destructive" impact on the world.

Voters in the United States are casting ballots in several closely watched elections on Tuesday, including mayoral races in New York, Seattle and Minneapolis, and gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia. The Nation's executive editor John Nichols says Zohran Mamdani's campaign in New York, in particular, has captured the imagination of the country." He notes many of Tuesday's races could help shape the agenda of the Democratic Party and move it toward being an activist party that uses government to really tip the balance in favor of the working class."

Trump Endorses Cuomo, Threatens to Cancel Funding to NYC If Mamdani Is Elected Mayor, Trump Administration Will Only Partially Fund Expiring SNAP Benefits as Shutdown Drags On, Fed Warns of Weakening Labor Market as U.S. Companies Announce AI-Driven Layoffs, 10 Richest U.S. Billionaires Have Expanded Wealth by $700 Billion Since Trump's Return, Dick Cheney, Architect of Iraq Occupation and U.S. Torture Program, Dies at 84, U.N. Says 36,000 Have Fled North Darfur's Capital Since Paramilitaries Seized Control, Israel Continues to Attack Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israel and Hamas Exchange Bodies of Captives, with More Signs of Torture Against Palestinians, ICE Agents Shoot U.S. Citizen in Los Angeles Area, U.S. Courts Halt Deportation of Man Wrongfully Jailed Under Murder Charges for 43 Years, At Least 26 People Killed as Typhoon Kalmaegi Strikes Philippines, Trump Admin Says It Will Not Send Any High-Level Officials to COP30 Climate Talks

We speak to Wole Soyinka, the 91-year-old celebrated Nigerian writer and first African Nobel laureate, who recently had his U.S. visa revoked after he made comments critical of Trump. As Trump threatens U.S. military action against Nigeria over claims of a Christian genocide" in the country, Soyinka says, when religious differences began to be invoked as a means of political power, and even social and economic powers, we've had unquestionably the issue of impunity." By expanding the force of hostility," he adds, Trump is not making things easy for there to be a resolution."

President Trump is threatening to bomb Nigeria, alleging the country is failing to protect Christians from persecution, even as many victims of the fundamentalist insurgent group Boko Haram are Muslims. This theme of persecution of Christians is a very politically charged, and actually religiously charged, theme for evangelicals across the world," says Anthea Butler, the author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America. Despite the fact that the country's conflict cannot be reduced to religious enmity, for extremist evangelical Christians, Nigeria is a place where the administration could prosecute a holy war" using a savior narrative."

Democracy Now!'s Anjali Kamat reports on working-class South Asian support for New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. South Asian voter turnout increased by 40% during the Democratic primary, contributing to Mamdani's upset victory against former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is now running as an independent candidate. We've had several South Asian or Indo-Caribbean candidates, and none of them elicit this response. And I think the fact that the campaign spoke to the very material issues of working-class people has, first and foremost, has really made a very significant difference," says Fahd Ahmed, director of the South Asian community organization DRUM Beats, whose members have been canvassing for Mamdani's campaign.

President Trump held a lavish Great Gatsby-themed Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago Friday, just hours before an estimated 42 million people lost SNAP benefits across the country. Kirk Curnutt, the executive director of the international F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, says that while "Gatsby is famous for its lavish party scenes, [what] people often miss is that the entire thrust of the book is to critique that conspicuous consumption and the wastage that goes on in these sorts of events."

As the U.S. federal government shutdown enters its second month, over 40 million people are now struggling to feed themselves and their families after SNAP food assistance was cut off over the weekend. We are headed for a major public health and economic crisis," says child hunger expert Mariana Chilton. She adds that by refusing to disburse SNAP benefits, the Trump administration is breaking the law."

42 Million Americans Lose Food Benefits as Trump Holds Gatsby-Themed Party, Israel Continues to Carry Out Attacks in Gaza Despite U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Israeli Forces and Settlers Kill Two Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, Former Top Lawyer for Israeli Military Arrested for Leaking Video of Soldiers Raping Palestinian Prisoner, Israel Threatens to Step Up Attacks in Lebanon Despite Last Year's Ceasefire, Trump Says Maduro's Days Are Numbered in Venezuela as U.S. Strikes Another Boat in Caribbean, Trump Threatens to Go into Nigeria Guns-a-Blazing" over Attacks on Christians, Head of Red Cross: History Repeating" in Sudan's Darfur Region, Federal Immigration Agents in Evanston Brutally Beat Man, Point Gun At Residents, Mexican Mayor Shot and Killed During Day of the Dead Celebrations, U.N. Security Council Backs Morocco's Plan for Western Sahara

Omar Fateh, the son of Somali immigrants and a democratic socialist, is a leading candidate in the mayoral race in Minneapolis and seeking to unseat incumbent Jacob Frey. Fateh made history in 2020 by becoming the first Muslim and first Somali American to be elected to Minnesota's state Senate. Fateh has run for mayor on a platform advocating for rent stabilization, raising the minimum wage and reforming how the city handles public safety. Minneapolis can have a different kind of politics," says Fateh. Five years after the murder of George Floyd, [Mayor Frey] doesn't have a plan, or doesn't intend to have a plan."

A retired U.S. colonel who investigated the death of Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has gone public to accuse the Biden administration of inaction" and a possible cover-up." Steve Gabavics says the U.S. government soft-pedaled the finding that Israeli forces intentionally killed her to appease the Israeli government. He and his colleagues were left flabbergasted by the Biden State Department's statement attributing Abu Akleh's killing to tragic circumstances" rather than formally assigning blame. It all came down to, in my mind, not trying to anger the Israelis by holding them accountable for intentionally killing an American citizen," Gabavics tells Democracy Now!

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker is calling for federal agents to pause immigration enforcement in the Chicago area until after Halloween, amid widespread condemnation of violent arrests and confrontations with residents. Meanwhile, the person at the center of much of Chicago's enforcement, Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino, did a five-hour deposition Thursday in a case challenging federal agents' treatment of protesters, journalists, children and immigrants. Bovino is in charge of the Chicago raids. And that style of aggressive, militarized enforcement is something that the Trump administration loves, because it plays very well for them among their base," says Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. He also discusses the rapid expansion of immigration detention, the normalization of racial profiling by federal agents, arrests of U.S. citizens and more.

Israel Continues Striking Gaza Despite Claiming to Abide by U.S.-Brokered Ceasefire, Report: Google and Amazon Violated Their Own Terms of Service in Israel's $1.2 Billion Project Nimbus" Deal, Death Toll from Hurricane Melissa Rises to 49, Prince Andrew Stripped of Royal Titles and Evicted from Royal Mansion, Trump Urges Republicans to Kill the Filibuster to End the Government Shutdown, Trump Cuts Refugee Admissions to 7,500, Prioritizing White South Africans, 404 Media: ICE and CBP Using Facial Recognition Technology to Identity Immigration Status, Dramatic Video Shows ICE Agents Violently Arresting Mother Driving Her Daughter to School, Federal Judge in Chicago Orders Border Patrol Commander Bovino to Appear for a Deposition, General Orders National Guard in All 50 States to Prepare Quick Reaction Forces" for Riot Control, Hegseth Orders Pentagon to Provide Lawyers to DOJ to Bolster Immigration Crackdown, U.N. Condemns Massacres in Sudan's Darfur Region: No One Is Safe in El Fasher", Protesters Demand Justice for Victims of Rio de Janeiro Police Raid That Killed 119