Democracy Now!

President Trump has signed a number of anti-trans executive orders in the first month of his second term. He has attempted to ban trans women from sports, declared that there are only two sexes, and placed restrictions on gender-affirming care for trans youth. Trump continues to target trans people with hateful rhetoric, leaving trans people uncertain of their futures. The Trump administration has declared war on trans people," Imara Jones, founder and CEO of TransLash Media and host of its investigative podcast, The Anti-Trans Hate Machine, tells Democracy Now!

As stiff new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China took effect on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned that Trump's moves are aimed at a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that'll make it easier to annex us." Canada relies on the U.S. for 75% of exports and a third of its imports. For more, we speak with a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, Hadrian Mertins-Kirkwood. If there's one feeling in Canada right now, it's probably betrayal. We trusted this relationship with the U.S. for a century. We count on the U.S. as an economic partner. We're obviously very closely culturally tied. And this just kind of throws everything into question," says Mertins-Kirkwood.

President Trump on Tuesday once again focused on the importance of securing the U.S. border and criticized former President Biden's so-called open border policies. He accused Biden of allowing migrants to overwhelm" towns like Aurora, Colorado, and Springfield, Ohio, and pushed for even more funding to implement his campaign promise of mass deportations. The Trump administration is doubling down on creating this image for the American people that immigrants are to blame for every single one of their problems," says longtime immigrant rights activist Erika Andiola.

In his first speech to a joint session of Congress in his second term, Trump once again threatened to annex the Panama Canal. Juan Gonzalez, co-host of Democracy Now!, fact-checks some of the lies that Trump used to justify U.S. control of the Panama Canal. In his address, Trump claimed 38,000 Americans were killed during the creation of the Panama Canal. In reality, the vast majority of the labor force that built the canal was from the West Indies, largely Barbados. Over 5,600 laborers died, but only about 300 U.S.-born workers died. No matter how many times you repeat a lie, it still doesn't make it true," says Gonzalez.

President Donald Trump delivered the longest presidential address to a joint session of Congress in modern history Tuesday night, laying out his vision for the next four years as he defended his many executive actions to dismantle large portions of the federal government. For an hour and 40 minutes, Trump repeatedly lied and exaggerated his accomplishments and his opponents' failures, deploying racist and dehumanizing language to describe immigrants, LGBTQ people and his critics. Trump heaped praise on billionaire Elon Musk and his efforts to slash entire government agencies. The speech was a declaration of war against the American people, including Trump voters, in favor of the super-rich and the giant corporations," says Ralph Nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate.

Trump Delivers Partisan and Divisive 100-Minute Address to Joint Session of Congress, Rep. Al Green Disrupts Trump's Speech to Congress as Other Democrats Protest Silently, After Cutting Aid to Ukraine, Trump Reads Conciliatory Letter from President Zelensky, USAID Memo Warns Trump's Foreign Aid Freeze Could Lead to Millions of Preventable Deaths, As Measles Spreads, Health Secretary RFK Jr. Promotes Vitamins and Cod Oil Liver, Not Vaccines, Judge Extends Hold on Trump's Order Denying Gender-Affirming Care to Transgender Youth, Trump Administration Plans to Cut IRS Workforce in Half, Trump Says He'll Cut Funds to Universities That Allow Campus Protests, Mexican President Says She'll Announce Retaliatory Tariffs Against U.S. on Sunday, Supreme Court Justices Appear Skeptical of Mexican Government Lawsuit Against U.S. Gun Makers, UNICEF Says Over 200 Children and Infants Have Been Raped During Sudan's Civil War, Serbian Lawmakers Disrupt Parliament with Smoke Grenades as Anti-Corruption Protests Rage

We remember Aaron Bushnell, the U.S. Air Force member who died last year in an act of protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. On a live-streamed video, Bushnell said he could not be complicit in genocide" while the United States continued to support Israel's war on Gaza; he then set himself on fire, screaming Free Palestine" until he collapsed. Now just a year after Bushnell's fatal self-immolation, we speak with an active-duty Air Force lieutenant who says she is inspired by Bushnell to seek a discharge from the military as a conscientious objector over the genocide in Gaza. Any kind of contribution to the U.S. military inherently helps this machine of warfare and imperialism and oppression continue," says Joy Metzler, who says many people in uniform suffer moral injury" from their service. We also speak with Levi Pierpont, a friend of Bushnell who says Bushnell's death was life-changing" for him. Pierpont has since visited Palestine and become a peace activist. I went from being someone who had grown up Christian Zionist and was very sympathetic to Zionism to realizing how it's interconnected with the American empire and realizing how we need to stand against it as Americans, because we're implicated in it," says Pierpont.

We speak with Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie, the co-directors of the Oscar-nominated documentary Sugarcane, which examines the legacy of Indian residential schools in Canada. For over 150 years, these government-funded and church-run boarding schools forcibly separated First Nations, Metis and Inuit children from their families in an effort to destroy Indigenous languages, cultures and communities. The schools were rife with physical, psychological and sexual abuse, and many children did not survive. In 2021, a First Nation in British Columbia found evidence of 215 child-sized graves on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, setting off a nationwide search for more possible gravesites. Kassie and Brave NoiseCat would document the painful search for answers at Saint Joseph's Mission, the residential school where Brave NoiseCat's own relatives had been sent and near where his father was born and abandoned in a dumpster. The film explores the colonial silence that exists in our broader society about this history" and how it has seeped into the lives of the people who had survived it," says Brave NoiseCat.

As the oil company Energy Transfer sues Greenpeace over the 2016 Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, we speak with Indigenous activist Winona LaDuke, who took part in that historic uprising. LaDuke is an enrolled member of the Mississippi Band of Anishinaabe who lives and works on the White Earth Nation Reservation and was among the thousands of people who joined the protests in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to protect water and Indigenous lands in North Dakota. She highlights the close links between North Dakota's government and Energy Transfer and says that while the lawsuit targets Greenpeace, Indigenous water and land defenders are also on trial. North Dakota has really been trying to squash any kind of resistance," says LaDuke. If they can try to shut down Greenpeace, they're going to shut down everybody."

A closely watched civil trial that began in North Dakota last week could bankrupt Greenpeace and chill environmental activism as the climate crisis continues to deepen. The multimillion-dollar lawsuit by Energy Transfer, the oil corporation behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, claims Greenpeace organized the mass protests and encampment at Standing Rock between 2016 and 2017 aimed at stopping construction of the project. Although the uprising at Standing Rock was led by Indigenous water defenders, Energy Transfer is instead going after Greenpeace for $300 million in damages - an amount that could effectively shutter the group's U.S. operations. This case is not just an obvious and blatant erasure of Indigenous leadership, of Indigenous resistance," says Deepa Padmanabha, a senior legal adviser for Greenpeace USA. It is an attack on the broader movement and all of our First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful protest."

Trump Halts Arms Shipments to Ukraine After Manufactured Escalation" Against Zelensky, Trump Imposes Tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, Sending Markets Tumbling, Trump Announces Plans for Strategic Cryptocurrency Reserve, Israel Continues Deadly Attacks in Gaza Despite Ceasefire Agreement, Palestinian Prisoner Khaled Abdullah Dies in Israeli Prison Amid Reports of Torture and Neglect, M23 Rebels Abduct Scores of Patients from Hospitals in DRC's Goma, Former Social Security Chief Warns DOGE Cuts Could Collapse" Benefits Within Weeks, We Need to Keep This Agency Strong": Protests Erupt over NOAA Firings, Senate GOP Confirms Linda McMahon as Education Sec. Amid Threats to Public Education, Acting U.S. Attorney Ed Martin Demotes Jan. 6 Prosecutors, Claims He Is Trump's Lawyer", ACLU Sues Trump Administration over Transfer of Immigrants to Guantanamo, Pentagon Orders Another 5,000+ Troops to Southern Border, Protesters Decry Trump Plan to Use Dublin Federal Facility, Dubbed Rape Club," as ICE Prison

We continue our conversation with Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and the author of the new book, Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments. Roth discusses the fragile ceasefire in Gaza amid news that Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu is refusing to withdraw Israeli troops as per his government's agreement with Hamas, as well as withholding food and humanitarian aid from Gaza. This is a continuation of the starvation strategy that Israel has been pursuing against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which is a war crime," says Roth. He adds that the United States is also implicated in Israel's war crimes, and shares how the human rights framework can be applied to achieving peace in the region.

Kenneth Roth, visiting professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and former executive director of Human Rights Watch, responds to the shocking Oval Office meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, in which Vance and Trump publicly admonished Zelensky over the Russia-Ukraine war and accused him of not being grateful for the U.S.'s military support. It's embarrassing, frankly," says Roth, to see the two leading American officials behaving in such a juvenile fashion when these are life and death matters, not only for Ukrainian people, but also for Ukrainian democracy and European democracy." Roth, whose new memoir Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments is now available, joins us for the hour to discuss human rights issues around the globe.

A public clash at the White House between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Vice President JD Vance has left the future of U.S. foreign policy uncertain. Zelensky had traveled to the White House last week to sign a deal giving the United States partial control over Ukraine's raw earth minerals in exchange for continued military aid for its war against Russia. But the deal imploded over the course of a dramatic televised press conference, with Trump and Vance deriding Zelensky and suggesting that Ukraine should concede to Russia. We play an extended excerpt of the heated exchange.

The Palestinian-Israeli film No Other Land won for best documentary feature at Sunday's Academy Awards. The film follows the struggles of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank community of Masafer Yatta to stay on their land amid home demolitions by the Israeli military and violent attacks by Jewish settlers aimed at expelling them. The film was made by a team of Palestinian-Israeli filmmakers, including the Palestinian journalist Basel Adra, who lives in Masafer Yatta, and the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, both of whom are prominently featured in the film.

Trump and Vance Attack Ukrainian President Zelensky in Chaotic, Unprecedented Oval Office Clash, Zelensky Receives Warm Welcome from European Leaders After White House Debacle, Pentagon Suspends U.S. Cyber Operations Targeting Russia, Israel Blocks Gaza Aid as It Continues to Derail Ceasefire; U.S. Expedites $4B Israeli Arms Transfer, Trump's Foreign Aid Cuts Could Lead to Half a Million AIDS Deaths in South Africa, U.S. Judge Says Gov't Watchdog Illegally Fired; DNC Sues Trump over Attack on Election Commission, WaPo: DHS Seeking Personal IRS Data of 700,000 Suspected Undocumented People, Landlord Who Killed 6-Year-Old Wadea al-Fayoume Found Guilty of Murder and Hate Crime, Disgraced Gov. Andrew Cuomo Enters New York City Mayoral Race, At Least the 5th New York Prisoner Has Died in Weeks Since Wildcat Strike Started, Iowa Enacts Bill Ending Civil Rights Protections for Transgender People, Vermont Protesters Greet JD Vance with Pro-Trans, Pro-Ukraine, Pro-Palestinian Messages, Protesters Across U.S. Target Elon Musk's Businesses, Trump's Crackdown on National Parks, End Ceaseless War Provocations": Activists Denounce U.S.-Led Drills in Korea, Palestinian-Israeli Film No Other Land" Makes History as It Takes Home Best Documentary Oscar

Thousands of informational government webpages have been taken down so far in the second Trump administration, including on public health, scientific research and LGBTQ rights. Amid this mass erasure of public information, the Internet Archive is racing to save copies of those deleted resources. The San Francisco-based nonprofit operates the Wayback Machine, a popular tool that saves snapshots of websites that may otherwise be lost forever, and it has archived federal government websites at each presidential transition since 2004. While it's normal for a new administration to overhaul some of its online resources, the Trump administration's pace of destruction has shocked many archivists. There have been thousands and thousands of pages removed," says Mark Graham, director of the Wayback Machine, who notes that even a page about the U.S. Constitution was scrubbed from the White House website.

We continue to look at Israeli torture of Palestinian detainees with Naji Abbas from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, which has just released a new report detailing the mistreatment of medical workers from Gaza. Hundreds of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other essential medical staff were arrested by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023 and held under brutal conditions, with many describing physical, psychological and sexual abuse, starvation, medical neglect and more. It's a whole journey of torture and abuse," says Abbas, director of PHRI's Prisoners and Detainees Department.

Dr. Khaled Alser, a renowned Palestinian surgeon at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, describes how Israeli forces abducted him from Gaza last year before transferring him to Israeli prisons rife with abuse. He was held by Israel for seven months last year, during which time he says he was beaten, humiliated, denied medical treatment and tortured. He also describes routine sexual assault and sexual humiliation of prisoners by Israeli soldiers, as well as the use of military attack dogs on the detainees. No charges were filed against Alser before he was released back to Gaza. Most of the prisoners I met inside the prison are civilians or civil workers here, working inside hospitals, schools, universities," Alser tells Democracy Now! from Gaza. We as healthcare workers, we don't have any agenda against anyone. We just provide medical care."

We speak with foreign policy analyst Matt Duss about increasingly fraught relations between the United States and Ukraine, which have undergone a seismic shift under the second Trump administration. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is meeting with President Trump at the White House on Friday and is expected to sign an agreement giving the U.S. access to his country's rare earth minerals, which are key components in mobile phones and other advanced technology. It's unclear what, if anything, Ukraine will get in return, even as Trump pushes Kyiv to reach a deal with Moscow to end the war that began in February 2022 when Russian forces invaded Ukraine. Trump is simultaneously moving to restore relations with Russia and lift its international isolation. Duss says the throughline in Trump's thinking, from Ukraine to Gaza and elsewhere, is that great powers" like the United States make the decisions, and less powerful countries, less powerful communities and peoples simply have to live with the consequences."

U.S. Judge Says Trump & Musk's Mass Firings Are Illegal as New Wave of Layoffs Hits NOAA, Trump Cuts USAID's Contracts by 90%, Gives Staffers 15 Minutes to Clear Desks, FDA Vaccine Panel Meeting to Discuss Flu Shot Is Canceled, Trump Vows to Go Ahead with Tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China Next Week, Trump Softens Rhetoric on Ukrainian President Zelensky Ahead of White House Meeting, Talks Underway for Next Phase of Tenuous Ceasefire as Israel Releases Remaining Palestinian Captives, Israeli Forces Fatally Shoot Another Palestinian Child in Occupied West Bank, Jailed Kurdish Leader Calls on Followers to Lay Down Arms, 11 Killed, Dozens Wounded by Explosions at Rally of M23 Rebels in Eastern DRC, Thailand Deports Uyghurs to China Despite Warnings over Imprisonment and Torture, Centrists in Austria and Germany Exclude Far-Right Parties from Ruling Coalitions, U.N. Negotiators Agree to Plan to Reverse Biodiversity Loss by 2030, Congress Overturns Biden-Era Rule to Tax Methane Pollution, Elon Musk Seeks to Have His Company Take Over Verizon's $2.4 Billion FAA Contract, Protests Erupt as Iowa Republicans Eliminate Civil Rights Protections for Transgender People, Accused Human Traffickers Andrew and Tristan Tate Return to Florida as U.S. Lifts Travel Ban, Two Prisoners Found Dead at New York's Sing Sing as Prison Guards Continue Wildcat Strike, Activists Launch 24-Hour Economic Blackout" to Protest Corporate Greed

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has been the public face of the Trump administration's effort to dismantle many government agencies and slash the size of the federal workforce. On Wednesday, he attended Trump's first Cabinet meeting, although he is not a Cabinet member. Meanwhile, Russell Vought, the Project 2025 mastermind and director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, has been working behind the scenes to enact far-right policies aimed at privatizing public resources like Medicaid and Social Security. We speak with Jacobin staff writer Branko Marcetic to discuss the radical DOGE agenda. As they make these ruthless, ruthless cuts to the programs that people rely on, ... they also want to keep in place massive tax cuts for the rich," he says.

Thousands gathered in Beirut Sunday to mourn the death of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's longtime leader who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in September. Under a ceasefire agreement, Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon last week, but it continues to illegally occupy five locations in the country. Correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous traveled to Lebanon last week to report from the ground in southern Lebanon and to cover Nasrallah's funeral, one of the biggest in the region in decades. The large turnout of thousands of Lebanese mourners was a show of presence and of support for Hezbollah, which suffered heavy losses in Israel's war on Lebanon," Abdel Kouddous says.

An unvaccinated child has died of measles, Texas officials announced Wednesday, the first death from measles in the United States in a decade. The child's death in a hospital in Lubbock, in West Texas, comes as the largest measles outbreak in the state in over 30 years is now spreading to New Mexico. Since last month, 124 people have contracted the disease, most of them unvaccinated children. The minute you stop vaccinating and maintaining that vigilance of 90-95% vaccine coverage, measles comes roaring back, and that's what's happened here in West Texas," world-renowned pediatrician, virologist and vaccine expert, Dr. Peter Hotez, tells Democracy Now!

White Houses Announces Large-Scale Government Layoffs, Trump and Musk Lead First Cabinet Meeting, Touting Gov't Cuts, Dismantling of Federal Agencies, Protests in D.C. Take Aim at Health Insurance, Financial Institutions, Oil & Gas Interests, U.S. Aid Slashed by 90%, Condemning Lifesaving Projects Around the Globe, Screaming from Hunger in the Streets": U.S. Aid Cuts Compound Sudan's Hunger Crisis, Unknown Illness Kills 53 in Western Democratic Republic of Congo, Hundreds of Palestinian Prisoners Freed by Israel Show Signs of Torture and Starvation, Trump Posts AI Video Depicting Riviera of the Middle East" , British PM Keir Starmer Warns Russia Could Reinvade Ukraine Without U.S. Security Guarantees, BP to Boost Oil and Gas Investments by $10 Billion, Reversing Pledge to Invest in Clean Energy, Earth's Glaciers Are Melting at Accelerated Rate, U.S. Records First Measles Death in a Decade as West Texas Outbreak Spreads, Pentagon Memo Calls for Removal of Trans Military Personnel, Trump Announces $5 Million Gold Card" Visa for Wealthy Immigrants, Entertainers, Media Figures Condemn BBC's Pulling of Gaza Documentary About Palestinian Children, Sick-Out" Held at Barnard College to Protest Expulsion of Pro-Palestinian Students, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul Orders CUNY to Remove Palestinian Studies Job Posting, Washington Post Opinion Editor Resigns as Jeff Bezos Orders Changes to Opinion Section

We speak with Jose Saldana, director of Release Aging People in Prison, about a wildcat strike by New York prison guards who claim limits on solitary confinement have made their work more dangerous. The people who are living in a dangerous environment are the incarcerated men and women," says Saldana, who notes the strike began the same week murder charges were announced against six of the guards who brutally beat to death handcuffed prisoner Robert Brooks in an attack captured on body-camera video. The whole world saw it, and they're questioning: How long has this been going on in the prison system? This illegal strike is to erase that consciousness that's building," says Saldana. We are also joined by anthropologist Orisanmi Burton, who studies prisons and says the proliferation of solitary confinement and other harsh measures is directly linked to political organizing behind bars starting in the late 1960s. Prisons in the United States are best understood as institutions of low-intensity warfare that masquerade as apolitical instruments of crime control," says Burton, author of Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt.

We look at a rare victory for a death row prisoner before the U.S. Supreme Court. On Tuesday, three conservative justices joined with the three liberals to overturn the murder conviction and death sentence of Richard Glossip, who has spent nearly 30 years on Oklahoma death row and had exhausted all other appeals to stay his execution. The justices said Glossip was entitled to a new trial after errors in his original prosecution. Glossip's conviction stems from the 1997 murder of his former boss, who was killed by another man who accused Glossip of masterminding the killing. Glossip has always maintained his innocence, and even Oklahoma Republican Attorney General Gentner Drummond has said Glossip did not get a fair trial. We speak with Glossip's spiritual adviser, Sister Helen Prejean, renowned anti-death penalty activist, who says the case has brought together a remarkable coalition to fight for justice and helped to highlight the problems with capital punishment. We don't need this thing," says Prejean. It's time to shut it down."

We speak with the acclaimed science fiction author, activist and journalist Cory Doctorow, who has spent decades writing and thinking about the impact of technology on our lives. He coined the term enshittification" to describe how online platforms degrade the user experience over time in search of profits, though it has been widely adopted to describe a larger sense of decline and decay across society. He discusses his new book Picks and Shovels, Silicon Valley's big bet on artificial intelligence to discipline its workers, and billionaire Elon Musk's work in the Trump administration. The point of this chaotic blitz is to demoralize their opponents," Doctorow says of Musk's work through DOGE, which has gutted government agencies and wide swaths of the federal workforce. In the reality-based world, even if you are worried about government waste, even if you want to make government smaller, you have to acknowledge the empirical fact that payroll accounts for 4% of the federal budget."

Federal Courts Order Trump to Reverse Spending Freeze and Restore Foreign Aid, Musk Adds to Federal Workers' Confusion with New Ultimatum, 21 DOGE Staffers Quit, Refusing to Dismantle Critical Public Services", House GOP Narrowly Approves Budget Framework Allowing Massive Cuts to Medicaid, Trump Says Ukraine's Zelensky Will Visit White House to Sign Deal on Minerals, Gaza Schoolchildren Return to Classes for First Time Since October 2023, Israel Bombs Syria After Interim Government Demands Israeli Withdrawal, ICC Prosecutor Arrives in Democratic Republic of Congo Amid M23 Rebel Advance, U.S. Expands Sanctions on Cuban Doctors Program, White House Will Hand-Pick Reporters Granted Close Access to Trump, Trump Administration Creates Registry for Undocumented Immigrants, Tennessee GOP Advances Bill Barring Undocumented Immigrants from Bringing Lawsuits, SCOTUS Orders New Trial for Death Row Prisoner Richard Glossip, Who Maintains Innocence, DoorDash Ordered to Pay $17 Million in Stolen Tips to New York Delivery Drivers

DAWN, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that supports democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate former President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for possible complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, citing the $17.9 billion worth of U.S. weapons transfers to Israel overseen by the Biden administration. The bombs that Israel has used to destroy schools, hospitals and homes in Gaza were American bombs that they provided. Israel's campaign of murder and persecution was carried out with political support that they ensured," says Reed Brody, a longtime war crimes lawyer and a board member at DAWN. Biden, Blinken and Austin were not only aware of what was being done with their ammunition," but also tried to stifle criticism" of their policies. Furthermore, says Brody, U.S. complicity in Israeli war crimes could extend into the Trump administration. He suggests that the ICC prosecutor would be well within his rights" to open a probe into Trump following the administration's sanctions on the ICC in response to arrest warrants issued against Israeli officials.

The U.S. military transported 17 new immigrant detainees to the Guantanamo Bay military base on Sunday, just before efforts to jail an anticipated 30,000 immigrants in tent camps at the base were halted over concerns the makeshift facilities don't meet ICE's detention standards. Now the private federal contractor behind the Guantanamo detention site is under renewed scrutiny. Investigative journalist Jose Olivares shares what we know about Akima Infrastructure Protection, an Alaska Native corporation that counts among its myriad federal contracts immigration detention facilities across the United States, including some that are currently under investigation for human rights abuses. The lack of transparency when it comes to the company's practices and the expansion of migrant detention at a high-security location like Guantanamo means that questions remain over current conditions and even the exact number of people who have been incarcerated there, explains Olivares.

Reporters, workers and now judges across the country are disputing the cost-cutting claims of Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which has targeted federal employees across multiple sectors with firings, forced resignations and threatened layoffs. One of the millions of Americans being impacted by DOGE's draconian measures is Latisha, an employee at the Department of Veterans Affairs who spoke with Democracy Now! in a personal capacity and not on behalf of her employer. She says that Musk's recent demand ordering federal employees to email a summary of their work from the past week was insulting" and disrespectful," and that his real goal is to gut public services in the federal workforce and pave the way for privatization of public services, goods and programs that we all need and love." She outlines how Black Americans and veterans, who are disproportionately represented among the ranks of federal workers, are being particularly affected by these cuts. We also speak to ProPublica editor-in-chief Stephen Engelberg about his recent reporting on a clearly wrong, clearly disproved" statistic being cited by the Trump administration about the number of federal employees who are working remotely. The statistic is being used to justify the king-like powers" claimed by Trump and the nepotistic hires at DOGE, says Engelberg.

U.S. Sides with Russia, Breaks from Allies in U.N. Resolutions on Ukraine, 6 More Gaza Children Freeze to Death as Israel Continues to Withhold Shelters from Gaza, ICC Asked to Investigate Biden, Blinken and Austin for Complicity in Israeli War Crimes, Syria Opens National Dialogue Conference Without Participation of Kurdish Group, Sen. Bernie Sanders Introduces Resolution to Oppose U.S. Arms Sales to Israel, Activists Block Access to Maersk Headquarters to Protest Arms Shipments to Israel, Hegseth Welcomes Saudi Prince to Pentagon, Pledging Closer Ties with New Administration, Federal Watchdog Calls DOGE's Firing of Probationary Workers Unlawful, Postal Workers Rally Amid Reports Trump Is Attempting to Privatize USPS, Hegseth Visits Guantanamo; Trump Tells ICE to Track Down and Deport 100,000s of Immigrant Children, Eric Adams to Close Immigrant Shelter Hotel; Judge Delays His Corruption Trial After DOJ Request, Groups Sue USDA for Censoring Climate-Related Content on Website, Laila Soueif, Hunger-Striking Mother of Jailed Activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, Has Been Hospitalized

We speak with death row inmate Keith LaMar live from the Ohio State Penitentiary, after the release of The Injustice of Justice, a short film about his case that just won the grand prize for best animated short film at the Golden State Film Festival. I had to find out the hard way that in order for my life to be mine, that I had to stand up and claim it," says LaMar, who has always maintained his innocence. LaMar was sentenced to death for participating in the murder of five fellow prisoners during a 1993 prison uprising. His trial was held in a remote Ohio community before an all-white jury. On January 13, 2027, the state intends to execute him, after subjecting him to three decades in solitary confinement. LaMar's lawyer, Keegan Stephan, says his legal team has discovered a lot of new evidence supporting Keith's innocence" that should necessitate new legal avenues for LaMar to overturn the conviction.

Israel has sent tanks into the occupied West Bank for the first time in 20 years, as the Israeli military escalates its offensive that has already displaced 40,000 Palestinians. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Palestinians living in the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps will not be allowed to return to their homes. On Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the occupied West Bank and was photographed holding a meeting inside a Palestinian home that had been seized by the Israeli military. On Saturday, Israeli forces fatally shot two Palestinian children - one 12, the other 13 - in separate incidents. What we are seeing is an intensified campaign aimed at annexation of the West Bank," says Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian writer and journalist based in Ramallah.

Friedrich Merz is poised to become the next German chancellor after his conservative Christian Democratic Union placed first in Sunday's key election. Social scientist David Bebnowski, speaking from Berlin, tells Democracy Now! that Merz is likely to join with the diminished SPD of outgoing Chancellor Olaf Scholz for another grand coalition" of establishment parties, which has ruled Germany for much of the last couple decades. He also comments on the alarming rise of the Nazi-curious" AfD party, which was endorsed by Elon Musk and made significant gains in the election, winning the second-most votes. The AfD is a party that is definitely part of the extreme right in Germany," Bebnowski says.

Center-Right CDU Wins German Election; Neo-Nazi AfD Comes in Second, Doubling Its Support, Europe Shows Ukraine Support on 3rd Anniversary of Russian Invasion Amid Growing Rift with U.S., Israeli Tanks Enter Occupied West Bank, Soldiers Kill 2 Palestinian Children in Mounting Assault, Gaza Ceasefire Remains Precarious as Israel Reneges on Exchange of Captives, Trump Team Purges Military Leadership, Lawyers, Cruel and Disrespectful": Union Slams Musk Email to Gov't Staff; Workers Told to Ignore Request, See You in Court": Maine Gov. Janet Mills Defiant as She Refuses to Enforce Trump's Anti-Trans EO, Trump Names Right-Wing Podcaster and Loyalist Dan Bongino as Deputy Director of the FBI, Constituents Confront Elected Officials over Tyranny in the White House" at Local Town Halls, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers Members to Sue DOJ After Being Freed by Trump, DOJ Drops Probe into Elon Musk's SpaceX; SEC to Drop Lawsuit Against Coinbase, U.S. Transfers More Immigrants to Guantanamo, UNSC Calls for Rwanda to Halt M23 Support, Withdraw from DRC, Where 7,000 Have Been Killed Since Jan., Sudan's Military Claims Strategic Gains as RSF Signs Deal for Parallel Gov't, Hundreds of Thousands Gather for Beirut Funeral of Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah, Slain by Israel, Free Speech on Trial as Energy Transfer Takes Greenpeace to Court over DAPL Protests, Students Launch Week of Actions After Barnard Expels 2 Students over Protest for Palestine, AP Sues Trump Officials After White House Cuts Off Reporters' Access, Yosemite Park Workers Hang Upside-Down U.S. Flag to Protest Layoffs, Drilling Plans

We discuss the first month of President Donald Trump's second term in office - and the response from the Democratic Party - with journalist David Sirota, founder and editor-in-chief of The Lever. He notes that despite Republicans holding all three branches of the federal government, Trump has mainly used executive orders and other decrees to impose his will instead of using legislation. They're trying to create a precedent that presidents cannot be constrained at all," he says of the party's strategy. He also faults Democrats for failing to effectively oppose the administration. What is the Democratic Party for? What does it support? What does it advocate for? There's not really much of an answer right now."

As the Trump administration attempts to dismantle higher education in the United States by redefining discrimination in schools, fighting so-called woke ideology, attacking diversity, equity and inclusion programs, gutting the Department of Education, and threatening funding for research and higher education, we speak with Yale philosophy professor Jason Stanley, whose latest book is Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future. He says Trump's assault on education is part of the authoritarian playbook since universities are centers for defending democracy." He also urges university presidents to speak out more forcefully. It used to be that our presidents were supposed to speak out in favor of democratic values. Now university presidents are being told, 'Oh, you have to preserve your institutions.' Guess what: Universities are core democratic institutions."

The Trump administration has issued a two-week ultimatum for schools and universities across the United States to end all programs related to diversity, equity and inclusion - DEI - or risk losing federal funding. The Department of Education has already canceled some $600 million in grants for teacher training on race, social justice and other topics as part of its crusade against woke" policies. This comes as President Donald Trump has said he wants to abolish the agency and tapped major Trump donor and former professional wrestling executive Linda McMahon to carry out that goal; she is expected to be confirmed by the Senate with little or no Republican opposition. Education scholar Julian Vasquez Heilig, who teaches at Western Michigan University, says Trump's moves are part of an attempt to privatize education" in the United States, with DEI used as a wedge to accomplish a larger restructuring of social structures. Higher education hasn't faced a crisis like this since potentially McCarthyism."

White House Insists Ukraine Hand Over $500 Billion in Mineral Wealth and Stop Criticizing Trump, Russian Forces Advance on Dnipropetrovsk, Bomb Kherson Apartment Complex, Israel Drops Leaflets on Gaza Threatening to Impose Forced Displacement Upon You", Israeli Leaders Cast Doubt on Ceasefire Deal, Saying Body Returned from Gaza Was Not Shiri Bibas, Netanyahu to Escalate West Bank Attacks After Buses Explode in Tel Aviv, U.S. Sanctions Rwandan Official and Militia Leader Tied to M23 Atrocities in DRC, Mexico Warns U.S. Against Violations of Sovereignty as Trump Designates Cartels as Terrorist Groups, Venezuela Refutes U.S. Claims That Deportees from Guantanamo Prison Camp Were Gang Members, Trump Cancels Deportation Protections for Half-Million Haitian Immigrants, Judge Orders Trump Admin to Comply with Previous Order on Frozen Funds, Balks at Contempt Charges, Judge Declines to Halt Trump Administration's Mass Firings of Federal Workers, CDC Report on Bird Flu Spreading Between Humans and Cats Was Delayed by Health Communications Pause, At CPAC, Elon Musk Wields Prop Chainsaw to Celebrate DOGE Cuts, I Cannot Imagine a Worse Choice": Kash Patel Confirmed as FBI Director Over Democrats' Objections, Senate Approves $340B Budget Blueprint to Expand Military, Fund Mass Deportations, Senators Advance Pro Wrestling Mogul Linda McMahon's Nomination for Education Secretary, Gov. Hochul Declines to Remove Eric Adams as NYC Mayor, Luigi Mangione in Court over Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO, Vatican Officials Say Pope Francis's Health Is Improving, Won't Rule Out Resignation, Friday Marks 60th Anniversary of Assassination of Malcolm X

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the advance of Rwanda-backed M23 insurgents, who have already taken two key cities in the mineral-rich eastern part of the country, is triggering panic. Reports of the surge describe widespread looting, killings, attacks on aid and mass displacement. Thousands of people have fled to neighboring Burundi over the last few days as the U.N. accused M23 of killing children and attacking hospitals. Our guest Kambale Musavuli, a Congolese author and human rights advocate, speaks to us from Ghana about Western countries' ongoing demand for Congo's minerals and their complicity in the deadly violence. Industrial nations as well as celebrated musicians and sports teams from the West have refused to cancel agreements and appearances with Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, explains Musavuli, clearly telling us that the lives of the millions of Congolese do not matter."

Who are the minds behind DOGE, and what do they really believe? Historian Quinn Slobodian says three strains of conservatism have converged to form the second Trump administration's anti-democratic coalition: finance-backed corporate interests previously friendly to the Democratic Party, Christian conservative think tanks who have long advocated for the end of the administrative state, and the online-driven movement of reactionary extremists who traffic in white supremacist and neo-Nazi rhetoric. Meanwhile, says Slobodian, Trump is a person who doesn't believe in much, but he believes in money," leaving him willing to enact the political visions of these three pro-capitalist projects. Slobodian, an expert in German history, also discusses the connections between the Trump sphere and Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, supported by Musk and Vice President JD Vance.

Amid the indiscriminate dismantling of the federal government by the Trump administration's Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, federal workers, thousands of whom could lose their jobs, are fighting back. All of us do something not only essential, but also mandated by Congress," says union organizer and Army Corps of Engineers employee Chris Dols. Dols is part of a growing movement of federal workers and their allies staging mass protests to Save Our Services and warning of the long-term consequences of these extreme cuts to the bureaucracy. They're trying to immiserate the working class, and they're doing it through the federal workforce," says Dols, who is also a national coordinator with the Federal Unionists Network. It's about gutting the services that create a safety net in this country, because the more miserable we are, the easier it is for them to exploit us." He calls on the larger public to join the worker-led movement resisting these radical cuts. The whole public sphere is at stake."

Trump Calls Ukrainian President Zelensky a Dictator" in Error-Riddled Social Media Tirade, Israeli Forces Storm U.N.-Run Schools and Raze Homes Amid Deadly West Bank Raids, Hamas Returns Bodies of Israeli Hostages Including Israeli Peace Activist Oded Lifschitz, New Israeli Law Expands Visa Restrictions on BDS Supporters and Critics of War Crimes, Five Israeli Soldiers Indicted for Torturing Palestinian Prisoner at Military Base, Israeli Media Broadcasts Video of Palestinian Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya in Shackles, U.S. Deports Asylum Seekers, Including Children, to Detention Camp in Panama Jungle, White House Celebrates Deportation Flights with "ASMR" Video of Asylum Seekers in Shackles, Texas Observer Links ICE Prosecutor to White Supremacist Social Media Account, 11-Year-Old Texas Girl Dies by Suicide After Bullies Threaten to Call ICE on Her Parents, "LONG LIVE THE KING!": Trump's Claims Power of Monarch in Bid to Halt NY Congestion Pricing, Trump Executive Order Claims Power Over Independent Regulatory Agencies, IRS to Fire 6,700 as Elon Musk's DOGE Seeks Access to Sensitive Taxpayer Records, International Rescue Committee Lays Off Thousands of Workers Amid Trump's Spending Freeze, Federal Workers and Supporters Rally in Dozens of Cities to Stop Trump's Mass Firings, Pentagon to Shift $50 Billion in Funds, Targeting So-Called Climate Change" and Woke Programs", Sudan's Rapid Support Forces Declares Breakaway Government, M23 Fighters Expand Offensive, Advance on More Cities in Eastern DRC, New York Calls Up National Guard as Prison Guards Hold Wildcat Strike

Today federal workers nationwide are calling for support for a Save Our Services Day of Action" mobilizing nationwide in opposition to Elon Musk's efforts to dismantle government agencies through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Workers plan to protest outside of federal buildings and Tesla dealerships to show support for the work of federal agencies. It's not just about federal workers," says Eric Blanc, author and assistant professor of labor studies at Rutgers University. If they take out the federal unions, that's our best block right now against Trump's authoritarian power grab." This comes as Musk has gained access to the sensitive information of millions of Americans, all the while laying off government workers en masse. The layoffs have affected the FAA, NIH, IRS and more.

A new study projects as many as 20 million people could lose Medicaid coverage under a Republican congressional bill to cut the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion match rate. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found the bill includes tax cuts for the wealthy and businesses, paired with cuts on the programs that support low-income Americans. There is a direct link between their desire to extend very expensive tax cuts for very wealthy people and the cuts they are putting on the table that will take health coverage and food assistance away from people that struggle to afford the basics," says Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

An undocumented Venezuelan mother and two of her children were deported to Mexico earlier this month - just hours after a minor traffic stop, reports John Washington, who has covered the case for the Tucson-based independent outlet Arizona Luminaria. Arizona Public Safety troopers claimed the mother was driving under the speed limit. The mother, whom Democracy Now! is not identifying at the request of the family, described being handcuffed in front of her children, aged 6 and 9. The troopers called Border Patrol agents, who apprehended the woman and her two children and later turned them over to Mexican immigration officials in the border city of Nogales before they were put on a bus and driven about 2,000 miles away to the southern Mexican state of Tabasco. The woman suffered a night of interrogation," says Washington. The woman's family was unable to reach the mother for days, until she was finally able to call her family letting them know of her whereabouts. Her two other children, who are 8 and 14 years old, are still in Tucson. We also speak with immigrant rights activist Greisa Martinez Rosas, executive director of United We Dream Action, who says Democrats share the blame for harmful immigration policies now reaching new heights under the Trump administration. We need a true opposition power and party," she says.

We speak with NDN Collective founder and CEO Nick Tilsen, who was with Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier as he was released from a federal prison in Florida Monday after nearly half a century behind bars, and returned home with him to North Dakota. Peltier has always maintained his innocence for the 1975 killing of two FBI officers, and many activists have noted inconsistencies in his trial. In the final days of his presidency, former President Joe Biden granted Peltier clemency, commuting his life sentence. Peltier will remain on house arrest in the Turtle Mountain community in North Dakota. Today I am finally free! They may have imprisoned me but they never took my spirit!" Peltier told supporters once he was released. Thank you to all my supporters throughout the world who fought for my freedom." Tilsen said it was absolute pure joy" seeing him out of prison. The release of Leonard Peltier is something that touches all of us, because all of us see a little bit of ourselves in Leonard Peltier."

Zelensky Claps Back After Trump Blames Ukraine for Russia's 2022 Invasion, Federal Judge Won't Order Temporary Injunction Against DOGE's Mass Firings, Data Access, White House Claims Elon Musk Is Not in Charge of DOGE, Senate Confirms Billionaire Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary, Advances Kash Patel for FBI Chief, Top U.S. Prosecutor Resigns over Politically Driven" Request to Investigate Biden Climate Grants, Head of FDA's Food Division Resigns to Protest Mass Firings, RFK Jr. Says He'll Investigate" Childhood Vaccine Schedule, Contradicting Senate Testimony, WaPo: Trump Administration Reverses Plan to End Free COVID Test Program, USDA Seeks to Rehire Fired Staffers Who Worked on H5N1 Avian Flu, Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier Walks Free After Five Decades Behind Bars, Hamas to Accelerate Release of Israeli Hostages in Bid to Cement Gaza Ceasefire, Israeli Minister Calls for Forcible Mass Expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, Residents Return to Villages in Southern Lebanon Left Devastated by Israeli Bombardment, Brazilian Prosecutors Formally Charge Jair Bolsonaro over Attempted Coup, CIA Expands Drone Flights Over Mexico, Eric Adams to Appear in Federal Court as Judge Weighs DOJ Request to Drop Corruption Charges, Kansas Bans Gender-Affirming Care for Youth as GOP Lawmakers Override Governor's Veto, Missouri Restores Abortion Access After Court Blocks Discriminatory Licensure Requirements