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Department's rapid response team is weaponizing the social platform to champion defense secretary and attack rivalsWhile it's true no president or political leader has ever used social media quite as prolifically as Donald Trump, no recent secretary of defense has ever weaponized X or any other platform, quite like former Fox & Friends weekend host, Pete Hegseth.Hegseth is actively reshaping the Pentagon in his own image since taking over, prompting a social media policy that has taken a dramatic turn towards supporting Hegseth's every move and public appearance. Continue reading...

Governor Tim Walz condemns politically motivated assassination' as search continues for Vance Luther BoelterA prominent Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota and her husband were killed and another Democratic state lawmaker and his wife were shot in the early hours of Saturday.State representative Melissa Hortman died, as has her husband, Mark, the state's governor, Tim Walz, confirmed at a press conference on Saturday. Walz said the shooting appears to be a politically motivated assassination". Hortman was the top Democrat in the Minnesota house and the former speaker. The Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were both shot multiple times and are out of surgery, and Walz said he was cautiously optimistic" both will survive. Continue reading...

The president has spent the past decade employing a familiar tactic. Accusing protesters of insurrection' is just the latest exampleDonald Trump and his allies wasted little time in branding the people protesting against immigration enforcement raids in Los Angeles as insurrectionists". Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy - particularly the vindictive kind - spoke darkly of a violent insurrection". JD Vance, the vice-president, inveighed against insurrectionists carrying foreign flags" on the streets of the nation's second-biggest city.It didn't escape notice that an insurrection was exactly what the president was accused of instigating on 6 January 2021, when the flag being paraded through the Capitol was that of the Confederate secessionists. And that Trump hadn't shown quite the same enthusiasm for sending in the troops then.Chris Taylor is a subeditor at the Guardian US and author of The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna Continue reading...

Kennedy Center interim director says he would have consider running for California governor if Harris opts inDonald Trump loyalist Ric Grenell says he would have to" strongly consider running for California governor in 2026 if former vice-president Kamala Harris signs up to campaign for the position.Grenell - a foreign policy adviser to the president and the interim director of Washington DC's John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts - made the remark during an interview airing Sunday on the Politico podcast The Conversation with Dasha Burns. Continue reading...

With time, events in Los Angeles of the past week may come to be seen as the anti-immigrant zealot's ultimate revengeWith Los Angeles convulsed by confrontation between pro-migrant protesters and military units dispatched by Donald Trump, no figure apart from the president has loomed larger than Stephen Miller.As the man in the Oval Office, it is Trump who has absorbed the accusations of authoritarianism for usurping the powers of California's government after deploying 4,000 national guard troops and 700 active marines on to the streets of a city that is home to more undocumented immigrants than any other in the US. Continue reading...

Budding scholars pursue overseas jobs amid attacks on education and research, prompting fears of an American brain drainEric Schuster was over the moon when he landed a lab assistant position in a coral reef biology lab at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO). The 23-year-old had recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in nanoengineering from the University of California, San Diego, into a fiercely competitive job market. He felt like he'd struck gold.But the relentless cuts to scientific research and attacks on higher education by the Trump administration have turned what felt like a promising academic future into unstable ground. Continue reading...

Foreigners treated as enemies, judges under attack: the signs are everywhere in the US. But there are still reasons to hopeLike so many others, I watched the video of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, as she was surrounded by men dressed in black, some wearing masks. They carried guns. One grabbed her by the collar. The men surrounded her, and one handcuffed her. You can hear her short shrieks of fear.She must have been terrified. I know I was when, as a 19-year-old student, I was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires by members of an irregular taskforce. I know what it feels like and I know what it portends.Miriam Lewin is a leading Argentine journalist and survivor of the dictatorship. She is the author of six books, including Iosi, the Remorseful Spy forthcoming in English in July 2025 (Seven Stories Press). A seven episode podcast about Miriam Lewin's experience as a prisoner of the state and her fight for justice is titled The Burden: Avenger Continue reading...

Some of the world's most powerful firms have quietly toed the line set by the administration to avoid the president's wrathFrom vast protests and all-caps social media posts to acrimonious legislative hearings and pugnacious White House statements, Washington has perhaps never been noisier. But since Donald Trump's return to office, one corner of civil society has been almost eerily quiet.Those leading corporate America rapidly turned down the volume after the president's re-election. Gone are the days of political and social interventions, highly publicized diversity initiatives and donations to important causes. Continue reading...

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Demonstrators at the No Kings' protest across the US tell the Guardian why they took the streets to protestMillions of protestors gathered across the US on Saturday across thousands of events to protest against Donald Trump's administration in a planned series of events called No Kings".Organized by a coalition of groups, the demonstrations were largely peaceful, though they occurred on the same day Minnesota lawmakers were shot, and one killed, in political violence, and just a week after the federal government ordered military to descend on Los Angeles streets to quell protests there. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed. You can read our full report on the No Kings" demonstrations here and our report on Trump's military parade here.It will be a parade fit for a king - which is precisely why critics worry what message it will send the rest of the world about the future of democracy in America.On Saturday, there will be tanks on the streets of the nation's capital as Washington hosts a celebration of the US army's 250th anniversary, which happens to coincide with Donald Trump's 79th birthday.North Korea: military parades. China: military parades. Russia: military parades.These aren't parades to celebrate a victory and it's certainly not to celebrate the United States army's birthday. This is a parade to aggrandise Donald Trump's ego. No one who knows either Trump or his pattern of behavior would think for a minute this is anything else. Continue reading...

The president seized on LA protests against immigration raids to deploy troops against civilians in the liberal bastion - a fight he had long been spoiling forHollywood. Silicon Valley. An agricultural sector that grows more than three-quarters of fruits and nuts in America. All contributed to April's news that California had officially overtaken Japan to become the fourth biggest economy in the world, its GDP of $4.1tn trailing only the entirety of the US, China and Germany.But two months later this superpower is locked in a bitter power struggle with Washington DC. Days of protests over immigration raids in Los Angeles prompted Donald Trump to deploy military forces against what he called insurrectionists" despite strenuous objections from state and local leaders. Continue reading...

In scenes that could have been set in Moscow, families queued to sit in helicopters, while tanks and robot dogs paraded Constition AvenueIt may have been billed as a military parade to celebrate the American military's history, but it said even more about the country's present and future under Donald Trump.Soldiers, tanks and even robot dogs paraded along Constitution Ave. on Saturday, as paratroopers swooped in from overhead and military aircraft buzzed past the Washington Monument for the first major military parade held in the US capital since the victory after the first Gulf War of 1991. Continue reading...

Thousands of soldiers, along with tanks and helicopters, march through National Mall on day president turned 79Donald Trump finally got his wish to hold a military parade in Washington DC on Saturday, after thousands of soldiers accompanied by tanks, aircraft and helicopters marched through the National Mall in a celebration of the army's 250th birthday, while across the country, millions of people protested against his administration.It was the first military parade in the nation's capital since 1991 - which celebrated the end of the Gulf war - and took place on the day Trump turned 79. The president had tried and failed to hold such an event during his first term, but made it happen just months into his second, albeit at what wound up being an especially tense moment for the country. Continue reading...

Officers on horseback clear area around federal building with batons and sticks and others fire foam rubber bulletsLos Angeles police moved aggressively to disperse the last of the crowds at Saturday's otherwise peaceful anti-Trump protest downtown, using officers on horseback to clear an area around a federal building with batons and wooden sticks. They fired tear canisters and foam rubber bullets when some of the demonstrators started to regroup.Hours after the main part of the protest had concluded and most of the participants and organizers had left, a crowd of a few dozen people congregated outside a federal office building, away from the approved protest zone, and began shouting at a line of stone-faced US marines standing guard outside the plate-glass entrance. Continue reading...

Melissa Hortman killed and John Hoffman wounded in two separate attacks carried out, police say, by same suspectEarly Saturday morning, Minnesota woke to the news of two targeted attacks on its lawmakers. A gunman killed the top Democratic state legislator, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, Mark, and injured another state legislator, John Hoffman, and his wife Yvette in the Minneapolis area.The suspect, Vance Boelter, remains at large. Continue reading...

Protesters demonstrate at about 2,000 sites nationwide on day US president holds military parade in WashingtonAs tanks and soldiers paraded through the streets of Washington on Saturday, several million people around the country turned out to protest against the excesses of Donald Trump's administration.The protests, dubbed No Kings", rook place at about 2,100 sites nationwide, from big cities to small towns. A coalition of more than 100 groups joined together to plan the protests, which are committed to a principle of nonviolence. Continue reading...

Millions turn out for No Kings' demonstrations; two Democratic state lawmakers shot in Minnesota- key US politics stories from Saturday 14 June 2025As tanks and soldiers paraded through the streets of Washington on Saturday, millions of people in more than 2,000 locations across the US took to the streets to protest against the excesses of Donald Trump and his administration.The No Kings" protests drew over 200,000 in New York and over 100,000 in Philadelphia, while in Los Angeles, where Trump has deployed military force over the past week, protesters gathered outside city hall with many wrapping themselves in American flags. Continue reading...

Millions of people march in more than 2,000 events amid Washington parade celebrating 250 years of US army

Governor Tim Walz calls Melissa Hortman, former state speaker shot dead with husband Mark, dearest of friends'Colleagues of Melissa Hortman paid tribute to Melissa Hortman, the top Democratic lawmaker in the Minnesota state house of representatives who was killed on Saturday, with Governor Tim Walz saying the state lost a dear leader and I lost the dearest of friends".Hortman was killed along with her husband, Mark, in what Democratic colleagues in the state described as an act of targeted political violence". Fellow lawmaker Josh Hoffman and his wife were also shot, reportedly by the same gunman, and are expected to survive. Continue reading...

Democratic state representative Melissa Hortman has died, as has her husband, Mark, the state's governor, Tim Walz, confirmed at a press conference on Saturday. He said the shooting 'appears to be a politically motivated assassination'. Democratic state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were also shot multiple times. Walz said the couple were out of surgery and he was 'cautiously optimistic' both will survive. The shooter is still at large and police said the shooter had impersonated a police officer

The US president hinted at a crackdown on demonstrations long before his inauguration, and it's finally hereThe White House's escalating response to street protests echoes talk before Donald Trump's inauguration of forcibly quelling resistance in urban America. Those plans are now the present.After the use of federalized national guard units and marines in response to protests in Los Angeles, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) plans to deploy Swat-style special response teams to Seattle, Philadelphia, northern Virginia, New York and Chicago - cities led by Democrats that have long been the target of Trump's invective - before expected protests this weekend, according to reports by NBC and others. Continue reading...

Workplace raids will be stopped after Trump conceded that deportations are hurting agricultural and hospitality industriesThe Trump administration deportation campaign is reportedly shifting its focus away from raids on the agricultural and hospitality sectors after Donald Trump conceded this week that his immigration policies are hurting the farming and hotel industries.The New York Times reported that an internal email was sent on Thursday by Tatum King, a senior official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), to regional department leaders at Homeland Security Investigations, directing them to stop workplace immigration enforcement actions unless related to criminal investigations. Continue reading...

Steve Dinoman' Springer turned his suburban home into a makeshift carnival and public education center: You come here to get away from the world'Amid the endless winding streets of Henderson, Nevada, one house breaks the mold. Its front yard - no grass, just desert rock - is home to 62 rainbow-painted dinosaurs, dragons, turtles and spiders. A sign on the garage reads: Shan-gri-la Prehistoric Park", complete with visiting hours.On a recent spring Friday at noon, the garage door hums open, letting in the harsh sun. Steve Springer, or Dinoman" as he's lovingly known by regulars of the park, ties a short black apron printed with cartoon dinosaurs around his waist. At 72, he likes to wear flip-flops with black socks and round glasses that make his eyes look tiny. Continue reading...

California's governor has responding forcefully to the many threats Trump has imposed upon his state - and the countryWhen Donald Trump landed in Los Angeles to tour the ruins left by January's devastating wildfires, just days after being sworn in for a second term, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, was waiting on the tarmac to greet him. The surprisingly warm exchange between two longtime political rivals seemed to reflect a new reality: with a vengeful Trump back in the White House, fire-ravaged California - and its Democratic governor - had a great deal at stake.In the weeks that followed, Newsom met with Trump at the White House to lobby for federal disaster relief, then approved funding to strengthen the state's legal defenses against challenges from the Trump administration. He invited Maga-world fixtures on to his podcast, including Steve Bannon, and infuriated progressives, and even some allies, when he said that it was deeply unfair" for transgender athletes to compete in girls' sports - a wedge issue central to Trump's conservative agenda. All the while, his state was suing the Trump administration - over executive actions on immigration, federal funding and tariffs - at a rate of more than one lawsuit a week. Continue reading...

Administration's actions signal move away from technology as health agencies see vaccine-related shakeupsAs top US health officials turn against some mRNA vaccines, experts fear for the country's preparedness for the next pandemic and worry that other vaccines will be targeted next.Donald Trump's administration recently canceled a $766m award to Moderna on the research and development of H5N1 bird flu vaccines, and officials have announced new restrictions and regulations for Covid mRNA vaccines - actions that signal a move away from the breakthrough technology. Continue reading...

Derek Guy, a popular fashion writer, revealed his family escaped to the US without documentation. It sent the far right into an online frenzyDerek Guy was a relatively unknown menswear writer with 25,000 followers on Twitter in 2022. Now, in 2025, Guy has 1.3 million followers on the platform, now called X, where this week both the vice-president of the United States and the Department of Homeland Security posted threats to deport him from the US - the country he has called home since he was a baby.Honestly didn't expect this is what would happen when I joined a menswear forum 15 years ago," Guy quipped on X on Monday. Was originally trying to look nice for someone else's wedding." Continue reading...

The Minneapolis restaurant All Square exclusively hires formerly incarcerated peopleAll Square, a neon-lit diner in Minneapolis, specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches with a twist. Variations on the menu include Jamaican jerk chicken with guava jam, brown sugar bacon doused in ranch dressing, and Granny Smith apple slices coated in brie and mozzarella.But the sandwich shop offers more than elevated comfort food. All Square, which also operates a food-truck catering service, exclusively hires formerly incarcerated Minnesotans. Continue reading...

The Man's Best Friend image has reopened a debate: sex-positive feminism or soft porn for the male gaze?Please join me for a quick game of is this sex-positive feminism or just a lazy repackaging of the patriarchy"? Today's protagonist is Sabrina Carpenter, a pop star whose music videos have got a Brooklyn priest demoted and might have played a small role in getting the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, indicted.Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

US capital city hosts celebration of army's 250th anniversary, which also falls on president's 79th birthdayThe people of Washington DC have seen unusual traffic on Rhode Island Avenue this week: flatbed trucks, escorted by police and laden with military tanks traversing the thoroughfare that connects the city's suburbs with downtown.The convoys have left traffic jams in their wake, and even more disruptions are to come for the capital city. Thousands of soldiers accompanied by armored vehicles, aircraft, horses and even a couple of mules are set to parade down the National Mall to mark the army's 250th anniversary on Saturday - which also happens to be the day Donald Trump turns 79. Continue reading...

Leah Lendel was snorkeling with her mother and younger siblings when the animal bit herA 9-year-old girl nearly lost her hand after a shark attacked her while she swam just off the coast of Florida recently, according to her family and witnesses.The harrowing attack served up a grim reminder that the Sunshine state is a world leader in unprovoked shark bites against humans - though such cases remain rare and were evidently waning as of late. Continue reading...

To meet this moment in US history, we need to revisit the rich - and successful - tradition of nonviolent disruptionMost of us are no longer free.People are aware of this condition to varying degrees. Some, nostalgic for the world that was, reject unfreedom" as an exaggerated description of our situation. Others, seeing reality clearly, nevertheless hide from the unnerving implications. Continue reading...

Trump's crackdown in LA and his planned military parade have united people in opposition. As we resist, we gain courageWe are relearning the meaning of solidarity". This week, across the US, people have been coming together.We may disagree on immigration policy, but we don't want a president deploying federal troops in our cities when governors and mayors say they're not needed. Continue reading...

A president who vowed to end global conflicts has instead presided over their escalation - his agenda is in disarrayIn his inaugural address this January, Donald Trump declared that his proudest legacy would be that of a peacemaker and unifier", pledging that US power would stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable".Five months later, his second presidency is witnessing the spectacular unraveling of that lofty aspiration. Continue reading...

If Trump wants to be the peacemaker he claims to be, he must negotiate a new deal with TehranBefore dawn on Friday, Israel unleashed a wave of air strikes against more than 100 targets in Iran, including nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and air defense systems. The surprise Israeli attack also killed some of Iran's most senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The Iranian regime called it a declaration of war" - and western powers raced to prevent a wider regional conflict that could draw in the US along with other countries in the Middle East.While the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, claims that he's trying to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the attack is as much intended to blow up ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Donald Trump's administration. While Trump's overall foreign policy has been a disaster, for months he had resisted Netanyahu's pleas to give Israel a green light to attack Iran, with US assistance. Trump insisted he wanted a chance to negotiate a deal with Iran's leaders that would compel Tehran to give up its nuclear program in exchange for relief from US and other international sanctions.Mohamad Bazzi is director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, and a journalism professor at New York University Continue reading...

Eight women have appealed the NCAA's antitrust deal, arguing it violates Title IX and unfairly favors men's sports. Here's what the settlement does and what's nextCollege athletes spent decades fighting for the right to make money from their name, image and likeness (NIL). In 2021, they won. Now, a $2.8bn NCAA settlement is set to compensate hundreds of thousands of current and former athletes who missed out on those earnings. But not everyone thinks the deal is fair.Eight female athletes filed an appeal this week, arguing the agreement violates Title IX, the US law banning sex-based discrimination in education. They say the way the money is divided, largely favoring football and men's basketball players, shortchanges women by more than $1bn. Continue reading...

Critics see echoes of authoritarianism, a break from the US's usual restraint on military displayTo Donald Trump, the inspiration is the pomp and pageantry of Bastille Day, France's annual celebration of the 1789 revolution.For his critics, it is redolent of the authoritarian militarism proudly projected by autocracies like Russia, China and North Korea. Continue reading...

His ostentatious birthday parade is his latest reimagining of America's past. He'd do well to remember that pride must be rooted in honesty

This live blog is now closed.With Donald Trump's deployment of more troops in response to protests in LA, and as plans come together for a military parade in Washington DC on the president's birthday, journalist Judith Levine tells Jonathan Freedland why she believes the US has entered a new era of authoritarianism in this week's edition of US Politics Weekly. You can listen here.With predictions of as many as 200,000 attendees at tomorrow's Washington parade, the Secret Service is preparing for protests by erecting 18 miles of anti-scale fencing and deploying drones to the city's skies to keep watch. Continue reading...

Setback for former student held since March as lawyers condemn government's cruel, transparent delay tactics'A federal judge declined to order the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a setback for the former Columbia University student days after a major ruling against the Trump administration's efforts to keep him detained.Khalil, a green-card holder who has not been charged with a crime, is one of the most high-profile people targeted by the US government's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism. Despite key rulings in his favor, Khalil has been detained since March, missing the birth of his son. Continue reading...

Protester detained by marines in first such known instance; Democrats accuse Benjamin Netanyahu of sabotaging nuclear talks with Iran - key US politics stories from Friday 13 June 2025About 200 US marines arrived in Los Angeles on Friday morning and detained a man soon after in the first known detention by active-duty troops since their deployment.Marines also took charge of a federal building in a rare domestic use of US troops after days of protests over immigration raids. Continue reading...