Category Archives: Democrats

Trump to dramatically downsize education department but it will still handle student loans, says White House – live

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Press secretary Karoline Leavitt says DoE will be ‘much smaller’ due to executive order Trump will sign as critics say it is ‘dark day’ for US children

Another, perhaps more worrying sign, of the Trump administration’s approach to economic policy was revealed yesterday, when commerce secretary Howard Lutnick recommended in a Fox News interview that people buy Tesla stock.

That’s the electric car company led by Elon Musk, who is busy right now cutting down the US government at the behest of Lutnick’s boss, Donald Trump.

I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight, buy Tesla. It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap. It’ll never be this cheap again. When people understand the things he’s building, the robots he’s building, the technology he’s building, people are going to be dreaming of today, and … thinking gosh, I should have bought Elon Musk’s stock.

The Fed would be MUCH better off CUTTING RATES as U.S.Tariffs start to transition (ease!) their way into the economy. Do the right thing. April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!!

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Pentagon reportedly planning to cut workforce by at least 50,000 – US politics live

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Cuts are expected to come from hire freezes, dismissing some probationary workers and by people taking up an offer to resign

The Washington Post reports that the Trump administration is planning additional tariffs on imports to the US running into “trillions” of dollars.

Speaking anonymously to the paper, a person described as familiar with the planning confirmed the sum involved would be in the “trillions” of dollars.

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Schumer says no to Republican funding bill as US shutdown risk intensifies

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Senate minority leader says Democrats will not provide votes for stopgap measure and calls for bipartisan effort

Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said on Wednesday that Democrats would not provide the necessary votes to pass a stopgap funding bill, dramatically raising the risk of a partial government shutdown at the end of the week.

Announcing the decision in a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer urged Republicans to consider a shorter funding extension that would give congressional negotiators more time to consider a bipartisan path forward.

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Lauren Boebert accused of racism and ableism over her criticism of Al Green

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Republican faces backlash for saying Democrat shook ‘his pimp cane’ at Trump during congressional address

The extremist Republican US House member Lauren Boebert has been accused of racism, ableism and hypocrisy in one fell swoop after criticizing a Black Democrat for “shaking his pimp cane” at Donald Trump during the president’s recent speech to Congress.

“Al Green was given multiple opportunities to stand down, to sit down, to behave, to show decorum,” Boebert told Real America’s Voice, a far-right outlet, while discussing the Texas Democratic congressman’s ejection from the House chamber for shouting about Trump’s threats to social benefits spending on 6 March.

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IRS workforce ‘could halve’ after Trump hails cuts to federal staffing in marathon Congress speech – US politics live

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Federal agencies have until 13 March to formulate staff reduction plans as allies and critics react to Trump’s marathon Congress speech

The Trump administration has listed over 300 buildings for sale in a further move to gut the federal government. It describes the properties as “not core to government operations”.

In a posting to US general services administration website, the administration says the 320 properties across multiple states are “designated for disposal”.

We are identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties for disposal. Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces. Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.

I also have a message tonight for the incredible people of Greenland. We strongly support your right to determine your own future. And if you choose, we welcome you into the US.

We need Greenland for national security and even international security. And we’re working with everybody involved to try and get it. But we need it really for international world security. And I think we’re going to get it — one way or the other, we’re going to get it.

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Trump declares administration ‘just getting started’ in address to Congress

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President boasts about efforts to slash federal workforce and reorient foreign policy as Democrats protest from chamber

Donald Trump on Tuesday declared that his administration was “just getting started”, boasting in a marathon address to Congress that his efforts to slash the size of the federal workforce, reorient US foreign policy and escalate a risky trade war marked the beginning of the “most thrilling days in the history of our country” as Democratic lawmakers protested with placards that read “lies” and “false”.

“America is back,” Trump declared, opening his primetime speech to a joint session of Congress, the first of his second term and the longest in American history. Republicans broke into a boisterous chant of “USA”.

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Democrats invite fired US federal workers to attend Trump’s address to Congress

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Invitations are attempt to embarrass Trump over effort spearheaded by Elon Musk and his so-called ‘department of government efficiency’

Workers fired in Donald Trump’s mass purge of the federal government will attend his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday at the invitation of Democrats seeking to display the human costs of the president’s radical policies.

Senior Democrats, including the party’s leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, have invited laid-off military veterans as their guests in an attempt to embarrass Trump over the unbridled assault on the federal bureaucracy spearheaded by Elon Musk and his so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) team.

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Schumer says cyber operations pause against Russia gives Putin ‘free pass’

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Top Democrat calls Trump’s move to retreat from fight against Russian cyber threats ‘a critical strategic mistake’

A senior US Democrat has hit out at Donald Trump’s attempt to reset relations with Russia following revelations that the president’s administration is retreating from the fight against Russian cyber threats, calling the reported move “a critical strategic mistake”.

In a statement on Sunday making reference to the Russian leader, New York’s Chuck Schumer – the US Senate’s Democratic minority leader – said Trump was “so desperate to earn the affection of a thug like Vladimir Putin he appears to be giving him a free pass as Russia continues to launch cyber operations and ransomware attacks against critical American infrastructure, threatening our economic and national security”.

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US politics live: Donald Trump addresses Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland

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US president’s 75-minute tirade of repeated false claims ranges from voter fraud and stolen-election lies to foreign wars

Donald Trump launched into his speech by assailing “the fraudsters, liars … globalists and deep-state bureaucrats” that he said “are being sent back”.

“We’re draining the swamp and restoring government by the people for the people,” he said before going on to his oft-repeated claims of Washington DC being controlled by a “sinister group of radical-left Marxist warmongers”.

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US congresswoman ‘rooting’ for Canada and Mexico against Trump’s threats

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Democrat Jasmine Crockett calls it ‘really wild’ that it is foreign leaders who are speaking truth to power

The congresswoman Jasmine Crockett has revealed she is “rooting” for Canada and Mexico over Donald Trump in their attempts to stand up to him, saying it is “really wild” to find herself in that position given he is the president of the US.

“They are really the ones that are speaking truth to power right now,” the Democratic representative from Texas said on Friday on the popular Breakfast Club podcast, alluding to the political feuds Trump has engaged in with the US’s two North American neighbors during the first month of his second presidency. “They can see what it is and they were like, ‘We are not messing with this crazy regime.’”

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Canada and Mexico tariffs risk inflating US housing crisis, Trump is warned

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Exclusive: Dozens of congressional Democrats urge president to reconsider threatened import duties on US’s two largest trading partners

Pressing ahead with steep tariffs on Canada and Mexico risks exacerbating the US housing crisis and threatening the broader economy, dozens of congressional Democrats have warned Donald Trump.

The US president, after threatening to hit imports from the US’s two biggest trading partners with a 25% tax, is weighing how to proceed after approving a one-month delay.

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Doge’s access to secure treasury payment system puts Americans’ privacy at risk, ex-secretaries warn – live

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Five former secretaries warn that foreign actors could benefit from data breaches as a result of Doge’s meddling

Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he does not “take seriously” Donald Trump’s proposal that Palestinians be forcibly expelled from Gaza.

Speaking in Malaysia, Reuters reports Erdoğan, who has been a vocal critic of Israel’s actions in the region, said “We do not consider the proposal to exile the Palestinians from the lands they have lived in for thousands of years as something to be taken seriously. No one has the power to force the Palestinian people to experience a second Nakba.”

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US Democrats call for more aggressive tactics against Trump and Musk: ‘We’re going to be the opposition’

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As Trump aims to dismantle large swaths of US government, growing outcry from Democrats appears to be having an effect

When organizers announced a “Nobody Elected Elon” protest at the treasury department’s headquarters in Washington – in response to the revelation that Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) had accessed sensitive taxpayer data – not a single Democratic lawmaker had agreed to attend.

But as public outrage mounted over Donald Trump’s brazen assault on the federal government, the speaking list grew. In the end, more than two dozen Democratic members of Congress including Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, spoke at the event, which drew hundreds of protesters outside on a frigid Tuesday last week. In speech after speech, they pledged to do everything in their power to block Trump from carrying out his right-wing agenda.

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US election commission chair says Trump tried to fire her illegally

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Ellen Weintraub of Federal Election Commission rejects letter from president that claims she has been removed

United States Federal Election Commission commissioner and chair Ellen Weintraub said on Thursday she received a letter from Donald Trump that purports to fire her but added that the action was illegal.

In a post on X, Weintraub attached the January 31 letter signed by Trump which said: “You are hereby removed as a member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately.”

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Progressive Democrats accuse Trump and Musk of ‘a plutocratic coup’

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Lawmakers point to shutting of USAid and accessing federal payment system as markings of ‘constitutional crisis’

Progressive lawmakers condemned Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Monday, pointing to the attempted shuttering of the foreign aid agency USAid and the accessing of the treasury department’s federal payment system as the markings of a “constitutional crisis”.

After Musk declared that he was working to shut down USAid, Democratic members of Congress tried to enter the agency’s Washington headquarters but said they were turned away on the orders of Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge). USAid staffers were also locked out of the building on Monday, as the White House confirmed plans to merge the agency with the state department.

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Ken Martin elected new chair of Democratic National Committee

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Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor chair to lead party still reeling from extensive losses

Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor party, won the crowded race to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday.

The move provides Martin with a powerful perch to determine the messaging and trajectory of a party that is still reeling from its extensive losses in the November election and confronting four more years of Donald Trump’s leadership.

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Trump tells US government to override California water policies if necessary

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Executive order comes two days after visit to LA, which has been devastated by wildfires that burned over 35,000 acres

Donald Trump on Sunday issued an executive order directing the federal government to override the state of California’s water management practices if they are found to be ineffective.

The order comes two days after the president visited the Los Angeles region, which has been devastated by a series of wildfires that have killed at least 28 people and burned more than 35,000 acres.

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California governor signs $2.5bn relief package for LA wildfire recovery

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Announcement comes day before Donald Trump will visit fire-torn areas and amid criticism around state water supply

Gavin Newsom has signed a $2.5bn relief package to help areas of Los Angeles recover from the devastating fires that have been burning for nearly two weeks. The funds were announced during a press conference on Thursday in Pasadena, just outside of Altadena, the town hit hardest by the Eaton fire, which ignited on 7 January.

The signing of the bipartisan aid package comes a day before Donald Trump is set to visit the fire-torn areas and amid continued criticism of the California governor and other state officials’ management of the state’s water supply. It also follows a new blaze, the Hughes fire, which sparked on Wednesday morning and quickly grew. It is now 36% contained and has burned nearly 10,400 acres (4,209 hectares), according to Cal Fire.

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Former Oakland mayor Sheng Thao indicted on bribery charges

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Thao, 39, removed from office in November recall, accused of key role in sprawling corruption and bribery scheme

Sheng Thao, the former mayor of Oakland, and three others have been indicted for a slate of federal charges including conspiracy and bribery. The indictment, which was unsealed and announced in California on Friday, is the culmination of an investigation led by the FBI, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the US Internal Revenue Service.

Also charged in the indictment were Andre Jones, Thao’s longtime romantic partner, and David and Andy Duong, a father-son business duo who own Cal Waste Solutions, the company that picks up the recyclables of Oakland’s more than 436,000 residents. The foursome are accused of orchestrating a scheme in which Thao allegedly extended contracts for Cal Waste Solutions, appointed high-level officials who would allegedly help the Duongs’ business interests, and bought housing units from another company owned by the Duongs.

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US Senate forwards bill targeting undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes

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Critics call Democratic lawmakers ‘spineless’ for joining GOP in making bill potentially big legislative win for Donald Trump

The US Senate on Friday cleared the way for final approval of a bill that targets undocumented immigrants accused of theft-related crimes, a preview of how Republicans will use their majorities to help Donald Trump deliver on his long-promised border crackdown – and an early test of how Democrats will respond.

The Laken Riley Act, named after a 22-year-old Georgia nursing student who was murdered last year by a Venezuelan national, cleared a key procedural hurdle by a vote of 61-35, with 10 Democrats joining Republicans to advance it. A vote on final passage was scheduled for early next week, making it potentially one of the first pieces of legislation he signs as president.

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