Raw Story

Democratic leaders are struggling to mount a unified response to Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, as party officials “watched in horror” at the president’s escalating tactics in Los Angeles.

That’s according to a new report in The Bulwark, which described Wednesday how protests over ICE raids have become a “playground for Donald Trump’s authoritarian fantasies.” But while Democrats have mostly come out to condemn the raids and the use of the National Guard to target immigrant communities, including garment workers and day laborers, many in the party remain uncertain about how to confront Trump politically.

Democratic leaders are “all over the place,” one prominent immigration advocate told The Bulwark. A Democratic aide described a House caucus meeting Tuesday meant to hone the party's message as “boring” with no strategy.

The internal chaos comes as the party has, so far, been unable “to unite around a single, effective countermessage about Trump’s trampling of L.A.,” according to the report. And behind closed doors, frustrations are boiling.

“The diverging approaches and bubbling frustrations attest to the unease many Democrats continue to feel in conversations about immigration,” The Bulwark said. “It’s also highlighted that the Democratic party remains in disagreement over how much urgency and alarm it should offer in response to what many believe is an existential threat to American democracy.”

“Democrats aren’t going to be able to wish away the news coverage that for the last few days has been dominating the news cycle, simply because we decide we have nothing to say,” one Congressional Hispanic Caucus member said.

Still others in the party, like California Gov. Gavin Newsom, have emerged in the public debate with a sharper tone targeting Trump. The Democratic governor warned Tuesday in a nationally televised address that “democracy is under assault before our eyes.”

But while Democrats “continue to struggle to find their footing,” some fear that the internal party debate will allow Trump to control the narrative, the Bulwark added, as Trump plows ahead with his escalating immigration enforcement threats.

Nearly a dozen Republican senators reacted with visible discomfort Wednesday as they snapped, stared into space and retreated into elevators, rather than face questions about President Donald Trump's $45 million military parade, HuffPost reported.

Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) wasn’t having it.

“Nope,” he said when asked if he planned on attending the Saturday spectacle, which is set to include warplanes, tanks and a multimillion-dollar military parade on the National Mall. When pressed on the cost, the Indiana lawmaker pivoted.

“I’m focused on the trillions right now, which is the reconciliation bill,” Young said. But when HuffPost pointed out he hadn’t answered the question, Young snapped: “I answered the question I wanted to answer!”

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) said she wouldn’t be in Washington, D.C., then gazed blankly into a Senate elevator as its doors closed after remarking, “But I wish I was.”

Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) stayed silent for eight seconds, grinned, and slipped into another elevator when asked his thoughts on the parade on Wednesday, HuffPost reported.

“No comment,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said. “No comment.” While Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) simply said she doesn’t “do hallway interviews.” HuffPost pointed out in its report Wednesday that “most conversations with the press happen in Senate hallways.”

Saturday’s parade – an event that will honor both the Army’s 250th anniversary and Trump's own 79th birthday – will feature thousands of troops, tanks and aircraft rolling through the streets of D.C.. While Republicans have long railed against government waste, especially in the face of recent DOGE-related efforts, few in the GOP have publicly criticized the upcoming display.

Only Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) spoke out among the group of 14 GOP senators the outlet spoke to – not just because of the steep price – but also because he doesn’t consider “the symbolism of tanks and missiles” to be representative of what the United States is all about.

Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) unloaded on the Republican-majority House Oversight Committee on Thursday for their treatment of Democratic governors being grilled for their states containing sanctuary cities, calling it "thuggery."

After listing off examples of ICE brutally snatching up immigrants, the Massachusetts lawmaker blew up on Kentucky Republican Rep. James Comer's committee shouting at them and equating what is going on under Donald Trump with Nazism.

"This is disgraceful, it should not happen in this country," he shouted. "It's wrong. Deploying the military against the civilian population is wrong! And if we don't step up this will continue. If we don't step up and declare what is right under our Constitution, then other cities, other citizens will meet this same fate."

"I'm proud of my Democratic colleagues who are willing to stand up to this thuggery," He exclaimed. "Trump is a wannabe gangster. He's showing the world what he is about."

"You know my Dad served in the Second World War, he fought the Nazi's in Northern Africa, he fought the Nazis on the Italian peninsula," he continued. "And I think he is looking down right now, and he's happy that I am fighting today's Nazis.'

You can watch below or at the link.

- YouTube youtu.be

When Donald Trump narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the United States' 2024 election, he did so with a combination of MAGA diehards and independents. There are huge differences between the between the two: While Trump's hardcore MAGA base consists of true believers, many independents and swing voters favored Joe Biden in the 2020 election but —feeling frustrated over inflation — went with Trump four years later.

In a guest op-ed published on June 9, sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild examines an area that's full of MAGA diehards: Eastern Kentucky. And he wonders if draconian cuts to safety-net programs could possibly turn MAGA voters against Trump.

"In the first months of Mr. Trump's second term," Hochschild observes, "his story of loss, shame, blame and retribution has split the country into two emotional zones. Many in America's blue half have begun to feel a strange fear. They suddenly have to worry about losing college scholarships, jobs, grants, medical care, and protection from the prying eyes of government officials gathering information from their social media posts. They have heard themselves described, in Mr. Trump’s Memorial Day tweet, as 'scum.' Public officials whose security detail he's withdrawn fear for their safety. Federal judges who've ruled against Mr. Trump have received threatening phone calls."

Hochschild continues, "What do things feel like, I wondered, to the people in Kentucky’s Fifth District? Are we approaching a tipping point when they might start to question Mr. Trump — either because of his threats to democracy, or because his economic policies will make their lives tougher? After all, experts predict Mr. Trump's tariffs will raise prices, and his budget cuts will hit some of his strongest supporters the hardest."

Andrew Scott, the pro-Trump mayor of Coal Run Village, Kentucky, doesn't believe support for Trump will waver among his hardcore base — regardless of economic policies.

Scott told Hochschild, "You know how proud and stoic Appalachians are — we know how to take a little pain. People may have to suffer now to help make America great later. Trump's tariffs could raise prices, but that will force companies to gradually relocate to the U.S."

According to the sociologist, many of the Kentucky residents he interviewed "recognized that" the budget cuts in Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 "would create some pain for them or their neighbors, but that didn't seem to bother them."

But drug counselor James Browning isn't so sure that Trump voters in Kentucky will stick with him if his policies cause them hardship.

Browning told Hochschild, "A lot of people around here are living on the edge. If we start to see Trump policies lead to price hikes and benefit cuts — especially Medicaid and Social Security and food stamps — some people will begin to say, 'Wait a minute. I didn’t vote for this.'"

Arlie Russell Hochschild's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).

Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi has been looking closer at the May jobs report, which was released last week. The more he examines it, however, the more his concern grows.

In an X thread Monday, Zandi confessed, "The more I cogitate on the May jobs report, released last Friday by the BLS, the more uncomfortable I get about the economy’s prospects. There are a bunch of reasons why."

He thinks that job growth has actually screeched to a halt, and the reason might come from the impact of Trump's mass deportations.

"Given the new population controls, measuring labor force growth is tricky, but by my calculation, it’s at a standstill. Look to the severe restrictions on immigration," Zandi wrote. "This time last year, the foreign-born labor force was growing 5%. It’s now declining. The native-born labor force remains moribund."

He went on to caution that large industries will suffer as a result of the deportations. When Trump was campaigning in 2024, he said that he wanted to deport only criminals. Instead, it's been a broader targeting of all immigrants. Federal agents have shown up at schools to target children.

Even the Latinos for Trump co-founder has spoken out against the way the policy has widened.

"The implications of a flagging labor force are disconcerting," said Zandi. "It means serious disruptions to businesses that rely on immigrant labor, ranging from construction and agriculture to hospitality and retailing. It also means higher inflation, just when the higher tariffs are set to push up prices."

"It also means the economy’s real potential GDP growth – that pace of growth consistent with stable inflation – is much lower," he added. "It is currently closer to 1% than the 2% we have come to think of as typical. Think of what this means for everything from asset returns to our already dire fiscal outlook."

Listen to his full podcast, "Yellow Flags," here.

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has access to Social Security data. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Noah Feldman believes that is “one more substantial step in the direction of turning the U.S. into a country like China.”

The columnist claims in China, “the government has a 360-degree view of every aspect of its citizens’ lives.”

He called the court's 6-3 vote “particularly troubling” because the ruling means any information about you can be accessed by any part of the executive branch of government “indefinitely.”

Social Security data holds information like your job history, where you’ve lived, if you’ve ever been on Obamacare, and more. It also means more than just the White House can access this information.

Any agency that falls under the Executive Branch can see it, including the IRS, the Federal Election Commission and Health and Human Services. Feldman believes this would allow “any part of the government it wants to leverage for political purposes,” like the Department of Justice.

According to Feldman, “The executive order that created DOGE commanded all agencies to allow access to their data ‘consistent with applicable law.’”

He went on to say, “The applicable law in this case is the Privacy Act. It says that agencies can only disclose personal data in narrow circumstances, such as when agency employees ‘have a need for the record in the performance of their duties.’”

Noting the court did not expand on their ruling, Feldman was left to wonder, “Perhaps they think that DOGE has a need for the records, so the Privacy Act doesn’t apply.”

He went on to say, “Or, more radically, they may think that the Privacy Act is unconstitutional when applied to stop one part of the executive branch from seeing data collected by another part.”

“We are heading toward a government that knows everything about us,” Feldman said. “That used to be a concern for conservatives just as much as it was for liberals. Indeed, privacy should be a nonpartisan, bipartisan matter.”

“Someday, we may forget Musk’s foray into government. But its long-term effects may now include the rule of the all-seeing technologists.” He added, “The DOGE of Minerva is spreading its wings — even as the dawn is breaking.”