Lee appeared in Minneapolis on Monday at the kickoff meeting for the Democratic National Committee, which is gearing up for battle with the Trump administration
A screenshot from a video of Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee addressing officials at a meeting of the Democratic National Committee in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 25, 2025. Credit: Democratic National Committee
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Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee joined heavyweights from the Democratic Party for a gathering in Minneapolis on Monday, where officials are mapping their next steps for fighting President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Lee gave a brief speech to Democratic officials who flocked to the Midwestern city for the first official meeting of the Democratic National Committee, which is the executive body that leads the Democratic Party and supports candidates throughout the country. Lee shared the room with major political figures, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, and Minnesota State Senator John Hoffman, who, earlier this summer, was wounded by a gunman who had set out to assassinate dozens of Democratic elected officials.
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The party, which is struggling with infighting and fundraising concerns, faces significant challenges, including an effort by Texas Republicans to redistrict Congressional maps to marginalize Democrats. The Democratic Party is also viewed as weak and ineffective by many Democratic-registered voters, according to a recent poll.
Democratic officials are trying to coalesce around a strategy to confront Trump, who in recent weeks has deployed the National Guard in D.C. and threatened to send troops to other Democratic strongholds to crack down on crime and support immigration raids.
Trump’s verbal attacks on cities run by Democrats — including Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Oakland — have put mayors on the frontlines of this political battle, which may explain why Lee was brought in to address the party.
Lee, who served nearly 30 years in the House of Representatives before running for mayor of Oakland, has become increasingly vocal in her criticism of Trump since the president claimed that Oakland and other cities are “so far gone” because of crime problems.
“Now Donald Trump, you know he trashed Oakland, he lied about us, but Oakland is not afraid,” Lee said in her speech on Monday.
Lee said Oakland embraces its immigrant communities and that the city’s police department does not cooperate with ICE. Trump has threatened to withhold federal funding from cities that offer sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, and deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles to support ICE raids.
“We are resilient, we are diverse, and we’re unstoppable,” Lee said.
Noting that she’s been a member of the Democratic Party for a long time, Lee emphasized that the party “must win” its upcoming electoral fights.
“We must win for working families, for low-income families, for the poor, for poor families, for our youth, for the unsheltered, those who are struggling to pay for groceries, housing, healthcare, education, and yes, those under attack by Trump,” Lee said. “And yes, we have to fight for our reproductive freedom and protect our trans community and our LGBTQ+ community, and all those who are under attack by Trump.”
Lee spent part of her speech defending the progress of her administration, which is closing in on its first 100 days later this week. She shared recent statistics that show several categories of crime appear to be declining in Oakland. And she cited her administration’s success in securing millions of dollars from Alameda County to support unhoused people and affordable homes.
Lee also bragged that Oakland is the “number one food city in America” and touted the city’s cultural outputs, from filmmaker Ryan Coogler to Tower of Power. She raised a fist when she said Oakland is the birthplace of the Black Panther Party, a group she once organized with.
Quoting Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, Lee said, “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines… You make progress by implementing ideas.”
Eli Wolfe reports on City Hall for The Oaklandside. He was previously a senior reporter for San José Spotlight, where he had a beat covering Santa Clara County’s government and transportation. He also worked as an investigative reporter for the Pasadena-based newsroom FairWarning, where he covered labor, consumer protection and transportation issues. He started his journalism career as a freelancer based out of Berkeley. Eli’s stories have appeared in The Atlantic, NBCNews.com, Salon, the San Francisco Chronicle, and elsewhere. Eli graduated from UC Santa Cruz and grew up in San Francisco.More by Eli Wolfe
Mayor Daniel Lurie (left) shakes the hand of Bay Area historian John William Templeton (right) outside of Thomas Paine Apartments in the Western Addition on July 29th, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
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At the top of “The Hill,” Bayview’s steep enclave of largely low-income, subsidized apartments overlooking the western half of San Francisco, residents driving by or sitting on stoops on an uncharacteristically warm Tuesday afternoon got a bit of a surprise: There was Mayor Daniel Lurie, clambering up the steep slope, followed by a band of his security, staff, organizers and residents going unit to unit.
Lurie knocked on the door of each resident who opened their home to him, along with a security guard, two mayoral staffers and reporters. Clad in his characteristic tailored suit, Lurie entered each unit for about five minutes, nodding as tenants described black mold, asbestos, stoves that spontaneously combusted and water leaks that eroded the ceiling.
He shook residents’ hands, assured them he would make some calls and jokingly scoffed at a young tenant’s Los Angeles Dodgers hat. “We gotta talk about this,” said Lurie, taking on a more serious, mayoral tone. “What’s going on with the hat?”
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But it’s not clear how much Lurie can do. Though his presence puts property developers and management in the hot seat, his advisor repeated the word “private” throughout the visit: City Hall’s power over these privately-owned complexes is limited, his staff told tenants.
After the visits Tuesday, Lurie and his staff did contact property management, and it worked: The pressure of receiving a call directly from the mayor’s office led property managers to visit some apartments that same afternoon. The managers are “making progress” on clearing out black mold and other issues, said mayoral staff.
Still, it wasn’t an entirely convivial trip. “The Hill” is a complex of some 600 units of garden-style apartments, smack in the middle of Bayview. It houses tenants receiving federal subsidies through project based vouchers, most of whom are Black and deep in poverty. Three years ago, Mission Local documented “leaks, roaches, and rats” and an unresponsive property manager.
A kitchen in Plaza East Apartments on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Black mold covers a tenant’s bathroom at Plaza East on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Black mold on the door of a resident’s unit at Plaza East on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Tenants say little has changed. As resident after resident crowded around the mayor, one Bayview local asked if Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, understood the disenfranchisement of Black people. “I do,” Lurie responded simply, saying nothing more.
During the nearly 90-minute trip on Tuesday afternoon, Lurie stood in several black mold-covered bathrooms, crowded with tenants into a lone working elevator, and inspected vents spewing smoke and ash. After visiting three apartments on the Hill, he hopped back into his Rivian and drove a mile south to Alice Grifith, a former public housing complex near Candlestick Park.
It was his second time this month making a similar visit after tenants living in low-income housing complexes across the city rallied at City Hall and marched into the mayor’s office, demanding he come by their apartments and see how they live.
He followed through: In the past month, Lurie has walked through six low-income housing complexes in the Western Addition and Bayview in an effort to show put-upon tenants that City Hall is listening.
Most subsidized housing complexes are privatized
Most of the apartments the mayor visited this month are privately owned. Even Alice Griffith in Bayview, which used to be owned and operated by the San Francisco Housing Authority, is now owned by McCormack Baron Salazar, a private firm based in St. Louis, following its redevelopment in 2017 through the HOPE-SF program.
Mission Local has been documenting conditions in San Francisco’s subsidized housing complexes. Read our coverage below.
The program aims to revitalize dilapidated public housing projects into modernized, mixed-income developments by tapping private investors and transferring ownership into private hands.
The Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development requires the owners to submit Annual Monitoring Reports, and must approve the hiring of a new property manager, but it cannot hire or fire property management itself. Only the owner of the building can do that.
In conversations during the tour, Lurie and Ernest Jones, who serves as the mayor’s office’s community ambassador, frequently deliberated what was in the scope of their power.
Daniel Lurie and Maika Pinkston, a Bayview resident and founder of From the Heart, a nonprofit, look on at Frederick Douglass Garden Apartments on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Standing in a low-income apartment with no heat, Lurie asked Jones what could be done. Jones told Lurie the building was “private.”
Earlier in the month, during Lurie’s visit to subsidized apartments in the Western Addition, the mayor told Mission Local the city “is not able to do much” to wield their power at apartments that are privately owned.
Anita Blackwell, a resident at Shoreview Apartments in Bayview, on Tuesday ushered Lurie and his crew into her home. It was ready for the army of visitors — Blackwell had cleaned her apartment in anticipation of her guests, lit scented candles, and R&B music softly hummed on her TV.
But Blackwell quickly pointed Lurie to her main point of concern: a heater vent above her living room spotted with ash. Lurie quietly nodded, squinting his eyes as he inspected the heater. Blackwell told him she hasn’t had heat in two months: She’s afraid to turn her unit on. Every time she does, smoke blows in, her fire alarm goes off and her home is covered in a blanket of soot.
Blackwell is one of thousands of federally subsidized low-income tenants in apartments where the city has little oversight. Residents at the Shoreview Apartments and other complexes like Thomas Paine and Frederick Douglass Haynes Gardens in Fillmore and La Salle Apartments in Bayview get federal subsidies, but the apartments are privately owned and managed.
Blackwell’s property manager, Related California, promised someone would come on July 3, she said. No one did, she claims.
Jones, turning to Lurie, told him Blackwell’s building was “private.” It is an issue for the Department of Public Health or the Department of Building Inspection if there is a code violation.
Lurie nodded and assured Blackwell they would make some calls. The mayor’s office said that property management will conduct a “full duct and chimney cleaning” next week.
With little to no oversight, what can the city do?
As the group made their way out of Shoreview and onto La Salle Apartments, Jones told Dennis Williams Jr., executive director of a local contracting nonprofit, the Fillmore Community Development Corporation and a resident at Plaza East Apartments in the Western Addition, that there was little the mayor’s office could do in apartments like Shoreview, La Salle and Thomas Paine.
As Williams and Jones trudged down the hill and back up a narrow flight of wooden stairs again, Williams asked that Jones do something about the stairs. Lurie had taken off his suit jacket in the late August heat.
“Sheesh,” exclaimed Williams. “Is this wheelchair accessible?”
“It’s private,” Jones replied. To change anything, he said, “you would have to convince [the owner] to sell.”
“Oh, no,” Williams chuckled. “They aren’t going to do that.”
When asked what the city can do if tenants complain of maintenance and mismanagement, Anne Stanley, a representative from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development, said the office connects tenants back to their property managers, the “correct contacts” for any issues.
Tonia Lediju, the former CEO of the Housing Authority, and Mariano DeLa Torre, maintenance and renovation superintendent, stand by as Mayor Daniel Lurie tours a resident’s home in the Western Addition. Photo by Marina Newman.
If there is a code violation, tenants can report it to the Department of Building Inspection.
Damaged ceilings, sheetrock over windows, and mold infested apartments
Tenants’ issues are extreme.
A unit at the La Salle Apartments in Bayview was deemed “uninhabitable” by the Department of Building Inspection when they last visited, says Dequinda Johnson, who lives in the unit. Johnson, who lives there with her three young children, one of whom has asthma, said Tuesday she will move in with family at the end of the month.
It has been months of living with black mold that she says has affected her and her children’s health. The mayor’s office said the black mold had already “been cleaned and removed.”
Two other units at La Salle are missing windows: When two tenants moved back into their apartments after renovations, sheetrock, painted purple, was hung up over the window openings. One tenant, who is mentally disabled, says it has been like that for weeks — they have had to keep the front door open for ventilation.
Another mother at Alice Griffith fastened a plastic sheet over her kitchen when a leak upstairs caused the ceiling to cave in. She says the leak had been an issue for two years. Other leaks at Alice Griffith have caused the ceiling to cave in as well, according to tenants, and video from April showed a piece of plaster falling on a senior resident’s head.
For these units, the mayor’s office said new windows will be “prioritized.”
Mayor Daniel Lurie crowds with staff, organizers, and residents, into the one working elevator in a building at Alice Griffith, a former public housing complex in Bayview. Photo by Marina Newman.
Sheetrock painted purple covers the window of a resident at La Salle Apartments in Bayview. Photo by Marina Newman.
Mayor Lurie, residents, and staff walk down “The Hill” on August 19, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
A plastic tarp covers where a ceiling has caved in over a tenant’s kitchen at Alice Griffith on August 19, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
There are places where the city can, theoretically, be more active. The San Francisco Housing Authority is still a part of the ownership structure at two properties currently considered public housing, Plaza East Apartments and North Beach Place.
There, Lurie told Mission Local, “We’re able to do more.”
In August, Plaza East’s prior property manager was replaced and, since then, the Housing Authority has told Mission Local it will assume direct oversight over its performance — a change from before.
But at the 40 or so properties that have been or will be privatized, property management is the purview of the owner, a private developer sometimes headquartered out of state.
The number of public housing complexes turned private will only grow.
After Mission Local reported on squatting and deadly fires at Potrero Terrace and Annex, a former public housing complex currently undergoing reconstruction, property manager Eugene Burger was replaced by Bell Properties.
But after the property is reconstructed, the city will no longer have that power.
“People take it as if we’re always nagging,” said a tenant at Alice Griffith, who wished to remain anonymous. “But we’re screaming for help.”
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Marina is reporting from Bayview-Hunters Point and wherever housing stories may take her. She is originally from San Jose and is proudly Bay Area born, raised, and educated at UC Berkeley with no plans to leave the best city in the world anytime soon. She enjoys hiking on the weekends, photography, and exploring San Francisco’s many eccentric bookstores.More by Marina Newman
The Democrats Streamed live on Aug 25, 2025We are the Democratic Party, and we’re fighting for a brighter, more equal future. Get involved with the Democrats by texting ‘FIGHT’ to 43367 or going to https://www.democrats.org!
Generally considered to be “the earliest of the modern Dystopian,” The Iron Heel chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London’s socialist views are most explicitly on display. London presents a fictional “Everhard Manuscript”, hidden and found centuries in the future. This book is a platform for him to espouse his socialist views and predict the collapse of capitalism. Very different from his other action novels, it envisions a future oligarchic tyranny in America and the rise of the Socialist party. The book has been credited with influencing George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.
John Griffith Chaney, better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to become an international celebrity and earn a large fortune from writing. He was also an innovator in the genre that would later become known as science fiction. London was part of the radical literary group “The Crowd” in San Francisco and a passionate advocate of animal rights, workers’ rights and socialism. London wrote several works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction exposé The People of the Abyss, War of the Classes, and Before Adam. His most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories “To Build a Fire”, “An Odyssey of the North”, and “Love of Life”. He also wrote about the South Pacific in stories such as “The Pearls of Parlay” and “The Heathen”.
From award-winning journalist Joseph Lee, an exploration of Indigenous identity that builds on the author’s experiences and questions as an Aquinnah Wampanoag from Martha’s Vineyard.
Growing up Aquinnah Wampanoag, Joseph Lee grappled with what it means to be an Indigenous person in the world today, especially as tribal land, culture, and community face new threats. Starting with the story of his own tribe, which is from the iconic Martha’s Vineyard, Lee tackles key questions around Indigenous identity and the stubborn legacy of colonialism.
Lee weaves his own story—and that of his family—with conversations with Indigenous leaders, artists, and scholars from around the world about everything from culture and language to climate change and the politics of belonging. As he unpacks the meaning of Indigenous identity, Lee grants us a new understanding of our nation and what a better community might look like.
A series of nationwide anti-Donald Trump protests are set to take place on Labor Day.
50501, a group that emerged in early 2025 and is short for “50 protests, 50 states, one day,” called their latest series of protests “Workers Over Billionaires.”
Newsweek contacted the organizers by email to comment on this story.
Why It Matters
Since assuming office in January, there have been multiple coordinated protests from different groups against Trump with people speaking out against his cuts to government departments, strict immigration policies and handling of the economy among other issues.
One protest took place on the Memorial Day weekend, while others targeted Flag Day and Trump’s birthday. Another took place in Scotland when protesters demonstrated against Trump’s recent visit to the country.
Protests will put pressure on the president and weaken the extent to which he can say he commands broad support. However, the protests are not universal either and the President is still popular with his supporters.
What To Know
The protest takes place on Labor Day, a federal holiday dating back to 1894 recognizing workers’ contributions to America. This year, it falls on September 1.
On the website, the organizers listed the following demands:
Stop the billionaire takeover corrupting our government.
Protect and defend Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs for working people.
Fully funded schools, and health care and housing for all.
Stop the attacks on immigrants, Black, indigenous, trans people, and all our communities.
Invest in people not wars.”
They posted a picture of a map detailing where some of the protests will take place.
A map shows some of the protests taking place on Labor Day. HTTPS://MAYDAYSTRONG.ORG/
What People Are Saying
Speaking to Newsweek, Mark Shanahan who teaches American politics at the University of Surrey in the U.K. said: “Trump won’t be too worried about protests. He never has to run for election again and doesn’t need to win round those who oppose him. Protests won’t surprise him. Close to half the country didn’t vote for him in 2024 and rather than use his presidency to heal the nation, he has gone out of his way through DOGE, ICE, deploying The National Guard and a slew of divisive Executive Orders, to fan the flames of division.
“It will play into his narrative of ongoing American carnage for these protests to get out of hand and turn violent,” he added. “Trump loves a fight and to cast himself as some kind of blonde avenger. So, in order to have any impact, these protests need to take a different line. The one thing Trump really hates is being laughed at. He despises being humiliated. Governor Gavin Newsom of California is having an impact through his memes trolling Trump. They’re clearly getting under the president’s notoriously thin skin. If 50501 can build on that vibe and use humor to expose some of the Administration’s failings, they may prick Trump’s pomposity in a way that could damage Republican chances in the Midterms next year.”
A statement posted on the protest’s website read: “Labor and community are planning more than a barbecue on Labor Day this year because we have to stop the billionaire takeover. Billionaires are stealing from working families, destroying our democracy, and building private armies to attack our towns and cities.
“Just like any bad boss, the way we stop the takeover is with collective action. We are May Day Strong, working people rising up to stop the billionaire takeover—not just through the ballot box or the courts, but through building a bigger and stronger movement.
“On Sept. 1 we will continue the movement we launched on May 1st. Thousands of communities across the country are taking a stand on Labor Day, join us!”
What Happens Next
In a separate protest, the AFL-CIO is organizing nationwide rallies on Labor Day to build support for workers.
More protests against the Trump administration are likely to take place as his presidency continues.
Ghislaine Maxwell did what I thought was impossible. She made Donald Trump look even more guilty when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes.
That is my takeaway after reading the transcript of Maxwell’s testimony taken by Trump’s personal lawyer Todd Blanche—who now serves as second in command of DOJ. Yet we don’t see corporate media connecting the dots so let me do that here.
Let’s start with this simple truth: Maxwell is a vile person. She was charged and successfully prosecuted by Trump’s own DOJ during his first term with five felonies in connection with a child sex ring that spanned at least from 1994 to 2004. At the trial, evidence was presented that the victims were as young as 14 years old when they were groomed and abused by Maxwell and Epstein. As prosecutors stated at time of Maxwell’s sentencing, “Epstein could not have committed these crimes without her.” And let’s be clear, Maxwell personally molested the children as was proven at her trial. That is the person Trump wished “well” when she was arrested in 2020.
During Maxwell’s two days of recent testimony to Trump’s lawyer, she lied countless times that contradicted facts proven at her trial. She also served up BS that Trump was a “gentleman” and praised him—obviously all to get a pardon from him.
But there are several places Maxwell didn’t have any incentive to lie –and that is where she hurt Trump. First her testimony revealed that Trump was friends with Jeffrey Epstein before she ever met Epstein. She testified, “I met Mr. Epstein in 1991.” In contrast, Trump told New York magazine in 2002 he had been with friends with Epstein since the 1980’s. “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy,” Trump stated. He then added the infamous line, “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
These facts help us understand why Maxwell testified that Epstein would go to Mar-a-Lago without her. Maxwell explained, about Epstein, “he didn’t take me with him all the time.” She added, “he would go alone.” This shows us just how close Trump and Epstein were during the height of the child sex ring—which prosecutors proved ranged from 1994 to 2004.
In fact, during the Maxwell trial, one victim testified that she was just 14 years of age when Epstein brought her to Mar-a-Lago and introduced her to Trump in the mid-1990’s. Apparently, Epstein was so close to Trump that he even introduced him to a child he was raping.
Trump claims he had a falling out with Epstein in 2004 after he learned Epstein had “stolen” a young girl from Mar-A-Lago who worked for him. Trump recently confirmed the girl in question was Virginia Giuffre, who was 16 years of age at the time Maxwell recruited her for Epstein.
Convicted child sex trafficker Maxwell also gushed about how much she enjoyed going to Mar-a-Lago, testifying that she “loved going there.” She added that she especially loved going to the spa. (That is where she found Virginia Giuffre.)
Maxwell testified she “may” have first met Trump in 1990 via her father, the then famed publisher Robert Maxwell. But what we do know from photos and videos is that Maxwell was seen in footage in 1992 at Mar-a-Lago standing behind Trump and Epstein. From there, we’ve seen photos of Trump and Maxwell together—often without Epstein—from the mid 1990’s to mid 2000’s.
What else was happening in that exact time frame? Maxwell and Epstein were running their child sex ring. As Trump’s own DOJ told us in July, their review of the Epstein files “confirmed that Epstein harmed over one thousand victims.”
I’ve asked even before the Maxwell testimony was released: How could Trump not know that his close friend Epstein was not involved in molesting and raping girls given there were very close during the years of Epstein child sex ring? This is especially questionable given there were more than one thousand victims.
Also raising alarm bells was that in 2024, Trump was caught lying about being a passenger on Epstein’s plane known as “The Lolita Express”–which he often used to transport girls as young as 14 years of age to various locations so he could have sex with them. As a reminder, In January 2024, Trump wrote on social media: “I was never on Epstein’s Plane.”
That lie was destroyed in Maxwell’s trial where flight logs were introduced that showed he was a passenger numerous times. In addition, the DOJ released flight logs from earlier this year that tell us Trump flew on “The Lolita Express” at least eight times between 1993 and 1997. (When is the last time you heard corporate media reporters raise this lie?!)
The flight logs that mention Trump raise questions about who else was on the flights? For example, there was a flight with Epstein, Maxwell, and five others from Palm Beach, FL to Newark, NJ on January 5, 1997. But who were the other passengers? Same question for a flight with Epstein and one other person from Teterboro, NJ to Palm Beach, FL on April 23, 1993.
But on several of those flights, the logs tell us that Trump, Epstein and Maxwell were together for hours in the midst of the biggest child sex ring in U.S. history on the very plane used to traffic children for sex.
Now we have Maxwell telling us that she was also close with Trump during the time Epstein and Maxwell were recruiting, grooming, molesting and raping children. All of this is why polls taken before the Maxwell testimony was even released found nearly 50% of Americans believe Trump “was involved in crimes allegedly committed” by Epstein. Only 32% believe Trump was not involved in Epstein’s crimes—which is Trump’s base. (23% have no opinion.) The percentage of Americans who believe Trump was implicated in Epstein’s crimes would certainly rise if corporate media would press Trump and cover this story instead of following Trump’s distractions.
At this point, it’s simply impossible to believe Trump didn’t know what his two close friends were up to given all the time they spent together, Trump being introduced to Epstein’s 14 year-old date and more. Yet he never called the police. Instead, Trump allowed evil to grow and more children to be raped.
Demonstrators protest US President Donald Trump’s military occupation of Washington, DC during an August 22, 2025 protest in the nation’s capital.
(Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Trump and Republicans are trying to distract from the pain they’re causing—from tariffs raising the prices of goods to stripping away healthcare and food from millions,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
Leading Democrats this weekend accused US President Donald Trump of ginning up a fake “crisis” in order to justify his proposed military intervention in cities including Chicago, as National Guard troops continued their occupation of Washington, DC against a backdrop of popular protests.
Trump said Friday that Chicago—which is experiencing a double-digit dip in violent crime and a historic drop in homicides—is “probably next” in line for federal intervention after Washington, DC. Around 2,000 National Guard troops are deployed in the nation’s capital and the administration has taken over the Metropolitan Police Department amid threats by the president to oust Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser for pointing out that violent crime has decreased dramatically in the city.
The president also threatened to deploy federal forces under the pretext of combating crime in cities including Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and San Francisco. Violent crime is trending downward in all of those cities—with some registering historically low levels.
Responding to Trump’s threats, Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement Saturday that “there is no emergency that warrants the president of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders.”
“Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” the governor added.
In a Sunday morning interview on CNN, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said that “we should continue to support local law enforcement and not simply allow Donald Trump to play games with the lives of the American people as part of his effort to manufacture a crisis and create a distraction because he’s deeply unpopular.”
“I strongly support the statement that was issued by Gov. Pritzker making clear that there’s no basis, no authority, for Donald Trump to potentially try to drop federal troops into the city of Chicago,” Jeffries added.
Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and former senior adviser to then-Vice President Kamala Harris, asserted on the social media site Bluesky that “there is no emergency that merits whatever Trump is plotting in Chicago with the military. None.”
“It’s another bullshit manufactured crisis from a desperate president who wants to extend his power and score cheap political points,” Nellis added.
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A woman holds a sign calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza during an August 23, 2025 protest in Tel Aviv.
(Photo by Itai Ron/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“We stood proud and tall together because there is nothing that will stop the just civilian resistance to the genocide and occupation,” said one protester.
Thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday in multiple demonstrations demanding an end to their government’s genocidal war and engineered famine in Gaza and a deal to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas since October 2023.
Israelis—both Arab and Jewish—rallied in Habima Square holding signs reading “Stop the Genocide” and photos of some of the at least 115 Palestinian children who have starved to death in what the world’s leading authority on hunger has officially declared a full-blown famine.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretzreported that police initially prohibited protesters from holding photos of Gazan children or Israeli hostages and also banned use of the word “genocide,” but then allowed such displays.
The protest was organized by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee—an umbrella Arab Israeli advocacy group—with the participation of the Arab political parties Hadash, Balad, and Ta’al, and activist organizations including Peace Now, Breaking the Silence, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum.
Protesters implored the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2, the nascent campaign to conquer and occupy Gaza and ethnically cleanse 1 million Palestinians—approximately half the strip’s population—and possibly confine them in a proposed concentration camp that would be built over the ruins of Rafah.
“We only have a few days left to stop this, because if the invasion of Gaza begins there will be no deal,” Yotam Cohen, brother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, told the crowd. “The invasion will blow up the negotiations and hostages and soldiers will die.”
“Instead of saving lives Netanyahu is sentencing the living hostages to death and causing the fallen to be lost forever,” Cohen added. “He is condemning us to a needless eternal war, sending solders to their death.”
Other demonstrators condemned Netanyahu for repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire deals in order to prolong the war and delay his criminal corruption trial.
In addition to the demonstrations in Israel, at least tens of thousands of people rallied and marched in cities across Australia on Sunday to demand an end to the Gaza genocide and sanctions on Israel. The protests followed the Australian government’s decision earlier this month to formally recognize Palestinian statehood.
“With Israel’s announced ground invasion of Gaza, the call is clear: Australia must demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, impose a two-way arms embargo, and act to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice,” said Amnesty International, which backed the protests.
Despite Hamas’ acceptance of a proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release, Netanyahu—a fugitive from the International Criminal Court wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes—last week approved the invasion and occupation of Gaza City.
On Wednesday, Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Strook suggested that she and other Cabinet ministers “will vote to continue the war at the expense of the hostages’ lives” and said that she would personally assent to the invasion and occupation of Gaza “even if it is clear that Hamas will execute the hostages.”
The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) said Sunday that Israeli forces killed scores more Palestinians across Gaza within the past 24 hours, including children and aid-seekers, as Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2 ramped up, with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks advancing into the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.
In addition to those killed by IDF bombs and bullets, health authorities said that eight more Palestinians, including two children, starved to death, bringing the famine death toll to at least 289, including 115 children. All told, the GHM says Israel’s 688-day assault and siege on Gaza—which is the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case—has left at least 229,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, with no end to the slaughter in sight.
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A protester holds a sign during a “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump outside Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago on June 14, 2025.
(Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
“If Trump wants to take his ego trip on tour, he picked the wrong city,” said one senior Illinois official. “Chicago doesn’t bow down to kings or roll out the red carpet for dictators.”
US President Donald Trump said Friday that Chicago is the next city in his crosshairs for the kind of federal invasion and occupation currently underway in Washington, DC—a threat that sparked defiant pushback from officials in the Windy City and beyond.
“After we do this, we’ll go to another location, and we’ll make it safe also,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, referring to his federalization of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department and deployment of National Guard troops from the district and five Republican-controlled states.
“We’re going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent and we’ll straighten that one out probably next,” the president said, referring to progressive Brandon Johnson. “That will be our next one after this. And it won’t even be tough.”
On August 11, Trump dubiously declared a public safety emergency in Washington, DC, despite violent crime being down 26% from a year ago, when it was at its second-lowest level since 1966, according to official statistics. Critics have noted that Trump’s crackdown isn’t just targeting criminals, but also unhoused and mentally ill people, who have had their homes destroyed and property taken.
On Friday, Trump threatened to completely take over Washington and oust Mayor Muriel Bowser if she does not stop pointing out that crime has decreased in the city, which the president called a “crime-infested rat hole.”
In addition to Chicago, Trump has threatened to send federal forces into cities including Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, and San Francisco. Violent crime is trending downward in all of those cities—with some registering historically low levels.
Unlike in Washington, DC, where home rule laws allow the federal government to take control of local police, Trump would face greater obstacles to intervention in other cities.
“President Trump can’t seize control of the Chicago police or any other local department outside of DC,” Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) noted on social media Friday. “The military cannot and will not patrol the streets of Chicago, and I will work with state and local officials to ensure that doesn’t happen.”
Mayor Johnson said in a statement that “the problem with the president’s approach is that it is uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.”
“If the Trump administration is serious about driving down violence in Chicago, or anywhere else in America, then he should not have taken over $800 million away from violence prevention,” he added.
Other elected officials in Illinois also expressed anger and alarm at the prospect of a Trump intervention in Chicago.
“After using Los Angeles and Washington, DC as his testing ground for authoritarian overreach, Trump is now openly flirting with the idea of taking over other states and cities,” Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on X.
“Trump’s goal is to incite fear in our communities and destabilize existing public safety efforts—all to create a justification to further abuse his power,” the governor continued. “He’s playing a game and creating a spectacle for the press to play along with.”
“We don’t play those games,” Pritzker added. “Our commitment to law and order is delivering results. Crime rates are improving. Homicides are down by more than 30% in Chicago in the last year alone. Our progress in lowering crime has been made possible with [community violence intervention] programs that they’re defunding.”
Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a Democrat running for US Senate, said that “if Trump wants to take his ego trip on tour, he picked the wrong city.”
“Chicago doesn’t bow down to kings or roll out the red carpet for dictators,” she added. “As a Black woman from the South Side, I can assure you… your political circus isn’t welcome here.”
Congresswoman Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) wrote on social media, “President Trump: You are not welcome in Chicago.”
“Sending the National Guard endangers Black communities already overpoliced and under-invested in,” she added. “If you cared about saving lives, you’d pass gun safety laws and fund community violence intervention.”
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Seven Days in D.C. (June 28 – July 4) Seven Days in D.C. About Schedule Support Donate Volunteer Merch Auction Washington, D.C. June 28 – July 4, 2026 View the ScheduleTicketsDonateVolunteer A Week of Democracy in Action From June 28 through July 4, organizers from across the country will gather... Continue reading →
Seven Days in D.C. (June 28 – July 4) Seven Days in D.C. About Schedule Support Donate Volunteer Merch Auction Washington, D.C. June 28 – July 4, 2026 View the ScheduleTicketsDonateVolunteer A Week of Democracy in Action From June 28 through July 4, organizers from across the country will gather... Continue reading →
Trump Regime Takedown: Every Saturday Saturday, March 7, 2026 12:00 PM 2:00 PM Tesla San Francisco999 Van Ness AvenueSan Francisco, CA, 94109United States (map) Google Calendar ICS Keep democracy alive every Saturday by showing up, taking a stand, and sticking together for the long haul. Standing together is better than standing alone. Let’s get together... Continue reading →
“San Francisco Mime Troupe” Live Summer Musical in the Park (2026) SFMT The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe returns for its 2026 season with free and lively performances in park settings around the Bay Area. San Francisco Mime Troupe | 2026 Free political theater & music in parks around the Bay Area Various dates:... Continue reading →
Seven Days in D.C. (June 28 – July 4) Seven Days in D.C. About Schedule Support Donate Volunteer Merch Auction Washington, D.C. June 28 – July 4, 2026 View the ScheduleTicketsDonateVolunteer A Week of Democracy in Action From June 28 through July 4, organizers from across the country will gather... Continue reading →
This Sunday’s Town Hall: Announcing This Week’s Progressive Town Hall: Every Sunday at 4pm ET/1pm PT RSVP HERE Join PDA activists online from across the country to discuss the importance of progressives reclaiming the American story from the MAGA right, an issue of heightened importance as we’re now within one... Continue reading →
“San Francisco Mime Troupe” Live Summer Musical in the Park (2026) SFMT The Tony Award-winning San Francisco Mime Troupe returns for its 2026 season with free and lively performances in park settings around the Bay Area. San Francisco Mime Troupe | 2026 Free political theater & music in parks around the Bay Area Various dates:... Continue reading →
We protest Heritage Foundation EVERY MONDAY (Join us!!!!) By admin | September 2, 2025 | Uncategorized Cliff Cash Comedy Premiered Jul 26, 2025 Every Monday at The Heritage Foundation 214 Massachusetts Ave. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza Every Friday at Fox News D.C. 400 N. Capitol St. Washington D.C. 4pm protest 6pm pizza We are... Continue reading →
One Million Rising: Strategic Non-Cooperation to Fight Authoritarianism Virtual Event · Hosted by No Kings Time Wednesdays 8 – 9:30pm EDT Location Virtual event Join from anywhere About this event Across the country, authoritarian forces are getting bolder and more dangerous. Trump and his allies are not hiding their agenda: mass deportations,... Continue reading →
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A kitchen in Plaza East Apartments on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Black mold covers a tenant’s bathroom at Plaza East on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Black mold on the door of a resident’s unit at Plaza East on July 29, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
Mayor Daniel Lurie crowds with staff, organizers, and residents, into the one working elevator in a building at Alice Griffith, a former public housing complex in Bayview. Photo by Marina Newman.
Sheetrock painted purple covers the window of a resident at La Salle Apartments in Bayview. Photo by Marina Newman.
Mayor Lurie, residents, and staff walk down “The Hill” on August 19, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
A plastic tarp covers where a ceiling has caved in over a tenant’s kitchen at Alice Griffith on August 19, 2025. Photo by Marina Newman.
