Day: May 26, 2026

Briefings

Background Briefing: May 26, 2026

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Another US Senator Assaulted by Trump and Stephen Miller’s ICE and DHS Thugs

We begin with another US Senator being assaulted by ICE and DHS thugs, this time New Jersey Senator Andy Kim who was pepper sprayed on Monday after visiting a detention facility with New Jersey’s governor. They were responding to inmates’ protests against lack of medical care and inedible food but clearly ICE and Stephen Miller, who is pulling the strings, wants to signal that Trump’s private army which has murdered US citizens in the street is above the law and critics in congress are roadkill. Joining us is Katherine Hawkins, a Senior Legal Analyst at the Project on Government Oversight focusing on accountability for ICE and Customs and Border Protection and other law enforcement agencies in border communities, as well as additional immigration, law enforcement accountability, national security, and human rights issues. She is one of the leading experts on the United States government’s use of torture after September 11 and was previously a policy counsel and investigator for The Constitution Project and a national security fellow for Open the Government.

 

The California Crackup That Could Have Republican Reality TV Gadflys Elected in the Bluest State

Then we examine the California crack-up as both the governor’s race and the race for Mayor of Los Angeles could end up with Republican Fox News and Reality TV political gadflys coming out on top in the bluest state in the union. Joining us is Harold Meyerson, one of the nation’s best-known progressive columnists and editor-at-large of The American Prospect. He’s also been a Washington Post columnist and executive editor of LA Weekly, and we discuss his article at The American Prospect “Tom Steyer’s Problem.”

 

The Rise of Progressive Populism in the Heartland as the Con of Trump’s Authoritarian Populism Sinks In

Then finally we assess the rise of progressive populism in the heartland as Trump’s authoritarian populism is wearing thin on the voters who were conned into voting for a champion of the plutocrats not the workers and farmers and speak with Cory Haala, an assistant professor of history and the Museum Studies Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin. He is the author of the new book, When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992.