A key driver of Sen. Thom Tillis’ flip-flop on being the vote that could have stopped Pete Hegseth from becoming defense secretary appears to be the wave of death threats he received. The hate and vitriol was so extreme that even Fox News covered it, quoting his senior advisor saying, “the volume of threats and harassment directed at members of Congress and their staff is the new normal.”

Rep. Eric Swalwall explained what he was hearing from GOP colleagues behind-the-scenes: “I have a lot of friends who are Republicans. They are terrified of being the tallest poppy in the field, and it’s not as simple as being afraid of being primaried and losing their job. They know that that can happen. It’s more more personal. It’s their personal safety that they’re afraid of, and they have spouses and family members saying, ‘Do not do this, it’s not worth it, it will change our lives forever. We will have to hire around-the-clock security.’ Life can be very uncomfortable for your children.”

Writing in Vanity Fair, Gabe Sherman reported, “In private, Republicans talk about their fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit political violence against them if they don’t rubber-stamp his actions. ‘They’re scared shitless about death threats and Gestapo-like stuff,’ a former member of Trump’s first administration tells me.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski told voters in Alaska she was outright afraid to stand up to Trump: “We are all afraid, okay? I am oftentimes very anxious myself about using my voice because retaliation is real.”

At the same time, we’ve seen actual violence target Democratic politicians, like the arson of the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion. This past weekend masked white nationalist “Patriot Front” and “Proud Boy” groups showed up to intimidate and instill fear at multiple #NoKings protests, and in Northern Virginia, someone purposefully drove an SUV through a protest crowd, a tactic that has become a favorite of the far-right ever since the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” riot.

“Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein? This guy’s been talked about for years. You’re asking — we have Texas, we have this, we have all of the things. And are people still talking about this guy? This creep? That is unbelievable,” Trump said.
 
“I mean, I can’t believe you’re asking a question on Epstein at a time like this where we’re having some of the greatest success and also tragedy, with what happened in Texas,” Trump added. “It just seems like a desecration.”

This bill provides a whopping $170 billion to transform immigration enforcement and detention. This includes $45 billion for new detention jails. That’s 265% more than the current ICE detention budget and more than the budget of the federal prison system.

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/7 [...] nforcement

the cabinet meeting is now off the rails: "The only question is will I gold leaf the corners? My cabinet could take a vote. You see the top line mouldings."

Droits de douane : Donald Trump menace d’imposer une surtaxe de 200 % sur les produits pharmaceutiques et de 50 % sur le cuivre
 
Répondant à des questions de journalistes, le président républicain a ajouté qu’il attendrait au moins un an pour la mettre en place, pour laisser aux entreprises le temps de construire des usines sur le sol américain.

Tammy Bruce: "President Trump has not just the desire to ask for new ideas, he asks for them because he gets them. He knows new ideas are possible. His life is a new idea. The nature of what he's accomplished politically is a new idea."

Whole swaths of “normal” ICE applicants, the types of standard former local or state law enforcement officers who have made up the applicant pool, will surely think twice before applying to an agency that makes the NYPD or the Ferguson PD look like “Officer Friendly.” Instead, the types of people who will be attracted to a job in the wake of Kristi Noem’s special-forces cosplay, the eye-popping photo ops at El Salvador’s CECOT torture gulag and the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp are exactly the people who we shouldn’t imbue with federal law enforcement powers — you’re going to tell a tidal wave of applicants who are specifically attracted by the rough-em-up, masked secret police tactics, no-holds-barred lawlessness that ICE has pursued since January. If you’re excited to dress up like you’re taking Fallujah for a raid of hard-working roofers in the Home Depot parking lot, working ICE or CBP shouldn’t be for you.  

Put all of the above together, and I fear that Congress just passed legislation hastening our transformation toward a federal police state unlike anything we’ve ever seen in our history.  

Bill would force ICE agents to ID themselves, ban most masks
 
Federal immigration agents would be banned from wearing most face coverings but be required to wear visible ID during public enforcement operations, according to a proposal from Democratic U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla (D-CA) and Cory Booker (D-NJ).
 
Why it matters: The long-shot proposal comes following images of masked, heavily armed immigration agents snatching people off the streets and taking them away in unmarked cars have shocked many Americans.
 
Driving the news: Under the proposed bill unveiled Tuesday, Homeland Security agents from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would be required to display a legible ID that includes the agency name or acronym.
 
They'd also have to include information on their names or badge numbers.
This requirement would extend to federal agents detailed to immigration operations, and deputized state or local officers.
 
(...)
 
Padilla said the VISIBLE Act would "restore transparency and ensure impersonators can't exploit the panic" during raids.
"The masked bandit is a symbol of fear, and having government agents dressed like paramilitaries is un-American," Scott Shuchart, a former ICE and DHS (Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties) official who supports the measure, said.
 
(...)
 
The pressure to rein in some of ICE's enforcement tactics does have support among some conservatives worried about over policing.
 
However, it's unclear whether such a proposal would garner any support from Republicans concerned about upsetting President Trump.

Brooke Rollins on farm laborers: "There will be no amnesty. The mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way. And we move the workforce toward automation and 100% American participation, which with 34 million able-bodied on Medicaid we should be able to do fairly quickly."