Trump Puts a Target on Soros and Hoffman - The Friday AM Quickie 9/26/25
Whitney and I both have new articles out elsewhere. She's in The American Prospect writing about how workers' advocates are standing up for ICE's victims, and I'm in The Nation writing about Nepal's social media-powered "Gen Z" revolution. Whitney's back Monday. Now I'm off. Enjoy the weekend! - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
Trump Orders Putin-Style Crackdown on Imaginary 'Terrorism' By Civil Society Groups
Donald Trump yesterday singled out billionaire Democratic donors George Soros and Reid Hoffman as targets of a federal investigation he has ordered into a vast, imaginary conspiracy to foment "left-wing terrorism" by civil society groups. "This is, without any exaggeration, exactly how [Aspiring Tsar Vladimir] Putin and [Hungarian autocrat Viktor] Orbán proceeded — using antisemitism to discredit the idea of civil society and political opposition, and as an excuse to undo the rule of law," historian Timothy Snyder writes.
Soros, founder of the Open Society Foundations and a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, is such a frequent target of antisemitic attacks that they often use his name as a stand-in for their racist conspiracy theories. Hoffman, a venture capitalist and co-founder of LinkedIn, calls himself a "mystical atheist," which probably doesn't sound any better to the sort of bigots pandered to by Trump. Both men have been staunchly critical of Trump's authoritarianism and donated to Democratic candidates and causes. Trump seems to think they're responsible for protests in cities like Portland, Oregon, during his first term, and possibly even the killing of his youth movement leader Charlie Kirk or the assassination attempts on himself. There's no evidence, because Trump's ravings are lies simply put.
"These are anarchists and agitators, professional anarchists and agitators, and they get hired by wealthy people, some of whom I know, I guess, probably know," Trump told reporters, echoing decades-old far-right conspiracy theories. "You wouldn’t know at dinner with them. Everything's nice, and then you find out that they funded millions of dollars to these lunatics. ... They're bad, and we're going to find out if they are funding these things." Neither billionaire capitalist named by Trump is an anarchist, obviously – and, what's more, being an anarchist or an "agitator" is perfectly legal.
OSF says the regime's action is "meant to silence speech the administration disagrees with and undermine the first amendment right to free speech," adding that "our activities are peaceful and lawful." It's painful that this need be said.
Meanwhile in Arizona, Republican state Rep. John Gillette called for the hanging of Democratic US Rep. Pramila Jayapal, falsely accusing her of "advocat[ing] for the overthrow of the American government." His evidence was that the former Progressive Caucus chair had encouraged people to exercise their First Amendment right to protest.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
'We Will Not Live on Our Knees, and You Shouldn't Either': Comey Defiant in the Face of Indictment
As expected, Donald Trump's handpicked lackey federal prosecutor in Virginia yesterday criminally indicted former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump never forgave for investigating his ties to Russia. The two felony charges are for obstruction and making a supposedly false statement to Congress about authorizing leaks to the press; the grand jury declined to indict Comey on a third count. "My family and I have known for years that there are costs to standing up to Donald Trump, but we couldn't imagine ourselves living any other way. We will not live on our knees, and you shouldn't either," Comey said in a video posted online last night. "My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal judicial system, and I'm innocent, so, let's have a trial, and keep the faith."
Former DOJ official turned law professor Alan Rozenshtein tells the New York Times that the charges highlight "the almost wholesale collapse of the Justice Department as an organization based on the rule of law." Trump is thrilled. Comey's case will go before a Biden-appointed federal judge, Michael Nachmanoff, per Politico.
US Military Brass on Edge After Hegseth Calls Unprecedented All-Hands Meeting
The Washington Post reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "has ordered hundreds of the US military's generals and admirals to gather on short notice — and without a stated reason — at a Marine Corps base in Virginia next week, sowing confusion and alarm." It's not clear whether Trump will attend, or if he even knows what's going on, and since the story broke, regime officials have sought to portray the highly unusual and disruptive meeting as no big deal. Not even brass in conflict zones will be exempt from attending. Military leaders are anxious and say the unprecedented meeting poses security risks. Is Hegseth hosting a cocktail hour? Announcing a new anti-woke loyalty oath? Sounding the alarm for an alien invasion? With luck it'll be something harmless and stupid and nothing to do with the the mystery drones harassing Europe, the Russian fighter jets skirting the edge of Alaskan airspace, or the Kremlin's pronouncement that NATO has "already declared a real war" on Russia.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Big New Trump Tariffs Hit Freight Trucks, Home Furniture, and Pharmaceuticals "Pascal Chan, vice president for strategic policy and supply chains at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, warned that the tariffs could harm Americans' health with 'immediate price hikes, strained insurance systems, hospital shortages, and the real risk of patients rationing or foregoing essential medicines.'" via the New York Times and the Associated Press.
- With Shutdown Threat and Looming Primaries, Pressure Grows on Conflict-Shy Congressional Democratic Leaders "Across the country, Democratic Senate candidates from Texas to Maine have distanced themselves from [Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer, 74, amid a growing appetite in a rebuilding party for newer, younger leaders eager to wage more aggressive fights against President Donald Trump and other Republicans." via the Washington Post, NBC News, and the AP.
- Mass Starbucks Closures Hit Unionized Stores "Starbucks is talking a big game about cost cutting, but at the same time paid [CEO] Brian Niccol $98 million last year and spent over $80 million on a glitzy managers-only conference in Las Vegas this June," Starbucks Workers United says. "It has never been more clear why baristas at Starbucks need the backing of a union." via the AP, Reuters, and In These Times.
- Following Press Investigations and BDS Boycott, Microsoft Blocks Israel from Using Its Tech to Surveil Palestinians Meanwhile, Italy and Spain have dispatched navy ships to defend the Gaza aid flotilla, which has come under nightly drone attacks. via the Guardian, the AP, and the Washington Post.
SOME NUMBER
$20 billion
That's the size of the lifeline bailout the US Treasury Department is preparing for Donald Trump's AnCap Argentinian ally, Javier Milei, whose extreme libertarian free-market experiment has failed spectacularly. Politico reports that the Milei bailout has infuriated some Republicans with farmers in their district, since Argentina's soybean farmers have replaced American exports to China as a consequence of Trump's trade war. Democrats are making noise, too. "At a time when Americans are struggling to afford groceries, rent, credit card bills, and other debt payments," Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren says, "it is deeply troubling that the president intends to use significant emergency funds to inflate the value of a foreign government's currency and bolster its financial markets."
ON THE SHOW TODAY
9/26: Happy Friday! Sam and Emma will be in studio. The guests will be Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation and host of its podcast, The Time of Monsters; and RM Brown, YouTuber known for mocking right-wing podcasters.
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Adam Friedland Masterfully Trolls Piers Morgan's Show
Tim Pool looks even more confused than usual.
Why Was This Republican Scandal Ignored By the Media?
Ryan Walters is on to bigger and worse things.
PARTING WORDS
"I don't want the first time that a soldier or Marine thinks about how they're going to respond to an unlawful order to be when it's getting shouted at them in Baltimore or Memphis or wherever. People need to start thinking about that now."
-- Former US Army Maj. Harrison Mann, now an associate director for Win Without War, speaking to Task & Purpose about a billboard campaign outside military bases the group is co-sponsoring with About Face: Veterans Against the War to educate servicemembers about their rights and obligation to disobey unlawful orders. The billboards feature a website with encrypted messaging links to resources and questions like, "Did you go to Airborne [school] just to pull security for ICE?"
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