February 20 Friday roundup

In this week’s podcast episode, I talk about how sometimes focusing on reforms ends up fixing abusive policies just enough to get them to pass legal muster, and why it’s critical to look our crisis of democracy in the eye at this moment. You can watch the episode on YouTube or listen to it on Apple, Spotify, and elsewhere. If you’d like to check out the linked material or the written post from Tuesday, you can read it here. 

Several new developments underway in the U.S. in terms of detention policies have kept me busy this week, hence this post’s arrival just before midnight tonight. I wound up speaking with a number of journalists and podcasters recently about our expanding camp system, and you can check them out if you’re interested in hearing more on this topic.

Dahlia Lithwick interviewed me for Amicus podcast on Slate about “The Concentration Camp Next Door.” Michelangelo Signorile invited me onto his show on Sirius XM just yesterday. On Monday, Scott Harris and I talked about the rising resistance to U.S. immigrant detention for “Between the Lines” radio show. Dean Obeidallah interviewed me about what the numbers of people that Trump has threatened to detain mean going forward. Before that, I spoke with Kelly Hayes for “Movement Memos” on Truthout about why we should understand the Trump administration as a concentration camp regime, and what it means to fight back.

Someone also asked me on social media this week whether half of Americans are MAGA and the other half too busy feeling exceptional to actually do anything about Trump. I wasn’t about to reply, because it wasn’t a real question, and so there was no real answer to give.

And it’s true that the government is scrambling to harm people in almost every way it can, from more than half a million deaths estimated worldwide during Trump’s second administration from USAID cuts (with millions more expected), to tariffs that cost American households an average of $1000 each in 2025.

But I’ve nevertheless been amazed by how much everyone is doing on the ground, the ways that people are building networks to help their neighbors and even strangers in many cases. Judges are pushing back, even in red states (I see you in West Virginia, Judge Joseph Goodwin). Lawyers that are working to protect their clients from abuse. Locals have tried and in several cases succeeded in keeping detention facilities out of their towns—it is all so extraordinary to witness.

We know from Erica Chenoweth’s work that four times as many protests have happened—more than 40,000 in all—around the country since Trump returned to office, compared to the same period in his first administration. It’s a gift to know so many people are doing so much to educate themselves and others while organizing their communities, standing up for a better country than the one that is currently being inflicted on us.

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