With just a few days to go before the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the world’s largest sporting event faces the question of what role U.S. immigration authorities will play. Now, a new poll by The Washington Post and the University of Maryland has found that most Americans would prefer they play no role at all.
© David Dee Delgado (REUTERS)
When she first saw the news on Facebook, she thought it had to be one of those hoaxes that circulate on social media. It was too implausible, an absurdity. But shortly afterward the principal of the school where she works forwarded to the teachers’ group chat a message that opened with the classic tone of a war dispatch: Information from the Revolutionary Government. Then she had no doubts. The information was real. The CIA director had just met in Havana with the senior leadership of the Cuban security and intelligence apparatus.
Confusion, uncertainty and panic. That is the consequence of the latest move by the Donald Trump administration to push migrants out of the country. On May 22, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued a memorandum requiring applicants for lawful permanent residence — the so‑called green card — to complete the process from outside the United States, which would force hundreds of thousands of people to leave the country. The announcement landed like a bombshell among immigration lawyers and their clients, who, disoriented by the lack of information, do not know whether they face detention if they carry on with the process known as “adjustment of status,” which for decades has granted permanent residency to more than half a million people a year without requiring them to leave the country.
© Kurgenc (Getty Images)
This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.
Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is fueling a new voter fraud conspiracy.
What’s happening? California held its primaries last week, and a week later, votes are still being counted in some of the biggest races, including for governor. That’s pretty normal; California always counts slowly, thanks to an exceptionally voter-friendly system and a heavy reliance on vote-by-mail.
Trump, however, has seized on the slow count — and the loss of Republican candidates like Spencer Pratt, who was vying to advance to the general election in the Los Angeles mayoral race — as evidence of something nefarious. “Not possible for Spencer Pratt to have lost the L.A. runoffs after the big lead he had. 3rd World Nation. Rigged Elections,” he posted on Monday.
Other Republicans, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Ted Cruz, have also leaned into the conspiracy.
What’s the context? Pratt, a former reality TV contestant who lost his house in the Palisades fire early last year, was initially in second place in the LA mayoral race as votes were being counted.
Over the week, however, Pratt gradually lost ground to LA City Council Member Nithya Raman, and on Monday evening, the AP called the race for the second spot in November’s general for Raman. (California uses a top-two jungle primary system, rather than partisan primaries. In heavily Democratic cities like Los Angeles, that means it’s possible to end up with two Democratic candidates and no Republicans in a general election.)
Why does this matter? For the time being, this is peanut-gallery stuff from Trump. He has no real power over California’s elections, which will play out — slowly — whatever he says (though a Trump-appointed assistant US attorney in California is soliciting “evidence” of voter fraud on conservative podcasts).
But renewed, more mainstream Republican enthusiasm for election conspiracies is a concerning preview for the midterms. The stakes will be far higher, and Trump’s rhetoric is already laying the groundwork for a more serious challenge.
Yesterday’s newsletter, about how Trump’s immigration policies are already impacting the World Cup, was a bit of a bummer. But the World Cup itself isn’t, as these videos of fans greeting the Egyptian and Algerian national teams in the US capture (from the excellent football publication Men in Blazers). I hope you enjoy them, too, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
President says Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores killed in ‘swift and lethal’ military strike with help from Venezuela
The US military has killed a leader in the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua, Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, with the help of Venezuela, Donald Trump announced on Friday.
“At my direction, the United States Southern Command delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua, one of the most bloodthirsty Terrorist Organizations on Planet Earth,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
© Photograph: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
© Photograph: @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
A window for peace between the United States and Iran has opened. Nearly three months after the attack that killed the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic, Ali Khamenei, and set off a campaign that has produced uncertain results, Washington is confident it will be able to announce soon an agreement with Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Since the start of the war, this has been one of the thorniest issues. The waterway has become a choke point threatening to suffocate the global economy. Iran, fully aware of the leverage it holds, has used it to its advantage.
© Kylie Cooper (REUTERS)
This week on rabble radio, Thomas Ponniah joins rabble editor Nick Seebruch to talk about the heavy influence of the U.S. on the world stage. They break down why massive military power hasn’t led to a better quality of life in the States and how a better future is possible.
Thomas Ponniah is a co-writer of Unholy Trinity: the IMF, World Bank, and WTO, co-editor of Another World is Possible: World Social Forum proposals for an Alternative Globalization, co-editor of The Revolution in Venezuela: Social and Political Change Under Chávez, and is a contributor to rabble.ca.
If you like the show please consider subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and now: subscribe to rabble on Patreon to hear exclusive bonus episodes of rabble radio.
The post The power and paradox of American hegemony appeared first on rabble.ca.
This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.
Welcome to The Logoff: Last week, we wrote about President Donald Trump’s plan to create a nearly $2 billion slush fund using taxpayer money. Today, he made it happen.
What’s the latest? On Monday, the Justice Department announced a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” as part of a settlement with Trump, who previously sued the IRS for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns.
The fund is intended to compensate “victims of lawfare and weaponization,” a group that could include people prosecuted in connection with the January 6 Capitol riot.
According to the DOJ, “the Fund will consist of five members appointed by” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is also Trump’s former personal lawyer. Trump will be able to dismiss any of those five members at will.
What else did the government agree to? The DOJ said in a press release that, in addition to ending his IRS suit, Trump would drop two administrative claims demanding $230 million from the government over the 2016 investigation into his presidential campaign and the later FBI raid of his Mar-a-Lago property.
What else Trump gets out of the agreement is unclear, but there’s almost certainly more — the DOJ website stresses that the new “Fund” is only “a part of the settlement agreement.”
What’s the context? Trump and his allies have already profited massively off his second term, but his administration’s corruption is reaching new heights. Another example from this week: his very active interest in stock trading.
What’s the big picture? As Tad DeHaven wrote for Vox earlier this year, Trump has long pushed “to create discretionary pools of money and leverage points of control that can be used to reward, punish, and command, all while trying to dodge legal and constitutional constraints.”
This fund is an expression of that impulse: a vast trove of taxpayer money he can dole out to allies as he sees fit, overseen by an (acting) attorney general personally loyal to him.
One of the goals of this newsletter is to be respectful of your time and brain space when it feels like there’s too much news to keep track of. Hopefully we’re succeeding at that — but if you still feel like there aren’t enough hours in a day, you can turn to my colleague Bryan Walsh, who wrote about how to excavate free time you might not even realize you had. (As always, it’s a gift link.)
Have a good evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
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