In August 2025, the Department of Homeland Security wrapped a seismic shift in bureaucratic language, redefining international students not as scholars but as potential threats. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin declared that such students had been “remaining virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging U.S. citizens.” The agency vowed to “end that abuse […]
Gerrymandering Arms Race: No Winners
On Friday, September 12, President Trump praised Missouri State Republicans via Truth Social for sending “A new, much fairer, and much improved, Congressional Map” to Gov. Mike Kehoe. Exactly two weeks earlier, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared in a video that he was signing the “One Big Beautiful Map” into law to make Texas “more […]
We’ve Been Here Before
The shocking assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk on September 10 during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University continues to send shockwaves throughout the United States, and is shaping up to be one of the most culturally significant acts of political violence in modern American history. Regardless of whether one agrees with Kirk’s […]
Ambush, then Retreat
“We’re all going to die,” said Iowa senator Joni Ernst in a town hall meeting, vehemently defending Medicaid cuts made in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill.’ After backlash ensued, Ernst followed the statement up with a video set in a graveyard stating, “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that, yes, we […]
Quantifying Fear: The Manipulation of Political Statistics
Following brutal conflicts of the 17th Century, European rulers began governing based on demographic trends, enabled by the birth of modern statistics. As The Guardian aptly captures its importance, “Statistics would do for populations what cartography did for territory.” Over three centuries later, their role in our institutions remains crucial. They are used to describe […]
When Words Kill: The Rise in Political Violence
On September 10th, 2025, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot fatally during an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. Tyler Robinson, the suspected shooter, was arrested two days later. Just three months prior, on June 14, 2025, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman was assassinated in a shooting at her home alongside her husband. […]
The Importance of Faith-Based Resistance in Trump’s America
In a recent Interfaith Fellows meeting, we discussed in pairs what had compelled us toward our present spiritual outlook and practice (or lack thereof). What guided me towards deepening my relationship with God and establishing a more formal relationship with faith was my desire for comfort during a challenging moment in my personal life. My […]
The Miracles That Make Us America
I believe in personal myths, not the tales repeated during bedtime routines, but the kind that remind you of the improbability of existence, that make you see your own life as a sequence of miracles. If you trace backward, every small event, every misstep or lucky chance, stacks together, a chain of moments that somehow […]
Soundbite Populism
Populism as defined by Merriam Webster is “a political philosophy or movement that represents or is claimed to represent the interests of ordinary people especially against the establishment.” This very approach has been gaining momentum in America as of late, and for evidence, one need look no further than President Trump and New York City’s […]
In Defense of the “Hated Eight”
On Sunday, November 9, eight Senate Democrats broke party ranks and made arguably the shrewdest political move since the beginning of the second Trump administration. Yet, the Democratic Party is treating them like pariahs. They invoked cloture on a continuing resolution that would move the country one step closer to ending the longest government shutdown […]