Latest / 5 minute updates on the latest Trump actions by Prof Christina Pagel / Attacks on political enemies & civil rights - under the radar actions over Christmas period
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: So welcome to 2026.
- 0:03SPEAKER_00: Yesterday the US attacked Venezuela and took custody of its
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: president Maduro and his wife.
- 0:09SPEAKER_00: The situation is still very live,
- 0:12SPEAKER_00: but two things can be simultaneously true.
- 0:15SPEAKER_00: One, that Maduro was an autocratic ruler who oppressed his people.
- 0:19SPEAKER_00: And second, that the US acted outside of international law
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: and without congressional authority to basically affect regime change.
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: Now, to my mind,
- 0:28SPEAKER_00: there's no doubt that
- 0:29SPEAKER_00: this is a dangerous escalation and how America under Trump
- 0:32SPEAKER_00: is projecting its power across the world.
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: But that's not what I'm going to talk about today.
- 0:36SPEAKER_00: So instead, what I want to use this video for
- 0:39SPEAKER_00: is just to highlight stories that you might have missed
- 0:41SPEAKER_00: over the Christmas period, to show how Trump is continuing to attack
- 0:45SPEAKER_00: his perceived enemies and also undermine civil rights.
- 0:48SPEAKER_00: So moving on to attacking enemies.
- 0:51SPEAKER_00: Trump and his administration is continuing
- 0:53SPEAKER_00: to go after anyone who gets in their way, however, that happens to be.
- 0:56SPEAKER_00: So, for instance, they fired US Army lawyer Christopher Day,
- 1:00SPEAKER_00: because they considered that he was granting asylum to too many people
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: and thus defying Trump administration priority
- 1:07SPEAKER_00: to reduce immigration and in fact, to deport people.
- 1:10SPEAKER_00: And then they are Letitia James and James Comey.
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: So Letitia James, the New York attorney general
- 1:16SPEAKER_00: who prosecuted Trump in New York a few years ago
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: and James Comey was leading the FBI during its investigation
- 1:22SPEAKER_00: into Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
- 1:25SPEAKER_00: And a few months ago, at the urging of Trump,
- 1:28SPEAKER_00: the Department of Justice prosecuted both Letitia
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: James and James Comey on pretty spurious charges.
- 1:35SPEAKER_00: And then recently, both cases were just thrown out by the judge.
- 1:39SPEAKER_00: And then in December, shortly before Christmas, the Department of Justice
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: basically doubled down and said that it was going
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: to appeal those dismissals.
- 1:46SPEAKER_00: and this is after they had previously tried
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: and failed to add a third felony charge against Letitia James.
- 1:51SPEAKER_00: And then a few days later, so just after Christmas, Trump
- 1:53SPEAKER_00: then again threatened the, Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell,
- 1:57SPEAKER_00: And basically threatened to have him sued for gross incompetence over
- 2:02SPEAKER_00: renovations to the central bank's
- 2:03SPEAKER_00: headquarters, which is a theme, again, that
- 2:05SPEAKER_00: he's returned to over and over again this year.
- 2:07SPEAKER_00: so the media also got attacked, say, Trump in a midnight social media
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: rant called the New York Times the true enemy of the people and said
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: that they were a security threat that must be stopped.
- 2:18SPEAKER_00: A day later, Trump moved on to the broadcast media
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: and attacked CBS, and its liberal chat show host Stephen Colbert.
- 2:25SPEAKER_00: So Trump wrote on social media that CBS should put Colbert to sleep,
- 2:29SPEAKER_00: called him a pathetic trainwreck,
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: and then went on to attack ABC and NBC as well,
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: and threatened their broadcast licenses
- 2:36SPEAKER_00: if they negatively covered the president.
- 2:38SPEAKER_00: Finally his favorite target is Democrats.
- 2:41SPEAKER_00: on Christmas Day Trump did a Christmas message.
- 2:44SPEAKER_00: And in that Christmas message he labeled Democrats as radical left
- 2:47SPEAKER_00: scum.
- 2:48SPEAKER_00: A day later, Trump called for the release of all Epstein materials
- 2:53SPEAKER_00: that name Democrats.
- 2:54SPEAKER_00: So he wrote on social media that it was Democrats who'd worked
- 2:57SPEAKER_00: with Jeffrey Epstein
- 2:59SPEAKER_00: and then demanded that the Department of Justice release
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: all of their names, embarrass them, and get back to helping our country.
- 3:06SPEAKER_00: And a day after that, on social media,
- 3:08SPEAKER_00: he falsely accused Democrats of wanting
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: to take away our fossil fuels so millions would freeze and starve
- 3:14SPEAKER_00: and also called people who vote for Democrats dumb and suicidal.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: So I'm just going to end on civil rights.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: And here are basically four ways that the US administration
- 3:23SPEAKER_00: has undermined civil rights over the last couple of weeks
- 3:26SPEAKER_00: that go from human
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: trafficking to free speech to healthcare to labor laws.
- 3:31SPEAKER_00: So firstly, US Department of Justice has halted
- 3:34SPEAKER_00: funding for human trafficking survivors.
- 3:37SPEAKER_00: So since October, more than 100 organizations
- 3:40SPEAKER_00: that support victims of human trafficking have lost their funding.
- 3:44SPEAKER_00: And that's to the tune of almost $90 million.
- 3:47SPEAKER_00: And what's really important about this is not just the fact
- 3:50SPEAKER_00: that you now have victims without support,
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: but then that $90 million was appropriated by Congress
- 3:55SPEAKER_00: to support victims.
- 3:56SPEAKER_00: And so it's not money
- 3:57SPEAKER_00: that the president really has the power to end.
- 4:00SPEAKER_00: And then we have the Department of Homeland Security,
- 4:02SPEAKER_00: which is saying that recording or following law enforcement
- 4:06SPEAKER_00: sure sounds like an obstruction of justice.
- 4:08SPEAKER_00: And they specifically cited people recording immigration raids by Ice
- 4:12SPEAKER_00: as an example.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: And the reason that is really worrying
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: is that over the years, federal circuit courts have repeatedly ruled
- 4:19SPEAKER_00: that recording or following law enforcement
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: is protected under the Constitution.
- 4:23SPEAKER_00: It is a core First Amendment freedom of speech right.
- 4:27SPEAKER_00: So moving on to health, the US Department of Veterans Affairs
- 4:31SPEAKER_00: or the VA provide health
- 4:33SPEAKER_00: care for anyone who served in the military in the US.
- 4:36SPEAKER_00: And then just before Christmas, the Department of Justice basically
- 4:39SPEAKER_00: banned the VA from providing abortions for veterans.
- 4:43SPEAKER_00: And that includes cases of rape or incest.
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: So that is a significant setback for for women's health.
- 4:50SPEAKER_00: And then finally,
- 4:52SPEAKER_00: the Department of Justice has launched investigations
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: into the use of diversity initiatives
- 4:57SPEAKER_00: in the hiring and promotion of major U.S.
- 4:59companies,
- 5:00SPEAKER_00: which includes companies like Google and Verizon, the phone operator.
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: And they did this by using a really novel interpretation of fraud law.
- 5:08SPEAKER_00: And it's just another way in which the administration is trying
- 5:11SPEAKER_00: to, affect how private companies go about their business
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: in a way that promotes its anti diversity agenda.
- 5:19SPEAKER_00: I'll be back next week with more under the radar actions
- 5:21SPEAKER_00: from this administration.
- 5:23SPEAKER_00: And in the meantime, if you enjoyed this video
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: or you're interested in the next one, then please, you know,
- 5:28SPEAKER_00: like or comment or subscribe to the channel.
- 5:31SPEAKER_00: So hopefully see you next week.