No more Noem: On Thursday, former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem became the first Cabinet member of Trump’s second term to lose her job. But there is little to praise about her tenure, argues Hayes Brown. In her year in office, she was the figurehead for Trump’s sweeping deportations, which have trampled on the rights of due process and protection from unlawful search and seizure. She oversaw a massive influx of federal funding even as she micromanaged individual payments. And she focused obsessively on style over substance, signing off on a farcical English-language ad campaign encouraging self-deportation. Read more.
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One word: Democrats are attempting to thread a difficult needle with their comments on the attack on Iran, as many in Congress support the goal of disrupting the Iranian regime. The key to their approach has been a simple conjunction: “but.” In comments over the last week, a number of Democrats, and even some wary Republicans, have said they support the mission but not how it’s being done, writes Ali Vitali. In particular, some objected to the fact that Congress has a constitutional role in declaring war — a view that was echoed by 69% of Americans in a recent poll. Still, even those who have so far given Trump free rein have noted that they may change their mind. Read more.
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God talk: State Rep. James Talarico’s victory in the Texas Democratic primary has set up yet another closely watched Senate race. But what sets this one apart is his “unapologetic embrace of his Christian faith,” argues Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, vice president of programs and strategy at Interfaith Alliance. After decades of Democrats ceding religious language to the right, Talarico has shown how “God talk” can give voice to progressive ideas on the left. If elected, he would join the divinity school of graduates-turned-senators, Rev. Raphael Warnock and Chris Coons, both of whom have urged Democrats to engage with religion more seriously. Read more.
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Vaccine acceptance: As an outbreak of measles spreads across the country, some people have been tempted to criticize the parents of unvaccinated children who have died. But that may make it harder to do the actual work of persuading more Americans to get vaccinated, argues Karen Ernst, director of Voices of Vaccines. After years of working with “formerly hesitant families,” she said she’s seen that empathy and listening without judgement have helped people change their minds. “Ultimately, people can help their family and friends overcome vaccine fears when they listen fully to them,” she argues. Read more.
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Coaching session: The Trump administration has long sought to use sports figures to spread its message. So it was notable this week when NBA coaches Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers, alongside dozens of other current and former coaches and athletic officials, issued a joint statement condemning political interference with college campuses, writes Ja’han Jones. With the Trump administration undermining academic freedom by targeting students and professors and threatening school funding, the “Coaches for Campus Freedom” statement argues that the attacks are “dividing our campuses” and making it “hard to maintain the ‘one team’ spirit we instill in the locker room.” Read more.
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When Western countries seek to justify military intervention in Muslim-majority countries, they tend to rely on a narrative of saving Muslim women, argues culture writer Noor Noman. But these stereotypes of “the victimized and passive Muslim woman” who must be saved from Muslim men have long been used to defend acts of war that end up hurting the women in these countries — and “Iran is no exception.” That was most clear over the last week, when a missile strike reportedly killed an estimated 175 and left dozens more injured at a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran. “As the fatalities from the strike on the girls’ elementary school remind us, women and girls are often among the first to bear the burden of violence and political upheaval,” she writes. Read more.
— Ryan Teague Beckwith, newsletter editor |
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