Another Escalation in Trump’s War on Blue States

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Another Escalation in Trump’s War on Blue States

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Trump II’s North Star

The Trump administration is using the president’s cruel visions of mass deportations as a way to also repress residents of America’s blue cities who did not vote for him. It’s a pattern we’ve seen play out almost daily, whether through selective National Guard occupations or ICE raids, since the start of his second term.

But administration officials have also increasingly found more mundane and creative ways to make retaliation against Democrats the primary goal of Trump’s second term.

His Office of Budget and Management director, Russ Vought, took advantage of last year’s historically lengthy government shutdown — during which Democrats withheld their votes to fund the government to demand Republicans help find a solution for Obamacare subsidies that at the time were set to expire (they have since expired) — to freeze billions in federal funding for key infrastructure projects in New York and clean energy funds for 16 others Democratic-led states (a federal judge just ordered clean energy money reinstated this month).

More recently, the crusade of retaliation against civilians and elected officials who dare to oppose his presidency has become even more experimental and disjointed. Earlier this year, Trump administration officials took advantage of legitimate, ongoing investigations into social services fraud in Minnesota to justify deploying thousands of ICE agents there, terrorizing immigrant families and confronting protesters, while claiming to crack down on violent criminals and undocumented scammers. Trump officials are currently creating a new executive fraud enforcement agency, to be run from the White House, that is expected to investigate alleged fraud in blue states’ use of federal funds.

Earlier this month, Trump said in a speech that all states with safe haven policies or jurisdictions — communities that provide safe spaces and resources to undocumented immigrants who find their way through the immigration legal system — will lose federal funding. The Department of Health and Human Services also announced this month that it was freezing $10 billion in human services funding for five blue states, also under the guise of rooting out alleged fraud. (After the states sued, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, which allowed the states to continue receiving funds, for now.)

Things got even worse on Thursday. RealClearPolitics and CNN were first to report that Trump’s Office of Management and Budget has ordered all federal departments and agencies except the Department of Defense and the VA to review federal funding for 13 blue states and Washington, DC. The states include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and then also DC.

By CNN:

The memo from the Office of Management and Budget, which was reviewed by CNN, requests detailed information on spending to “facilitate efforts to reduce the inappropriate and fraudulent use of these funds.” Notably, this effort “does not involve the withholding of funds,” the memo states, and is “part of a “data collection exercise.”

…

The memo directs agencies to include in their spending reports all grants, loans, contracts, subcontracts and “other monetary awards” awarded to 13 states and Washington, DC. Every state voted for Democratic candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, and 12 of the 13 states have Democratic governors. A fourteenth Democratic-led state has since been included in the review, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Repressing dissent remains Trump II’s raison d’être.

—Nicole LaFond

Jack Smith expects to be charged

In his first public defense in the Jan. 6 lawsuit against President Trump, former special counsel Jack Smith said he believed he would eventually face the same treatment as Trump’s other political foes. When asked during a congressional hearing if he thought Trump’s DOJ would “find a way” to charge him, he said yes.

“I believe they will do everything in their power to achieve this because the president has ordered them to do so,” Smith said.

“I think these statements are intended to intimidate me,” he continued, referring to Trump’s attacks on social media. “I will not be intimidated. I think these statements are also made to warn others: what will happen if they stand up.”

“We followed the facts and the law and this process resulted in it being proven beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed serious crimes,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend this didn’t happen because he’s threatening me.”

—Nicole LaFond

Maryland could be closer to redistricting

In what could soon be another blow to the Trump administration’s nationwide pressure campaign to help Republicans retain the House of Representatives, Maryland’s Redistricting Advisory Commission voted Tuesday in favor of a new congressional map. If approved, the new map would likely turn the state’s only Republican district into a Democratic-leaning district.

“As other states aggressively move to redraw the maps and the protection of fundamental voting rights faces new threats, Maryland has a responsibility to urgently take the lead,” U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), who chairs the committee, said in a statement.

“Our goal is to ensure that our Congressional delegation reflects the will of the people, protects the representation of historically underrepresented communities, and gives Marylanders a Congress that can serve as a true check on this president,” she added.

Democratic Gov. Wes Moore announced in November the creation of a five-person Governor’s Advisory Commission on Redistricting. The proposal will now go to the Democratic-controlled state legislature for a vote.

The initiative, like Democratic-led redistricting efforts in Virginia and California, was launched as a way to offset the damage caused by Trump’s months-long gerrymandering blitz in red states across the country.

The fate of Maryland’s proposal remains uncertain as the initiative continues to face opposition in the state Senate, although Democrats hold the majority. In an October letter, first reported by Politico, Senate President Bill Ferguson acknowledged that “redistricting is at the heart of this fight because of the actions of President Trump,” but he said redistricting could also be “catastrophic” for the state.

“Despite deeply shared frustrations about the state of our country, mid-cycle redistricting for Maryland presents a reality in which the legal risks are too high, the timeline for action is dangerous, the downside risk for Democrats is catastrophic, and the certainty of our current map would be undermined,” he wrote.

—Khaya Himmelman