With Airports in Crisis, Trump Sends in the Goons
Hello, it’s the weekend. It’s The Weekender ☕️
What better way to assuage the barely simmering rage of Americans suffering from endless airport security lines than by calling on agents from an agency most of them don’t like?
As would-be travelers tap their phones for three, four, five hours — in lines that stretch to parking lots — ICE agents now move around, dodging cameras and generally ratcheting up the tension in a barely contained environment. In San Francisco, ICE agents arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her nine-year-old daughter in the middle of the airport.
This is a masterstroke by President Trump since the prolonged closure of the Department of Homeland Security left TSA agents unpaid for more than a month. He wrote candidly this week on Truth Social that their rollout is an effort to “[rehab] a false image given to them by radical left-wing democratic politicians.”
It’s quite a split screen, as ICE agents – currently paid – stand over the shoulders of TSA agents who aren’t. In recent days, ICE agents at some airports have begun scanning passengers’ ID cards, according to the New York Times.
This is a telling episode in the absence of a guiding MAGA ideology beyond general liberal ownership. Trump knows that parking lot queues and angry travelers are terrible images; instinctively, he opts for an easy decision that he thinks will upset the liberals and delight his base. He thus links a radioactive agency, the pride and standard-bearer of his administration, to the most catastrophic airport failure in recent memory.
Early Friday morning, Senate Republicans blinked, giving in to the Democratic demand to fund the TSA separately from the ongoing standoff with DHS. House Republicans revolted, proposing a continuing resolution to defund the entire department. Trump, who has so far failed to convince Democrats to back down from the shutdown, ordered the transfer of pre-existing funds to the TSA on Friday.
-Kate Riga
“No Kings”: an umbrella for resistance
Americans will gather today to protest President Trump – and all the horrors he has committed so far in his second term – in cities across the country, with more than 3,100 “No Kings” rallies planned in all 50 states. The protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, will serve as the flagship event in this series of “No Kings” protests, led by Indivisible. Organizers chose Minnesota because the state was the target of “some of the most horrific, sadistic behavior you can imagine” so far this year, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told the AP.
Today’s event in St. Paul will include a performance by Bruce Springsteen. More than 100,000 people are expected, including Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
“We will never forget what happened here and we are taking action against it,” Walz said of his participation in the national protest during an interview with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes.
“I am grateful to people across the country, but [there’s] an understanding that I think Minneapolis and Minnesota have provided the model here to push this guy back, and that there’s work to be done,” he continued.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. This will be the third nationwide “No Kings” protest since Trump returned to office.
The movement has resonated with millions of Americans and appears to serve as a catch-all for Trump’s broader resistance. If protesters show up to march against Trump’s murderous immigration measures; his militarization of the Ministry of Justice; its reprisals against political opponents; the devastating Republican cuts to Medicaid and health care; the skyrocketing cost of living crisis in our country under Trump’s leadership; the administration’s targeting of left-wing ideology as terrorism; his attacks on the right to vote; or his anarchic war in Iran – there is something for everyone.
Some five million Americans participated in the June 2025 “No Kings” rallies and another seven million marched in fall 2025. As gas prices skyrocket and Trump’s renegade Middle East operation continues, today’s protests are expected to be even larger.
—Nicole LaFond
Lindell presented legal documents on live television
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was presented with legal documents on live television during an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.
According to a report from The Hill, a woman approached Lindell while she was on the air and told him he had been served. As of Friday evening, it was unclear exactly what legal matter these documents were related to.
In response to the incident, Lindell, in an article on X on Thursday, described the various “attacks” on MyPillow and plugged his organization, the Lindell Offense Fund.
“They surrounded my car and took my phone,” he wrote. “Then came the subpoenas, bank withdrawals and attacks on MyPillow. We lost 90% of our business, I’m not backing down, because if we lose our election, we lose our country. Please help secure our election platforms and save our country!”
—Khaya Himmelman
Republicans Lose Big in Their Attempt to Gerrymander Utah for Trump
Yet another defeat for Trump’s nationwide pressure campaign ahead of the midterm elections: Utah’s Republican-led petition to repeal a 2018 anti-gerrymandering law will not move forward after failing to obtain the required number of signatures.
The proposal, which failed despite support from President Trump himself and Turning Point Action — a 501(c)(4) group linked to the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — centered on a 2018 anti-gerrymandering law that created an independent redistricting commission and guidelines for redrawing district boundaries. It was passed to guard against the type of deeply partisan redistricting that Trump has been pushing for nearly a year in red states with Republican-controlled legislatures, as part of his effort to predetermine who will control Congress after the midterms.
The latest Republican redistricting failure in Utah follows a Utah judge’s rejection of a proposed GOP map that was supposed to give Republicans two additional districts.
Judge Dianna Gibson rejected Congress’ new Republican-friendly map last November. Instead, she approved a map that would likely allow the creation of a Democratic district around Salt Lake City.
In his ruling, Gibson wrote that the new cherry-picked map was “not in compliance with Utah law” and that it “does not meet or comply with the requirements.”
—Khaya Himmelman
