Trump’s illegal propaganda tool is building the pro-war movement
ALSO INSIDE: 1st Amendment lawsuit could mean $100M for targeted journalists
Cam here 👋 bringing you your daily dose of what people are doing – good, bad, and otherwise – in the world of politics. We’re diving into the stories you won’t see anywhere else. And remember, you can also keep up with me over on TikTok and Bluesky.
And if you’re looking for a little more from COURIER, Akilah Hughes’ new series, “How is This Better?” explores how Trump’s anti-DEI crusade is erasing Jackie Robinson, and our docuseries “REPRESENT” follows Deja Foxx’s as she gets real about the highs and lows of running for Congress.
What Happened
The US bombed Iran over the weekend at the (potentially illegal) order of President Donald Trump, despite the vast majority of people’s opposition to military action in the Middle East.
While it seemed at first like the attack created a schism in support for Trump among conservatives, it didn’t. A higher-than-usual number of congressional Republicans have said they don’t approve, but only one has actually signed onto legislation to limit Trump’s ability to conduct acts of war without Congress.
And while only 16% of people supported the action last week, that number’s already going up — thanks, in part, to an executive order that Trump signed right before the bombing, which preserves one of his administration’s most influential propaganda tools: TikTok.
TikTok has technically been operating illegally in the US since January, when Trump ordered the US Department of Justice not to enforce a ban on the app Congress passed last year. But, just like crypto, Trump became the platform’s savior once he found a way to benefit from it. Far-right influencers became a focal point of Trump’s reelection campaign, and now they’re useful allies in helping his administration shape public perception.
In the same fashion that conservatives over 50 get their talking points from Fox News, voters under 30 get theirs on TikTok. It was through Russian-funded MAGA influencers that far-right ideology seeped into Gen Z timelines enough to help tip the electoral scales in his favor last year, and now, content praising the attack on Iran as a stroke of strategic military genius is washing over people's FYP.
There’s also a lot of clearly AI-generated content going viral from bot accounts spreading false information, mostly fearmongering and rallying support for war. Meanwhile, content from people who took on the role of controlled opposition, like Tucker Carlson, has either lost momentum or sat silent since the attack took place.
It’s not going to be a series of congressional hearings over the course of several years that convinces more and more of the public to support war, it’s going to be an onslaught of TikToks over the course of a few weeks.
And it’s already happening: YouGov conducted a poll the week before the attack and 24 hours after the attack, and in that time, support for bombing Iran more than doubled, going from 16% to 35%.
Attempts to Sanewash
Far-Right Spin
LA Journalist union sues Noem
Journalists covering the protests in LA have been arrested, shot, hit with batons, tear-gassed, and targeted by the Trump administration in a number of ways that look to be in violation of at least three constitutional amendments.
The Los Angeles Press Club filed a lawsuit claiming that, under the direction of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, "DHS agents have consistently used these weapons to suppress First Amendment protected activity when they faced no meaningful threat of violence at all."
In addition to violating the First Amendment, the lawsuit says DHS’ wide net when it comes to who they detain and arrest violates the Fourth Amendment, and ignoring the right to due process — a staple of the Trump administration — is a clear violation of the Fifth Amendment.
“At least seven members of our organization have been subject to use of force or suffered a serious press rights violation by DHS officers,” LA Press Club Chair Adam Rose said in a statement. “Democracy depends on an informed public. An informed public depends on a press free to do its job without fearing violence by federal agents.”
The lawsuit seeks a restraining order against DHS that would limit agents’ use of force to specific instances and restrict them from targeting journalists. Labor unions won similar lawsuits during Trump’s first term, after police used excessive force against journalists during the 2020 protests sparked by the police murder of George Floyd.
That time around, unions came through for journalists in Dallas, Denver, LA, Minneapolis, Oakland, Portland, Richmond, and Washington, DC, to the tune of nearly $2 million in settlement money. The price tag for the Trump administration’s alleged attack on the press in LA could be much bigger: if the LA Press Club is successful, settlement costs are estimated to be over $100 million.
US Rep. David Schweikert, Arizona’s 1st Congressional District
Since taking office in 2011, Rep. Schweikert has:
Seen his net worth decrease from $3.3 million to $604,000
Sponsored 170 bills
Authored two bills that have been signed into law
Lost voter support year after year, going from a 24-point win 2016 to a 4-point lead in 2024
Voted against a COVID relief package in 2020 because he didn’t read it
Supported limiting a Democratic president’s war powers, but not a Republican president
Founded the Freedom Caucus, then left it over fears people would think he’s a populist
Slept through a budget vote despite positioning himself as a budget hawk
Fun Facts
In true Freudian form, Rep. Schweikert’s passionate opposition to abortion rights — at times even for victims of sexual assault — stems from his relationship with his mother.
A few months before he said any woman who’s considered getting an abortion must “hate the baby,” Schweikert claimed that his birth mother almost aborted him before giving him up for adoption. Adoption agencies don’t typically tell parents the child they’re about to adopt was almost aborted, however, so the veracity of this claim is questionable at best.
Dubious claims have been a mainstay of Schweikert’s time in Congress since his first term, when he sent out campaign mailers in 2012 alleging his opponent was bisexual. Even in a pre- Obergefell v. Hodges world, this was seen as being in bad taste, and Schweikert’s mailer was condemned by Republican US Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl.
Ethically questionable decisions continued over the years and bled into campaign finances. Schweikert was fined $125,000 by the Federal Elections Commission and $50,000 by the House Ethics Committee after it was revealed he loaned himself nearly $150,000 in campaign funds.
State legislatures offer ‘firewall against Trump’
Every week, I report on instances where local leaders are able to effectively protect their communities from some of the worst elements of the Trump administration. State legislators, attorneys general, and labor unions have proven crucial in limiting the number of lives that are uprooted as a result of federal policy.
In an op-ed we published Monday, Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams makes the case that her party needs to focus on supporting state legislator candidates so they can continue to be an effective “firewall against Trump’s dysfunction and extremism:”
“While Democrats faced tough losses at the federal level in 2024, the red wave failed to reach state legislatures. For the last two cycles, Democratic state legislators have kept their heads above water and continued to win elections even, in environments that are tough for Democrats running at the national level.
Instead of talking about where the party should go, legislative candidates are hitting the doors and executing on a winning strategy.
It’s time for DC to take note.
We have a saying at the DLCC: if it’s a Tuesday, it’s an election day. The truth is, voters are providing us with feedback nearly every week through state legislative special elections. From five majority-deciding election wins, to flipping two Trump +20 seats, to defending Wisconsin’s liberal Supreme Court majority, it’s clear voters approve of the work state Democrats are doing. State legislative Democrats continue to overperform in special elections this year by an average of about 10 points.
The message voters are sending? Listen to the Democrats who are delivering in the states.”
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