The Dictatorship

Trump’s federal purge is disproportionately hurting one group of Americans

Published

12 months ago

January 26, 2025

Trump’s federal purge is disproportionately hurting one group of Americans

The Trump administration has already launched sweeping attacks on the federal government itself, from hiring freezes at various agencies to shutting down the Justice Department’s civil rights division. These moves are not simply about abstract opposition to government; fully explaining them requires acknowledging U.S. history. From the military to the United States Postal Service to sundry federal agencies, the federal government’s personnel policies — though nowhere near perfect — have helped expand and sustain a Black middle class.

The federal government’s personnel policies — though nowhere near perfect — have helped expand and sustain a Black middle class.

The most well-known example of this shows up at your home every day: the U.S. Postal Service. The Post Office Department, as it used to be called, was once the single largest employer of Black people in the United States. In 2022, according to the Government Accountability Office, “about 53 percent of [the Postal Service’s] total workforce consisted of individuals from historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups, and women made up about 46 percent of the workforce.”

And it’s not just the post office. As the Center for American Progress pointed out in a 2020 report“the federal government has hired Black Americans at higher rates than the private sector going back a century or more.”

Not coincidentally, generations of conservatives — from George Wallace to Donald Trump — have plotted to rein in the federal government. Let’s be clear, then, why the federal government has bothered conservatives so much and for so long. And let’s be clear about the impacts reducing the federal workforce — either via the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” or by unleashing Anti-dei “patter rollers” — would have.

Trump tying the hands of federal workers, essentially criminalizing the work they’ve been doingor planning to lay them off will have disastrous consequences for Americans throughout the country. Millions outside the government will soon learn in the worst ways how much they’ve relied on the work federal employees do every day.

But the devastation for the workers themselves cannot be forgotten. And we can expect extra hardship for Black communities. The federal workforce, though far from majority Black, is disproportionately Black. Thus, any policy aimed at firing federal workers en masse — even if it is not explicitly tied to Trump’s despicable anti-DEI obsession — would still disproportionately hurt Black people.

This is not a bug in Trump’s program. It is a feature.

Explaining why Black people have been drawn to federal jobs, Marcus Board, a Howard University political science professor, told Washington’s NBC affiliate, “They have worker protections, federal worker protections, that are guaranteed by the federal government, and so it’s one of the few places where they can be sure that they’re going to be supported, protected and taken care of.”

When a reporter said many people in and around Washington interpret attacks on the federal government as an attack on Black Americans, specifically the Black middle class, Board said, “I think that’s an accurate read.”

Indeed. There’s no greater predictor of a white backlash than Black success.

But conservative animosity isn’t solely about who federal workers are; it’s also about the changes the federal government has forced conservative parts of the country to adopt.

After the Civil War, the federal government imposed Reconstruction and — however briefly — protected newly freed Black people from the planter class that sought to essentially re-enslave them. Federal marshals held Ruby Bridges’ hand as she walked through a gantlet of angry white people to William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans and sent troops to escort the Little Rock Nine into that city’s Central High School. Federal officials and judges stopped numerous racist schemes that jurisdictions, particularly in the South, employed to suppress the Black vote.

To accuse the federal government of overreach, then, is to oppose the progress the feds have helped usher in.

To accuse the federal government of overreach is to oppose the progress the feds have helped usher in.

In 1980, then-presidential candidate Ronald Reagan told an audience at Mississippi’s Neshoba County Fair“I believe that there are programs like that, programs like education and others, that should be turned back to the states and the local communities with the tax sources to fund them, and let the people—.” According to the newspaper that reported his speech, the applause drowned out the rest of Reagan’s sentence.

“Programs like education,” Reagan said — in a state where what minimal integration there was had only existed for about 10 years. “I believe in states’ rights,” he said.

The conservative project of getting rid of the Department of Education wasn’t yet a year old when Reagan gave that stump speech. The time of its founding is directly related to the department’s role in the enforcement of civil rights — and the broader animosity on the right at the very idea of public education after the Supreme Court prohibited racial segregation in public schools.

Trump promised during the 2024 campaign to get rid of the department altogether. It’s a goal of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 (which Trump swore he had nothing to do with). The Heritage Foundation itself was co-founded by a conservative activist upset that the federal government told Bob Jones University it couldn’t maintain its nonprofit status and refuse admission to Black students. The religious right would soon make fighting abortion its main cause, the evangelical writer and activist Lisa Sharon Harper has arguedgoal if the reason for being was defending segregation.

It’s impossible to separate conservative animosity toward the federal government from conservatives’ history of opposing integration and Black progress. And Trump attacking the federal workforce as he rolls back civil rights edicts and DEI initiatives means we don’t have to pretend they’re unrelated.

Jarvis DeBerry

Jarvis DeBerry is an opinion editor for BLN Daily.

The Dictatorship

ICE officer who killed Minneapolis woman said he ‘feared for his life’ while arresting another driver last year

Published

8 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

ICE officer who killed Minneapolis woman said he ‘feared for his life’ while arresting another driver last year

Jan. 8, 2026, 11:37 PM EST

Jonathan Rossthe Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer who fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in her car in Minneapolis this week, was in court weeks ago testifying about another violent incident on the job last year, in which he was dragged by a fleeing driver while attempting to make an arrest.

New details from the June 2025 case came from a transcript of Ross’ testimony before a Minnesota district court jury, obtained by MS NOW. The statements reveal previously unreported details about Ross’ life and role within ICE, as well as a prior confrontation with a driver that made him “fear for my life,” months before his fatal encounter with Good.

Ross described himself as an Indiana National Guard veteran, who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005 as a machine gunner on a combat logistical patrol team. After serving, he joined the U.S. Border Patrol and was stationed near El Paso, Texas, where he worked on patrol, tracking, and field intelligence. In 2015 he joined ICE, where he’s currently assigned to the Enforcement and Removal Operations special response team in the St. Paul, Minnesota, field office. Ross said he worked in fugitive operations, targeting “higher value targets,” and as a member of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

He testified that he was a “team leader” who would “develop the targets, create a target package, conduct surveillance, and then develop a plan to execute the arrest warrant.” He also worked as a firearms instructor, an active shooter instructor, a field intelligence officer, and a member of a SWAT team.

On June 17 last year, while on patrol in Bloomington, Minnesota, Ross said he pulled his vehicle in front of a car driven by Roberto Carlos Munoz — a Guatemalan citizen who had prior convictions for criminal sexual conduct — who refused to pull over during a traffic stop.

According to the federal prosecutors in the case, Ross “pulled diagonally in front of Munoz’s car in an attempt to force Munoz to stop.” After Munoz stopped his car, Ross and an FBI agent got out of their vehicles and pointed their guns at Munoz. When Munoz raised his hands in surrender, Ross holstered his gun.

But when Munoz refused commands to lower his window and open the driver’s-side door, Ross pulled out his Taser and pointed it at Munoz’s chest, court documents state. Ross broke the rear driver’s side window with a spring-loaded window punch and reached into the car at which point Munoz accelerated. Ross testified he shot Munoz with his Taser 10 times, and saw “the impacts on his face,” but said the suspect did not stop.

“I was fearing for my life. I knew I was going to get drug. And the fact I couldn’t get my arm out, I didn’t know how long I would be drugged. So I was kind of running with the vehicle.”

Ross said he dragged for more than 100 yards before he was knocked free. He received 20 stitches for a cut on his right arm, and 13 stitches on his left hand, prosecutors said. Photos of his injuries were included in court documents.

Ross described the pain from the dragging as “pretty excruciating.”

A jury found Munoz guilty of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous and deadly weapon, and causing bodily injury.

Federal officials did not publicly identify Ross as the officer involved in Wednesday’s shooting, but referenced his involvement in last year’s case. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Vice President JD Vance defended Ross’ actions as lawful, and said he acted in self-defense. Their descriptions of the 2025 incident led social media sleuths to Ross’ identity, and his name quickly spread online.

Politicians and protesters in Minnesota are calling Ross’ actions unjustified, pointing to videos of the shooting they say shows Good was not a threat.

Brandy Zadrozny is a senior enterprise reporter for MS NOW. She was a previously a senior enterprise reporter for NBC News, based in New York.

The Dictatorship

Federal agent shoots 2 in Oregon, further raising tensions over national immigration actions

Published

8 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Federal agent shoots 2 in Oregon, further raising tensions over national immigration actions

Jan. 8, 2026, 8:12 PM EST

A U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent shot and injured two people Thursday in Portland, Oregon, police reported, raising national tensions even higher following the fatal shooting of a Minneapolis woman by a federal immigration officer a day earlier.

The Portland victims, a man and a woman, were hospitalized after the shooting in the northeast part of the city, according to a Portland Police Bureau press release. Many details remain unclear, but police said they arrived on the scene to find the pair with gunshot wounds and “applied a tourniquet and summoned emergency medical personnel.”

On Thursday evening, the Department of Homeland Security released a statement describing at least one of the victims as a Venezuelan “illegal alien” who is “affiliated with the transnational Tren de Aragua prostitution ring,” but didn’t identify the individual or confirm whether that person was one of the victims. According to DHS, agents were attempting to pull over a driver who allegedly “weaponized his vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents.” An agent “fired a defensive shot,” then the driver and passenger fled, the DHS stated.

The victims’ conditions are unknown.

Local officials did not confirm DHS’s description of the victim or federal officials’ version of events.

“We are still in the early stages of this incident,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day said in the release. “We understand the heightened emotion and tension many are feeling in the wake of the shooting in Minneapolis, but I am asking the community to remain calm as we work to learn more.”

Mayor Keith Wilson released a statement Thursday likening the incident to the Minneapolis shooting on Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. That shooting has become highly politicized, with President Donald Trump and his top allies claiming the woman was attempting to run over the ICE agent with her car. Democrats — including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — and independent media organizations have disputed that claim.

“Just one day after the horrific violence in Minnesota at the hands of federal agents, our community here in Portland is now grappling with another deeply troubling incident,” Wilson said. “We cannot sit by while constitutional protections erode and bloodshed mounts. Portland is not a ‘training ground’ for militarized agents, and the ‘full force’ threatened by the administration has deadly consequences. As Mayor, I call on ICE to end all operations in Portland until a full investigation can be completed.”

Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield released a statement demanding “transparency and accountability” from federal agencies.

“We have been clear about our concerns with the excessive use of force by federal agents in Portland ” Rayfield said. “Oregonians deserve clear answers when people are injured in their neighborhoods.”

Protests popped up following the Minneapolis shooting, and Walz has readied the National Guard in case there is a need for help in maintaining public safety.

Andy Campbell is a Senior Enterprise Editor for MS NOW Digital. He is also the author of “We Are Proud Boys: How a right-wing street gang ushered in a new era of American extremism.”

The Dictatorship

Trump proposes massive increase in defense spending to $1.5T

Published

7 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump proposes massive increase in defense spending to $1.5T

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday proposed setting U.S. military spending at $1.5 trillion in 2027, citing “troubled and dangerous times.”

Trump called for the massive surge in spending days after he ordered a U.S. military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and spirit him out of the country to face drug trafficking charges in the United States. U.S. forces continue to mass in the Caribbean Sea.

The 2026 military budget is set at $901 billion.

Trump in recent days has also called for taking over the Danish territory of Greenland for national security reasons and has suggested he’s open to carrying out military operations in Colombia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ominously warned that longtime adversary Cuba “is in trouble.”

“This will allow us to build the ‘Dream Military’ that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe,” Trump said in a posting on Truth Social announcing his proposal.

The military just received a large boost of some $175 billion in the GOP’s “big, beautiful bill” of tax breaks and spending reductions that Trump signed into law last year.

Insisting on more funding for the Pentagon is almost certain to run into resistance from Democrats who work to maintain parity between changes in defense and non-defense spending. But it’s also sure to draw objections from the GOP’s deficit hawks who have pushed back against larger military spending.

But Trump said he feels comfortable surging spending on the military because of increased revenue created by his administration through tariffs imposed on friends and foes around the globe since his return to office.

The U.S. government collected gross revenues of $288.5 billion last year from tariffs and other excise taxes, up from $98.3 billion in 2024, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. That’s a meaningful increase in revenues from taxing imports. But it’s not enough to cover the various promises made by Trump, who has said the tariffs can also cover dividends to taxpayers, pay down the national debt and, now, cover increased spending on the military.

Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday also threatened to cut off Pentagon purchases from Raytheon, one of the biggest U.S. defense contractors, if the company did not end the practice of stock buybacks and invest more profits into building out its weapons manufacturing capacity.

The Pentagon and the Potomac River in Washington, as seen from the Washington Monument, Dec., 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

“Either Raytheon steps up, and starts investing in more upfront Investment like Plants and Equipment, or they will no longer be doing business with Department of War,” Trump said on social media. “Also, if Raytheon wants further business with the United States Government, under no circumstances will they be allowed to do any additional Stock Buybacks, where they have spent Tens of Billions of Dollars, until they are able to get their act together.”

The threat came as the president issued an executive order calling on the Pentagon to begin a review to spot defense contractors who are underperforming on fulfilling contracts and insufficiently investing in building manufacturing but are still engaging in stock buybacks or distributing dividends to shareholders.

The order also calls for the Pentagon to take steps to ensure future contracts with any new or existing defense contractor contain a provision prohibiting stock buybacks during a period of underperformance on U.S. government contracts. The order also calls for the Pentagon to stipulate in future contracts that executive incentive compensation is not tied to short-term financial metrics.

Trump in recent months has repeatedly complained broadly that defense companies have been woefully behind on deliveries of critical weaponry, yet continue to mete out dividends and stock buybacks to investors and offering eye-popping salaries to top executives.

The criticism of Raytheon, however, was the most pointed to date of a particular contractor.

The company is responsible for making some of the military’s most widely used and notable missiles, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, the shoulder-launched Javelin and Stinger missiles, and the Sidewinder air-to-air missile.

Raytheon also owns Pratt and Whitney, a company that is responsible for manufacturing a host of jet engines that power aircraft for all the military branches, including the newest F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

On Wall Street, shares of defense contractors fell, with Northrop Grumman dropping 5.5%, Lockheed Martin declining 4.8% and RTX Corp., the parent company of Raytheon, slipping 2.5%.

Raytheon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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AP writers Josh Boak, Stephen Groves, Paul Harloff and Lisa Mascaro contributed reporting.