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The Dictatorship

Why doctors are prescribing a healthy dose of anger in response to new Trump policies

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Why doctors are prescribing a healthy dose of anger in response to new Trump policies

As an infectious diseases physician and emergency physician, we have been trained to think objectively, remain level-headed and stay calm amid uncertainty. But watching the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. research and public health infrastructure — which will allow infectious diseases to spread like wildfire and disrupt progress to combat all other conditions — has made us angry.

We don’t feel apologetic or ashamed about our anger; we’d argue that anger isn’t as widespread as it ought to be.

Anger is usually looked down upon, even pathologized. It is a codable diagnosis in the International Classification of Diseases, and there are evidence-based treatments to mitigate or cope with it. However, in this moment, we don’t feel apologetic or ashamed about our anger; we’d argue that anger isn’t as widespread in the U.S. as it ought to be.

There is so much for scientists and health professionals to be really, truly angry about right now. Successful health-advancing institutions and initiatives that have taken decades to build are being derailed or discarded without a second thought. Clinical trials that serve as the last hope for dying patients are being abruptly halted. Disruptions at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration and uncertainty in research funding at universities are putting our patients, children and friends at risk, from both old diseases that they should never have to worry about and new diseases that they could be protected against — if we were to maintain a robust scientific and public health response system. This should make us angry.

Measles should have been completely eradicated long ago, but because of anti-vaccine conspiracies, 2025 cases have already far surpassed those of 2024. Such destructive views and malicious lies have been propagated by our new secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Funding has been ripped from the U.S. Agency for International Development, housing programs, and scientific research on HIV prevention and cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. There are plans to gut Medicaidwhich finances vital health care services for 84 million Americans, including women, children and older adults.

Ebola has broken out in Ugandabut because President Donald Trump ended our relationship with the World Health Organization, we will likely not know when it gets here and, once we do know, it may be too late to respond effectively, especially with recent large cuts to health departments and programs that respond to outbreaks and perform pandemic-related community outreach and education.

Then there are the arbitrary firings of federal employees at health agencies and slashing of scientist training programs including those focused on preventing overdose deaths. Though the onslaughts keep coming daily, Trump’s approval rating has averaged about 45%which, in our mind, means not enough Americans are angry enough — or do not know that they should be.

To be sure, anger can manifest in harmful and destructive behaviors, which we obviously don’t endorse. But recognizing and unleashing one’s anger in constructive ways can be beneficial. It can fuel productive action. Evidence shows it may lead to better mental health outcomes than other emotions we are prone to feeling in this time, including depression or anxiety. Some research shows that naming emotions, especially unpleasant ones, can help regulate the nervous system and lead to a sense of calm.

As Dr. Christina Girgis, associate professor of psychiatry at Loyola University Medical Center, told us, “Basically, anger is something that we (as society) have attributed to negative descriptions, so people are afraid to feel it, but it is actually healthy and freeing to acknowledge and feel your anger.”

Even the Christian Bible gives people permission to feel what they feel when it says “Be angry, but sin not.

People are afraid to feel it, but it is actually healthy and freeing to acknowledge and feel your anger.

Dr. Christina Girgis, Associate Professor of Psychiatry

We shouldn’t forget that anger can reflect ideal qualities, such as love and a sense of justice. It is a normal part of being a caring person and of seeing what and who we care about be threatened. When anger reflects compassion for those who are directly and indirectly affected by today’s assault on medicine and science, it begins to seem not only acceptable and appropriate, but necessary. It validates an investment in our communities, an appreciation of the real harms threatening their health, safety, longevity and well-being. In this frame, failing to be angry is a more concerning symptom, one that signals indifference, complacency or lack of awareness.

So perhaps the question right now is not whether we should be angry (yes), but rather, how best we should focus and deploy our anger. Psychologist Juli Fraga has written about how to validate and release our anger: It involves honoring “what your anger wants you to do,” and figuring out how to make “good use” of the anger.

We know that many people are expressing their anger and translating it to action. People have been marching and protesting and speaking up at town hall meetings, calling and writing their legislators, starting petitions, posting on social media. But it doesn’t feel sufficient yet. We need more visible and constructive anger from everyone — from ordinary individuals to institutional and elected leaders — around the fact that this administration is dismantling the infrastructure that keeps us physically healthy and economically stable. Within the scientific community, we need to make sure we translate what is happening to science and health care clearly and loudly to the public and show strong support for actions that will ensure the survival of the scientific process and of the institutions that do vital work to make our communities healthy.

Are you feeling angry about what you’re seeing happen around you? Good. Our prescription is that you keep getting angry and use that anger well.

Dr. Esther Choo

Esther Choo, M.D. M.P.H., is an emergency medicine physician, health policy researcher and founding member of Equity Quotient, a company that advises organizations on building cultures of equity. She has provided commentary on the pandemic and other health care topics through appearances on BLN, BLN, the BBC and Yahoo! Finance and editorials published in The Lancet, the British Medical Journal, The Washington Post, NBC Think and USA Today.

Dr. Joshua barocas

Dr. Joshua Barocas, M.D., is an infectious diseases physician and public health researcher in Denver.

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The Dictatorship

Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed

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Federal court rules against new global tariffs Trump imposed

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal court ruled Thursday against the new global tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed after a stinging loss at the Supreme Court.

A split three-judge panel of the Court of International Trade in New York found the 10% global tariffs were illegal after small businesses sued.

The court ruled 2-1 that Trump overstepped the tariff power that Congress had allowed the president under the law. The tariffs are “invalid″ and “unauthorized by law,” the majority wrote.

The third judge on the panel found the law allows the president more leeway on tariffs.

If the administration appeals Thursday’s decision, as expected, it would first turn to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, based in Washington, and then, potentially, the Supreme Court.

At issue are temporary 10% worldwide tariffs the Trump administration imposed after the Supreme Court in February struck down even broader double-digit tariffs the president had imposed last year on almost every country on Earth. The new tariffs, invoked under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, were set to expire July 24.

The court’s decision directly blocked the collection of tariffs from three plaintiffs — the state of Washington and two businesses, spice company Burlap & Barrel and toy company Basic Fun! “It’s not clear’’ whether other businesses would have to continue to pay the tariffs, said Jeffrey Schwab, director of litigation at the libertarian Liberty Justice Center, which represented the two companies.

“We fought back today and we won, and we’re extremely excited,” Jay Foreman, CEO of Basic Fun!, told reporters Thursday.

The ruling marked another legal setback for the Trump administration, which has attempted to shield the U.S. economy behind a wall of import taxes. Last year, Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to declare the nation’s longstanding trade deficit a national emergency, justifying sweeping global tariffs.

The Supreme Court ruled Feb. 28 that IEEPA did not authorize the tariffs. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to establish taxes, including tariffs, though lawmakers can delegate tariff power to the president.

Dave Townsend, a trade lawyer at Dorsey & Whitney, said the ruling will open the door for more companies to request that the tariffs be thrown out and that any payments they’ve made be refunded.

“Other importers likely will now ask for a broader remedy that applies to more companies,” Townsend said, though he cautioned the case could also reach the Supreme Court.

Trump is already taking steps to replace the tariffs that were struck down by the Supreme Court in January. The administration is conducting two investigations that could end in more tariffs.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is looking into whether 16 U.S. trading partners — including China, the European Union and Japan — are overproducing goods, driving down prices and putting U.S. manufacturers at a disadvantage. It is also investigating whether 60 economies — from Nigeria to Norway and accounting for 99% of U.S. imports — do enough to prohibit the trade in products created by forced labor.

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The Dictatorship

Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve trade deal

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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve trade deal

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year’s trade framework by July 4.

The announcement appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25% tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a “great call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Still, the U.S. president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.

“A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!” Trump posted. “I agreed to give her until our Country’s 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels.”

It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.

His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.

Under the original terms of the framework, the U.S. would charge a 15% tax on most goods imported from the EU.

But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10% tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.

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The Dictatorship

In the wake of the Virginia ruling, where does the national redistricting arms race stand?

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In the wake of the Virginia ruling, where does the national redistricting arms race stand?

In Virginia, a majority of the House of Delegates voted to approve a new congressional district map that was designed to help Democrats add as many as four seats in the U.S. House. A majority of the state Senate agreed, as did the commonwealth’s popularly elected governor. The issue then went to the people of Virginia, and a majority of voters backed the redistricting initiative, too.

A majority of the Virginia Supreme Court, however, rejected the plan anyway. MS NOW reported:

The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved congressional redistricting plan, ruling that Democrats violated constitutional procedures when placing the referendum on the ballot for last month’s special election. […]

In its 4-3 decision, the court on Friday found that the process used to place the amendment on the ballot did not comply with Virginia’s constitutional rules governing how such proposals must be approved by the legislature before being presented to voters. As a result, the justices upheld a lower court ruling that blocks the amendment from being certified and implemented.

For Democratic efforts on the national level, the ruling is an unexpected gut punch, especially given the fact that after Virginia voters approved the overhauled map last month, it appeared that Democrats would be able to keep pace with the GOP as part of the broader redistricting fight.

What’s more, the state Supreme Court ruling comes on the heels of a similarly brutal blow after Republican-appointed U.S. Supreme Court justices gutted the Voting Rights Act, which opened the door even further to an intensified Republican effort to erase majority-Black congressional districts in the South.

Given all of this, it’s easy to imagine many Americans responding to the head-spinning developments with a simple question: “So where do things stand now?”

Before we dig in on that, it’s worth pausing to acknowledge the absurdity of the circumstances. For generations, states redrew congressional district lines after the decennial census. There were limited exceptions, but in nearly all of those instances, mid-decade redistricting only happened when courts told states that their maps were unlawful and needed to be redone.

The idea that politicians would simply choose to start redrawing maps, in the middle of a decade, in pursuit of partisan advantages, was practically unheard of.

Last year, however, Donald Trump, fearing the results of the 2026 midterm elections and the possible accountability that would result from Democratic victories, decided that the American model needed to be discarded. It was time, the president said, to pursue what one White House official described as a campaign of “maximum warfare” in which Republican officials in key states would embrace gerrymandering without regard for fairness, norms, traditions or propriety.

The goal was simple: Deliver Republican victories in congressional races long before Americans had a chance to cast their ballots.

The result was an arms race that’s still going on — and here’s where things stand.

A map of the United States highlighting states that have redrawn their congressional maps
As of May 8, 2026. *Virginia’s voter-approved congressional redistricting plan was struck down by the Virginia Supreme Court Ben King / MS NOW; Source: MaddowBlog election analysis

Texas: Republicans in the Lone Star State got the ball rolling last summer, acting at Trump’s behest and approving a map designed to give Republicans five additional U.S. House seats. It touched off the national arms race.

California: Responding to Texas, Democratic officials in the Golden State, as well as the state’s voters, approved a map of their own designed to give Democrats five additional U.S. House seats.

Missouri: In September, state Republicans approved a map designed to give the GOP one additional seat.

North Carolina: In October, state Republicans approved a map designed to give Republicans one additional seat.

Ohio: While the redistricting effort in the Buckeye State wasn’t as brazen as it was elsewhere, Ohio’s new map diluted two Democratic-held districts, creating GOP pickup opportunities.

Utah: A state court approved a new map that will likely give Democrats one additional seat.

Florida: Just this week, Republicans completed the process on a new map designed to give Republicans as many as four additional seats.

Tennessee: Also this week, Republicans approved a new map designed to give Republicans one additional seat, taking advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.

Louisiana: While the newly redrawn map in the Pelican State hasn’t been formally unveiled, it will reportedly add one additional Republican seat.

Alabama: Republicans are currently moving forward with plans for a map that would give Republicans two more seats.

It’s important to emphasize that some of these maps are currently facing legal challenges, while others are still taking shape. Most of these maps would take effect during this year’s election cycle, but there’s still some uncertainty surrounding the implementation date in some states.

Nevertheless, the Virginia map that enjoyed popular public support was prepared to help mitigate an unprecedented Republican abuse. The state Supreme Court in the commonwealth appears to have removed that option.

After Virginia voters had their say, many GOP officials questioned whether the entire gerrymandering gambit had been a waste of time and effort. In the aftermath of two highly controversial court rulings, Republicans are suddenly feeling a lot better about the whole scheme.

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