Soon after Ken Martin was elected the Democratic National Committee chair, he published a memo laying out his vision for the party’s new direction. Martin, credited with electing a progressive majority in his home state Minnesota, speaks about the urgent need to make the Democrats the “true party of labor and working people.”
(“DNC Chair Outlines Pro-Worker, Union Focus in First Memo to Fight Against Trump,” Guardian, Feb. 18, 2025; “The Democratic Capitulation Point,” In These Times, Feb. 19, 2025)
Early on in the second Trump regime, a group of Venezuelan detainees were sent to the U.S. immigration detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In an attempt to promote Trump’s get tough on immigration policies in the media, these shackled migrants were paraded before TV cameras as they were sent to Guantanamo on nearly empty military transport planes.
(“US Firm Running Guantanamo Migrant Jail Accused of Rights Abuses,” Guardian, Feb. 20, 2025; “Trump Admin Abruptly Clears Out Migrants It Sent to Guantanamo,” New York Times, Feb. 21, 2025)
Argentina’s President Javier Milei, a budget-slashing, chainsaw-wielding libertarian has been implicated in a scandal over his promotion of a new cryptocurrency, the Libra, which quickly inflated and then crashed. Critics accused Milei, of complicity in a “pump and dump scheme” where thousands of crypto investors lost their investment.
(“Javier Milei Faces Impeachment Calls After Argentina Crypto Currency Collapse,” Guardian, Feb. 17, 2025; “A Presidential Misadventure,” Economist, Feb. 20, 2025)
