Trump Action Archive

Supporting reports

• Phony transgender rights leaflets circulated in Texas to inflame voters — A company formed in Wyoming has been circulating phony leaflets and text messages in Texas, falsely purporting to be from a trans rights group. The materials, addressed to "students," claim to provide resources for transgender and LGBTQ+ youth but are deliberately inflammatory, purporting to instruct children on separating from parents and replacing them with other adults or organizations. Right-wing groups have shared the mailers and linked them to Democrats.

Supporting reports

• Grindr app experiences outages during Republican convention in Dallas — The LGBTQ+ dating app Grindr reportedly went down as the Republican National Committee's midterm convention began on September 9 in Dallas. According to Downdetector, the app reported multiple outages coinciding with the event's start, with the highest concentration of reported outages in the Dallas area.

Supporting reports

• HHS releases report linking gender ideology to left-wing authoritarianism without peer review — The US Department of Health and Human Services released a report claiming to link "gender ideology" and support for transgender people to left-wing authoritarianism and political violence. The report was not peer-reviewed, did not undergo scientific journal publication, and experts say it contains severe methodological flaws. Legal scholars note it may violate the Information Quality Bulletin, a federal regulation requiring peer review for influential scientific information from government agencies.

Supporting reports

• Polymarket misrepresented WNBA transgender athlete discussion — On August 8, Polymarket posted on X that the WNBA Commissioner announced the league would review "what a woman is" after NBA stars announced plans to join. The post was inaccurate. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert's internal memo, obtained by the Associated Press, stated only that "transgender athlete participation in women's basketball" would be discussed by a task force at a scheduled meeting—not a formal review or announcement. Polymarket used the post to promote a prediction market on Enes Kanter Freedom's WNBA draft prospects.

Supporting reports

• American Library Association reports record 5,668 books banned from US libraries in 2025 — The American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom documented 5,668 books banned from US libraries in 2025, with an additional 920 censored through access restrictions. Challenges targeted 4,235 unique titles. The report found that 92% of challenges came from pressure groups, decision-makers, or government officials—a significant increase from 72% in 2024—and that 40% of challenged materials involved LGBTQ+ people or people of color. The most-banned book was Sold by Patricia McCormick.

Supporting reports

• Republican politicians explicitly stated Muslims do not belong in America — Various Republican politicians have made explicit public statements that Muslims do not belong in America. These statements reflect a broader anti-Muslim sentiment within parts of the Republican Party and MAGA movement, which views Muslim immigration as an "invasion" aimed at imposing Sharia law. The article notes this represents a departure from past norms where demonstrating patriotism and assimilation was sufficient to counter such exclusionary rhetoric.

Supporting reports

• White House issues Easter release promoting Christian liberty policies — The White House issued a promotional release on Easter Sunday characterizing the Trump Administration's policies on religious liberty, abortion, gender identity, and faith-based institutions. The document claims the administration has established a White House Faith Office, created a Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias, pardoned pro-life activists, declared a policy recognizing two sexes, banned federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors, arrested rioters who attacked a church, signed a school choice program, ended fetal tissue research funding, eliminated abortion coverage mandates, strengthened conscience protections for healthcare providers, established a Religious Liberty Commission, repealed regulations conflicting with religious liberty precedents, placed Faith Directors in federal agencies, reformed accreditation processes, issued an order against "debanking" based on political and religious beliefs, restricted use of the FACE Act against pro-life advocates, mandated Hyde Amendment enforcement, reinstated the Mexico City Policy, withdrew from the WHO, renewed Geneva Consensus Declaration membership, launched a probe into Spanish euthanasia, ordered strikes against ISIS in Nigeria, and delivered humanitarian aid to persecuted Christians. The document frames these as protections for Christian liberty and religious freedom.

Supporting reports

• Trump administration scrubs LGBTQ+ references from federal agency websites — As part of a broader rollback of LGBTQ+ protections, the Trump administration removed LGBTQ+ references from federal agency websites during the first days of the second administration.

Supporting reports

• DOGE employee entered secret agreement to share Social Security data — According to a whistleblower complaint filed in January 2026 and reported by the Washington Post in January, the Social Security Administration discovered that a DOGE employee had entered into a secret agreement with a political group, promising to share Social Security data in order to overturn election results in certain states. The SSA also acknowledged that DOGE employees had used an unofficial third-party service to share data with each other and that the SSA had been unable to access it.

Supporting reports

• Trump posted offensive social media message threatening citizenship stripping on Thanksgiving — On Thanksgiving at midnight, President Trump posted on his social media account threatening to strip citizenship from naturalized immigrants, used an offensive slur to describe Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, and ended with a message excluding those who "hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for." The post raised concerns among officials and medical experts about the president's mental acuity and fitness for office.
• Trump posts social media screeds blaming immigrants for National Guard shooting — Following the November 26 shooting of two West Virginia National Guard members stationed in Washington, D.C., by Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, Trump's social media account posted screeds against immigrants using the incident as justification. Lakanwal, who worked for the CIA in Afghanistan, came to the U.S. in 2021 as part of the post-withdrawal evacuation and was granted asylum earlier in 2025. Trump blamed "Joe Biden and his Thugs" for the evacuation, falsely claiming "hundreds of thousands of people poured into our Country totally unvetted and unchecked," disregarding Trump's own role in the 2020 Doha Agreement and his administration's vetting of Lakanwal.
• Trump posted Thanksgiving message attacking Minnesota and Congresswoman Omar — Trump posted a Thanksgiving message at 11:27 PM that attacked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as "seriously retarded," claimed Somali refugees are "completely taking over" Minnesota, and attacked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar with racist and Islamophobic language, including references to her hijab and false claims about her immigration status and family relationships.
• Trump made racist claims about Somali refugees in Minnesota — On Truth Social, Trump claimed "hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia" are "completely taking over" Minnesota, used a racial slur to describe Governor Tim Walz, and falsely claimed Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar "probably came into the U.S.A. illegally." The posts contained no factual basis and were part of a broader pattern of inflammatory rhetoric targeting immigrant communities.

Supporting reports

• Andrew Cuomo campaign posts unlabeled AI-generated deepfake videos in NYC mayoral race — Andrew Cuomo's campaign posted AI-generated deepfake videos attacking opponent Zohran Mamdani during the 2025 New York City mayoral election. One video, later deleted, depicted racist and Islamophobic content showing a fictionalized Mamdani eating rice with his fingers, a Black man shoplifting, and another Black man appearing to endorse sex trafficking. The campaign claimed the ad was sent out by accident. New York state law requires AI-generated campaign ads to be labeled; this ad was not. The incident exemplifies emerging use of generative AI in electoral campaigns.

Supporting reports

• Heritage Foundation president apologizes for defending Tucker Carlson's interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes — Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, apologized in a leaked town hall for defending Tucker Carlson's podcast interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Roberts had previously posted a video on X supporting Carlson without criticism of Fuentes's white supremacist and antisemitic views. After internal backlash, Roberts acknowledged the mistake, claimed he was unaware of Fuentes's extremism, and later posted detailed critiques of Fuentes's Holocaust denial and calls for violence against Jews. At least five members of an antisemitism taskforce resigned in protest.

Supporting reports

• Vice President dismissed Young Republicans' racist messages as jokes — Vice President J.D. Vance dismissed a cache of 2,900 pages of racist and violent messages exchanged on Telegram by leaders of hard-line pro-Trump Young Republican groups in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont as "stupid" jokes made by "kids." The eight members whose ages could be ascertained were between 24 and 35 years old and included a Vermont state senator, a chief of staff for a New York Assembly member, a Kansas attorney general's office staffer, and a U.S. Small Business Administration official.

Supporting reports

• USDA posts partisan messaging on food assistance homepage blaming Democrats for shutdown — The USDA's food and nutrition homepage displays a banner with a "strikingly partisan message" falsely accusing Senate Democrats of shutting down the government to provide healthcare to undocumented immigrants and transgender Americans. The notice states "the well has run dry" and announces no benefits will be issued November 1. The messaging conflates the shutdown with unrelated policy disputes and uses federal infrastructure to spread misinformation about the cause of the fiscal crisis.
• USDA falsely claims SNAP will run out of funding on November 1 — The USDA's official website asserts that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will exhaust funding on November 1, 2025, and attributes the shortfall to Democratic opposition to funding for "health care for illegal immigrants" and "gender mutilation procedures." According to Popular Information's investigation, both claims are false. SNAP has a $6 billion contingency reserve sufficient to fund the program for several additional weeks. The USDA previously issued guidance (September 30) explicitly authorizing use of contingency funds for regular benefits, but has since removed that guidance from its website. Democrats are not blocking SNAP funding over immigration or transgender healthcare; they are seeking extension of health insurance subsidies for U.S. citizens.
• Government websites display partisan political content blaming vulnerable groups — Multiple U.S. government websites, including those of the USDA and Department of Homeland Security, published content attributing the government shutdown to transgender people and undocumented immigrants rather than to policy decisions. The websites functioned as platforms for partisan messaging rather than neutral information dissemination.

Supporting reports

• Tennessee Secretary of State orders public libraries to remove LGBTQ-themed children's books — Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) sent two letters to 181 public libraries in the Tennessee Regional Library System demanding they review and remove children's books with LGBTQ themes or characters, citing compliance with state DEI law and Trump's executive order on "gender ideology." Hargett claimed libraries receiving state and federal grants must comply with these directives. At least one county closed multiple library branches for up to a week to conduct the purge. Legal experts note the removals likely violate First Amendment protections established in Island Tree School District v. Pico and Equal Protection guarantees.

Supporting reports

• Tucker Carlson interviewed Nick Fuentes on his podcast for over two hours — Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson conducted an extended interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, whose past statements include praise for Hitler, denial of the Holocaust, and antisemitic rhetoric. Carlson posted a photograph with his arm around Fuentes to his 16.7 million X followers, effectively platforming Fuentes to a mainstream audience. This marked a significant mainstreaming of a figure previously sidelined by establishment Republican channels.
• Tucker Carlson interviewed white supremacist Nick Fuentes without challenging extremist views — On October 27, Tucker Carlson conducted a two-hour-plus podcast interview with Nick Fuentes, a 27-year-old white supremacist and leader of the "groyper" movement who advocates racial segregation, praises Hitler, and opposes women's voting rights. During the interview, Fuentes made antisemitic statements about "organized Jewry," called for a "pro-white" Christian movement, and expressed admiration for Joseph Stalin. Carlson praised Fuentes as "amazing" and "clearly talented," described his ideas as "not crazy," and did not challenge any of his bigoted statements, drawing condemnation from conservative figures including Ben Shapiro, Mitch McConnell, and Ted Cruz.

Supporting reports

• Rep. Nancy Mace spreads false claim that shooter was transgender — Rep. Nancy Mace ranted on the Capitol steps claiming the shooter was transgender or "pro-tranny," stating "This shit needs to end! Enough is enough. It sounds like the shooter was a tranny or pro-tranny." When it was revealed that Robinson was a straight, white male from a Republican family, Mace did not apologize for spreading the false narrative.

Supporting reports

• White House issued fact sheet claiming 100 faith-related policy victories — The White House published a promotional document titled "President Trump's Top 100 Victories for People of Faith" on September 8, 2025. The document lists claimed achievements across religious liberty, anti-Semitism enforcement, school choice, abortion funding restrictions, gender-related policies, military personnel reinstatement, DEI elimination, and Israel support. The document attributes these to executive orders, agency directives, proclamations, and administrative actions taken during the Trump administration's second term.

Supporting reports

• Hegseth orders Navy to rename USNS Harvey Milk — Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the Navy to rename the USNS Harvey Milk, a ship named after Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and Korean War veteran. The order removes the name of a decorated service member and civil rights figure from a naval vessel.

Supporting reports

• Trump administration scaled back criticism of human rights violations — The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration is dramatically scaling back its criticism of human rights violations by El Salvador, Israel, and Russia, according to leaked drafts of the State Department's delayed annual human rights reports. The drafts, which are significantly shorter than the ones issued by the Biden administration in 2024, removed any references to LGBTQ+ individuals or crimes committed against them, and softened the descriptions of government abuses by the three countries. The El Salvador section brazenly claims that the country had "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses" in 2024, despite organizations like Amnesty International sounding the alarm on hundreds of cases of torture, forced disappearances, and deaths in state custody.
• State Department removes human rights criticisms from annual report — According to leaked drafts of the State Department's annual human rights report, the Trump administration has removed or substantially reduced criticisms of El Salvador, Israel, and Russia for documented human rights abuses. El Salvador's report, which previously detailed government-sanctioned killings, torture, and harsh prison conditions, now states there are "no credible reports of significant human rights abuses." Israel's report was reduced from over 100 pages to 25 pages. The State Department also declared support for El Salvador's elimination of presidential term limits, enabling President Nayib Bukele to hold office indefinitely.

Supporting reports

• French First Lady sued podcaster Candace Owens for defamatory conspiracy claims — French First Lady Brigitte Macron filed a lawsuit against right-wing podcaster Candace Owens for defamatory statements. The lawsuit alleges that Owens falsely accused Macron of being transgender and claimed the Macrons were part of "a very small group of elite oligarchs who routinely practice homosexuality and pedophilia and worship a transgender deity that controls the world."

Supporting reports

• Justice Alito attacked same-sex marriage protections — Justice Samuel Alito joined Justice Thomas in attacking the Obergefell v. Hodges decision that provides federal protection for same-sex marriage, arguing that the right should be left to voters in individual states, even as Republican-dominated states pass laws restricting voting access.
• Justice Alito's stance on same-sex marriage — Justice Samuel Alito has joined Justice Thomas in questioning the Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which established federal protections for same-sex marriage, suggesting that this right should be left to state voters.
• Justice Thomas called for reexamination of federal contraception and same-sex marriage protections — Following the Supreme Court's 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas argued in his concurrence that federal protections for access to birth control and same-sex marriage should also be reexamined and potentially overturned, returning those decisions to the states.
• Justice Thomas's comments on federal protections — Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested that the Supreme Court should reexamine federal protections for access to birth control and same-sex marriage, indicating a willingness to allow states to decide these issues.

Supporting reports

• Department of Defense bans books from Naval Academy — The Department of Defense ordered the removal of nearly 400 books from the U.S. Naval Academy library, targeting works related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Although some books have been returned, the action reflects a broader effort to control educational content in military institutions.
• Department of Defense bans DEI-related books and instruction — The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) instructed schools to remove books and cancel activities related to gender ideology and DEI. This directive, part of compliance with executive orders, has led to legal challenges from students claiming First Amendment violations.
• Departments of Veterans Affairs and State ban pride flags — The Secretary of Veterans Affairs and the Department of State have banned the display of pride flags and similar symbols in employees' private offices and consular posts. This action reflects the administration's stance against LGBTQ+ visibility in government spaces.

Supporting reports

• Defense Department removes webpage honoring Vietnam War general — In mid-March 2025, the Defense Department removed a webpage honoring an Army general who served in the Vietnam War and received the country's highest military decoration. The letters "DEI" were added to the site's address, signaling the removal was part of the administration's anti-DEI campaign. Following public backlash, the page was restored, though a Pentagon spokesperson defended the removal effort and stated that claims diversity is a strength are "frankly, incorrect."
• National Park Service deletes content on Black soldiers' Revolutionary War contributions — The Minute Man National Historical Park webpage was edited to delete a section documenting the unrecognized contributions of Black soldiers in the Revolutionary War, as part of the broader Trump administration effort to remove content deemed to promote diversity and inclusion from federal historical resources.
• National Park Service removes Harriet Tubman quote and image from Underground Railroad webpage — The National Park Service deleted a prominent quote and image of abolitionist Harriet Tubman from its Underground Railroad webpage, removing references to slavery and the Fugitive Slave Act while reframing the Underground Railroad's history to emphasize "Black/White Cooperation" instead of enslaved people's resistance to bondage. The revision reflects the Trump administration's broader effort to sanitize federal historical narratives by removing content deemed to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
• National Park Service removes transgender references from Stonewall National Monument webpage — In February 2025, the National Park Service removed references to transgender people from its Stonewall National Monument webpage as part of the broader Trump administration effort to eliminate DEI-related content from federal historical and educational resources.
• Trump administration directs removal of DEI-related content across federal government websites — Following Trump's January 2025 inauguration, the administration has systematically directed federal agencies to remove content deemed to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from government websites. The Pentagon issued a memo ordering a "digital content refresh" instructing officials to search for and delete references to racism, ethnicity, LGBTQ issues, and diversity. The Interior Department directed park service officials to identify webpages for similar changes, resulting in removal of content honoring women and minority contributions across thousands of pages.
• Trump administration removes Benjamin Franklin slavery webpage — The Trump administration removed a webpage examining Benjamin Franklin's relationship with slavery from federal government sites. The page now displays a message stating "This page is currently being worked on. Please check back later," effectively taking offline historical content about a founding figure's involvement in slavery.
• National Park Service restored Harriet Tubman photo and quote — The National Park Service restored a photo and quote from Harriet Tubman to a web page about the Underground Railroad, one day after the Washington Post reported the agency rewrote the history of the movement on its website as part of an anti-DEI push by Trump.
• Trump administration erases historical figures from federal websites as part of DEI elimination — The Trump administration removed references to Harriet Tubman, Medgar Evers, and other historical leaders from federal websites as part of a broader effort to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This action follows an executive order issued on March 27, 2025, targeting DEI programs across federal agencies, including efforts to defund or redirect resources from the African American History Museum and the Kennedy Center.

Supporting reports

• Columbia Political Review staff writers resign and go on hiatus over article association fears — Three staff writers at Columbia Political Review have resigned and four additional writers have taken hiatus, citing fear that their association with certain articles could jeopardize their safety or future career prospects. Editor Adam Kinder attributes the departures to mounting pressure from the Trump administration's targeting of pro-Palestinian speech and activism.
• Columbia Political Review removes nearly a dozen articles and halts publication of additional pieces — Adam Kinder, editor of Columbia Political Review, reports the publication has been asked to remove nearly a dozen articles and halt publication of over a dozen more in recent weeks. The publication has complied with all takedown requests. Kinder attributes the requests to mounting pressure and student fears of retaliation from the Trump administration for expressing disagreement with its policies.
• National student journalism organizations issue alert on editorial norms amid repression — A coalition of national student journalism organizations issued an alert on Friday calling on student papers to reconsider longstanding editorial norms around unpublishing stories and anonymization. The alert acknowledges that the recommendations "stand in opposition to how many of us as journalism educators have taught and advised our students over the years," but states "these are not normal times," reflecting the unprecedented pressure on student media from Trump administration enforcement.
• Stanford Daily receives surge of article takedown requests from contributors — Greta Reich, editor of Stanford Daily, reports a rapid escalation in takedown requests from sources and opinion writers in recent weeks. Requests have ranged from anonymity demands to removal of bylines and blurring of identifying images. One international student staff editor resigned entirely, citing fear of association with articles that could jeopardize their safety or career prospects.
• Student journalists remove bylines and request article takedowns fearing Trump administration retaliation — Student journalists across US universities are removing their names from published articles, requesting full takedowns, and resigning from editorial roles amid fears of legal repercussions and deportation. The trend accelerated following the arrest of Tufts graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, detained by ICE after writing a pro-Palestinian op-ed, and Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil, arrested over pro-Palestinian protest involvement. University newspaper editors report international students are particularly vulnerable, though US citizens are also requesting anonymization. Major publications including Columbia Political Review, Stanford Daily, and Purdue Exponent have complied with takedown requests.
• University of Virginia Cavalier Daily staffer resigns over visa safety concerns — An immigrant staff member of the Cavalier Daily resigned from the editorial board after the publication ran pieces about Trump's policies on universities, specifically regarding immigrants and pro-Palestine activism. The student was advised by the university's international studies office that public association with these articles could pose risks to their visa status. Editor Naima Sawaya acknowledged that the current climate differs from the publication's historical refusal of takedown requests.
• Student journalists unpublishing stories amid fears of Trump administration repercussions — The Guardian reported that student journalists are unpublishing stories, retracting their bylines from published articles, and resigning from campus newsrooms amid fears of repercussions from the Trump administration.