Politics

Trump’s Vanity Parades, Immigration Raids and Cuts to Medicaid Face a Feminist Wall

This weekend, while Trump paraded tanks through D.C. in a $45 million display of ego, tens of thousands of peaceful protesters flooded streets across the country to say: No more kings. In cities like Los Angeles, we saw communities come together to defend their neighbors from the cruel realities of immigration raids, family separation and attacks on basic healthcare. The protests made one thing clear—especially among women, who overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump’s actions: We reject this vision of America. And we’re not backing down.

Rest in Power, Melissa Hortman—The Kind of Leader Patriarchy Fears

“I’m not sorry. … I’m really tired of watching women of color in particular being ignored.”

Over the weekend, the feminist movement lost a lion. Melissa Hortman, former speaker of the Minnesota House and longtime champion of reproductive justice, climate action and racial equity, was senselessly gunned down in a targeted attack at her home. Her husband, Mark, was also killed. 

Kelly Dittmar, a political science professor at Rutgers University-Camden and the director of research at the Center for American Women and Politics, shared on social media a powerful speech Hortman gave eight years ago, when she was the minority leader, on the House floor about the power of women’s voices. In it, she interrupted and called out white male legislators during a key debate—and when asked to apologize for her candor, she didn’t flinch.

Our Favorite Signs From the No Kings Protests

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Thousands of No Kings protests swept across the United States on Saturday, June 14. The protests intentionally coincided with a lavish, Trump-ordered U.S. Army 250th anniversary parade, Flag Day and the president’s 79th birthday.

From big cities, to small rural towns, representing every corner of the country, between 4 and 6 million people in more than 2,000 locations attended No Kings protests across the country, making it one of the largest national protests in U.S. history.

“Today what I saw was a boisterous, peaceful display of First Amendment rights,” Ezra Levin, co-founder and co-executive director of the nonprofit Indivisible, told NPR.

Here are some of our favorite signs from those “boisterous” protesters.

As Antiabortion Violence Surges, Republicans Vote to Strip Federal Protections for Providers

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Early Saturday morning, news broke of the assassination of Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state legislator and former speaker, along with her husband Mark. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette were also shot multiple times; both survived and are fighting for their lives following emergency surgery. The suspect had a list of more than 50 additional “targets,” including other Democratic officials, some from outside Minnesota, as well as abortion facilities and leading abortion rights advocates in the state.

Although we don’t yet know if his extremist views on abortion were the driving cause in his murderous rampage, it is proof of the ongoing threats to abortion providers in this climate of escalating political violence.

Yet, just weeks after the suicide bombing of a Palm Springs fertility clinic, and despite rising rates of threats and violence against abortion clinics after the Dobbs decision, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to advance HR 589, the FACE Act Repeal Act of 2025. The bill would repeal the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a statute protecting clinicians’ and patients’ right to safely provide and access reproductive healthcare. All Democrats on the committee voted against the proposed bill.

The Best Birthday Gift for Trump? Voting in Every 2025 Election

Weekend Reading for Women’s Representation is a compilation of stories about women’s representation. 

This week:
—2025 is often considered an off-year for elections, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
—Washington, D.C., is the site of dueling images: Pride and Trump’s alleged celebration of U.S. military might.
—Hannah Pingree has joined the crowded Democratic field for governor in Maine.
—U.S. Rep Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) will join Virginia’s Abigail Spanberger as Democratic nominees for governor in races leaning toward Democrats.
—San Antonio elects Gina Ortiz Jones as mayor.
—Ranked-choice voting is a women’s issue.

… and more!

Trump’s Cartoonish Performance of Masculine Strength, from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.

Donald Trump’s decision to mobilize the military in Los Angeles was made against the reasoned judgment and expressed wishes of LA Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom. The recent actions of the president present yet another opportunity to observe, in real time, how the Trump era continues to be shot through with destructive and antiquated ideas about masculine strength – along with growing pushback against them.  

It might or might not be coincidental, but the fact that Trump called in the National Guard and a contingent of Marines into downtown L.A., just the week before the president’s expensive and ostentatious celebration of military prowess for his 79th birthday and the Army’s 250-year anniversary.

What Comes After Roe? Fear, Surveillance and Felony Charges

A new survey reveals that a majority of likely voters oppose policies that grant legal rights to fertilized eggs, embryos and fetuses. They also oppose the criminalization of pregnancy loss, denial of emergency medical care and broader threats to reproductive freedom.

Yet here we are, with bills to codify those rights brewing in a quarter of U.S. states this year.

Even when they do not succeed, we cannot simply ignore them or hope their proponents call it quits. Rather, this is a prime opportunity to double down on educating people and harnessing public opinion.

Keeping Score: Trump Administration Targets Immigrants and Emergency Abortion Care; Newsom Pushes Back

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—California Governor Gavin Newsom stands up to President Trump over ICE raids: “California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.”
—Trump threatens EMTALA.
—Israeli forces detained Greta Thunberg and 11 other activists while trying to deliver aid to Gaza.
—New research found unintended pregnancies correlate with gender inequality.
—Taylor Swift finally owns her entire music catalog.

… and more.

From Reckoning to Backlash, Black Women Reflect on the Stakes of the Moment

In 2020, the killing of George Floyd shocked Americans into action and into the streets by the millions, protesting the unrelenting killing of Black people by police. 

The moment sparked a nascent reckoning in America around systemic racism and institutional inequality—in many cases, with Black women at the center. Already the backbone of our democracy, many were called on to also be a bridge to racial healing.

Five years later, many of these same Black women find themselves at the center of a backlash, confronted with attacks on the diversity, equity and inclusion efforts that were previously championed.

The Ugliest of Bills: How Republicans’ Reconciliation Bill Endangers All Children

One of the many dangers of the budget reconciliation package currently before the Senate is its audacity. It is so large, so ugly and so expensive—nothing beautiful to see here—that it can be hard to know how to fight back. 

So much is at risk that, even assuming some of the most talked-about measures, such as Medicaid cuts, are removed or modified in the Senate, it is likely that passage of This Ugliest of Bills (THUG Bill) would still fundamentally harm millions of people.  

Children—citizen and non-citizen—are going to be especially hard hit if this ugliest of bills passes.