America was at its Trumpiest 100 years ago. Here's how to prevent the worst.
Adam Hochschild is the author of 'American Midnight: The Great War, a Violent Peace, and Democracy's Forgotten Crisis.'
What was the Trumpiest period of American life before Donald Trump? And what might we learn from it?
It is easy to imagine that constitutional rights are under greater threat today than ever in the past. But history suggests otherwise. Although much of what happened during and after World War I is now long forgotten, Americans in those years saw the federal government act in ways that — so far — Trump can only dream of.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
USA Today
27 minutes ago
- USA Today
Judge sides with Trump DOJ to keep Mahmoud Khalil in detention
Judge sides with Trump DOJ to keep Mahmoud Khalil in detention Show Caption Hide Caption Supporters protest for Mahmoud Khalil's release from ICE detention Supporters demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil while he attended a hearing at the LaSalle Immigration Court in Jena, Louisiana. A federal judge ruled the Trump administration could keep Mahmoud Khalil in custody under a secondary legal argument. On June 13, U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz, of New Jersey, rejected the 30-year-old Palestinian Columbia University graduate's request to be released after three months in immigration detention. On June 11, Farbiarz initially ruled Khalil couldn't be detained by Secretary of State Marco Rubio's determination that he threatened American foreign policy interests. But Farbiarz left open other options for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold Khalil. Ahead of a court-ordered deadline to respond on June 13, Justice Department lawyers argued Khalil could be held for misrepresenting information on his permanent residency application, under a federal immigration statute lawyers have presented to the court. "Khalil is now detained based on that other charge of removability," Justice Department lawyers wrote in a June 13 letter submitted to court. "Detaining Khalil based on that other ground of removal is lawful." They said Khalil now has options to seek his release with the charge pending. Farbiarz sided with that assessment and said the secondary charge hasn't been blocked by the court. He said, "a number of avenues are now available to" Khalil, "including a bail application to the immigration judge presiding over the immigration case." Khalil's lawyer, Amy Greer, said that the government was using 'cruel, transparent delay tactics' to keep him away from his wife and newborn son on their first Father's Day, on June 15. 'Instead of celebrating together, he is languishing in ICE detention as punishment for his advocacy on behalf of his fellow Palestinians,' Greer said in a statement. The Justice Department had no comment beyond the filings, an agency spokesperson said in an email. The government had until June 13 to appeal the judge's initial ruling. Justice Department lawyers pushed Khalil to follow the administrative actions instead of filing in federal court. "These administrative processes are the proper avenues for Khalil to seek release, not having a federal district court hold that the government cannot detain Khalil on a charge that the Court never found to be unlawful," the government lawyers said in the letter. In his original June 11 ruling, Farbiarz Khalil's request to temporarily block federal officials from deporting him under Rubio's determination. On June 13, he extended the government's time to respond to appeal his decision. Justice Department lawyers instead brought up the second argument. Khalil's legal team sent a letter to Farbiarz the morning of June 13, requesting that the client be freed since the appeal from the government did not meet the morning deadline. Khalil has been held in an immigration detention center in Louisiana since March. His lawyers have fought for his release to be with his wife and newborn son, Deen. However, a June 12 email sent to Khalil's lawyers by Brian Acuna, director of the New Orleans ICE Field Office, stated that he had "no information [that] your client will be released or a time for that," court records showed. His lawyers instead needed to contact ICE's Office of Chief Counsel on that matter, the email said. Immigration agents arrested Khalil, a green card holder married to an American citizen, on March 8 in the lobby of his university-owned apartment building in Manhattan. A Palestinian born in Syria, Khalil was a spokesman and negotiator for pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia. Khalil was not accused of any crime. Noncitizens can be deported if the Secretary of State finds that their presence threatens U.S. foreign policy interests, even if their beliefs, statements or associations are "otherwise lawful," the Trump administration argued. They cited a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 as the basis. Farbiarz ruled against the Secretary of State's determination and said the secondary argument — that he omitted information on his application to enter the country — "almost surely flows" from Rubio's determination. On June 13, Farbiarz said Khalil hadn't given factual evidence as to why it could be unlawful to detain him on the secondary charge.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump embraces Israeli strike after arguing against it
President Donald Trump spent the bulk of this week saying he hoped Israel wouldn't strike Iran. But by Friday, he was all in. The president had hoped for more time to negotiate with Tehran over its nuclear program, but once Israel launched the massive attack, Trump embraced the new dynamic, using it as leverage to try to seal the deal he wanted all along. 'He didn't want them to go now,' a senior administration official said about Israel. 'He understands they're a sovereign nation, and he will support them because they're our ally,' added the official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive situation, 'but he wanted more time.' The administration's shift in tone in the first 24 hours after the attack underscores the balancing act the president is engaged in as he tries to assuage various factions in the administration while still maintaining pressure on Iran. The messaging served to assure Israel that the United States had its back, nod to the hawkish faction of the Trump coalition and try to calm the jittery MAGA isolationists who have long been wary of Middle East entanglements. The constant, however, was Trump's desire to bring Iran back to the table even as the Islamic Republic vowed retribution. 'There is still time to make this slaughter, with the next already planned attacks being even more brutal, come to an end,' Trump posted on Truth Social, his first public remarks after the Israeli attack. 'Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left.' Trump's offer to Iran doubled as a 'direct push to Israel' to tap the brakes, the senior administration official said. But by Friday afternoon, with Iran firing dozens/hundreds of rockets toward Israel, the administration left little doubt that it was ready to support Israel's defense, a marked shift from the relatively neutral statement Secretary of State Marco Rubio released immediately after Israel's attack. 'Israel took unilateral action against Iran,' Rubio said Thursday night in a statement. 'We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense.' But by Friday morning, Trump was calling reporters and making it clear that he knew about Israel's plans in advance, describing it as a 'very successful attack' in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The initial administration messaging was, 'we yellow-lighted it,' said Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine. 'Today they said we greenlit it. Or they moved toward a light green.' The senior Trump administration official insisted that while Washington had been informed of Israel's plans ahead of time, the United States had no role in helping plan the attack. 'We did not help plan and they didn't give us every detail,' said the person, who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations within the administration. 'We purposely did not want to know the details,' they said, adding that the United States had the chance to participate in the action against Iran, but opted not to join. Though Trump might have preferred more time to negotiate, he appeared frustrated that talks had stalled, signaling early this week that time for Iran was running out. 'They are good negotiators, but they're tough,' he said Monday at the White House. 'Sometimes they can be too tough, that's the problem. So we're trying to make a deal so that there's no destruction and death. We told them that. I have told them that. I hope that is the way it works out. It might not work out.' The 'too tough' negotiations came as an influential group of hawkish conservatives lobbied Trump furiously to bless the Israeli government's efforts to destroy Iranian nuclear sites. Israel's attack further exposed a rift inside Trumpworld between those hawks, who see Iran as an existential threat to Israel, and the isolationists wary of Middle East entanglements informed by the long and costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "A lot of people in the MAGA movement, and ones that have really invested a lot in electing Trump and [Vice President JD] Vance will be incredibly disappointed if this turns into a larger war and it will lead to some fractures," said a former Pentagon official granted anonymity to speak about the internal dynamics of the president's foreign policy team.
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Majority of Americans Disapprove of Trump's Response to L.A. Protests
A clear majority of Americans disapprove of President Trump's militant handling of the Los Angeles protests, and his approval ratings have firmly fallen into the red. Journalist G Elliot Morris collected numbers from various major polls (YouGov/Economist, Quinippiac, Washington Post/GMU, and AP-NORC) regarding Trump's response to protests in L.A. and his indiscriminate, quota-based crackdown on immigrants. And while most participants disapprove of the protests themselves by a slim margin, the polls are a resounding rejection of Trump's federal involvement in them. An average of 45 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump's deployment of the Marines and National Guard in Los Angeles, while only 37 percent approve. And an overwhelming 56 percent of respondents thought that state governments should 'take the lead' in responding to protest, while just 25 percent thought the federal government should be in charge of it. More than half of respondents also disapprove of Trump's immigration policies and the way he is handling deportation. Outrage toward the administration's draconian activities—masked agents snatching people from their jobs and their homes, tearing children from the arms of their mothers and fathers—continues to grow. Even Trump seems to have noticed, as he backtracked ever so slightly in a post, acknowledging that his deportations were causing farmers to lose 'very good, long time workers.' Only time will tell if something gives before midterm elections in 2026.
