Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

DC Community Rallies Against Trump Administration’s Firing of Federal Workers

DC Community Rallies Against Trump Administration’s Firing of Federal Workers

Paul Osadebe speaks about the importance of organizing amidst the federal government mass firings and buyouts on the panel at the Emancipation Day Speak Out at the Metropolitan AME Church, Wednesday, April 16, 2025

(Medill News Service/Erin Drumm)

WASHINGTON—Paul Osadebe still holds his job as a lawyer at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Still, with so many of his coworkers having lost their jobs, he says it is endangering the mission of providing housing and revitalizing communities.

“They’ve tried to force so many people out that we might not be able to make sure that housing is safe. The process for people applying to housing and actually getting it so they can have a roof over their head, it takes people to make that happen, and we’re under such assault that it's very hard for us to do our jobs,” said Osadebe, who was speaking as an organizer for the Federal Unionist Network, a union.


Osadebe spoke at the Emancipation Day Speak Out on Wednesday evening to commemorate the day when slaves were freed in Washington. D.C. and voice concerns about the Trump administration’s mass firings and budget cuts in Washington at the Metropolitan AME Church in downtown Washington, D.C.

The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has shrunk the 2.4 million federal workforce by what is estimated to have been hundreds of thousands of people by firing, laying off, and pushing federal employees into buyouts to “maximize governmental efficiency and productivity,” according to the White House. No official tally of the federal workforce cuts exists.

“We were told to go into [federal jobs] for security that now is subject to the whims of a billionaire who has no attachment to their realities,” said Ty-Hobson Powell, 29, a local activist.

Sam Epps, President of the Metropolitan Washington Council at the AFL-CIO, a federation of labor unions in the United States, emphasized the importance of federal workers’ job security and access to healthcare.

“This is about working people, organized or unorganized,” Epps said. “This is a huge transfer of power where you [federal workers] are.”

In addition to cutting many federal jobs in the first three months of his presidency, President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order, “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” in March.

“Washington, D.C., is the only city that belongs to all Americans and that all Americans can claim as theirs. As the capital city of the greatest Nation in the history of the world, it should showcase beautiful, clean, and safe public spaces,” Trump said in the executive order.

The executive order sets up a D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force to work closely with local officials, create joint priorities and work together to keep D.C. safe. But city officials and activists see the administration’s actions as an overstep.

“You can’t make D.C. safe and beautiful by cutting over a billion dollars from its budget,” Osadebe said.

Congress adopted a bill that would freeze funding at 2024 levels, resulting in a billion-dollar budget cut. The DC government also expected funding shortfalls because of all the federal workers who have lost jobs and will not pay the same level of taxes.

Osadebe said he sees the Trump administration’s cuts to the federal government and exertion of authority over D.C. as a testing ground for the whole country and urges workers to fight back.

“The way forward is to get organized,” Osadebe said. “If it’s you versus the administration, that’s not going to work but, if everyone who is feeling demoralized and scared or just kind of beaten down find other like minded people and take concrete steps towards defending the thing that they care about, we'll see a big enough coalition to stop all this in its tracks.”

Erin Drumm is a reporter for the Medill News Service covering politics. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2024 with a BA in American Studies and is now a graduate student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs.

Read More

Presidential Incapacity and the Limits of the 25th Amendment

Lynn Schmidt explains how a strong 25th Amendment would protect the presidency itself "by ensuring smooth transitions and public confidence in executive leadership..."

Getty Images, Pool

Presidential Incapacity and the Limits of the 25th Amendment

The authors of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution established and explained the complete order of presidential succession, as well as a series of contingency plans to fill any executive vacancies. It was written as a response to the weaknesses found in Article II after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and what was learned about the inadequacies related to presidential illnesses and hospitalizations.

It feels like the time is not only right but needed for another updated response.

Keep ReadingShow less
Divided American flag

Rev. Dr. F. Willis Johnson writes on the serious impacts of "othering" marginalized populations and how, together, we must push back to create a more inclusive and humane society.

Jorge Villalba/Getty Images

New Rules of the Game: Weaponization of Othering

By now, you have probably seen the viral video. Taylor Townsend—Black, bold, unbothered—walks off the court after a bruising match against her white European opponent, Jelena Ostapenko. The post-match glances were sharper than a backhand slice. Next came the unsportsmanlike commentary—about her body, her "attitude," and a not-so-veiled speculation about whether she belonged at this level. To understand America in the Trump Redux era, one only needs to study this exchange.

Ostapenko vs. Townsend is a microcosm of something much bigger: the way anti-democratic, vengeful politics—modeled from the White House on down—have bled into every corner of public life, including sports. Turning “othering” into the new national pastime. Divisive politics has a profound impact on marginalized groups. Neither Ostapenko nor Donald Trump invented this playbook, yet Trump and his sycophants are working to master it. Fueled by a sense of grievance, revenge, and an insatiable appetite for division, he—like Ostapenko—has normalized once somewhat closeted attitudes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Examining Florida’s Controversial New Immigration Bills: SB 2-C and SB 4-C

On February 13, 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law two major immigration enforcement bills: Senate Bill 2-C (SB 2-C) and Senate Bill 4-C (SB 4-C).

Metin Ozer on Unsplash

Examining Florida’s Controversial New Immigration Bills: SB 2-C and SB 4-C

On February 13, 2025, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law two major immigration enforcement bills: Senate Bill 2-C (SB 2-C) and Senate Bill 4-C (SB 4-C). Introduced by Senator Joe Gruters and co-sponsored by Senator Randy Fine, these bills build upon Florida’s ongoing efforts to increase state involvement in immigration enforcement. Florida’s immigration laws come amid rising state-federal tension over immigration authority, particularly in states led by Republican governors.

SB 2-C includes initiatives relating to funding, cooperation with federal immigration agencies, and law enforcement infrastructure. SB 4-C introduces provisions that criminalize entry and reentry into Florida by undocumented immigrants and create new state-level immigration-related offenses. This brief explores the major provisions of Florida’s SB 2-C and SB 4-C, analyzing the legal, political, and humanitarian arguments for and against their enforcement.

Keep ReadingShow less
The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies before the Senate Finance Committee at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on September 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The State of Health in America: A Political and Scientific Crossfire

At the heart of the Trump administration’s health agenda is a dramatic reorientation of public health priorities. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. declared during a Senate hearing last week:

“We at HHS are enacting a once-in-a-generation shift from a sick-care system, to a true health care system that tackles the root causes of chronic disease.”

“Make America Healthy Again” has been met with both praise and fierce resistance. Republican Senator Mike Crapo supported the initiative, saying:

Keep ReadingShow less