Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Political grief: A U.S. epidemic stimulated by Project 2025

Woman holding her head in her hands in front of her computer

A woman watches Vice President Kamala Harris' concession speech on Nov. 6 after Donald Trump secured enough voters to win a second term in the White House.

Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

When most people think about grief, they associate it with the death of a loved one. They reflect on past memories, shared experiences and precious moments of life. It is natural for one to yearn for the past, the comfort and safety of familiar times and stability. Now, with the promise of a second term for Donald Trump and the suggested implementation of Project 2025, thousands of U.S. citizens are anticipating a state of oppression driven by the proposition of drastic, authoritarian political policies.


This feeling of overwhelming loss of safety and trust in the government is known as political grief. Minority groups — such as individuals who identify as LGBTQA+, immigrants who are currently residing in the United States with or without visas and women of child-bearing age — are currently experiencing political grief due to the possibility of bills being passed in support of Project 2025’s initiatives.

New concerns about adherence to checks and balances have arisen due to Trump’s suggestion that Republican Senators consider agreeing to recess appointments. This is problematic for two reasons. First, recess appointments allow the president to bypass the time taken by the Senate to vote on the appointment of the presidential Cabinet, judicial openings or any vacancies within the executive branch that may occur when the Senate is not in session. In doing this, Trump could authorize temporary appointments to his Cabinet and expedite Senate legislative action.

Second, by encouraging Republican Senators to adhere to recess appointments, Trump is essentially suggesting that he will be more willing to consider endorsing their rise up the leadership ladder. Additionally, the new Trump administration will be operating with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives, increasing the chances that bills regarding initiatives from Project 2025 could be approved.

With these developments, fear of what is to come is now plaguing LGBTQA+ and immigrant families, as well as women and their right to reproductive health. For non-heterosexual families, the possibility of losing their right to marriage, having fostered or adopted children removed from their care or requiring transgender teachers to register as sex offenders are just a few concerns.

Project 2025 also calls for state and local law enforcement to adhere to stricter federal immigration laws. Families of immigrants will now be at risk of expedited deportation following Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids of public areas such as schools and religious institutions. These non-violent immigrants would be placed in massive detention centers for months or years while waiting for deportation. Further, immigrants could expect the elimination of visas for children and adults who have come to the United States for education or seeking asylum from war-torn countries, as well as complete denial of access to the U.S. from the southern border.

Project 2025 aims to restrict access to birth control, and eventually eliminate access to medication abortion by nullifying Food and Drug Administration approval for safe, effective and commonly used drugs such as mifepristone and misoprostol. Hospitals will be allowed to deny abortion care to women who are at risk of losing their lives due to pregnancy complications, placing more pressure on already overwhelmed and under-funded clinics. Businesses will also be prosecuted for transportation and dissemination of abortion pills and associated medical supplies.

If passed, bills and laws solidifying Trump’s plans will harm hundreds of thousands of citizens, immigrants and women. Project 2025 will instigate the separation of loving families, cause the death of thousands of women, incite nation-wide trauma, displace hundreds of thousands of people and potentially provoke economic collapse due to the major loss of workforce. Even U.S. citizens who are not in these minority populations have begun to experience political grief for their friends, neighbors and colleagues.

In preparation of events to come, many individuals are seeking resources and services to protect their rights. Immigration and LGBTQA+ lawyers will soon be in high demand, as immigrants, residents and citizens fight to maintain their rights in the United States. If you or someone you know is in need of legal or mental health services during this time, please reach out for assistance.

Resources

National Mental Health Hotline: 9-8-8

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-TALK (8255)

The Trevor Project (LGBTQA+ Crisis and Suicide Prevention Hotline): 866-488-7386 Lambda Legal (LGBTQA+ Legal Support System): 212-809-8585

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: 800-375-5283 (TTY 800-767-1833, VRS 877-709-5797)

Liley publishes editorial content as well as peer-reviewed scientific publications in the field of behavioral neuroscience.

Read More

Court to Trump: Your Tariffs Are Illegal

Activists of different trade unions burn an effigy of US President Donald Trump to protest against the recent tariff hikes imposed by the US on India during a demonstration in Kolkata on August 13, 2025.

(Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images)

Court to Trump: Your Tariffs Are Illegal

The stage for a potential Supreme Court showdown is set after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that most of former President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs were unlawful.

Trump imposed a series of tariffs, citing the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 as justification. He declared national emergencies over trade deficits and drug trafficking to impose levies on countries, including China, Canada, Mexico, and nearly all U.S. trading partners.

Keep ReadingShow less
Mamdani & The Socialism Canard
File:Zohran Mamdani at the Resist Fascism Rally in Bryant Park on ...

Mamdani & The Socialism Canard

Every time Democrats propose having the government provide new assistance to those in need or a new regulation of business, the Republicans cry out, “This is Socialism.”

But after Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, his fellow Democrats beat them to it. They were aroused primarily, I think, because they feared what a negative reaction to Mamdani from big business would do to Democrats' chances nationally in the upcoming mid-term elections. They should be ashamed of themselves for having become so beholden to big business and for joining Republicans in criticizing by labeling a suggestion for dealing with current societal problems that is consistent with our form of economy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Trump-Era Budget Cuts Suspend UCLA Professor’s Mental Health Research Grant

Professor Carrie Bearden (on the left) at a Stand Up for Science rally in spring 2025.

Photo Provided

Trump-Era Budget Cuts Suspend UCLA Professor’s Mental Health Research Grant

UC Los Angeles Psychology professor Carrie Bearden is among many whose work has been stalled due to the Trump administration’s grant suspensions to universities across the country.

“I just feel this constant whiplash every single day,” Bearden said. “The bedrock, the foundation of everything that we're doing, is really being shaken on a daily basis … To see that at an institutional level is really shocking. Yes, we saw it coming with these other institutions, but I think everybody's still sort of in a state of shock.”

Keep ReadingShow less
Border Patrol in Texas
"Our communities fear that the police and deportation agents are one and the same," the authors write.
John Moore/Getty Images

Who deported more migrants? Obama or Trump? We checked the numbers

We received a question through our Instagram account asking "if it's true what people say" that President Barack Obama deported more immigrants than Donald Trump. To answer our follower, Factchequeado reviewed the public deportation data available from 1993 to June 2025, to compare the policies of both presidents and other administrations.

Deportation statistics ("removals") are not available in a single repository, updated information is lacking, and there are limitations that we note at the end of this text in the methodology section.

Keep ReadingShow less