American citizens with darker skin tones are living in their own country under growing risk: Donald Trump's immigration police officers are arresting them in unprecedented numbers, according to a report today from The New York Times. However, they are not the only ones facing repression from the far-right policies in power.

In the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination, persecution and repression against political dissidents has been unleashed from the White House, while MAGA leaders maintain a "holy war" against anyone who smells faintly of leftism.

This all occurs as Trump falls in the polls. According to the Real Clear Politics average, 52.5 percent of Americans disapprove of their President, while 45.3 percent approve—a 7.2 percent difference between the two indicators. The average compiled by The New York Times presents an even more dramatic picture: Trump's approval rating falls to 43 percent, while disapproval rises to 54 percent, an 11 percentage point gap. Both indicators show a trend of the U.S. leader's numbers declining further.

"American citizens, many of them Latino men, have been detained and in some cases placed into custody by law enforcement officers carrying out President Trump’s immigration crackdown who suspected the men were living illegally in the country. While many of those detained told the agents immediately that they were American citizens, they were routinely ignored, according to interviews with the men, their lawyers and court documents. In some cases, they have been handcuffed, held in detention cells and immigration centers overnight, and in at least two cases, held without access to a lawyer or even a phone call," details a report by Jazmín Ulloa, Allison McCanny, and Jennifer Medina.

According to The Times' text, it is difficult to determine how many U.S. citizens have been detained in the Trump administration's immigration raids. "The federal government keeps no comprehensive record of these encounters, and immigration agents are not required to document the detention of citizens," it states. However, a review based on publicly reported cases and court records found that since January, at least 15 American citizens have been arrested or detained and interrogated about their citizenship by immigration agents or local law enforcement officers recruited to work with federal authorities.

A Democratic Party in Crisis

Timothy Shenk, a historian of modern American politics, narrates from another front. He says that for nearly a year, Democrats have been engrossed in a debate about how to escape the impasse following their defeat to Trump. "In party retreats and private Slack channels, along with tense exchanges on social media and strategic leaks to journalists, Democrats have debated the missteps of the Biden administration and the shortcomings of the Harris campaign."

The stakes in these arguments have increased even more after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Shenk says, when the White House intensified its crackdown on dissidents and MAGA leaders declared a holy war against the left. "But an air of denial—and, more recently, panic—has permeated the debate about the future. It is easy to state that drastic reform is needed, but there is no agreement on what it should look like. In practice, the party establishment is doing what it always does: counting on the other side to self-destruct in order to return to power with minimal changes."

"This strategy would be much more defensible if Democrats could dismiss Trumpism as a fever that would eventually break. But the evidence of recent years points in the opposite direction: the declining population in Democratic states, an alarming drop in Democratic voter registration, disastrous calculations for recapturing the Senate, and the overwhelming majority who claim the party is 'out of touch.' Worst of all is the continued rightward shift of the working class, a challenge that goes beyond winning elections and directly impacts the very essence of being a Democrat," the essay adds.

The Rise of a New Left?

The Wall Street Journal reports on another phenomenon developing in parallel as a consequence of the above: the ascent of young American socialists. *"While the popularity of the Democratic Party, for the most part, has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years, according to one poll, and its leaders seem uncertain about how to oppose Trump, the far left appears vigorous, especially among the young. A recent Cato Institute/YouGov poll revealed that 62 percent of Americans between 18 and 29 years old have a favorable view of socialism, something unimaginable for Cold War generations. Some are venturing even further to the left,"* asserts the newspaper.

"Long before Lehman Brothers collapsed and capitalism staggered, Gabe Tobias had a striking vision of what would become the global financial crisis." The article narrates how Tobias, working as a community organizer in 2006, witnessed families, particularly Hispanic immigrants, being forced from their homes due to adjustable-rate mortgages they barely understood.

Tobias became familiar with the tricks of unscrupulous mortgage agents, the paper details: using multiple documents to confuse clients, recruiting community leaders to sell dubious products to those with limited English, and more. At a young age, he reached a sobering conclusion: "There is an industry created to take money from working people."

In June, Tobias's friend, 33-year-old Zohran Mamdani, surprised the political world by comfortably winning the Democratic primary for a New York City Council seat, running as a convinced socialist.

"Mamdani's victory has been attributed to his charisma, his skillful use of social media, his ability to incorporate South Asian residents into municipal politics, and the shortcomings of his main opponents. But it is also something more: the flowering of a movement that began to take shape almost 20 years ago, when the misery of the financial crisis proved formative for a generation that was just coming of age," the chronicle adds.

Over time, some found a home in the nativist MAGA movement created by President Trump. But others went in search of different answers. Along the way, they have revived what had been a moribund faction of the Democratic Party and have created a group of now-experienced activists who propelled Mamdani. "Veterans of Occupy Wall Street, the protest movement that emerged in response to the 2008 crisis, now hold important positions in groups like the Working Families Party, which gave Mamdani a vital early endorsement, and Justice Democrats," says The Wall Street Journal.