OK, so when I said last week was maybe the most batshit week of Donald Trump’s second administration so far, I was wrong. Of course! Because on Monday, Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that he had accidentally been added to a Signal group chat with some of the country’s top defense officials—including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, who apparently added Goldberg to the chat—where the group was discussing drone strikes in Yemen.

Multiple intelligence officials were hauled before Congress, denying any breach in national security even after the Atlantic published a second article with the full contents of the Signal chat Goldberg bore witness to. The Trump administration, for its part, is standing by the officials involved—at least for now

I don’t even think my favorite TikTok tarot readers could have predicted this for me. On to the rest.

Anti-democratic actions

• The Trump administration has been steadily revoking hundreds of student visas and detaining international students with valid visas over their alleged participation in pro-Palestine protests. One particularly chilling incident was the arrest of Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk, who was apprehended by plainclothes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Oztuk’s only apparent connection to pro-Palestine activism was her co-authoring a Tufts Daily op-ed criticizing Tufts’ response to student demands during campus pro-Palestine protests last year.
• Despite a court order requiring Ozturk to be held in Massachusetts, she appears to have been moved to a detention center in Louisiana, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Department of Justice claimed the court order came after Ozturk had already been transported to Louisiana, according to the Guardian.
• A Columbia University student being targeted by ICE sued Trump to prevent her deportation, according to the New York Times. A judge ordered the White House to stop trying to arrest her.
• Academic groups are suing the administration over its arrests of international students, NBC News reported.
• Trump issued an executive order requiring all states to make people provide proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
• Another executive order aims to end union rights for employees of several federal agencies.
• The New York Times reported that Trump issued an executive order against the law firm WilmerHale, where former special counsel Robert Mueller had worked, cancelling all government contracts and security clearances for the firm.
• The White House is asking the Supreme Court to step in to stop forced rehiring of federal workers, the New York Times reported.
• Teachers unions are suing the Trump administration over its attempt to dismantle the Department of Education (DOE) via executive order.

DOGE

• Senior members of Congress who oversee Social Security, including Republicans, told NBC News they were unaware of some of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) moves to shrink the Social Security Administration.
• A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction to prevent DOGE from accessing sensitive DOE data.

Immigration

• After a federal appeals court upheld a temporary block on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport migrants, SCOTUSBlog reported the administration asked the Supreme Court to allow them to continue using the 18th-century law, which the administration had invoked to deport individuals it accused of being in a Venezuelan gang.

LGBTQ+ rights

• A federal judge issued a second federal injunction against Trump’s ban on trangender people serving in the military.
• The DOE (which apparently still exists?) is investigating Portland, Oregon schools because it allegedly allowed a transgender athlete to participate on girls’ teams and use the girls’ locker room, NBC News reported.

DEI and civil rights

• The Department of Justice announced it would investigate whether California colleges are complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that killed affirmative action in higher education admissions.
• Trump signed an executive order asking JD Vance to get rid of “divisive, race-centered ideology” from Smithsonian museums.

Health and science

• The Department of Health and Human Services announced it would eliminate 10,000 jobs across multiple health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NBC News reported.
• The administration plans to stop providing money to an organization that helps buy vaccines for low-income countries, the New York Times reported.

Recommended reading

*Ahem* I always recommend reading Rewire News Group dot com for the best analyses and deep dives on reproductive justice issues, but these were some of my favorite stories from other outlets this week.

• The Atlantic published the entirety of the Signal Chat Heard ‘Round the World after a Senate committee hearing on its initial story.
• I love this Prism piece on creating your own community care in the wake of attacks on Medicaid and other American health-care systems.

Unwind

After this particularly stressful news week, I’ve been turning to new music and TV to decompress after work.

• My partner might be a little worried about how much I’ve been jamming to HAIM’s newest single, “Relationships.” Now that it’s warming up outside, do yourself a favor and strut down the street Haim sister-style.
• Ironically, watching a TV show about a different type of White House dysfunction has actually made my week. The Residence, a new Netflix series about a murder at a state dinner, has been the perfect cozy whodunnit to fill the gap left by Knives Out. Be advised that this is not a show to put on in the background—I had to keep rewinding every time I got up to feed my dog or grab a glass of water because every moment truly mattered.