https://politicalresearch.org/ The latest research related to State Repression en https://politicalresearch.org/2026/04/02/mulling-over-mullin-and-theocratic-creep-gop On March 24, the U.S. Senate voted to confirm Senator Markwayne Mullin as President Trump’s next Secretary of Homeland Security, following the disastrous tenure of Kristi Noem. Thu, 02 Apr 2026 12:00:00 EDT Frederick Clarkson 0aebbfb1-28f5-4e99-8bbf-a5e8a739bc06 https://politicalresearch.org/2026/03/31/were-all-together With ICE agents kidnapping thousands and executing people in broad daylight, the Trump administration’s authoritarianism is on full display for all to see. But so is the power of everyday people. Tue, 31 Mar 2026 12:00:00 EDT Political Research Associates, Ben Lorber, Ethan Fauré, Steven Gardiner, Annie Wilkinson 2b590605-47e6-4779-b7cc-7fc3027aaf67 https://religiondispatches.org/2026/03/17/flowing-against-fascism I watched federal agents disappear three people last week. I watched federal agents abduct three of my neighbors last Wednesday in South Burlington, VT, while members of our community surrounded and shielded them as best we could for as long… Tue, 17 Mar 2026 11:10:02 EDT Ilyse R. Morgenstein Fuerst 755919d6-4d7b-47ed-9e75-fa4910d48f8f https://politicalresearch.org/2026/03/12/fracturing-maga-base-conversation-war-iran-and-its-reverberations-home-steven-gardiner In this season 4 bonus episode, Koki sits down with PRA’s Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner to discuss the outset of the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran, how the war compares to a history of U.S. imperial violence, and… Thu, 12 Mar 2026 05:00:00 EDT Political Research Associates, Steven Gardiner a270b31a-f322-4f72-9a82-8a0ed68abd0c https://religiondispatches.org/2026/03/06/trumps-war-iran-isnt-about-armageddon-its-first-meme-war On Monday, two days after the U.S. and Israel carried out a series of attacks on Iran—dubbed “Operation Epic Fury” by the U.S. and “Operation Roaring Lion” by Israel—reports began circulating of commanders telling U.S. troops that the war is… Fri, 06 Mar 2026 03:18:06 EST Lauren Horn Griffin 38467a10-686c-4be6-b148-733e83cfccd6 https://politicalresearch.org/2026/03/05/magas-imperial-ambitions On January 3, 2026, the Trump administration bombed Venezuela and abducted President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, taking them to New York to face “narcoterrorism” charges. The escalation followed several months of U.S. military strikes on boats in… Thu, 05 Mar 2026 12:00:00 EST Political Research Associates, Steven Gardiner fdbceb27-b29b-481d-be0e-2c8aa741e928 https://politicalresearch.org/2026/02/03/all-eyes-minneapolis-lessons-resisting-authoritarianism In this bonus episode, PRA researchers discuss the deadly ICE crackdown in Minneapolis and the powerful resistance we’ve seen on the streets. ICE continues to kidnap thousands with impunity, and the brutal murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti show… Tue, 03 Feb 2026 09:27:25 EST Political Research Associates, Ben Lorber, Ethan Fauré, Steven Gardiner, Annie Wilkinson 0c093f81-a37f-478e-a4eb-a81e988ad657 https://religiondispatches.org/2026/01/30/make-no-mistake-about-trumps-minnesota-de-escalation Reading the corporate media over the past few days, you might come away with the impression that national (and international) outrage over state-sanctioned terror and killings of civilians in the streets of Minneapolis has led to the Trump administration moderating… Fri, 30 Jan 2026 12:16:41 EST Annika Brockschmidt ccfa57bf-e423-4df2-8164-a72011ded75f https://politicalresearch.org/2026/01/20/belligerence-abroad-repression-home In this season 4 bonus episode, Koki talks to PRA Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner about the Trump administration’s early-January attack on Venezuela and escalating domestic confrontations around ICE enforcement, including the Minneapolis protests around the murder of Renee Good… Tue, 20 Jan 2026 12:00:00 EST Political Research Associates, Steven Gardiner b214e445-93b3-45cd-9365-5e901a467342 https://religiondispatches.org/2026/01/19/trump-orders-1500-paratroopers-standby Following threats to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows federal troops to engage in law enforcement activities, President Trump has ordered the Department of Defense to place two battalions of the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division on alert for potential… Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:04:11 EST Steven Gardiner e60ffda4-57bb-4fa9-842c-f8d5d00f7dbe https://politicalresearch.org/2026/01/15/beyond-ballot-rise-competitive-authoritarianism-steven-gardiner In this season finale episode, Koki talks to Steven Gardiner, PRA Principal Research Advisor, to reflect on the first year of Trump’s second term and its implications for U.S. democracy. While the MAGA base remains about 15% of the U.S… Thu, 15 Jan 2026 12:00:00 EST Political Research Associates, Steven Gardiner 91f76dc8-9dd9-4e42-afb2-fa9022b14f3d https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/18/not-all-our-relations The Senate approved the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) yesterday, authorizing nearly $900 billion in military spending next year—and all but guaranteeing federal recognition for the Lumbee People after many contentious decades. Trump is expected to sign the NDAA… Thu, 18 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Lianna Constantino 38c29f20-2ad3-4260-82bf-179cfc23656f https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/17/us-militarys-jerusalem-cross-fetish It’s never a good sign when the Jerusalem Cross hits the news in the United States. Which is unfortunate, since the symbol, which features prominently on the flag of Georgia (the country, not the state), has been used to signify… Wed, 17 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Annika Brockschmidt, Thomas Lecaque 7988ce0d-e3ef-4012-926a-597ffec7de0c https://religiondispatches.org/2025/12/05/infected Contrary to the beliefs of some in the anti-vaxx world, infectious diseases spread through bacteria and viruses, microscopic organisms that invade our bodies and make us sick. They seem natural, governed by biological properties. But who gets sick, when… Fri, 05 Dec 2025 12:00:00 EST Susannah Crockford 756d5fa1-85a0-4e36-8bea-41749a4f5e45 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/11/20/media-and-mainstream-jewish-orgs-ignore-antisemitism It’s not often that you see a federal judge issue a frothing antisemitic diatribe and call it an “opinion.” You’d think that when that happened, there’d be an outcry—after all Trump has taken unprecedented steps, like canceling research funding for… Thu, 20 Nov 2025 12:00:00 EST Noah Berlatsky fb0eb994-adb9-41c7-901c-c459791d972f https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/31/right-memes-while-millions-face-food-insecurity Last Friday, October 24, the Department of Agriculture announced that there would be no emergency plan to provide for the 42 million Americans who rely on food stamps and, due to the government shutdown, will no longer receive them as… Fri, 31 Oct 2025 12:00:00 EDT Carmen Celestini a220fa85-0d6f-432b-ac4c-ee627705265f https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/22/course-it-was-shit The AI video reposted by Donald Trump in response to the No Kings marches has been called everything from “juvenile” to “unhinged.” But as both Michelle Goldberg and Anne Applebaum have pointed out, what’s emerging around Trump is no longer… Wed, 22 Oct 2025 11:16:12 EDT Karen E. Park 03322304-c515-4e75-bb68-2662334d4fcf https://politicalresearch.org/2025/10/10/dhss-immigrant-tracking-tech-lays-ground-authoritarian-surveillance Anita Say Chan reveals how new surveillance technologies employed by DHS and ICE to monitor, arrest, and deport immigrants have a long history rooted in eugenics profiling from the 19th and 20th centuries. Fri, 10 Oct 2025 12:00:00 EDT Anita Say Chan eaf65178-7246-4cbe-b830-4cd827ede213 https://religiondispatches.org/2025/10/01/brain-worm-science In a rambling press conference last week, Donald Trump announced that commonly used over-the-counter painkiller Tylenol is “not good.” Specifically addressing pregnant women, Trump repeated “don’t take Tylenol” around a dozen times, enough for a mantra or EDM remix. No… Wed, 01 Oct 2025 12:00:00 EDT Susannah Crockford 0baf9ccd-1c7f-4c86-8ad0-a1f5e0e01e84 https://politicalresearch.org/2025/09/25/its-never-just-about-gender-gender-and-authoritarianism-pra-analyzes-trump-20s-first-100 In this second of a two-part series on analyzing Trump 2.0’s first 100 days in office, we share insights from PRA’s researchers about how MAGA weaponizes gender to entrench authoritarianism. Thu, 25 Sep 2025 05:31:32 EDT Political Research Associates 4e3e970b-c997-4ecd-815d-ff2ef117fa33 https://politicalresearch.org/2025/08/14/do-not-let-grief-harden-despair-pra-analyzes-trump-20s-first-100-days-part-1 In this first of a two-part series on analyzing Trump 2.0’s first 100 days in office, we share insights from PRA’s researchers about how to move beyond the work on blocking rising authoritarianism, to the work of building power, vision, and solidarity. Thu, 14 Aug 2025 12:30:00 EDT Political Research Associates 04d3f966-783a-42b5-b3ee-4b7e4b5e22ea https://politicalresearch.org/2025/07/10/antidote-authoritarianism-jiva-manske In this episode, Koki and Jiva lay out key ways that the Left can and must build a shared vision of democracy, while the pro-democracy movement is in a moment of crisis. They talk through the “what is to be done?”, drawing inspiration history. Thu, 10 Jul 2025 12:33:27 EDT Political Research Associates 7df4c399-4e13-40fb-a1a0-f4eda8680c66 https://politicalresearch.org/2025/07/02/burning-down-house Katherine Stewart traces the rise of the antidemocratic movement fueling Trumpism and the authoritarian Right in this adapted excerpt from her book Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy. Wed, 02 Jul 2025 01:57:01 EDT Katherine Stewart c749e760-8c09-40c1-a7f7-1c7e5317c54a https://politicalresearch.org/2025/07/02/deep-state-affair Faith Lazar details the history of the U.S. Right’s relationship to the FBI and the security state, from the early days of the Red Scare and pro-government conservatives to the anti-state militias that arose in the aftermath of Waco. Wed, 02 Jul 2025 12:38:54 EDT Faith Lazar 2f6a471a-1724-47a4-ae5f-33a330500f90 https://politicalresearch.org/2025/06/12/trump-20s-first-100-days In this wide-ranging piece covering the first 100 days of the second Trump administration, PRA researchers recap the state’s authoritarian gains and sweeping repressive policies, from LGBTQ rights to immigration and Christian Zionism. Thu, 12 Jun 2025 11:22:41 EDT Political Research Associates 33bd0f65-74f8-4781-9062-5ca19c1f34bc