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Weekly Digest
Letter from an Editor | June 14, 2025
Dear John,
People snatched off the streets into unmarked vans. A father pulled over and detained on his drive to work. Heavily armed ICE agents in outsized, armored vehicles swooping into workplaces—car washes, meat packing plants, garment factories, Home Depot parking lots. Children torn from their families, put on planes or left in dubious custody situations while their parents sit behind bars.
This is the cruel reality of Trump’s America that so many gathered in the streets and in front of courthouses to protest this week, across the country.
Here in Los Angeles, where the Ms . offices are located, we saw something beautiful emerge from these horrors: people joining together to stand up for their communities, for the rights and dignity of their neighbors and classmates and family members. For women and men they had never met, and who they are unlikely to ever meet. Seeing the people of LA stand side by side, facing down the National Guard, we at Ms . felt proud to be a part of this city. (An important note here: despite what media coverage might have you believe, the protests have involved tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators). We are a city that fights back for what is right.
The Trump administration’s escalation of immigration enforcement activity is just the latest in a string of wildly unpopular policies and actions. Recent Quinnipiac polls indicate that majorities of Americans disapprove of his handling of immigration issues (54 percent disapprove, 43 percent approve) and deportations (56 percent disapprove, 40 percent approve), as well as his handling of the economy, trade, and universities. By every measure, he’s lost the American public.
A majority also disapprove of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (53 percent disapprove, 27 percent approve), and many are expressing concerns over the bill’s potential impacts on Medicaid funding. Nearly half agree that “federal funding for Medicaid should increase,” according to Quinnipiac—and the program’s favorability among members of all parties has increased over the past month as the debate on the bill has raged, according to polling by Navigator. Even among many Independents and non-MAGA Republicans, voting to cut Medicaid was seen as a “dealbreaker” when it came to their support for a candidate.
Despite pushing the line that the bill’s cutbacks in Medicaid funding are only targeting “waste, fraud and abuse,” in reality, the bill will cut off healthcare to millions. A May report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that virtually all the health care-related cuts included in the bill will come from “families that count on Medicaid losing their coverage or benefits”—not eliminating fraud or waste. The CBO also found that the not-so-Beautiful Bill would reduce overall income for low-income households by $1600—while high-income households would get a $12,000 boost, on average.
This weekend, on June 14—Flag Day—Trump is staging a parade. Tanks in the streets. Helicopters overhead. Soldiers marching for the cameras. $45 million of our tax dollars (not to mention the millions in damages to the streets of Washington, D.C.) Not to honor democracy, but to feed his ego.
The contrast couldn’t be greater: between his vision of America—with all its tanks and helicopters and guns—and the vision of people marching and demonstrating for “no more kings” in the streets in Los Angeles and across the country.
I know which vision I believe in—and which group I’ll be marching with. I’d encourage you to join us. You can click here [[link removed]] to find a “No Kings Day” march near you.
For equality,
[[link removed]]
Kathy Spillar
Executive Editor
This Week's Must-Reads from Ms.
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Every Day Should Be No Kings Day [[link removed]] Trump’s Cartoonish Performance of Masculine Strength, from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C. [[link removed]]
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Trump Is Gutting Healthcare—But Women’s Health Was Already Disastrously Underfunded [[link removed]] The Ugliest of Bills: How Republicans’ Reconciliation Bill Endangers All Children [[link removed]]
[link removed] [[link removed]] Tune in for a new episode of Ms. magazine's podcast, On the Issues with Michele Goodwin on
Apple Podcasts [[link removed]] + Spotify [[link removed]] .
In this emergency episode, we’re ringing the alarm bells: We just learned that in the state of Georgia, a woman named Adriana Smith, who was declared brain-dead in February, is being forcibly kept on a ventilator due to the state’s strict abortion ban, against her family’s wishes. Dr. Michele Goodwin breaks down Adriana Smith’s case, and the cases of other women who, like Smith, have been disrespected and desecrated in death thanks to abortion bans and pregnancy exclusion laws.
We hope you'll listen, subscribe, rate and review today!
U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection point—from the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For over 50 years, Ms . has been forging feminist journalism—reporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all that’s at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donation—any amount that is meaningful to you [[link removed]] . We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity .
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