Mehdi Hasan

The article argues that Democrats’ historic 2018 midterm victory gives them a mandate to use their new House majority to investigate Donald Trump and restore congressional checks on executive power. It highlights potential inquiries into abuses of power, corruption, foreign financial ties, hush-money payments, tax returns and obstruction of justice, while noting that special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation could intensify pressure for impeachment. Nancy Pelosi is portrayed as reluctant to impeach without a realistic chance of conviction in the Republican-controlled Senate, but the article concludes that Trump could face damaging revelations, political weakening or removal proceedings.

The piece condemns the normalisation of mass shootings in the United States, highlighting a Cincinnati office shooting that killed three people and wounded two, as well as an attempted school shooting in Iowa. It argues that politicians’ limited response and the media’s focus on Donald Trump have reduced public attention to recurring gun violence, leaving families feeling unsafe.

The column argues that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should be abolished, portraying the agency as a relatively recent institution that has become increasingly aggressive under Donald Trump and has targeted families, students and other vulnerable immigrants. It traces the rapid growth of the #AbolishICE campaign from activist Sean McElwee to Democratic congressional candidates and figures including Cynthia Nixon and Mark Pocan, while noting that many Democrats, including Bernie Sanders and former Obama adviser Cecilia Muñoz, remain opposed or skeptical. The column concludes that ICE is beyond meaningful reform and calls for a complete reimagining of immigration enforcement, including a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

Mike Pence’s proximity to the presidency and his apparent political ambitions raise the prospect of him replacing Donald Trump if an impeachment crisis develops. His creation of a political action committee on the day Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate the Trump campaign is presented as unlikely to have been coincidental. Despite Pence’s more conventional Christian-conservative image, the piece argues that replacing Trump with Pence could mean exchanging one dangerous leader for another.