Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.
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ATROCITYKEY
– Constitutional Illegalities, Collusion, and/or Obstruction of Justice – Environment – Harassment, Bullying, Retribution, and/or Sexual Misconduct – Lies and Misinformation – Musk Madness – Policy – Public Statements and Social Media Posts – Trump Family Business Dealings – Trump Staff and Administration – White Supremacy, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, and/or Xenophobia
– June 1, 2025 – The Trump administration abandoned Biden-era regulations for slashing credit card late fees. The purported savings were posted on an “Agency Deregulation Leaderboard.” The leaderboard claimed the Trump administration saved Americans $29.4 billion as a result of reversing regulations in health insurance, bank fees, and appliance efficiency standards. According to experts and government analyses, the leaderboard’s findings are not reliable. Steve Cicala, codirector of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Project on the Economic Analysis of Regulation, said, “This is just taking money from households and transferring it to banks and credit card companies, and to water and power utility companies.”
– June 2, 2025 – President Trump announced his goal to double the amount of oil coming through Alaska’s oil pipeline system. His plans would repeal Biden-era restrictions banning drilling and mining in millions of acres of pristine Alaskan wilderness. The announcement highlighted a trip to Prudhoe Bay by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright. In a post to X, Wright said, “Unleashing American energy goes hand in hand with unleashing American prosperity.” In response, Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said, “This is another attempt to sell off public lands to oil industry billionaires at the expense of one of the wildest places left in America.”
– June 2, 2025 – David Richardson, the acting head of FEMA, told employees that he did not know the United States had a hurricane season. “Yesterday, as everybody knows, was the first day of hurricane season,” he said. “I didn’t realize it was a season.” FEMA staff were unclear if Richardson was serious or making a joke. The DHS, which oversees FEMA, stated in a press release that Mr. Richardson was joking. Before heading FEMA, Richardson worked in the DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
– June 3, 2025 – Former DOGE director Elon Musk blasted President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts and spending plans just days after departing the administration. Musk posted on X, “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it.” Axios reported that Musk’s criticisms stemmed from the bill’s cutting of the electric vehicle tax credit, the Federal Aviation Administration’s refusal to use his Starlink satellite system for national air traffic control, and Trump’s withdrawal of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator. The Axios source claimed that Elon was “butthurt.”
– June 5, 2025 – Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s relationship deteriorated as the former allies hurled personal insults at each other through social media. Their feud began after Musk criticized Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill," calling it “a disgusting abomination.” Trump responded, “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.” On X, Musk mocked Trump’s connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: “Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Trump then referenced Musk’s recent Oval Office farewell, where he sported a black eye. Trump retorted, “You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk. Even with a black eye. I said, Do you want a little makeup?” Musk admitted that the shiner came from his five-year-old son, X. “I was just horsing around with little X, and I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face,’ and he did.”
– June 6, 2025 – Kilmar Ábrego García, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador during ICE’s initial crackdown, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges. In a press briefing, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said that a federal grand jury had indicted Ábrego García on counts of illegally smuggling undocumented people as well as of conspiracy to commit that crime. “He was a smuggler of humans and children and women,” she claimed. “This is what American justice looks like.” Ábrego García’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said, “After months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him.”
– June 6, 2025 – A large crowd of demonstrators in Los Angeles gathered in the downtown Fashion District after ICE agents showed up at an apparel manufacturing business. By the end of the day, forty people had been taken by ICE and hundreds of protesters clashed with police at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. In response to the raids, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X, “As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety. We will not stand for this.” The next morning, FBI Director Kash Patel responded to Bass, saying, “We will.”
– June 7, 2025 – A White House memorandum issued by Donald Trump for the secretary of defense, the attorney general, and the secretary of homeland security:
“Numerous incidents of violence and disorder have recently occurred and threaten to continue in response to the enforcement of Federal law by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions and supporting the faithful execution of Federal immigration laws… To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States. In light of these incidents and credible threats of continued violence, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard under 10 U.S.C.12406 to temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property.”
– June 8, 2025 – Following orders from the president and bypassing consent from California Governor Gavin Newsom, approximately three hundred National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles. The National Guard is often deployed to respond to natural disasters and is typically only federalized when a governor makes a request. The last time a state’s National Guard was deployed without a governor’s consent was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the National Guard to protect civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. In a joint statement, twenty-two Democratic governors called Trump’s decision “an alarming abuse of power.” Characterizing the deployment as “unlawful” and “a serious breach of state sovereignty,” Governor Newsom formally requested that the Trump administration rescind its deployment of Guard troops.
– June 9, 2025 – The US military confirmed that seven hundred Marines were being deployed to Los Angeles, and the Department of Defense announced it was deploying an additional two thousand National Guard troops. Meanwhile, California sued the Trump administration over the deployment of the National Guard, arguing that Trump had “unlawfully bypassed” California Governor Gavin Newsom by federalizing the National Guard troops without the governor’s permission. “One of the cornerstones of our Nation and our democracy is that our people are governed by civil, not military, rule,” the lawsuit stated. “The Founders enshrined these principles in our Constitution—that a government should be accountable to its people, guided by the rule of law, and one of civil authority, not military rule.”
National Guard troops arrive in Los Angeles (AP).
– June 9, 2025 – Trump accused the protesters in Los Angeles of being “insurrectionists” and suggested that California Governor Gavin Newsom should be arrested. “The people who are causing the problems are bad people. They are insurrectionists,” said Trump, repeating a term that some of his aides have used. Pushing back against Trump’s description of the protest, California officials have stated that the protests were confined to a relatively small area and were predominantly peaceful. When asked whether he supported statements from his border czar, Tom Homan, about arresting state officials who obstruct federal immigration raids, Trump responded, “I’d do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity.” Asked about Homan’s comments on MSNBC, Newsom responded, “He’s a tough guy. Why doesn’t he do that? He knows where to find me. That kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let’s go.”
– June 9, 2025 – Reneging on a promise made during his confirmation hearings, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, fired all seventeen members of the CDC’s advisory committee on immunization. The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices votes on which populations should receive vaccinations and when they should be administered; insurance companies and Medicaid are required to cover the recommended vaccines. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Kennedy Jr. incorrectly claimed that most members of the committee—who are screened for conflicts of interest and forbidden from holding stocks or serving on boards of vaccine manufacturers—had received funding from Big Pharma and characterized the firings as “a bold step in restoring public trust.” Experts quickly fired back. “Secretary Kennedy has not hidden his anti-vaccine agenda. He, more than anyone in our country, has worked to undermine people’s trust and confidence in vaccines,” said Dr. Richard Besser, the former acting CDC director.
– June 9, 2025 – Reviving a controversial measure from his first term, President Trump’s new travel ban against predominantly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect. The ban barred individuals from the following twelve countries from entering the US: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. A partial ban, including heightened restrictions, was also applied to individuals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. “The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” Trump said in a video, referring to a firebombing attack by a man who is from Egypt, which is not impacted by the travel ban. Amnesty International called the travel ban “discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel.” Trump’s first travel ban faced significant legal challenges, and former President Joe Biden called it a “stain on our national conscience.”
President Donald J. Trump signs travel restrictions executive order (YouTube).
– June 10, 2025 – During a speech at Fort Bragg, President Trump announced that he would restore the original Confederate names of seven Army bases. Skirting a law that prevents the Pentagon from naming bases after Confederate leaders or battles, Trump said the bases instead honored soldiers who happened to share the same names as the Confederates. A similar move occurred in February when the Army renamed Fort Liberty to Fort Bragg, its original name, but claimed the base now honored Roland L. Bragg, a World War II veteran, rather than the Confederate general Braxton Bragg. “The bottom line is [Trump]’s choosing surname over service,” said Ty Seidule, a retired Army brigadier general. “It’s breaking the spirit of a law that was created by the will of the American people through their elected representatives.”
– June 10, 2025 – In an interview with Bloomberg News, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the US would no longer work toward the formation of an independent Palestinian state, marking a major shift in foreign policy. When asked if a Palestinian state remained a US policy goal, Huckabee said, “I don’t think so,” adding that the territory for any future Palestinian state would need to be carved out from “a Muslim country” rather than Israel. Responding to a question about Palestinian statehood aspirations in the West Bank, Huckabee used biblical terminology, “Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?” In a separate BBC interview, Huckabee expanded on his views: “Muslim countries have 644 times the amount of land that are controlled by Israel. So maybe, if there is such a desire for a Palestinian state, there would be someone who would say, we’d like to host it.” During his 2008 presidential run, Huckabee said, “There is no such thing as a Palestinian.”
– June 10, 2025 – Following another day of protests in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass announced a curfew, and Governor Gavin Newsom made a nationally televised address. “Donald Trump, without consulting California law enforcement leaders, commandeered two thousand of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets, illegally and for no reason. This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even our National Guard at risk,” said Newsom, who accused Trump of “fanning the flames.” “Democracy is under assault right before our eyes,” Newsom continued. “The rule of law has increasingly been given away to the rule of Don.” On the same day, ABC News reported that there were more US troops deployed to Los Angeles than to Iraq and Syria, while Poynter reported that journalists were injured—and possibly targeted—while covering the protests.
Governor Newsom’s speech on Trump as LA protests persist (CNN).
– June 11, 2025 – The Trump administration announced it would eliminate Biden-era regulations on power plants, the second largest source of pollution, and weaken restrictions on other hazardous emissions that could threaten public health. “EPA is helping pave the way for American energy dominance, because energy development underpins economic development, which in turn strengthens national security,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who also called efforts to rein in climate change a “cult.” “The key rationale Zeldin is using to justify the dismantling of our nation’s protections from power plant pollution is absolutely illogical and indefensible,” said former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy. “By giving a green light to more pollution, his legacy will forever be someone who does the bidding of the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our health.”
– June 11, 2025 – During the Los Angeles protests, a video captured federal agents in two unmarked vehicles colliding directly into another car and trapping it between them to arrest the driver. Besides the driver, a woman and a child were in the car when it was hit. According to witnesses, the agents dispersed a “chemical-smelling smoke” near the pinned car while the woman and child were still inside. “There were kids involved inside that car, and it is scary to think about,” said John Lopez, who witnessed the collision and arrest. Although LAPD initially said the incident was being investigated as a possible assault or hit and run, DHS pushed back against that characterization on social media: “This was no hit and run. This was a targeted arrest of a violent rioter.” On the same day, another video showed law enforcement shooting a woman at close range with what appeared to be “less lethal” ammunition while she was walking to her apartment.
– June 12, 2025 – After attempting to ask a question during DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s press conference in Los Angeles, California Senator Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, was forcibly removed from the room, pushed to the floor, and handcuffed by Secret Service and FBI agents. In a viral video of the incident, Padilla can be heard identifying himself as a senator and saying he had a question for the secretary as the agents pushed him from the room. Padilla was also wearing a polo shirt with the words “United States Senate.” Noem later falsely stated that Padilla had not identified himself, and House Speaker Mike Johnson called for Padilla to be censured. “If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, if this is how the DHS responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers throughout the LA community and throughout California and throughout the country. We will hold this administration accountable,” Padilla later told reporters.
US Sen. Alex Padilla forcefully removed from Noem news conference, handcuffed (KTLA).
– June 14, 2025 – Following over a week of protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s immigration raids, over five million people marched in over two thousand No Kings protests in all fifty states on Donald Trump’s birthday. The predominantly peaceful demonstrations were the largest protests in Trump’s second term and coincided with Trump’s modestly attended military parade in the capital. Ostensibly a celebration of the US army’s 250th birthday, even some administration officials referred to the affair as “Donald Trump’s birthday parade.” The military parade shut down most of Washington, DC, for the day and reportedly cost up to $45 million.
Highlights from President Trump’s military parade (Boston Globe).
– June 15, 2025 – Trump directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities. The move came after large protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said officials “must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.” In the post, Trump pitted “REAL Americans,” against “Radical Left Democrats,” who “are sick of mind, hate...
– June 1, 2025 – The Trump administration
– June 2, 2025 – President Trump announced his goal to double the amount of oil coming through Alaska’s oil pipeline system. His plans would repeal Biden-era restrictions banning drilling and mining in millions of acres of pristine Alaskan wilderness. The announcement highlighted a trip to Prudhoe Bay by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright. In a post to X, Wright said, “Unleashing American energy goes hand in hand with unleashing American prosperity.” In response, Kristen Miller, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League, said, “This is another attempt to sell off public lands to oil industry billionaires at the expense of one of the wildest places left in America.”
– June 2, 2025 – David Richardson, the acting head of FEMA, told employees that he did not know the United States had a hurricane season. “Yesterday, as everybody knows, was the first day of hurricane season,” he said. “I didn’t realize it was a season.” FEMA staff were unclear if Richardson was serious or making a joke. The DHS, which oversees FEMA, stated in a press release that Mr. Richardson was joking. Before heading FEMA, Richardson worked in the DHS’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office.
– June 3, 2025 – Former DOGE director Elon Musk blasted President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” of tax cuts and spending plans just days after departing the administration. Musk posted on X, “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it.” Axios reported that Musk’s criticisms stemmed from the bill’s cutting of the electric vehicle tax credit, the Federal Aviation Administration’s refusal to use his Starlink satellite system for national air traffic control, and Trump’s withdrawal of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to be NASA administrator. The Axios source claimed that Elon was “butthurt.”
– June 5, 2025 – Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s relationship deteriorated as the former allies hurled personal insults at each other through social media. Their feud began after Musk criticized Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill," calling it “a disgusting abomination.” Trump responded, “The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon’s Governmental Subsidies and Contracts.” On X, Musk mocked Trump’s connections to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: “Time to drop the really big bomb: Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!” Trump then referenced Musk’s recent Oval Office farewell, where he sported a black eye. Trump retorted, “You saw a man who was very happy when he stood behind the Oval desk. Even with a black eye. I said, Do you want a little makeup?” Musk admitted that the shiner came from his five-year-old son, X. “I was just horsing around with little X, and I said, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face,’ and he did.”
– June 6, 2025 – Kilmar Ábrego García, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador during ICE’s initial crackdown, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges. In a press briefing, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said that a federal grand jury had indicted Ábrego García on counts of illegally smuggling undocumented people as well as of conspiracy to commit that crime. “He was a smuggler of humans and children and women,” she claimed. “This is what American justice looks like.” Ábrego García’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said, “After months of delay and secrecy, they’re bringing him back, not to correct their error but to prosecute him.”
– June 6, 2025 – A large crowd of demonstrators in Los Angeles gathered in the downtown Fashion District after ICE agents showed up at an apparel manufacturing business. By the end of the day, forty people had been taken by ICE and hundreds of protesters clashed with police at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. In response to the raids, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X, “As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety. We will not stand for this.” The next morning, FBI Director Kash Patel responded to Bass, saying, “We will.”
– June 8, 2025 – Following orders from the president and bypassing consent from California Governor Gavin Newsom, approximately three hundred National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles. The National Guard is often deployed to respond to natural disasters and is typically only federalized when a governor makes a request. The last time a state’s National Guard was deployed without a governor’s consent was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the National Guard to protect civil rights activists marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. In a joint statement, twenty-two Democratic governors called Trump’s decision “an alarming abuse of power.” Characterizing the deployment as “unlawful” and “a serious breach of state sovereignty,” Governor Newsom formally requested that the Trump administration rescind its deployment of Guard troops.
– June 9, 2025 – Reviving a controversial measure from his first term, President Trump’s new travel ban against predominantly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect. The ban barred individuals from the following twelve countries from entering the US: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. A partial ban, including heightened restrictions, was also applied to individuals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. “The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” Trump said in a video, referring to a firebombing attack by a man who is from Egypt, which is not impacted by the travel ban. Amnesty International called the travel ban “discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel.” Trump’s first travel ban faced significant legal challenges, and former President Joe Biden called it a “stain on our national conscience.”