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
– Authoritarianism – 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
February 1, 2026 – A New York Times investigation found that Trump appeared in more than 5,300 recently released Epstein files. The files contained more than 38,000 references to Trump, a woman named “Melania,” Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, and other Trump-related words and phrases. The documents showed that the president was named in more than a dozen tips submitted through the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center, including accusations of sexual abuse. Some of Epstein’s victims also described interactions they had with Trump in the files, and other documents confirmed previous reports about Trump’s relationship with Epstein. The files included a friendly email from a woman named “Melania” to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime partner, who was convicted of child sex-trafficking. Trump also appeared in another 130 previously released files.
February 1, 2026 – Ethics experts criticized Trump, after learning that a member of the Emirati royal family had invested $500 million in the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial. The investment was made just days before Trump’s inauguration and was backed by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s brother, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Several months later, the Trump administration announced a deal allowing the UAE to import Nvidia chips. Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, called the deal a “blatant, disgraceful conflict of interest and a possible violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause.” Added Kedric Payne, head of the ethics program at the Campaign Legal Center, “This is beyond unprecedented and unimaginable.”
February 2, 2026 – Less than a week after the FBI seized ballots and voting records from an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, Trump called on Republicans to “nationalize” elections. “The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over, we should take over the voting, the voting in at least many, fifteen places.’ The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting,” Trump said on a podcast. The White House, attempting to walk back Trump’s comments, claimed the president was instead speaking about the need for a national voter ID requirement, which would disenfranchise many voters. The Constitution delegates authority over elections to the states.
Trump calls for Nationalized Elections. (Young Turks/YouTube)
February 2, 2026 – The Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas was placed under quarantine after two measles cases were confirmed. The facility is the main detention center housing families with children, and measles cases have risen dramatically under the health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert Kennedy Jr.’s tenure. In a letter to the Texas Department of State Health Services, Dr. Lee C. Rogers, chief of podiatry at the University of Texas at Austin, said the outbreak could potentially “overwhelm local health resources” and explained the increased risk of a public health emergency “because congregate detention creates near-universal exposure risk.” Additional measles cases were reported at the Florence Detention Center in Arizona.
February 2, 2026 – Lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims asked a judge to shut down a Justice Department website that disclosed hundreds of victim names in recently released documents. The lawyers said the unredacted documents had turned the lives of nearly a hundred victims “upside down.” “For the victims of Jeffrey Epstein, every hour matters. The harm is ongoing and irreversible,” said Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards, two of the lawyers. According to the lawyers, some victims had their private emails and banking information made public, and others experienced harassment. Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged the mistake but deflected blame to “various factors, including technical or human error.”
February 3, 2026 –The Washington Postreported that DHS targeted a sixty-seven-year-old retiree who emailed one of their attorneys in October and asked him to reconsider deporting an Afghan refugee. “Mr. Dernbach,” the man wrote, addressing the prosecutor, “Don’t play Russian roulette with H’s life. Err on the side of caution. There’s a reason the US government, along with many other governments, doesn’t recognize the Taliban. Apply principles of common sense and decency.” Five hours after sending the email, the man received an email from Google notifying him of an administrative subpoena, which does not require a judge’s or grand jury’s order. The email informed him that he had seven days to challenge the subpoena, but he was not provided with a copy. According to privacy and civil rights groups, the Trump administration has used such administrative subpoenas to stifle free speech. Both Google and Meta received a record number of subpoenas in the first half of 2025.
February 3, 2026 – Records obtained by The Guardianrevealed that DHS lied in its account of a shooting that took place in Portland, Oregon, on January 8, 2026. DHS described the two shooting victims, Yorlenys Zambrano-Contreras and Luis Niño-Moncada, as members of Tren de Aragua and claimed that Zambrano-Contreras had been involved with a prior shooting. However, a DOJ prosecutor later directly contradicted this account, informing a judge of the discrepancy. “We’re not suggesting … [Niño-Moncada] is a gang member.” Further, an FBI affidavit suggested that Zambrano-Contreras was not a suspect in the previous shooting but a victim of sexual assault and robbery. The government also filed charges just two days after the incident and before locating video evidence. “The federal government cannot be trusted. Our default position should be skepticism and understanding they lie very regularly,” said Sameer Kanal, a Portland city council member.
February 3, 2026 – Trump scoldedCNN anchor Kaitlan Collins for “not smiling” after she questioned him about redactions in the Epstein files. “You are the worst reporter. CNN has no ratings because of people like you. You know she’s a young woman—I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile. I’ve known you for ten years. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a smile on your face. You know why you’re not smiling? Because you know you’re not telling the truth,” Trump said. In December 2025, Trump also called Collins “stupid and nasty.”
President Trump Calls CNN’s Kaitlan Collins “Worst Reporter,” Says “I’ve Never Seen You Smile.” (New York Post)
February 3, 2026 – Health officials said “Biblical diseases” could return to some African countries due to the US’s cuts to foreign aid in 2025, which impacted drug distribution, testing, and other health programs. Prior to the cuts, parasites and infections causing blindness and other disabilities were nearly eliminated in some African countries. “We will have to restart at zero if we get new resources. In the meantime, people will lose their sight,” said Dr. Vivien Sil Mabouang, the head of health services in a Cameroon district.
February 4, 2026 – Brad Karp, the longtime chairman of Paul Weiss, resigned after his emails to Jeffrey Epstein were made public. The emails showed that Karp had stayed at Epstein’s mansion, asked Epstein to help get his son a job on a Woody Allen film, and had been aware that Epstein suggested Leon Black, a mutual acquaintance, surveil a former mistress. “Recent reporting has created a distraction and has placed a focus on me that is not in the best interests of the firm,” said Karp, who will remain at the firm. In March 2025, Paul Weiss, under Karp’s leadership, became the first big law firm to capitulate to the Trump administration.
February 4, 2026 – Two Minnesota school districts and a teachers’ union sued to keep ICE off school property. The groups alleged that federal officers had broken a promise to stay away from schools and that immigration operations were impacting school attendance. The lawsuit listed examples of officers pulling over school buses, tackling people outside a high school, and deploying chemical irritants as classes were dismissed. During the immigration crackdown, some Minnesota school districts offered virtual learning. “Students can’t learn, and educators can’t teach, when there are armed, masked federal agents stationed within view of classroom windows,” said Monica Byron, president of the plaintiff teachers union, Education Minnesota.
February 5, 2026 – Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. falsely claimed that the keto diet cures schizophrenia. “Dr. [Christopher] Palmer up at Harvard has cured schizophrenia using keto diets,” Kennedy told a crowd at the Tennessee State Capitol. “There are studies right now that I saw two days ago where people lose their bipolar diagnosis by changing their diet.” While several small, short-term studies have offered preliminary evidence that the keto diet may help some patients with mental health conditions, there is no evidence that keto diets cure those conditions.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Says Keto Diet Cured Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder (YouTube)
February 5, 2026 – Trump posted a racist video on Truth Social depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle dancing to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The next day, the White House initially defended the video, which also promoted lies about voting machines in the 2020 elections. However, following widespread backlash, the White House shifted blame to a staffer and deleted the post. “Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” said Republican Senator Tim Scott, a Trump ally. Trump refused to apologize for the video, saying, “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
February 5, 2026 – Fulfilling the goal of an earlier executive order, the Trump administration issued a rule making it easier to fire federal workers. The new rule weakened whistleblower protections and reclassified some civil service roles as political appointees, effectively granting the president the authority to fire and hire an estimated 50,000 federal workers based on their perceived loyalty to the administration. The American Federation of Government Employees called the new rule “a direct assault on professional, nonpartisan, merit-based civil service.”
February 6, 2026 – Two people were killed in a US strike on an alleged drug boat in the Pacific. Since September, there have been at least thirty-seven such strikes, and at least 128 people have been killed. Legal experts have repeatedly said the strikes are illegal.
February 6, 2026 – Trump administration officials told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that the administration would release billions in frozen funds for a rail tunnel in exchange for renaming Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump. Schumer does not have the power to change the names. Funds for the tunnel, which would connect New York and New Jersey and run beneath the Hudson River, have been withheld since October. “These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers,” said Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
February 8, 2026 –During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would stop Donald Trump from trying to steal the 2026 midterm elections. Jeffries’s comments came amid widespread concern after Trump said Republicans should “take over the voting.” The US Constitution allows states the power to set election rules and says Congress can pass laws to set requirements for federal elections. The Constitution gives the president no authority over how elections are run. Jeffries said, “What Donald Trump wants to do is try and nationalize the election—translation: steal it.”
Hakeem Jeffries Directly Accuses Trump of Trying to “Steal” 2028 Election By Nationalizing It (Forbers/CNN)
February 9, 2026 –ProPublica published letters from eight children being held in the ICE detention center in Dilley, Texas, where more than 750 families are being held, nearly half of them including children. Since the start of the second Trump administration, the number of children in ICE detention has skyrocketed. A nine-year-old girl, Susej, detained for fifty days, wrote, “I miss my school and my friends. I feel bad since when I came here to this Place, because I have been here too long.” Ender, a twelve-year-old girl from Venezuela, wrote, “More than 60 days … going to the doctor and that the only thing they tell you is to drink more water and the worst thing is that it seems the water is what makes people sick here.” DHS, which oversees ICE, said in a statement that all detainees at Dilley were “being provided with proper medical care.”
February 9, 2026 – The Trump administration announced plans to rescind $600 million in public health funds from four states led by Democrats. The programs slated to be cut were in California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota. The funds were administered through the CDC. A spokesperson for the HHS said, “These grants are being terminated because they do not reflect agency priorities.” About two dozen of the grants were aimed at curbing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Dr. Debra Houry, who served as the CDC’s chief medical officer before she resigned last year over Trump administration policies, stated, “It is concerning that HHS is cutting public health funding to local communities that cover core functions in the middle of a measles outbreak and other health threats.”
February 10, 2026 – Acting head of ICE, Todd Lyons, defended his agency’s officers before a congressional hearing after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Lyons stood by the officers’ tactics and said they would not be intimidated as they carried out the president’s mass-deportation plans. During his testimony, Lyons said, “Let me send a message to anyone who thinks they can intimidate us. You will fail.” Lyons blamed elected officials and protesters for escalating rhetoric that he said endangered his officers. He declined to comment directly on the killings of the two US citizens and added, “We are only getting started.”
“Outright Fascist”: Dan Goldman Interviews Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons. (Forbes)
February 10, 2026 – The US attorney’s office, led by the former Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro, failed to convince a grand jury to indict six Democratic lawmakers over a social media video, reminding service members in the military and intelligence community that they were not required to follow illegal orders. Federal prosecutors tried to charge the lawmakers, all of whom previously served in the military or intelligence community, with violating US law. One of the lawmakers, Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, posted a statement that read, “Today, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro attempted to persuade a Grand Jury to indict me. This was in response to me organizing a 90-second video that simply quoted the law. Pirro did this at the direction of President Trump, who said repeatedly that I should be investigated, arrested, and hanged for sedition. Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed.”
February 11, 2026 – Attorney General Pam Bondi took heated questions in a combative congressional hearing over the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files. She gave a wide-ranging, passionate defense of Donald Trump. Bondi also mocked her Democratic questioners and refused to respond to accusations that she was perpetuating a cover-up and ignoring victims, several of whom were sitting behind her in the hearing room. She refused to look at them. The hearing devolved into a partisan brawl, with Bondi lobbing insults at Democrats while insisting she was not “going to get in the gutter” with them. In one exchange, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland accused Bondi of refusing to answer his questions. She responded to the top Democrat on the committee by calling him a “washed-up loser lawyer—not even a lawyer.”
SevenMoments Bondi Butted Heads with Lawmakers over Epstein (PBS NewsHour).
February 11, 2026 –Newly released evidence showed that Gregory Bovino, the border patrol chief until last month, praised Charles Exum, the federal agent who shot a Chicago woman during an immigration crackdown last year. US citizen Marimar Martinez was shot five times by Exum while in her vehicle. She was charged with a felony after officials at DHS accused her of trying to ram agents with her vehicle. The case was abruptly dismissed after video evidence emerged showing that an agent had steered his vehicle into Martinez’s car. The uncovered evidence included a text to Exum from Bovino that read, “I’d like to extend an offer for you to extend your retirement beyond age 57. This will be your second extension, and we’d like you to consider this if feasible.” Bovino’s text added, “In light of your excellent service in Chicago, you have much yet left to do!!”
February 12, 2026 – The Trump administration revoked an EPA finding that was long the central basis for US action to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks. Known as the endangerment finding, the 2009 EPA determination found that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threatened public health and welfare. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin had called the endangerment finding “the Holy Grail of federal regulatory overreach.” Trump had called the endangerment finding “one of the greatest scams in history,” claiming falsely that it “had no basis in fact” or law.
February 13, 2026 – Without warning, Trump threatened to delay or cancel the opening of the Gordie Howe Bridge, which connects Windsor and Detroit. In a lengthy Truth Social post, Trump declared, “I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve.” Brent Pilarski, business manager for the Michigan Laborers District Council, said, “Michigan is an automotive state. Parts cross the border constantly, and they need to get there on time, or cars can’t be built.”...
