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
– March 1, 2026 – Pejman Karshenas Najafabadi, 59, died in ICE custody after being treated at Merit Health Hospital in Natchez, Mississippi. Najafabadi first came to the US in 1991 as a lawful permanent resident. ICE claimed the cause of death was cardiac arrest.
– March 2, 2026 – Emmanuel Clifford Damas, 56, died in ICE custody at the HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. An asylum seeker, Damas was held at the Florence Correctional Center, which is operated by CoreCivic, whose facilities have faced scrutiny. In mid-February, Damas told staff that he had a toothache, but he was not sent to a dentist. “He had a toothache and kept going to the nurse to ask for medical assistance. They kept giving him ibuprofen, ibuprofen, ibuprofen, and then it got infected. The infection spread from his mouth to his neck, his chest, and his lungs. Then his body went into sepsis shock,” said Presly Nelson, Damas’s brother.
– March 2, 2026 – Just two days after the US launched strikes against Iran, Melania Trump delivered a speech calling for “peace through education” at the United Nations Security Council. Despite the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI and its dismantling of the Department of Education, the First Lady praised education. She said that nations should promote “empathy for others, transcending geography, religion, race, gender,” peppering her speech with words like “prejudice,” “gender,” and “race” that the administration has instructed federal agencies to limit or avoid.
Melania Trump Chairs Historic UN Security Council Meeting (Sky News Austrailia)
– March 2, 2026 – During an ABC interview, Trump acknowledged a personal dimension that influenced his decision to attack Iran. “I got him before he got me. They tried twice. Well, I got him first,” Trump said, referring to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed, and two assassination attempts against Trump in 2024. After Trump launched airstrikes in his first term that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, Iranian officials publicly vowed revenge. In 2024, before the two assassination attempts against Trump, officials warned the Trump campaign that Iran wanted to kill Trump, but no evidence suggests that Iran actually played a role in those two attempts. Launching military strikes for personal reasons is illegal and unconstitutional.
– March 2, 2026 – The Department of Labor launched an investigation into Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who used taxpayer funds to throw herself a birthday party at the Department of Labor’s headquarters, among other alleged misconduct. Although Chavez-DeRemer told the House Appropriations Committee that the event was not a birthday party, a photo showed her blowing out candles on a birthday cake. Chavez-DeRemer was also accused of using department funds for personal travel and having an affair with a member of her security team.
– March 3, 2026 – A deaf six-year-old was detained with his mother and sibling after an asylum appointment in San Francisco, and the family was deported several days later to Colombia. The family’s lawyer accused ICE of violating federal law by purposefully withholding information about the family’s location in detention to prevent legal efforts to stop the deportation. He also said the boy had no access to medical care or devices.
– March 3, 2026 – In a letter to Congress justifying the Iran strikes, Trump said the goal was to “neutralize Iran’s malign activities,” but he did not provide evidence of an imminent threat, contradicting his own administration’s earlier claims and calling into question the legality of the attacks. The letter said the campaign was carried out “in collective self-defense of our regional allies, including Israel,” though Trump also walked back this notion, saying he “might have forced [Israel’s] hand” but not the other way around. The letter did not mention plans to overthrow the current Iranian leadership even though Trump had earlier called on Iranians to “take over your government.”
– March 4, 2026 – A CNN/SSRSpoll and an NPR/PBS News/Marist poll showed that the majority of Americans, 59 percent and 56 percent respectively, disapproved of war in Iran. The CNN/SSRS poll was conducted before reports that six US troops had been killed.
– March 5, 2026 – Less than a week after the US launched deadly strikes against Iran, the White House posted a video on X called “JUSTICE THEAMERICAN WAY” that mixed bombing footage from Iran with memes and jokes from Top Gun, Halo, and Dragon Ball Z. White House Deputy Communications Director Kaelan Dorr later reposted the video with the text, “Wake up, Daddy’s Home.” On the same day, the White House also posted a video of airstrike footage overlayed with the lyrics “Kaboom, kablow” from the rap song “Bazooka” and another mixing footage of missile detonations with SpongeBob SquarePants clips. The following day, a video was posted that included footage of trucks and people on fire with the “WASTED” message that players see when they die in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. “Little girls are dead. Six Americans are dead. It’s not a video game. … It’s not another chance to troll the libs. It’s f—ing war,” wrote Jon Favreau, a liberal podcaster. Iran’s UN Ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani estimated that over 1,300 Iranian civilians had died and thousands more had been injured in the conflict as of March 6.
Justice the American Way (The White House)
– March 5, 2026 – The Department of Justice released new FBI documents in connection to the Epstein files that described several interviews with a woman who accused Trump of sexual assault. During the interviews, which took place in 2019, the woman claimed Trump assaulted her in the 1980s, when she was a teenager. Officials claimed the files were previously withheld because they were duplicates of files that had already been released, but that was not the case. Officials also acknowledged that they had incorrectly identified additional documents that were incorrectly coded as duplicates.
– March 5, 2026 – Trump fired embattled Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was widely criticized over her handling of the administration’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis and her appearance in a $220 million ad campaign, among other issues. A Trump administration official said that the president decided to fire Noem due to “a culmination of her many unfortunate leadership failures, including the fallout in Minnesota, the ad campaign, the allegations of infidelity, the mismanagement of her staff, and her constant feuding with the heads of other agencies, including CBP and ICE.” Trump nominated Senator Markwayne Mullin to replace Noem and said Noem would continue to serve the administration as envoy for the Shield of the Americas.
– March 5, 2026 – The public lambasted Trump’s planned White House ballroom in thousands of comments sent to the National Capital Planning Commission ahead of its scheduled hearing to review the ballroom. Although the administration claimed the ballroom project was popular, more than 97 percent of the 35,000 comments were critical of Trump’s plans. “I oppose the spending of $300 million on this project, which was initiated without the proper authorization, permits, or design review,” wrote Anara Guard, whose message was echoed in approximately 10,000 other comments. Added Jim Cunningham, who voted for Trump three times, “Trump is only a temporary occupant of the White House. It belongs to the American people. It’s not his personal property.”
– March 5, 2026 – Diplomats and travelers criticized the State Department for stranding Americans in the Middle East. After the US attacked Iran, several countries shut down their airspace and airports. Prior to Wednesday, Americans who called the State Department hotline received an automated message stating that the US government could not assist them in leaving the region. Veteran diplomats also criticized the State Department for not issuing official alerts, not advising Americans against travel before the attacks, and for earlier layoffs that left many embassies and supporting offices understaffed.
– March 5, 2026 – In a phone interview with Reuters, Trump said the US should have a role in choosing Iran’s next leader. “We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran. We’re going to have to choose that person,” said Trump. He added, “We want to be involved in the process of choosing the person who is going to lead Iran into the future, so we don’t have to go back every five years and do this again and again.” Legal experts said Trump’s plan would violate international law. “There is a rule in international law which is called the right to self-determination, and it means that it is up to a people to choose their leadership and to choose their political structure,” said Matthias Goldman, a professor of international law at EBS University. “It is not upon a foreign government… it is up to the people to determine themselves.”
– March 6, 2026 – The US labor market lost 92,000 jobs in February—the second largest decline in monthly job creation since the pandemic—and unemployment rose to 4.4 percent. Following the release of the latest jobs numbers, the three major stock exchanges also dipped. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, who was under investigation, attempted to downplay the weak numbers and blamed the job losses on “record-breaking strikes and bad weather.” However, economists also attributed the decline to uncertainty over the Trump administration’s trade policies, artificial intelligence, and the availability of workers, given the administration’s immigration crackdown.
– March 6, 2026 – Declaring an emergency due to the war in Iran, the State Department bypassed congressional approval to send Israel more than 20,000 bombs. The State Department wrote that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had “determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel.” “Today’s invocation of the Arms Export Control Act’s emergency authority to bypass congressional review for two munitions cases to Israel exposes a stark contradiction at the heart of this administration’s case for war,” said Representative Gregory Meeks, who reviews arms transfers on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “The Trump administration has repeatedly insisted it was fully prepared for this war. Rushing to invoke emergency authority to circumvent Congress tells a different story. This is an emergency of the Trump administration’s own creation.” Congress did not authorize the war in Iran.
– March 6, 2026 – Marking yet another shift in his war objectives, Trump demanded “unconditional surrender” by Iran. “There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONALSURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRANWILLHAVE A GREATFUTURE. ‘MAKE IRANGREATAGAIN (MIGA!),” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
– March 7, 2026 – The bodies of the first six US troops killed in Iran arrived at Dover Air Force Base. The deceased were identified as Major Jeffrey O’Brien, Captain Cody Khork, Sergeant 1st Class Nicole Amor, Sergeant 1st Class Noah Tietjens, and Sergeant Declan Coady; the sixth body was believed to be that of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, but was awaiting final positive identification by a medical examiner. The troops were working in a makeshift operations center in Kuwait at the time of the strike. “It’s a very sad day,” Trump said. The president wore a white, Trump-branded “USA” cap during the transfer.
Trump Joins Families During the Return of US Soldiers Killed in War (AP)
– March 7, 2026 – Estefany Rodriguez Florez, a journalist for the Spanish-language Nashville Noticias who reported stories critical of ICE, was detained by federal agents. The day before her detention, Rodriguez had reported on four immigration arrests. “We’re concerned one of the motivating reasons could be that she’s a journalist,” said Alejandro Medina III, Rodriguez’s husband. Born in Colombia, Rodriguez had immigrated legally to the US and had a valid work permit, a pending green card through her American husband, and a pending asylum claim due to threats she had received while reporting in Colombia. Rodriguez’s lawyer, Joel Coxander, said Rodriguez was targeted because of her reporting and accused ICE of arresting her without a valid warrant.
– March 8, 2026 – Trump threatened to withhold his signature on all bills until Congress passed the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act. The announcement escalated his efforts to change election rules ahead of the 2026 midterms. In a social media post, Trump said, “I, as President, will not sign other Bills until this is passed.” If passed, the measure would transform voter registration and voting in the US. It would require eligible voters to prove their citizenship with documents like a valid US passport or a birth certificate and a valid photo ID. It is already illegal for non-US citizens to vote in federal elections.
– March 9, 2026 – Trump stood by his claim that Iran could have been responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on a girls’ school in Minab, Iran, killing approximately 175 people, mostly children. During a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Trump told reporters that he hadn’t seen video of the attack and stated, “Well, I haven’t seen it, and I will say that the Tomahawk, which is one of the most powerful weapons around, is used by, you know, is sold and used by other countries.” He added that Iran “also has some Tomahawks” and didn’t rule out that Iran had struck the school. Neither Iran nor Israel was known to possess the US-made missiles.
– March 10, 2026 –Trump told congressional Republicans that the war with Iran could be over “pretty quickly,” as he defended the military campaign and outlined Washington’s objectives in the conflict. The US and Israel launched the campaign against Iran on February 28. In his speech, Trump highlighted what he described as the successes of Operation Epic Fury. He framed the recent military action against Iran as a “little excursion” that was necessary to eliminate “some evil.” He added that while the conflict had caused a “little pause” in the economy, it was not a big one, and the economy would quickly surge and “blow it away.” NPRreported that since Trump’s excursion began, at least 1,200 Iranians had been killed.
– March 11, 2026 – The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to end a program shielding hundreds of thousands of Haitians from deportation. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the justices to block a lower court decision that found the Trump administration had violated the law when it terminated Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a program that allows some 350,000 Haitians to live and work legally in the US. Sauer argued that “lower courts are again attempting to block major executive-branch policy initiatives in ways that inflict specific harms to the national interest and foreign relations.” Geoff Pipoly, a lawyer for the plaintiffs at the law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, said in a statement, “We think the facts and the law speak for themselves and look forward to defending our Haitian clients in the Supreme Court.”
– March 11, 2026 – The Pentagon stopped permitting photographers to cover Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s briefings on the war in Iran. A Pentagon spokesman, Joel Valdez, declined to comment for a Los Angeles Times story. Most mainstream news organizations left their desks at the Pentagon rather than accept new Trump administration rules that restricted their movements. They were replaced by a newly constituted press corps that agreed to the rules and, to a large extent, worked for outlets that were supportive of Trump. The New York Times sued the Trump administration to overturn Hegseth’s rules. Charles Stadtlander, a spokesman for the Times said, “As Times has long said, there is a clear importance and public service to allowing journalists to report fully on the U.S. military. This includes photojournalists, who deserve access and credentialing to attend Pentagon briefings.”
– March 12, 2026 – On Truth Social, Trump posted a 1960’s photo of himself in uniform as a teenage high school student at the New York Military Academy. The photo caption read, “At Military Academy with my parents, Fred and Mary!” The family photo was the same one that Trump previously posted on Facebook in 2013 with the caption, “See, I can be very military. High rank!” Trump dodged the Vietnam War draft due to “bone spurs” in his heels. A 2018 New York Times article alleged that a Queens podiatrist who was renting office space from Trump’s father wrote the diagnosis as a favor to the family.
– March 12, 2026 – The Trump administration denouncedCNN for airing a portion of the new Iranian Supreme Leader’s public statement. It was the second time that Trump targeted the network for reporting on how Iran was responding to the American attacks. On social media, the White House said that “fake news CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years.” White House communications director Steven Cheung added in a post on X, “Ever notice how CNN just regurgitates quotes and unverified information from Iranian terrorists? Total disgrace.” CNN responded to the White House attack and noted that Sky News and Al Jazeera also showed portions of the ayatollah’s statement live.
– March 13, 2026 – Mohammad Nazeer Paktyawal, 41, died in ICE custody after being treated at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Paktyawal, who had a pending asylum case, had served with US forces in Afghanistan. After the fall of Kabul, he was legally evacuated to the US, where he began working at an Afghan bakery. He was arrested while driving his kids to school. Less than a day later, despite having no prior health issues, he was dead. “It’s unacceptable. This man fought our war for ten years. He had six kids, one...
