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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ATROCITY KEY
– 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
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OCTOBER 2025
- – October 1, 2025 – Vice President JD Vance laughed off two racist AI-generated videos of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries that Trump posted earlier in the week. “Oh, I think it’s funny,” he said. “The president’s joking, and we’re having a good time.” The videos portrayed Jeffries, who is Black, with a mustache and sombrero while mariachi music played in the background; the first video also falsely accused Democrats of trying to give free healthcare to undocumented immigrants. When asked to respond to Jeffries’s statement that the videos were racist and bigoted, Vance responded, “I don’t even know what that means.”
Trump’s Post of Rep. Jeffries with Sombrero is ‘Funny,’ Vance Says (PBS)
- – October 1, 2025 – In retaliation for the government shutdown, the Trump administration canceled over $27 billion in funds for Democratic states. The denied funds included $8 billion in climate-related funding and $18 billion for two major transportation projects primarily in New York City. Voice of America broadcasts were also suspended, and its journalists were placed on furlough. Partisan language blaming “the Radical Left Democrat Shutdown” for slow responses was also inserted onto federal agency websites and into the out-of-office email replies of furloughed federal workers, a possible violation of both the First Amendment and the Hatch Act. “Unfortunately, Democrat Senators are blocking passage of H.R. 5371 in the Senate, which has led to a lapse in appropriations,” read one version of the message. Matthew Lawrence, a law professor at Emory University, said Trump’s response to the shutdown was unprecedented: “I can’t think of a historical parallel of an administration cutting funds in a shutdown like this,” added Don Kettl, an emeritus professor at the University of Maryland, “We have had lots of shutdowns … [but] never before have top officials tried to use their employees as human shields in a partisan battle.”
- – October 2, 2025 – The New York Times reported that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. fired Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo from the NIH three weeks after Marrazzo filed a whistle-blower complaint. In her whistle-blower complaint, Dr. Marrazzo, who had directed the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, had claimed she was demoted after objecting to Trump administration actions that endangered research subjects, defied court orders, and undermined vaccine research. “The Trump administration terminated Dr. Marrazzo for her advocacy on behalf of critical health research and for her support of the overwhelming body of evidence that shows vaccines are safe and effective,” said Debra S. Katz, a lawyer for Dr. Marrazzo, who argued that her client’s removal was retaliatory. Three other NIH directors and one NIH deputy director—Diana Bianchi, Eliseo Pérez-Stable, Shannon Zenk, and Tara Schwetz—were first placed on administrative leave and then fired. Some of the fired directors claimed they were targeted because their institutions funded studies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as HIV.
- – October 2, 2025 – Facing pressure from the Trump administration, Apple removed ICEBlock and similar apps that alert people about ICE sightings in their area. Apple told ICEBlock’s creator, Joshua Aaron, that the app violated app store guidelines and that its “purpose is to provide location information about law enforcement officers that can be used to harm such officers individually or as a group,” a claim Aaron called “patently false.” Aaron has said that the app, which had over 1 million users, was instead intended to help people avoid contact with ICE. “Our mission has always been to protect our neighbors from the terror this administration continues to (rain) down on the people of this nation,” said Aaron. “ICEBlock is no different from crowdsourcing speed traps, which every notable mapping application, including Apple’s own Maps app, implements as part of its core services. This is protected speech under the First Amendment.”
- – October 2, 2025 – President Trump referred to Project 2025, a radical right-wing policy plan he claimed he “had nothing to do with” and had not read while running for office. “I have a meeting today with Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent,” Trump wrote on social media. Although the president appointed Vought to lead his budget office and quickly began implementing a number of Project 2025 proposals, he never directly admitted he was involved with Project 2025 until the social media post. “This was always the plan. Project 2025 was Donald Trump’s blueprint to seize unchecked power within the federal government and restrict Americans’ freedoms. And he is implementing it right in front of our eyes,” Kamala Harris wrote on social media.
- – October 2, 2025 – The Trump administration sent letters to nine universities asking them to pledge support for Trump’s political agenda in exchange for access to federal research funds. A “compact” attached to the letters outlined the administration’s education policy goals, including freezing tuition, providing free tuition to students studying “hard sciences” at select schools, capping international student enrollment, committing to binary definitions of gender, and prohibiting pushback against conservative ideas on campus. “This is a power play, and it’s designed to divide the higher education community,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. “I hope institutions do not sign this compact. I do not think it’s in their best interests individually, and collectively, it’s a horrible precedent to cede power to the federal government.”
- – October 2, 2025 – Todd Arrington, the head of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, resigned following a fight with the Trump administration over a sword. State Department officials wanted to gift King Charles III an original Eisenhower sword from the library, but Arrington pushed back, arguing that the sword had been donated and was the property of the American people. He offered to find an alternative gift or a replica, but was eventually told to “resign or be fired.” “Apparently, they believed I could no longer be trusted with confidential information,” said Arrington, who previously worked for the National Park Service and National Archives and Records Administration.
- – October 2, 2025 – The Trump administration sent a confidential notice to Congress stating that the United States was engaged in a formal “armed conflict” with “terrorist” drug cartels and that it considered suspected smugglers for such groups to be “unlawful combatants.” The notice set the stage for Trump to claim extraordinary wartime powers as a legal rationale for the American strikes on three Venezuelan boats that killed seventeen people. Geoffrey S. Corn, who formerly served as the Army’s senior advisor for law-of-war-issues, said drug cartels were not engaged in “hostilities,” the legal standard for an armed conflict, because selling dangerous drugs is not the same as an armed attack; Corn also noted that it was illegal for the military to deliberately target civilians, even suspected criminals, not directly participating in hostilities. “This is not stretching the envelope,” said Corn. “This is shredding it. This is tearing it apart.”
- – October 3, 2025 – The United States struck a fourth Venezuelan boat allegedly carrying drugs, killing four. “The strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics—headed to America to poison our people,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media without providing evidence for his claims. “Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!” In his own social media post, Trump also claimed without evidence that the boat was carrying enough drugs “to kill 25 to 50 thousand people.” Former government officials and legal experts have questioned the legality of the deadly strikes.
- – October 3, 2025 – The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration was offering migrant children $2500 to self-deport. Although DHS officials defended the program as “strictly voluntary,” immigration rights advocates swiftly pushed back, arguing that the administration was violating federal law by pressuring minors to surrender their rights to immigration proceedings and humanitarian protections; further, many of the children had fled oppressive regimes, violence, or hunger in their home countries. “Safe voluntary departure requires legal counsel—not government marketing or what amounts to cash bribes for kids,” said Melissa Adamson, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. “This administration’s actions again prove it cannot be trusted to protect children.” During Trump’s first term, more than 4,000 migrant children were separated from their parents, and over Labor Day Weekend, the administration attempted to deport dozens of Guatemalan children in the middle of the night.
- – October 3, 2025 – FEMA said it was withholding more than $300 million in grants from states until they could verify their population estimates accounted for recent deportations. “This grant is awarded based solely on population data, and FEMA must ensure it is awarding the corrected funding levels,” wrote Daniel Llargues, a FEMA spokesman. It is unclear whether deportations have led to meaningful population changes or how states will confirm the number of deported immigrants. A group representing state emergency management agencies said the move would result in “further delaying resources intended to strengthen disaster preparedness and emergency response.”
- – October 4, 2025 – A Chicago woman was shot by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Brighton Park, where agents also fired chemical irritants and stun grenades into a crowd of protesters. Many of the agents had arrived in unmarked cars without license plates. After driving herself to a hospital, the woman, a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody by the FBI. Several hours later, against Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s wishes, Trump authorized the activation of 300 National Guard troops in Chicago. “President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” a White House spokesperson said. Pritzker pushed back against that narrative, arguing that the move was more about “control” than “safety.” “They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance—not a serious effort to protect public safety,” said Pritzker.
- – October 5, 2025 – A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from deploying hundreds of out-of-state National Guard troops to Oregon. The Trump administration had previously tried to send hundreds of California National Guard troops to Portland. California and Oregon quickly filed lawsuits to stop the administration’s move. Immergut told Justice Department lawyers that “The relocation, federalization or deployment of members of the National Guard of any state or the District of Columbia in the state of Oregon … was in direct contravention” of her order. California attorney general Rob Bonta, told reporters, “It’s our National Guard—California’s National Guard. Not Trump’s Royal Guard, as he seems to think.”
- – October 6, 2025 – Trump told reporters that he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act. “I’d do it if it was necessary,” he said. “If I had to enact it, I’d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 allows the president to mobilize the U.S. military to conduct civilian law enforcement activities under certain circumstances. Trump stated, “If you take a look at what’s been going on in Portland,” Trump said. “it’s been going on for a long time, and that’s insurrection. I mean, that’s pure insurrection.” Outside the Portland ICE facility the previous day, about seventy protesters chanted, barbecued, and passed out bottled water as passing motorists honked in mutual disapproval of the Trump administration.
Protests outside Portland ICE building (KATU News)
- – October 6, 2025 – According to a report from consumer advocacy and ethics nonprofit Public Citizen and corporate watchdog group The Revolving Door Project, the Trump administration placed 111 employees deemed “fossil fuel insiders and renewable energy opponents” in his administration. Among them are senior officials such as Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the former CEO of the fracking company Liberty Energy. Report author and Revolving Door Project senior researcher Toni Aguilar Rosenthal said, “It is often specific actors coming from specific moneyed interests that are carrying out this disastrous deregulatory agenda.” Interior Department spokesperson Aubrie Spadie said of the report: “it’s clear that this progressive group pushing an entire climate cult program, among other radical policies, would like to see American taxpayer dollars wasted on the Green New Scam.” Fossil fuel donors poured $96 million into Trump’s 2025 presidential campaign and contributed $11.8 million to Trump’s second inauguration.
- – October 7, 2025 – In the midst of the government shutdown, the Trump administration warned of no guaranteed back pay for federal workers. The announcement reversed a longstanding policy for some 750,000 furloughed employees. After the shutdown in 2019, Trump signed legislation into law that ensured federal workers received back pay during any federal funding lapse. In the new memo, Trump’s Office of Management and Budget said back pay must be provided by Congress, as part of any bill to fund the government. The move was seen as a tactic to pressure Democrats in Congress. Trump said he would “follow the law” on back pay for federal workers, minutes after saying the compensation “depends on who we’re talking about.” He added, “There are some people that don’t deserve to be taken care of, and we’ll take care of them in a different way.”
- – October 8, 2025 – [PICK UP HERE] Trump said that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats, should be jailed for their opposition to his deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago. Johnson declared, “This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested. I’m not going anywhere.” On X, Pritzker wrote, “Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power. What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?” When asked what crimes the president believed Pritzker and Johnson had committed, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson failed to identify any.
- – October 9, 2025 – A federal grand jury charged New York Attorney General Letitia James with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution in connection with a home purchase in Norfolk, Virginia in 2020. The indictment came after steady pressure from Trump to prosecute one of his longtime political foes. James denied any wrongdoing and said the charges were “baseless.” In 2022, James investigated and sued Trump and his company for inflating the value of some of its properties. The civil business fraud case jury awarded New York over $450 million. While the conviction was upheld, the financial penalty was later thrown out on appeal. Since taking office, Trump has been persistent in his calls that James “be arrested and punished accordingly.” In a recent Truth Social post directed at U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump wrote, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED.”
- – October 10, 2025 – Despite Trump’s lobbying, his bid for a Nobel Peace Prize fell short. The Nobel committee awarded the prize to the Venezuelan opposition politician María Corina Machado. On hearing the news, Trump said, “The person who actually got the Nobel Prize called me and said, ‘I’m accepting this in honor of you because you really deserved it.’” He added, “I didn’t say, ‘Then give it to me.’ I think she might have. She was very nice.” Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., said he would introduce a resolution in Congress saying Trump deserves the honor in 2026. Carter said, “He’ll be a strong candidate, and he should have been a slam dunk this year, but unfortunately, the committee got it wrong.” Foreign policy analysts weren’t so sure about Trump’s chances. Nina Graeger, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said if the recent peace deal in Gaza doesn’t hold, Trump isn’t likely to get credit for raising false hopes. She also said it didn’t help Trump that he threatened to acquire Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal.
Trump Says Nobel Peace Prize Winner Machado Accepted the Award for Him (NBC News)
- – October 10, 2025 – According to a court filing, more than 4,000 federal employees received layoff notices as part of the Trump administration’s effort to reshape the government during the shutdown. On X, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought posted, “The RIFs (Reductions in Force) have begun.” According to department spokespeople and union representatives, RIF notices had gone out to employees at the departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Homeland Security and Treasury. Trump said that he planned to fire “a lot” of federal workers in retaliation for the government shutdown, vowing to target those aligned with the Democratic Party. “We figure they started this thing, so they should be Democrat-oriented,” he said without providing details on what qualified the affected workers as “…
