Hello it’s the weekend. This is The Weekender ☕️
What better way to soothe the barely latent rage of Americans suffering through endless airport security lines than by introducing agents from an agency most of them dislike?
As would-be fliers tap on their phones for three, four, five hours — in lines that stretch out to parking lots — ICE agents are now milling about, avoiding cameras, and generally ratcheting up the tension in a barely contained environment. In San Francisco, ICE agents arrested Angelina Lopez-Jimenez and her nine-year-old daughter in the middle of the airport.
This was President Trump’s masterstroke as the prolonged Department of Homeland Security shutdown has left TSA agents unpaid for over a month. He wrote candidly this week on Truth Social that their deployment is an effort to “[rehab] a fake image given to them by Radical Left Democrat politicians.”
It’s quite a split screen, as ICE agents — currently being paid — stand over the shoulders of TSA agents who are not. In the past couple of days, ICE agents in certain airports have begun scanning passengers’ IDs, per the New York Times.
It’s a telling episode in the absence of a guiding MAGA ideology beyond general lib-owning. Trump knows that parking lot lines and furious fliers are terrible optics; instinctually, he reaches for an easy move that he thinks will upset liberals and delight his base. So he links a radioactive agency, the pride and banner-carriers of his administration, to the most catastrophic airport breakdown in recent memory.
Early Friday morning, Senate Republicans blinked, caving to the Democratic demand to fund TSA separately from the ongoing DHS standoff. House Republicans revolted, putting forward a dead-on-arrival continuing resolution to fund the entire department. Trump, so far failing to strong arm Democrats into folding on the shutdown, on Friday ordered preexisting funds to be shifted to TSA.
— Kate Riga
‘No Kings’: Sweeping Umbrella for Resistance
Americans will gather to protest President Trump — and all of the various horrors he has carried out thus far during his second term in office — in cities across the country today, with over 3,100 “No Kings” rallies planned in all 50 states. The demonstration in St. Paul, Minnesota will serve as the flagship event for this round of “No Kings” protests, which are being spearheaded by Indivisible. Organizers chose Minnesota because the state was the target of “some of the most horrific, sadistic behavior you can imagine” so far this year, Indivisible co-founder Ezra Levin told the AP.
The St. Paul protest today will feature a performance by Bruce Springsteen. Over 100,000 people are expected to be in attendance, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
“We will never forget what happened here and we’re taking action against it,” Walz said of his participation in the nationwide demonstration during an interview with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes.
“Grateful to folks across the country, but [there’s] an understanding that I think Minneapolis and Minnesota provided the template here for pushing back on this guy, and there’s work to be done,” he continued.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis in January: Renee Good and Alex Pretti. This will be the third country-wide “No Kings” protest since Trump came back to office.
The movement has resonated with millions of Americans and appears to serve as a catchall for the broader Trump resistance. Whether protesters are showing up to march against Trump’s lethal immigration enforcement; his weaponization of the Justice Department; his retribution against political opponents; Republicans’ devastating cuts to Medicaid and health care; the skyrocketing cost-of-living crisis in our nation under Trump’s leadership; the administration’s targeting of left-leaning ideology as terrorism; his attacks on voting rights; or his lawless war in Iran — there’s something for everyone.
Some five million Americans participated in the June 2025 “No Kings” rallies and another seven million marched in the fall of 2025. As gas prices soar amid Trump’s renegade operation in the Middle East continues, today’s demonstrations are expected to be even larger.
— Nicole LaFond
Lindell Served Legal Papers on Live TV
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was served legal papers on live TV during an interview at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.
According to reporting from The Hill, a woman approached Lindell while on air and told him he had been served. As of Friday evening, it was unclear what legal matter the papers were related to.
Responding to the incident, Lindell, in a post on X on Thursday, described the various “attacks” on MyPillow and plugged his organization, the Lindell Offense Fund.
“They surrounded my car and took my phone,” he wrote. “Then came the subpoenas, debanking, and attacks on MyPillow. We lost 90% of our business, I’m not backing down, because if we lose our elections, we lose our country. Please help secure our Election Platforms and Save Our Country!”
— Khaya Himmelman
Republicans Lose Big in Attempt to Gerrymander Utah for Trump
In yet another loss for Trump’s nationwide gerrymandering pressure campaign ahead of the midterms, Utah’s Republican-led petition to repeal a 2018 anti-gerrymandering law will not move forward after it failed to get the requisite number of signatures needed.
The proposal, which failed despite support from President Trump himself and Turning Point Action — a 501(c)(4) group tied to the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA — centered on a 2018 anti-gerrymandering law that created an independent redistricting commission and guidelines for redrawing district lines. It was passed to guard against the kind of deeply partisan redistricting that Trump has been pushing red states with Republican-controlled legislatures to do for almost a year as part of his effort to predetermine who controls Congress after the midterms.
The latest Republican redistricting failure in Utah follows a Utah judge’s rejection of a GOP-proposed map that was expected to give Republicans two additional districts.
Judge Dianna Gibson rejected the new Republican-favoring congressional map last November. She instead approved a map that will likely allow for a Democratic district around Salt Lake City.
In her ruling, Gibson wrote that the new gerrymandered map did “not comply with Utah law” and that it “fails to abide by and conform with the requirements.”
— Khaya Himmelman