Good evening, I’m British Chris, and this is Raw America.
Tonight, four stories that show just how dangerous things have gotten, and just how little the people running this country care about you. Americans stranded in the Middle East are told to “depart now” and are then told their government won’t help. Troops are being told the Iran war is the beginning of Armageddon. A Republican senator delivers the most brutal public takedown of Kristi Noem you’ve ever seen. And a federal judge throws out Trump’s attempt to kill New York’s congestion pricing, handing the president one of his most humiliating defeats yet.
But before we get into all of that, please consider becoming a paying supporter of Raw America. Raw America is Raw Story and Really American’s people-powered response to billionaire-owned corporate media refusing to give the full picture. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. The Trump donor who owns CBS is circling CNN. Rupert Murdoch spent decades building a disinformation empire. Independent journalism is the only thing standing between concentrated power and total unchecked control. And becoming a paid subscriber is the single most effective thing you can do to fight back.
Now let’s get into it.
US Leaves Americans Stranded After Telling Them to Flee
The Trump administration has been urging Americans to “depart now” from 16 countries across the Middle East as the conflict with Iran continues to escalate.
There’s a State Department hotline. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a video Tuesday morning telling stranded Americans to call it for help.
So people called. And here’s what they heard.
“Please do not rely on the U.S. government for assisted departure or evacuation. At this time, there are currently no United States evacuation points.”
That’s an automated message. Not a person. Not a plan. Just the government telling Americans that they’re on their own.
This is what abandonment looks like. And the people currently stranded in a war zone on the other side of the world are living it in real time.
Troops Are Being Told This War Is the Biblical End Times
Now to a story that should be getting wall-to-wall coverage, but probably won’t.
Hundreds of U.S. troops across dozens of units and more than 30 military installations have filed more than 110 complaints with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation since the strikes on Iran began. What are they complaining about? Their commanders telling them this war is part of God’s divine plan.
According to non-commissioned officers who attended a briefing on Monday, a combat unit commander urged troops to tell their subordinates that the conflict was “all part of God’s divine plan,” citing the Book of Revelation and referencing Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.
The same commander apparently told troops that Trump had been “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran.”
One NCO who filed a complaint identified himself as a Christian, and said he was writing on behalf of 15 service members including 11 Christians, one Muslim, and one Jew. His message was direct: the commander’s remarks “destroy morale and unit cohesion and are in violation of the oaths we swore to support the Constitution.”
Pete Hegseth, a far-right Christian zealot, is running the Pentagon. The Pentagon has not acknowledged any of this.
Six U.S. troops are already dead. And some of the people commanding the soldiers still alive are telling them dying in Iran is what God wants.
A Republican Senator Destroys Kristi Noem for Ten Straight Minutes
Sometimes, the most damning critiques of the Trump administration come from his own party.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina took his ten allotted minutes at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, and used every single second of them to dismantle Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Tillis hit everything. He accused Noem of holding up FEMA disaster funding, violating the rights of American citizens during immigration enforcement, and blocking oversight of her own department. He showed a chart demonstrating how drastically FEMA reimbursements had fallen under the second Trump administration.
He tore into the immigration enforcement record specifically, calling her approach a disaster fixated on numbers rather than results.
Then he turned to the killings of two Minnesotans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, demanding accountability and a civil rights investigation into Good’s death.
He closed with the story of Noem killing a 14-month-old puppy and bragging about it in her own book as a leadership lesson about making tough choices.
The room broke into applause. Tillis asked them to stop. He then announced he’d be putting a hold on DHS nominees.
This is a retiring Republican senator who has nothing left to lose, and he used that freedom to say publicly what a lot of people in that building apparently think privately.
Today, with your support, Raw America’s new Capitol Hill reporter Luke De Cresce was at the Senate ICE hearing today capturing Capitol Police pushing a protester to the ground. Here’s the exclusive raw footage Raw America got today:
A Federal Judge Hands Trump a Humiliating Defeat on Congestion Pricing
Finally, a story about what happens when you try to stop a program that’s actually working.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Trump administration’s attempt to kill New York’s congestion pricing program was illegal. Judge Lewis Liman’s 149-page decision ends, for now, the White House’s year-long campaign to strangle the first-in-the-nation tolling plan.
This has been a remarkably ugly fight. Trump declared on social media that congestion pricing was dead and New York had been “saved,” and posted an image of himself wearing a crown.
Judge Liman was not impressed.
He rejected nearly all of the administration’s arguments, calling the government’s attempt to unilaterally reverse the program’s approval a repudiation of its contractual obligations. He’d already granted the program temporary protection back in May and signaled clearly in court he wasn’t buying what the federal government was selling.
The program itself has been working. About 27 million fewer vehicles have entered Manhattan’s tolling zone in the program’s first year, a reduction of roughly 73,000 vehicles daily. Congestion is down. Commute speeds are up, including well beyond Manhattan. The toll raised $562 million in its first year, exceeding its revenue target by over $60 million. That money funds subway signal upgrades, accessibility improvements, and expansion of the Second Avenue line.
The administration says it’s considering an appeal. It can try, but the result will likely be the same.
Raw America Provides the Context
These four stories aren’t happening in a vacuum, but are rather all part of the same pattern.
A government that tells citizens to flee a war zone and then abandons them. Military commanders invoking Armageddon. A Cabinet secretary who can’t be held accountable. And an administration so bent on punishing a blue state that it threw away its own legal credibility trying to kill a toll that’s funding the subway.
Corporate media won’t connect those dots for you. Billionaire-owned outlets have no incentive to. That’s what Raw America was built for.
Share this video and become a paying subscriber today. The oligarchs have their billions. We have you.
I’m British Chris for Raw America. Thanks for watching.
STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Trump DOJ Does Full 180 in Reviving Fight Against Law Firms. In the same week after the Department of Justice ceased its defense of executive orders targeting top law firms aligned with Democrats, the DOJ is now asking the court to withdraw its request to dismiss its ongoing cases against four major law firms. The previous decision to drop the cases came after multiple judges consistently ruled against the administration’s attempts to cut off the firms’ access to the federal government.
Trump Swarmed with Over 32,000 Public Comments About Ballroom. The National Capital Planning Commission, which helps oversee construction projects relating to historic buildings in Washington D.C., recently collected more than 32,000 public comments about Trump’s proposed White House ballroom. More than 98 percent of the comments were against the project, calling it “cheap,” “appalling” and “a gold-plated monstrosity.”
Pentagon Reveals Names of Troops Killed in Iranian Attack. The Department of Defense has published the names of four of the six American soldiers killed last weekend during Iranian counter-attacks. 39 year-old Sergeant First Class Nicole Amor was killed, along with 20 year-old Sergeant Declan Cody, 35 year-old Captain Cody Khork and 42 year-old Sergeant First Class Noah Tietjens. The other two troops killed in the attack have not yet been named.
Republican Support for Iran War Already Waning. Congressional Republicans are already reportedly watching the clock on Trump’s new war in Iran. Under the War Powers Act, Trump has 60 days before Congress would have to officially authorize a war, with an additional 30-day withdrawal period. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) warned Republicans will start “losing our high ground legally” as that 60 to 90-day window reaches its end.
Commerce Secretary to Testify About Epstein Before House Committee. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has confirmed that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will appear before his committee “proactively” and “voluntarily.” Lutnick is expected to answer questions about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein amid new revelations that he visited Epstein’s private island in 2012 and was seen in a photo with Epstein and several other men years after claiming to cut ties with the convicted child predator.
