Letters from an American - August 7, 2025

Episode Date: August 8, 2025

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Hello, this is Michael Moss. Heather Cox Richardson is traveling today, and her travel arrangements did not allow her time to read today's letter. So I will be reading it in her place. August 7, 2025. At 722 this morning, President Donald J. Trump posted on social media, I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate census

based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gain from the presidential election of 2024, people who are in our country illegally will not be counted in the census. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Trump has no power to change the timing of the U.S. census, which is mandated by the Constitution to take place every 10 years. He also has no power to declare that undocumented immigrants

won't be counted. The Constitution specifies that representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state. Maca turns sometimes to the 14th Amendment's exclusion of Indians not taxed from the count for representation as proof that lawmakers recognize that some people should be excluded from the census. But in fact, not taxed identified a group of people who did not come under the purview of the United States government. Just a year after the Civil War, lawmakers looked at the crisis caused by southern enslavers who had wielded outsized political power, because the Constitution had allowed them to count enslaved Americans for purposes of representation and worried that a similar

system would develop in the new states in the West. When they wrote the 14th Amendment in 1866, it was ratified in 1868, they explicitly excluded Indians not taxed out of concern that congressmen from the new western states would exercise more power than they should by counting the large numbers of indigenous Americans who did not participate in the modern economy or have a say in the government. By excluding Indians not tax explicitly, lawmakers demonstrated they fully intended to include everyone else. The U.S. government has always included all persons when taking the census. Taking an accurate census suddenly is also not remotely possible. Setting one up takes most of the decade between them and costs close to $15 billion. Census officials are already working on

the 2030 census. Trump's announcement is revealing, though, in two ways. First, it shows how aware he and administration officials are that their program is deeply unpopular and that they expect to lose control of the House of Representatives in 2026 unless they rig the system. As Lisa Needham wrote today in public notice, We stood aside so Trump could shudder vital agencies, take away your health care, and spend every last time scooping up immigrants to help get Stephen Miller his 3,000 arrests a day, is not exactly a rallying cry that will turn out voters. Republicans in Texas are trying to redistrict the state.

Republicans in Indiana, Florida, and Ohio are considering the same tactic. Today, Adam Wren and Andrew Howard of Politico reported that Vice President J.D. Vance brought an entourage of White House officials with him to Indiana to pressure lawmakers there to redistrict the state. state, indicating just how important administration officials think redistricting is to keep control of the House. Now, Trump has simply blurted out that he plans to change the game altogether and rig it to win. But there is an even darker image behind destroying our democratic system. If undocumented immigrants aren't counted, their districts will be shortchanged on representation, and whatever federal monies are still available for states, for sure.

But if undocumented immigrants aren't counted, will they be easier to dehumanize? Already the government is taking people from the streets and denying their right to due process. Observers are describing human rights abuses and detention facilities where most of those incarcerated have no criminal record. If undocumented people are not officially recognized, as existing, they could simply disappear. Yesterday, Adam Taylor, Hannah Natinson, and John Hudson of the Washington Post reported that, according to leaked drafts of the annual report on human rights from the State Department, the Trump administration plans to back away from criticizing El Salvador, Israel, and Russia for their extensive human rights abuses.

In 2024, the State Department reported government-sanctioned killings, torture, and harsh and life-threatening prison conditions in El Salvador. The new report says, there are no credible reports of significant human rights abuses in the country. Last year's report for Israel was more than 100 pages. This year, it is 25. The State Department has also declared support. for the end of presidential term limits in El Salvador. This change enables Salvador and President Naïbe Buckeli, who allowed Trump to render Venezuelan immigrants

to his infamous Seacot prison to hold office indefinitely, establishing himself as a dictator. A spokesman for the State Department said, El Salvador's Legislative Assembly was democratically elected to advance the interests and policies of their constituents. Their decision to make constitutional changes is their own. It's up to them to decide how their country should be governed. It is a truism that democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint.

But Americans are not simply accepting the administration's reworking of American society. People congregating in the Indiana State House today to protest redistricting met the news that Vance was in the building with resounding booze. Last night, Trey Parker and Matt Stone skewered Secretary of Homeland Security, Christie Nome, and ICE on South Park, and comedian Stephen Colbert went scorched Earth on Health and Human Services, Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., saying, among other things, that his cuts to vaccine research are bad news for fans of living.

The White House continues to try to put a lid on questions about the relationship between convicted sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein and Trump, but is having little luck. After vehemently denying they had plans for a meeting last night to discuss responses to the Epstein issue, White House officials met last night after all, MSNBC reported. Those officials included Attorney General Pam Bondi and Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Cash Patel. Just after 12 o'clock a.m. Eastern time today, Trump's tariffs of at least 10% on products from other countries went into effect. As Josh spoke of the Associated Press reported,

while Trump and administration officials continue to insist that Trump's economic policies will create unprecedented growth, there are signs of self-inflicted wounds to the U.S. as companies and consumers brace for the impact of the new taxes. Economic growth is slowing, job growth is stagnant, and prices are headed upward. Chow Dang and John Kilman of the Wall Street Journal reported today that, rather than increasing as Trump claimed it would under his tariff regime, manufacturing activity in the U.S. has shrunk for most of Trump's second term. The one thing that appears to be going according to Trump's wishes is his remaking of the White House.

Trump's new patio, where the Rose Garden lawn used to be, is finished. It now has cafe tables with yellow striped umbrellas. Brian Glenn, a right media outlet, Real America's voice, noted, very Mario Lago-ish, nice. Letters from an American was written by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead of Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.