David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement

In a rare break from President Donald Trump and Republican orthodoxy, one GOP congressman is acknowledging what many Americans already feel: times are tough.

“Our economy is not great,” U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT), who served as Secretary of the Interior during the first Trump administration, told Fox Business on Friday.

“There’s a lot of strain," he added, while talking about the federal government shutdown, now in its 31st day.

“This injects another degree of uncertainty, distraction, in the economy, and it’s going to affect, and we’re gonna see WIC go away. We’re gonna see benefits of people that really need help. They won’t be able to get it.”

READ MORE: ‘Disturbing’: Johnson Scorched for Saying He’s Starving SNAP to ‘Pressure’ Democrats

Speaking about Trump’s highly controversial plan to allow massive amounts of beef from Argentina into the U.S., Zinke admitted that inflation and prices are high. President Trump has repeatedly claimed he has brought food prices far down, and inflation to at or near “zero.” Both claims are false.

“I do know what the president was doing,” on Argentinian beef, Zinke said.

“He’s looking at high inflation, high cost, high beef, and no different than what he’s doing with oil prices and commodities — bringing the cost down because the consumer price inflation’s a really big deal.”

Nine months into the second Donald Trump presidency, a majority of Americans strongly oppose his hard-line crime-crackdown policies, including sending military forces into U.S. cities. Americans also, for the second year in a row, see crime as less serious.

“Americans as a whole lean toward moderation in the use of law enforcement to combat crime,” and “now view national crime conditions more favorably than at any point in recent years,” according to two Gallup studies published Thursday.

President Trump ran on reducing crime during the 2024 campaign, and, despite tremendous opposition from the left, and rather than funding initiatives to address the causes of crime, he has deployed the National Guard to several Democratic-led cities, while battling in court for the right to do so. The President repeatedly, and increasingly, cites the Insurrection Act, claiming he has the right to invoke it and saying that the courts would do nothing to stop him.

READ MORE: ‘How Authoritarians Rule’: National Security Experts Blast Trump’s New Nuclear ‘Fear Show’

“The clearest indication of Americans’ approach to crime fighting comes from a question asking whether more government money and effort should go toward addressing some of the societal problems that may lead to crime or toward strengthening law enforcement,” Gallup reported. “Currently, 67% favor focusing on ‘addressing social and economic problems such as drug addiction, homelessness and mental health,’ while 29% believe more resources should be devoted to ‘strengthening law enforcement.'”

Gallup also reported that “Americans’ resistance to vigorous law enforcement is also evident in their opposition to deploying troops from either the National Guard or the U.S. military to control crime in U.S. cities.”

Trump, in recent days, has threatened to send into U.S. cities not only the National Guard, but other branches of the Armed Forces.

“I could send the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, I could, say, send anybody I wanted,” Trump said on Wednesday.

READ MORE: GOP Leader Erupts Over Democrat’s Effort to Fund SNAP — Then Blocks Bill

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters: “You know, people don’t care if we send in our military, if we send in our National Guard, if we send in Space Command, they don’t care who the hell it is.”

“Really, we could do as we want to do,” he insisted.

But according to Gallup, most Americans say the issue does matter to them.

Reporting that “most U.S. adults oppose militarized responses to urban crime,” Gallup found that 60% of Americans “are against sending military troops to cities to control crime,” and “56% oppose sending National Guard troops to U.S. cities.”

Gallup found a “broader public inclination toward moderate, preventive approaches to crime reduction over stringent sentencing and enforcement at a time when Americans are less concerned about the U.S. crime problem than they’ve been in recent years.”

And Gallup is not alone in its reporting.

Earlier this month, CNN reported that a CBS News-YouGov poll showed Americans “opposed Trump’s decision to deploy the Guard to US cities, 58%-42%. A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed they disapproved of Trump’s use of the Guard and federal law enforcement to reduce crime, 55%-42%. And NPR-Ipsos polling in recent weeks showed fewer than 4 in 10 Americans supported Trump’s decisions to deploy the Guard to Washington, DC, and Memphis, Tennessee.”

READ MORE: Public Turns on GOP as Shutdown Fallout Deepens: Report

Most Americans know the federal government is shut down — and they’re not shrugging it off. Most expect it to hurt them personally, fear it will damage the country even more, and increasingly blame Republicans and President Donald Trump — whose low approval rating has taken a strong hit — for the crisis.

That’s according to an extensive Navigator poll released on Wednesday.

Overall, Americans blame Trump and the GOP for the shutdown by a 14-point margin — up four points from last week. And Trump and Republicans in Congress are increasingly seen in a negative light over what they’re fighting for in the shutdown.

At the same time, Trump is now seeing his lowest approval rating since 2018, according to Navigator. Other polls have produced similar results.

Three out of four Americans have heard some news of the shutdown. And about two-thirds (66%) have heard a lot or some about it.

It’s having a massive impact.

“64 percent believe the shutdown will have a negative impact on them personally, up from half who thought the same last week. Even more (77 percent) believe it will have a negative impact on the country,” Navigator reported.

Nearly half of Americans, 47%, blame Trump and Republicans for the shutdown, an increase of four points over last week.

“Since last week, independents increasingly blame Trump and Republicans more than Democrats for the government shutdown,” according to Navigator. “When forced to choose between Trump and Republicans or Democrats, a majority say Trump and Republicans have the power to end it (52 percent – 21 percent).”

Americans also see Trump and the GOP as trying to keep the government shut down, and give Democrats “more credit” for trying to keep the government open.

A plurality, 42%, say Democrats are fighting for health care and see that as a positive.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64%) want Trump and the GOP to compromise with Democrats, and by a strong margin (39 points).

Overall, according to Navigator’s graphics, when asked about nine issues, Americans’ top concern (76%) currently is the shutdown, and it has no clear end in sight.

That’s closely followed by the rising cost of health care and Americans losing coverage without congressional action (74%).

Food stamp funding (SNAP) running out on Nov. 1, leaving about 42 million people without federal nutritional assistance, comes in a close third (73%).

All this appears to be having an impact on Trump’s popularity.

“As the shutdown continues, President Trump’s overall approval rating (-16) and economic job approval (-21) remain underwater, the lowest point both of these metrics have been since the beginning of our shutdown tracking.”

Republican former U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger sharply condemned President Donald Trump and his onetime GOP colleagues, accusing the president of “sadism” for refusing to release what experts say are legally mandated funds to sustain food stamp payments once they’re cut off on Nov. 1.

Warning that “millions of Americans will stop receiving food stamps” if Congress does not act, Kinzinger explained that “mothers won’t be able to buy groceries. Veterans won’t be able to feed their families. Children will go hungry — not because of some natural disaster or accident of bureaucracy, but because our leaders made a deliberate choice.”

“I’ve been in Congress,” he wrote. “I’ve sat in those rooms where politicians calculate pain — where they decide that hurting ordinary Americans might be good for their ‘message.'”

READ MORE: Johnson Says Trump ‘Trolling’ on Major Constitutional Question

Indeed, on Tuesday afternoon, Politico reported that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told his GOP conference to sit tight as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food stamps shutoff hits.

“‘Things are getting real’ this week,” Johnson said, as Politico noted, adding that “he braced his members for some of the worst real-world fallout of the shutdown so far.”

Johnson “urged Republicans to stay in lockstep as ‘pressure mounts on Democrats’ — including key deadlines that will impact millions of low-income Americans.”

“’The pain register is about to hit level 10,’ Johnson said, adding that ‘sadly’ 42 million Americans will be hit this weekend when Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits run out of money.”

Kinzinger pointed out that Trump “has a choice” in this.

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

“He can use emergency funds to keep food assistance flowing while negotiations continue. He could say, ‘Not on my watch will people go hungry.’ But he isn’t. He is choosing not to — because he wants the pain. He wants the headlines. He wants to point to struggling families and say, ‘Blame the Democrats.'”

“That’s not leadership,” the former lawmaker lamented. “That’s sadism dressed up as politics.”

Expressing anger over Trump’s $300 million ballroom, and possible $250 million Department of Justice settlement for being investigated, Kinzinger said, “I’ve seen what shutdowns do.”

“I’ve seen families line up at food pantries because their pay got delayed. I’ve heard from single parents who rely on SNAP to get through the week. These are not ‘lazy’ people. They’re workers — often working full-time — who still fall below the poverty line because the system rewards wealth, not work.”

He added that “what government is supposed to do” is “protect its citizens in hard times. Not turn hunger into a political weapon.”

Denouncing the “moral bankruptcy” of congressional Republicans and President Trump, Kinzinger wrote, “When you see a president who intentionally withholds help to make a point, you’re seeing the moral rot that now defines the GOP. The cruelty isn’t a side effect — it’s the strategy.”

READ MORE: Data Analyst Reveals Which Trump Policy Faces Sharpest Backlash Among Americans

House Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted President Donald Trump for being “missing in action” and not acting like a leader as the federal government shutdown entered its 28th day.

Senate Democrats are demanding negotiations with Republican Majority Leader John Thune to find a way to restore the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, without which millions of Americans will lose health care coverage, and even more could see premiums skyrocket. Republicans are refusing to negotiate unless Democrats first vote to reopen the government.

“Convene the appropriators,” Jeffries insisted, referring to the budget committee.

“Do what leaders do in moments like this, as opposed to being missing in action now for 28 days, while finding $40 billion to bail out a right-wing, wannabe dictator in Argentina, and destroying the historic parts of the White House in real time, so that he can construct a ballroom, where he will be celebrated like a wannabe king,” the Democratic Leader said.

READ MORE: ‘We Can Do as We Want’: Trump Boasts He Can Deploy Troops Into U.S. Cities However He Likes

“This is all outrageous stuff.”

“And the American people see it unfolding before their very eyes, and they know that Donald Trump and Republicans have not been serious about doing what is necessary to enact a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of hardworking American taxpayers.”

Also on Tuesday, Politico reported that Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy had suggested “that a Trump administration effort to scrounge together money to pay air traffic controllers during the federal shutdown is dead.”

“Duffy said he had examined the FAA’s budget to see if he could find any available funds, but ‘there’s not a lot of leeway that we have to get people paid.'”

READ MORE: Trump Admin Blames Dems’ Immigration and Trans Policies for Food Stamp Shut Off

Jeffries’ remarks came around the same time as Vice President JD Vance told reporters, after attending the weekly GOP luncheon, that the White House has found a way to pay the troops again, as Punchbowl News’ Max Cohen reported.

Bobby Kogan, the senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress, responded to President Trump paying the troops:

“Huge contrast with illegally refusing to make SNAP payments. What we’re seeing from the White House is them moving heaven and earth to pay what they want to pay, even if it’s illegal — and moving heaven and earth to NOT pay what they don’t want to pay, even if it’s illegal.”

Speaking to troops aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in Japan, President Donald Trump boasted that he can send any branch of America’s armed forces into U.S. cities as part of his anti-crime initiative — and that local residents won’t care.

Trump has faced a series of legal challenges over his efforts to deploy the National Guard to major U.S. cities, as Democratic governors and attorneys general have filed lawsuits to block the troops from entering their jurisdictions.

“You know, people don’t care if we send in our military, if we send in our National Guard, if we send in Space Command, they don’t care who the hell it is,” Trump told troops aboard the USS George Washington in Yokosuka.

READ MORE: Why the Shutdown Is About to Get Even Worse

“They just wanna be safe. And we have safe cities,” Trump insisted.

“Now we’re starting in Memphis, and Memphis was a disaster,” he said. “It’s been there, they’ve been there for two weeks, and it’s a whole different story.”

“Crime is less than half, and within a month it’ll be gone,” the president claimed without offering any proof.

“Getting rid of all the bad ones, and we’re gonna go into Chicago, we’re gonna go into our cities, we’re gonna clean them out, we’re gonna straighten them out, and we’re gonna have safe cities, because you wanna protect safe cities,” he said.

“We’re gonna have beautiful, safe, cities, and it’s happening very quickly and very easily, actually. It’s easy for us. It’s hard for them,” the president said.

“And we have to have a little more help. It doesn’t matter.”

READ MORE: Data Analyst Reveals Which Trump Policy Faces Sharpest Backlash Among Americans

“Really, we could do as we want to do, but it would be nice to have more help from some of the Democrat governors that don’t mind.”

Trump has deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, California, Washington, D.C., Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Illinois, and Memphis, Tennessee. Courts have blocked the deployments in Portland and Chicago, according to The New York Times.

Most recently, Trump threatened to send the National Guard to San Francisco, but backed down after big tech leaders requested he hold off, NBC News had reported.

READ MORE: ‘Refrain From Any Action’: Congressional Vets Warn Trump on Using Troops Against Americans

A sweeping new poll seen as a “reliable pre-election barometer” finds majorities of Americans deeply unhappy with the nation’s course and increasingly describing President Donald Trump as a “dangerous dictator.”

“The survey offers a snapshot of the nation’s sour mood just more than a year before the 2026 midterms — and suggests that anger could rewire political alliances and test the durability of Trump’s support,” Axios reported.

PRRI, the Public Religion Research Institute, found that six in ten Americans (62%) see the country headed in the wrong direction. That includes strong majorities of Democrats (92%) and independents (71%), as well as nearly one in four Republicans (24%).

On how the president is doing his job, well over half of Americans (56%) disapprove. But nearly nine in ten Republicans (86%) approve, as do 32% of independents, and just 8% of Democrats. Overall, Trump has a 58% unfavorable rating, and a 40% favorable rating.

READ MORE: ‘Travesty’: Trump Reportedly Seeking ‘Bizarre’ $230 Million Payout From DOJ

The negative perceptions of the president appear to run even deeper.

“A majority of Americans agree ‘President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy’ (56%), up from 52% in March 2025, compared with 41% who agree ‘President Trump is a strong leader who should be given the power he needs to restore America’s greatness.'”

Additionally, PRRI found that most Americans “agree with the statement ‘What President Trump is doing to the federal government is an assault on constitutional checks and balances and the rule of law’ (54%), compared with 43% who agree with the statement ‘What President Trump is doing to the federal government is a long-overdue correction of disastrous policies pushed by elites at the expense of ordinary Americans.'”

Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds of Americans (65%) are dissatisfied with the economy and how the federal government is functioning. That includes nine in ten Democrats, and nearly three in ten Republicans.

READ MORE: Not a ‘Gut-Wrenching’ Problem: Ron Johnson Shrugs Off Millions Losing Subsidies

When asked about how the federal government is handling undocumented immigrants, 57% disapprove, including 89% of Democrats and 18% of Republicans.

The survey also found that majorities “say that the cuts in federal funding of health care programs (60%) and universities and research institutions (55%), the implementation of new tariffs on imported goods (54%), and the increase in funding for ICE to speed up efforts to arrest, detain, and deport undocumented immigrants (52%) have gone too far, though partisan differences are stark, with Democrats being far more likely to say such changes have gone too far.”

PRRI CEO Melissa Deckman told Axios that it “looks like political independents are very unhappy with Trump’s actions,” with “close to two-thirds on many indicators saying the administration has gone too far in its policies.”

She added: “That’s a warning sign for the GOP ahead of the midterms.”

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), the once-loyal MAGA soldier whose recent attacks on her own party have led some to wonder if she is the “New Republican Voice of Sanity,” is out with another thrashing of the GOP, this time on health care.

“More of my Republican colleagues are finally talking about the unaffordable health insurance crisis, but yesterday on our GOP conference call Speaker Johnson said he has ideas and pages of policy, but did not say a single policy plan,” she wrote on Wednesday. “I think that is unacceptable.”

Greene did not reserve her criticism for just Republicans.

READ MORE: Majority Call Trump a ‘Dangerous Dictator’ Leading Nation Off Course: Report

Claiming that “Democrats created this nightmare 15 years ago, then made it worse in 2021 by extending the ACA tax credits that are now expiring,” she declared, “I find it unacceptable that Republicans are sitting on the sidelines doing nothing to fix this healthcare disaster that is leading many Americans into financial ruin.”

Numerous reports say some — and including many of Greene’s fellow Georgia residents — will see Obamacare premiums “more than double” unless Congress reinstates the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which Republicans to date have refused to do.

Greene blames Democrats for the expiring subsidies and alleges that Democrats “are admitting they screwed the whole health insurance system up and they are admitting original Obamacare is now way too expensive.”

Reminding her colleagues that they are the party in power, she called on Republicans “to build the off ramp off of Obamacare in a responsible way, deregulate healthcare and pharmaceuticals and demand price transparency across the board, and incentivize the market in such a way to open up competition which will drive down cost.”

READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Jeffries Torches Trump’s ‘Out of Control’ Press Secretary

“Pick up your bat and ball and get in the game,” she urged, while taking a swipe at MAGA loyalty.

“Our districts voted for us. Our districts sent us to Congress. No one else. No one or any lobby deserves our loyalty and support.”

During his first term, President Donald Trump promised multiple times to put out a plan to “repeal and replace” Obamacare. No comprehensive plan ever surfaced. During the 2024 presidential campaign, he said he had the “concepts of a plan.”

Last year in September, KFF reported that “Trump has long talked about making the ACA less expensive, but the question is less expensive for whom. Trump’s past proposals would certainly have made the ACA less expensive for the federal government, but with the trade-off of higher out-of-pocket premiums for people, more uninsured, and higher spending and greater risk for states.”

READ MORE: Not a ‘Gut-Wrenching’ Problem: Ron Johnson Shrugs Off Millions Losing Subsidies

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, sought to downplay the impact that losing Affordable Care Act subsidies would have on millions of Americans, calling it not a “gut-wrenching” problem.

Health care premiums for about 20 million Americans are expected to more than double next year, according to the Harvard Kennedy School‘s Mark Shepard. The Urban Institute says about five million could lose coverage.

“I don’t think this is gonna be any kind of gut wrenching problem if these enhanced subsidies just go away,” Senator Johnson told CNBC on Tuesday. “We’ll probably have to weather the lies told by the Democrats. But again, we’re happy to work with Democrats and fix the broken Obamacare system.”

READ MORE: ‘Not Right in the Head’: Notorious Far Right Leader Fuentes Goes Off on ‘Weird’ Trump

“Millions of people are gonna die,” CNBC’s Joe Kernen replied. “They said millions of people will die if these subsidies aren’t renewed — the enhanced subsidies.”

“Democrats say all kinds of things that aren’t true,” Johnson charged. “I mean, I got that, and it does scare people because a lot of people in the legacy media carry their water, amplify their falsehoods. I got that.”

“That scares a lot of Republicans as well,” Johnson continued. “Doesn’t scare me. I’m just looking at the reality of the situation. We need to describe the reality.”

Polls show that 78 percent of Americans — including majorities across all political parties — want the subsidies renewed, according to KFF.

READ MORE: ‘Existential Threat’: U.S. on Path to Authoritarianism Warn Ex-Intelligence Officials

The 78% “is more than three times the share of the public (22%) who say Congress should let the credits expire,” KFF reported earlier this month. “Notably, majorities across political [parties] want Congress to extend the tax credits including nine in ten (92%) Democrats, eight in ten (82%) independents, and six in ten (59%) Republicans. A majority of Republicans who align with the MAGA movement (57%) also say Congress should extend these subsidies.”

Three-quarters of Americans (76%) would blame President Donald Trump or Republicans if the subsidies are not renewed,” KFF reported. Just 22% would blame Democrats.

READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Jeffries Torches Trump’s ‘Out of Control’ Press Secretary

White nationalist influencer Nick Fuentes, who infamously once dined with President Donald Trump and Kanye West (Ye) at Mar-a-Lago, blasted the president last week as a “weird guy” who is “not right in the head.”

“Look, something’s wrong with him, man,” Fuentes told a viewer on his online streaming show, as Mediaite reported. “And I’m not saying that to be nasty, but like, he’s a weird guy.”

“And some of the stuff that he does, just the way that he’s always glazing himself, and repeats himself.”

READ MORE: ‘Existential Threat’: U.S. on Path to Authoritarianism Warn Ex-Intelligence Officials

“Something’s, he’s not right in the head, and I don’t know if that’s his psychology or if it’s just his age, but there’s something not right there, and anyone that’s been around him will tell you that,” Fuentes charged.

“He’s a weird dude,” he added. “Like, he’s an odd cat, and maybe you need to be to be as tough as he is, but he’s not sharp. If there was something wrong with him 10 years ago, it was a lot less apparent, because 10 years ago, he’s a lot more sharp, and, I think, compelling, and general, and now, he’s just slow and monotonous, and repeats himself, and seems to really not know what’s going on.”

Fuentes was responding to a viewer who had written, “Looks like your assessment of Trump as a tired old man is correct.”

“Saw a report today that lots of his view of Chicago or NYC is from old BLM riot clips people show him. He just wants to play golf, fly on AF1, have fancy dinner parties, sign Oval Office EOs, watch 80s movie and get told he is getting revenge on [John] Bolton.”

READ MORE: ‘Sick’: Jeffries Torches Trump’s ‘Out of Control’ Press Secretary

Eric Trump’s controversial remarks — declaring that his father is guided by God and praising what he describes as a divinely orchestrated series of events leading America to this moment — are being blasted by a group of hundreds of national security experts.

“I can’t tell you how many things are lining up,” the President’s son told right-wing podcaster Benny Johnson.

“I mean, think about the fact that this book came out on Charlie Kirk’s birthday, on the same day as we have peace in the Middle East,” he said, of his new book. “You know, I mean, so many different factors are all coming together at once in the most unthinkable, unbelievable journey.”

“Look how much better humanity and our world is,” under Trump, he claimed.

READ MORE: ‘Seem Very Nervous’: Top Trump Officials Blasted After Lashing Out at ‘No Kings’ Protests

“You know, we’re saving Christianity. We’re saving God, we’re saving the family unit. We’re saving this nation. I mean, you know, DEI is out the window, Benny. You know, I mean, you no longer have Colin Kaepernick kneeling for the national anthem,” Trump continued. “You no longer have Budweiser going, woke as h–, all of this is dead.”

Trump claimed a resurgence in church attendance, and “a return to people, you know, valuing their children, and valuing society, and believing in the white picket fence, and what the American dream represents, and what the American dream stands for, and American exceptionalism, and peace around the world, and that people can coexist with one another without having to, you know, pick up arms and destroy each other for no reason whatsoever, other than, you know, incompetent, and, you know, and egotistical governments.”

“It’s a beautiful time, and he will go to heaven for all of that,’ he said of his father. “God absolutely guided this journey.”

The Steady State, a group of over 330 former national security officials, slammed the Trump scion’s remarks.

“Eric Trump is not talking politics,” they wrote. “Instead, he’s declaring a new moral order.”

READ MORE: ‘Pure Fascist’: Governor Blasted for Backing ‘Forever’ Federal Joint Policing Operation

“Framing Trump as God-guided and destined for heaven, he claims America has been ‘saved’ from DEI, protest, and pluralism. This is prophetic, authoritarian language,” they warned.

“Dissent becomes evil, and their victory becomes divine destiny.”

Former Obama head speechwriter turned political commentator Jon Favreau remarked, “We’ve moved rather quickly from ‘God saved Trump’ to ‘Trump is saving God,’ which I guess is the foundation of the new MAGA religion?”

Author Jennifer Erin Valent, winner of a Christian writers’ award commented, “No one ‘saves’ God. Every Christian should know that and be repulsed by the very assertion.”

READ MORE: ‘Do Not Love This Country’: GOP Escalates Attacks on ‘No Kings’ Movement

Following the launch of a massive federal interagency task force in partnership with state law enforcement, Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee pledged that the “Memphis Safe Task Force” would be a permanent fixture.

Last month, the White House published a presidential memorandum titled “Restoring Law and Order in Memphis,” which orders 13 federal government agencies and offices to coordinate. It states the “objective shall be to end street and violent crime in Memphis to the greatest possible extent,” and lists actions including “hypervigilant policing, aggressive prosecution, complex investigations, financial enforcement, and large-scale saturation of besieged neighborhoods with law enforcement personnel.”

Memphis is among the most violent cities in the country.

READ MORE: ‘Batten Down the Hatches’: White House Issues New Shutdown Threat

“The Memphis Safe Task Force began operations on September 29, with the National Guard joining efforts this past Friday,” Action5 News reported on Monday.

Lee told reporters on Tuesday, “We’ve just begun,” and said the program will last “for months,” before stating that in some form it will continue “forever.”

“We do know that this is gonna last for months, and we have just begun. In fact, I will tell you that it will last forever,” he said. “Because what we believe will happen is the numbers of law enforcement agents from different agencies will change, depending on the mission at the moment.”

He described a “collaboration that is happening right now between U.S. Marshal Service and the Memphis Police Department, and the FBI, and the DEA, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol.”

READ MORE: ‘Do Not Love This Country’: GOP Escalates Attacks on ‘No Kings’ Movement

“That collaboration will be here from now on,” said Lee. “So this operation, in some ways, may never end.”

Critics blasted the governor.

“As I predicted,” noted authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the “aim is a ‘domestic forever war.'”

The Atlantic’s Dr. Norman Ornstein, a political scientist, wrote: “Fascist. Pure fascist.”

Columnist and “recovering attorney” Wajahat Ali added, “Forever occupation, eh?”

READ MORE: ‘Seem Very Nervous’: Top Trump Officials Blasted After Lashing Out at ‘No Kings’ Protests

After firing thousands of federal government workers on Friday, the Trump White House Office of Management and Budget is threatening even more layoffs, which some experts and Democratic lawmakers say could be unlawful.

The Office of Management and Budget last week fired about 4,000 federal employees and now says an additional reduction in force (RIF) should be expected.

“OMB is making every preparation to batten down the hatches and ride out the Democrats’ intransigence,” the office, run by Russ Vought, said in a social media post. “Pay the troops, pay law enforcement, continue the RIFs, and wait.”

President Trump directed the Pentagon to pay the U.S. military with “all available funds,” which some suggest could also be unlawful without congressional approval. On Tuesday, the White House said it was looking for ways to pay law enforcement officers as well, as first reported by Punchbowl News.

READ MORE: ‘Do Not Love This Country’: GOP Escalates Attacks on ‘No Kings’ Movement

The layoffs, Bloomberg News reported, “marked the first large-scale ouster of federal employees during a funding lapse in modern history, going beyond the furloughs that have characterized past shutdowns. Republicans claim the terminations are necessary consequence of the shutdown, an assertion Democrats and federal budget experts have disputed.”

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on Friday wrote that “a shutdown provides no new legal authority to engage in mass layoffs, nor does it provide any sound management or policy reason to do so.”

“Raising the prospect of mass layoffs as direct retaliation if Democrats do not accede to the House Republicans’ short-term funding proposal is simply an Administration threat to hurt the American people if it does not get its way,” CBPP added.

Washington senior reporter Jennifer Shutt of the States Newsroom called OMB’s statement “Another sign Republicans don’t plan to negotiate with Dems and will wait for more to break ranks on [the Senate’s] procedural vote.”

Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman also reported that “The bet Dems have made is that Trump will push Johnson/Thune to sit down and make a deal. At this point, that’s not happening.”

READ MORE: ‘Seem Very Nervous’: Top Trump Officials Blasted After Lashing Out at ‘No Kings’ Protests