Prem Thakker ツ

@premthakker.bsky.social

Political correspondent @zeteo.com

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@premthakker.bsky.socialReposted by @premthakker.bsky.social

New: The Trump admin is rolling out a nationwide tour to combat hate and antisemitism — meanwhile, a rabbi arrested for protesting Israel now says that ICE agents told him they "don't care" about his religious needs, like the ability to pray away from a prison toilet during the Jewish holy days.

@premthakker.bsky.social

New Pew poll has Trump's approval at 30% (!) 68% of the country disapproves of him. Lowest in his second term, at January 6 levels. *31%* of Trump 2024 voters now disapprove of him.

Trump's approval rating continues to drop Three-in-ten Americans now say they approve of Trump's handling of his job as president, while 68% disapprove - down 4 percentage points from July and his lowest approval rating of his second term. Trump's approval rating drops to 30% - on par with his rating prior to leaving office in January 2021 *chart showing his sinking approval ratings, compared alongside his first term* Much of this decline in his approval ratings over the course of his term is among Trump's own 2024 voters - 67% of validated Trump 2024 voters approve of his job performance today while 31% disapprove. At the beginning of his term, 95% approved.
@premthakker.bsky.social

Incredible — this anti-Zionist rabbi who was arrested for protesting Israel and is now at risk of being deported by Trump's ICE is being held in detention on the grounds that he's a "flight risk." This was the same justification used to hold Mahmoud Khalil and op-ed writer Rümeysa Öztürk:

@premthakker.bsky.social

New: The Trump admin is rolling out a nationwide tour to combat hate and antisemitism — meanwhile, a rabbi arrested for protesting Israel now says that ICE agents told him they "don't care" about his religious needs, like the ability to pray away from a prison toilet during the Jewish holy days.

@premthakker.bsky.social

New: Jewish students announce a boycott Columbia/Barnard Hillel, as it hosts an Israeli group "encouraging Jewish students to move to settlements on land Israel seized from Palestinians." Says the group recently demolished homes, displacing Palestinian families & it intends to demolish dozens more.

Jewish Students Announce Boycott Of Columbia/Barnard Hillel As It Hosts Israeli Officials Who Demolish Palestinian Homes FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, October 8 Media Contact: columbiabarnardivp@gmail.com NEW YORK, NY - The day after October 7th, Columbia/Barnard (CB) Hillel's Kraft Center is holding an event with the Jerusalem Municipality, encouraging Jewish students to move to settlements on land Israel recently seized from Palestinians. Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) announces a boycott of CB Hillel, as long as the organization continues to support settler Zionism. The group Hillel is hosting, the Jerusalem Municipality, demolished a residential building in al-Bustan, East Jerusalem, displacing two Palestinian households, according to a United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report from September 18. The Jerusalem Municipality also intends to demolish dozens of Palestinian housing units in al-Bustan. We condemn these demolitions as part of a sustained campaign of genocide against the Palestinians living in occupied East Jerusalem. On October 6th, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gir shared footage of himself sitting in a bulldozer in occupied East Jerusalem and boasting about the demolition of Palestinian homes. "CB Hillel's collaboration with the Jerusalem Municipality makes clear what many Jewish students on our campus have known for years: Columbia/Barnard Hillel would rather platform and encourage violent Israeli settler-colonialism than create a welcoming religious space for all," said a spokesperson for Columbia JVP. "As a Jewish student, I am disgusted Columbia has allowed Hillel to platform an organization actively displacing Palestinians, and demand that the University not only create a space where anti-Zionist Jewish students feel comfortable and welcome, but drop Columbia/Barnard Hillel once and for all." While Columbia/Barnard Hillel claims to be a pluralistic space for Jewish life, its support of Zionism and normalization of …
@premthakker.bsky.social

My gosh. Mike Huckabee's top aide: —Covered up an embassy report on Israeli killings of 9 Americans —Fabricated Orwellian reports on Israeli settler violence & the "Gaza Humanitarian Foundation" to make it sound good for Israel —Questioned staff on whether they were “pro-Israel” or “pro-Hamas”

In late March, at the height of the Iran war, Israel quietly approved more settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank than it ever had at one time. Staff members at the United States Embassy in Jerusalem saw the move as potentially flouting one of President Trump's explicit red lines for Israel - no annexation of the West Bank - and drafted an urgent report intended for policy makers in Washington. That memo never reached Washington. It was quashed by David Milstein, a top aide to Ambassador Mike Huckabee, according to three U.S. officials briefed on the process. This was no isolated incident. Since taking up his post in April 2025, Mr. Milstein, 36, has repeatedly suppressed or significantly revised embassy reporting on Israeli activities to present the Netanyahu government in a favorable light, according to a dozen people who work with or interact with Mr. Milstein in both Jerusalem and Washington: • As settler violence in the West Bank surged in the spring, for instance, he stymied embassy reporting suggesting that the Israeli government was failing to take action, according to the three officials. Instead the embassy sent a cable to Washington, viewed by The New York Times, praising Israel for "cracking down" on the attacks. • When members of Congress pushed for accountability over the killings of nine Palestinian Americans by Israeli settlers and security forces, he suppressed a detailed report that the embassy staff had written, effectively stonewalling lawmakers' efforts to gain information, according to multiple officials briefed on the matter.Mr. Milstein rewrote the cable to declare GHF's operation a success while overlooking the mass casualties, according to people who saw the cable and were briefed on the editing process. Troubled by glaring discrepancies between news coverage and the embassy's official reports, White House and State Department officials seeking a clearer picture of events bypassed standard channels at least twice to communicate directly with embassy staff, according to two officials briefed on the outreach and an internal communication from late this summer seen by The Times. Veteran American diplomats said that withholding or twisting the information sent to Washington should raise serious concerns. "The embassy ought to tell Washington everything — the good, the bad and the ugly," said Dan Kurtzer, who was the U.S. ambassador to Israel under President George W. Bush. "If they're not doing so, they are damaging the policy-making process and possibly undermining the president's policies." Mr. Milstein also questioned several colleagues on whether they were "pro-Israel" or "pro-Hamas," according to four officials, who found the question inappropriate and said it made some people fearful of speaking freely.
@premthakker.bsky.social

As always, if you ever have any tips on anything related to 2028, congressional maneuvering, Gaza, or the like — text me on Signal: premthakker.35 You can remain anonymous :)

@premthakker.bsky.social

While many Democrats are demanding that Biden officials complicit in the genocide of Gaza not be re-hired (if not fully prosecuted), Cory Booker is actively promoting the book of one:

@premthakker.bsky.social

Picturing the most cynical possible outcome of all this being that a defeated Chuck Schumer's final act in Congress is to anoint Cory Booker as his successor, to ensure that — if nothing else — the Democratic caucus remains committed to Israel

@premthakker.bsky.social

Cory Booker — who is being floated as a 2028 contender, and who just the other day did not deny the possibility of wanting to become leader of the Senate Democrats — promotes the book of Brett McGurk, a chief architect of the US-backed Israeli genocide of Palestine:

Cory Booker tweet: @brett_mcgurk is one of our nation’s great experts on the Middle East and has spent decades working at the highest levels of diplomacy through some of the region’s most consequential moments. I’m really looking forward to reading Brink and learning from his firsthand account of the extraordinary efforts to free the hostages, and confront the extraordinary challenges of the region.
@premthakker.bsky.social

NEW: In 2020, a pharma CEO’s relatives donated to Susan Collins.

That company got a $4.5M contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Collins was on the Appropriations subcommittee.

…The company went on to pay $47M to settle claims it defrauded US health programs.

@andrewperez.bsky.social:

zeteo.comFirst Draft: Forget Hasan Piker, Donald Trump Is America’s Worst Campaign SurrogateThe president went to Nebraska – and showed yet again why Democrats including Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed are desperate for him to visit! In Maine, Susan Collins faced more embarrassing reporting.
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@premthakker.bsky.socialReposted by @premthakker.bsky.social

New: Jasmine Crockett was offering government relations & lobbying services on a campaign-funded website. It was taken down after Zeteo reached out. Experts say they’d never seen something like this before. Rules bar members from lobbying and from using campaign funds for non-campaign purposes.

zeteo.comJasmine Crockett Offered Lobbying Services on Her Campaign-Funded Website – While in OfficeThe offering was removed after Zeteo contacted the Texas Democratic congresswoman’s office.
@dmehro.bsky.socialReposted by @premthakker.bsky.social

NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings.

w/ @regret.bsky.social

wired.comICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir DatabaseDHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.
@premthakker.bsky.social

The politics of Israel have shifted so much that even a moderate in Kansas (who could beat the Republican) is open to cutting some weapons: "I don't want them to drop the bombs that my taxes paid for on innocent people." Doesn't call it genocide, but concedes Israel's "actions feel genocidal."

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