@Daily Kos
The Trump administration released its “National Security Strategy” on Thursday night, but the document reads more like a manifesto advocating for white supremacy than a supposed national defense plan. The document calls on Europe to restore its “Western identity” and “civilizational self-confidence,” echoing the language of white supremacist movements. It also advocates against migration to the United States and Europe, which has long been cited as a goal of supremacists seeking to purportedly preserve white culture. The Trump strategy argues that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” and blames organizations like the European Union and other international groups that supposedly “undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.” White supremacists have historically argued that white civilization is under assault from non-white infiltrators who are undermining existing governments. The document gives a stamp of approval to the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which Trump has previously endorsed while opposing the migration of non-white people to America. Vice President JD Vance, shown in November. This theory has inspired numerous acts of violence, including the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in New York, a 2015 mass shooting at a South Carolina church, and a 2018 mass shooting at a synagogue in Pennsylvania, among others. The national security document also offers praise for the “growing influence of patriotic European parties,” which is clearly a reference to bigoted, nationalist parties like the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. The German government has labeled AfD as a “proven right-wing extremist organization,” and AfD leaders have used Nazi slogans and engaged in Holocaust denialism. Vice President JD Vance has complained about criticism of AfD, writing in May, “The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.” National security strategies do not typically offer wholesome endorsements of white nationalism. In 2022, when then-President Joe Biden released his strategy, he called for a more robust strategy on diplomatically confronting Russia and China, and for domestic investment to shore up American strength. He also focused on fighting climate change, an ongoing threat to national security. The new Trump document is just the latest front in which this administration has chosen to embrace racism and white supremacy, and it adds to the litany of actions Trump has undertaken to support bigotry and to attack the existence of non-white people. Not only does the document echo the racism of Trump, who has spent years publicly advocating bigotry, but it sounds very much like the handiwork of senior White House aide Stephen Miller, who is arguably the most virulently racist figure in Trump’s inner circle. Now they want the world to share in their bigoted approach.
The Trump administration released its “National Security Strategy” on Thursday night, but the document reads more like a manifesto advocating for white supremacy than a supposed national defense plan. The document calls on Europe to restore its “Western identity” and “civilizational self-confidence,” echoing the language of white supremacist movements. It also advocates against migration to the United States and Europe, which has long been cited as a goal of supremacists seeking to purportedly preserve white culture. The Trump strategy argues that Europe faces “civilizational erasure” and blames organizations like the European Union and other international groups that supposedly “undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.” White supremacists have historically argued that white civilization is under assault from non-white infiltrators who are undermining existing governments. The document gives a stamp of approval to the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which Trump has previously endorsed while opposing the migration of non-white people to America. Vice President JD Vance, shown in November. This theory has inspired numerous acts of violence, including the 2022 mass shooting at a grocery store in New York, a 2015 mass shooting at a South Carolina church, and a 2018 mass shooting at a synagogue in Pennsylvania, among others. The national security document also offers praise for the “growing influence of patriotic European parties,” which is clearly a reference to bigoted, nationalist parties like the Alternative for Germany party, or AfD. The German government has labeled AfD as a “proven right-wing extremist organization,” and AfD leaders have used Nazi slogans and engaged in Holocaust denialism. Vice President JD Vance has complained about criticism of AfD, writing in May, “The AfD is the most popular party in Germany, and by far the most representative of East Germany. Now the bureaucrats try to destroy it.” National security strategies do not typically offer wholesome endorsements of white nationalism. In 2022, when then-President Joe Biden released his strategy, he called for a more robust strategy on diplomatically confronting Russia and China, and for domestic investment to shore up American strength. He also focused on fighting climate change, an ongoing threat to national security. The new Trump document is just the latest front in which this administration has chosen to embrace racism and white supremacy, and it adds to the litany of actions Trump has undertaken to support bigotry and to attack the existence of non-white people. Not only does the document echo the racism of Trump, who has spent years publicly advocating bigotry, but it sounds very much like the handiwork of senior White House aide Stephen Miller, who is arguably the most virulently racist figure in Trump’s inner circle. Now they want the world to share in their bigoted approach.
Daily Kos
Trump releases racist blueprint for the world
The Trump administration released its “ National Security Strategy ”� on Thursday night, but the document reads more like a manifesto advocat...
We sometimes forget that while super gross hyperconservative tech creep Peter Thiel founded Palantir Technologies, the data management/AI/surveillance juggernaut, it was co-founded and is currently run by super gross hyperconservative tech creep Alex Karp—and boy does Alex have Some Thoughts. Have you been worried that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s gleeful bombing of civilian boats in international waters an illegal and unconstitutional war crime? Karp is too! His solution, however, is probably a bit different than yours, unless you are also a super gross hyperconservative tech creep. Karp sees the administration’s fondness for murdering defenseless boaters as an opportunity to make money. Indeed, he’s a huge fan of the idea precisely because it opens up a market. When asked about the constitutionality of the boat strikes at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit on Wednesday, Karp’s answer was, “Part of the reason why I like this questioning is the more constitutional you want to make it, the more precise you want to make it, the more you’re going to need my product.” So, according to Karp, he’s “totally supportive” of a push to “making it constitutional.” Related | The surveillance state is here—and it’s bleak It isn’t at all clear if what Karp is saying is that somehow we would change the constitution to allow the president to randomly declare war and kill whoever he’d like, wherever he’d like, or if he means there’s a way to make the existing boat strikes conform with the Constitution somehow. That’s likely unclear because it’s ridiculous to ask a tech CEO to opine on the constitutionality of anything, much less this. But what is clear is that Karp is thrilled with this sort of thing as long as he can figure out a way to fatten Palantir’s bottom line. Karp is also racist as all get out, though he calls it being skeptical about migration. He complains of “unfettered immigration in Europe,” calling it a disaster that’s leading to “mass social dislocation.” He declared Palantir to be “anti-woke” because of course he did, and he insists that Trump isn’t a fascist because he grew up with actual fascists in Germany. He’s a big fan of the Western world’s “superiority in applying organized violence,” which is pretty much just code for “I love state-sanctioned harm of non-white people,” which is … kinda fascist, actually. Oh, and he cops to being an “arrogant prick”—and thinks more CEOs should follow suit. Lovely. Karp was one of the CEOs who tagged along on Trump’s trip to the Middle East, which people pretended for a brief moment was actually about politics, but was really about Trump and his Big Tech cronies doing deals and bribes. Palantir has already partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement for “ImmigrationOS” to make brutalizing and deporting immigrants even easier. Palantir also dropped some millions on the Trump ballroom, because come on, that’s just good bribe policy. Even if Palantir wasn’t so free with its money, the Trump administration would likely still be singing the company’s praises and giving it contracts, thanks to the fact that founder Peter Thiel bought JD Vance his Senate seat in Ohio after giving Vance his brief career in technology investment. Maybe Karp feels compelled to share his thoughts on more efficient, data-driven murder of civilians because he is sad he didn’t get a fake military commission like the CTO of Palantir did back in June, where the Army invented a new “Detachment 201: The Army’s Executive Innovation Corps.” Related | Army gives shady offer to tech bros so they can play soldier That is really just a way to help Big Tech guys play Big Boy Soldier without any actual, well, soldiering. Perhaps Karp figured that if his CTO could larp as a soldier, he could play at being a constitutional and military law expert. At bottom, Karp is staggeringly immoral. Eagerly stepping up to explain that your technology will help efficiently murder people—but only the right people, as in the people Trump wants to murder—is ugly enough. Bragging that you’re hyped for it because it will make you more money is far beyond immoral and is generally monstrous. So of course, he’ll always have a place in Trump’s world.
The United States Institute of Peace has officially been named after President Donald Trump, with the egomaniac’s name now etched into the building. "This morning, the State Department renamed the former Institute of Peace to reflect the greatest dealmaker in our nation's history," the State Department wrote in a post on X. "Welcome to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The best is yet to come." And yet the renaming is especially odd given that the White House has previously referred to the institute as “bloated” and “useless.” The building has also been dormant since earlier this year, when the so-called Department of Government Efficiency carried out a hostile takeover of the independent but federally funded nonprofit, which worked to resolve world conflicts. A federal judge ruled in May that the takeover was illegal, but an appeals court stayed that decision as the Trump administration appeals it further. “A federal judge has already ruled that the government’s armed takeover was illegal,” George Foote, a lawyer representing USIP staff in the lawsuit, told CNN. “That judgment is stayed while the government appeals, which is the only reason the government continues to control the building. The rightful owners will ultimately prevail and will restore the U.S. Institute of Peace and the building to their statutory purposes.” President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Dec. 2 as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth looks on. Trump renaming the USIP after himself couldn't come at a more ironic time. Trump's administration is currently mired in scandal for the apparent war crimes it's committing in the Caribbean Sea. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth—who has said the military shouldn't follow any code of ethics—reportedly ordered the military to kill the survivors of a missile strike on a boat the Trump administration claimed was trafficking drugs. Two men survived the blast and were seen clinging to the wreckage before a second strike was ordered to kill the two defenseless survivors. In all, the Trump administration has made 21 attacks on boats, killing 83 people. The attacks amounted to extrajudicial killings since none of the people on the boats were charged with or convicted of crimes before they were executed in military strikes. Despite this, Trump ridiculously sees himself as the peace president, falsely claiming to have ended multiple wars even as he threatens to start new ones. He’s so obsessed with his image as the bearer of peace that he’s waged an embarrassing campaign to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, even though Americans don’t even think he deserves it. After he was rightfully snubbed for the prize, he gave himself a participation trophy by putting his name on the Institute of Peace, which is, again, an organization his own administration has deemed “useless.” It’s a ridiculous move that would make even North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un blush.
Republicans are in a full-on panic following Tuesday's special election in Tennessee's 7th District, after the GOP candidate underperformed Donald Trump by a whopping 13-point margin. And it's easy to see why. Republicans had to spend $3.5 million to defend this seat. Given that there are roughly 102 GOP-held House seats that voted for Trump by smaller margins than Tennessee's 7th, according to data from The Downballot, that would mean Republicans would need to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in areas that were not expected to be competitive. “Couples therapy” by Mike Luckovich Even worse for the GOP is that if every House race in the 2026 midterms swung toward Democrats as much as it did in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, Democrats would knock off a whopping 44 Republican seats, according to Downballot data. That would amount to even more seats than the 40 Democrats picked up on net in the 2018 midterms, when Trump's unpopularity and Republicans' failed Obamacare repeal effort led to a blue wave. "Tonight’s election results prove exactly what the DCCC has known all along—Democrats are on offense not just in the standard swing districts but in red terrain across the country," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Madison Andrus said in a statement. "Our expansive battlefield shows that Democrats are ready to fight in rural districts, in Latino communities, in Trump country, and everywhere in between. House Republicans are officially on notice—Democrats are taking back the majority in 2026.” The DCCC specifically listed out nine GOP-held seats currently rated as safely Republican or heavily leaning toward the GOP that Democrats are now targeting—including Reps. Andy Ogles of Tennessee; Cory Mills, Maria Elvira Salazar, and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida; and Eli Crane of Arizona. Of course, not every contest would see a uniform swing toward Democrats. Candidates and elections still matter at the end of the day. Related | GOP in crisis mode after Tennessee special election Yet given that Democrats only need to net three seats for a majority, they are well on their way to securing the House majority in 2026. "The GOP should be running for the hills this morning because the blue wave is building," CNN's Harry Enten said Wednesday morning, adding that since 2005, the party that overperformed in special elections went on to win the House in the midterm elections. “Excuse time for Republicans is over,” Enten added, “Because I hear all about these special elections, ‘Oh the turnout is so low it’s not representative of what will happen in a midterm election.’ The turnout last night in Tennessee’s 7th District was equal to the turnout in the 2022 midterm election. So the blue wave? It seems to be building right out of the center of Tennessee.”
The Trump administration is going after a Venezuelan social media influencer as tensions with the South American country reach a boiling point. On Wednesday, the Treasury Department announced sanctions against five Venezuelans accused of being linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, specifically highlighting Rosita—whose legal name is Jimena Romina Araya Navarro—a DJ and social media influencer with more than 3 million followers on Instagram. “Today, OFAC is sanctioning a network of individuals and entities in the entertainment industry involved in providing material support to TdA,” the press release said. A screenshot from the Treasury Department’s press release, displaying side-by-side photos of Rosita working as a DJ. According to the announcement, Rosita held “drug-fueled parties” to funnel money to the Venezuelan gang. She was also accused of helping the gang’s leader, Niño Guerrero, escape from a prison. Daily Kos reached out to Rosita’s management and the Treasury Department but did not receive a response by time of publication. But as the Trump team targets social media influencers, the administration’s attacks on Venezuela continue to escalate, resulting in the killing of more than 80 people purportedly trying to smuggle drugs into the United States. According to the Washington Post, as people held on to a boat during a Sept. 2 missile strike, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered military officials to “kill them all.” Now, Democrats and Republicans are questioning whether these strikes were war crimes. "A couple of hours later, I learned that that commander had made the [decision], which he had the complete authority to do," Hegseth said during a Tuesday Cabinet meeting. "And by the way, Adm. Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat." Trump has had it out for Venezuelan President Nicolas Madúro since his first term, but his approach today is far more violent than his 2018 sanctions—and it’s all being done under the widely disputed narrative that Tren de Aragua has infiltrated the United States. Apparently in its pretend war on drugs, social media personalities have become another casualty.
How do you win an election, yet still lose the night? While votes are still being counted, Republicans have held on to their House seat in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District by a ridiculously slim margin—single digits. This is a district Donald Trump carried 60–38 in 2024. Democrat Aftyn Behn and Republican Matt Van Epps on the campaign trail ahead of the Dec. 2 special election in Tennessee. The result isn’t just surprising. It’s ominous. This race was never about flipping the seat. That remained the longest of long shots. What mattered was the margin. Republicans needed a comfortable win to project strength and momentum heading into next year’s midterms. A mid-teens result would’ve been a flashing yellow light. A Democratic victory would’ve signaled an outright political cataclysm. That didn’t happen, but a single-digit result is something far more threatening. It’s full-throttle DANGER DANGER Will Robinson territory. While the final tally isn’t yet locked in, Democrats appear to have outperformed Trump’s 2024 margin by roughly 15 points. A swing of that magnitude puts a bullseye on dozens of Republican seats long considered safe in any normal political climate. But these aren’t normal times. A shift this large doesn’t just jeopardize the Republican House majority. It puts the U.S. Senate back in play and casts serious doubt on any remaining GOP redistricting ambitions in states like Indiana and Florida. No Republican incumbent—no matter how safe—will want to dilute their partisan advantage with numbers like these hanging overhead. Texas Republicans should be praying that the Supreme Court steps in and tosses out their maps for them. Related | Trump rushes to rescue GOP in surprisingly tight special election There’s no sugarcoating what this means. Vulnerable Republican incumbents have already been tiptoeing away from Trump, and that instinct will only intensify. It’s no coincidence he didn’t physically campaign in this district. Polling showed him underwater—47–49%—in a place that should be a fortress of red support. Buckle up. The next few months are going to get very interesting, especially if angry and demoralized Republicans start heading for the exits early, as one anonymous senior House Republican recently predicted would happen.
During his televised Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Donald Trump claimed that concerns about the affordability of goods and services are a “fake narrative.” Trump also falsely claimed that the entire issue is a “scam” by the Democratic Party. Trump’s ridiculous comments are even stranger because just a few days ago he touted himself as the “affordability president.” YouTube Video “There’s this fake narrative that the Democrats talk about—affordability. They just say the word, it doesn’t mean anything to anybody,” Trump said. He went on to say “the word ‘affordability’ is a con job by the Democrats” and said it was a “Democrat[ic] scam.” YouTube Video Trump sang a completely different tune in a Nov. 29 post to Truth Social, where he wrote, “I AM THE AFFORDABILITY PRESIDENT. TALK LOUDLY AND PROUDLY! President DJT” Trump did not explain why the term is a “scam” when Democrats use it but perfectly fine when he does. He also expressed purported concern about the high cost of living during his White House meeting with New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani two weeks ago. Mamdani cruised to victory on a platform of addressing affordability, and Trump incorrectly claimed that the Democrat has “the same ideas that I have.” Trump has made affordability worse for middle- and working-class families since he took over an economy in recovery under former President Joe Biden. Trump has pushed tariffs against the advice of economic experts that have increased costs which are being passed on to consumers. Trump has overseen nine straight months of manufacturing job losses as a result. Meanwhile as Americans struggle to pay bills and look for jobs, Trump has spent his time obsessing over his plans for a gigantic ballroom at the White House. He reportedly has been feuding with the architect because he wants the new structure to be almost twice the size of the existing White House building. Related | Why Republicans don’t actually give a damn about affordability Despite Trump’s rhetoric on affordability, he and other Republicans have long shown an aversion to using the power of the government to address costs. Republicans and conservatives have historically paid lip service to the topic while focusing on increasing the wealth of the rich. The failure to handle affordability has already led to Republicans losing races in places like New York City, Virginia, and Rhode Island—and other races in safe GOP territory have simultaneously been drifting toward Democrats. Describing a concern held by millions of Americans as merely a “fake narrative” and “scam” is unlikely to shift things back into the Republican column.
The White House can’t seem to take a hint: Artists don’t want their music all over the Trump administration’s egregiously cruel deportation videos. Sabrina Carpenter is the latest musician to object to the use of her song “Juno” over a montage clip of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents handcuffing and tackling immigrants. The video was posted to X by the official White House account on Monday. “this video is evil and disgusting. Do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda,” the pop star wrote via X Tuesday. Naturally, the White House used this opportunity to slam Carpenter in a response using her album titles and song lyrics. “Here’s a Short n’ Sweet message for Sabrina Carpenter: We won’t apologize for deporting dangerous criminal illegal murderers, rapists, and pedophiles from our country,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement provided to Zeteo. “Anyone who would defend these sick monsters must be stupid, or is it slow?” The people behind the Department of Homeland Security’s social media have been making light of the dangerous, aggressive, and inhumane deportation practices being carried out by masked agents. Related | White House posts despicable video of immigrants being deported From ASMR videos of shackled immigrants to “South Park” memes, they’ve used everything under the sun to find sick humor in arresting pregnant women and senior citizens—anything to turn attention away from the lawless mistreatment of humans. But Hollywood isn’t laughing. As a matter of fact, President Donald Trump has seemingly lost some of his more loyal manosphere bros thanks to the callous editing efforts. In September, DHS used comedian Theo Von to joke about deportation. “Heard you got deported dude,” Von said in a video taken out of context. “Bye.” But Von didn’t find it funny, and lawyered up immediately to get it taken down. By the time DHS removed the bootlegged content, though, millions of people had already seen it. Even podcaster Joe Rogan, once an outspoken supporter of Trump, denounced the clip. “Oh my god, what the fuck are they doing?” he said during a recent podcast episode with Von. Artists like Olivia Rodrigo have taken a more upfront approach to DHS using their songs as a soundtrack for hatred. "Don’t ever use my songs to promote your racist, hateful propaganda,” she wrote in response to the department using her music in November. Jay-Z and Pokémon stepped into the ring too, demanding DHS take down morally questionable videos using their content. It’s not just the artists being ripped off who are speaking out. Hugely popular celebrities have been raging over the inhumane mass deportations for months. Actor Pedro Pascal used his platform to stand by Angelenos when ICE and the National Guard infiltrated Los Angeles, while rapper Doechii took on ICE while accepting an award in June. “People are being swept up and torn from their families, and I feel it’s my responsibility as an artist to use this moment to speak up for all oppressed people,” she said from the podium at the BET Awards. Related | Podcast bro jumps off Trump train after facing regime's depravity Rocker Bruce Springsteen took to the stage in June and slammed the practice as well. “We are seeing things right now on our American borders that are so shockingly and disgracefully inhumane and un-American that it is simply enraging,” he said to the crowd. “And we have heard people in high positions in the American government blaspheme in the name of God and country that it is a moral thing to assault the children amongst us. May God save our souls.” Trump has long had beef with Springsteen, calling the award-winning musician “overrated” and “not talented.” But no matter how much Trump and his DHS minions bully and demean immigrants, the calls coming from Hollywood and people across the nation denouncing their terrible tactics are only growing louder.
As sure as the sun will rise, the Justice Department is going to figure out a way to reindict former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James—because why let a little thing like the law stand in the way of President Donald Trump’s retribution demands? Both the Comey and James indictments were tossed out when Trump’s favorite former real estate lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, was booted from her position atop the Eastern District of Virginia. But since those were dismissed without prejudice, the DOJ can refile them. Former FBI Director James Comey There are several nakedly desperate options here. The DOJ could just skip appealing Halligan’s disqualification, though that seems odd in light of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s tough talk about doing so. However, since Bondi had already named Halligan a “special attorney” in charge of the Comey and James cases, Halligan could present to a grand jury in that role. Sure, but it isn’t like calling Halligan “special attorney” instead of “acting attorney” is going to make her any better at her job. The other alternatives for seeking a new indictment would be to have actual, competent prosecutors present to the grand jury. But Halligan already had to get special guest prosecutors from outside of her district to help because everyone else declined to touch this mess. Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel—possibly the dumbest person in Trump’s administration—gave away the game in an interview with the Epoch Times. “The judicial process can make whatever determination it wants, but we at the FBI and our partners at the DOJ have numerous options to proceed, and we’re executing on all those options. So we’re not done,” Patel said. He also did a little teaser announcement that after Thanksgiving, there would be “multiple responses” from federal law enforcement. It’s like the administration tasked Patel with giving Comey and James a blueprint, should the DOJ manage to wrangle new indictments, to succeed on their claims that they should be dismissed. While the DOJ can likely just reindict James on the trumped-up mortgage fraud charges—well, if they can find a grand jury to agree—it faces a problem doing so with Comey. Lindsey Halligan The charges against Comey were based on his alleged lies to Congress in 2020 about something he said in 2017, which was already a very slender reed to hang a prosecution on. Halligan got in just under the five-year statute of limitations, which has since run. There is a federal law that generally allows the government to refile, even if the statute of limitations has run, within six months of the dismissal of the indictment. But here’s where things get messy. Comey’s attorney, Patrick Fitzgerald—no slouch in this department—said that the dismissal “indicates that because the indictment is void, the statute of limitations has run and there can be no further indictment.” The judge who threw Halligan out of a job said in a footnote to her opinion that an invalid indictment “cannot serve to block the door of limitations as it swings closed” and that if the dismissed indictment is void, “there is no legitimate peg on which to hang such a judicial limitations-tolling result.” And if the indictment was voided, it functionally never existed, so the government doesn’t get that extra six months. But we can all speculate about this, but we won’t really know how this will play out until the DOJ manages to bring a new indictment and Comey inevitably challenges it. Isn’t it fun to live in a time where every day is both a constitutional law crisis and requires us all to learn arcane details about statutes of limitation?
By Halle Parker, Verite News, for KFF Liz Dunnebacke isn’t dying, but for a recent end-of-life care workshop in New Orleans, she pretended to be. Dunnebacke lay still atop a folding table that was dressed as a bed, complaining that her legs hurt. Registered nurse Ana Kanellos, rolling up two small white towels, demonstrated how to elevate her ankles to ease the pain. “ Mom’s legs are always swollen? Raise ’em up,” Kanellos said. About 20 New Orleans residents listened intently, eager to learn more about how to care for loved ones at home when they’re nearing the end of their lives. Attendee Alix Vargas said she used to be terrified of dying. But about three years ago, a close cousin’s death led her to attend group writing workshops, helping her embrace her grief and conquer her fear. “ I’m feeling very called towards this work,” she said. “It’s definitely knowledge that I wanted to obtain and expand my mind in that way. And this is also something that we’re all going to encounter in our lives.” The workshop made her think about a neighbor whose mother has dementia. “ I was immediately thinking, ‘OK, there’s someone in my immediate orbit that is experiencing this,’” Vargas recalled. ‘“Here’s a practical way to put the mutual aid in use.’” Demand for home health care, including at-home hospice care, has skyrocketed since the onset of the covid pandemic, as has the number of family caregivers. An estimated 63 million people in the U.S. — nearly a quarter of all American adults — provided care over the previous year to another person with a medical condition or disability, usually another adult, according to a 2024 survey by AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving. In the past 10 years, about 20 million more people have served as caregivers. Nurse Ana Kanellos, a volunteer, demonstrates home caregiving techniques during Wake’s September workshop at the Healing Center in New Orleans. Wake is a nonprofit organization providing education and resources for death care. With nearly 1 in 5 Americans expected to be 65 or older by 2030, health care experts predict the demand for at-home caregivers will continue to rise. Online resources for end-of-life care are widely available, but hands-on training to prepare people to become caregivers is not, and it can be expensive. Yet untrained family members-turned-caregivers are taking on nursing and medical tasks. Donald Trump promised more support for caregivers during his 2024 campaign, including a pledge to create new tax credits for those caring for family members. He endorsed a bill reintroduced in Congress this year that would allow family caregivers to receive tax credits of up to $5,000, but the legislation hasn’t moved forward. Meanwhile, the Medicaid cuts expected from Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which President Trump signed in July, could prompt states looking to offset their added expenses to reconsider participating in optional state Medicaid programs, such as the one that helps pay for at-home hospice care. That would threaten to make dying at home even more unaffordable for low-income families, said advocates and researchers. “ I’m feeling very called towards this work,” says Alix Vargas, who participated in Wake’s Community Deathcare Provider Training. Advocates like Osha Towers are trying to help caregivers navigate the uncertainty. Towers leads LGBTQ+ engagement at Compassion & Choices, a national organization that focuses on improving end-of-life care, preparation, and education. “It is certainly very scary, but what we know we can do right now is be able to just show up for all individuals to make sure that they know what they need to be prepared for,” Towers said. In New Orleans, a nonprofit called Wake, which focuses on supporting family caregivers providing end-of-life and death care, is one of the organizations trying to help fill the knowledge gap. Wake put on the free, three-day September workshop where Dunnebacke, the group’s founder, pretended to be a dying patient. Such workshops are aimed at preparing attendees for what to expect when loved ones are dying and how to care for them, even without costly professional help. Full-time at-home care is rare. “You don’t have to have any special training to do this work,” Dunnebacke said. “You just need some skills and some supports to make that happen.” Laurie Dietrich, programs manager for Wake, answers questions about the dying process and home caregiving during the nonprofit’s September workshop. In some ways, the evolution of end-of-life care in the U.S. over the past century has come full circle. It was only starting in the 1960s that people shifted from dying at home to dying in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice facilities. Such institutions can provide immediate advanced medical support and palliative care for patients, but they often lack the human connection that home care provides, said Laurie Dietrich, Wake’s programs manager. Now, more people want to die in their homes, among family, but with the support and technology that comes with modern medical facilities. Dunnebacke (center), Wake’s founder, helps lead the death care training session at the Healing Center. In the past decade, death doulas — who support the nonmedical and emotional needs of the dying and their loved ones — have grown in popularity to help guide people through the dying process, helping to fill that gap. Douglas Simpson, executive director of the International End of Life Doula Association, said his organization recognizes the lack of resources for death care, so it is training doulas to be community educators. He hopes doulas can be especially useful in rural communities and lead conversations about dying. “Making people more open, more comfortable about talking about death and considering their mortality,” Simpson said. Death doula training varies depending on the organizer, but Simpson’s group focuses on teaching attendees about the dying process, how to maintain the autonomy of the dying person, and how to be aware of how they show up to a job and take care of themselves while caring for others. Some people who attended Wake’s workshop had also attended some form of death doula training in the past. After Nicole Washington’s mother was killed in 2023, she considered becoming a death doula. But she thought the doula training, which can cost $800 to $3,000, was clinical and impersonal, as opposed to Wake’s community-based approach. “I feel very energized, very uplifted,” Washington said. “It’s also really nice to be in a space with people who are familiar with death and grief.” Ochsner Health’s Susan Nelson, who has worked as a geriatrician for 25 years, said there is a need for more specialized programs to train and prepare caregivers, like Wake’s. “Learning caregiving skills is probably, unfortunately, more trial by fire,” Nelson said. Kanellos (left) demonstrates home caregiving techniques on Dunnebacke. “You don’t have to have any special training to do this work,” Dunnebacke says. “You just need some skills and some supports to make that happen.” Compassion & Choices is another organization trying to educate caregivers. Towers said the group’s training ranges from advanced planning to acting as a health care proxy to caring for the dying. “We’ve gone to a place in our country where we’re so removed from end-of-life care in a way that we didn’t used to be,” Towers said. She said the movement to care for people at home and give them community support has roots in the AIDS epidemic, when some doctors refused to care for AIDS patients. Friends, especially in the lesbian community, started coordinating food delivery, visits, bedside vigils, and even touch circles, where patients could receive comforting forms of touch such as hand-holding to ease pain and feelings of isolation. “I like to look at it as a blueprint for what we can get back to doing now, which is again just prioritizing community care,” Towers said. This article was produced in collaboration with Verite News. Verite News reporter Christiana Botic contributed to this report.
