Lest We Forget the Horrors: An Unending Catalog of Trump’s Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, and Crimes: July 2026: Atrocities 1117-1207

Early in President Trump’s first term, McSweeney’s editors began to catalog the head-spinning number of misdeeds coming from his administration. We called this list a collection of Trump’s cruelties, collusions, corruptions, and crimes, and it felt urgent to track them, to ensure these horrors—happening almost daily—would not be forgotten. Now that Trump has returned to office, amid civil rights, humanitarian, economic, and constitutional crises, we felt it critical to make an inventory of this new round of horrors. This list will be updated monthly between now and the end of Donald Trump’s second term.

- - -

These lists, along with everything McSweeney’s publishes on this site, are offered ad-free and at no charge to our readers. If you are moved to make a donation in any amount or subscribe to our website’s Patreon, please do. This will help support this project and our other work.

- - -

ATROCITY KEY

– Authoritarianism
– Constitutional Illegalities, Collusion, and/or Obstruction of Justice
– Environment
– Harassment, Bullying, Retribution, and/or Sexual Misconduct
– Lies and Misinformation
– Musk Madness
– Policy
– Public Statements and Social Media Posts
– Trump Family Business Dealings
– Trump Staff and Administration
– White Supremacy, Racism, Misogyny, Homophobia, Transphobia, and/or Xenophobia

- - -

June 2026

Main Index

Trump’s first term

- - -

July 2026

1. – July 1, 2026 – The US military death toll in the Iran war rose to fourteen after Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards was presumed dead following a Navy helicopter emergency in the Arabian Sea. The incident also brought the number of US military aircraft damaged or destroyed during the war to at least forty-three. The Navy said there was no indication the crash resulted from hostile action.
   
   
2. – July 2, 2026 – MS NOW reported that an internal FBI memo called for 260 intelligence analysts to undertake a “priority effort” to investigate the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, where claims of widespread election fraud had repeatedly been debunked.
   
   
3. – July 2, 2026 – A federal appeals court found that the CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence violated the Fifth Amendment due process rights of nineteen career officers when it fired them for working on diversity programs, and ordered them reinstated.
   
   
4. – July 2, 2026 – A federal judge accused the Trump administration of taking one position publicly and another in court over Trump’s plans to rebuild Washington’s East Potomac Golf Links. After Trump announced that work would begin September 1, government lawyers maintained that no final decision had been made. “Both things cannot be true,” Judge Ana C. Reyes said. “Assuming that you don’t believe in multiple universes: On this earth, we have a decision that’s been made about a golf course.”
   
   
5. – July 2, 2026 – The Washington Post reported on previously unpublished medical records related to the death of fifty-five-year-old Cuban immigrant Geraldo Lunas Campos in civil detention at Camp East Montana. DHS maintained that ICE staff had “intervened to save his life” after Lunas Campos tried to kill himself, even after a medical examiner ruled that he died by asphyxiation and classified the death as a homicide. The newly reported records showed that he had repeatedly sought mental health treatment and medication and had asked to be transferred to a facility offering more intensive care.
   
   
6. – July 3, 2026 – Trump pardoned Adam Kidan, who gave more than $270,000 to political committees supporting Trump after serving prison time for fraud and conspiracy. Kidan pleaded guilty in 2005 for his role in a $147.5 million casino-boat deal with Jack Abramoff, whom 60 Minutes described in a 2012 profile as “[maybe] the most notorious and crooked lobbyist of our time.”
   
   
7. – July 4, 2026 – Trump’s Great American State Fair on the National Mall opened four hours late because of extreme heat, then shut down two hours later as severe weather approached. When festivities resumed after 9 p.m., attendees encountered long lines and contradictory directions. Trump later said he had pressed to keep the celebration going against recommendations to cancel. The fair was organized by Event Strategies, which had also helped organize the January 6, 2021, rally that led to Trump’s supporters’ violent occupation of the Capitol.
   
   
8. – July 4, 2026 – Denmark’s Rebild Festival, a more than century-old Fourth of July tradition that has previously hosted Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, celebrated the holiday after clearing its program of American officials. Organizers had agreed to the move when Aalborg’s financial committee voted to cut funding if US government representatives took part, citing Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland. “I hope that they will reflect on the fact that the words of Donald Trump and the threats against Greenland don’t happen in a vacuum,” said council member Lasse Olsen, who introduced the measure.
   
   
9. – July 5, 2026 – Two Tennessee National Guard members fatally shot Tyrin Johnson, 20, in downtown Memphis. The Memphis Police Department claimed the soldiers were responding to a shots-fired call and were pursuing Johnson on foot when he turned toward them with a handgun. However, activists disputed that account. They said video footage showed an unmarked vehicle chasing Johnson, who never turned around and was not holding anything, and called for authorities to release the video. The Guard members were part of Donald Trump’s Memphis Safe Task Force, which had been involved in at least four deadly shootings since it began patrolling the city in October.
   
   
10. – July 5, 2026 – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives rolled back dozens of gun regulations. The changes restored gun rights to some people with mental illness, weakened oversight of private weapons transactions, and reversed a previous crackdown on illegal sales. Kris Brown, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the approach “takes us back 100 years.”
    
    
11. – July 6, 2026 – Ulises Peña López, a disabled immigrant, sued ICE and private prison contractors CoreCivic and Geo Group over his arrest and mistreatment in detention. Peña López, who suffered disabilities related to a mini-stroke diagnosed in 2024, accused ICE officers of beating him during his February 2025 arrest until he lost consciousness and needed CPR. The lawsuit further alleged that Peña López did not receive proper accommodations and medical care for his disability during his six months in detention and that the staff repeatedly mocked and verbally abused him, saying, “Motherfucker, you don’t get to be asleep” and “You’re never gonna walk again.” According to his lawyers, Peña López suffered new and worsening “headaches, weakness and numbness in his right side, eye pain, hearing loss, insomnia and nightmares, blurry vision, back pain, and difficulty walking” as a result of his arrest and detention.
    
    
12. – July 6, 2026 – Following a phone call from Trump, FIFA reversed the red card suspension of star US soccer player Folarin Balogun at the World Cup, making him eligible to play against Belgium. FIFA has long sought to curry favor with Trump and awarded him its first “FIFA Peace Prize” in 2025. The reversal was the first since 1962 and drew widespread condemnation from other soccer teams and organizations. “When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake, and the credibility of a competition is undermined,” said the Europa League, the governing body for European soccer. A day later, Belgium defeated the US 4–1.
    
    
13. – July 7, 2026 – The Iranian American Legal Defense Fund and Public Citizen Litigation Group accused the Trump administration of giving Iran confidential information from the asylum applications of Iranians it planned to deport, threatening the lives of activists, religious minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and their families. “The law couldn’t be more clear that information in asylum applications is protected,” said Michael Kirkpatrick, a lawyer with Public Citizen Litigation Group.
    
    
14. – July 7, 2026 – An ICE agent fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, in his car in Houston. A father of three, Salgado Araujo had lived in the US for thirty-five years, had no criminal record, and owned his own construction business. He was not the target of the operation. DHS claimed that Salgado Araujo resembled the target and that the agent fired in self-defense after Salgado Araujo ignored commands to stop and attempted to ram into the ICE vehicle and run over the agent. However, witnesses disputed that account, claiming that ICE agents did not identify themselves and shot through the passenger window after the vehicle had already stopped. The shooting of Salgado Araujo was at least the twenty-first such shooting by agents involved with Trump’s immigration crackdown, and the agents involved were not wearing body cameras.
    
    
    Family, Community Leaders Demand Answers After ICE Officer Fatally Shoots Man in Houston (KPRC)
    
    
15. – July 7, 2026 – The US launched new strikes on Iran after commercial vessels were targeted in the Strait of Hormuz. The strikes continued the following day as Trump announced the end of the US–Iran ceasefire. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks.’ We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the Cease Fire is OVER!” Trump posted on Truth Social. Oil prices quickly rose as financial markets fell.
    
    
16. – July 8, 2026 – Just three days after two members of the Memphis Safe Task Force fatally shot Tyrin Johnson in downtown Memphis, a DEA agent and member of the same task force fatally shot Alfonso Ivy, 47, at an East Memphis motel. “It’s another day in an occupied city,” said Jessica Miller, an organizer with Indivisible Memphis. The incident marked the fifth deadly shooting related to the task force since October.
    
    
17. – July 8, 2026 – In another assault on Somali Americans, Trump shared a social media video of Minnesota kindergarteners singing in Somali at their graduation ceremony with the caption, “Every girl is in a hijab … in kindergarten.” The children’s faces were clearly visible in the video, which immediately attracted hateful anti-Muslim comments from Trump’s millions of social media followers. The school also faced harassment and considered adding more security before classes restarted.
    
    
18. – July 8, 2026 – After a former girlfriend accused Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner of rape, Trump offered symathetic remarks to his ideological foe: “It’s really a question of whether you believe the woman. A lot of people say big falsehoods. It’s a … he’s in a bind. He’s in a bind.” Trump has faced accusations of sexual misconduct from at least twenty-eight women and was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll.
    
    
    Trump Weighs in on Platner Dropping Out of Maine Senate Race (NBC)
    
    
19. – July 8, 2026 – At the NATO Summit in Ankara, Trump insulted NATO allies before declaring they loved him. “I just want to say there was tremendous love in that room,” he said, adding, “They said, ‘Sir, we love you.’ These are grown people saying that. Isn’t that nice?” Trump also demanded control of Greenland, called Iran “scum,” said he would consider jet sales to Turkey despite congressional opposition, and threatened to cut off trade to Spain.
    
    
20. – July 8, 2026 – Trump left Turkey on the old Air Force One after the Secret Service raised security concerns about his new Qatari-donated jet. While the administration claimed the new plane was fitted with the highest-level security protocols, those briefed on the updates said it didn’t have all the features of the older plane, which could cost up to $1 billion and take up to two years to implement. Trump denied the swap was due to security concerns, instead claiming that the new jet had to leave early so it could be shown off at military bases.
    
    
21. – July 8, 2026 – In letters signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon and sent to dozens of state and local election officials, the Justice Department threatened to prosecute officials if noncitizens were found to have voted in the upcoming midterms. “Any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s SVRL [State Voter Registration List] or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability,” Dhillon wrote in the letters, which gave election workers only five days to respond with plans to comply. Noncitizen voting is extremely rare.
    
    
22. – July 9, 2026 – Palm Beach International Airport and Francis Burnett Swann Memorial Bridge in Tennessee were renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport and President Donald J. Trump Bridge, respectively. The airport became the first named after a sitting president, and the change will cost at least $5.5 million, most of which will be paid by Florida taxpayers. Trump registered trademarks for the airport’s new name, raising questions about how he may profit from the name change in the future.
    
    
23. – July 9, 2026 – The Trump administration appointed climate science critic Matthew M. Wielicki to head the US Global Change Research Program and oversee the influential National Climate Assessment report. Wielicki, who exited academia over DEI initiatives, had said that a “significant portion of the climate science literature is nothing more than stamp collecting” and previously accused climate scientists of faking data.
    
    
24. – July 9, 2026 – Trump ousted all remaining members of the independent and bipartisan US Election Assistance Commission, which helped administer elections without federalizing them. The two Democratic members were fired while the Republican member resigned. The Commission distributed federal election funds, maintained national mail voter registration forms, tested and certified voting systems, and offered best practices and guidance to state and local officials. In announcing the dismissals, the White House cited a recent Supreme Court decision that gave the president the authority to remove members of the Federal Trade Commission.
    
    
25. – July 10, 2026 – The Justice Department subpoenaed multiple New York Times journalists who reported security concerns related to the new Air Force One donated by Qatar. “The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects,” said David McCraw, a lawyer for the Times.
    
    
26. – July 10, 2026 – ProPublica reported that the Trump administration was working directly with Diosdado Cabello, a Venezuelan leader accused of hiring Tren de Aragua to assassinate the exiled Venezuelan dissident Ronald Ojeda. After kidnapping Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, the US left Cabello, who had been indicted on US drug-trafficking charges and had a $25 million bounty on his head, installed as interior minister. The indictment had ensured that Cabello cooperated with the US and promoted American interests.*
    
    
27. – July 10, 2026 – Overturning fifty years of environmental law, a new Trump administration rule said habitat destruction does not harm endangered species. The new rule, which rescinded the “harm rule” in the Endangered Species Act, could result in mining, logging, ranching, and other development in formerly protected areas. Stephanie Kurose, deputy director of government affairs at the Center for Biological Diversity, called the new rule a “death sentence” for endangered plants and animals. A day earlier, the EPA also moved to loosen limits on truck pollution.
    
    
28. – July 11, 2026 – Trump misleadingly attributed the $2 billion he has made during his second term to a hot stock market. “Well, you know why I’m profiting? Because the stock market’s going up; everybody’s profiting,” said Trump, who also incorrectly claimed that 401(k)s were up 85 percent. In reality, very little of Trump’s revenue came from stock-market growth, and neither the major indexes nor the average 401(k) grew by 85 percent. Instead, approximately three-quarters of Trump’s revenue came from cryptocurrency, real estate holdings, settlements from media companies, and branding deals. Trump also falsely stated that his holdings were in a blind trust and that he was the only president to have donated his salary. His holdings are instead in a revocable trust managed by his sons, and both Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy donated their presidential salaries.
    
    
    Trump Dismisses Questions About His Massively Profitable Year as President (CNN)
    
    
29. – July 13, 2026 – Four days after being detained by ICE, Jesús Manuel Arenas-Silva, a forty-five-year-old Venezuelan immigrant, died while being bused between county and federal facilities in Georgia. In a Detention Watch Network press statement, Arenas-Silva’s sister said the family had warned ICE about Arenas-Silva’s medical needs and asked that he be allowed to bring all of his medications, but agents permitted only one. DWN added that Arenas-Silva later told his family that ICE was not giving him medication he needed. ICE said the suspected cause of death was cardiac arrest, and insisted that Arenas-Silva had received medical care and been evaluated by medical professionals.
    
    
30. – July 13, 2026 – Trump issued two executive orders reducing the size of both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah by more than 90 percent. Five Native American tribes consider Bears Ears their ancestral homeland, and both monuments preserve thousands of archaeological sites with cultural significance to Native communities. The cuts, which opened most of the land to possible development, prompted plans for legal challenges.
    
    
31. – July 13, 2026 – Less than a week after declaring the ceasefire with Iran “over,” Trump ordered the naval blockade of Iran back into effect. Despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s previous statement that “no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway,” Trump also announced a 20 percent charge on cargo passing through the Strait of Hormuz, stating, “The USA will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT.’”
    
    
32. – July 13, 2026 – An ICE agent shot and killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a twenty-five-year-old Colombian immigrant, in Biddeford, Maine. DHS said agents had been “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal.” Durán Guerrero had not been issued a removal order; he had applied for asylum and was legally authorized to work in the country. The killing came less than a week after the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE in Houston, Texas.
    
    
    ICE shooting: What We Know About the Victim, Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero (Boston Globe)
    
    
33. – July 13, 2026 – A New York Times investigation uncovered that the US and Israel had backed former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a possible return to power as part of the US’s regime-change effort, despite his record of violent repression against dissidents and political opponents. Israel had been working with Ahmadinejad for years, and Mossad had kept the CIA informed about its dealings with him. In February, after an Israeli strike on Ahmadinejad’s compound, Mossad agents drove Ahmadinejad to a safe house; but, apparently upset about how the operation had been conducted, he soon abandoned their plan. Ahmadinejad’s office later dismissed the reporting as “Hollywood-style claims” and “psychological warfare.”
    
    
34. – July 14, 2026 – Juan Jairo Coronilla Durán, a twenty-eight-year-old Mexican tourist with a visa, died after being struck by a tractor-trailer while fleeing ICE and DHS agents in St....