Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ahmed Baba

@ahmedbaba.bsky.social

23K followers 400 following 810 posts

Journalist. Political Analyst. Tech. Founder - https://www.AhmedBaba.News/. Columnist at The Independent. Co-Founded Rantt Media. Seen on MSNBC, CNN, NYT, WaPo, etc. Bookings: [email protected]. Newsletter, features, and socials: linktr.ee/ahmedbaba

www.AhmedBaba.News

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 17d

Trump personally directed the prosecution of a political target, despite U.S. prosecutors repeatedly saying there wasn’t enough evidence to charge.

Biden never did that.

This is what real weaponization of the DOJ looks like.

I went toe-to-toe with Scott Jennings on the facts.

3 11 46

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 43m

Trump's tariffs are raising prices. His federal purges are surging Black unemployment. His ICE raids are damaging local economies.

Dems don't have to pick between affordability & democracy messaging.

Trump's authoritarianism is a kitchen table issue.

Authoritarianism Has A Cost: How Trump’s Abuses Of Power Are Harming The Economy

Trump's tariffs are raising prices. His federal purges are surging Black unemployment. And his immigration raids are damaging local economies. Trump's authoritarianism is a kitchen table issue.

www.ahmedbaba.news

1 16 45

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 18h

Appreciate you always watching and sharing my work! It really means a lot 🙏🏾

1 4

Reposted by Ahmed Baba

🎃 Fiona "Fi" Webster 🎃 @fiona-webster22.bsky.social · 20h

I really appreciate how Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social listens to the other people at this table, acknowledges their contributions, then pulls in his own thoughts.

MTG shocks Democrats by going scorched-earth against Trump”

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

2 5 17

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 1d

Marjorie Taylor Greene is one of the only Republicans who sees where this is headed.

Trump is weak. He’s tanking the economy and raising prices. He’s underwater on key issues. The GOP is likely headed to a midterm loss.

This isn’t a moral awakening. MTG is positioning herself for a post-Trump GOP.

5 12 56

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 1d

I wrote about this in more detail in my newsletter. Check it out and consider becoming a subscriber:

Trump & Russell Vought Plan To Exploit The Shutdown To Accelerate Project 2025

The Trump Administration is using the government shutdown as a pretext to speedrun their planned purges of federal workers, executing a key goal of Project 2025 - which Russell Vought helped craft.

www.ahmedbaba.news

8 20

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 1d

Trump & Vought are exploiting the shutdown to accelerate Project 2025.

They're on track to hit 300k ousted federal workers by the end of 2025. They just ousted 4.2k more.

The purge of nonpartisan civil servants aims to twist the federal bureaucracy into a loyalist tool of Trump.

4 31 49

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 1d

Authoritarianism has a cost.

Trump's tariffs are based on a fake economic emergency declaration. His federal purges are surging Black unemployment. His cruel ICE raids are damaging local economies.

Trump's abuses of power are hitting Americans' wallets. Dems should say that.

4 23 62

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 1d

I’ll be on @msnbc.com’s The Weekend Primetime at 8:15 pm EST tonight to talk about the government shutdown with Ayman Mohyeldin, @ahylton26.bsky.social, and @paoramos.bsky.social.

Tune in 🙌🏾

4 11 24

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 2d

The Trump Admin is lying. There is no “rebellion,” as multiple judges have ruled. Crime is down in all the cities Trump is targeting.

This is a clear effort to create a false justification to invoke the Insurrection Act & put the military in control of civilian law enforcement.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

WELKER: Are you looking at invoking the Insurrection Act?

VANCE: We have to remember we are talking about this bc crime has gotten out of control

W: Crime is down in both Chicago & Portland

V: Crime is down bc they are so overwhelmed at the local level they are not even keeping stats properly

2 10 27

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 3d

Trump talks about Portland like it’s a violent hellscape and then we see footage of the protests and it’s just some twerkers in a Reptar costume

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

4 3 28

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 3d

Mike Johnson is falsely generalizing the “No Kings” protestors as extremists to justify crackdowns. The truth is, they’re patriots.

These protestors don’t “hate America.” They oppose an authoritarian president who tramples on the freedoms and principles America was founded on.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Mike Johnson: "This hate America rally that they have coming up for October 18? The antifa crowd, the pro-Hamas crowd, and the Marxists, they're all gonna gather on the Mall. It is an outrageous gathering for outrageous purposes ... all this has gotta come to an end."

120 270 1.3K

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 4d

The purging of the federal bureaucracy of nonpartisan civil servants is a central component of Project 2025.

You can read more about this in my newsletter. If you like the piece, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber:

Trump & Russell Vought Plan To Exploit The Shutdown To Accelerate Project 2025

The Trump Administration is using the government shutdown as a pretext to speedrun their planned purges of federal workers, executing a key goal of Project 2025 - which Russell Vought helped craft.

www.ahmedbaba.news

2 13 20

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 4d

Last week, I wrote an article about how Trump and Russell Vought would exploit this shutdown to accelerate Project 2025.

Here we go. Mass layoffs have begun.

8 30 48

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 4d

Surprise. The President, who is deploying troops to Democratic cities, sending ICE to terrorize communities, changing the name of DOD to the Department of War, approving extrajudicial killings of people on boats near Venezuela, didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Shocking.

17 77 480

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 5d

Marjorie Taylor Greene is out here calling for the ACA subsidies to be renewed and blaming GOP leadership for the shutdown.

There are some real cracks beginning to form in the Republican Party’s shutdown strategy.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 5d

Marjorie Taylor Greene on polls showing Republicans are getting blamed for the shutdown: "I'm not putting the blame on the president. I'm actually putting the the blame on the Speaker and Leader Thune in the Senate. This should not be happening ... we control the House & Senate & have the WH."

3 7 32

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 6d

"We took the freedom of speech away..." - Donald Trump, October 8, 2025

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Trump: "We took the freedom of speech away because that's been through the courts and the courts said you have freedom of speech, but what has happened is when they burn a flag it agitates and irritates crowds."

14 23

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 6d

We can't become desensitized to this.

The President of the United States is baselessly calling for the jailing of two Dem leaders on the same day a former FBI Director was arraigned for an indictment the president personally directed. This is un-American authoritarian insanity.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 6d

Trump calls for Brandon Johnson and JB Pritzker to be imprisoned

Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!

3 42 100

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 8d

Black people in Chicago had their apartment building raided in the middle of the night, were detained for hours, and had their Fourth Amendment rights violated during an ICE operation that had nothing to do with them. Nah, they are not thrilled.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 8d

Stephen Miller: "The Black people in Chicago are thrilled that we're getting the illegal aliens out of their communities who are stealing their housing, jobs, and resources."

280 1.8K 6.6K

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 9d

Since my first Project 2025 article in 2023, I’ve written 70+ articles on it & made 20+ news appearances discussing it.

At first, warning about it. Now, analyzing its implementation.

It’s all in my newsletter. Consider becoming a free or paid subscriber:

Ahmed Baba News | Substack

Political news analysis that is unapologetically pro-democracy and anti-disinformation. Delivered to your inbox 1 to 2 times a week. Become a free or paid subscriber. Click to read Ahmed Baba News, a ...

www.ahmedbaba.news

1 7 11

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 9d

I wrote one of the first explainers on Project 2025 all the way back in November 2023.

It’s unsettling how much of this turned out to come true.

What Is Project 2025 And Why Is It So Dangerous?

Project 2025 is an authoritarian plot to replace tens of thousands of federal workers with GOP loyalists, dismantle federal agencies, and turn the federal government into a tool of the far-right.

www.ahmedbaba.news

9 71 150

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 9d

An Institute for Justice lawyer replied to me on Twitter. They already have one class action lawsuit in Alabama and are working on getting in touch with the citizens impacted by the Chicago ICE raid.

Here’s their contact page: ij.org/about-us/con...

21 52

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 9d

If a Dem POTUS, let’s say Obama, spoke about fellow Americans the way Trump does, Republicans would freak out.

If he called Republicans the enemy within and deployed the military to GOP-led cities, he would’ve been impeached within 24 hours.

Trump does it to Dems, GOP applauds.

8 22 72

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 10d

Seems to me there’s escalating evidence for a massive class action lawsuit against ICE for systemic 4th Amendment violations.

Searching an entire apartment building, zip tying children, and detaining citizens 100% constitutes unreasonable searches and seizures. One example of many.

13 120 410

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 10d

This Chicago ICE raid is inhumane. Terrorizing an entire apartment building in the middle of the night, separating families, detaining children, and harassing innocent people is indefensible.

This has to stop.

Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 11d

According to eyewitnesses, armed ICE agents dragged kids out of their beds in the middle of the night, zip tied them and put them in rented vans while raiding an * entire apartment building* on the South Side of Chicago.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXO...

‘F--- them kids’: ICE agents drag children out of bed, ransack Chicago building

YouTube video by MSNBC

www.youtube.com

4 29 58

Ahmed Baba @ahmedbaba.bsky.social · 12d

Also, Trump referring to the shutdown as an “unprecedented opportunity” makes it pretty easy for Democrats to say Trump wanted this shutdown

2 9 39