Continued budget delays in Harrisburg are, unfortunately, again part of this week’s Shackamaxon. But first, all you ever wanted to know about the Land Bank (but were afraid to ask), including the mayor’s recent board shake-up.
Running on empty
Ever since Philadelphia lost more than a quarter million residents between 1970 and 1980, blight and vacancy have been a problem. Abandoned, deteriorating homes, schools, and factories provide a convenient staging ground for criminal activity, cost the city millions in annual maintenance, and don’t contribute property taxes to city coffers.
For years, the city struggled to find a way to repurpose this land. While some residents admirably turned lots into community assets like gardens, most of the space sat unused. Some properties languished because potential buyers considered them unprofitable, with expected rents or sale prices that were too low to justify the cost of construction. But other lots were in high demand, drawing interest from developers, nonprofits, and community groups.
Like a deer caught in the headlights, City Council members often opted against selling to anyone.
To shake that inertia, City Council created the Land Bank in 2013. Yet, despite a push from then-Councilmember Maria Quiñones Sánchez, Council did not cede control of land sales. This meant the analysis paralysis continued. So did side arrangements, like when then-Council President Darrell L. Clarkesteered city land to a developer through a no-bid process.
Some parcels that were allocated to the Land Bank became the subject of fierce debate. Municipal policy wonks urged Council to sell the most valuable plots as a way to underwrite the city’s subsidized housing efforts. Meanwhile, advocates for affordable housing called for the creation of homes for people at the lowest income levels.
City Council seemingly found common ground in 2022, nearly a decade after the Land Bank was first authorized, with a compromise called “Turn the Key.”
Under the terms of that program, land would go to what’s often called “workforce housing,” available to residents of modest means who earn up to 100% of our area’s median income ($119,400 for a family of four).
This would still come at a cost, mostly the millions of dollars in potential revenue from auctioning off the land, but it did ensure plots would return to productive use, rather than attracting trash and crime.
It also offered a quicker timeline for reuse than federal affordable housing programs like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which can take four to seven years to get to construction.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker holds a news conference at City Hall in August. Parker replaced her two appointees on the Philadelphia Land Bank board recently.
Poor results
Despite the new program, the same old problems remain. Namely, that most Council members have been reluctant to disburse land.
The program, which was intended to yield 1,000 homes, has only managed to produce 202, per the Philly360 dashboard. Even though Turn the Key is a Council-designed program, only about half of the city’s 10 districts have participated. In the 5th District, which accounts for most of the homes, all 120 sales were approved in the last Council term.
In addition to Council, the Land Bank board has also served as an obstacle to selling land, because of a faction of board members who would prefer an approach that prioritizes deeply affordable housing (for people at or below 30% of our area’s median income) and are concerned the program could cause gentrification.
Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who has doubled down on Turn the Key as a key component of her own housing plan, seems to have decided that it is time for a change, replacing two of her own appointees, both of whom tended to balance their own support for workforce housing with a preference for avoiding conflict.
The two new board members, Chief Housing and Urban Development Officer Angela Brooks and community development expert Alex Balloon, are likely to have a “full steam ahead” approach to the program. Parker has also pressed Council to supply a list of “preapproved” parcels, where development can proceed without an ordinance. For those of us who want to see city-owned vacant land returned to productive use, these appointments are a win.
Philadelphia needs quality housing options at all income levels, and the extreme appreciation in home prices over the last five years has made it harder for the working-class families who are the focus of Turn the Key to afford a home. While few households in the city have a white picket fence, achieving the Philadelphia dream of a move-in-ready rowhouse should not be out of reach for the sanitation workers, teachers, and others eligible for the program.
The idea that workforce housing will foment gentrification is also hard to accept. The income levels for Turn the Key are designed for first-time home buyers with below median incomes. According to a Riverwards Group analysis of their Clifford Street project in North Philadelphia, all their buyers identified as African American, and most came from either the same zip code or a neighboring one. How can working-class people buying homes close to where they already live drive gentrification?
Furthermore, the Land Bank’s remit is to implement city policy, not to make it. If advocates want to prioritize nonprofit developers, community gardens, or deeply affordable housing, the right venue is City Council, not the Land Bank board.
With the mayor now putting her stamp on both the Philadelphia Historical Commission and the Land Bank, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, which has seen monthslong delays since the pandemic, should be next.
Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) speaks during a 2024 news conference in Harrisburg.
Budget doublespeak
Pennsylvania continues to suffer the consequences of the nearly four-month delay in the state’s budget. Counties, school districts, and nonprofit organizations across the commonwealth are struggling to pay their bills. Beleaguered residents might have seen a recent state Senate vote approving a nearly $48 billion spending plan as a step in the right direction. Unfortunately, it represents the opposite of progress.
That’s because the Senate still refuses to consider any proposals that might stand a chance of passing the House or garnering Gov. Josh Shapiro’s signature. While Democrats have shrunk their initial $52.5 billion proposal to just over $50 billion, Republicans have yet to make a serious offer. In fact, the budget they approved is nearly identical to last year’s.
Their insistence on sticking to this number is curious, especially given that Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, who was selected as their negotiator, publicly stated a willingness weeks ago to pass a budget in the $49 billion range. I asked Kate Flessner, Pittman’s spokesperson, for an answer to this disparity more than a month ago.
Just like the many Pennsylvanians, counties, school districts, and nonprofit organizations who rely on state support, I have yet to receive anything from Pittman.
But SNAP was already in jeopardy before the shutdown.
Even as families scramble to find a way to keep food on the table right now, many must also take immediate action to protect their SNAP in the long run. The federal budget bill enacted in July threatens to take food away from millions of people with disabilities, caregivers, and older adults who cannot afford food. In fact, tens of thousands of Philadelphians are in danger of losing their SNAP this winter.
But it’s not too late to ensure families can avoid hunger when SNAP resumes.
For the first time ever, Philadelphians must satisfy harsh and ineffective work requirements that impose a time limit on SNAP benefits for many adults. People who do not meet an exemption or cannot prove they work at least 20 hours per week will be able to get only three months of SNAP every three years.
This time limit began on Sept. 1 for adults ages 18-54 who do not receive a disability benefit and who do not live in a SNAP household with a child under 18. On Nov. 1, the clock starts for older adults ages 55-64 and parents of children ages 14 and older.
Very soon, DHS will issue its first cutoff notices, alerting people ages 18-54 who have not been found exempt or compliant with work requirements that they will lose their SNAP effective Dec. 1.
Moreover, many humanitarian immigrants who came to the United States seeking safety and prosperity will no longer be able to get SNAP at all. Under the new law, the only groups eligible for SNAP will be United States citizens, some green-card holders, certain Cuban or Haitian entrants, and a very few others. These devastating restrictions also take effect for new applicants on Nov. 1.
Refugees, people granted asylum, and victims of trafficking and abuse who don’t yet have green cards will be left to worry about where their next meal is coming from, and there are no exceptions to these rules.
As paralegals at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (CLS), we have advocated for hundreds of clients who have been wrongfully denied SNAP because of red tape and paperwork errors. Without a citywide effort to protect access to SNAP, work requirements will leave Philadelphians without food on the table.
DHS has estimated that as many as 65% of Pennsylvanians subject to work requirements will lose SNAP. We cannot accept this fate.
The best way to protect SNAP is to help eligible people claim an exemption from work requirements. Many adults meet at least one exemption, which will allow them to keep their SNAP until their next annual renewal. Importantly, workers who earn at least $217.50 per week before taxes are exempt as long as the County Assistance Office (CAO) knows about their work. Many others must claim an exemption.
Our client J.P. (we are using client initials to protect their privacy) was immediately distressed when told about work requirements. J.P. would love to be able to work, but he can’t. A 56-year-old, he gets dialysis three to four times a week to treat chronic kidney disease. He and his 76-year-old mom, V.P., survive on SNAP and her meager retirement benefit.
Even with food assistance, V.P. has just $49 to her name each month after paying the bills.
To preserve his SNAP and V.P.’s razor-thin budget, J.P. must ask his doctor to complete Pennsylvania’s SNAP medical exemption form (PA 1921) to prove he has a medical condition that limits his ability to work. Many people, including workers pushing through conditions like pain, fatigue, and depression on the job, will qualify for this exemption. Healthcare providers should readily complete the PA 1921 so that their patients can make healthy decisions without fear of losing access to adequate nutrition.
DHS has estimated that as many as 65% of Pennsylvanians subject to work requirements will lose SNAP. We cannot accept this fate, write Daryn Forgeron and Anaga Srinivas.
The medical exemption form is one of many exemptions available to SNAP recipients who cannot satisfy work requirements. Adults are also exempt if they are taking care of a sick family member, pregnant, unable to work because of domestic violence, participating in a drug or alcohol treatment program, receiving unemployment compensation, or are experiencing homelessness.
CLS has trained thousands of service providers on how to help people claim exemptions and how to ensure eligible green-card holders do not lose their SNAP. We hope many others will join this collective effort.
Accessing SNAP has never been easy for families like J.P.’s, and for other hardworking Philadelphians we all depend on — restaurant workers with irregular hours, school bus drivers, and dedicated caregivers. Work requirements and the paperwork burden that comes with them punish workers for their lack of stability. If their hours fall below 20 hours per week, they will be required to report this change to their caseworker within 10 days, and the three-month time limitation will begin.
Most SNAP recipients who can work already do work. But job seekers who have applied for hundreds of jobs to no avail, perhaps because of their age, a suffering job market, or a criminal record, get no credit for their efforts, and are considered not to be complying with work requirements at all. They must meet an exemption to keep their SNAP.
Without SNAP, families are likely to fall behind on bills, causing collateral consequences like utility shutoff or eviction. Our communities will bear the cost of SNAP cuts through higher healthcare costs and loss of income for local businesses.
Philadelphia can’t afford to leave anyone behind. From legal advocates and community organizations to city government, medical care teams, and neighbors next door, our city must come together to ensure fellow Philadelphians do not lose SNAP.
Daryn Forgeron and Anaga Srinivas are paralegals in the Health and Independence Unit at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia.
Donald Trump first extorted pro bono money from law firms, then extorted the return of grant money to universities, then extorted tariffs from foreign countries, and will now use a compromised U.S. Department of Justice to extort recovery of personal legal expenses. Legal expenses that were questionably covered by campaign contributions and used for legal maneuvering to prevent indictments from being heard in courts. Trump claimed to be innocent of the indictment charges, but went to great expense to prevent the cases from being heard by the courts, where he would have ample opportunity to disprove the charges. As far as funds recovered by the Justice Department going to a charity, please recall the Trump concept for a charity was the defunct Donald J. Trump Foundation, which was determined to have laundered money for improper personal, business, and political use. Trump has a history of using the courts for suspect personal profit. Trump will continue to playact the part of the Mafia don that he could never achieve in real life, and to flaunt illegal behavior until members of Congress grow spines and adhere to the intent of the Constitution.
Craig McBride, Coatesville
Seize closed properties
Watching Delaware County wrangle with a for-profit health company about how to resolve overdue taxes is like watching Godzilla vs. Kong in a wrestling match in which both creatures die.
The governor and Orphans Court need to take decisive action to relieve these assets in the public interest from private ownership in order to preserve whatever equity may be left.
The investor game play needs to simply forfeit whatever potential gain was sought, just as the public has lost a significant asset through this gamble for private gain.
Action for the public benefit now is needed. Let investors see how much it will cost to fund their attorney to continue this dispute. It’s the proper equipoise now that services for the community are depreciated to zero.
D. Druckman,Baltimore, ddruck@gmail.com
Where are they going to go?
The study that was the basis of a recent Inquirer article, identifying racial disparities in the quality of sports facilities across our neighborhoods, confirmed what nonprofits and youth leaders have long known about access to opportunities for young people in our city.
The Greater Philadelphia YMCA is one of many organizations working to fill those gaps. Our branches and outreach sites meet kids where they are by providing programming designed to reach as many young people as possible. From soccer clinics, swim lessons, and gymnastics instruction to summer camps, technology training, and college readiness courses, we offer safe spaces, mentors, and chances to grow. No child is ever turned away. We also employ more than 1,400 teenagers and young adults annually, providing a variety of jobs and leadership opportunities.
Every day, I’m inspired by our branches and partners who are making a difference in our communities. However, this study demonstrates that in order to reach more kids, we must invest not only in our neighborhoods, but in the organizations doing this work.
If we believe what the research is telling us — that youth sports have the power to build stronger, safer communities — then doesn’t every child in every community deserve a place to play?
Shaun Elliott, president and CEO, Greater Philadelphia YMCA
Sloppy signage
Recently, I watched eight city workers using handheld roller brushes to repaint some crosswalks on Germantown Avenue with four big Streets Department trucks standing by; probably never seen such inefficiency nor such inept painting. A private contractor would be fired, stricken from the bid list, and not paid.
Their idea of safe traffic control, too, was chaotic. No traffic control hand paddles, nor caution lights, nor warning signs were used. Two confused men barked and waved their bare hands at each other to hold traffic, or to let the cars pass in the visual confusion of the gang of painters at the intersections, making a mess of the painting as cars drove through the crosswalks.
Instead of using the reflective highway tapes with straight edges that one worker could lay down, the Streets Department used eight workers for what a middle school art teacher would award an “F” for sloppy painting. Nothing squared, lines messy, corners not aligned, no pride in the work, and the painted guide markers were left visible where the painters did not cover them.
OK, yes, I agree completely that this is clearly very small potatoes in the grand scheme of our lives, when we have illiterate high school “graduates,” rampant crime, smash and grabs, gang racing on our roadways, all tolerated by our mayors and city councils, and we have a very dangerous law passed by this Council that prevents police from stopping drivers for many traffic offenses. However, the unacceptable workman’s standards to merely repaint a crosswalk are a cultural and departmental indication that no one is setting an example, and no one is demanding that we citizens/taxpayers receive what we pay high taxes for, in our own city, for heaven’s sake.
We should do much better; we are all able to do so much better … if our mayor, City Council, and department heads would raise the bar higher, instead of gleefully raising salaries and taxes higher each year for no benefit to taxpayers.
Gardner A. Cadwalader,Philadelphia
Model student
I thank Aiden Wilkins, the 8-year-old who is the youngest ever student at Ursinus College, for coming to my rescue. People think I am crazy when I say that we can have a quality education system, where students are self-directed — and not dependent on schools.
Then came Aiden, who entered Ursinus College this semester, studying to be a pediatric neurosurgeon. A reporter asked him who his teacher was prior to college. Aiden replied, “I taught myself.” The reporter then asked Aiden if he was worried. Aiden replied that he is only worried that he may not fit in the seat.
As we search around the world for models that may deliver a better educational experience, isn’t it about time we listened to the children? And when we come up with all kinds of excuses why our current education models don’t fit children in our classrooms, isn’t it ironic that the one worry of little Aiden is his fitting in the seat?
Leon Williams, Philadelphia
One of a kind
So often when someone passes, we almost automatically blurt out, “He will be missed!” The pioneering journalist Michael Days, who led the Daily News and served as a senior editor at The Inquirer, will really be missed because of his ability to handle the superdifficult job of being positioned between the legitimate concerns of the Black community regarding The Inquirer’s coverage and answering to the folks who paid his salary. Although he always would put a positive spin on whatever the crisis of the day was, I’m sure it took a toll on him.
I always felt very close to Michael over the decades of knowing him, no matter how our professional responsibilities changed. He was always accessible, warm, and supportive. He was genuinely a friend, and more importantly, he was a friend to his community as well as the broader community. We thank his family for sharing him with us.
Karen Warrington, Philadelphia
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
Donald Trump had the nation’s somber attention last month as he delivered the Arizona football stadium eulogy for assassinated right-wing provocateur Charlie Kirk, and — as the 47th president is wont to do — took an unexpected detour to promise a scientific breakthrough for a condition his regime has called a national tragedy.
“I think you’re going to find it to be amazing,” Trump said of a pending White House announcement. “I think we found an answer to autism.” With typical bravado, he suggested that a total end to a neurodevelopment order was at hand, that “we’re not going to let it happen anymore.”
What was actually announced in the coming days — a debunked claim that autism is linked to pregnant women taking the pain reliever Tylenol, as well as a suggestion of a connection to circumcision — was attacked by many experts as a gross misreading of the existing scientific data, and nothing like the breakthrough that Trump had promised in Glendale.
But whatwas even more telling was the reaction from families or adults who’ve been living for years with a diagnosis of neurodivergence, who aren’t realistically asking for a “cure” — especially not one cloaked in alleged quackery — but simply a more compassionate approach from a government they feel is stigmatizing a community that wants support.
They don’t see life on the autism spectrum — a mix of communication and emotional struggles with passionate interests and insight, varying greatly from person to person — as a disease, but as a difference, to be better understood and nurtured.
In this photo provided by Ana Fiero, Kelly Sue Milano holds her 6-year-old son, who is on the autism spectrum, at an outdoor party in Irvine, Calif., on Monday.
“My daughter’s an amazing person that contributes to society and contributes to our family, and she’s not a crisis,” Jenny Shank of St. Louis told the local NPR affiliate. She said that what the autism community really needs from the government “is awareness, acceptance and opportunities in our communities, and funding for schools for help to meet their maximum potential.”
Studies have shown higher rates of autism — more than 3% of 8-year-olds, according to recent research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — than was once believed. But experts theorize this may be more from greater awareness than the conspiracy theories around Tylenol or vaccines that are an obsession with Trump’s contrarian U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK Jr. has said that “autism destroys families,” while Trump has called it “a horrible, horrible crisis,” but statements like those have deeply dismayed many of the households for which the Trump regime seems to want a gold star for trying to help. Ashley Kline, whose 5-year-old son has been diagnosed with autism, told the Washington Post, “I don’t want it to get to a point where inclusion is just thrown out the window, and people start insisting that the best thing for autistic children and adults is to be hidden behind walls once again.”
The Trump regime’s misguided obsession with faulty research in seeking a magic bullet “cure” for autism has been portrayed as one more example of science under siege in America, and it is that. But it’s also a window into something deeper, and arguably even more disturbing.
Whether it’s an autism community it pretends to be helping or the transgender community it openly seeks to destroy, our authoritarian government is waging war to flatten any differences, to make America great again with a forced monochrome lens.
Protesters for and against gender-affirming care for transgender minors demonstrate outside the U.S. Supreme Court Building in December.
You see it almost every day with Trump and his MAGA administration. Often it’s big and obvious, like the president’s Day One executive order that targeted America’s nearly three million transgender people by declaring the government would only recognize two unchangeable sexes, male and female, and end any policies that aided the transgender community.
But Trump’s war on the different also permeates the smaller stuff, like his “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth’s much-ballyhooed and much-ridiculed “warrior ethos” lecture to 800 appalled-looking generals and admirals. Hegseth included in his vision a mandate that would ban soldiers with facial hair, declaring “no beardos,” and adding, “The age of rampant and ridiculous shaving profiles is done.”
Hegseth also declared an end to “fat” generals and overweight troops (apparently the Texas National Guard didn’t get the memo), and, OK, maybe that’s required for certain types of combat soldiers. But the broader message from the Pentagon is clear: that the new regime wants a sea of troops who look alike. Beardless, slimmed down, and, evidently— given the ouster of so many women and Black top commanders — as white and male as possible in 2025 America.
I think we vastly underrate how central this contempt for anyone who looks or acts differently from an idealized pre-1960 vision of America is to the entire fascist enterprise that we have too kindly branded “Trumpism.”
The idea of a new type of personal freedom — a quest for individualfulfillment, aided by post-World War II prosperity, shattering the artificial constraints of conformity — was birthed in a New Left philosophy spelled out in texts like 1962’s “Port Huron Statement.”
Ah, 1967 and the Summer of Love. No, brothers and sisters, this is not Haight Ashbury. It was Griffith Park on Easter 1967, the first of several Love-Ins where young folks gathered near the merry-go-round to promote the counter-culture movement in their own expressive ways. pic.twitter.com/YUI84bP0xK
This outlook, rooted in the upheavals of the 1960s and ‘70s, is celebrated by many as the birth of everything from the LGBTQ+ rights movement, to efforts to replace stigma with empathy and treatment for conditions such as mental illness, to “letting your freak flag fly” by growing long hair or a beard. And this is also the thing that a reactionary far-right — deeply insecure and desperate for a cocoon of white privileged patriarchy — has ceaselessly sought to destroy for 60 years.
While Trump himself has relished one aspect of 1960s freedom — the sexual revolution, as he once called the threat of STDs “my personal Vietnam” — in his political reinvention, he has recoiled at many others, wanting even a return to the Willowbrook-style warehousing of the mentally ill. As president, he is the perfect point man for the right’s revanchist project — clearly believing in the worst kinds of debunked eugenics theory.
A classic example occurred the other day in the Oval Office with a rant that belonged to 1925’s The Great Gatsby and its racist millionaire Tom Buchanan, and not 100 years later. Trump bemoaned his bad relationship with Boston’s Asian American mayor, Michelle Wu, despite her “reasonable IQ,” in contrast with his war with Chicago’s “low IQ” leader, Brandon Johnson. The Windy City mayor happens to be Black, just like almost every other figure — like Reps. Maxine Waters or Jasmine Crockett — branded “low IQ” in the most thinly disguised racism possible.
Trump’s 21st-century eugenics — from ending diversity programs in colleges or the workplace to the obsession with finding the pill or shot or whatever that has made some kids “not normal” — is the unifying force of his dictatorship. It’s why what was sold to 2024’s voters as an effort to remove undocumented criminals from America turned out to be members of a masked secret police force chasing hardworking family men across the Home Depot parking lot because they have brown skin or speak Spanish.
You know. Different.
True, Trump’s rage toward immigrants or programs aimed to recruit more Black and brown kids into colleges was no secret, but what’s been more surprising has been the broader sense of hostility toward any government program that offers aid and empathy to those born with real challenges. Few predicted that Trump would seek to decimate the special education office in the U.S. Department of Education, or work more broadly to undermine the rights of the disabled.
You may have noticed that some of these slashed federal programs would help children diagnosed with autism. But putting these children on a path toward happier and more fulfilling lives isn’t the goal of the Trump-RFK Jr. focus on autism, but rather making sure the next generation conforms to their constricted definition of normal.
We need to understand Trump’s war on the different because we need to defeat it. Boomers of my generation were born into the world of stigmatization and conformity that Trump wants to bring back, erasing the liberation movements that have been the victory of our lifetime. Sure, I want the next president to care about affordable healthcare and lowering egg prices, but America also needs leaders who will celebrate and defend our fundamental human right simply to be different.
We buried my father on a bitterly cold day in Washington, D.C., in 2010. As I followed his casket out of the church, I spotted journalist Michael Days in the crowd of mourners. I didn’t get to speak with him, but I was deeply touched, not to mention honored, that my editor at the Daily News was there.
He didn’t have to do that. But Days, who died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 72, was a deeply empathetic man who genuinely cared about people. As former Daily News columnist Howard Gensler wrote on Facebook recently: “He celebrated the wins and keenly felt the losses in his newsroom. He knew when to step in and when to step back and he could go Philly on you when he had to — and then later ask you how your parents were doing.”
I met the pioneering journalist when he was business editor for the Daily News, and I was applying for a job. During my interview, I got so excited at the prospect of earning twice my salary in D.C. at the time that I didn’t bother to negotiate. But Days kindly arranged for me to have two weeks’ vacation during my first year of employment instead of my having to work an entire year, as stipulated by the terms of the union contract.
That was my first experience with the kind of leader Days was. He was more than just a boss. He was an editor, mentor, and friend who looked out for his staffers, which engendered our intense loyalty. We used to joke that when Days said, “Jump,” our response was, “How high?”
This is how I’ll always remember Michael Days: sitting in his office with a smile on his face, always ready to talk or just listen.
As amazing as he was as a newsroom leader, Days was an even better person outside of work. A fellow Catholic, he was a man of great faith who not only attended Mass regularly but whose life exemplified his deeply held Christian beliefs. He and his wife, Angela Dodson — then an editor at the New York Times — adopted not one child, but four brothers all at the same time.
Once, I had the good fortune of being invited to a holiday party at his home in Trenton — a location picked because it was between his wife’s job in NYC and his own in Philly. Shortly after I arrived, I recall glancing outdoors and spotting four shiny, new bicycles in the backyard. I was in awe. His beautiful home was decorated with a huge tree. I watched as Days’ wife handed each boy a matching Christmas plate. Lunch was a warm, cozy affair with lots of Southern favorites.
Days’ career took off, as he went on to hold a number of leadership positions in the newsroom. The first time he was in line to make history — as the first African American managing editor of the Daily News — I felt for certain he would get the job. Days had grown up in North Philly and graduated from Roman Catholic High School. Not only did he know the city, he understood the paper’s operations inside and out, and was adept at dealing with its motley crew of reporters and photographers.
I was outraged when he was passed over for an outsider. But when I stuck my head in his office to check on him, I was startled when he met my gaze with a smile. Days was unflappable like that. Calm. Steady. No matter what happened, he always kept his cool. That’s not easy in a newsroom full of strong personalities, but Days did it.
Looking back, he had the right idea. Management eventually woke up and named him managing editor, and later executive editor, of the Daily News. Under his leadership, the Daily News excelled journalistically, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 2010 for a series exposing corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department.
The following year, Days was named managing editor of The Inquirer and left the Daily News for a brief time. When then-publisher Bob Hall announced his return, and Days strode back into the newsroom, we all stood and cheered. Some even cried. Time passed, the papers consolidated, and Days went on to hold other management roles at The Inquirer. Even as he became less involved in the day-to-day newsroom operations, we still streamed in and out of his office, seeking advice about stories we were working on or grabbing a piece of chocolate from his candy dish.
After he retired in 2020, we continued to seek him out. He would take our calls as if he were still on the clock.
The author (left) at a WDAS Women of Excellence Luncheon where she was being honored. The late Inquirer Vice President Michael Days is to her immediate right, and former Deputy News Editor Yvette Ousley is next to him.
Two years ago, a group of Black journalists decided to form a new local affiliate branch of the National Association of Black Journalists after the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists broke off from the nationwide group. Days, then 70, graciously agreed to serve as NABJ-Philadelphia’s inaugural president, and helped the new group find its footing.
In September, the group hosted a reception at the Free Library of Philadelphia honoring NBC contributor Trymaine Lee, author of the new book, A Thousand Ways to Die: The True Cost of Violence on Black Life in America. When it was his turn to speak, Days praised Lee, who had been a Daily News intern, and told him, “You are a talent, and nobody is surprised that you have done so well.”
Afterward, former Daily News reporter Mister Mann Frisby posted on social media: “The way he spoke about Trymaine at his book signing, I have also heard him speak of me the same way. Always encouraging. That makes me know that he was CONSISTENT for decades in regards to how he supported and mentored journalists.”
When I woke up early Sunday and discovered numerous “call me” texts, I knew something really bad had happened. Days’ death sent a seismic jolt through journalism circles nationwide.
“He was kind and gentle,” recalled Inquirer columnist Elizabeth Wellington. “I lost my own father earlier this year. And this feels as if I’ve lost a second.”
I feel the same way. Before Days, I’d never met any man I considered anywhere close to being in the same league as my dad,who was a giant among men.
Inquirer reporter Melanie Burney, who will finish out Days’ term as president of NABJ-Philadelphia, told me she has found herself in the days after his death asking, “What would Michael do?”
That’s a question I’ve asked myself a few times recently, as well. Days had been just a quick phone call away. Going forward, we will have to rely on the many lessons he has already taught us.
Philadelphia has lost 187 people to homicide this year. With just over two months left in 2025, this represents a marked improvement over the pandemic era, a time when the city experienced more than 500 killings annually.
This reduction — along with an increase in the number of homicide cases detectives are solving — is worth celebrating. But, as evidenced by the horrific killing of Kada Scott and far too many other calamities, there is still much more to be done. Even if homicides remain under 240 killings this year, which would be the lowest number since the 1960s, it would still leave the city with a homicide rate that is triple that of New York or Boston.
That’s not to say there hasn’t been important progress.
In 2020, when gun violence was beginning to surge, City Council authorized the “100 Shooting Review,” which identified weaknesses in the criminal justice system and outlined a series of recommendations to cool the violence.
In 2021, Philadelphia invested more than $150 million in violence prevention and intervention programs. The disbursement of those funds was marked by instances of disorganization and insufficient oversight. However, according to those who study urban violence, the money served its purpose.
Thanks, in part, to new technology and the installation of high-definition cameras across the city, police are now solving between 85% and 91% of homicide cases, a 40-year high.
The clearance rate — or the percentage of homicides that have been solved — had dipped as low as 42% in recent years, meaning killers were more likely than not to get away with murder in Philadelphia.
Beyond providing closure for families and accountability to perpetrators, solving cases and prosecuting offenders can also help deter future acts of violence. According to crime researchers, certainty of punishment is one of the most effective deterrents for those who are likely to kill. This effect is particularly strong for younger offenders, who tend to act impulsively. Given that gun violence among teens continued to rise despite the progress made in other age groups, continuing to improve the clearance rate is essential.
Solving cases also helps to prevent cycles of retributive shootings by gang members. These days, experts say, it is song lyrics and social media beefs that drive many conflicts between rival gangs, not territorial clashes. Solving cases, and doing so quickly, can help intervene before these groups become the next Young Bag Chasers.
Despite the drop in the murder rate, Philadelphia still often feels beset by misdemeanors and lower-level felonies that contribute to an overall sense of disorder. Reckless driving permeates nearly all corners of the city, many transit stations reek of smoke and urine, illegal dumping plagues communities, blighted buildings like the former Ada H.H. Lewis Middle School attract crime, and police can take hours to respond to calls.
Many Center City businesses feel the need to employ armed security due to regular incidents involving thieves or emotionally disturbed people. In August, a security guard at a women’s clothing store fired a warning shot at a man who was harassing the staff. Earlier this month, a security guard at an IHOP in Center City was charged with murder after shooting a man who allegedly spat on her. Buying clothes and eating pancakes should not feel like a trip to the Wild West, nor should crossing the street feel like a game of Frogger.
Philadelphia’s leaders, including Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel, deserve credit for the progress the city has made in providing justice and reducing gun violence. But the job is far from over.
The Republican Party controls the federal government. It holds the majority in the House and the Senate, and controls the White House, as well.
Republicans could end the government shutdown tomorrow. A quick vote by the majority in the House and, after a rules change, by the majority in the Senate, followed by a presidential signature, would pass a budget into law and reopen the government.
Yet, absurdly, President Donald Trump and his followers are blaming congressional Democrats for the shutdown. This is ridiculous. The Democrats have little power in Washington these days.
Their only sway comes in the ability to filibuster in the Senate, but that can be easily taken away by a simple majority vote by the Republicans.
No, as President Trump might say, the Republicans hold all the cards.
The president, for months, has been openly targeting Democrats as he uses and misuses his presidential powers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson gathers Republican leaders at a news conference last week to blame Democrats for the government shutdown. That’s ridiculous, writes Joseph Hoeffel.
The country has never seen such presidential partisanship, overreach, and lawlessness.
Now, Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, is abusing her powers and playing politics regarding the shutdown.
Last week, she produced a video for the Transportation Security Administration, which she supervises, to show at TSA security checkpoints in airports across the country. In the video, Noem blames congressional Democrats for the government shutdown and any related travel delays.
She says, in part, “Democrats in Congress refuse to fund the federal government, and because of this, many of our operations are impacted … our hope is that Democrats will soon recognize the importance of opening the government.”
No member suspected that a future secretary would so blatantly engage in partisanship on the job. Petty politics should never infect this particular department and its critical national security responsibilities.
A number of airports around the country, including Los Angeles, Phoenix, Cleveland, and Charlotte, N.C., are refusing to run the TSA video, citing the political nature of its content.
Any airport, public or private, that receives federal or state funding could be breaking the laws against political activity by recipients of government money if they show the video.
I doubt this legal jeopardy Noem is creating through her avid partisanship will give her any pause. Nor will any worries about her job security.
She is doing exactly what Trump wants her to do: Blame the Democrats at every opportunity for anything that is not working in the federal government.
But the Republicans could pass a budget and reopen the government tomorrow.
They need only to suspend the Senate rule that permits the Democrats to filibuster. Any Senate rule can be changed at any time by a simple majority vote.
Elections have consequences
In fact, the Senate Republicans just suspended such a rule last month so they could approve a large group of military and civilian appointees by a single en bloc vote, rather than the regular process of individual committee hearings and separate votes on each appointee.
I am sure I would not like the budget priorities that unfettered congressional GOP majorities and Trump would produce.
But elections have consequences.
A single party controls our federal government by the will of the voters. I accept that and will fight it out at the next election.
Why won’t the Republicans pass a budget and end the government shutdown? Do they think playing the political blame game is more important than governing?
Let them use the power the voters gave them and accept the responsibility to govern. Let them accept the credit or the blame for the actions they take.
And stop blaming the Democrats because the Republicans will not do their job.
Joseph Hoeffel is a former Democratic member of Congress from Montgomery County (13th Congressional District, 1999-2004). He lives in Abington.
How much Russian humiliation can Donald Trump swallow before conceding that Vladimir Putin is making him look like a fool?
On Tuesday, the White House was forced to announce the cancellation of a supposed Trump-Putin summit the president had recently stated would take place in Budapest, Hungary, in around two weeks.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov effectively told Secretary of State Marco Rubio by phone that the U.S. president hadn’t kowtowed sufficiently to Moscow to justify a summit. There are “no plans” for Trump to meet Putin “in the immediate future,” the White House admitted.
In past weeks and months, Trump has bowed down so deeply to Russia’s leader it’s a wonder his head hasn’t banged on the ground. Yet, the Kremlin keeps playing him and disrespecting the self-declared champion of global peacemaking.
It won’t be surprising if Trump chooses to blame the summit fiasco on Kyiv’s refusal to surrender to Moscow — rather than recognize Putin’s total disinterest in a peace deal. If he doesn’t want to go down in history as Putin’s lapdog, the president needs to recognize that carrots won’t bring peace if they aren’t backed up by sticks.
Ironically, Trump appeared to have grasped that truth when he finally pressured a reluctant Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire in Gaza in return for Hamas’ release of living and dead Israeli hostages.
But with Putin, Trump’s tactic has been all carrots. So far, the president seems blind to the reasons why his peacemaking efforts with the Kremlin have failed, again and again.
A red-carpet summit in Alaska in August was a dismal disaster, even though POTUS dropped his support for a ceasefire in favor of Putin’s demand to negotiate while fighting.
When Putin rewarded Trump’s faith by massively ratcheting up air attacks on Ukrainian civilians, the president seemed to recognize he was being played. He began hinting he would sell Kyiv long-range Tomahawk missiles that could take out Russian missile bases at the source, and was set to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the missiles on Friday.
Putin, knowing his man, called the White House on Thursday and said nyet. Trump immediately dropped all talk of delivering Tomahawks.
Instead, the president angrily urged Zelensky to accept Putin’s demands that Ukraine surrender the entire Donetsk region to Russia, including a large chunk that Kyiv still holds, which is a critical “fortress belt” preventing further Russian advances toward major cities. Trump reportedly berated Ukraine’s leader in foul language to accept the Russian demand (on the false presumption it would end the war). Otherwise, he claimed, Putin would “destroy” Ukraine.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to reporters in Lafayette Park across the street from the White House on Friday, following a meeting with President Donald Trump.
Needless to say, Zelensky refused this suicidal proposal. Trump then resurrected a call for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in place in Ukraine. Kyiv and America’s NATO allies supported this idea.
Russia refused, and continued to demand Ukraine’s complete capitulation, including the handover of unoccupied Donetsk, Ukraine’s demilitarization, a change of government (meaning installing a pro-Putin puppet regime), and a cutoff from any NATO member support.
Which brings us to now, and what comes next for Ukraine.
Much depends on whether an egotistical Trump can sense how weak he is being made to look by Putin. It also depends on whether the president has the guts and smarts to pressure Putin sufficiently to convince him the war has become too costly.
It is hard to imagine such a presidential self-awakening. But were it to happen, it would require recognition of certain facts that Trump has failed to grasp until now.
First, the Ukraine war is not about territory. I cringed when Trump told Fox News onSunday he was confident he could end the conflict, but Putin was “going to take something, he’s won certain property.”
That is the equivalent of claiming that American patriots waged the Revolutionary War up and down the Eastern Seaboard over waterfront footage, not for their independence from imperial rule. As former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk told me by phone from Kyiv, “This is not a territorial war, it is an existential war about the existence of the Ukrainian state.”
Nor is Putin fighting for land. He is waging an imperial war to destroy Ukraine’s existence as an independent country, eradicating its religion, culture, language and civic freedoms. Such Russian cruelty is already the norm in Ukrainian territory that Moscow has seized.
Until Trump and his Putin-bedazzled negotiator Steve Witkoff grasp this, they will never understand why Ukrainians continue to fight.
Second, Putin does not want peace, no matter what platitudes he feeds Trump. He is angling to see how many carrots Trump will offer him in return for nothing. That is why it is past time for sticks — including secondary sanctions on Russia, and Tomahawks and Patriot air defenses for Ukraine.
Third, the portion of Donetsk that Ukraine still controls contains key cities and critical fortifications that prevent Russian troops from entering vast flat steppes which would give them open access to major Ukrainian cities such as Dnipro. The Russians have been struggling for three years to take this area, with huge losses of man power, and still haven’t succeeded.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff (right) shake hands during their meeting in Moscow in August.
Nor did they yearn for Kremlin overlordship because they were Russian speakers, a Putin talking point Witkoff keeps repeating. Most Ukrainians were bilingual or Russian speakers before Moscow’s invasion because of the long-term impact of prior Soviet rule.
Fourth, Putin won’t be able to “destroy Ukraine” if Kyiv refuses to capitulate. Contrary to Putin’s lies to Trump and Witkoff, his economy is ailing, and his massive losses of soldiers are being felt. Were it not for aid from Iran, China, and North Korea, Moscow could not keep up.
“Putin won’t be able to destroy us,” Zagorodnyuk told me. “He is selling himself as the leader of a superpower, but he isn’t. He is much weaker than he is perceived. Most of the world sees this, but unfortunately, he still seems able to communicate this message to the United States.”
Fifth, forging peace requires U.S. toughness. If Trump truly wants peace in Ukraine, it’s time to recognize Putin’s weakness and Ukraine’s strength, born from painful knowledge that Putin intends to turn their country into a Soviet-style satellite ruled by terror. Trump’s weakness will only encourage further attacks on Europe and aggression against other U.S. allies by a Chinese-Russian-North Korean entente.
Handing over Donetsk would only feed Putin’s appetite for more. “He would just take the territory and move on,” said Zagorodnyuk, rightly.
If Trump is the tough guy his followers claim, and not Putin’s patsy, it’s past time for more sanctions, Tomahawks, and air defenses for Ukraine.
President Donald Trump’s shifting stance on Ukraine’s war with Russia has emerged once again. Less than a month ago, Trump, on his Truth Social platform, asserted that Ukraine’s territorial integrity could be restored to its prewar borders if support by the U.S. and its allies remained resolute.
In a predictable about-face — and in preparation for the meeting with Vladimir Putin in Budapest, Hungary — Trump is once again pressuring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to cede territory. With territorial reclamation presumably a nonstarter, Trump, in another apparent strategic misstep, denied Zelensky’s request for advanced military weaponry, the Tomahawk missile. Ukraine’s possession of this cutting-edge military technology could have weakened Putin’s hand at the negotiating table. Instead, it increased the odds that his intransigence will continue.
Should the Budapest summit end without an agreement being announced (as happened in Alaska), look for Zelensky to be the scapegoat, not Trump’s misapplication of leverage.
Jim Paladino,Tampa, Fla.
In my opinion
Recently, President Donald Trump listed some people who had opposed him and said, “They’re all guilty as hell.” Thankfully, in our judicial system, people are not convicted because of “opinions,” but based on facts and laws. Nonetheless, it is disheartening and dangerous for a president to attempt to influence the Justice Department in deciding whom to prosecute and who is guilty of crimes. Would that an independent attorney general stand up to him and not pursue perceived enemies in search of a crime?
Joe Stoutzenberger,Erdenheim
Commuted sentence
Let the word go out. The Republican Party just destroyed its very last vestige of being the party of law and order and personal responsibility. Dead. Gone. Disappeared. George Santos stole, robbed, cheated, and lied about every aspect of his entire existence. People were hurt by him. Apparently, his only saving attribute was that, in his ignominious and short congressional career, at least he voted for Republicans. In the rubble of the former Republican Party, that is sufficient to gain you a commuted sentence. It is no longer a political party; it is a shallow gathering of cult followers who have ceased to be able to exercise independent moral judgment. Brian Fitzpatrick, for your own sake, I suggest that you leave that cult.
Tom Taft,Chalfont
Rally downplayed
“Below the fold” — that is, articles that appeared at the bottom of newspaper pages — is the old expression for suppressing news that upsets the Powers That Be. Placing the well-written report of Saturday’s massive “No Kings” rally on Page A4 of the Sunday Inquirer — and below the dozens of less important articles on the website — is unconscionable. Bowing and scraping to MAGA is complicit with authoritarianism.
Elizabeth Malone,Glenside
. . .
I have been participating in a weekly “No Kings” rally for several months. I protest because it makes me feel better. Rather than sitting around feeling helpless, it offers me an outlet to express myself and to see that I am not alone in my frustration. Saturday’s “No Kings” rally was an exceptional experience. There was an exhilarating feeling of hope and kindness and warmth. It highlighted for me both who we are and what kind of country we need to be. There was music and laughter and costumes. Horns were honking and flags were waving. There were peacekeepers who ensured we did not engage in hate speech or unwarranted behavior. There were a few MAGA supporters who drove in circles around the crowds and revved their engines, but no one seemed to pay attention to them. It was a good day. It was a reminder that at our core, we are a peaceful, caring nation. I urge anyone who is feeling alone and scared by the current administration to take heart and join a peaceful protest. It is, after all, what makes us a democracy. I only wish The Inquirer had put the pictures and the story about the demonstration on its front page. It deserved that attention.
Kathleen Coyne, Wallingford
. . .
I’m outraged that The Inquirer didn’t give more prominence to its coverage of the “No Kings”protests in Philadelphia and around the country. Your articles about the demonstrations appeared on Pages 4 and 5 of the next day’s paper. They should have been on the front page.
The Inquirer covers daily the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate our system of checks and balances, to punish the president’s political opponents, to deprive millions of Americans of affordable, healthy, and decent lives, to strip citizens of their express constitutional rights, and to send unrestrained and violent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to so called Democratic cities to detain, deport, and terrorize millions of people who have not committed crimes. These are steps right out of the playbook for turning a democracy into an authoritarian state.
On Saturday, some seven million people around the country, including in Philadelphia, took to the streets to protest these actions in perhaps the largest protest in U.S. history. This is an event of singular importance. The coverage of it should be treated as such.
Sharon Weinman,Philadelphia
Prize worthy?
As he attempted to do with the Abraham Accords, President Donald Trump (with Egypt and Qatar) is working tirelessly to bring some peace to the Middle East.
The unique negotiating team engineered by Trump, to encourage an agreement between Israel and Hamas, appears to be an effective strategy to ensure a monumental achievement.
While most of the mainstream media, with their Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS), will resist praising The Donald with any accolades, he most assuredly should have received a Nobel Peace Prize if these peace negotiations come to fruition.
And, riding on this astonishing accomplishment, he will then exert his newfound influence to achieve a similar peaceful resolution to the Ukraine-Russia conflict — without sacrificing the lives of American troops.
Thus, Trump will have achieved peaceful negotiations on a scale not achieved since Ronald Reagan (with the USSR in the 1980s) or Dwight D. Eisenhower (with North and South Korea and the Suez Canal conflicts in the 1950s).
Reagan’s unyielding tactics laid the groundwork for the dismantling of the Soviet Union. Ike entreated India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to influence the Chinese to support a Korean armistice.
Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan firmly understood the critical aspects of The Art of the Deal.
Ron Smith, Brigantine, ronaldjsmithsr@comcast.net
. . .
It is ironic that President Donald Trump thinks he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for a possible settlement in Gaza. Although we all want a just peace in that area, it has not happened yet. And the “Trump Plan” closely follows what some Arab nations proposed earlier this year. Trump’s choice of envoys, developers Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, causes one to wonder if the quest for peace is so that money can be made off Palestinian land. That follows an earlier Trump-Netanyahu plan for a Gaza Riviera.
Trump is not a man of peace.
He has threatened to “take” Greenland and Canada.
He has ordered the illegal bombing of boats off Venezuela because he claimed they contained drugs. Most U.S. drugs do not come from Venezuela. Trump has intimated he wants regime change there.
Trump took credit for peace between Azerbaijan and “Albania.” How involved was he? The countries are Azerbaijan and Armenia.
Trump is certainly not a peaceful unifier of the U.S. Any American who disagrees with him is an “opponent.” He “hates” his opponents, as he stated at Charlie Kirk’s funeral. He considers Americans who demonstrate against government policies “domestic terrorists” and “the enemy within.” Trump is sending the National Guard to some cities.
Before people consider a peace prize for President Trump, I hope they realize that his actions are based on a desire for vengeance, a quest for power, and his endless grifting.
Ellen Danish,Philadelphia
Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.
The sense of loss that has permeated 2025 struck again this weekend when we learned of the sudden death of a Philly journalism legend, Michael Days, who guided the Philadelphia Daily News during most of its last dozen freewheeling and Pulitzer-winning years before we merged with The Inquirer in 2017. He was just 72, far too young. The top-line of Mike’s obituary was how, as the first African American to lead a newsroom in America’s founding city, he paid it forward by mentoring the next generation of rising Black journalists. But people like me who worked for him remember him more simply as the wisest and mostempathetic human being we ever had as a boss. He leaves right when the nation’s newsrooms need decent souls like Mike Days more than they ever did.
What a $10M bribe rumor says about Trump, Middle East peace, and America’s fall
President Donald Trump talks with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough ceasefire deal, Oct. 13 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
The thing about being a 79-year-old president is that sometimes you just blurt stuff out, with no filter as to whether your words might be embarrassing, undiplomatic — or potentially incriminating.
Consider the case of Donald John Trump, the 47th U.S. president and the oldest one on the day of his election. Last week, in what may prove to be a fleeting moment of triumph as Trump celebrated a Gaza peace deal that included the release of 20 Israeli hostages, POTUS arrived at an Egyptian resort town for a Middle East summit. He kicked off the day with a one-on-one sit-down with Egypt’s strongman ruler, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.
“There was a reason we chose Egypt [for the summit] because you were very helpful,” Trump said as a gaggle of reporters and photojournalists entered their meeting room.
Really? Helpful in what way?
“I want to thank you,” the American president told Sissi, who seized power in a 2013 coup. “He’s been my friend right from the beginning during the campaign against Crooked Hillary Clinton. Have you heard of her?”
Here Trump was pushing, ever so absurdly, for the Nobel Peace Prize, and then he had to spoil it all by saying somethin’ stupid like, you bribed me. Well, he almost spoiled it, if more journalists — aside from MSNBC’s brilliant Rachel Maddow, who seized on the remark hours later — had grasped the potential import of this presidential prattle.
It’s certainly legal, if gross, for Trump to be close pals with Sissi, even if Human Rights Watch reports that the Egyptian dictator is “continuing wholesale repression, systematically detaining and punishing peaceful critics and activists and effectively criminalizing peaceful dissent.” What would not be legal is the Middle Eastern nation interfering in the 2016 election, in which Trump narrowly defeated Clinton in the handful of swing states that tipped the Electoral College.
What made Trump’s comments last week so jaw-dropping is that U.S. federal investigators worked for several years trying to prove exactly that scenario. In August 2024, days after Trump was nominated by the GOP for his second reelection bid, the Washington Post reported that the Justice Department investigated a tip that Sissi’s Egypt provided Trump with $10 million the candidate desperately needed in the 2016 homestretch to defeat Clinton. That happened right before Trump, as 45th president, reopened the spigot of foreign aid that had been halted because of Sissi’s human rights abuses.
It’s known that Trump did put $10 million into the campaign, which he listed as a loan. The Post in 2024 offered a tantalizing, if circumstantial, piece of evidence — that the Cairo bank had received a note from an agency believed to be Egyptian intelligence to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million in two, 100-pound bags full of U.S. $100 bills, five days before Trump took the oath of office.
But the investigative trail ran cold. In 2019, then-special counsel Robert Mueller turned the matter over to Trump’s appointees in the Justice Department, who of course didn’t pursue the president’s bank records. Neither — inexplicably — did Joe Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland, as the statute of limitations expired in January 2022. That’s where things stood last week before Trump started blathering in Sharm El Sheikh.
One reason I’m writing about this is the sheer frustration that Trump — yes, allegedly, possibly — might have gotten away with bribery to the point where he’s almost bragging about it in public. But I also think the mysterious case of the Egyptian bags of cash speaks to the present, dire American moment in a couple of ways.
For one thing, it casts a light on what’s really behind what Trump hopes will be viewed as the signature achievement of his second presidency. That would be the fragile peace deal that aims to end the last two years of bloodshed in Gaza that started with the Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7, 2023 and has resulted in at least 67,000 dead Palestinians and the utter destruction of their seaside homeland.
How did Trump get a deal that had eluded his predecessor Biden, in a region that has vexed every American president from both parties? It certainly helped that most of the power brokers with the clout and the cash to help end the fighting in Gaza are repressive strongmen — or, as Trump might call them, role models. And they all seem to speak the same language of corrupt back-scratching.
If those bags with $10 million in greenbacks did make their way to Trump in 2017, it looks like small change in today’s cross-Atlantic wheeling-and-dealing. After all, a key go-between in the negotiations — Qatar, which has good relations with Hamas and has hosted its exiled leaders — gifted America a $400 million jet that Trump plans to use not just as Air Force One but in his post presidency, while his regime has promised to protect the Qatari dictators if they are ever attacked.
Another key supporter of the plan is the United Arab Emirates, which also backs the UAE firm that recently purchased a whopping $2 billion in cryptocurrency from a firm owned by Trump’s family as well as the family of Steve Witkoff, the regime’s lead Middle East negotiator. At the same time, Trump’s U.S. government allowed UAE to import highly sensitive microchips used in artificial intelligence.
Witkoff’s negotiation end–game brought in Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who forged close ties during his father-in-law’s first term with Saudi Arabia’s murderous de facto ruler Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who pulled the levers for a $2 billion investment in a hedge fund created by Kushner despite no prior expertise.
Those Saudi ties could prove critical to future stability in the region, and in a joint interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes Sunday night, Kushner and Witkoff made no apologies for mixing billion-dollar deals with the pursuit of world peace. “What people call conflicts of interest,” Kushner said, “Steve and I call experience and trusted relationships.”
OK, but those “trusted relationships” are built on a flimsy mountain of cash that could collapse at any minute. Look, I’m thrilled like everyone else that 20 Israeli hostages are finally reunited with their loved ones, and to the extent Trump and his regime deserve any credit, I credit them. But the art of the deal that the president is bragging about is all about the Benjamins — more worthy of applause on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange than a Nobel Peace Prize.
Real peace is based on hard work and trust, not Bitcoin — so is it any wonder that the ceasefire is already collapsing with two dead Israeli soldiers and fresh, lethal airstrikes in Gaza? The only thing with any currency among a rogues’ gallery of world dictators is currency, and that transactional stench has fouled everything from Cairo to K Street.
Is it any surprise that a regime whose origin story allegedly includes bags of Egyptian cash would do absolutely nothing when it was told that its future border czar, Tom Homan, was captured on an audiotape accepting $50,000 in a fast-food bag from undercover FBI agents who said they wanted government contracts?
In hindsight, the failure to pursue that report of the $10 million Egyptian bribe opened up a floodgate of putrid corruption, wider than the Nile. It signaled a sick society where everything is for sale — even world peace — but nothing is guaranteed.
Yo, do this!
The 1970s and ‘80s are having a cultural moment right now, and this boomer is here for it! On Apple TV (they’ve dropped the “+,” probably after paying some consultant $1 million for that pearl of wisdom) comes the long-awaited five part docuseries about the life and times of filmmaker Martin Scorsese, the savior who rose from NYC’s mean streets to give us Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and so much more. Watching Mr. Scorsese is going to make the eventual death of the baseball season so much easier to take.
The earthy, urban musical equivalent of Scorsese would have to be Bruce Springsteen, who has been marking the 50th anniversary of his breakthrough Born to Run LP with all kinds of cool stuff, capped with Friday’s long-awaited release of the first-ever biopic about “The Boss,” Deliver Me from Nowhere. Staring The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen, the film’s unlikely narrative — focusing on the making of 1982’s highly personal and acoustic Nebraska as the rock star seeks release from a bout of depression — sounds like exactly the uplift that America needs right now.
Ask me anything
Question: As someone living in Ireland and looking across the ocean. Trump won’t be in power forever, but how is anyone going to deal with the MAGA crowd that helped elect him? That level of stupidity, hatred and racism cannot be fixed. How is [t]he USA ever going to heal? — Stephen (@bannside@bsky.social) via Bluesky
Answer: That’s a great question, Stephen, and like most great questions there’s no easy answer. Although I’m optimistic that the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election will happen and that the anti-Trump coalition that we witnessed at “No Kings” will prevail, I agree with you that it’s only a partial and temporary fix. I’d fear an Iraq-level resistance could rise up in the regions we call “Trump country.” My long-term solution would be along the lines of what I proposed in my 2022 bookAfter the Ivory Tower Falls: Fix higher education — broadly defined as from the Ivy League to good trade schools — to made it a public good that reduces inequality instead of driving it. And promote a universal gap year of national service for 18-year-olds, to get young people out of their isolated silos. There are ways to prevent the next generation from becoming as stupid or hateful or racist as the Americans who came before them, but it will take time and patience that we seem to lack right now.
What you’re saying about…
Remember the Philadelphia Phillies? When I last saw you here two weeks ago, their annual postseason collapse and the fate of manager Rob Thomson was a hot topic. As expected, there was minimal response from you political junkies, and opinions were split — even before the team defied the conventional wisdom and announced he’ll be returning in 2026. Thomson’s supporters were more likely to blame the Phillies’ inconsistent sluggers, with John Braun asking “who could you hire who could guarantee clutch hits?” Personally, I’m with Kim Root: “I follow the Philly Union, who just won the Supporters Shield — that is all.”
📮 This week’s question: Back to the issue at hand: I’m curious if newsletter readers attended the “No Kings” protest last Saturday, and what you see as the future of the anti-Trump movement. Are more aggressive measures like a nationwide general strike needed, or is the continued visibility of nonviolent resisters enough? Please email me your answer and put the exact phrase “No Kings future” in the subject line.
Backstory on who the “No Kings” protesters really were
Demonstrators gather for a ’No Kings’ rally in Philadelphia on Saturday.
They clogged city plazas and small-town main streets from San Diego to Bangor on Saturday, yet the more than 7 million Americans who took part in the massive “No Kings” protest — the second-largest one day demonstration in U.S. history, behind only the first Earth Day in 1970 — seemed to mystify much of the befuddled mainstream media. Just who were these people protesting the Donald Trump presidency, and why are they here?
Instead of a journalist, it took a sociologist to get some answers. Dana Fisher — the Philadelphia-area native who teaches at American University and is the leading expert on contemporary protest movements — was out in the field Saturday at the large “No Kings” march in Washington, D.C., collecting data with a team of researchers. She’s shared her early top-line results with me, aiming to both give a demographic and ideological snapshot and also compare Saturday’s crowd with her findings at other recent rallies.
If you were among the 7 million on Saturday, some of this data won’t surprise you. The protesters were, on the whole, older than the average American, with a median age of 44 (compared to 38 for the nation as a whole.) Once again, the “No Kings” participants were overwhelmingly white (87%) with women (57%) in the majority. But it’s also worth noting that men (39%) were more likely to take part than earlier protests tracked by Fisher, and the 8% who identified as Latino is double the rate of Hispanic participation in the 2017 Women’s March.
That last finding may reflect the passions of the “No Kings” protesters, who listed immigration as a key motivation at a rate of 74%, second only to their general opposition to Trump (80%, kind of a no brainer). That certainly jibed with the demonstrators at the rally I attended in suburban Havertown, who again and again mentioned the sight of masked federal agents grabbing migrants off the street as what compelled them to come out.
Fisher’s most telling findings may have been these: The people out in the streets are mad about what they see happening to America, with 80% listing “anger” as an emotion they are feeling, trailed closely by “anxiety” at 76%. Yet few of those who spoke with her team believed that will translate into violence. The number of demonstrators who agreed with the statement that “because things have gotten so off track, Americans may have to resort to violence in order to save our country” was only 23% — lower than other protests her team has surveyed. It seems like the larger the public show of resistance to Trump’s authoritarianism, the more optimism that the path back to democracy can be nonviolent.
What I wrote on this date in 2021
I hate to say I told you so but… On this date four years ago, Joe Biden was still clinging to dreams of a presidential honeymoon after ousting Donald Trump in the 2020 election, but there were dark clouds on the horizon. On Oct. 21, 2021 I warned that sluggish action on key issues was starting to hurt his standing with under-30 voters. I wrote that “while the clock hasn’t fully run out on federal action around issues like student debt or a bolder approach on climate — the disillusionment of increasingly jaded young voters could change the course of American history for the next generation, or even beyond.” How’d that turn out? Read the rest: “From college to climate, Democrats are sealing their doom by selling out young voters.”
Recommended Inquirer reading
I returned from a much-needed staycation this weekend by leaving the sofa and spending a glorious fall morning at the boisterous “No Kings” protest closest to home in Delaware County, which lined a busy street in Havertown. I wrote about how the protests are winning back America by getting under the skin of Donald Trump and the GOP, who can no longer pretend to ignore the widespread unpopularity of their authoritarian project.
Every election matters, even the ones that are dismissed as “off-year” contests. In today’s heated and divisive climate, even what used to be a fairly routine affair — the retention of sitting judges on the state and local level — has taken on greater importance. Here in Pennsylvania, the state’s richest billionaire, Jeff Yass, is spending a sliver of his vast wealth to convince voters to end the tenure of three Democrats on the state Supreme Court. The Inquirer’s Editorial Board is here to explain why that’s a very bad idea. On the other hand, some judges up for retention in the city of Philadelphia — where jurists haven’t always lived up to the promise of America’s cradle of democracy — deserve closer scrutiny. The newsroom’s Samantha Melamed revealed a leaked, secret survey detailing what Philadelphia attorneys think of some of the judges on the November ballot, and it is not pretty. The bottom line is that you need to vote this year, and subscribing to The Inquirer is the best way to stay informed. Sign up today!
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