Politics
Saigon Sentinel · Section
Policy reporting — elections, legislation, executive actions, and political analysis with a diaspora-impact lens.
- Politics
Money Cannot Buy Everything: Lessons from Florida's Senate Primary
A candidate who spent less than one-tenth of her rival's budget still won the Florida Senate primary by a landslide. What does that figure say about the real limits of money in American politics, and why the Hope Florida…
- Politics
Why did a cash-strapped state representative just defeat a former military officer with $16 million in Florida?
A state representative once disciplined for using a handheld megaphone on the chamber floor just defeated a retired military officer with sixteen times her campaign funds. This is the story of how a grassroots, under-res…
- Politics
White House Ballroom: A Legal Gamble Racing Against Time
The White House state dining room lawsuit involving a $400 million project is not merely a construction dispute, but a test of executive power limits when the project is already 65% complete while courts still debate its…
- Politics
The Electromagnetic Catapult System and the Cost of a Story Trump Has Been Telling for 8 Years
A story Trump retold for nearly a decade has now become an order to the Navy: remove the electromagnetic catapult when nearly half the equipment for that system is already built, bringing cost risks that the manufacturer…
- Politics
The 90-Day Race: U.S. Supreme Court Under Pressure to Decide the Fate of Mail-In Ballots Before Midterm Elections
Three months before the midterm elections, the U.S. Supreme Court stands between two conflicting rulings on federal control of mail-in voting — a decision that could directly affect millions of older voters and voters ne…
- Politics
Nevada's 'fake electors' case dismissed for second time: why the law still hasn't convicted anyone
A judge in Nevada just dismissed for the second time a case against six people who once claimed to be legitimate electors for Trump in 2020 - and the legal gap that has made this case difficult to prosecute does not lie …
- Politics
ICE Body Cameras: Safer or Just Transparency Window Dressing?
ICE pledges all personnel will have body cameras by the end of August 2026, but policy still allows the agency to unilaterally decide when to release footage — even after deaths. This is more noteworthy than the equipmen…
- Politics
Why the way Kansas chooses judges is connected to abortion rights
Kansas voters just rejected a proposal to change how the state's highest court judges are selected, a strategy that abortion opponents had publicly viewed as a workaround to overturn abortion rights in the state constitu…
- Politics
Texas Senate Race: Polling Gap Narrows, but Neither Candidate Has a Lock on Victory
Polls on the Texas Senate race between Talarico and Paxton are swinging in different directions, but the real story lies with Latino voters and immigration policy — two factors that could directly affect Vietnamese-Ameri…
- Politics
Mayor Refuses ICE Cooperation: What Legal Boundaries Are Being Tested
A small-town mayor's statement in Connecticut touches on a legal boundary that the Department of Justice is now challenging nationwide: how far can local governments go in refusing to cooperate with ICE before facing law…
- Politics
US Allows Ukraine to Produce Patriot Missiles: What's Happening?
The meeting between Zelenskyy and Trump at the White House did not bring new military aid, but opened the door for Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles domestically and may lead to new tariffs on goods from China and Indi…
- Politics
Who is the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, what does the role entail, and why is it controversial?
The Senate has confirmed a former prosecutor and former chair of the securities regulator to head the entire federal intelligence system — right as the agency undergoes staff cuts and a critical surveillance law has expi…
- Politics
US halts bombing of Iran, but why must Trump still meet with Netanyahu right now?
After nearly two weeks of airstrikes and 18 American soldiers killed, Washington has suspended its campaign against Iran just before Trump meets with Netanyahu — a meeting whose outcome could determine global fuel prices…
- Politics
When immigration data disappears: DHS officials exit one by one
A high-ranking statistics official at the Department of Homeland Security has just resigned, continuing a pattern of immigration officials leaving their posts without bringing substantive policy changes — while data on d…
- Politics
U.S. Justice Department Activates a 30-Year-Old Unused Court to Open a New Deportation Front
A federal court that the Justice Department itself abandoned as unusable for 30 years was suddenly reactivated — but at the very first step, a conservative judge demanded that the administration prove its case anew.
- Politics
The Title 'Doctor' and the Senate Race Expose Rifts in the Democratic Party
In Michigan, the Democratic Senate race is becoming a test of whether the money spent by major advocacy groups can overcome progressive grassroots voters — while the leading candidate's claim to the title "doctor" is bei…
- Politics
US Justice Department Files Lawsuits Against Sanctuary Cities, but Federal Courts Keep Dismissing Cases
The US Department of Justice has sued over 20 cities and states since the beginning of 2025, but most of its lawsuits have been dismissed by federal courts — while Maryland and New York show two completely different stra…
- Politics
In Michigan, outside campaign spending is now bigger than the campaign itself
When AIPAC's outside campaign spending is many times greater than the candidate's own budget, the real question is not who will win, but who is actually talking to Michigan voters.
- Politics
Dismantling the U.S. Department of Education: A legal gamble far from finished
The bill package that just passed the House committee may seem like a major turning point, but the truly significant number is the 60 Senate votes that Republicans do not have - and the 1.7 trillion dollars in student lo…
- Politics
Republican 95 Billion Dollar Budget: Approved by Committee, Uncertain in House
The House Budget Committee narrowly passed the 95 billion dollar framework, but the razor-thin margin of votes suggests the real battle lies ahead — inside the Republican Party itself.