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A Government That Chooses War Over Childcare
President Donald Trump made his priorities unmistakable when he dismissed federal support for childcare, telling his budget director: “Don’t send any money for daycare. … We’re fighting wars.” In choosing to fund a costly, unpopular war in Iran over investing in families, the administration is treating childcare as optional—something states should handle alone—even as costs soar beyond what most households can afford.
That decision comes amid a deepening affordability crisis. Childcare now routinely exceeds $1,000 a month per child, and by the government’s own benchmark, true affordability would require families to earn close to $400,000 a year.
While federal dollars have historically helped states provide care, the administration is pulling back—and even targeting states that are trying to expand access. The result is a widening gap between what families need and what the government is willing to support.
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Stop Calling Hungary an Authoritarian Playbook
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The White House’s Medical Misinformation Is Harming American Children
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The Immigration Crackdown Is Coming for Public Education
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Judge Pauses Louisiana’s Mifepristone Restrictions as FDA Review Looms
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Mr. President, If You Care About Families, Stop Cutting What They Need to Survive
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Pulling a Page From the Confederacy: Trump and Birthright Citizenship
Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara—a landmark case that seeks to fundamentally rewrite the substance and meaning of one of the most important provisions of the Constitution: birthright citizenship. In this special episode of On the Issues, Dr. Goodwin unpacks Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship, which is widely recognized as one of the Constitution’s most fundamental rights and has been protected by the 14th Amendment for over 150 years, pointing out how it echoes a Confederate playbook, and seeks to reshape the fabric of our very nation.
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- From Privacy to Conversion Therapy: A Troubling Month for LGBTQ+ Rights at the Supreme Court
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- Trump Administration Revokes Protection from Greenhouse Gases
- Virginia’s Bill Will Finally Give Survivors Justice
- Afghanistan Faces Growing Crises as Aid Cuts, Regional Conflict, and Diplomatic Uncertainty Deepen Civilian Suffering
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Cover Reveal and Spring 2026 Issue Sneak Peek: ICE Is ‘the Army of the Patriarchy’
In early February, while the nation was still reeling from the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents, Loretta Ross and Jackson Katz—two feminist academics with decidedly different backgrounds and identities—discussed how U.S. federal agents became the enforcement arm of the nation’s racism and misogyny.
You’ll find this, and more, in the Spring 2026 issue of Ms.
Educating Women: A History of Access, Exclusion and Backlash
The war against “radical gender ideology” has been staggering. The ascent of President Trump brought calls for the elimination of women’s and LGBTQ centers, rollbacks on Title IX protections, the exclusion of trans women from college sports and the purging of gender and sexuality studies from college curricula across U.S. higher education. These actions signal a massive backlash against decades of progress—and are inseparable from a broader assault on civil rights-era protections for people of color.
However, this moment is nothing new. It echoes an earlier race- and gender-based backlash over a century ago, when growing numbers of white middle-class women began to attend college. Against the backdrop of Black emancipation, increased migration and the expanding feminist movement, women’s education was cast as a threat—not just to patriarchy, but to the future of the white race.
Today’s backlash is the latest attempt to restore the status quo—to draw boundaries around who is entitled to higher education and to reinforce a racial and gender hierarchy that has always shaped access to learning in the United States.
(This essay is part of the FEMINIST 250: Founding Feminists series, marking the 250th anniversary of America by reclaiming the revolution through the women and gender-expansive people whose ideas, labor and resistance shaped U.S. democracy.)
