The Majority Report with Sam Seder: "Why You are a Domestic Terrorist; Historical Strike"

Episode 3559 | January 14, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode of The Majority Report with Sam Seder features two major topics:

1. An in-depth interview with nurse practitioner Dania Munoz about the historic New York City nurses’ strike.
2. A revealing conversation with investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein on ICE, national security policy, and the expansion of state power in the Trump administration.

The episode spotlights labor organizing, the real-time consequences of government policy on civil liberties, and the intersection of public protest and federal authority in a time of political escalation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Historic NYC Nurses' Strike

Background & Why the Strike

• Guest: Dania Munoz, nurse practitioner at Mount Sinai Main Hospital, NY.
• Over 14,000 nurses in the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) are striking.
• Core issues:
  • Hospitals are tying all economic demands to potential cuts in nurses’ healthcare coverage.
  • Safety concerns: escalation of workplace violence, lack of adequate behavioral health techs for de-escalation.
  • Understaffing: hospitals want to eliminate contract language that previously forced them to hire more nurses.
  • Retaliation: Multiple nurses terminated just before the strike, attempts to silence union activity.
• Munoz: “They're saying that every day all our economic demands would be tied to our health care. They want to make cuts to the current health insurance that we have. And that's something that we are not going to stand for.” (18:35)

Hospital Landscape

• Most striking nurses work for large, wealthy non-profit hospitals like New York Presbyterian and Mount Sinai.
• Munoz: “We're talking about like New York Presbyterian Hospital... Mount Sinai Main hospital... these people are like board members... responsible right now to... negotiate our healthcare funds.” (20:59)

Union Busting Tactics

• Hospitals hired “travel nurses” (scabs) before strikes were even officially announced, paying rates of $8,000 to $10,000 a week, rather than invest in regular staff.
• Munoz: “Her [Governor Hochul’s] executive order undermines the movement. It undermines the nurses, it undermines patients” by allowing out-of-state nurses and providers to work during the strike. (26:38, 29:39)

Support & Impact

• Major city officials, including the mayor, publicly join picket lines and support striking nurses.
• The healthcare crisis is exacerbated by rising cost of living, inflation, and diminishing real earnings.
• Call for public support: physically join pickets, call Governor Hochul, donate to hardship funds.
• Munoz: “We want to go back in there and take care of our patients. The community is supporting us… We need our officials, our government officials to stand with us.” (36:17)

How to Help

• Visit picket lines at various NYC hospitals, follow NYSNA on social media, donate to the hardship fund via NYSNA.org.

2. Escalation of ICE & National Security Policy

Ken Klippenstein’s Investigative Reporting

• Covers the Trump administration’s use of legal memos (notably National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, NSPM-7) to redefine domestic terrorism.
• Klippenstein: “It defines terrorism along what are called indicators... anti-Christian sentiment, anti-American sentiment, anti-capitalist sentiment, anti-‘traditional family values’...” (45:42)
• Bureaucratic confusion and media misunderstanding allow these transformations to occur with minimal public scrutiny.

From INS to DHS

• Explanation of the shift: Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) moved from DOJ (law enforcement) to Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has a more explicitly national security orientation.
• ICE’s “Homeland Security Investigations” division acts as an internal FBI, with extensive budget and broad mandate.

Expansion of ICE & Federal Power

• ICE’s law enforcement budget has tripled; the DHS now fields more badge-carrying officers than the FBI.
• Internal morale is fractured: While leadership publicly doubles down on violence (e.g., the killing of Renee Goode in Minnesota), there is internal dissent and “a sizable minority...do think that [the killings and escalation are wrong], including in senior ranks.” (55:16)
• Whistleblowers and leaks are increasing as federal actions escalate against protestors and observers.

Legal & Social Framework for Repression

• The administration uses ambiguous, broad 'indicators of terrorism' to justify surveillance and violence against activists or even citizens perceived as “anti-traditional.”
• “NSPM7's fingerprints are all over this...they describe anti-ICE sentiment and threats to ICE as terrorism.” (50:35)
• Reports of the FBI pursuing “funding” behind protests, treating organic resistance as the work of shadowy cabals.

Implications for Civil Liberties & Policy

• Memos and legal frameworks create “plausible” cover for expanding surveillance and police/military actions against US citizens.
• Congress, particularly leadership like Chuck Schumer, is criticized for abdicating oversight and leverage powers.
• Reform ideas: Limit ICE/DHS funding, forbid mask use for agents, require bodycams, tighten use-of-force standards, and increase transparency and civilian lawsuits.

International Dimension

• ICE’s intelligence gathering is tied to broader “war on cartels” strategy—immigrants pressured for intelligence on Latin American criminal groups.
• Trump administration is using the opioid crisis as justification for a militarized security state with extraterritorial ambitions in Latin America.

3. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On the Nurses’ Strike:

• Mayor Eric Adams: “Their value is not negotiable and their worth is not up for debate. ... What they are asking for is for their pensions to be safeguarded.” (07:55)
• Munoz: “Nurses, too, ... are struggling just to make ends meet.” (34:37)
• Munoz: “There's people on the line who are pregnant, who have a lot of comorbidities. We don't have health insurance right now. The people on strike are out here because it matters and because they care.” (34:37)

On ICE/NSPM-7:

• Klippenstein: “I think that's what's happening in the background here… There are elements within the FBI and federal government that think that there's going to be some shadowy cabal that they're going to go and find.” (50:35)
• Sam Seder: “Are we seeing the precursor to something that is worse and more expansive? ... it feels like they're becoming more and more expansive.” (57:47)
• Klippenstein: “You have this sense that there's something bigger going on here. Absolutely. ... They're already shut down the border... But that's not his only one.” (69:27)

On Congressional Inaction:

• Seder: “There is no such thing as a government that doesn't pick winners and losers. And the question is, who are they picking? And right now, Hochul… is picking the hospital management.” (37:02)
• Klippenstein: “Schumer and people like Cory Booker ... make it sound as though the only option is this maximalist... ‘shut everything down’… But there's a whole continuum of things they could demand— even just banning masks for ICE agents.” (82:19)

Important Timestamps

• 00:13–06:46 — Episode setup: strike background, national political headlines, Sam & Matt discuss community organizing.
• 07:55 — Mayor Eric Adams supports nurses on the picket line.
• 18:35–39:37 — In-depth interview with Dania Munoz on the strike, union tactics, scab nurses, and support needed.
• 41:46–88:56 — Ken Klippenstein interview: ICE policy, NSPM-7, expansion of federal policing power, legal frameworks enabling escalation, and congressional failures.
• 55:16–57:47 — On internal morale, and leadership’s aggressive posture after police killing.
• 67:48–69:27 — ICE’s secret programs, intelligence gathering, and cross-border operations.
• 72:28–74:11 — Legal pretense for militarization and the political use of the opioid crisis.
• 82:19–86:41 — Strategies for constraining ICE/DHS via congressional power: transparency, suitability, oversight.

Episode Tone

• The conversation maintains The Majority Report’s signature blend of irreverent, skeptical, and urgent progressive critique.
• Sam Seder and guests balance detailed policy analysis with righteous indignation and dark humor about the current administration’s excesses.
• Solidarity with labor and working-class communities pervades the episode.

Summary

This episode weaves together the fight for labor rights in New York’s largest-ever nurses’ strike with the fast-unfolding transformation of U.S. domestic security policy under the Trump administration. Guests detail both immediate struggles—against hospital union-busting and government collusion—and alarming structural trends, including the legal normalization of repression and surveillance. Calls to action—in the streets and through policy and budget demands—frame the episode as an urgent organizing resource, not just for New Yorkers, but for anyone concerned about civil liberties, labor, and the future shape of American democracy.

For more:

• Support the NY nurses’ strike: Visit picket lines, donate at NYSNA.org, call Governor Hochul.
• Read Ken Klippenstein’s investigations: Clip News, Substack.
• Organize in your local community: “Coffee clatches, book clubs, tenant organizing—get to know your neighbors.” (06:46)

[Prepared for listeners who want key facts, narrative flow, actionable information, and the energy of the original podcast.]