Evan Fields is a veteran who writes the Fourth and Democracy and Weekly Wrap newsletters for Lincoln Square. Subscribe to his News from Underground Substack.
Welcome to another edition of Fourth & Democracy, where the playbook meets the public square.
The latest release of the Epstein files set the internet and social media ablaze. Titans of industry, entertainers, academics, heads of state – even royalty – are now entangled in what appears to be a far more expansive operation than the public was ever led to believe.
And yet, despite the scale of the revelations, mainstream media still seems unable, or unwilling, to match the temperature of the moment. As protests build and Trump’s approval numbers slide, the public is left waiting for one thing the system rarely delivers:
Consequences.
1st & 10: The Boot Still on Our Necks
Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos is home. After days of national outrage and legal pressure, Liam and his father were released from federal custody and returned to Minnesota this weekend. A judge ordered their release, and for a moment, it felt like the machinery of the federal immigration authorities had been forced to think. It is a real victory, and it matters. It is proof that public attention, protests, and scrutiny can still impose limits on a system that too often operates in darkness.
But it is also far from the end. Liam’s return does not represent a shift in posture from the federal government. It represents a tactical retreat. The broader enforcement apparatus remains fully intact, and in many places, it is still escalating. The boot has not lifted. It has simply adjusted its weight and readjusted pressure.
Nowhere is that clearer than in Arizona. Phoenix has become a flashpoint for aggressive federal operations, protest, and violence, as communities respond to coordinated raids that resemble occupation more than policy. The atmosphere is not one of restraint, but one of expansion – the state continuing to test how far it can go, and how quickly the public will look away.