The Trump Presidency Is Going Great

Donald Trump has approved the US military’s first execution by firing squad since 1945, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is so thrilled you can practically hear the Twitch alert sounds in his voice. The Pentagon will livestream the killing of Nidal Malik Hasan—paralyzed, in a wheelchair, and condemned for the 2009 Fort Hood massacre—because nothing says "serious rule-of-law nation" like turning an execution into appointment viewing for the MAGA death-fanbase.

Hegseth bragged to far-right propagandist Jack Posobiec that “we’re going to make sure people are able to watch it, that it’s public,” i.e., he wants the government to produce a snuff film with better branding. Veteran death penalty lawyer Jim Craig points out the obvious: this isn’t about the Eighth Amendment or drug shortages, it’s about an administration that likes brutality—visible, graphic, video-game-style brutality—as a core aesthetic. Conveniently, the Pentagon has already been posting at least 46 clips of US forces blowing up alleged “drug boats” in the Caribbean, including a reported “double-tap” on survivors, with the official White House account cutting human death together with Hollywood and shooter-game footage like it’s a hype reel.

The last time the US military did this by firing squad was World War II, when they at least had the decency not to treat it like pay-per-view. Now Hegseth waxes nostalgic about the “win” mentality of that era while promising the country’s first livestreamed execution—putting the United States in the same sentence as ISIS beheading videos and Gaddafi-era Libya’s stadium executions. Asked if Hasan had any final requests, Hegseth replied, “Don’t care. See him on December 3.” America’s new moral high ground: execution as content, empathy as weakness, and your tax dollars funding the world’s worst streaming service.

The Air Force has decided that the real threat to national security isn’t, say, foreign adversaries or cyberattacks, but an officer who said mean things about Donald Trump. Maj. Jason Watson, arrested in uniform on the Capitol steps in July after calling for Trump’s impeachment, has been recommended for a general court-martial — the military’s felony court — for the crime of treating the Constitution like it still matters.

An investigating officer suggested dropping a couple of charges about improper partisan activity and a leave technicality, but recommended going full hammer on the rarest toys in the UCMJ toy chest: three charges under Article 88 for using “contemptuous” words about the president and senior officials, plus uniform-related Article 92 charges and the catch-all “conduct unbecoming” Article 133. Translation: the policy details are flimsy, but the vibes — the anti-Trump vibes — are unforgivable.

Watson told the court he was acting to uphold his oath to defend the Constitution, not a political party, which is apparently an exotic legal theory in Trump-Vance America. The report recommending his court-martial has been stamped “controlled unclassified information,” a wonderfully vague Pentagon label that mostly means you peasants don’t get to see how we’re justifying this. Meanwhile, the message to every other service member is loud and clear: you swore an oath to the Constitution, but you serve the man.

Trump’s latest passion project on the National Mall — the 250-foot D.C. arch he originally said was being built to honor “me” — has now been upgraded from tacky tourist trap to “top grade Military Complex”, complete with stored ammunition, rapid-deploy drones, and snipers on the roof and plaza. Because when you think commemorating America’s 250th anniversary, you obviously think “kill box with a gift shop.”

The arch sailed through early design approvals as a patriotic observation deck with maybe a cafe; the word “military” somehow never appeared in all those National Park Service renderings and Trump-packed Commission of Fine Arts presentations. Only once Interior Secretary Doug Burgum casually tweeted about the “Great Triumphal Arch and Military Observation Deck” did everyone realize the tourist attraction had quietly been patched into Call of Duty. A federal judge has already had to step in, because minor details like historic preservation law and the National Capital Planning Commission’s final approval were apparently treated as optional DLC.

Preservation advocates now point out the obvious: the government sold them one project and is building another, transforming a supposedly non-security structure into a militarized monument looming over Arlington Cemetery and the Mall. As Charles Birnbaum of the Cultural Landscape Foundation put it, the Memorandum of Agreement is basically DOA because they’re suddenly reviewing a different facility entirely. But the White House is still out here insisting this triumphal arch will be one of the world’s most iconic landmarks — which, to be fair, it might be. Not many democracies celebrate their semiquincentennial by dropping a personal victory arch that doubles as a permanent domestic ops platform.

Once upon a time, LeBron James criticizing Donald Trump was so "dangerous" that Fox News told him to shut up and dribble. Fast forward through Trump’s second term and LeBron has largely taken that advice to heart – except now he’s dribbling straight into the loving arms of foreign authoritarians who make Trump’s constitutional tantrums look like community theater.

On a glam trip to Angola, LeBron and Will Smith got the full presidential palace treatment from João Lourenço, a guy who’s busy turning his country into a cautionary tale: new laws to let the government spy on and suspend NGOs, effectively criminalized protest with penalties up to 25 years, and security forces supervising the media like it’s their group project. While civil society gets strangled, the regime splurges on FIFA-compliant stadiums, E1 raceboats, and celebrity selfies to buy itself a shiny new image. LeBron obligingly talks up history and heritage; Lourenço gets the soft-power glow-up.

The depressing twist is that some of this is genuinely meaningful: African diaspora stars reconnecting with Angola’s brutal slave-trade history and trying to steer money back to a plundered region. But when you do it hand-in-hand with the guy writing the repression laws, you’re not just boosting tourism – you’re cosigning the brand. It’s sportswashing 101, a class already aced by Rwanda’s Paul Kagame, Saudi Arabia, and every other strongman who figured out that a stadium, a sponsorship deal, and a famous athlete are cheaper than real human rights reforms.

LeBron has seen firsthand what happens when an authoritarian-curious leader in his own country attacks protesters, the press, and basic democratic norms. Yet abroad, he’s helping prop up the same model in slightly different packaging. Turns out you don’t have to wear a red hat to help the machine; you can also do it courtside, smiling next to a president who locks up people for the crime of disagreeing with him.

President Trump, never one to pass up a reflective surface, is reportedly "transforming Washington" with a grand ballroom, a planned arch, and assorted capital makeovers, all in pursuit of what New York Magazine's Ben Terris calls "architectural immortality." Because when you’ve already tried to rewrite the Constitution by tweet and tantrum, the next logical step is to rewrite the skyline.

This isn’t urban planning so much as regime branding. Authoritarians have always loved monumental architecture: big arches, enormous halls, vast empty spaces designed to make regular people feel small and the leader feel like Caesar. Trump’s version is less "Roman grandeur" and more "Vegas dictator chic," but the goal is the same—turn the nation’s capital into a permanent Trump infomercial, paid for by the people he spends the rest of the day raging at.

NPR gently calls it an attempt at "architectural immortality"; a less polite description would be "I didn’t get the Trump faces on Mount Rushmore, so here’s my backup plan." While normal governments invest in infrastructure people actually need, this one is hunting for the perfect camera angle to capture Dear Leader framed by his own arch. Democracy gets potholes; the president gets a ballroom.

The Trump administration is moving ahead with excavation for a 250-foot gilded arch wedged between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery, because nothing says "republic" like a giant gold monument to the guy currently in charge. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum hopped on X to declare it one of the "Great Pieces of American Architecture," which is certainly one way to describe a religiously branded victory gate stamped with “ONE NATION UNDER GOD” and topped with a winged, torch-wielding golden mascot of Trump’s ego.

A National Park Service report politely notes that this thing will trash the historic sightlines that planners have spent a century carefully designing, but still manages to support the project, proving that under Trump, even the park rangers answer to the cult décor committee. Meanwhile, three veterans and an architectural historian are suing, pointing out that there’s no actual congressional authorization for this imperial cosplay. The DOJ, ever the loyal valet, has rushed in to argue the case should be tossed so the backhoes can keep digging for glory.

Burgum insists this is just fulfilling a century-old idea for a monument on what he calls a "barren traffic circle," and brags that over 70 cities have beautiful arches so obviously the U.S. needs the "most spectacular" one of all. Because when you’re tearing down democratic norms, why not also bulldoze the capital’s historic core to install a 250-foot religious-nationalist triumphal arch? It’s fine, America, it’s not a cult—there’s just a giant golden gate to prove it.