The Trump Presidency Timeline

Trump has decided that what America really needed this holiday season was another travel ban, so he’s expanded his personal no-fly list to five more countries plus anyone holding Palestinian Authority documents—because nothing says "national security" like collectively punishing stateless people who already have almost no freedom of movement. Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, Syria, and Palestinian Authority passport holders are now under full restrictions, while Laos and Sierra Leone get upgraded from "partial discrimination" to the deluxe package.

The White House insists this is all about "screening and vetting failures" and not, absolutely not, no way, about racism, Islamophobia, or targeting poor Black and brown countries. They cite things like "unreliable civil records" and "corruption"—in other words, conditions the US helped create through decades of war, sanctions, and "foreign policy"—as grounds to lock people out. Also starring in the justification: an Afghan suspect in a shooting, because if one person commits a crime, obviously millions of unrelated people must be banned indefinitely. Very scientific. Very "anti-science", you might say.

This is Trump’s third travel ban, a sequel so lazy they didn’t even bother to change the plot: pick a list of mostly Muslim and/or African countries, slap on "security" language, and dare the courts to stop him. The Supreme Court upheld the first version, so now we’re doing the extended universe edition, adding more African nations like Nigeria, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe to the "partial restrictions" tier, plus the usual enemies list (Cuba, Venezuela) for flavor. But don’t worry, the ban comes with exceptions for diplomats and athletes at major sporting events—because if you can run a 9.8 in the 100m, you are apparently no longer a national security threat.

As always, the cruelty is the point. Families are split, students and workers are stranded, refugees are trapped—while Trump gets to brag about being "tough" and cable panels dutifully debate whether this obviously discriminatory policy is actually just smart border security. The White House says the bans stay until countries show "credible improvements" in identity management and cooperation with US deportations—in other words, until they remake their systems to Washington’s liking or their citizens just give up trying to come. But sure, tell us again how this isn’t a Muslim/Africa/Palestinian ban, just a totally neutral spreadsheet of "risk" that somehow keeps circling the same kinds of people every single time.

Trump’s purge of diversity programs is now gutting military recruitment, with the Army and other branches abandoning one of the nation’s top Black engineering events—a key talent pipeline for military STEM jobs. Instead of showing up at the prestigious Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA) to recruit high-achieving candidates, the Army sent recruiters to an NRA event instead—because, apparently, attracting fewer, less qualified applicants is the new strategy. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has declared Black History Month and Women’s History Month “dead”, and military officials are scrambling to erase any trace of diversity efforts. One furious Army general summed it up: "It's f---ing racist. For the Army now, it's 'Blacks need not apply.'"

Another stellar DOGE hire bites the dust. Marko Elez, a 25-year-old staffer at Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has resigned after being linked to a deleted social media account that promoted racism and eugenics—because vetting isn’t part of the efficiency plan.

Elez, who had been granted access to the U.S. Treasury’s payment systems, was reportedly tied to posts advocating for white supremacist ideology. His departure comes amid growing concerns over how DOGE is staffing federal agencies with young, unqualified Musk acolytes who somehow keep getting access to sensitive government infrastructure.

This resignation raises more questions than answers about who’s actually overseeing DOGE’s hiring process and how many other extremists have been slipped into federal positions under the guise of “efficiency.” But don’t worry—nothing to see here, just another totally normal day in the Trump-Musk dystopia.