The Trump Presidency Timeline

Documenting the chaos since day one. 3299 entries and counting.

killing democracy

January 19, 2026

trump tries to repossess the fed

Lisa Cook, apparently under the impression that a 14-year Fed term means 14 years, not "until Trump needs a new scapegoat for interest rates."

Jerome Powell is headed to the Supreme Court because in Trump’s America, even setting interest rates now requires a legal defense team. The Court is hearing arguments on whether Donald Trump can just yoink Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook out of her 14‑year term because he got mad about mortgage-fraud allegations that bank documents inconveniently contradict. The Fed Act says presidents can only remove governors for cause; Trump says, essentially, "I’m the cause." Meanwhile, Powell is openly saying the quiet part out loud: the grand jury subpoenas and threatened criminal indictment over a $2.5 billion Fed building renovation are "pretexts" for one thing—punishing the Fed for not cutting rates fast enough for Dear Leader’s political needs. In other words, follow the president’s preferences or face prosecution, because nothing says "independent central bank" like DOJ breathing down your neck every time you don’t goose the stock market on command. Trump has already announced he was firing Cook back in August, citing a referral letter and vibes, which her lawyer Abbe Lowell correctly translated as "you absolutely cannot do that." The Supreme Court already had to step in once to keep her in place while it thinks about whether the president can just casually decapitate monetary policy whenever Fox & Friends says the Dow looks sad. Cook’s term runs to 2038; Trump would prefer it run until the next time he gets bored on Truth Social. So Powell will sit in the gallery and watch nine justices decide whether the Federal Reserve is still a semi-independent institution or just another Trump cabinet meeting where the choices are "praise the boss" or "get indicted." But sure, tell us again how the real threat to the rule of law is student loan forgiveness.

Source: nbcnews.com

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#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting

imperialism

January 19, 2026

trump invents a new un to manage gaza, forgets to invite palestinians

Artist’s impression of Trump’s Gaza ‘Board of Peace’: a conference table made of rubble, a golden statue in the middle, and not a single Palestinian within 100 miles.

Donald Trump has unveiled his "Board of Peace" for Gaza, which is a bit like calling a casino a church. Not a single Palestinian gets a seat, but Trump will sit as chair "in an individual capacity" — in other words, he’s decided to be Emperor of Gaza on his own time. The guest list reads like a war-crimes alumni newsletter: Tony Blair (Iraq’s reconstruction expert, according to no one), Viktor Orbán, Vladimir Putin, Jared Kushner the aspiring Gaza waterfront realtor, an Israeli billionaire, and a US private equity ghoul. Because nothing says "peace" like a table full of oligarchs, ethno-nationalists, and guys who think bombed-out cities are just "undervalued assets". The draft charter doesn’t even mention Gaza, which is a nice touch for the thing allegedly set up to "govern" Gaza. Instead, it looks like a prototype for an alternative to the UN — a private, Trump-branded global power tool where he reportedly controls the billions that countries must pony up for permanent membership. So it’s neocolonialism-as-subscription-service: pay $1bn to sit at the table while Trump and his developer friends turn a genocidally devastated strip of land into a luxury resort with a giant golden statue of himself, and maybe "relocate" the surviving Palestinians somewhere more convenient. It’s not peace, it’s a pilot project for a new world order where foreign policy is just another Trump property play.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article Also: theguardian.com

#imperialism#forever-grifting

trade war

January 19, 2026

markets shrug while trump plays tariff chicken with nato

Traders watch calmly as Trump juggles NATO, Greenland, and the global financial system with the grace of a man tweeting from a golf cart.

Global markets have officially entered the "this is fine" stage of Trump’s second-term trade roulette. The FTSE barely twitches as Trump threatens new tariffs on eight European countries, including the UK, because investors have learned the core rule of Trumponomics: the louder the threat, the likelier it is he’ll forget about it by next week. After his last "liberation day" tariff stunt turned into a buying opportunity, traders now treat presidential economic brinkmanship like a seasonal sale rather than the slow dismantling of the postwar order.

Meanwhile, in the background, the actual stakes are slightly higher than a red day on the Footsie. We’re talking about the potential breakup of Nato, the US president fantasizing about annexing part of a fellow Nato member, and Europe quietly reminding Washington that it owns about $8tn of US bonds and equities. As Deutsche Bank’s George Saravelos notes, once you start weaponising capital instead of just trade flows, you’re not in "tough negotiating" territory any more – you’re in "let’s see how fast we can melt the global financial system so Trump can LARP as 19th‑century empire" land.

France’s Emmanuel Macron is already floating the EU’s anti-coercion tool to restrict US companies’ access to the single market, because nothing says "Western alliance" like the two pillars of it edging toward a financial knife fight over Greenland. Markets may be calm, but that’s less a sign of stability and more a collective decision to pretend that an American president threatening allies, NATO, and the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency is just another headline. In other words: the fire alarm is blaring, but the traders have noise‑canceling headphones on.

#trade-war#killing-democracy

forever grifting

January 19, 2026

trump’s oligarchy delivers 18,000% returns (for everyone but you)

Donald Trump grinning in front of his billionaire fan club, otherwise known as the board of directors of the United States.

Rashida Tlaib is out here rudely pointing out that when Donald Trump promised to "drain the swamp," what he actually meant was drain the Treasury into billionaire bank accounts. Tech oligarchs had front-row seats at his inauguration, and it’s been a VIP cash bar ever since. Tlaib’s new bill calls for ending the political and economic dominance of billionaire oligarchs, cutting off their subsidies and tax gifts, and maybe—controversial take—spending money on the people who actually live in this country. Our Revolution crunched the numbers and it turns out Trump’s donors weren’t donating, they were just making the smartest investments of their lives. Crypto bros, oil barons, and deportation profiteers spent about $700m to get Trump back in office and shore up MAGA world, and in return got an estimated $172.5 billion in benefits. That’s an 18,000% return, because nothing says "populist movement" like turning the federal government into a private equity fund for Peter Thiel and friends. Oil and gas tycoons dropped $443m and got roughly $153bn in tax breaks, gutted climate rules, and a war on renewables—about a 33,443% ROI. Private prison and deportation giants like GEO Group and CoreCivic tossed in under $5m and stand to rake in revenues over $5bn as Trump’s 2025 budget aims to quadruple expulsions, turning human misery into an 11,050% return. Meanwhile, Palantir and Peter Thiel lurk in the background, ready to cash in on expanded surveillance of immigrants and, eventually, anyone who looks at Trump funny. The crypto crowd, furious that Biden tried to regulate their casino after the FTX implosion, poured tens of millions into Trump and were rewarded with deregulation, enforcement rollbacks, and a White House pledge to make America the "crypto capital of the planet." Nine major donors, including Brian Armstrong, Marc Andreessen, and future commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, turned $212m into a $19bn wealth surge—an 8,862% return. In other words, Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" and policy agenda are working exactly as designed: the poor get austerity, the middle class gets a eulogy, and the billionaire oligarchs get the keys to the country—and a personal ATM in the Oval Office. But sure, tell us again how he’s fighting for the forgotten man.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article

#forever-grifting#oligarchy#killing-democracy

killing democracy

January 19, 2026

trump admin bravely declares war on the concept of shelter

Shawn Pleasants, living proof that housing-first works, posing in front of city hall while HUD works overtime to make sure the next Shawn never gets a key, just a cot and a lecture.

The Trump administration has discovered a bold new strategy to fight homelessness: create more of it. After nearly two decades of bipartisan, evidence-based "housing first" policy that actually kept over 100,000 people in permanent housing, HUD decided the real problem wasn’t people sleeping on sidewalks – it was people getting apartments. So they moved to yank federal Continuum of Care funds away from permanent housing and dump them into temporary shelters, slashing what could be spent on real housing from ~90% to 30%. Internal HUD documents warn this could push 117,000 people back onto the streets, so naturally the administration’s response is: sounds perfect. Because nothing says "serious policy" like calling a legally codified, data-backed strategy a "Biden-era slush fund" and replacing it with mandatory treatment, punishment for jurisdictions that use harm reduction, and penalties for recognizing trans and gender-diverse people – all groups disproportionately affected by homelessness. In other words, it’s not a homelessness plan, it’s a culture-war fever dream with a side of mass eviction. The chaos has been so bad that courts had to step in, forcing HUD to process 2025 projects while the administration clings to its right to keep sabotaging the system that works. HUD insists it’s ending the "failed" system of "permanently warehousing the homeless at exorbitant taxpayer cost" – a bold claim they couldn’t back up with, you know, evidence when asked. Experts like Dr Margot Kushel, who has actually studied this for a living, call the move "silly, counterintuitive and dangerous" and point out that the root cause is… wait for it… a lack of affordable housing and wages that don’t cover rent. But sure, instead of fixing housing supply, minimum wage, or benefits, this administration is choosing the "more tents, more cops, more suffering" option – because in Trump’s America, stability is socialism and cruelty is the point.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article Also: theguardian.com

#killing-democracy#trumps-america

killing democracy

January 19, 2026

welcome to trump’s world cup: bring cash, lawyers, and a strong passport

MetLife Stadium, soon to host the World Cup final and the world’s most expensive reminder that in Trump’s America, even watching football requires a private equity budget.

Fifa looked at American late-stage capitalism, Trump’s America, and the phrase “dynamic pricing,” and said: yes, that’s the vibe. Tickets for the 2026 World Cup have gone full hedge-fund, with prices for the final jumping up to nine times the cost of 2022 (inflation-adjusted, because even the spreadsheet has shame). The steepest hikes are on the cheapest seats, because nothing says “global festival of the people” like surgically targeting poor fans first. Fifa then graciously announced that a heroic 1.6% of tickets per match will stay at the $60 floor, which is basically the humanitarian-aid version of tossing a quarter at someone after you steal their wallet.

Fans are furious enough that ticket prices have spilled into actual elections, with New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani running on “maybe don’t price out everyone who isn’t a petrostate prince” and winning. Meanwhile, Fifa hides behind the usual PR line that all this cash will “develop soccer worldwide,” as if we haven’t seen this movie before, starring Swiss lawyers and offshore accounts. On top of that, some supporter groups are reportedly canceling over US domestic and foreign policy under Trump – immigration, security theater, and geopolitical tantrums don’t exactly scream ‘welcoming global party.’ In other words, the world’s biggest sporting event is being run like Ticketmaster married a border patrol checkpoint and moved into MetLife Stadium – but sure, tell us again how this is all about the beautiful game.

And this is all before you even get to travel: long-haul flights into a Trump-era America, four time zones, 16 cities, limited public transport to stadiums, and a visa regime overseen by an administration that thinks “globalism” is a slur. It’s less “World Cup” and more “Amazing Race: Authoritarian Edition,” where the challenge is just getting into the country, across it, and back out without being shaken down by either Fifa’s pricing algorithm or Trump’s border and security apparatus. The ball will eventually roll; the question is how many fans are left in the stands who aren’t oligarchs, sponsors, or whatever friends of Trump and Infantino got comped boxes.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article

#killing-democracy#forever-grifting

imperialism

January 19, 2026

trump discovers foreign policy is just yelling 'new leadership' on tv

Live look at another country bracing for the consequences of whatever Donald Trump blurts out before his second coffee.

Iran is out here warning the U.S. not to launch a strike, while Donald Trump is on TV calling for “new leadership” in Tehran like he’s recasting a reality show instead of talking about a sovereign country with missiles and millions of people living in it. Because nothing says ‘serious statesman’ like treating regime change as a segment between weather and the cooking demo. Trump’s line is the same tired Washington script: hint at just enough military action to look “tough,” then wrap it in the noble language of helping the Iranian people, as if U.S. bombs have ever been a reliable democracy-delivery system. In other words: we’re back to the ‘what if we tried war again, but this time for freedom?’ school of foreign policy. Meanwhile, Iran is explicitly warning against a strike, which in a functional democracy would trigger a sober debate in Congress about war powers and authorization. Instead we get Trump freelancing regime-change rhetoric on morning TV, normalizing the idea that one guy’s ego and a news hit are all it takes to move the country one step closer to another Middle East disaster. But sure, tell us more about how this is all about ‘new leadership’ and not the same old imperial cosplay we’ve seen for decades.

Source: today.com

Source Article Also: nbcnews.com Also: nbcnews.com Also: theguardian.com Also: theguardian.com

#imperialism#national-security#killing-democracy

lawlessness

January 19, 2026

trump doj discovers bold new legal doctrine: laws are just vibes

Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie politely explaining to Trump’s DOJ that ‘mandatory’ does not, in fact, mean ‘whenever you feel like it, plus redactions.’

Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act with one very simple instruction for Donald Trump’s Department of Justice: give us the files. By 19 December 2025, no less. Instead, the Trump DOJ dumped a token 125,575 pages out of more than 2 million potentially responsive documents, then patted itself on the back while blowing past the deadline like it was a stop sign in Mar-a-Lago traffic. Lawmakers Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie – a Democrat and a Republican, because apparently basic legality now requires a bipartisan intervention – are begging a federal judge to appoint a special master and independent monitor, since the DOJ has decided the Act is more of a mood board than a statute. The department is doing everything the law explicitly forbids: missing deadlines, hiding behind common-law privileges the Act doesn’t allow, and slathering on redactions that look suspiciously like an effort to protect “politically exposed persons”, which the law also explicitly bans. But sure, tell us again how this is the most transparent administration in history. Just to round it out, Trump’s DOJ also ignored another requirement: a detailed report, due 15 days after the deadline, explaining what was released, what was withheld, and why. That report simply does not exist, leading the law’s co-sponsors to write, in diplomatic translation: these guys cannot be trusted with the keys to a filing cabinet, let alone the justice system. Survivors’ advocates say the delay isn’t just bureaucratic foot-dragging – it’s retraumatizing and yet another institutional failure to hold anyone with power accountable for Epstein’s years of abuse. In other words, the system is working exactly as designed.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article

#lawlessness#forever-grifting

killing democracy

January 19, 2026

marco rubio builds 66 new walls, calls it 'diplomacy'

Marco Rubio explains that 66 shredded treaties are just ‘America first,’ as the planet quietly updates its status to ‘America last.’

The Trump administration, now featuring Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his long-awaited role as cuban elf of isolationism, has yanked the U.S. out of 66 international treaties, conventions, and organizations in one go. Climate agreements, migration frameworks, cultural heritage protections, clean water, renewable energy, even rules on timber and minerals — all flushed as "contrary to the interests of the United States." Because nothing says "global leadership" like screaming "I got mine" and slamming the door on a burning planet. Rubio helpfully explained that these long-standing efforts are "irrelevant" to U.S. interests, which is a bold stance in a world where wildfire smoke crosses borders faster than his talking points. As Anand Pandian points out, this isn’t just policy; it’s the logical endpoint of a culture that treats everything as a fortress: gated neighborhoods, armored SUVs, ring-fenced media bubbles, and a politics that defines freedom as the right to pretend no one else exists. In other words, Trumpism turned America into that neighbor who dumps toxic sludge upstream and then insists the dead fish are a hoax. While Trump and friends are busy burning climate diplomacy for short-term fossil fuel applause lines, local activists like those in Newburgh, New York are trying to do the radical thing of not drinking forever chemicals and maybe having clean public water, transit, and housing. They organize around the idea that what happens upstream affects people downstream — a concept apparently too advanced for the White House, which prefers the more familiar doctrine of "If you want to go fast, go alone, and if you want to go fascist, convince everyone they’re alone." The administration’s message is clear: going it alone isn’t a bug, it’s the feature — and if democracy, the planet, and a few million people have to choke for it, well, that’s just freedom, baby.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article

#killing-democracy#imperialism

anti immigration

January 19, 2026

america’s largest police state operation is totally normal, says tv sheriff kristi noem

Kristi Noem, dressed for her favorite hobby: LARPing as a federal agent while other people’s families get destroyed off-camera.

Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security has decided the real threat in Minneapolis isn’t crumbling infrastructure or unaffordable housing, it’s immigrant families existing. So DHS rolled out what it proudly calls the largest immigration enforcement operation in its history, flooding a liberal city with armed federal agents over the objections of local leaders—because nothing says “states’ rights” like sending in a federally controlled street army to terrorize residents. ICE and Border Patrol, now functionally Trump’s personal interior police, are raiding homes, workplaces, parking lots, schools, hospitals, and courthouses. Agents often show up masked, heavily armed, and refusing to identify themselves, which is what you do when you’re super confident your actions are lawful and popular. The result: families ripped apart, people dying in detention, and shootings on city streets—but Trump’s base is thrilled, so clearly the system is working as designed. At the center of the show is Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, who has reinvented DHS as her own reality series: Cop Cosplay: Fascism Edition. She tags along on raids in full tactical drag, switches out branded hats like she’s doing a merch haul, and famously posed to celebrate the removal of 200+ Venezuelans to a notorious El Salvador prison without due process. In other words, the US government is now openly outsourcing human-rights abuses to Bukele’s penal theme parks and calling it policy. This is all built on the post-9/11 Homeland Security architecture and supercharged by Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which further welded “immigration” to “national security” and handed ICE and friends even broader powers. The alphabet soup of agencies, badges, patches, and masks is now so convoluted that it’s often impossible to tell who is actually arresting you—a neat little feature if your goal is an unaccountable, roaming federal force that can do whatever it wants, wherever it wants, to whoever it wants.

Source: theguardian.com

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#anti-immigration#killing-democracy

killing democracy

January 19, 2026

project 2025: from 'never heard of it' to the official user manual

President Trump, seen here pretending he’s never heard of Project 2025 while flying on the plane that’s currently implementing it.

Donald Trump, the man who swore he had "nothing to do with Project 2025," has now basically turned it into the White House employee handbook. The 900-page Heritage Foundation fever dream that he once called "ridiculous" is suddenly looking very familiar in policy form: mass immigration crackdowns, dismantling the Department of Education, nuking diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and declaring in his inaugural address that the official policy of the United States is that there are only two genders. Because nothing says "limited government" like having the federal government legally define your identity for you. In public, Trump and his campaign treated Project 2025 like a bad smell they couldn’t quite locate. Chris LaCivita whined that its organizers were a "pain in the a**" and insisted they didn’t get to "drive the issue set." In private, Trump did the obvious: he hired them. He tapped Project 2025 architect Russell Vought to run the Office of Management and Budget — a.k.a. the nerve center of the executive branch — and brought in other contributors to help speed-run the authoritarian wish list they totally weren’t coordinating on, no sir. Meanwhile, Democratic state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, treated the document like what it actually is: a confession. They combed through Project 2025 line by line, pre-wrote their lawsuits, and started blocking some of the fun stuff — like forcing blue states into Trump’s immigration dragnet, freezing domestic federal funding, and mass layoffs at agencies such as the Department of Education. In other words, the administration mailed them a roadmap to its own abuses of power, and the states responded with, "Thanks, we’ll file this under ‘Exhibit A.’" But sure, tell us again how Trump doesn’t know anything about Project 2025 while he reads it off the teleprompter.

Source: npr.org

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#killing-democracy#fascism

forever grifting

January 19, 2026

trump slaps his name on the kennedy center, kills the vibe (and the opera)

Gianandrea Noseda at the Kennedy Center back when it hosted symphonies instead of serving as a test market for the Trump Memorial Branding Initiative.

The Kennedy Center used to be a bipartisan shrine to American arts; now it’s a mausoleum with Trump’s name duct-taped to the front. Within weeks of inauguration, Trump shoved himself in as chair, fired the seasoned executive director, and handed the keys to Richard Grenell, a guy whose arts experience begins and ends with knowing how to sit in a chair and clap on the wrong beat. Predictably, artists fled, audiences bailed, and even Hamilton pulled out — because nothing says "founding fathers" like turning a national arts center into a personality cult annex. With ticket sales collapsing and patrons mailing back shredded season brochures labeled "orange menace", the Washington National Opera finally noped out and is taking its endowment fight to the lawyers. Grenell’s crackpot demand that every production be "net neutral" — fully funded in advance like some MAGA bake sale — made serious opera impossible, so the company is moving to universities and other venues that don’t require artistic directors to clear ideas with a reality TV landlord. Then came the pièce de résistance: Trump literally stapled his name onto JFK’s memorial. Just before Christmas, the words "The Donald J Trump and" were bolted above "The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts" in mismatched letters that look like they were sourced from the Four Seasons Total Landscaping gift shop. The legality of randomly renaming a congressionally designated memorial after yourself while you’re still alive is, shockingly, "disputed" — but sure, tell us more about how this is all about respecting history and tradition. Now insiders say the place feels like a "funeral parlour" as cancellations pile up and the building’s new branding project — turning a national arts institution into a cult-of-personality billboard — meets the one force Trump can’t bully: everyone simply refusing to show up.

Source: theguardian.com

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#forever-grifting#killing-democracy

fascism

January 19, 2026

ice discovers the constitution is optional

ICE agents play real-life Call of Duty on American streets, sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and your shredded civil liberties.

ICE has fully completed its glow-up from obscure post‑9/11 bureaucracy to Trump’s personal praetorian guard, now patrolling American streets like an occupying army with a flag pin. An ICE agent killed Renee Good in Minneapolis, and it’s not some isolated tragedy — it’s the logical end point of a system that merged "immigration enforcement" with "counter-terrorism" and then handed it a budget bigger than most actual militaries. Because nothing says "land of the free" like needing body armor to drive to the grocery store without getting shot by a federal immigration cop. Over multiple administrations, the dragnet quietly expanded, due process quietly withered, and then Trump stormed in and said the quiet part loud: immigrants are an existential threat, ICE are the holy warriors, and anyone in their path is collateral. Add rightwing media howling about "demographic replacement," a culture that treats soldiers with infinite license abroad and cops with military toys at home, and you get exactly what we’re seeing: paramilitary raids on US streets where the "targets" are supposedly undocumented migrants but the message is for everyone — your rights exist only at the pleasure of the guy with the gun and the badge. The author points out the really fun part: this isn’t uniquely American. The UK is running the same playbook, just with fewer assault rifles and more passive‑aggressive press conferences. Demonize migrants, turn protests into "public order" threats, let border agents grab your phone even if you’re not under arrest, and parade ministers through immigration raids for B‑roll. In other words, if you squint at ICE today, you can see the Home Office’s tomorrow. But sure, tell yourself "it can’t happen here" — right up until it does, on your street, at your traffic stop, with your rights.

Source: theguardian.com

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#fascism#killing-democracy

trumps america

January 19, 2026

latinos voted for cheaper eggs, got trumpflation instead

Latinos hold "Voten por Trump" signs, blissfully unaware that "por" apparently translates to "enjoy your higher rent and same grocery bill".

Donald Trump rode back into the White House in 2024 on a wave of Latino voters who were sick of paying $7 for eggs and listening to Fox News tell them Joe Biden personally stapled price tags to avocados. One year in, those same voters are noticing a tiny problem: the prices are still high, the economy still feels terrible, and the guy who promised to "fix it on day one" mostly fixed his golf calendar. Trump pulled a record 46% of the Latino vote in 2024, largely because 93% of his Latino supporters said the economy was their top concern. In other words, they weren’t falling in love with the Republican Party; they were breaking up with the Democrats’ anemic economic messaging and hoping the reality show landlord would somehow be better at math than he is at paying contractors. Now CBS polling shows his Latino approval has cratered to 38%, with 61% disapproving of his handling of the economy and 69% hating his performance on inflation—which is awkward, given that his entire brand was "I alone can make groceries affordable". While the White House brags about lower gas prices, tariff revenue, and foreign investment—because nothing says working-class relief like "tariff revenue"—Latino voters are judging the economy the old-fashioned way: by what it costs to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. Inflation is still above the Fed’s target, food and housing costs are up, and prices are rising more slowly, not falling, despite Trump's insistence that everything is getting cheaper because he said so. Some of the very voters who helped put him back in power are now looking at their receipts and concluding that maybe, just maybe, the guy who built his career on bankruptcy and fraud wasn’t the savior of their household budgets. So we’ve arrived at the predictable sequel to "Latinos for Trump": "Latinos for Regret". They were sold a strongman who would crush inflation and restore prosperity; they got a man who holds summits at his golf club, blames everyone else for the economy, and hopes no one notices that the only thing consistently going down under Trump is his poll numbers.

Source: bbc.com

Source Article Also: bbc.com

#trumps-america#killing-democracy

killing democracy

January 18, 2026

doj watches five videos of a killing, investigates none of them

Todd Blanche explains that the DOJ can see the videos just fine and has decided the real suspect is anyone demanding an investigation.

Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche — formerly Trump’s personal lawyer, now apparently America’s chief Nothing To See Here officer — went on Fox News to announce that the Justice Department is “not investigating” the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. This, despite the fact that Good’s death was recorded on at least five phones, including Ross’s own, and happened less than a mile from where George Floyd was murdered. Blanche helpfully explained that DOJ’s civil rights division doesn’t just investigate every time an officer is “forced to defend himself” — a brave new standard under which the only thing that matters is how confidently the killer says "self-defense" on cable news. Blanche also claimed DOJ never bows to public or political pressure and "never" launches investigations in response to outrage — a lie so blatant it’s practically a confession. In the first Trump administration, the same DOJ opened a "robust" federal civil-rights probe into George Floyd’s death within days, leading to federal convictions of four officers. But sure, this time, with Trump openly running the department like his personal law firm, it’s all about timeless principles and not at all about protecting armed federal agents who just killed a woman in the street. The video evidence that supposedly "clears" Ross has, inconveniently, already been forensically dissected by the New York Times, Bellingcat, and others, all of whom concluded that Trump’s claim that Good "ran over" the agent is false. That didn’t stop Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem from going on TV to say everyone can see Ross was "attacked with a car," or Harmeet Dhillon — now running the DOJ civil rights division, because nothing says civil rights like a hard-right activist — from amplifying Trump’s lie on X the day Good was killed. Meanwhile, witnesses say federal officers blocked a physician and ambulances from treating Good as she lay dying, which in a functioning rule-of-law system might be the sort of thing the civil rights division looks into. Instead, Pam Bondi, Trump’s attorney general, skipped right past the dead woman to warn protesters that obstructing or attacking federal agents is a crime. In other words: the only people in legal danger here are the ones upset that an ICE agent shot a woman at point-blank range and then had colleagues allegedly prevent her from receiving medical care. The Trump DOJ has already been repurposed to harass enemies, protect allies, and hand out pardons like loyalty punch cards. Now it’s sending a clearer message: federal law enforcement can kill you on camera, lie about it online, and the nation’s top "law enforcement" agency will proudly refuse to even ask a follow-up question.

Source: theguardian.com

Source Article Also: bbc.com

#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting

racism

January 18, 2026

trump discovers asylum… for the right kind of refugees

The Statue of Liberty, updated with a new plaque: "Give me your white, your Western, your English-speaking masses… everyone else, try again never."

The Trump administration is reportedly toying with the idea of granting asylum to Jewish people fleeing the UK, but only after the proposal was floated not by, say, human rights experts or refugee agencies, but by Trump’s personal lawyer, Robert Garson. Because nothing says serious asylum policy like "I talked to the president’s attorney who once filed a $50m tantrum against Bob Woodward that got laughed out of court." Garson says he’s been in touch with the State Department about offering refuge to British Jews who feel unsafe amid a real and disturbing rise in antisemitism in the UK.

But don’t mistake this for a sudden humanitarian awakening. Garson helpfully explains why this asylum idea is so appealing: British Jews are a "highly educated community" that "speaks English natively" and "doesn’t have a high proportion of criminals". In other words: this is not about protecting vulnerable people, it’s about importing the "right" kind of refugees. Just a few months ago, the same Trump administration proudly slashed the total refugee cap for 2026 to 7,500 and earmarked most of those slots for white South Africans. People fleeing war, famine, or U.S.-backed dictatorships? Get in line behind the curated Eurocentric victim list.

Garson says he sees "no future" for Jews in the UK and blames British prime minister Keir Starmer for allowing antisemitism to grow, while Trump’s special envoy on antisemitism, Yehuda Kaploun, gets looped into the brainstorm as if U.S. asylum law is just another Mar-a-Lago side project. Meanwhile, protests against Israel’s devastating assault on Gaza are casually recast as "marauding mobs" and "baying for Jewish blood"—a handy way to smear dissent while polishing Trump’s image as the great protector of Jews abroad, even as his movement at home happily platforms white nationalists.

So we end up with the Trump doctrine on refugees: if you’re brown, Muslim, poor, or fleeing the consequences of U.S. foreign policy, the door is bolted shut. But if you’re white or Western, politically useful, and can be deployed as a talking point against your own government? Step right up, there might be room in the 7,500-person refugee cosplay quota. Human rights, but make it demographic curation.

Source: theguardian.com

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#racism#anti-immigration

forever grifting

January 18, 2026

trump tries to pardon his way through puerto rico, misplaces the docket number

Wanda Vázquez Garced, fresh from the magic Trump pardon machine, where justice is optional but donor access is guaranteed.

Donald Trump tried to sprinkle some magic pardon dust on former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vázquez Garced, but the White House somehow forgot to include the actual criminal case she pleaded guilty in. The pardon only lists the original 2022 bribery indictment (3:22-CR-342), not the 2025 misdemeanor campaign finance case (3:25-cr-00296) where she cut her deal. So, for now, the case is still active and the judge is still moving toward sentencing, but don’t worry — the White House says they’ll fix it "out of an abundance of caution," which is Trumpworld for "we messed up the paperwork on the crony bailout again." Vázquez Garced’s plea deal came after her lawyers and those of her billionaire co-defendant Julio Herrera Velutini trekked to Main Justice, with Trump lawyer Chris Kise conveniently in the mix. Herrera’s daughter just happened to drop $2.5 million into Trump’s MAGA Inc. super PAC in December 2024, but we’re assured the plea agreement came from "good faith negotiations" and "compelling" new evidence, not pressure from on high. In other words, absolutely nothing to see here except a billionaire family shoveling millions into Trump’s political machine and then watching the criminal exposure get dialed down and ultimately pardoned. Meanwhile, former DOJ pardon attorney Liz Oyer politely notes that Trump’s "recurring" pardon screwups — like the Jan. 6 pseudo-mass-pardon that’s now being cited by an alleged pipe bomber — could have been avoided if the White House had followed literally any normal process. But instead of using the Office of the Pardon Attorney, Team Trump keeps winging it, generating legal chaos while cronies and loyalists walk. The lead prosecutor on the case, now running for Congress, calls it a "sad day for the rule of law" and says Puerto Ricans deserved a trial. But sure, tell us again how this is the law-and-order president bravely defending America from corruption.

Source: nbcnews.com

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#forever-grifting#corruption#killing-democracy

killing democracy

January 18, 2026

white house to cbs: nice news network you got there, shame if someone sued its ass off

Karoline Leavitt explains the First Amendment: you’re free to broadcast whatever you want, as long as it’s all Trump, unedited, and legally indemnified.

The Trump White House has discovered a bold new innovation in media relations: skip the spin, go straight to the mob threat. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt was recorded telling CBS anchor Tony Dokoupil that if the network dared to edit Trump’s 13-minute interview, the president would "sue your ass off." Because nothing says "free press" like the government warning TV networks to air Dear Leader un-cut or face legal retribution. This all happens after Paramount, CBS’s parent company, already cut Trump a cool $16 million settlement over a 2024 60 Minutes segment, teaching the extremely subtle lesson that if you sue loudly enough, billion-dollar media companies will fold like lawn chairs. Now CBS is run by Bari Weiss— parachuted in with no TV news experience, but with deep ties to conservative media and a boss whose dad is Trump pal Larry Ellison. Shockingly, under this new regime, CBS killed a 60 Minutes piece on Venezuelan men deported by the administration, allegedly because the White House didn’t respond in time. In other words: if Trump doesn’t like it, it doesn’t air. Leavitt now insists the American people "deserve" unedited Trump interviews, and proudly notes, "And guess what? The interview ran in full." Yes, when the White House threatens a network and the network obediently complies, that’s not transparency, that’s state media cosplay. But sure, tell us again how the real threat to democracy is college kids protesting, not the sitting president using legal intimidation and friendly billionaires to turn a major news network into his personal broadcast arm.

Source: theguardian.com

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#killing-democracy#fascism#forever-grifting

fascism

January 18, 2026

trump considers sending the 82nd airborne to fight… press conferences

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, apparently now a prime suspect in the federal crime of Saying Mean Things About ICE.

Nothing says "law and order" like threatening to roll tanks into Minneapolis because the mayor hurt ICE's feelings. Jacob Frey went on "Meet the Press" to point out the awkward fact that crime in his city is actually down in multiple categories, and that Minneapolis is, in his words, "safe" and "not going to be intimidated." In other words, the situation on the ground doesn’t remotely justify Donald Trump dusting off the Insurrection Act — unless the real emergency is that local officials keep telling federal agents to "get the f--- out" after they shoot a woman to death.

The Pentagon, ever the straight man in this ongoing farce, has already put about 1,500 active-duty troops from the 11th Airborne Division on prepare-to-deploy orders, calling it "prudent planning" in case Trump decides that protesting ICE killings is now an insurrection. A helpful White House official chimed in that it’s "typical" for the "Department of War" — yes, they actually called it that — to be ready for whatever the president dreams up, presumably between Truth Social posts about the deep state.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is investigating Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the apparent crime of… publicly criticizing federal immigration enforcement. The theory: that their statements might have "conspired" to impede ICE, which is a long way of saying the feds are testing whether the First Amendment still applies to people who tell them to go away. Walz called it what it is — "weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents" — which is a dangerous authoritarian tactic, but a very on-brand one for this administration.

Frey’s proposed public safety plan is radical in its simplicity: if the goal is peace and safety, maybe stop flooding the city with federal officers who keep shooting residents and provoking protests. The administration’s counterproposal is to send in paratroopers and criminally investigate the people asking them to leave. But sure, tell us more about how this is all about "safety" and not about turning dissent into a military problem.

Source: nbcnews.com

Source Article Also: theguardian.com Also: theguardian.com

#fascism#killing-democracy#anti-immigration

killing democracy

January 18, 2026

trump-pardoned insurrectionist tries pro-ice rally, gets snowballed into the sidewalk

Jake Lang, freshly pardoned by Trump for trying to overturn democracy, bravely discovers that Minneapolis is less enthusiastic about fascism than his Telegram group chat suggested.

Jake Lang, a January 6 rioter who went from allegedly swinging a baseball bat at cops to getting presidential clemency from Trump, decided his next act should be a tiny pro-ICE, anti-Islam, anti-Somali hate rally in Minneapolis—and it went about as well as his last coup attempt. He threatened on social media to burn a Quran on the steps of City Hall, because nothing says "constitutional patriot" like staging a religious bonfire to celebrate masked federal agents dragging people out of cars. Instead, only a handful of far-right fans showed up, and they were promptly drowned out and chased off by hundreds of counterprotesters who forced at least one of them to ditch an offensive shirt. Lang left with bruises and scrapes on his head, discovering the hard way that Minneapolis is not, in fact, eager to host a "Nazis for ICE" pop-up event. Meanwhile, police rolled in with an armored van and riot gear, because when Trump’s DHS dumps 2,000 federal officers into a city, the cosplay has to be consistent. All of this is happening against the backdrop of Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, where daily protests have erupted over ICE officers breaking down doors, yanking people from homes and cars, and generally treating a major metro area like a live-fire training exercise. The operation has already claimed at least one life: Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, was shot by an ICE officer on 7 January—because nothing says "law and order" like killing citizens in their own communities. A federal judge has now had to explicitly rule that immigration officers may not detain or teargas peaceful protesters who are just watching, which is not the kind of thing a healthy democracy needs spelled out. One Liberian man, Garrison Gibson, who fled a civil war and has lived in the U.S. for decades, told reporters he’s now afraid to leave his house after federal agents smashed in his door with a battering ram. His T-shirt read "Immigrants make America great"—a risky statement in Trump’s America, where the government’s position is closer to "Immigrants make great targets." But sure, tell us again how this is all about "protecting the border" and not about turning federal law enforcement into a roaming intimidation squad for the president’s culture war.

Source: theguardian.com

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#killing-democracy#anti-immigration