trump admin heroically fights antisemitism by demanding… a federal list of jews
The Trump-era EEOC, bravely standing up to antisemitism by demanding the one thing history has always shown to be safe: a centralized government list of Jews.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new strategy to combat antisemitism on campus: force universities to hand over the names, emails, phone numbers, and home addresses of Jews to the federal government. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), now apparently rebranded as the Equal Ethno‑Origin Cataloguing Commission, subpoenaed the University of Pennsylvania for a comprehensive registry of Jewish students, staff, and faculty – plus anyone tied to Jewish organizations or who spoke in confidential antisemitism listening sessions. Because nothing says "protecting a vulnerable minority" like demanding a centralized government list of Jews.
Penn, to its minimal credit, said absolutely not, pointing out that violating people’s privacy and trust might actually make them feel less safe. Jewish faculty groups, Hillel, and national academic organizations are now in court trying to stop the administration from dragging the country back into the greatest hits of 20th‑century horror. As Norm Eisen put it, we’re in territory that should "shock every single one of us" – though in Trump’s America that bar gets lower every week.
The EEOC, led by Andrea Lucas, insists this is all about identifying victims of antisemitic harassment, and if that requires the government to demand a campus-wide Jewish registry, well, what could possibly go wrong? Jewish scholars at Penn helpfully reminded everyone that the last time governments asked universities for "lists of Jews", it did not end in robust civil rights protections. But sure, we’re told, it’s totally benign this time. Just trust the same administration that’s built its brand on bigotry and authoritarian impulses to carefully safeguard a nationwide database of Jews.
#fascism#killing-democracy
john bolton dusted off for sequel: 'bomb iran, but make it freedom'
John Bolton, patiently explaining that this time when we light the Middle East on fire, it will definitely work out great.
NPR decided that what the world really needed in 2026 was a fresh dose of John Bolton, the mustachioed spirit animal of every half-baked regime-change fantasy since 2003. So Rob Schmitz politely asks America's favorite war hobbyist how Trump might act on Iran as protests unfold — because nothing says “let’s support democratic movements” like calling the guy whose foreign policy Mad Libs always end in airstrikes.
Instead of talking to, say, Iranian protesters, human rights lawyers, or anyone who doesn’t list "invade a Middle Eastern country" under hobbies, we get Bolton explaining Trump’s likely moves as if this is all just an exciting strategic puzzle and not the same playbook that has repeatedly turned real countries into smoking craters. In other words: brave people in Iran risk their lives for basic rights, and Washington’s answer is to bring back the guy who sees every uprising as a branding opportunity for regime change: the expanded universe.
The subtext, as always: Trump gets a foreign crisis he can spin into macho posturing, Bolton gets another shot at his lifelong dream of bombing Tehran, and the U.S. political/media class gets to pretend this is a serious policy conversation instead of a rerun of the same disastrous interventionist fantasies that helped wreck the region in the first place. But sure, let’s call it "how Trump may act on Iran" and not "how the same guys who were wrong about everything want another swing at history."
#imperialism#national-security
trump tries to cancel a whistleblower lawyer, judge says 'nice try'
Artist’s rendering of the Trump White House clearance process: a giant shredder labeled "ENEMIES LIST" next to a rubber stamp that just says "NO LONGER IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST."
The Trump White House decided that the best way to handle pesky national security whistleblowers was to kneecap their lawyer, Mark Zaid, by yanking his security clearance in March. No hearing, no individualized review, just a good old-fashioned enemies list memo declaring it was "no longer in the national interest" for Zaid – and a grab bag of Trump foes from Joe Biden to Hillary Clinton – to see classified information. Because nothing says "rule of law" like the president personally deciding who can work in their profession based on how annoying they were during his first impeachment.
Unfortunately for the Retribution Administration, an actual judge intervened. Federal judge Amir H Ali granted a preliminary injunction ordering the White House to "immediately and fully restore" Zaid’s clearance, finding that Zaid’s representation of whistleblowers and other clients adverse to the government was the sole reason it was summarily revoked, and that he’d been denied even the minimal process given to everyone else. In other words: yes, this was blatant political punishment, and no, you can’t just blacklist the Ukraine whistleblower’s lawyer because you’re still mad about that phone call.
Zaid now has his access to classified information back, meaning he can once again represent clients whose cases involve secrets the president would prefer stay buried under a golf course in Bedminster. The White House, having been told its revenge memo is no longer in effect for Zaid, did not respond to requests for comment – presumably busy drafting the next list of people it thinks are a "national security threat" for the crime of holding it accountable.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#retribution
trump crowdsources the timing of his next iran war
Trump’s national security ‘brain trust’ prepares to liberate Iranians by bombing them, again, but this time with more focus-grouped timing.
The Trump White House is apparently running foreign policy like a group chat, with Israeli and Arab officials quietly advising him to wait on the big Iran strikes until the regime is a little more wobbly—because nothing says commitment to human rights like treating a bloody crackdown as a market timing problem. The concern isn’t whether launching another U.S. war is legal, moral, or remotely sane, but whether the bombs would be decisive enough to finish off the government.
Trump, meanwhile, is on social media telling Iranian protesters to “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS” and promising “HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” as if regime change is an Amazon Prime delivery. While the regime guns people down and shuts off the internet, the geniuses in Washington and Jerusalem kick around fun options like tighter sanctions, cyberattacks, boosting comms to destabilize the government, and even “very targeted” hits on specific Iranian leaders—assassinations, but make it focus-grouped.
The White House insists “all options are at President Trump’s disposal,” which is a polite way of saying there’s no meaningful congressional debate, no public discussion, and certainly no legal constraint on anything from airstrikes to covert ops. Even regional allies are warning that U.S. or Israeli attacks could backfire and unite Iranians, but Trump’s response is to threaten to hit Iran “at levels that they’ve never been hit before.” In other words: the Middle East is begging Washington not to light another match, and Trump is bragging about how big his flamethrower is.
#imperialism#national-security#killing-democracy
comer bravely investigates hot-tub photos, ignores actual epstein cover-up
James Comer, valiantly defending the republic from the clear and present danger of Bill Clinton in a swimming pool.
House Oversight Chair James Comer has discovered the true heart of the Epstein scandal: Bill Clinton in a hot tub. The Republican-led committee subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton for testimony, then acted shocked – shocked! – when the Clintons told them to pound sand, calling the subpoenas “invalid and legally unenforceable” and “a ploy to attempt to embarrass political rivals, as President Trump has directed.” Because nothing says serious child sex-trafficking investigation like doing whatever Donald Trump tells you to do on Truth Social.
The Clintons point out that Comer’s crusade has managed to interview a grand total of two officials – Alexander Acosta and William Barr – while somehow not bothering to question seven other top officials who were actually subpoenaed. In other words: maximum cable-news theater, minimum interest in what the government really did to botch, bury, or bungle the Epstein case. But sure, let’s rush a contempt vote on the Clintons while the rest of the witnesses enjoy witness protection by way of Republican leadership.
Meanwhile, Trump and GOP leaders opposed the bipartisan bill to release all Epstein files, and DOJ is still slow-walking the document dump past the statutory deadline. Lawmakers are now begging a judge to appoint a special master just to get the government to follow its own law. So yes, the same crowd that screams about the Deep State cover-up is working overtime to keep the files redacted, stall the releases, and turn Congress into a taxpayer-funded oppo-research shop. But don’t worry – Comer swears this isn’t about accusing Clinton of wrongdoing. They “just have questions.” Mainly: how many fundraising emails can you squeeze out of a subpoena that goes nowhere?
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
trump sues bbc for $10bn, accidentally threatens to expose his own finances
Donald Trump, seen here imagining $10bn in "brand damage" while silently praying the BBC doesn’t ask what the brand is actually worth.
Donald Trump has launched a $10bn defamation lawsuit against the BBC over a Panorama documentary that used a misleadingly spliced clip of his 6 January speech—and in doing so may have pulled the pin on his own financial grenade. His lawyers say the edit damaged the "value of his brand, properties and businesses", which is adorable, because claiming massive financial harm is exactly how you invite the other side to demand chapter-and-verse on what your brand, properties and businesses are actually worth.
The BBC is asking a Florida court to toss the case for lack of jurisdiction, improper venue, and failure to state a claim, while also begging the judge to put discovery on ice so they don’t have to hand over internal editorial documents before the dismissal is decided. Trump, meanwhile, is effectively arguing: "My global empire is so yuge that one edited TV segment cost me billions"—which opens the door for the BBC to say: "Cool story, now show us the books." For a man who fought like hell to hide his tax returns, only to have them eventually reveal business losses and creative accounting, this is a bold new chapter in suing himself into transparency.
The broadcaster has already apologized for the edit, calling it an "error of judgment," but insists that’s not the same thing as defamation, and also notes a fun detail: Trump’s claim that the documentary was on BritBox in the US is apparently just made up. Their court filing basically says, "you could have clicked the link yourself, Mr. President," which is a nice way of saying "we checked the internet; you should try it sometime." They also argue he hasn’t plausibly alleged "actual malice," a requirement for public officials who want to sue the press instead of reading the First Amendment.
So to recap: Trump is demanding $5bn per count because a British broadcaster aired a bad edit of the speech he gave before a mob he spent weeks riling up attacked the US Capitol. The BBC wants the whole thing thrown out, but if it survives long enough to reach discovery, Trump may finally have to cough up detailed info about his "brand" and business empire. In other words, in his quest to punish the media and rewrite 6 January, he might accidentally do the one thing he’s avoided for decades: let the world see what’s really behind the gold-plated curtain—but sure, this is all about protecting his reputation.
#forever-grifting#money
trump discovers 'temporary' means 'whenever we feel like deporting somalis'
Karoline Leavitt and Kristi Noem bravely defend America from the terrifying threat of people who’ve lived here legally since the first George Bush administration.
The Trump administration has decided that after more than three decades, now is the perfect time to end Temporary Protected Status for Somali immigrants, ordering them to leave the U.S. by March 17, 2026. Because nothing says "land of opportunity" like telling people who fled civil war and state collapse that their time is up, please proceed to the nearest "hellhole" you narrowly escaped.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the move on X, while U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services helpfully clarified that Somali TPS holders are now required to get out. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, speaking to Fox News first because of course she did, declared that "temporary means temporary" and claimed Somalia has improved enough to yank protections — and that letting Somalis stay is "contrary to our national interests." In other words: we checked the racism focus group numbers and they’re great.
This comes after Trump spent weeks singling out Somalis, especially in Minnesota, accusing them of "destroying the country" and insisting "the Somalians should be out of here." At a December rally he called Somalia and several other nations "hellholes," describing them as "filthy, dirty, disgusting, ridden with crime" and saying the only thing Somalis are good at is "going after ships." But sure, this TPS decision is definitely about neutral "country conditions" and not about a president who talks like a YouTube comments section with Secret Service protection.
TPS for Somalia has been in place since 1991, which apparently only became a constitutional crisis once Trump decided he needed a fresh scapegoat to feed the base. The administration is dressing it up as "putting Americans first," a phrase that now reliably translates to kicking vulnerable people in the teeth to score a news cycle. Welcome to Trump’s America, where the cruelty is the point and the immigration policy is written in rally chants.
#anti-immigration#racism#killing-democracy
trump deregulates your lunch, hopes you survive
FDA headquarters, where America once regulated food safety instead of crowdsourcing it to listeria.
The Trump administration has discovered a bold new frontier in deregulation: your dinner plate. After firing and driving out thousands of FDA staff and hacking away at CDC surveillance, former agency scientists are now warning that food safety lapses are basically the new house special. We already got a preview course in 2025, when a listeria outbreak tied to prepared pasta meals killed six people and sickened 27 across 18 states — because nothing says "pro-life" like turning fettuccine alfredo into Russian roulette.
Foreign and domestic food inspections have cratered to historic lows, CDC’s FoodNet surveillance has been gutted from tracking eight pathogens down to two, and food recalls are on the rise. Inside the agencies, the professionals who used to quietly keep people from dying are being replaced by chaos, temps, and podcasts: policy rolled out via media appearances instead of formal guidance and public comment. Meanwhile, Trump’s budget hatchet-man Russell Vought brags that "we want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected", while rightwing media calls them "worthless parasites" — a bold take about the people standing between you and botulism.
At the top of this food safety Jenga tower, Trump installed FDA chief Martin Makary and HHS Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, both of whom treat conspiracy theories like they’re peer-reviewed science. Makary is out pushing HIV and Lyme lab-leak musings on podcasts, RFK Jr is busy mainstreaming chemtrail brainworms, and veteran FDA leaders are either pushed out or fleeing because scientific integrity has been torched. The official line from HHS: nothing to see here, inspectors weren’t impacted, everything is fine. In other words: the US just voluntarily gave up being a world leader in public health so Trump and RFK Jr could own the libs by making your lunch less regulated than a Telegram group.
#anti-science#killing-democracy
trump fixes immigration backlog by deleting the court
People wait outside an immigration court that the Trump administration is methodically emptying of judges so it can later claim it "doesn’t work" and must be closed. Very efficient, if your goal is deportations, not justice.
The Trump administration has discovered an exciting new way to handle the massive immigration court backlog: eliminate the court. San Francisco’s immigration court, one of the busiest in the country, is being shuttered by the end of the year. Judges and staff got the news the modern way — a short email — informing them they’ll be shipped 30 miles away to Concord, because nothing says access to justice like forcing immigrants and their lawyers to commute even farther to a court that’s already drowning in cases.
This comes after Trump’s DOJ spent 2025 firing immigration judges like they were hosting a reality show reboot. San Francisco went from 21 judges to just four and a single supervisor, even as they were left holding roughly 120,935 cases. Nationwide, nearly 100 judges were axed, including at least 19 veterans who actually knew what they were doing. The official line from EOIR is that moving everything to Concord is "more cost-effective" — in other words, we broke the system on purpose, and now we’re saving money by not fixing it.
The Concord court, which was originally opened to help relieve San Francisco’s overload, has itself been bleeding judges and staff and already has a growing backlog. So naturally, the solution is to dump San Francisco’s six-figure caseload on top of it or run hearings remotely, because what could possibly go wrong with life-or-death asylum decisions handled over glitchy video from a gutted judiciary. This isn’t about efficiency; it’s about constricting due process until people just give up and get deported. But sure, tell us again how this is all about the "rule of law."
#killing-democracy#anti-immigration#lawlessness
jack smith volunteers as tribute in jim jordan’s kangaroo court
Jack Smith, pausing briefly from being declared illegal by Trump judges and targeted by Trump himself, prepares to explain on live TV why trying to overturn an election is, shockingly, a crime.
Jim Jordan has finally agreed to let former special counsel Jack Smith testify in public about his Trump investigations, after first insisting on an eight-hour, closed-door struggle session where Republicans tried and failed to turn "criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 election" into "totally normal presidential behavior." Smith, who has been begging to answer questions where Americans can actually hear him, will now get to explain on camera how he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump led a scheme to overturn the election and repeatedly tried to obstruct justice in the classified documents case.
Naturally, this comes after Trump’s favorite federal bodyguard in a robe, Judge Aileen Cannon, helpfully declared Smith’s appointment illegal and tossed the classified documents case in the trash, while Smith was forced to drop the election case entirely because DOJ policy says you can’t prosecute a sitting president — especially one who got back into office by attacking the very election system he’s now shielded from. But sure, tell us more about how the real authoritarian threat here is the guy trying to enforce the law, not the guy demanding his prosecutor be prosecuted.
Ranking Democrat Jamie Raskin is already pre-writing the epitaph for this hearing, noting that Republicans "could not lay a glove" on Smith or his evidence in private and are about to humiliate themselves in public, too. Trump, meanwhile, is still calling for Smith to be prosecuted for the crime of documenting his crimes, while House Republicans dutifully turn the Judiciary Committee into a live-streamed loyalty test for the Dear Leader. In other words: another day in Trump’s America, where the president allegedly runs criminal schemes to overturn elections, the courts and Congress trip over themselves to protect him, and anyone who investigates it gets dragged in front of a camera as the villain.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness
ice raids city hall because following the law is now suspicious
ICE agents wait at a so-called 'routine' immigration appointment, otherwise known as the part of the process where you get punished for following the process.
Federal immigration agents have apparently decided that New York City Hall is now part of the border, detaining a legally authorized NYC council employee during a "routine immigration appointment"—because nothing says "rule of law" like kidnapping someone who's doing exactly what the law requires. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it an "assault on our democracy" while DHS, in a very on-brand move, provided no basis for the detention and quietly shipped the staffer off to a Manhattan detention center.
Council speaker Julie Menin confirmed the employee has authorization to remain in the US through October 2026, and Congressman Dan Goldman spelled it out: there is no indication of anything other than his immigration status being used as a pretext. In other words, ICE under Trump is now openly targeting law-abiding immigrants who show up to mandatory check-ins—a trap experts have been warning about for years. The message is clear: if you follow the rules, Trump’s deportation machine will meet you at the front desk.
All this is unfolding as the Trump administration brags about surging ICE deployments nationwide, protesters flood the streets after an ICE agent killed Minneapolis resident Renee Nicole Good, and Minnesota AG Keith Ellison sues DHS over "warrantless, racist arrests" and lethal force. Courts, churches, schools, immigration offices—every space is fair game for an unaccountable federal police force executing the president’s deportation agenda. But sure, tell us again how this isn’t an attempt to build a nationwide fear state for immigrants and anyone who dares work in government while not being white enough for Stephen Miller’s vision board.
#anti-immigration#killing-democracy#lawlessness
trump’s war on wind gets a reagan-judge reality check
Artist’s impression of Trump pointing at an offshore wind farm and yelling ‘national security threat’ while a Reagan-appointed judge quietly reaches for the Constitution.
A federal judge just told Donald Trump that he can’t randomly nuke a nearly finished offshore wind project because he suddenly discovered feelings about “national security.” Danish wind developer Ørsted can resume work on its 87%-complete Revolution Wind project off Rhode Island, after US district judge Royce Lamberth — a Reagan appointee, no less — granted an injunction and openly mocked the administration’s plan to bleed the company for $1.5 million a day while it "decides what it wants to do."
The Trump Interior Department had suspended five offshore wind leases in December, citing mysterious classified Pentagon intel about wind turbines being a threat to national security. Developers weren’t allowed to see this secret doom memo, of course, but were expected to quietly eat millions in losses. Ørsted’s lawyer politely suggested the court be “very skeptical” of the government’s true motives, which is lawyer-speak for: this smells like Trump’s long-running personal vendetta against wind dressed up in a cheap national security costume.
So now, thanks to a Reagan judge who apparently still remembers what due process is, one of Trump’s latest attempts to kneecap clean energy and handcuff multibillion-dollar projects has hit a legal wall. In other words: the administration tried to turn “I think wind turbines are ugly” into federal policy, and the judiciary responded with, "that’s not how any of this works." But sure, tell us more about how this is the administration that respects the rule of law.
#killing-democracy#anti-science
supreme court asked to legalize trump’s emergency tantrum tariffs
The Supreme Court at sunrise, moments before being asked to retroactively bless Trump’s ‘because I said so’ tariff doctrine.
Donald Trump is warning of a "complete mess" if the Supreme Court rules that, actually, the president can’t just scream "EMERGENCY" and slap global tariffs on everything like a toddler playing SimNation. Two lower courts have already said he overstepped his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but Trump is now pre‑blaming the justices for the chaos that would follow if the government has to refund some of the $130bn it vacuumed up through his trade cosplay.
On Truth Social, the president declared that if the tariffs are struck down, "WE'RE SCREWED"—a refreshing admission that his grand economic strategy hinges on legally dubious taxes that Congress never approved and the statute never actually mentions. His new argument is basically: sure, it might have been unconstitutional, but undoing it would be too hard, so let’s just keep the money and pretend this was all fine. Because nothing says "rule of law" like "it’d be a paperwork nightmare to follow the Constitution".
The White House is already shopping for backup schemes, hinting it’ll rummage around in other statutes to find any lever that still lets Trump slap tariffs on imports like a bored autocrat with a label maker. Meanwhile, businesses and states that have been bleeding cash under these "national security" tariffs are begging the Court to call this what it is: an abuse of emergency powers dressed up as trade policy. Even Trump’s own appointee Amy Coney Barrett called the potential refund process a "complete mess"—which Trump promptly echoed, because if there’s one thing this administration excels at, it’s turning its own legal defeats into talking points about how democracy is just too inconvenient.
#killing-democracy#trade-war
hegseth invents retroactive rank-cancelling for disloyal veterans
Pete Hegseth, hard at work testing the theory that if you punish veterans for disloyal speech, the Constitution will eventually just demote itself.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth has apparently decided that the Uniform Code of Justice now includes a "hurt Trump’s feelings" clause. He launched a process to demote retired Navy captain, astronaut, and current US senator Mark Kelly and cut his pension because Kelly appeared in a short video reminding service members they can refuse illegal orders. In other words: "please obey the law" is now "sedition" in Trump’s America.
Kelly’s lawsuit lays it out: Hegseth, the Pentagon, the Navy, and Navy secretary John Phelan are accused of "trampling" constitutional protections that keep Congress independent and the military apolitical. This all kicked into gear after Donald Trump went on Truth Social to accuse Kelly and five other Democratic veterans of "seditious behavior punishable by death" for daring to say troops don’t have to blindly follow unlawful commands. Hegseth then dutifully echoed the treason talk, issued a formal censure, and started a retirement-grade review whose outcome, Kelly notes, is basically pre-written.
Kelly is asking a federal court to throw the whole thing out as unlawful and unconstitutional, and to remind the executive branch that it doesn’t get to financially kneecap senators for saying "the president can’t order you to commit crimes." Because nothing says "apolitical military" like threatening to strip veterans of rank and pay years after they retire if they don’t sufficiently worship the commander-in-chief. But sure, tell us again how this crowd is all about "freedom" and "supporting the troops".
#killing-democracy#fascism
judge says illegal, doj says ‘lol anyway’
Lindsey Halligan, seen here in the Oval Office auditioning for the role of ‘acting U.S. attorney’ in a government that treats the Constitution as a suggestion box.
The Eastern District of Virginia, now apparently operating as the Trump Personal Vendetta Annex, just pushed out top attorney Robert McBride while the Justice Department continues insisting that Lindsey Halligan is in charge — despite a federal judge ruling her appointment illegal. Because nothing says "independent justice system" like doubling down on an unlawfully-installed Trump loyalist.
A judge already tossed the criminal cases Halligan’s office brought against James Comey and New York AG Letitia James, finding she was wrongly appointed. That makes at least five acting U.S. attorneys unlawfully installed under this administration, but DOJ leadership is still pretending Halligan’s title is real, like a kid insisting their imaginary friend can sign legal documents.
McBride’s exit reportedly followed a dispute over whether he’d lead any effort to re-indict Comey — because of course the priority is retrying Trump’s political enemies, not fixing the blatantly illegal appointments. To make things even more normal and fine, McBride apparently met quietly with federal judges to see if the court would appoint him acting U.S. attorney instead, behind the administration’s back. The response from DOJ leadership? Fire him, keep the illegal appointee, and dare the judiciary to do something about it.
In other words: the judge says the prosecutor was unlawfully installed, the Constitution says this is not how any of this works, and the Trump DOJ says, "We have noted your concerns and will be ignoring them in their entirety." Rule of law is for suckers; loyalty is the only credential that matters.
#killing-democracy#lawlessness#forever-grifting
trump disappointed he didn’t finish the coup with tanks at the polling place
Donald Trump, presumably pondering how much better 2020 would have gone if he’d added "invade the voting machines" to his list of presidential duties.
Donald Trump has now gone on the record with the New York Times to say the quiet part even louder: he regrets not using the National Guard to seize voting machines after losing the 2020 election. In other words, the former (and now current) president is sad his coup didn’t involve more troops and fewer laws. He still insists he actually won 2020—"I won three times," he boasts—because nothing says "strong democracy" like a guy who keeps adding imaginary wins to his record like they’re Trump University diplomas.
The idea to grab voting machines wasn’t some fever dream from a Telegram channel; it was floated in a December 2020 Oval Office meeting with Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn, the brain trust of "what if martial law, but make it kooky." They even drafted executive orders to have the Defense Department "seize, collect, retain and analyze" voting machines in swing states, which is a fun way of saying "use the military to overturn an election." Even Bill Barr—yes, that Bill Barr—reportedly "immediately shot down" the plan, because when Bill "Cover-Up" Barr is your voice of restraint, you are way, way off the constitutional map.
Trump now muses that the National Guard might not be "sophisticated enough" to pull off his fantasy machine grab, praising them as "good warriors" but questioning their ability to navigate the alleged dark arts of "crooked Democrats." Translation: he wanted soldiers to help him stay in power, but worries the troops might not be as committed to overthrowing American democracy as Sidney Powell’s group chat. Meanwhile, actual election security experts still say 2020 was the most secure election in US history, and Trump’s lawsuits crashed and burned in courts nationwide—but sure, the real problem is that the tanks never made it to the county clerk’s office.
#killing-democracy#fascism#lawlessness
trump admin solves police shooting by sending in more cops with bigger guns
Nothing says “listening to the community” like lining the streets with more federal agents and calling it freedom.
In response to protests over a police shooting in Minnesota, the Trump administration has come up with a bold new strategy: not accountability, not de-escalation, not reforms—just more federal agents. Because nothing says "we hear your concerns about state violence" like flying in a fresh batch of armed federal officers to stand between angry citizens and any hope of justice.
The plan, as usual, is to treat a political crisis as a PR opportunity and a law-enforcement cosplay convention. Instead of supporting independent investigations or protecting protesters' rights, the White House is beefing up the federal presence in Minneapolis, turning a grieving city into a live-fire backdrop for Trump's "law and order" campaign trailer. In other words: when the public demands less brutality, this administration's answer is always, proudly, unapologetically, more boots, more badges, more batons.
And just to complete the democracy-speedrun, all of this is wrapped in the familiar rhetoric that anyone in the streets is a threat, local officials can't be trusted, and only Washington's loyal shock troops can restore "order." It's the same old formula: federalize the response, criminalize dissent, and then act shocked when people use words like "authoritarian" to describe an administration that keeps treating American cities like occupied territory. But sure, tell us again how this is all about "public safety."
#fascism#killing-democracy
trump tries to solo rage-quit a senate-ratified climate treaty
Trump signs a memo declaring the U.S. free from climate reality, surrounded by men who think the greenhouse effect is a liberal hoax.
Donald Trump has discovered a new climate solution: if you pull the U.S. out of the UN’s core climate treaty, the planet just… stops warming, right? In a fresh presidential memo, he announced that the U.S. "shall withdraw" from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and 65 other international bodies that allegedly offend American "sovereignty"—in other words, anything that mildly inconveniences fossil fuel donors. There’s just one tiny problem: legal experts keep pointing out that he probably doesn’t have the constitutional authority to yank the U.S. out of a Senate-ratified treaty by himself, no matter how many all-caps memos he signs.
Harold Hongju Koh, former top State Department lawyer, says the quiet part out loud: because the Senate approved the UNFCCC back in 1992, Trump doesn’t get to un-sign it like a bad prenup. He calls for a “mirror principle”—if it took the Senate to get in, it takes the Senate to get out. Meanwhile, Columbia’s Michael Gerrard and others note that past presidents have sometimes acted like they can ditch treaties unilaterally, and Congress just sort of shrugged, which Trump is now treating as a blank check to dismantle decades of international law between Truth Social posts.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse politely sums up the situation as "not just corrupt, it’s illegal," calling the move "polluter-driven stoogery"—because nothing says "defending American prosperity" like making sure oil and gas companies never have to deal with the inconvenience of a habitable planet. The Supreme Court has never clearly decided who actually gets to terminate treaties, which Trump is apparently reading as: "go nuts, no refs on the field." Legal scholars are now arguing over whether this stunt would also make it harder for a future president to rejoin the treaty, or whether a successor can just stroll back in and pretend the tantrum never happened.
The bottom line: Trump is trying to unilaterally blow up the foundational global climate agreement that a previous Republican president negotiated and a unanimous Senate ratified—while insisting this is about "sovereignty" and "freedom," not the fossil fuel industry’s death grip on his administration. The rest of the world gets a clear message: the U.S. is an unreliable partner, its treaty commitments are only as durable as the next Fox segment, and the constitutional separation of powers is just another speed bump on the road to climate arson.
#killing-democracy#anti-science
affordability is a hoax, says man who made everything more expensive
Trump explains that the affordability crisis is a hoax while standing in front of a $10 carton of eggs and a tax bill labeled 'Working Families Tax Cut.'
Democrats have finally discovered a magic word that isn’t "bipartisanship" or "please stop": affordability. While Trump tours the country declaring the cost-of-living crisis a "hoax", Americans are apparently failing to notice how blessed they are by 2.7% inflation on top of already jacked-up prices, gutted healthcare subsidies, and a president whose main economic policy is yelling "DAY ONE" at grocery receipts. In other words, the White House line is: if you can’t afford your meds, just try believing harder.
On Capitol Hill, things are going so well that 17 House Republicans had to mutiny against their own leadership to reinstate Affordable Care Act premium tax credits for three years, after Speaker Mike Johnson bravely refused to allow any vote that might make health insurance less ruinously expensive. Moderates then used a discharge petition to drag the bill onto the floor, because nothing says "fiscally conservative" like forcing your own speaker to stop deliberately raising people’s premiums. Democrats, naturally, are thrilled to discover that "not making people poorer on purpose" is a winning message.
Meanwhile, the GOP is betting that their One Big Beautiful Bill Act — now rebranded as the "Working Families Tax Cut" because focus groups didn’t love "Massive Handout to Donors" — will shower Americans with such huge refunds that they’ll forget about higher prices, healthcare cuts, and Trump’s little Venezuela adventure. Johnson promises "all boats begin to rise," which is a bold claim for a party that keeps drilling holes in the bottom of the lifeboat and calling it structural reform. And when that doesn’t work, Republicans will go back to the classics: blame Biden for everything, scream about fraud in childcare spending, and hope voters don’t notice who’s been methodically making life more expensive for them this whole time.
#forever-grifting#killing-democracy
trump eyes greenland like it’s a foreclosure sale
Artist’s impression of Trump staring at a map of the Arctic like it’s Zillow for aspiring autocrats.
Donald Trump is once again looking at Greenland the way he looks at a golf course that hasn’t yet been strip‑mined for branding opportunities. In the brave new world of post‑post‑cold war geopolitics, the former guy’s big idea is basically: what if Manifest Destiny, but colder? From Venezuela to the Arctic, Trump’s instinct is the same old might makes real-estate politics—because nothing says 21st‑century diplomacy like treating an inhabited island as a distressed asset.
Europe, meanwhile, is sitting around writing strategy papers about the Arctic while Washington is out here doing full‑blown Risk LARP. The EU has three Arctic member states, a massive economic footprint, and a supposedly rules‑based identity—so naturally its response to Trump’s Greenland fixation has been a bold, coordinated … awkward silence and a few useless social‑media posts. Ursula von der Leyen managed to give an entire State of the Union without mentioning the Arctic once, which is a choice when the United States is openly spitballing territorial acquisition.
The authors suggest a radical concept: instead of waiting for Trump to show up with a checkbook and a MAGA icebreaker, the EU could actually do politics. As in: offer Greenland, the Faroes, Iceland and Norway a pathway into the EU, with phased membership, fisheries deals, infrastructure money, and explicit protections for Inuit culture and self‑government. In other words, use law, institutions and investment to counter Trump’s ‘how much for the big icy one?’ energy.
So while Trump dreams of buying Greenland like it’s a failing casino he can slap his name on, Europe is being gently begged to stop cosplaying a ‘normative power’ and start acting like one. Either the Arctic becomes a space for multilateral coordination, or it becomes another stage for Trump’s grab‑bag geopolitics—because if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that he will absolutely try to sign a deed for an entire island and call it a historic win.
#imperialism#killing-democracy
