Donald Trump has sweeping plans for a second administration. Here’s what he’s proposed

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Pentagon Barred Senior House Staffers From Briefing on Venezuela Boat Strike

The Department of War is thwarting congressional oversight of the Trump administration’s attack on a boat off the coast of Venezuela earlier this month.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/15/venezuela-boat-attack-trump-legality/?

Trump Sanctions Palestinian Human Rights Groups for Doing Their Job. Anybody Could Be Next.

For decades, the Treasury Department has politicized its authority to impose sanctions. Now, however, with the Trump administration sanctioning three Palestinian human rights organizations, civil society activists around the world are shocked and terrified: Could they be next?

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/16/trump-sanctions-palestine-human-rights-israel/?

Trump Troop Deployment in U.S. Climbs to 35,000 Boots on the Ground

The Trump administration has deployed roughly 35,000 federal troops within the United States this year, according to exclusive figures provided to The Intercept by official military sources. That marks a 75 percent increase on the previous count offered by The Intercept in July.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/17/trump-total-military-troops-deployed-cost/?

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Kimmel suspension

President Donald Trump is now suggesting that the federal government could revoke the licenses of broadcast networks if they air negative coverage of him. The president's stark warning comes in the wake of ABC's decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel's late-night talk show off the air. Trump told reporters on Thursday that he would endorse moves by the FCC to pull licenses, and suggested networks should have to reapply for them periodically. He added that not airing conservative views could be a rationale for removing a network's license. Trump said he would leave the decision to Brendan Carr, the FCC chairman at the center of this week's Kimmel controversy. Carr has suggested that ABC's move to suspend Kimmel's show is just the beginning of what's to come.

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Trump, 79, Gets Math Wildly Wrong in Yet Another Senior Moment

He vowed an arithmetically impossible “1,000 percent” price cut before contradicting himself.

Donald Trump promised drug costs would drop “1,000 percent”—then claimed a $10 pill would become $20—in a head-spinning arithmetic car crash.

In a Fox News hit that left viewers baffled, Trump said, “We’re gonna be reducing drug costs over the next year, year and a half… by a thousand percent,” before adding, “it’ll go from $10 to $20 for us.”

The two ideas cannot both be true. A 1,000 percent “reduction” from $10 would take the price to negative $90—meaning drugmakers would pay patients to take pills—while doubling $10 to $20 is, well, a 100 percent increase.

Trump was skewered on X for his mad math. One person derided him as a “moron,” while another described him as “Donny Dementia.”

Yet, incredibly, The Story host Martha MacCallum, despite looking a little confused, didn’t push back on his bizarre claims.

But this is not a one-off flub. In late July, Trump bragged about cutting prices by “1,000… 1,100, 1,200, 1,300, 1,400… 700, 600 percent.”

In reality, you cannot reduce the price of something by more than 100 percent.

He even waved around a plan to strong-arm Europe by threatening Mercedes, BMW, and Volkswagen to get his way on pharma—fantasy economics that would still not make his math add up.

Trump later boasted of “1,200 to 1,500 percent” drops—another numerical impossibility, unless Big Pharma all of a sudden is happy to pay people to take its drugs.

Pressed on policy, the White House has touted a “most-favored nation” approach—demanding U.S. prices match or beat those abroad—and says letters have gone to pharma CEOs to secure commitments.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also talked up pressure tactics and sweeping savings, per a report last Friday in Axios.

But while those ideas may lead to some price cuts, none make “minus 1,000 percent” a thing.

Even Trump’s own anecdotes undermine him. He claimed a friend paid $88 for Ozempic in London and much more in New York, using it to set up his “world versus us” line—then promptly contradicted himself by predicting Americans would pay $20 for a $10 pill while claiming a four-digit “reduction.”

Away from drug prices, Trump has mixed up the basics on the world stage on multiple occasions, as questions grow about his potential mental fragility.

In August, he blanked on the name of the Pacific Ocean, musing aloud as if searching for it, and days later boasted he’d just been to the Middle East when his last trip had been months earlier.

Trump has also forgotten several times which conflict he supposedly “solved,” swapping in the wrong countries entirely.

He has also struggled with simple situational awareness. At a public event in early August, Trump failed to locate people standing just feet away—even after an ally told him “right here”—before the moment turned awkward on camera.

And during his Windsor Castle appearance this week, he rambled through an error-strewn address, compounding the perception that these aren’t isolated slips.

Then there are the head-scratchers that don’t fit any diplomatic or logistical excuse—like when he invented a governor who doesn’t exist.

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment, as well as Fox News, to ask why it allowed him to make such a statement seemingly without challenge.

White House spokesman Kush Desai said: “The most clear example of cognitive impairment is this delusional rant disputing President Trump’s objectively correct point that Americans are paying several times more for the same exact drugs than people in other wealthy countries do.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-gets-drugs-math-wildly-wrong-in-yet-another-senior-moment/?

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Real Reason ABC Bowed Down to Trump on Kimmel: Wolff

Michael Wolff traced how fear of the Trump administration set off a domino effect among media executives.

ABC’s decision to silence Jimmy Kimmel was a calculated play in a media landscape increasingly dictated by President Donald Trump, author Michael Wolff has said.

Speaking on the Inside Trump’s Head podcast, Wolff likened ABC’s indefinite cut of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to a recurring ritual in the Trump era: “the reflexive reaction, the knee-jerk reaction that’s just serious, unthought out, knuckle-headed stuff.”

As MAGA outrage—fronted by FCC chair Brendan Carr—mounted over Kimmel’s comments on slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk on Wednesday, ABC affiliate Nexstar was the first to pull the plug. While the company pointed to Kimmel’s “offensive and insensitive” words, it also just so happens to be chasing FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger.

“So therefore they immediately came out and said yes we’re not going to carry the Kimmel show,” said Wolff, a media expert and Trump biographer.

Disney-owned ABC followed suit not long after. Wolff told host Joanna Coles the decision would have come straight from longtime Disney CEO Bob Iger.

“You have to step back and say, here is Bob Iger, the billionaire CEO of the most powerful entertainment company in the world, immediately, with hardly a second thought, cowering before the desires of the Trump administration,” Wolff said.

Coles wondered if Iger was simply making a “pragmatic business decision,” noting that he wouldn’t want to lose Nexstar and Sinclair, another ABC affiliate that came out swinging against Kimmel.

“Well, I think it’s the same thing, six of one, half dozen of the other,” Wolff countered. “I mean, [Iger] realizes that the ire of Donald Trump will be bad for business. And so therefore ‘we submit to that.’”

When reached for comment, White House Communications Director Steven Cheung told the Daily Beast in a statement: “Michael Wolff is a lying sack of s--t and has been proven to be a fraud. He routinely fabricates stories originating from his sick and warped imagination, only possible because he has a severe and debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”

Multiple executives who participated in last-minute damage control meetings on Wednesday initially supported Kimmel and didn’t think his comments had crossed a line, Rolling Stone reported. But the threat of retaliation from the Trump administration reportedly rattled them.

The decision to cut Kimmel, who is well-liked among Hollywood’s “creative community,” according to Coles, will come back to bite Iger and other executives, Wolff argued.

“I would say that this is probably ... an unforced error that will cost Bob Iger,” he said, adding that it will “likely ... cost him his job.”

Wolff called Kimmel’s silencing a “reflection of how afraid people are of Donald Trump,” noting that it wasn’t the first time ABC “folded” in a confrontation with the 79-year-old president.

Trump reached a $16 million settlement with ABC in December after he sued for defamation over remarks made on air by star anchor George Stephanopoulos.

In July, Paramount paid the same amount to settle Trump’s lawsuit over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview on 60 Minutes. The FCC signed off on Paramount’s merger with Skydance Media just weeks later.

Now, Wolff argued, the Trump administration has begun using Kirk’s assassination as the “stated rationale” to “crack down on the media and on free speech, or as he says, ‘leftist speech’.”

When asked about Kimmel’s indefinite leave Thursday, Trump did not address the host’s remarks on Kirk that had sparked the controversy, focusing instead on how networks licensed by the FCC should not be allowed to be overly critical of him.

“When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do—if you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative one in years, or something—when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump,” he said. “They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”

His comments echo Carr’s repeated claims Thursday that with a broadcasting license “comes a unique obligation to operate in the public interest,” which appears to be a striking reversal on his own stance in 2019.

The Daily Beast has reached out to Disney, ABC, and Nexstar for comment.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/real-reason-abc-bowed-down-to-donald-trump-on-jimmy-kimmel-author/?

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Trump Plots to Fire Prosecutor for Failing to Charge His Nemesis

Administration officials want New York Attorney General Letitia James prosecuted despite a lack of evidence.

President Donald Trump plans to fire a top prosecutor after he refused to bring charges against one of Trump’s leading political enemies due to a lack of evidence in the case.

The president’s federal housing director asked the Department of Justice in April to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James for alleged mortgage fraud.

The administration claimed James—who successfully sued the Trump Organization for fraud last year and is leading multiple lawsuits challenging the president’s policies—had declared a second home in Virginia as her primary residence to get more favorable loan terms.

But so far, investigators have determined that James only listed the home as a primary residence on a limited power of attorney form that allowed her niece—who was her co-purchaser—to sign documents on her behalf, ABC News reported.

The loan officers who approved the mortgage never considered the document, sources told the outlet, but the Trump administration nevertheless demanded that the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik Siebert, bring criminal charges against her, according to ABC.

After Siebert refused, officials told him that Trump plans to fire him, potentially plunging one of the nation’s most prominent U.S attorney offices into crisis.

The Eastern District of Virginia handles most of the country’s espionage and terrorism cases because it’s so close to Washington, with multiple government offices falling within its jurisdiction.

Siebert, whose last day is expected to be Friday, has worked as an assistant district attorney since 2010 and has served as interim U.S. attorney since January.

His original interim tenure expired in May, but Trump himself nominated Siebert in May to fill the position on a long-term basis, and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unanimously agreed to keep him in the role until the Senate confirms a nominee.

The administration plans to replace him with someone who will more aggressively investigate James, sources told ABC.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House, the Department of Justice, and James for comment.

The New York attorney general has been a frequent target of Trump, who, in April, celebrated the news of the mortgage fraud investigation.

“Letitia James, a totally corrupt politician, should resign from her position as New York State Attorney General, IMMEDIATELY,” he wrote on Truth Social at the time. “Everyone is trying to MAKE NEW YORK GREAT AGAIN, and it can never be done with this wacky crook in office.”

The DOJ is also investigating James for “deprivation of rights,” a crime that involves a government official violating someone’s constitutional rights in an official capacity. The president stripped James of her security clearance in February.

Last month, her attorney Abbe David Lowell told the Daily Beast that the probes against James represented “the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president’s political retribution campaign.”

The administration has also targeted Sen. Adam Schiff and Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook with similar mortgage fraud claims, despite evidence to the contrary.

The irony is that loan fraud was also at the heart of James’ case against President Trump and his sons, Don Jr. and Eric Trump.

The court found that for years the Trump Organization had committed fraud by over-inflating the values of its properties to secure better loan terms. The judge ordered Trump to pay $364 million plus interest dating back years, a total that has since ballooned to about $527 million.

In August, an appeals court threw out the fine, calling it “excessive,” but kept the ruling of fraud in place.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-plots-to-fire-prosecutor-for-failing-to-charge-his-nemesis-letitia-james/?

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Trump says he and Xi will meet in South Korea in coming weeks and he’ll later go to China

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said he would meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a regional summit taking place at the end of October in South Korea and will visit China in the “early part of next year,” following a lengthy phone call between the two on Friday.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-xi-tiktok-china-united-states-e6b6334aef2946b5b8c809be4240cad1?

Florida federal judge tosses Trump’s $15B defamation lawsuit against The New York Times

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A Florida federal judge on Friday tossed out a $15 billion defamation lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump against The New York Times.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-lawsuit-new-york-times-3141806904f4f70e9a986b787599c6a8?

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Rights group calls for urgent action for 5 men deported by US and held in Eswatini without charges

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — International rights group Amnesty International called Friday for urgent action from authorities in the African nation of Eswatini to give five men deported there by the United States access to lawyers and explain why they’ve been held in a maximum-security prison for two months without charges.

https://apnews.com/article/eswatini-us-trump-deported-migrants-lawyers-b6e565ef980ea4e43587355d1b8a4471?

Who qualifies for ‘no tax on tips’ and what counts as a tip? Here are the new rules

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department is moving closer to making President Donald Trump’s “ no tax on tips ” promise a reality. But new guidance released Friday tends to limit the number of tipped workers who will be able to claim the benefit.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-treasury-tax-tips-income-employment-b1f5a296b3926dd2a448769ca69b6f4c?

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A Rhetorical Change on the Right (Kevork Djansezian / Getty)

View in browser When a person is naturalized as a U.S. citizen, they receive not just a new citizenship but also typically a few other objects: an American flag, a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and a greeting from the president. Of these, the last is the most ephemeral—just a form letter—but it can reveal a great deal about how the writer thinks about the country he leads. This week, the White House released Donald Trump’s new version of the letter. (In both terms, it took Trump months to get around to replacing his predecessor’s missive.) Although the Trump administration has both cracked down on illegal immigration and sought to curtail legal immigration, the letter is warm and welcoming. Where the letter diverges from those of most past presidents is in its vision of the United States, which Trump sees as founded not on ideas or ideals but on culture and tradition. For Trump, the nation is less a melting pot where different cultures combine harmoniously than a crucible where foreign notions are burned off and a homogeneous mix emerges. “America has always welcomed those who embrace our values, assimilate into our society, and pledge allegiance to our country,” he writes. “By taking this oath, you have forged a sacred bond with our Nation, her traditions, her history, her culture, and her values.” Many philosophers have historically argued that citizenship bestows freedoms but also confers obligations upon those who hold it. Yet Trump’s reframing is more than a nod to those duties. It’s also a move away from a focus on the intellectual underpinnings of the American project, which was an essential message for past presidents, regardless of party. “In making this journey to America, you have done more than move to a new place. You have become part of an idea,” Joe Biden wrote. Bill Clinton expressed something similar in different terms, writing, “You now share in a great experiment: a nation dedicated to the ideal that all of us are created equal, a nation with profound respect for individual rights.” George W. Bush wrote that “Americans are united across the generations by grand and enduring ideals.” (I am relying in some cases here on copies of the letters posted online by recipients.) Some presidents have also discussed the importance of democratic engagement. “I ask you to pray for the strength and soul of our nation, and I encourage you to actively participate in shaping its future,” wrote George H. W. Bush. “I encourage you to be involved in your community and to promote the values that guide us as Americans,” Barack Obama implored. Trump, who has demonstrated his skepticism of protest and basic democracy, makes no such suggestions. Trump’s new letter is also different from the one he sent in his first term, and not only because it is shorter and his signature is an even more Twombly-esque abstraction. Unity has never held much interest for him, but where his first letter had a mention of “mutual kinship and affection,” the new one puts no emphasis on collective bonding. And where Trump used the word nation only once in his first term, he mentions it four times now, capitalized each time. (Neither letter uses the word immigrant, as Obama’s did, much less calls the United States a “nation of immigrants,” as Biden’s did.) The conceptual shift to nation—a term often connected, outside of the United States, to an ethnic polity—is part of a broader rhetorical change on the right. Vice President J. D. Vance made it most forcefully in his nomination-acceptance speech last summer. “One of the things that you hear people say sometimes is that America is an idea,” he said. “And to be clear, America was indeed founded on brilliant ideas, like the rule of law and religious liberty. Things written into the fabric of our Constitution and our nation. But America is not just an idea. It is a group of people with a shared history and a common future. It is, in short, a nation.” The administration’s ongoing attack on free speech and the rule of law make Vance’s acknowledgment—and Trump’s, in the letter—of the principles at the heart of the Constitution ring hollow. Even taken at face value, however, this emphasis on Americans’ common culture is in tension with the idea that all people are created equal, my colleague Adam Serwer wrote after Vance’s speech: “If America is a creedal nation, then anyone can be an American. But if real Americans are those who share a specific history, then some of us are more American than others.” This is particularly important right now, because the Trump administration is attempting to redefine what that shared history is—for example, by restoring a portrait of the traitor Robert E. Lee at West Point, attempting to install commissars at the Smithsonian, and ordering the bowdlerization of references at national parks to darker parts of the past, including the famous and searing image of a freed slave’s scars from whippings. These steps seem designed to exclude some kinds of people from the shared history, or else force them to acquiesce to a tendentious or partial version. Trump, as is his nature, depicts citizenship as a kind of deal. “You have pledged your heart to America—and in return, she offers the boundless promise of freedom and opportunity,” he writes. Prospective citizens might reasonably wonder whether his government will hold up its end of that bargain. Related: J. D. Vance’s empty nationalism How do you prove your citizenship? ICE won’t say.

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Trump signs proclamation adding $100K annual fee for H-1B visa applications

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a proclamation that will require a $100,000 annual visa fee for highly-skilled foreign workers and rolled out a $1 million “gold card” visa as a pathway to U.S. citizenship for wealthy individuals, moves that face near-certain legal challenges amid widespread criticism he is sidestepping Congress.

https://apnews.com/article/h1b-visa-trump-immigration-8d39699d0b2de3d90936f8076357254e?

US attorney under pressure to charge Letitia James in mortgage fraud case has resigned

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal prosecutor in Virginia whose monthslong mortgage fraud investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James has not resulted in criminal charges resigned Friday under pressure from the Trump administration.

https://apnews.com/article/justice-department-letitia-james-siebert-trump-9ec1a96c05fa77d8acc558bd803622a2?

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? Trump allies warn against FCC bullying

Via X

Several powerful allies of President Trump say the FCC was wrong to bully ABC stations over a Jimmy Kimmel monologue — showing that alarm over the comedian's suspension transcends the partisan split. Why it matters: These prominent Republicans recognize, as Jim VandeHei and I wrote in a "Behind the Curtain" column in June, that the GOP may come to regret some of Trump's precedents when Democrats regain power. As we wrote back then: New precedents are exhilarating when you're in power — and excruciating when you're not. What they're saying: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on his podcast, "Verdict with Ted Cruz," that FCC chair Brendan Carr's warning to Disney, ABC's parent, was "dangerous as hell ... right out of 'Goodfellas.' That's right out of a mafioso coming into a bar going: 'Nice bar you have here, it'd be a shame if something happened to it.'" Cruz — chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the FCC — invoked the point from our column about retaliation by Democrats. "They will silence us," Cruz said. "They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous." (via NYT) Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) tweeted agreement with Cruz: "Good riddance to Jimmy Kimmel and his disgusting rhetoric. Ted also raises important concerns about the comments of the FCC chairman." ?️ Two top MAGA-world podcasters made similar points: Tucker Carlson, a speaker at tomorrow's Charlie Kirk memorial service in Arizona, said he hopes his friend's assassination won't be used as a pretext for hate-speech laws: "f that does happen, there is never a more justified moment for civil disobedience than that." Ben Shapiro: "I do not want the FCC in the business of telling local affiliates that their licenses will be removed if they broadcast material that the FCC deems to be informationally false ... Why? Because one day the shoe will be on the other foot." Go deeper: Conservative podcasters react to Kimmel suspension (NYT gift link)

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⚖️ "He didn't quit, I fired him!"

Via Truth Social

Erik Siebert, the U.S. attorney investigating New York's attorney general, Letitia James, and the former F.B.I. director James B. Comey who resigned yesterday, was actually fired, President Trump wrote in a late-night Truth Social post. Siebert had recently told Justice Department officials that investigators found insufficient evidence to bring charges against James, who won a civil fraud trial against the president, for mortgage fraud, The New York Times reports (gift link). Siebert submitted his resignation amid pressure from the Trump administration over that decision, ABC News reports. He had also declined to prosecute Comey based on allegations brought by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, according to the Washington Post (gift link). Trump provided a different, unrelated rationale for Siebert's ouster on Truth Social and to reporters in the Oval Office yesterday: "When I saw that he got two senators, two gentlemen that are bad news as far as I'm concerned — when I saw that he got approved by those two men, I said, pull it, because he can't be any good," referring to that fact that Siebert was backed by Democratic Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine of Virginia. But the administration's effort to oust him is likely to deepen concerns that the Justice Department — already investigating other public figures Trump regards as foes — is being weaponized by a White House seeking to have its prosecutorial powers used for purposes of retribution, AP reports.

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Jeffrey Epstein’s ‘sweetheart deal’ in Florida sex trafficking defended during congressional hearing

WASHINGTON — Alexander Acosta, the former U.S. attorney in Miami who gave Jeffrey Epstein and an untold number of his co-conspirators immunity for sex trafficking dozens of underage girls, defended his decision not to prosecute Epstein during a closed-door congressional hearing Friday.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/09/20/acosta-stands-by-epsteins-sweetheart-deal-during-congressional-hearing-2/?

? Administration closed probe over $50,000 in cash

Justice Department statement on the report about Tom Homan. Image: MSNBC

The N.Y. Times and MSNBC report that before the 2024 election, Trump border czar Tom Homan accepted $50,000 in cash during an undercover FBI probe of whether he was promising future border-enforcement contracts. Homan called the report "bullsh*t." The Trump administration closed the case "because of doubts about whether prosecutors could prove to a jury that Mr. Homan had agreed to do any specific acts ... and because he had not held an official government position at the time of the meeting with undercover agents," The Times reports. The money was in a bag from CAVA, the Mediterranean fast-casual chain, per The Times.

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? Trump wants enemies charged "NOW!!!"

Via Truth Social

President Trump told Attorney General Pam Bondi in a Truth Social post, in a demanding tone that sounds like a private text message (top image above), that "JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!" with prosecutions of political enemies— former FBI director James Comey, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and New York Attorney General Letitia James. The backdrop: Trump's post was motivated by animus toward Erik Siebert, the Virginia-based U.S. attorney investigating James and Comey. Siebert was ousted on Friday after he said investigators found insufficient evidence to bring charges against James. Trump said he'd read "over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, 'same old story as last time, all talk, no action'" — which sounds like the kind of dossier aides and allies hand him when they're making a case. "We can't delay any longer, it's killing our reputation and credibility," he added. "They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING." The post was signed "President DJT." Just over an hour later, the president appeared to play cleanup with a more typical post (bottom image above) saying Bondi "is doing a GREAT job as Attorney General." He said he's naming Lindsey Halligan — a lawyer in the White House staff secretary's office, and one of his former defense attorneys — to replace Siebert as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Go deeper.

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California bans most law enforcement officers from wearing masks during operations

California became the first state to ban most law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from covering their faces while conducting official business under a bill that was signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom and swiftly denounced by Trump administration officials.

https://apnews.com/article/california-ice-agents-immigration-raids-masks-ban-97936f70699b75d8b483a850967c2e42?

The Taliban reject Trump’s bid to retake Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban government on Sunday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to retake Bagram Air Base, four years after America’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan left the sprawling military facility in the Taliban’s hands.

https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-taliban-bagram-trump-airbase-122225b702aa6b788c3a9836add60db1?

US has carried out another fatal strike targeting alleged drug-smuggling boat, Trump says

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. military has carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug smuggling vessel this month.

https://apnews.com/article/strike-drug-smuggling-vessel-275ab9837373a928aa3376e50d8d39b0?

White House says $100K H-1B visa fee won’t apply to existing holders as Trump move stirs anxiety

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’slatest plan to overhaul the American immigration system has left some immigrant workers confused, forcing the White House on Saturday to scramble to clarify that a new $100,000 fee on visas for skilled tech workers only applies to new applicants and not to current visa holders.

https://apnews.com/article/h1b-visa-changes-trump-cbb0995814cf2c9a3c74a6dcf2b31d72?

Trump says he will award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Ben Carson

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will award Ben Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, the third such award he’s announced this month.

https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-ben-carson-presidential-medal-96c072b07289f147a14ba6805681b6fa?

Trump Wants to Label Antifa a Terror Group. His Real Target Might Be a Lot Bigger.

The domestic terror designation might be a flop, but Trump will keep trying to find ways to crush the left.

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/18/trump-antifa-domestic-terrorism/?

Trump’s Idea of the Criminal Left Is a Fiction. A Coordinated Defense Against His Fascism Shouldn’t Be.

Multibillionaire investor George Soros is not funding a network of militant left-wing activists. That fact has not stopped President Donald Trump from spending the days since Charlie Kirk’s killing calling to press charges against the liberal philanthropist under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO, Act for allegedly bankrolling “violent” leftist protests across the country. 

https://theintercept.com/2025/09/19/trump-charlie-kirk-george-soros-antifa/?

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Inside Trump's TikTok deal

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

TikTok's new U.S. entity would lease its algorithm from Chinese owner ByteDance under a proposed deal between the U.S. and China, a senior White House official tells Axios' Dan Primack, Sara Fischer and Ben Berkowitz. Why it matters: There had been talk that ByteDance would be required to sell the algorithm to satisfy a 2024 law demanding TikTok be controlled by Americans or face a ban. A pure sale, however, wouldn't allow ByteDance to continue operating TikTok in countries outside the U.S., which it plans to do. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order later this week to approve the proposed deal. The White House official told us the deal for a qualified divestiture of TikTok in the U.S. "will allow the application to continue to operate safely and securely for all Americans." ? Zoom in: The current plan would be for ByteDance to create a duplicate copy of the TikTok algorithm, which would be leased to a new joint venture controlled by a U.S. investor group led by Andreessen Horowitz, Silver Lake and Oracle. Oracle would retrain the algorithm and protect U.S. user data. U.S. users wouldn't need to redownload the app. The White House official says that the Chinese government approved the terms during a bilateral meeting last week in Madrid. Between the lines: Some in Congress may object to the lease, given that the legislative language prohibited "cooperation with respect to the operation of a content recommendation algorithm." ? The intrigue: Several existing ByteDance investors remain in the dark. Even some sources close to the deal are unsure about all the specifics. The U.S. government wouldn't have a board seat or equity stake in TikTok U.S. Both were discussed at one point. The new board would consist of new investors, existing ByteDance investors and one ByteDance representative. Trump said during a Fox News interview aired yesterday that the investor group is expected to include Lachlan Murdoch, Rupert Murdoch and Michael Dell. Axios is told Trump was using shorthand for Murdoch-controlled Fox Corp. and a firm affiliated with Dell, BDT & MSD Partners. ? What to watch: Trump is extending his enforcement pause by 120 days to finalize details. TikTok was supposed to be sold or banned by this past January, but Trump has kicked the can several times. Now he's giving himself another four months.

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? Trump to link Tylenol and autism today

Photo illustration: Allie Carl/Axios. Photo: Mario Tama/Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

President Trump and his top health officials are expected to draw a link between autism and the use of Tylenol during pregnancy at a White House event this afternoon, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim writes. Why it matters: The mention of a connection, first reported by The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, would revive a medical controversy over the use of Tylenol's active ingredient, acetaminophen, early in pregnancy. ? Zoom in: Trump is due to appear at 4 p.m. ET with Kennedy, CMS administrator Mehmet Oz and other officials for "an announcement on Significant Medical and Scientific Findings for America's Children." Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, said: "We believe independent, sound science clearly shows that taking acetaminophen does not cause autism." Keep reading.

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Donald Trump Goes on Bizarre Vaccine Rant About Babies and Horses

The president got medical ahead of his major autism announcement.

President Donald Trump unleashed a surreal rant about children being injected with “massive” vaccines similar to ones “you’d give to a horse.”Trump said vaccines “can be great” unless you “put the wrong stuff in them.” Trump was speaking ahead of a Monday press conference where he suggested vaccine skeptic Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has “found an answer to autism.” Acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is expected to be blamed.

“Children get these massive vaccines like you’d give to a horse… like you’d give to a horse," he added.

“And I’ve said for a long time, I mean, this is no secret, spread them out over five years. Get five shots, small ones. You ever see what they get they get? I mean, for a little baby to be injected with that much fluid, even beyond the actual ingredients, they have sometimes 80 different vaccines in them. It’s crazy.”

The president, who in 2020 suggested an injection of “disinfectant” could be used to fight COVID, compared the size of needles used on infants with those used for horses.

“It’s like you’re shooting up a horse,” he said of children getting vaccines. “You have a little body, a baby, and you’re pumping this big thing that’s a horrible thing, so I’ve always felt that, but we’ll be having a big discussion about autism tomorrow.”

He was speaking on Air Force One on his return to the White House from Charlie Kirk’s funeral in Arizona on Sunday.

Trump also used his speech at Kirk’s funeral in Arizona to preview an announcement regarding autism from Kennedy Jr., and former TV medic Dr. Mehmet Oz.

He claimed it would be “one of the biggest announcements really medically I think in the history of our country.”

While Trump did not go into specifics of the new findings from prominent vaccine skeptic RFK Jr., he said the autism announcement would cover “how it happens so we won’t let it happen anymore, and how to get at least somewhat better when you have it so that parents can help their child, their beautiful child.”

The president also mentioned that Kirk would have also looked forward to the event.

“I told him a little bit about what was going on,” Trump said of the slain right-wing activist. “He would have been front row center. Believe me, we’ll be missing him tomorrow. It was such a big deal for him, too.”

In April, RFK Jr. promised, “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic and we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures.”

Kennedy has previously linked autism to vaccines, but is now expected to suggest a link between one of the most popular painkillers and a higher risk of autism in children.

In a new report by The Washington Post, Monday’s announcement is set to see federal health officials flag warnings over pregnant women using acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, and suggest females avoid use of the drug early in their pregnancy.

The Post report also suggested health officials will recommend the drug Leucovorin could be used as a possible autism treatment. It is usually prescribed to treat vitamin B9 deficiency.

Speaking in May, the health secretary said that parents should “do their own research” when vaccinating their children.

“Autism destroys families but more importantly it destroys our greatest resource, which are our children... we have to recognize we are doing this to our children and we need to put an end to it.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-goes-on-bizarre-vaccine-rant-about-babies-and-horses/?

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Trump Cranks Up the Pressure on Bondi to Go After All of His Enemies

The president ominously widened his pool of political targets.

President Donald Trump has ramped up the pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi to prosecute his political enemies after he ousted a top prosecutor for failing to bring charges against the New York state attorney general.

When asked who Bondi should “focus on as far as bringing accountability,” Trump answered, “Everybody… focus on everybody.”

U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert resigned last week after the president threatened to fire him for failing to charge Letitia James with alleged mortgage fraud.

Trump then turned up the pressure by claiming he had personally fired Siebert and demanding Bondi go after James and other perceived enemies.

“There are a lot of crooked people that were here before me,” he continued. “You had people that almost destroyed our country. If I didn’t win this election, our country would be destroyed. We wouldn’t have a country right now.”

The demand came a day after the president specifically identified James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, and former FBI Director James Comey as targets in a rambling post on his Truth Social platform.

“Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, ”same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Leticia??? [sic] They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done,”” Trump wrote.

“They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” he added.

Last week, ABC broke the news that the administration planned to replace Siebert, the seasoned prosecutor overseeing the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, with someone who will more aggressively investigate James.

The administration claimed the New York AG—who successfully sued the Trump Organization for fraud last year and is leading multiple lawsuits challenging the president’s policies—had declared a second home in Virginia as her primary residence to get more favorable loan terms.

But so far, investigators have determined that James only listed the home as a primary residence on a limited power of attorney form that allowed her niece—who was her co-purchaser—to sign documents on her behalf, sources told ABC News.

The loan officers who approved the mortgage never considered the document, according to ABC. The Trump administration, however, continued to demand that Siebert bring criminal charges against her.

The president’s feud with Schiff and Comey stems from the “Russia, Russia, Russia” investigation, in which the two men played central roles in investigating foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has repeatedly said the investigation was a “hoax” and a “witch hunt” and has long called for Comey and Schiff to face legal consequences for their involvement.

He fired Comey as FBI director in May of 2017. He has also accused Schiff of mortgage fraud and has urged that the senator be prosecuted.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-cranks-up-the-pressure-on-pam-bondi-to-go-after-all-of-his-enemies/?

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Trump, 79, So Desperate to Win Nobel Prize He Makes Up a War He’s ‘Solved’

The president falsely claimed he’d brokered peace between Cambodia and Armenia—countries 4,000 miles apart.

President Donald Trump has boasted that he halted a war between two countries that have never fought and are 4,000 miles apart.

The U.S. president has repeatedly said how much he deserves to win the Nobel Peace Prize for stopping “seven” world conflicts, even though the number and his involvement are disputed.

However, at the American Cornerstone Institute’s Founders’ Dinner, Trump went even further by inventing a war he claimed to have solved.

It is unclear whether the artificial conflict was another senior moment for Trump, 79, or an attempt at self-promotion gone wrong.

In his bizarre and rambling speech, during which he listed the wars he claims to have ended, Trump drifted into the land of fantasy.

“Cambodia and Armenia,” the 79-year-old said. “It was just starting, and it was a bad one. Think of that.”

In reality, there’s been no Cambodia–Armenia conflict for anyone to “settle.” The distance between the two capitals, Phnom Penh and Yerevan, is around 4,150 miles.

Cambodia’s flare-up was actually with Thailand, while Armenia’s long-running fight has been with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh.

In August, Cambodia’s Prime Minister joined Pakistan and Israel in nominating Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, crediting the U.S. president’s “visionary and innovative diplomacy” with halting his country’s border clashes with Thailand.

The nomination followed five days of hostilities in July that left at least 43 people dead and displaced more than 300,000. A truce began after phone calls from Trump and mediation by Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, which paved the way for a ceasefire on July 28.

Trump’s slip was even more strange, given he had moments earlier told the audience at George Washington’s Mount Vernon about how he’d helped end fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan, when the two leaders came to the Oval Office in August.

While it is true that Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House and announced a peace declaration, whether it delivers a durable peace remains to be seen.

He then went on, “We have, uh, let’s see, Cambodia, Armenia...we have Kosovo, Serbia, Israel, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia. That’s a beauty. They built the little dam in Ethiopia. That’s like the largest dam in the world.”

Trump’s Cambodia–Armenia mix-up is becoming part of a months-long pattern of geographical gaffes by the president. Just last Thursday, he garbled which country’s war he’d “solved,” swapping nations entirely.

In August, he blanked when trying to remember the name of the Pacific Ocean, and earlier this month, he bragged he had “just left” the Middle East despite his last trip there being months earlier.

He’s also stumbled over basic facts and simple arithmetic. In a Fox News hit last Friday, Trump promised drug prices would drop “1,000 percent,” which is a mathematical impossibility unless the government or drug companies plan to pay people to take meds.

And during last week’s Windsor Castle appearance, Trump rambled through an error-strewn address.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Daily Beast: “President Trump is right—his success in Making America Strong Again has helped him end seven wars around the world, in addition to many ‘pre-wars’ that would have devolved into violence had he not intervened.

“The President has delivered so much peace that the low-IQ losers of the Daily Beast can’t keep up. Sad!”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-79-so-desperate-to-win-nobel-prize-he-makes-up-a-war-hes-solved/?

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It’s Not Just Free Speech. The Trump Administration Is Coming for Religious Freedoms

Undoubtedly, Christian nationalism is having a moment. It must be challenged, writes Rep. Jared Huffman.

President Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission could meet in any government building in Washington. Instead, they’ve twice chosen a venue that screams Christian nationalism with the subtlety of a crucifix-shaped bullhorn: the Museum of the Bible, bankrolled by the billionaire evangelical crusaders behind Hobby Lobby.

Per an executive order signed by Trump back in May, the Religious Liberty Commission is tasked with producing a report on the state of religious liberty in the United States, and providing executive and legislative policy recommendations to the federal government on how to protect it.

Its true agenda, however, goes much further.

At the commission’s rollout ceremony in the Rose Garden, Trump mused about church-state separation: “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” He then answered his own question by naming Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick to a position that oversees the commission. Patrick had gained national attention by championing a law—since enjoined by a federal court—that would have forced Texas public schools to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom. He has also claimed that America was literally founded by God, “because he wrote the Constitution.” (If true, the Almighty has a strong plagiarism case against James Madison.)

Other Trump appointees include a former beauty queen, Carrie Prejean Boller, who at the commission’s first hearing reverently quoted an 18th-century jurist arguing, “It is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” Prejean’s participation in the 2009 Miss USA pageant made national news after she declared her opposition to gay marriage. She placed as first runner-up nonetheless.

There’s also a televangelist who calls Islam a death cult and equates opposing Trump to opposing God, and a right-wing radio host who argues enforcing church-state separation creates an unconstitutional “secular religion.”

Then there’s Dr. Phil, bringing to the proceedings the constitutional gravitas of a TV psychologist who once juiced ratings by counseling a woman who swore she was pregnant with baby Jesus. At that first hearing, he crystallized the decades-long Christian nationalist project to rewrite history and dismantle church-state separation, declaring that our founders “didn’t view religion as a threat to liberty” and “didn’t create a secular state.”

The commission and its allies will likely work to flood the zone with such revisionist history, almost certainly relying on the Christian nationalist movement’s reigning mythmaker-in-chief David Barton. Barton, who was conspicuously present at a commission hearing last week, has parlayed a bachelor’s degree in religious education into a right-wing fake history empire by churning out “Christian nation” content that sacralizes America’s founding as a Christian covenant with God, and reinvents our Enlightenment-era founders as proto-evangelicals.

His organization opposes the separation of church and state, and promotes a vision of the United States in which our laws are based on evangelical Christian beliefs. The narratives he has curated are now echoing through the rhetoric of the Religious Liberty Commission, and there is a lot more to come.

Undoubtedly, Christian nationalism is having a moment—and trying to create an even bigger moment by embedding its narratives into the upcoming celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The “Christian nation” founding myth that Barton, Johnson and so many others relentlessly promote is central to that effort.

But that myth is just the battering ram. Once the wall of church-state separation is breached, expect Christian supremacists to charge through on a second myth also being promoted by Trump’s commission: the “naked public square.” Rooted in Christian privilege and hostility to pluralism, this argument caricatures non-religious Americans like myself—30 percent of the population and growing—as radical secularists who’ve banished Christianity from civic discourse.

This fearmongering trope attacks a strawman. Christians dominate every corner of public life: the Supreme Court, Congress, state legislatures, school boards and most of American culture. Twelve of the 13 Religious Liberty Commissioners are Christians, who have all built public careers promoting Christianity. (The thirteenth is the Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.)

The public square is anything but naked. So then, what Christian nationalists can’t accept—and what triggers their moral panic—is that the public square belongs to all of us. Sharing it equally with other faith perspectives is essential.

No one expects Christians to check their faith at the door. But imposing extremist doctrines on others is another matter. Faith can guide public service without turning government into a tool of religious coercion.

This nefarious Christian nationalist agenda being advanced by Trump’s commission seeks to lead us to taxpayers subsidizing electioneering in churches, funding for sectarian religious education, and—as one Commissioner is already openly advocating—official government religious ceremonies. The long-term goal is habituation—suffusing religion into public institutions, schools, and laws to the point where the separation of church and state no longer means anything, and religious “liberty” is redefined as Christian privilege.

Americans who value secular democracy, pluralism, and public education should pay close attention. Because when fascism comes to America, it will wave a flag and carry a cross.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-not-just-free-speech-the-trump-administration-is-coming-for-religious-freedoms/?

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Trump ramps up retribution campaign with push for Bondi to pursue cases against his foes From late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension to Pentagon restrictions on reporters and an apparent public appeal to Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue legal cases against his adversaries, President Donald Trump has escalated moves to consolidate power in his second administration and root out those who have spoken out against him. Read more.

Why this matters: In a post on social media this weekend addressed to Bondi, Trump said “nothing is being done” on investigations into some of his foes. “We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility,” he said. Noting that he was impeached and criminally charged, “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” The Justice Department did not respond Sunday to a message seeking comment.   The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump is turning the Justice Department “into an instrument that goes after his enemies, whether they’re guilty or not, and most of them are not guilty at all, and that helps his friends. This is the path to a dictatorship. That’s what dictatorships do.”

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Kennedy’s vaccine advisers change COVID shot guidance, calling them an individual choice   Trump reveals Murdochs and Dell could potentially take part in TikTok deal   Judge blocks USDA from collecting data about SNAP applicants in 21 states   After cuts to food stamps, Trump administration ends annual report on hunger in America   US attorney under pressure to charge Letitia James in mortgage fraud case has resigned   Trump nominates White House aide to be top US prosecutor for office probing Letitia James   Trump administration ends temporary status for about 4,000 Syrians, according to DHS   ICE denies using excessive force as it broadens immigration arrests in Chicago   Dominican Republic says it seized cocaine that was on speedboat destroyed by US Navy   Trump administration proposes selling nearly $6 billion in weapons to Israel   US lawmakers visiting China seek to improve military cooperation   Democratic leaders in Congress demand a meeting with Trump as government shutdown looms   Social Security commissioner walks back comments on raising the retirement age   Alex Acosta defends Jeffrey Epstein plea deal to lawmakers   Appeals court keeps New York’s gun restrictions in place, including Times Square and subways   Candidates clash over Trump, costs and political divisions in New Jersey governor’s debate   AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Arizona’s special congressional election Tuesday   Man representing himself against charges of trying to kill Trump plans to call just 3 witnesses   Army says 4 soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Washington state

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Additional concentration camps are coming online

Usually, politicians will bloviate during campaigns about all the wonderful, transformative things they’ll do if voted into office. Most fall far short of their promises; others use smoke-and-mirrors or sleight-of-hand to distract the public from their shortcomings.

https://floridaphoenix.com/2025/09/22/one-florida-concentration-camp-closing-more-coming-online/?

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Man accused of trying to assassinate Trump in Florida rests his case without testifying

FORT PIERCE, Fla. (AP) — A man on trial for trying to assassinate President Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course declined to testify Monday as part of a defense in which he is representing himself and wrapped up his case by questioning a firearms expert and two character witnesses.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/09/22/man-accused-of-trying-to-assassinate-trump-in-florida-rests-his-case-without-testifying/

ps:Is this guy serious?? What a fool!!!!!

Federal judge lifts Trump administration’s halt of offshore wind farm project that’s nearly complete

The Trump administration can’t continue to keep work paused on a major offshore wind farm for Rhode Island and Connecticut while it reviews its national security concerns, a federal judge ruled Monday. Work on the nearly completed Revolution Wind project has been paused since Aug. 22 when the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management issued a stop work order for what it said were national security concerns. It did not specify those concerns at the time. Read more.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

Trump administration moves to revoke permit for Massachusetts offshore wind project Live updates: Trump is expected to make an announcement about autism Trump appointee to Federal Reserve calls for steeper rate cuts

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ABC ends Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension and his show will return Tuesday

NEW YORK (AP) — ABC will reinstate Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show in the wake of criticism over his comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, officials with the network said Monday.

https://apnews.com/article/jimmy-kimmel-suspension-supporters-94b79634a19b2c4ce70a2b4195ef1175?

? The White House's UN agenda

World leaders are converging on New York today for the UN General Assembly — and the White House is hoping to make some energy deals on the sidelines.

• "It's Europe, it's Asia. They are looking for U.S. energy. They want to get off of Russian energy sources, and we have such a supply," Jarrod Agen, the executive director of the White House National Energy Dominance Council, told me onstage today at an Axios House event in Manhattan.

?️ Zoom out: Agen pointed to the trade deal with the European Union that Trump unveiled this summer, which included a European pledge to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. energy.

• European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the agreement would help the bloc further wean itself off Russian gas.

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NASA, NOAA space weather satellites to launch under cloud of Trump’s science hit list

Despite President Trump seeking to cut NASA’s science mission budget nearly in half, the agency is set to send up its latest hardware to study space weather.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/09/22/nasa-noaa-space-weather-satellites-to-launch-under-cloud-of-trumps-science-hit-list/?

Trump makes unfounded claims about Tylenol and repeats discredited link between vaccines and autism

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday used the platform of the presidency to promote unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism as his administration announced a wide-ranging effort to study the causes of the complex brain disorder.

https://apnews.com/article/tylenol-cause-autism-trump-kennedy-0847ee76eedecbd5e9baa6888b567d66?