Category: Authoritarian

Kennedy Center president claims ‘legacy media’ is encouraging artists to boycott performances over Trump name change | The Independent

Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell accused major news outlets CNN, The Washington Post, and The New York Times of encouraging artists to boycott performances in response to the Trump administration’s attempt to rename the institution the Trump-Kennedy Center. Grenell made these claims without providing evidence across multiple X posts, stating that “legacy media are left wing activists.” Critics, including former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger, demanded Grenell produce the alleged emails, which would violate journalistic standards.

Multiple artists have canceled performances at the Kennedy Center since the board’s controversial February vote to add Trump’s name to the statutorily protected institution. Jazz supergroup The Cookers canceled New Year’s Eve concerts, with saxophonist Billy Harper stating he would not perform at a venue “bearing a name (and being controlled by the kind of board) that represents overt racism and deliberate destruction of African American music and culture.” The Doug Varone and Dancers troupe withdrew from an April 2026 performance, and drummer Chuck Redd canceled a longstanding Christmas Eve jazz concert in protest. In response to Redd’s cancellation, Grenell demanded $1 million from the artist, labeling the withdrawal a “political stunt.”

Trump attacked the Kennedy family on social media hours after the death of JFK’s granddaughter, amplifying MAGA supporters’ mockery of their objections to the name change. The administration installed MAGA-friendly board members in February and named Trump chairman of the center, abandoning the institution’s bipartisan tradition. Some observers dispute the legality of the board’s voting process, noting that a congresswoman was muted during the call and prevented from voicing criticism.

The attempted renaming has damaged the Kennedy Center’s financial performance and viewership. Ticket sales reached their worst levels in years following Trump’s takeover, according to October analysis by The Washington Post. The Kennedy Center Honors viewership dropped 35 percent year-over-year when Trump became the first president to host the event.

The Trump administration defended the name change as necessary to save the institution from deterioration, disregarding criticism from Kennedy family members and the broader artistic community. Grenell’s unsubstantiated allegations of media coordination appeared designed to shift focus from the substantive objections raised by canceling artists regarding Trump’s control of the culturally significant venue.

(Source: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-kennedy-center-artist-boycott-b2892457.html)

Trump threatens lawsuit against Fed Chair Jerome Powell

President Trump announced he is considering filing a lawsuit against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, citing “gross incompetence” over renovations to Federal Reserve buildings. During a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump claimed the construction project was poorly managed and that the costs ballooned unnecessarily, calling Powell’s oversight of the work his “baby” and describing the outcome as incompetent.

Powell has disputed Trump’s characterization of the renovation expenses. The Federal Reserve published a FAQ addressing the claims, clarifying that the project was first approved in 2017 and has undergone annual budget review by the Fed’s board of governors since its inception, contradicting Trump’s narrative of unchecked spending under Powell’s watch.

Trump has previously threatened legal action against Powell and has repeatedly demanded his resignation, stating “He should resign. It would be a favor to the nation.” However, Trump indicated he would allow Powell to complete his term, which ends in May, noting he was “so close” to the term’s conclusion and acknowledged Powell’s impending departure even as he suggested he might still remove him.

Trump originally nominated Powell to lead the Federal Reserve during his first presidency, and President Biden subsequently renominated Powell for a second four-year term. Trump’s ongoing fixation on the Federal Reserve leadership and his repeated attacks on Powell reflect his broader pattern of targeting the institution when monetary policy decisions conflict with his economic demands.

This lawsuit threat represents another instance of Trump weaponizing the legal system against federal officials who do not comply with his directives. The Federal Reserve’s independence from presidential control is foundational to U.S. economic stability; Trump’s repeated attempts to intimidate, remove, or sue the Fed chair directly undermine that institutional autonomy.

(Source: https://thehill.com/business/5665840-trump-powell-lawsuit-fed-buildings/amp/)

America Now Involved In Slave Trade with Trump Sending Deportees To Forced Labor in Palau

The Trump administration and Palau signed a migrant agreement on Wednesday, with the Pacific island nation accepting up to 75 “third-country nationals” in exchange for $7.5 million in U.S. foreign aid. According to statements from Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. and the U.S. Embassy in Koror, the migrants would be individuals never charged with a crime who would “live and work in Palau” to address local labor shortages. Palau’s national working group would screen each arrival on a case-by-case basis before approval.

U.S. Ambassador Joel Ehrendreich and Palau’s Minister of State Gustav Aitaro signed the accord at a ceremony, cementing the Trump administration’s framing of the deal as enforcement of U.S. immigration law. The U.S. Embassy statement described Palau’s participation as cooperation on immigration priorities, while the financial package extends beyond the initial $7.5 million to include increased funding for health, disaster preparedness, financial stability, and law enforcement.

Palau, home to fewer than 18,000 people, maintains a Compact of Free Association with the United States established after its 1994 independence, under which the U.S. provides defense and substantial financial support in exchange for strategic military access to Palauan territory and waters. The agreement effectively uses development aid as leverage to export the administration’s migration policies to a dependent sovereign nation with minimal capacity to refuse.

(Source: https://thehill.com/policy/international/5662934-palau-trump-agreement-migrants/amp/)

Trump Hires Beauty Salon Owner Mora Namdar to Decide Who to Ban From U.S.

Donald Trump appointed Mora Namdar, a Texas-based beauty salon owner and attorney, as assistant secretary for consular affairs, giving her authority over visa approvals, revocations, and decisions about who enters the United States. Namdar, 46, owns the Bam salon chain in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Plano, offering blowouts starting at $45 and makeup sessions at $55, while simultaneously operating a one-woman law firm she announced closing on Christmas Day. She previously held an interim position in the State Department’s Middle East and North Africa bureau during Trump’s first term in 2020.

Namdar’s Senate confirmation this month elevates a politically connected operative with no demonstrated expertise in immigration or consular affairs to control visa adjudications affecting millions of foreigners. In testimony, she aligned visa decisions with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s national security framing, stating that consular officers can revoke visas for individuals who “undermine” U.S. foreign policy, a standard potentially weaponizable against political opponents and critics.

Namdar contributed to Project 2025, Trump’s policy blueprint, by authoring a section attacking the U.S. Agency for Global Media—which operates Voice of America and Radio Free Europe—accusing it of “espionage-related security risks” and “anti-U.S. talking points,” and calling for its reform or closure. Her appointment operationalizes the “personnel is policy” strategy documented by PBS, which found the administration has implemented approximately half of Project 2025’s agenda through ideological staffing choices.

Her interim leadership of the State Department’s Near Eastern affairs bureau triggered internal concerns about management and morale according to multiple outlets. Namdar now oversees implementation of the administration’s ban on citizens from various European countries announced Wednesday, which Trump and Rubio framed as punishment for “egregious” social media censorship of “American viewpoints,” with additional bans promised.

This appointment exemplifies Trump’s strategy of installing operatives committed to Project 2025’s authoritarian goals across government agencies controlling speech and entry. Paired with FCC chairman Brendan Carr—another Project 2025 architect now pushing regulatory rollbacks and culture-war “censorship” narratives—Namdar’s position consolidates power to silence dissent and control who accesses the United States based on political loyalty rather than law.

(Source: https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-hires-beauty-salon-owner-mora-namdar-to-decide-who-to-ban-from-us/)

White House calls for “60 Minutes” producers to be fired: “Clean house” – Newsweek

Stephen Miller, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, demanded that CBS News fire producers who objected to the network’s decision to pull a 60 Minutes segment from Sunday’s broadcast. Miller told Fox News on Tuesday that every producer involved in the “revolt” should be terminated, stating “Clean house. Fire them.”

CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss removed the 13-minute segment titled “Inside CECOT” just three hours before air, which documented interviews with Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s CECOT prison without trials or due process. Weiss claimed the story needed additional reporting and suggested adding an interview with Miller or another Trump official, though correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi stated the piece had passed all legal and editorial reviews and was ready to broadcast.

Alfonsi rejected Weiss’s explanation in a message to CBS colleagues, stating the decision was “not an editorial decision, it is a political one” and warned that allowing the administration to block stories through non-participation gives them a “kill switch” for inconvenient reporting. She noted the segment had already been promoted to viewers, and its absence without explanation would be correctly identified as corporate censorship.

Miller defended the deportations on Fox News, falsely characterizing the Venezuelan men as “monsters” and “murderers and rapists,” despite reporting that many lacked U.S. criminal records and had only violated immigration laws. According to the Cato Institute, approximately 240 Venezuelan men were deported to CECOT in March; Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have documented that prisoners there are denied attorney and family contact and face widespread mistreatment.

The segment subsequently appeared online, intensifying backlash against CBS News. Multiple veteran correspondents questioned Weiss’s decision during a Monday meeting, Democratic Senator Brian Schatz called the situation “a terrible embarrassment,” and internal sources reported staff threatening to resign over the incident. Weiss stated the segment will air eventually, though timing remains unclear.

(Source: https://www.newsweek.com/white-house-calls-60-minutes-producers-to-be-fired-stephen-miller-11260869)

Trump Tells Child He Wants ‘To Make Sure’ That ‘A Bad Santa’ Doesn’t Enter U.S.

During a Christmas Eve NORAD call with children, President Trump used the Santa tracker conversation to promote misinformation about coal. When a child stated she did not want coal as a Christmas gift, Trump interjected to insist that coal is “clean and beautiful,” contradicting established scientific consensus that coal is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution.

Trump’s remarks about tracking Santa included unsolicited commentary about border security, telling one child that officials monitor Santa “all over the world” to ensure “a bad Santa” does not “infiltrate into our country.” The president connected the fictional scenario to his policy priorities, characterizing national entry oversight through the Santa metaphor.

When asked by another child what present she wanted, Trump engaged in typical gift-discussion banter, offering to help secure a dollhouse. However, his fixation on coal misinformation dominated his interactions, repeatedly correcting the child’s preference and demanding she “remember that at all costs” regarding coal’s environmental properties.

The exchange demonstrated Trump’s pattern of using informal settings with children to advance false or misleading claims about energy policy and security narratives. Similar instances show Trump using holiday events to promote debunked talking points, prioritizing messaging over age-appropriate conversation.

Trump’s insistence that coal is environmentally benign contradicts decades of peer-reviewed research and international climate data. His deployment of misinformation during a family-oriented charitable broadcast reflects his consistent strategy of embedding false claims into casual public appearances to expand their reach and normalize their repetition.

(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/trump-tells-child-he-wants-to-make-sure-that-a-bad-santa-doesnt-enter-the-country/)

Donald Trump Threatens Americans to ‘Enjoy What May be Your Last Merry Christmas’

Donald Trump posted a Christmas Day message on Truth Social attacking Democrats, the New York Times, and others connected to Jeffrey Epstein, claiming he was “the only one who did drop Epstein” before concluding with a veiled threat: “Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas!” The statement came as the Department of Justice released additional files from Epstein investigations, including a document containing an unverified 1999 rape allegation against Trump reported by a former limousine driver.

The FBI intake report, dated October 27, 2020, describes an alleged incident where the driver claimed Trump discussed “abusing some girl” and repeatedly mentioned “Jeffrey” during a phone call. According to the document, an unnamed woman present allegedly stated Trump and Epstein had raped her, though the account remains unverified and was submitted to the FBI shortly before the 2020 election.

The DOJ preemptively characterized the allegations as “untrue and sensationalist claims” in a statement released December 23. These document releases occur under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which Trump signed in November despite previously opposing similar legislation—a shift motivated by his desire to access and control the narrative surrounding files that name him and feature photographs of him with Epstein.

Trump’s holiday messaging prioritized personal grievances over seasonal remarks, using Christmas Eve calls with children to brag about winning Pennsylvania “three times” in the 2024 election. His Truth Social post dismissed coverage of his documented relationship with Epstein as “fake” while attacking Democrats and calling the 2016 Russian interference investigation fabricated, a pattern of deflection consistent with his administration’s weaponization of the Justice Department.

The veiled threat embedded in Trump’s Christmas message—”Enjoy what may be your last Merry Christmas”—targets political opponents and their associates, signaling potential retaliation as Epstein files continue surfacing. This rhetorical escalation demonstrates his use of authoritarian messaging to intimidate critics and consolidate power through fear.

(Source: https://people.com/donald-trump-threatens-americans-to-enjoy-what-may-be-your-last-merry-christmas-11876269)

‘Gunboat diplomacy on steroids’: US signs security deals across Latin America | US military

The Trump administration is rapidly expanding US military presence across Latin America and the Caribbean through security agreements signed with Paraguay, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, and Panama over recent weeks. These deals authorize US troop deployments, airport access, radar installations, and armed operations under the stated pretext of a “war on drugs,” while simultaneously conducting a four-month military campaign against Venezuela that includes oil tanker blockades, vessel seizures, and airstrikes that have killed over 100 people across the Caribbean and Pacific.

Analysts characterize the strategy as establishing operational infrastructure for a potential larger offensive against Venezuela and potentially other nations including Colombia and Cuba. Jennifer Kavanagh, director of military analysis at Defense Priorities, stated that constructing a network of locations across the region would be necessary for sustaining any expanded military operation, and Jorge Heine, former Chilean ambassador and Boston University researcher, directly contradicted the drug-war rationale by noting that Paraguay and Venezuela are not major drug production or distribution centers, indicating the actions align with Trump’s recently released national security strategy document calling for expanded US military presence in the region.

The Trump administration has reframed the Monroe Doctrine as a “Trump Corollary” explicitly calling for military expansion in Latin America, reversing historical patterns of US restraint. Ecuador rejected foreign military bases in a referendum, yet the US secured temporary air force troop deployment anyway; Peru’s congress authorized armed US military and intelligence operations following White House pressure; and Trinidad and Tobago’s installation of US radar prompted Venezuela’s interior minister to threaten retaliation and the regime to terminate fossil gas supply agreements with the Caribbean nation.

John Walsh, director for drug policy at the Washington Office on Latin America, described the strategy as “gunboat diplomacy on steroids,” designed to reward compliant allies while threatening nations that resist Trump administration objectives. Venezuela’s dictator Nicolás Maduro issued an urgent letter to regional leaders warning that US escalation “threatens to destabilise the entire region,” yet his diplomatic isolation—having had almost no contact with other presidents following his disputed 2024 reelection—limits his ability to mobilize regional opposition, while Trump has explicitly threatened Colombia’s leftwing president Gustavo Petro as a potential next target.

The military buildup leverages existing US infrastructure including bases in Puerto Rico, Honduras, and Cuba, alongside surveillance hubs at airports in El Salvador, Aruba, and Curaçao. For nations refusing to align with the Trump administration, Walsh explained that the visible US military presence nearby functions as an implicit threat designed to ensure compliance with American interests.

(Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/dec/23/us-trump-administration-signs-security-deals-across-latin-america)

Trump unveils new class of Navy battleship named after himself – The Washington Post

President Donald Trump announced Monday he will oversee development of a new Navy battleship class bearing his name, justifying the decision as stimulus for the shipbuilding industry. The declaration breaks established Navy naming conventions by inserting presidential politics into the ship program’s foundational design phase, according to reporting by Dan Lamothe and Tara Copp in The Washington Post.

The battleship naming follows Trump’s pattern of rebranding federal institutions to carry his name, including recent renamings of the U.S. Institute of Peace and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. These actions systematically replace existing institutional identities with Trump’s personal brand across government agencies.

Trump’s shipbuilding initiative departs from longstanding military protocol governing vessel nomenclature, which traditionally honors historical figures, geographic locations, or strategic concepts rather than sitting presidents. By directing development of a ship class named after himself from inception, Trump subordinates institutional standards to personal aggrandizement.

The announcement reflects a broader effort to embed Trump’s identity within federal infrastructure and symbols. Each rebranding action consolidates his control over government institutions while normalizing the conflation of his person with state authority and resources.

(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/22/trump-battleship-golden-fleet/)

Pentagon plan calls for major power shifts within U.S. military – The Washington Post

Senior Pentagon officials are preparing a reorganization plan that would downgrade multiple major military headquarters and redistribute authority among the U.S. armed forces’ top generals, according to sources familiar with the initiative. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is driving the consolidation effort, which marks a significant restructuring of military command hierarchy.

The plan involves substantial shifts in power dynamics within the Department of Defense, fundamentally altering how the military branches coordinate and operate under unified command structures. The specific details of which headquarters would be downgraded and how authority would be redistributed remain under development by Pentagon leadership.

This reorganization reflects Hegseth’s broader agenda to reshape institutional military structures since his appointment as Defense Secretary. The consolidation strategy signals an effort to centralize control and streamline decision-making processes within the military establishment.

The timing and scope of these changes underscore the administration’s intent to remake federal institutions according to its preferences, consistent with earlier purges of independent oversight mechanisms across agencies. Such institutional overhauls typically encounter resistance from career military officers and existing power structures invested in current arrangements.

(Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/12/15/military-command-plan-caine-hegseth/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwdGRleAOtqdBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEeb0mL3h6sJ1c_rBbLs0pcvApkKc8QD239S1X4dkYO2-ExKYQR2RscmrNIDOA_aem_QgyNhVpMmirOwJFbOUMA9w)

1 2 3 … 154