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We were warned Trump would sell out key allies. A year later, here we go
Exactly one year ago last night, Vice President Kamala Harris confidently walked up to Donald Trump, looked him in his bloodshot eyes, offered her hand, and then proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes dragging him all over the stage of Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center in their one-and-only 2024 presidential debate.Harris was prepared, disciplined, and clearly demonstrated her keen understanding of both domestic and foreign policy issues. She wasted no time stating her key plans for her administration, and effortlessly illustrated a command of the Constitution. She made it clear that she, not her opponent, who was a convicted felon, had spent an entire professional career upholding our nation’s laws, not violating them.She even predicted how the debate would go down telling the world that Trump would haul out “the same old, tired playbook,” and warning he would resort to “a bunch of lies, grievances and name-calling.”While Harris strongly defended a woman’s right to choose, Trump stammered and lied saying, “As far as the abortion ban, no, I’m not in favor of an abortion ban. But it doesn’t matter because this issue has now been taken over by the states.”Then he weirdly said, “I have been a leader on fertilization.”With an incredulous look, Harris stared at him and then the camera, and said without speaking, “I have no idea what the hell he is talking about, either.”This was repeated several more times, as Trump used the shovel Harris casually tossed him to bury himself.When she wasn’t relentlessly fact-checking and battering the haggard Trump with the facts, she was nonchalantly casting a line and patiently waiting for the two-ton sucker fish to hit it, before setting the hook, and reeling him in.By the time she was done, the orange, flapping fish was bleeding out all over the stage, and screaming, “They’re eating the dogs! They’re eating the cats!”Harris also effortlessly dog-walked Trump into the very racist trap that he set weeks earlier when he questioned Harris’s “Blackness.”“All I can say is, I read where she was not Black, that she put out. And I’ll say that, and then I read that she was Black. And that’s OK. Either one was OK with me. That’s up to her. That’s up to her.”That’s up to her … How kind.Harris again looked at the camera, with a “you decide” look.When the ass-kicking was finally over, Harris had masterfully humiliated Trump. She had proven she had the capacity to be one damn fine president, and knew how to stand up to fascist bullies, not roll out the red carpet for them.So badly was Trump beaten, he actually flat turned down an offer from Republican state media at Fox TV to host a second debate, saying “there will be no rematch.”It’s fitting then, that on the one-year anniversary of Harris’s knockout of Trump on that Philadelphia stage, we are getting news of Russia President Vladimir Putin’s incursion into Polish airspace today. High-ranking Polish military officials are decrying an “unprecedented violation” as a “huge number” of Russian drones were shot down by Polish and NATO forces over that country.This is the first time in the history of NATO that alliance fighters have engaged enemy targets in allied airspace.Read that again.As I type this, Poland’s government has invoke Article 4 of the NATO treaty, that states alliance members “will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the parties is threatened.”Without invoking Article 4, there cannot be Article 5, which could entail military action.From reporting in The New York Times this afternoon:Since NATO’s founding in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked eight times. Before Wednesday, the last was on Feb. 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.What we know for sure right now is that the world is less safe today than it was yesterday, and certainly one year ago. We still don’t have a clue what Trump has to say about any of it, except what he posted on his social media account:"What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones? Here we go!"Here we go? Good God.This is the terrifying stuff of world wars, but of course, Harris was on top of this issue, too, during that debate, because unlike Trump, she read her national security briefings, and could tell our friends from our enemies.At one point, Harris turned to Trump and said this:“Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor, and what you think is a friendship with a known dictator (Putin) who would eat you for lunch?”She wasn’t done:“If Ukraine loses, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland.”Holy hell …And let me remind you that Trump promised to end Russia’s war with Ukraine on Day One of his presidency. Of course, anybody who was paying attention, and/or really loves this country, knew that like so much of the heated bilge that pours out of his lying mouth, it was all complete bulls–––.Instead, just last month he surrendered to Putin on American soil by giving the murdering dictator the red-carpet treatment Harris had predicted.But if we are really being accurate here, all of this was forecasted on another debate stage in 2016, when Trump was dragged around by another smart, tough, unflappable woman.When Hillary Clinton went after Trump’s bromance with Putin, the man who would violently attack America only four years later said this:“He (Putin) said nice things about me. He has no respect for her (Clinton), he has no respect for our president (Obama). I’ll tell you what, we’re in very serious trouble.”Clinton responded this way:“Well that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States.”Truer words have never been spoken.Both of these patriotic women were right about everything, and we should all be reminded of that every single day.D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.
'It's unacceptable': 'Infuriated' Trump lashed out at ally in private phone call
The White House is reportedly “infuriated” following the surprise Israeli strike Tuesday on American-ally Qatar, an operation that the United States was given little advanced notice of and has put a key international alliance in jeopardy.According to Israeli officials, the strike on Doha, the capital of Qatar, was intended to eliminate Hamas leadership, specifically those actively involved in the ongoing ceasefire negotiations. The strike was immediately condemned by Trump, who said he was “very unhappy” with what he called an “unfortunate incident.”But behind the scenes, Trump was reportedly “infuriated,” and had a heated phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to insiders familiar with the matter who spoke with Axios in a report published Thursday.“It's unacceptable,” Trump told Netanyahu during a phone call Tuesday, according to “two sources with knowledge,” speaking with Axios. “I demand that you do not repeat it.”The strike has also jeopardized the United States’ relationship with Qatar, which for decades has remained a key ally in the Middle East, having even been designated a major non-NATO ally by the United States.A “source with direct knowledge” told Axios that Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani told Steve Witkoff, the United States’ special envoy to the Middle East, that the country would reevaluate its security partnership with the United States, and “maybe find some other partners.”Netanyahu’s response to Trump during their phone call Tuesday is unclear, but in the days since, he has defended the strikes as necessary to protect Israel’s security and to bring “terrorists to justice,” while also proclaiming that Israel would “continue to strike” as necessary.According to Axios, Trump was not notified of the impending attack until “missiles were in the air.” According to Axios, Al-Thani told the White House that it considered the attack a “betrayal” by the United States, and that Qatar was actively engaged in conversations with other Persian Gulf nations on how to respond.
UK fires ambassador to US over ties to 'best pal' Jeffrey Epstein
Lord Peter Mandelson has been removed as British ambassador to the U.S. over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer ordered his firing after a series of damaging revelations about his longtime friendship with the disgraced financier and convicted child sex abuser, reported The Telegraph, which had previously revealed emails showing Mandelson advised Epstein on how to respond to criminal charges over soliciting a minor in 2008."The emails show that the depth and extent of Peter Mandelson’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein is materially different from that known at the time of his appointment," the Foreign Office said in a statement. “In light of that, and mindful of the victims of Epstein’s crimes he has been withdrawn as Ambassador with immediate effect.”Mandelson and Epstein had worked together on a $1.35 billion business deal after the late pedophile's conviction for child sex crimes, and while Mandelson was serving as a government minister.The former ambassador described Epstein as his "best pal" in notes written for a book on the financier's 50th birthday in 2003, but Starmer had stood by Mandelson until the emails leaked Wednesday.The move comes just days before U.S. President Donald Trump, who was also longtime friends with Epstein, is scheduled to arrive in the UK for his second state visit.
Politicians in at least 51 countries used anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric during elections, NGO finds
Rights group also finds rise in openly gay, bisexual and transgender people running for office in 36 countriesPoliticians in at least 51 countries used homophobic or transphobic rhetoric during elections last year, from depicting LGBTQ+ identity as a foreign threat to condemning “gender ideology”, according to a new study of 60 countries and the EU.However, there were also gains for LGBTQ+ representation in some countries. Openly gay, bisexual and transgender people ran for office in at least 36 countries, including for the first time in Botswana, Namibia and Romania – albeit unsuccessfully – according to the report by Outright International. The number of LGBTQ+ elected officials doubled to at least 233 in Brazil. Continue reading...
'Godawful mess' in US has foreign businessmen second-guessing working with Trump: NBC
Donald Trump’s desire to deport immigrants from the U.S. by force is running headlong into his drive to increase foreign investments in the U.S. in the hope that it will improve his dismal job numbers.Asked about an immigration raid on a Hyundai facility in Georgia by agents working for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem that led to a round-up of 475 employees, many of them South Koreans sent to help with the set-up, NBC’s Christine Romans said foreign investors are becoming nervous."So talk about the concerns you've heard from South Korean business leaders,“ she was asked on MSNBC.“Well, it's the collision of two Trump administration policies, right?’ she began. “Aggressive immigration enforcement and then using these trade deals to to get countries to invest more in the United States. Now, are you more likely in South Korea or elsewhere to invest more in the United States? If the 200 people that you've sent over to build the factory, literally, to train the American workers around it.”“They just said they're the top investor,” MSNBC host Joe Scarborough prompted his guest.”That's right, that's right and this is what part of the trade policy is to get more countries to send their companies here to build in the United States,” Romans replied. “At the same time, you have this very messy public image that is being broadcast here.”“It's just these things are at cross purposes,” she elaborated. “What you hear from business leaders, overseas business leaders ,is that the us immigration system is a godawful mess, and that they need better visa pathways for skilled workers to get here. What you hear from MAGA, of course, and from many traditional Republicans as well, is that skilled worker visas take away American jobs, so it's not an easy sell on that end. It's a big mess and this is front and center here.”You can watch below or at the link. - YouTube youtu.be
'Here we go!' Trump issues 11-word statement on Russia's drone attack in Poland
President Donald Trump issued a brief statement about the suddenly tense standoff between Poland and Russia.Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned the NATO member's parliament that Russia had crossed a line by sending drones into its airspace during an early Wednesday attack against Ukraine, saying "this situation brings us the closest we have been to open conflict since World War II," and the U.S. president briefly commented on social media."What’s with Russia violating Poland’s airspace with drones?" Trump posted on Truth Social at 11:09a.m. EST. "Here we go!"European leaders condemned the incident as an escalation by the Kremlin, which has continued its attacks on Ukraine despite Trump's efforts to push Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into peace talks.Polish military officials called the incursion “act of aggression" and said all of the drones were shot down with help from NATO allies, and Tusk said he has activated Article 4 of NATO’s treaty, which allows member nations to demand consultations with their allies.That's only the eighth time since NATO was established in 1949 that Article 4, which does not trigger a military reaction, has been invoked by a member.
At least 19 killed in ‘gen Z’ protests against Nepal’s social media ban
Many demonstrators say they are also on the streets over corruption and nepotism they allege is rampant At least 19 people have been killed during protests in Nepal over a government ban on dozens of online platforms including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and X.The government has faced mounting criticism after imposing a ban on 26 prominent social media platforms and messaging apps last week because they had missed a deadline to register under new regulations. Continue reading...
Marines' shocking ties to pro-Russian neo-Nazis exposed after Raw Story sues Trump agency
The U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) probed a Marine assigned to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina for ties to a pro-Russia neo-Nazi group in Poland, according to internal military files exclusively obtained by Raw Story.The Marine was arrested when the FBI disrupted a plot to attack an energy facility on U.S. soil. Authorities found that a co-defendant in the case, also a Marine and a Russian linguist, was in possession of classified material. The links to the pro-Russian group and details of the classified materials investigation are reported here for the first time.NCIS initially refused to provide records in response to a Raw Story Freedom of Information Act request, citing an exemption to protect privacy. Raw Story sued the federal agency, and the courts found in its favor.“‘Disclosure of the requested records would likely reveal a great deal about law enforcement policy,’ including how defendants handled investigations related to the mishandling of classified information and how the ‘military is addressing extremism in the ranks,’” Judge Lori AliKhan, a federal judge on the D.C. bench, wrote in 2024. “‘Thus, disclosure would offer the public visibility into defendants’ ‘performance of [their] statutory duties’ and would further ‘let citizens know ‘what their government is up to.’”‘Insider threat’NCIS began investigating the case in April 2020, following a Newsweek story exposing Lance Cpl. Liam Collins as a member of Iron March, a global neo-Nazi online forum. The investigation uncovered messages exchanged between Collins and two self-identified members of the Polish group, Falanga, discussing potentially coordinating paramilitary activity.By the time the NCIS began investigating Collins’ links to Falanga, he had organized a neo-Nazi paramilitary group that was illegally manufacturing guns and stealing military gear from Camp Lejeune, while plotting an attack on critical infrastructure designed to spark a race war, according to federal prosecutors. In October 2020, while Collins was under investigation for his links to the Polish neo-Nazi group, he was arrested on firearms charges, along with Cpl. Jordan Duncan, a Marine and Russian linguist assigned to the 2nd Radio Battalion of the II Marine Expeditionary Force. The two Marines had met at Camp Lejeune in late 2018.When the FBI raided Duncan’s home in Boise, ID, they seized his laptop and an external hard drive. Authorities discovered classified material on the devices, and the NCIS and FBI opened a new investigation for potential violation of a federal law regulating the handling of national defense information. As the NCIS and FBI reviewed the classified material as part of an “insider threat” investigation, the case widened to include a new charge of conspiracy to damage an energy facility, and three co-defendants, including another Marine and a New Jersey Army National Guard member.In August 2021, while Duncan was in jail awaiting trial, investigators determined that the files discovered on his devices included a secret “capabilities brief” for the 2nd Radio Battalion, according to another set of investigative files exclusively obtained by Raw Story. The files included other documents labeled “FOUO,” or “For Official Use Only,” a designation that denotes sensitive material exempt from public release, though not classified. The documents included “Standard Operating Procedures and tactics” specific to the battalion that a special security officer determined “would be detrimental to the Signals Intelligence and Electronic Warfare community as a whole if obtained by an adversary,” according to the investigation.The investigation revealed that the FOUO materials were commingled with “a large library of improvised explosive device schematics, chemical weapons schematics” and other manuals on Duncan’s hard drive. “It appears that Mr. Duncan’s hard drive was kind of a source for the entire group,” NCIS Agent Christopher Little testified during a detention hearing for one of Duncan’s codefendants in August 2021. “There was multiple documents from that hard drive on multiple other group members’ devices.”‘Fresh and ready’Before Collins met Duncan or started assembling his paramilitary group, he communicated with two self-identified members of Falanga, the neo-Nazi group with roots in the Polish skinhead scene, according to a data set of leaked Iron March chats reviewed by Raw Story. When Collins began communicating with Falanga members in June 2016, he was a rising senior in New Jersey still more than a year out from entering Marine Corps bootcamp at Parris Island, SC. Collins told other users on the forum his mother was Polish, that he was proud his “great-grandparents were Nazi collaborators,” and that he didn’t dispute Jews who claimed “Poland helped with the Holocaust.” In fact, it was a point of pride.“I have a deep interest in creating a sort of ‘alliance’ with you and any members of Falanga that might be able to talk to me,” Collins wrote to a self-identified Falanga member with the username “Phalanx22” in August 2016. “Like being able to relay information and propaganda between Poland and the United States. I will be serving in the military soon, so I want to come out fresh and ready to train my Polish brothers how to defend their blood and soil.”Falanga made no secret of its anti-American stance.The group was founded because of its leader’s perception of “liberalism, capitalism and USA/NATO as the greatest enemies,” a member with the username “Bombenhagel” told Collins.Collins’ comments in the Iron March chats do not reveal his position on Russia, but he disparaged NATO — a bulwark of the US military alliance with Poland — for its role in the Balkans war of the 1990s.“Opportunists like NATO wanted a reason to build more bases in Eastern Europe after the Cold War,” Collins wrote, “so they stopped Serb and Croats from genociding every last Muslim in the Balkans.”Addressing an Iron March user in Canada, Collins said he was forming a “paramilitary.” In April 2017, Collins told “Bombenhagel” his group would be “purchasing a lot of land soon for training, so if Falanga ever organizes a trip to the U.S., you are welcome to come train with us.”“Bombenhagel” thanked Collins for the invitation. It’s unclear if Falanga members ever traveled to the U.S. to train. The last documented exchange between Collins and Falanga on Iron March took place in May 2017, but an NCIS investigative report noted that Collins expressed concern about the security of the forum, while suggesting they continue to communicate through a different platform. It is unclear how long the relationship between Collins and Falanga lasted.In early 2018, three Falanga members were detained by the Polish Internal Security Agency on suspicion of carrying out an arson attack against a Hungarian cultural center in Ukraine. The three were convicted, according to Przemyslaw Witkowski, a Polish scholar who researches the far right and pro-Russia influences at Civitas University in Warsaw, and who described the attack in the book Russia and the Far-Right: Insights from Ten European Countries as “the most infamous act of terror committed by Polish citizens in the last 20 years.”Polish prosecutors argued that the purpose of the crime was to “publicly incite national hatred between Ukrainians and Hungarians” and to cause “disruption of the political system in Ukraine.” The clear beneficiary was Russia, which in 2014 had annexed Crimea from Ukraine, and was backing separatists in the Donbas. Three years later, Russia launched a full-scale invasion that continues to exact a bloody toll.Witness testimony in the trial for the 2018 terror attack implicated Manuel Ochsenreiter, a German journalist active with the far-right Alternative for Germany party, according to Witkowski. Ochsenreiter reportedly denied involvement but relocated to Moscow, where in 2021 he died suddenly of a heart attack, aged 45. ‘Exchange of information’Falanga members have addressed the Duma in Moscow, visited Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas, and interviewed Aleksander Dugin, a Russian intellectual close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Witkowski noted. Witkowski told Raw Story he finds it unlikely that Falanga would be able to maintain such high-level contacts without some kind of approval from Russian intelligence services.“For sure there is an exchange of information in this environment,” Witkowski said.The secret “capabilities brief” and other sensitive U.S. military information Duncan obtained through his assignment to the 2nd Radio Battalion in the II Marine Expeditionary Force would likely be of interest to Collins’ counterparts in Falanga, Witkowski said. He noted that Falanga members have demonstrated an interest in infiltrating the Polish police, national guard and army.Duncan is now serving a seven-year sentence in Pennsylvania, for illegally manufacturing a short-barrel rifle. His lawyer declined to comment.Collins, who is serving a 10-year sentence in South Carolina for aiding and abetting the interstate transportation of unregistered firearms, could not be reached for comment.Emails to Bartosz Bekier, the leader of Falanga, went unreturned.NCIS told Raw Story the investigation yielded no evidence that any military information on Duncan’s devices was transferred to Falanga or wound up in Russian hands.“NCIS has determined, in coordination with the FBI and [the U.S. Department of Justice], that there were no indications that classified information was provided to other groups or to foreign entities,” said Meredith March, an NCIS spokesperson. March added that NCIS was “unable to provide information that may be contained in the FBI’s investigative files.”The FBI National Press Office and FBI joint terrorism task forces in Wilmington, NC and Boise, ID, declined to comment.The NCIS “insider threat” investigation on Duncan for potential violations of the federal law on communicating, transmitting or retaining national defense information was closed in November 2021. Federal prosecutors agreed to refrain from mention of the classified materials on Duncan’s devices, to avoid prejudicing a jury if he were to go to trial on firearms charges. Duncan pled guilty to the gun charge shortly before his trial was scheduled to begin.While the National Security Division Counterterrorism Section prosecuted Duncan, alongside federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Department of Justice opted to not charge him for mishandling classified materials.A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, where Camp Lejeune is located, declined to comment. The Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comment.
'This is my last warning': Trump sends ominous message while attending US Open
President Donald Trump interrupted his appearance at the US Open to send out a message about Israel's war in Gaza."Everyone wants the Hostages HOME," the president wrote Sunday on Truth Social. "Everyone wants this War to end!" "The Israelis have accepted my Terms. It is time for Hamas to accept as well," he continued. "I have warned Hamas about the consequences of not accepting. This is my last warning, there will not be another one! Thank you for your attention to this matter."Before heading to the men's final tennis match in New York, Trump told reporters at the White House that he was also ready to move to a "second stage" of sanctions against Russia. The president, however, did not provide specific details.
Trump just became a murderer — let's say it like it is
When the Supreme Court says Donald Trump is above the law, who speaks for the 11 dead on that boat U.S. forces blew up in the Caribbean? Their lives ended not in a battlefield crossfire or a clash between nations, but at the whim of one man emboldened by six justices who declared him untouchable.Trump simply ordered human beings erased, confident the Court had given him immunity from any consequence and the leaders of his military would obey an illegal order. Eleven souls were sacrificed not just to his cruelty, but to a judicial betrayal that transformed the presidency into a license to kill.For most of our history, American presidents have at least gone through the motions of cloaking lethal force in some form of legal justification.Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War but sought Congress’s approval. Franklin D. Roosevelt went to Congress for Lend-Lease before escalating aid to Britain, and sought a declaration of war against Japan. George W. Bush and Barack Obama leaned heavily on the post-9/11 Authorizations for Use of Military Force to justify everything from Afghanistan to drone strikes in Yemen and Somalia to killing Osama Bin Laden.The principle has always been that the United States does not simply kill people without some kind of legal process. It may be stretched, it may be abused, but it has been invoked.What Trump has now done with the strike on a small boat off Venezuela’s coast is to break that tradition in a way that is both lawless and unprecedented. He gave the order to kill 11 human beings with no congressional approval, no international authorization, and no visible evidence justifying it.This was simply murder on the high seas. And the world knows it.He did it in the full knowledge that six Republican appointees on the Supreme Court have granted him immunity for crimes committed while in office, even international crimes. That ruling opened the door to precisely this sort of extrajudicial killing and stripped away one of the last guardrails protecting both our law and our global standing.The official claim is that the boat carried members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. But 11 people on a small vessel that couldn’t possibly travel as far as America doesn’t sound like a cartel’s drug shipment (typically there’s only one or two people manning such a boar); it sounds like desperate migrants fleeing a collapsing country.That possibility makes the strike even more chilling when paired with a story Miles Taylor has told about Trump’s senior advisor Stephen Miller. Taylor recounts traveling with Miller and a Coast Guard admiral after a drug war event in Key West.On that trip, Miller asked the admiral if it would be legal to use a Predator drone to obliterate a boat full of migrants in international waters. Miller’s reasoning was that migrants weren’t covered by the Constitution, so what was to stop us from blowing them out of the water?The admiral reportedly shot back that it would violate international law, that “you cannot kill unarmed civilians just because you want to.” At the time it was an alarming glimpse into the sadistic mind of a man who saw immigrants as less than human.Now it looks like Trump has taken Miller’s reported hypothetical and turned it into policy. What was once an outrageous musing has become a bloody precedent.This has profound legal and moral implications.By attacking a vessel flying the flag of a sovereign state, Trump risked triggering a direct military confrontation. Venezuela could have fired back at American forces in the region. A firefight at sea can escalate quickly into a regional war, and Venezuela’s leader Nicolás Maduro would have every incentive to turn to Russia and China for protection.Leaders of both of those nations are eager to deepen their presence in our hemisphere, and this gives them an opening. It’s not inconceivable that Moscow or Beijing could send ships or aircraft to Venezuela in response.That would put foreign military forces hostile to us within 1,300 miles of Miami. If shots were fired between American forces and Russian or Chinese deployments in the Caribbean, the slide toward a larger war would be real, very much like the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 (except then we had a statesman as a president, instead of a corrupt buffoon).World War I began with a simple assassination that pitted one nation against another and then the sinking of the civilian boat the Lusitania; this is how great power conflicts can begin. Trump’s reckless strike doesn’t just risk Venezuelan lives. It risks American troops, regional stability, and, in the most ominous scenario, world peace itself.Meanwhile, at home, the timing is impossible to ignore. Authoritarians throughout history have turned to foreign crises to distract from domestic scandals.Nixon expanded the war into Cambodia as Watergate began to close in. Reagan invaded Grenada days after hundreds of Marines were killed in Beirut. Trump has lived for decades under the shadow of allegations of sexual predation, including reports that Jeffrey Epstein recorded him with underage girls during the years he owned and ran Miss Teen USA.If new evidence of that were to surface, Trump would need a distraction on a scale large enough to blot out the outrage. Creating a crisis with Venezuela, complete with martial language and threats of escalation while renaming the Department of Defense to Department of War, serves that purpose. It’s the oldest play in the authoritarian book: wag the dog.Except this time the stakes are far higher. This time we’re dealing with a president who’s been told by six corrupted members of the highest court in the land that he’s above the law.When Miles Taylor first revealed Miller’s macabre question about bombing migrant boats, some dismissed it as idle cruelty. It now looks like a glimpse into the inner workings of Trump’s policy mind. In this worldview, immigrants are vermin, human rights are optional, Democrats are “extremists,” and lethal force is just another tool of politics.Combine that with the Supreme Court’s gift of immunity and you have a recipe for lawless violence on a scale America has never contemplated. The entire edifice of international law is designed to prevent precisely this sort of conduct.Extrajudicial killings, violations of sovereignty, the targeting of civilians: these are the acts that international courts prosecute when they can, and that history condemns when courts cannot stop them.And now we’re learning that Trump did something similar in 2019 when he was last president. He authorized a SEAL Team strike against North Korea, where they killed three civilians in a boat who were simply out fishing.If America embraces this new Putin-like assertion of America’s power to bomb anybody, anywhere, on the whim of the president, we’ll have abandoned any claim to moral leadership.Worse, we will have normalized the authoritarian logic that anyone the president labels an enemy can be eliminated without trial, without evidence, without process. We’ll have handed Xi Jinping a rationale to attack Taiwan; all he has to do is claim that a non-governmental gang within that nation is importing drugs into China (or something similar).The international reaction has already been severe. America’s allies are horrified, our adversaries have been emboldened, and human rights groups are openly appalled.But the real test is here at home. Do we still believe in the principle, famously cited by our second president, John Adams, that America is a nation of laws and not of men? Do we still insist that presidents cannot kill at will? If Trump can strike a boat off Venezuela today, what is to stop him from ordering lethal force against dissidents, protesters, or political opponents tomorrow?Keep in mind, the same Stephen Miller — who reportedly wanted to blow up boats of immigrants to kill more brown people — just in the past week claimed that the Democratic Party is a “domestic extremist organization.”The doctrine of immunity means there is no legal backstop. The only remaining check is political will. And Trump’s fascist toadies are all in on more extrajudicial killings.On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete “Kegger” Hegseth said:“We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t stop with just this strike.”Secretary of State “Little Marco” Rubio echoed the sentiment, saying during a speech in Mexico City that similar strikes “will happen again.”This is why Democrats, independents, and every American who values the rule of law must call this out for what it is: an atrocity against eleven people, an assault on international norms, and a direct threat to American democracy.Trump has shown us exactly how far he’s willing to go. He’s willing to risk a war in our hemisphere. He’s willing to put our troops in danger. He’s willing to risk drawing Putin and Xi into a confrontation with us that could spiral out of control. He’s willing to destroy lives to protect himself. And he’s doing it because six Republicans on the Supreme Court told him he could.If Congress doesn’t act now to confront and contain this lawless behavior, if we don’t restore accountability to the presidency, then we’ll have surrendered not just our moral authority but our future.The question is not whether Trump wants a distraction from his scandals; of course he does. The question is whether we’re willing to let Trump and his fascist toadies drag America and the world into catastrophe to get it.This isn’t just about a boat off Venezuela. It’s about whether America will allow a president, blessed by the Court, to kill without evidence, without process, without even the pretense of law.Eleven dead migrants are the proof of what immunity means in practice: impunity. If Trump can slaughter refugees today, what stops him from targeting dissidents, protesters, even political opponents tomorrow?The answer, unless Congress and the people act, is nothing. And “nothing” is what those justices have left to protect us, our laws, and our humanity.
This Trump move is illegal and immoral and should chill you all to the bone
There is arguably no better canary in the coal mine for the death of democracy than a president who seizes for himself the power to wage war.We seem to be headed there.President Donald Trump’s recent — and ongoing — unauthorized military aggression against Venezuela fails to meet even the minimal legal standard for presidential war powers. Trump and his henchmen have largely dispensed with pretexts.Citing no particular provocation, Trump blithely declared Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro America’s latest mortal enemy. That sort of gratuitousness is brought to you with a shrug by corporate media increasingly committed to a mission of stenography.The administration has designated Tren de Aragua a “foreign terrorist organization” — which may well be accurate but does not seem to have come with any provable link to Maduro other than rhetorical. Even if true, nothing in U.S. law permits unilateral military action on that ground alone by a U.S. president.But following the law has always ranked below the bottom of Trump’s “things to do” list in life.Here’s how the United States has apparently begun to launch an illegal war almost overnight, without a millisecond of congressional debate. And with scant attention at best in the news media.The Escalation — One Week, One DirectionAugust 8, 2025 — Trump designates Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organization under the 2001 AUMF framework.(AP)Late August — U.S. naval and marine units mobilize in the southern Caribbean under an “anti-cartel” initiative.(The Guardian)September 2 — A U.S. drone strike sinks a speedboat allegedly linked to Tren de Aragua, killing 11. The administration justifies it as a drug interdiction.September 3, 2025 — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denounces the U.S. strike as a violation of sovereignty, orders militias to mobilize, and warns that Washington is laying the groundwork for regime change.September 3–4 — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls the strike “just the beginning.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio signals more strikes are being considered.September 5 — Trump orders the Pentagon rebranded as the Department of War in communications and signage. Hegseth becomes “Secretary of War.”September 5–6 — Ten F‑35 stealth fighters are deployed to Puerto Rico. Trump publicly states he’s weighing strikes inside Venezuela.Trump’s posture toward Maduro wasn’t always so hostile. During his first term, he told Axios on June 21, 2020, he was “open to meeting” with Maduro and even called him “very smart.”The timing was just astonishing, especially in today’s context. Trump publicly praised Maduro fewer than three months after his own Department of Justice had issued a press release headlined: “Nicolás Maduro Moros and 14 Current and Former Venezuelan Officials Charged with Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Criminal Charges.”Apparently narco-terrorism didn’t concern Donald the First as much as it seems to concern Donald the Second.Back in 2020, Trump did reverse himself on Twitter, but only after heads exploded among Florida Republicans. Taking issue with fellow strongmen has never ranked as one of Trump’s strengths.Trump has always positioned himself as an isolationist — and his repeated campaign pledges of “no more endless wars” — arguably garnered more votes than most analysts credited. Trump mocked “globalist” entanglements, vowed to bring troops home and end foreign adventurism.That’s all a thing of the past now that Trump openly aspires to become the world’s most dominant dictator.He drools about invading and seizing Greenland. He muses obscenely about annexing Canada, or at the very least, waging a mindless economic war with it and many other close allies. He obsesses about seizing the Panama Canal.His MAGA base has always been animated by extreme nationalism — ethnically and economically grounded — and it’s widely presumed that instinct mutates into isolationism. Even among those whose political philosophies can only be captured in five words or less.It remains to be seen how Trump’s abandonment of isolationism might play out with the base. But never underestimate the power of a cult leader.What’s more, we should not discount similarities to the dicey motives of previous U.S. adventurism — “war for oil” in Iraq springs to mind — especially given that Trump is exponentially more transactional than all previous U.S. presidents combined.On Saturday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defended Trump’s Venezuela policy by calling the country “so rich in resources, so rich in reserves,” while describing Maduro as “the head of the cartel.” In poker, that’s known as a “tell.”Let’s hope I’m wrong in thinking this Venezuelan adventure is far graver than a few news cycles of an unstable Trump cosplaying as a warlord. But, to me, this one has real potential for disaster.I don’t like the looks of that canary.
Pentagon gripped by 'frustration, anger and downright confusion' aimed at Trump: report
Outside of Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, there is little excitement within the Pentagon and among former defense officials to see the Department of Defense (DOD) renamed as the Department of War (DOW) with worries about cost, confusion and also how other nations will use the change for propaganda purposes.According to a report from Politico, the long-anticipated rebranding landed with a thud on Friday as the president and the controversial Hegseth discussed it in an Oval Office press availability.Trump told reporters, “We won World War I, we won World War II, we won everything before that and in between, and then we decided to go woke, and we changed the name to DOD. So, we’re going Department of War.”That was greeted with “frustration, anger and downright confusion at the effort, which could cost billions of dollars for a cosmetic change that would do little to tackle the military’s most pressing challenges — such as countering a more aggressive alliance of authoritarian nations,” wrote Politico’s Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary and Joe Gould.One former defense official scoffed, “This is purely for domestic political audiences. Not only will this cost millions of dollars, it will have absolutely zero impact on Chinese or Russian calculations. Worse, it will be used by our enemies to portray the United States as warmongering and a threat to international stability.”“I see there being a million small headaches and annoyances if this actually happens. It’ll eat up time and effort,” a current Pentagon official added.Going on the record, former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) cautioned on X, “If we call it the Dept. of War, we’d better equip the military to actually prevent and win wars. Can’t preserve American primacy if we’re unwilling to spend substantially more on our military than Carter or Biden. ‘Peace through strength’ requires investment, not just rebranding.”Politico is reporting, “The seemingly ad hoc rollout of the name change has caused confusion within the building. One Pentagon official, who independently decided to squat on the Department of War LinkedIn page to prevent a foreign adversary or Trump administration critic from taking it over, openly asked on the social network to whom he should hand the page.”Another official pointed out that the Pentagon, during Trump’s second term, has already been dragged into making major changes at Hegseth’s request, when they were forced to scrub any mention of DEI initiatives, explaining, "That was just taking down photos. The seal will have to change and thus anything with it.”The Department of War changes would be significantly more labor-intensive.“On a tactical level, it would mean having to rebrand a mountain of contracting, marketing, business development materials, you name it, both digital and otherwise, that specifically cite the Department of Defense or DOD,” a defense analyst warned.You can read more here.
