Week 57 — The Return

This week Trump struck back at media outlets and others who continue to raise questions and concerns about his health and age, likening it to sedition and treason. Trump continued to advance his own version of reality, calling affordability a “Democrat hoax” and “con job,” as he at long last held an event in a U.S. city, which was meant to address affordability concerns, a top issue in the country, but did not. More off-year elections this week showed a 10+ point slide away from Trump’s 2024 performance, amid continued malaise over the economy, and Trump’s handling of other key issues.

Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth continued to be at the center of the storm, as a Pentagon inspector general report found he had endangered U.S. troops with his use of the Signal app. A top story this week continued to be the legality of a second strike of an alleged drug vessel in the Caribbean, as Trump and Hegseth bobbed and weaved on releasing video and other requested information. Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy Jr. also continued his anti-vax campaign, with his handpicked immunization committee issuing troubling new guidelines.

The Trump regime issued a shocking National Strategy document this week, completely changing the focus on global threats away from countries formerly perceived to be U.S. enemies, to instead attacking European allies and Ukraine. Trump, desperate for recognition on his foreign policy, was awarded with an odd inaugural peace prize from FIFA, a soccer league, at the Kennedy Center. Trump later mused about renaming that center for himself, after this week rebranding the U.S. Institute for Peace with his name.

Overall, Trump’s behavior is increasingly inconsistent, even by his own past standards, and odd. He is increasingly unfiltered, both in being openly racist and personally insulting two more female journalists this week, for a total of six in recent weeks. The issue of age and the pushback from Republicans has clearly taken him off track, and he seems this week to be spinning and raging, without focus.

1. In his second regime’s National Security Strategy document, which lays out the U.S. approach to global threats, Trump flipped the characterization of villains from Russia and China as the biggest threats during the first regime, to Latin America and Europe now.
2. During the first regime, Trump’s report described China and Russia as “revisionist” powers seeking to upend American dominance around the world. Now, Russia was mentioned in just four paragraphs, and not in harsh tones. China’s ongoing cyberattacks were also not mentioned.
3. North Korea, which was highlighted for having 24 nuclear weapons eight years ago, was also not mentioned, despite having more than 60 now. The report also cites “significantly degraded Iran’s nuclear program,” not “obliterated,” and is silent on how to prevent a new buildup.
4. The paper reserved the harshest tone for America’s closest allies in Europe, claiming they face “civilizational erasure” through immigration that could render it “unrecognizable” in two decades, and adding that Europe should take “primary responsibility” for its own defense.
5. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called some of the Trump regime’s paper “comprehensible, but other parts “unacceptable,” saying, “I see no need for the Americans to now want to save democracy in Europe. If it were necessary to save it, we would manage that on our own.”
6. In an interview with Politico released Tuesday, Trump doubled down, saying European countries are “decaying,” adding, “I think they’re weak, but I also think that they want to be so politically correct,” and on immigration, “if it keeps going the way it’s going, Europe will not be.”
7. Trump also said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who the day before said the country would not give up land, has to “get on the ball” and start “accepting things,” adding Russia was in a stronger negotiating position and Ukraine was “losing” the war.
8. Trump also called for an election in Ukraine, something Russia has wanted, accusing Ukrainian leadership of “using war not to hold an election,” adding, “They talk about a democracy, but it gets to a point where it’s not a democracy anymore.”
9. A new report by CIVICUS, an international network of civil society groups, downgraded the assessment of U.S. civic freedoms from “narrowed” to “obstructed,” citing a “rapid authoritarian shift,” meaning civil rights are constrained through legal and practical means.
10. On Wednesday, CNN reported the Pentagon inspector general concluded in a report that Defense Department Sec. Pete Hegseth risked endangering U.S. troops by using the Signal commercial messaging app, and relaying detailed information about a planned military strike.
11. The report also noted that Hegseth refused to sit down for an interview as part of the investigation, instead responding with a statement. Also the IG could only obtain a partial amount of the exchanges since auto-delete was turned on, so it relied in part on reporting by the Atlantic.
12. The report added Hegseth sent “sensitive, nonpublic, operational information” to the Signal chat group from his phone, and while Hegseth has the authority to declassify information, he did not do so. Hegseth had cited that as a excuse for sharing information this way.
13. WSJ reported that Hegseth asked Adm. Alvin Holsey, the four-star head of U.S. military operations in the Caribbean, to resign, after months of discord between the two, starting with Holsey expressing concerns about the military strikes on alleged drug vessels.
14. WSJ reported that Adm. Frank Bradley planned to justify the second strike by telling Congress on Thursday that the two survivors were actively attempting to continue their drug run, and that the two were trying to communicate with other “enemy” vessels nearby.
15. On Thursday, Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called the briefing by Bradley “one of the most troubling things I’ve seen in my time in public service,” adding, “the admiral confirmed that there had not been a ‘kill them all’ order.”
16. Overall, Democrats emerged from the briefing saying they were alarmed by what they heard, and pressing for a further investigation. Republicans who were loyal to Trump defended the operation, echoing Trump that the illicit drug trade is responsible for killing Americans.
17. The Atlantic reported video revealed the two survivors floated on a table-size piece of wreckage for more than 40 minutes, at one point raising their arms to signal to U.S. aircraft what might have been a surrender, before a second strike left a bloody stain on the surface of the sea.
18. Late Thursday, the U.S. military announced it had struck another boat, allegedly carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific, and that the strike came “at the direction of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.” Four were killed, although no evidence was provided that they were smuggling drugs.
19. On Saturday, NBC News reported that Bradley told lawmakers that Hegseth ordered the military on Sept. 2 to kill all 11 people, who were identified by U.S. intelligence as narco-terrorists, on the alleged drug vessel, confirming WAPO reporting.
20. Bradley said he targeted the two survivors because he believed the drugs were not destroyed, and the two had not surrendered. He also acknowledged that the alleged drugs were not headed to the U.S., but to Suriname in South America.
21. On Saturday, Hegseth said at a forum, “I was told, ‘hey, there had to be a reattack, because there were a couple folks who could still be in the fight. Access to radios. There was a link up point of another potential boat, drugs were still there. They were actively interacting with them.”
22. Rep. Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told “This Week” that Hegseth’s comments were “ridiculous,” adding, “There are no radios,” adding, “it did not appear that these two survivors were in any position to continue the fight.”
23. Republican Senator John Curtis told “State of the Union” that the Trump regime should release the full video of the Sept. 2 attack, to “err on the side of transparency” and “restore trust in government.” Trump had offered to release the video, but Hegseth seemed to back off from it.
24. On Monday, Trump reversed, denying that he said he was open to releasing the video of the second boat strike, and calling the reporter who asked about it “fake news,” adding, “I didn’t say that. You said that.” Instead, Trump said Hegseth will decide whether to release the video.
25. Trump, who did in fact say that on Wednesday, attacked the ABC News reporter further, saying, “You are the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you: you are an obnoxious — actually a terrible reporter,” the sixth female reporter he attacked in recent days.
26. On Monday, Politico reported that in a provision quietly tucked into the final draft of the annual defense policy bill, lawmakers planned to withhold one-quarter of Hegseth’s travel budget until the Pentagon provides them the videos of the boat strikes.
27. On Tuesday, a coalition of advocacy groups sued the Trump regime, seeking the immediate release of the legal memo that justified the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean that have killed 87 people so far, alleging the strikes were illegal.
28. On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, Chair of the House Armed Services Committee, abruptly ended his committee’s probe of the second strike, claiming he had received all of the information he needed.
29. On Tuesday, Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and Joint Chiefs chair Gen. Dan Caine met with the ‘Gang of Eight.’ Democratic Sen. Mark Warner said Hegseth did not commit to sharing the video of the second strike or other materials requested.
30. Adm. Holsey, one of more than 20 generals and admirals that have been fired, removed, reassigned, or otherwise pushed aside by Hegseth and Trump, also met with the Senate Armed Services chair and ranking member on Tuesday, days before he was set to retire.
31. NYT reported that after the U.S. military had rescued two survivors of a strike in the Caribbean in mid-October, a Pentagon lawyer had suggested to the State Department deporting the two to the notorious El Salvador prison. State was stunned and rejected the idea.
32. Two weeks later, Pentagon officials decided the two should be returned to their home countries or a third country, over concerns if they were brought to the U.S., they would end up in the U.S. judicial system, and the regime would need to show evidence justifying its military campaign.
33. A WAPO analysis found that despite his campaign promises to curb drug trafficking, as well as the strikes in the Caribbean, Trump has pardoned about 100 people so far that were accused of drug trafficking during his time in office, including 10 people during the second regime.
34. On Tuesday, Honduras issued an arrest warrant for former president Juan Orlando Hernández, whom Trump pardoned and released from prison in Week 56, noting that Hernández’s corruption and criminal networks had “deeply scarred the life of our country.”
35. CNN and NYT reported on GOP House members revolting against the leadership of Mike Johnson. One noted many were upset that Johnson had abdicated Congress’s role to Trump, saying, “nobody wants to be a rubber stamp. You could get a monkey to do this job.”
36. On Thursday, the NYT sued the Pentagon for imposing a new set of restrictions, which it claimed violated the First Amendment, seeking a court order halting enforcement of the rules.
37. On Wednesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers asked Attorney General Pam Bondi, in a letter, for a briefing and a status update by the end of the week on releasing the Jeffery Epstein files.
38. On Wednesday, flanked by auto executives and Republican lawmakers in the Oval Office, Trump signed an executive order significantly weakening fuel efficiency requirements enacted over decades, thus rolling back a significant effort to address climate change.
39. The order was also the second major move to undo former president Joseph Biden’s efforts to promote the use of electric vehicles, which Trump called “a scam,” to help fight climate change. Trump claimed the move would bring car prices down, but it was unclear that was the case.
40. NYT reported that the EPA quietly removed the mention of human causes of climate change from its website, including on a page titled “Causes of Climate Change,” and another that tracks the impact of global warming.
41. On Wednesday, the State Department renamed the U.S. Institute of Peace to the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace, including changing the facade of the building, even as the independent agency, which Trump gutted earlier this year, is subject to ongoing litigation.
42. The move came as Trump, who has been eager to win and repeatedly promoted himself for the Nobel Peace Prize, was set to host the leaders from Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, who signed an agreement that had already been endorsed in June.
43. On Friday, Trump had a speaking role at the World Cup final draw ceremony, hosted at the Kennedy Center, and as part of the programming, Trump accepted FIFA’s inaugural peace prize. The move marked a departure of FIFA’s traditional role of focusing on sports.
44. On Sunday, Trump hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, a break from the tradition of presidents simply attending the ceremony. The honorees were approved by Trump too. Trump had skipped the ceremony during his first regime amid pushback from artists being honored.
45. The move came after Trump mused in August that he should host the show, saying it would get much higher ratings. Trump touched on politics, a break from norms. Trump also spoke midway through the ceremony, and several regime members and allies were present.
46. Trump also redesigned the Kennedy Center Honors medallion, which had included a rainbow ribbon since its start in 1978. Asked if he would rename the center after himself, which he has joked about repeatedly, Trump said it was up to his handpicked board, which he leads.
47. On Wednesday, the Trump regime began immigration operations in New Orleans and Minneapolis. NBC News reported in New Orleans, immigrants stayed inside for days and weeks out of fear. A resident said only eight of 140 children had come to soccer practice that evening.
48. On Thursday, the National Park Service announced that in 2026, Americans will get free admissions to national parks on Trump’s birthday, but no longer on Juneteenth or MLK Day.
49. On Wednesday, a dozen former leaders of the Food and Drug Administration wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that they were “deeply concerned” about a leaked memo by top vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad, indicating he would tighten the vaccine approval process.
50. On Thursday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, all handpicked by Health and Human Services Sec. Robert Kennedy, Jr. postponed a vote on Hepatitis B vaccinations for newborns, after heated arguments and confusion over what they were voting on.
51. Outside experts who attended the meeting castigated committee members over the turmoil, name calling, chaos and dysfunction at the meeting, as well as the reliance on unsubstantiated, theoretical harm of the vaccine presented by anti-vaxxers on the committee.
52. For Friday’s meeting, Kennedy ally Aaron Siri was listed as a speaker. GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate health committee noted on X that Siri was not an expert on childhood vaccines, but rather “a trial attorney who makes his living suing vaccine manufacturers.”
53. On Friday, Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine committee voted to do away with a decades-old recommendation that all babies receive a hepatitis B shot at birth, recommending instead that parents use individual decision-making in consultation with a health-care provider.
54. WSJ reported that according to a transcript of the meeting, Dr. Kirk Milhoan, Kennedy’s pick as the new chair of the vaccine panel, said that he and his committee members were “puppets on a string as opposed to really being” an “independent advisory” panel.
55. On Wednesday, Rep. Haley Stevens, a Michigan Democrat running for Senate, filed articles of impeachment against Kennedy, accusing him of an assault on the public health system that constitutes high crimes and misdemeanors. The symbolic move had no chance of advancing.
56. NYT reported that, according to government data, in high profile ICE operations, most of those detained had no criminal charges against them, including in Los Angeles (57%), Illinois (66%), Washington, D.C. (84%), and Massachusetts (63%).
57. Data also revealed the share of people arrested by the Trump regime who were convicted of violent crimes fell to 5% from 15% in 2024, and with daily arrests stagnating at around 1,000, the share of those arrested with no criminal history has risen faster than any other category.
58. A federal judge in D.C. restricted the Trump regime’s ability to make warrantless arrests, ruling such arrests are only permissible if authorities have reason to believe the person is likely to escape.
59. NYT reported five hundred additional National Guard troops arrived in D.C. in recent days, including 276 from South Carolina, bringing the total number to 2,750 troops, all of whom were armed.
60. NYT reported a 6 year-old boy was separated by ICE from his father and placed in federal custody, after his father brought him to a scheduled appointment at ICE headquarters in New York City. Records show the father was separated because he refused to self-deport to China.
61. On Thursday, immigrants showing up for naturalization ceremonies, the final step to becoming a U.S. citizen, from 19 countries deemed by Trump to be “high risk,” were turned away by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officials due to their countries of origin.
62. A State Department internal memo advising staffers to deny applications for H-1B visas for highly skilled workers from people who worked on fact-checking, content moderation, or other activities that the regime considers “censorship.”
63. U.S. Customs and Border Protection filed a proposal that would require travelers visiting the U.S. under the visa waiver program, which allows people from 42 countries for up to 90 days without a visa, to share up to five years of their social media history for review.
64. On Friday, Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, who waited seven weeks to be sworn in to Congress, said she was “sprayed in the face” with pepper spray and “pushed around” by ICE agents during a raid on a Tucson restaurant, when she asked for clarification.
65. Bruna Ferreira, the mother of Karoline Leavitt’s 11 year-old nephew, with Leavitt’s brother, rejected the White House narrative of her as absentee mother, after she was arrested on Nov. 12 by ICE and placed in a detention center in Louisiana for possible deportation to Brazil.
66. On Tuesday, Ferreira was released on a $1,500 bond, the lowest allowed by law. DHS claimed Ferreira was “a criminal illegal alien from Brazil,” whom they claimed had been arrested for battery, a characterization she denied, and that the regime was pursuing “removal proceedings.”
67. On Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute over Trump’s executive order, signed on the first day of the second regime, ending birthright citizenship, which has been a core tenet of the country since 1898.
68. On Monday, Iran said a flight holding 55 Iranians being deported by ICE left the U.S. to return to the Islamic Republic, the second such flight. Iran cited their “willingness for return following continuation of anti-immigration and discriminative policy against foreign nationals.”
69. On Monday, Judge James Boasberg called DOJ whistleblower Erez Reuveni to testify in an inquiry into whether regime officials should be referred for criminal contempt for disobeying Boasberg’s order barring airplanes carrying Venezuelan detainees from taking off to El Salvador.
70. The developer of the app ICEBlock, which allowed users to share real-time sightings of ICE, sued the Trump regime over the app being removed from the Apple app stores following criticism from regime officials, saying they made “unconstitutional threats and demands.”
71. On Thursday, the Supreme Court overruled a lower court ruling, allowing Texas to use new congressional district maps drawn to favor Republicans. The 6–3 ruling came in an unsigned order with little explanation, citing Texas is “likely to succeed on the merits of its claim.”
72. The Supreme Court added that the lower court had “failed to honor the presumption of legislative good faith.” The ruling marked a dramatic shift for the court, which two decades ago had unanimously agreed that extreme partisan gerrymandering could violate the Constitution.
73. On Friday, Turning Point Action and other Trump-allied groups said they would target Indiana Republicans who blocked Trump’s redistricting plan.
74. Deputy AG Todd Blanche warned lawyers who publicly criticize the Trump regime for not pursuing white collar cases, while they “privately insist that your clients are the victims of overreach,” that the DOJ will pursue their clients with “precision and vigor.”
75. On Thursday, a second grand jury in Virginia declined to indict Trump’s perceived enemy, New York AG Letitia James, less than two weeks after the original case against her was dismissed.
76. On Saturday, a federal judge blocked the DOJ from having access to much of the evidence used to indict James Comey in September, including communications between Comey and his close confidant, Daniel Richman, preventing the regime from bringing new charges.
77. The judge’s ruling echoed another judge’s findings last month, that the DOJ gaining access to the communication was likely unconstitutional, saying Richman was likely to succeed in his claims that the DOJ violated his Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable searches.
78. NYT reported that Lindsey Halligan is continuing to serve as a U.S. attorney, as the regime’s DOJ claimed the federal judge did not explicitly order her removal last week. Two judges questioned the regime’s argument that she could still hold the job, or sign a court filing.
79. On Monday, Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal attorney, resigned from her position as acting U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey on X, after a three month long legal battle, and a judge finding that she was serving in the position “without lawful authority.”
80. AG Pam Bondi and Blanche issued a joint statement attacking judges for questioning Habba’s legitimacy, and “engaging in an unconscionable campaign of bias and hostility,” adding, “This Department of Justice has no tolerance for undemocratic judicial activism.”
81. On Tuesday, a third judge in Virginia suggested that Halligan should resign, questioning a federal prosecutor to explain why Halligan’s name remained on court filings, and citing that after a similar court ruling in New Jersey, Habba had resigned.
82. On Thursday, congressional watchdog the Government Accountability Office said it had opened an investigation into Federal Housing Finance Authority Director Bill Pulte, into his DOJ referrals of James, Sen. Adam Schiff, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and Rep. Eric Swalwell.
83. ProPublica reported that Trump himself would be guilty of mortgage fraud based on the version his regime has used against his perceived enemies, based on purchases he made in Florida in 1993. When the reporters asked Trump for comment, Trump hung up on him.
84. On Monday, 16 former FBI agents sued Director Kash Patel and the Trump regime, saying they had been unjustly fired over a five-year old photo showing them kneeling at a George Floyd protest, which they said they did in an effort to de-escalate a potentially dangerous situation.
85. The lawsuit was the largest group of former law enforcement officials to sue the Trump regime. The 16 served in counterintelligence and counterterrorism, and their attorney claimed because of their firing, “The country is less safe.”
86. On Thursday, Trump hired a new architect for the White House ballroom, after the initial architect had clashed with him over the size of the project. Reportedly the previous firm halted work in October.
87. On Saturday, Trump insulted a fifth female reporter, posting on Truth Social that CNN host Kaitlin Collins was “stupid” and “nasty,” over a question he alleged she asked about his ballroom. She asked a question on another topic. Trump also misspelled her name in his rant.
88. On Sunday, Trump raged against Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, whom Trump pardoned after he allegedly took over $600,000 in foreign bribes, for not switching parties, saying, “Such a lack of LOYALTY!” Cuellar had spoken out for stronger border security.
89. The Education Department asked 250 employees of the Office for Civil Rights to temporarily come back later this month, after they were fired in March, and then put on leave for months, pending a legal challenge. The agency cited facing a sizable caseload of civil rights complaints.
90. Education Sec. Linda McMahon began visiting schools and speaking to students around the country, on a tour sponsored by 40 conservative groups, drawing criticism that the lessons of her “History Rocks!” tour were crafted by partisan and religious organizations.
91. The tour has engendered protests from parents, and concern about bringing politics into schools. Some parents on the first stop of her tour in New Jersey chose to keep their kids home from school.
92. Reuters reported that the Trump Organization’s income soared 17-fold since Trump took office, with the organization’s income growing from $51 million in the first half of 2024, to $846 million in the first half 2025.
93. NYT reported that Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, sold shares of MP Materials weeks after the Trump regime announced it would take a stake in the company. Miller also sold shares in Intel and Westinghouse in August, both of which the Trump regime took stakes in.
94. CBS News reported that while Trump has claimed new investments into the U.S. under his second regime were as high as $21 trillion, or $18 trillion in 10 months, the actual number is closer to $5 trillion, which is the same as last year.
95. Challenger, Gray reported layoffs for slowed somewhat in November; but for the first 11 months of 2025, total layoffs exceeded 1.1 million, up 54% from 2024, and the highest since the 2020 pandemic. Employers announced 497,151 planned hires, down 35% from 2024.
96. U.S. manufacturing contracted in November for the ninth straight month, according to the Institute for Supply Management’s PMI. The decline was largely attributable to Trump’s tariffs. China’s manufacturing production and trade surplus reached a record high.
97. An ABC News/WAPO/Ipsos poll found the majority of Americans say Trump’s tariffs have hurt their family’s financial situation, including 7 in 10 say they are spending more on groceries than last year, 6 in 10 more on utilities, and 4 in 10 more on healthcare.
98. On Monday, the Trump regime said it is proposing a $12 billion bailout for farmers to soften the blow from Trump’s tariffs. The aid package was unveiled at a White House roundtable. Much of the aid will go to soybean farmers who have been devastated by Trump’s policies.
99. On Monday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced it was skipping publishing its already delayed report on wholesale-price inflation for October, and will instead roll those figures into a postponed November report to be published in January.
100. On Monday, Trump said he would allow Nvidia to export its H200 chip to China, but that the U.S. government would get a 25% cut, in another unusual agreement between the government and a public company.
101. On Sunday, after Netflix reached a deal to buy Warner Bros., rather than Trump’s preferred buyer Paramount, which is owned by his allies the Ellisons, Trump warned the Netflix deal could face antitrust issues, saying, “that’s got to go through a process, and we’ll see what happens.”
102. On Monday, minutes after Paramount announced a hostile takeover bid, Trump posted on Truth Social that Paramount was “no better than the old ownership,” citing their “60 Minutes” interview of Marjorie Taylor Greene, adding, “60 Minutes has actually gotten WORSE!”
103. Bloomberg News reported that Paramount’s bid was also being bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, and an obscure Abu Dhabi firm, L’imad Holding Co., raising concerns over foreign ownership of a U.S. media company.
104. Affinity Partners, the private equity firm owned by Jared Kushner, was also part of the bid, although it was not mentioned in Monday’s press release. Per the tender offer, Affinity and the Middle East investors “agreed to forgo any governance rights, including board representation.”
105. Presidents do not traditionally weigh in on antitrust, but Trump has broken that norm. Both sides have sought to win favor. Trump met with Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-chief executive, at the Oval Office last week. At the Kennedy Center, Trump called Sarandos “fantastic.”
106. WSJ reported that during a December visit to Washington, Paramount CEO David Ellison had given assurances to members of the Trump regime that if he bought Warner Bros, he would make sweeping changes to CNN as Trump had requested.
107. NYT reported that Trump’s appointed Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson has transformed what is meant to be an independent agency which protects consumers and polices corporate power, into instead focusing on being an enforcer of Trump’s social and political agendas.
108. Former FTC employees and experts say that many hearings held by Ferguson are based on culture wars issues, and pursuing Trump and his allies’ perceived enemies. Ferguson has an expansive view of executive power, and refers to the agency as the “Trump-Vance F.T.C.”
109. On Monday, a federal judge struck down Trump’s halt of all wind power projects in federal waters, saying his order was “arbitrary and capricious,” and violated federal law. The challenge was filed by a coalition of New York and 17 states, as well as advocacy groups.
110. On Tuesday, Trump did his first rally since the summer in Pennsylvania. While the event was meant to focus on affordability, Trump meandered to other topics, repeating his standard litany of grievances, along with attacking transgender people, windmills, the Middle East, and Somalia.
111. Trump also continued to mock and dismiss concerns over affordability, falsely claiming that Americans were “doing better than you have ever done,” and claimed his tariff strategy is working, or will soon. He also continued to blame Joe Biden.
112. Trump confused slowing inflation with bringing down prices, claiming, “Our prices are coming down tremendously,” and later falsely claiming that “inflation is stopped.” BLS data for September showed inflation at close to 3%, almost exactly where it was when Biden left office.
113. Trump also called Biden, ironically, “a sleepy son-of-a-bitch” who Trump claimed “destroyed our country.” Trump also demanded that Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat of Somali descent, leave the country.
114. Trump also bragged that last week he had “announced a permanent pause on Third World migration, including from hellholes like Afghanistan, Haiti, Somalia and many other countries.” Trump previously had denied that he used the term “hellhole” in 2018.
115. Emil Bove, a former DOJ official and Trump personal attorney, whom Trump appointed as a federal judge in Pennsylvania, attended Trump’s rally, a highly unusual move.
116. Later Tuesday, in a 500 word post on Truth Social, Trump ranted about the NYT and others raising questions about his health and age, claiming, “I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous.”
117. Trump also revealed in the post that he had “ACED all three” cognitive tests and “in front of large numbers of doctors and experts, most of whom I do not know,” raising questions of when the tests were taken and why.
118. Late Tuesday, Democrats won the race for Mayor of Miami for the first time in nearly 30 years, defeating a candidate endorsed by Trump. Other races in Florida, Georgia, and Arizona also showed big shifts towards Democrats.
119. A Pew Research poll of Latino voters found 70% disapprove of Trump’s job performance, and 65% disapprove of his handling of immigration. 68% say Trump has made things worse for Hispanics, and about a third have considered leaving the country in the past six months.
120. Reuters reported that tax prosecutions under Trump have plummeted by 27% due to staffing shortages. The DOJ’s Tax Division has been dismantled, and many prosecutors quit. Also IRS agents have been reassigned to immigration and crime patrols.
121. On Wednesday, a federal judge said the Trump regime must end its deployment of California National Guard troops in Los Angeles, finding the regime illegally kept troops in the city long after protests had erupted in the summer over ICE raids.