Trump welcoming 'loyalists with little expertise' for commission on DC projects

The entrance to the "Art and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy" exhibition at the recently renamed Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 29, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu

Alex Henderson 

January 01, 2026

In predominantly Democratic Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump is putting his stamp on a wide range of projects — from a lavish White House ballroom that will replace the recently demolished East Wing to renaming the Kennedy Center the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. And according to Washington Post reporters Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards, Trump White House officials are "moving to install Trump-aligned appointees to a commission charged by Congress with reviewing Washington's public art and national memorials."

In an article published on New Year's Day 2026, Diamond and Edwards note that Trump's allies are "seeking members likely to clear the way for" his "controversial ballroom and other projects."

"The White House is expected to invite past Trump appointees to rejoin the Commission of Fine Arts, according to three people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss those plans," the Post journalists explain. "Trump officials have described the move as returning former members to uncompleted four-year terms that were cut short by the Biden Administration, the people said. It is not yet clear whether those former members — architectural critic Justin Shubow, developer and designer Rodney Mims Cook Jr., sculptor and painter Chas Fagan, landscape architect Perry Guillot and architect Steven Spandle — would accept the invitation."

Diamond and Edwards report that according to Post sources, the commission is prioritizing loyalty to Trump over experience.

"White House officials have also considered appointing Trump loyalists with little formal arts expertise, according to one of the people and another who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations," the Post journalists note. "The commission faces intensifying scrutiny over the president's building agenda, which includes a proposed 90,000-square-foot ballroom addition to the White House that is now the subject of a legal challenge."

Diamond and Edwards add, "Beyond the ballroom, the commission is expected to review future projects that would shape Washington's landscape, including a planned triumphal arch."

Read Dan Diamond and Jonathan Edwards' full article for The Washington Post at this link (subscription required).

Neuroscientist shatters MAGA’s testosterone claim

Alex Jones at The People's Convention in Detroit on June 16, 2024 (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

Alex Henderson

January 01, 2026

ALTERNET

In the Manosphere, a variety of anti-feminist ideologies — from PUAs (pickup artists) to MGTOW (Men Going Their Own Way) to incels — often accuse feminists and progressives of trying to make men less masculine. And a conspiracy theory pushed by Infowars' Alex Jones and others on the far right claims that the left, in its quest for political dominance, is using soy products to decrease men's testosterone and make them weak and passive. "Soy boys," Jones contends, are effeminate progressive males and the result of a leftist war on masculinity.

But neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, in an article published by the New York Times on New Year's Day 2026, stresses that high levels of testosterone aren't necessarily synonymous with masculine traits.

"In particularly prickly corners of MAGA World," Sapolsky explains, "a low-blow way of dissing the men you despise — often left-leaning guys with a fondness for empathy, equality, even democracy — is to charge them with having low levels of testosterone. Take Elon Musk, who, a while back, reposted a screed about how 'low T' men can't think freely because they 'can’t defend themselves physically.' Or consider the 'soy boy' insult popular a few years ago in the same circles, based on the false idea that chemical compounds in soy feminize men's hormonal makeup."

However, Sapolsky — a biology professor at Stanford University in California — says that extensive scientific research isn't consistent with MAGA's "soy boy" claims.

"Beyond my own research," Sapolsky notes, "decades of data show that testosterone does not ensure dominance, nor does it act as a straightforward trigger of aggression. This may come as a surprise. Males of endless species, including us, tend to have higher testosterone levels and to be more aggressive than females; aggression and testosterone levels rise in males at puberty; and males of species that compete for territories annually show increased aggression and testosterone levels at those times."

Sapolsky adds, "Note, however, that there's some evidence that the causality could run in the other direction: Engaging in aggressive behaviors may trigger a spike in testosterone."

Sapolsky points out that "within normal ranges," testosterone levels "are not strongly predictive of aggression."

"Scientists now believe that testosterone makes people and animals more sensitive to threats to their status — to the point of perceiving threats that are imagined and amplifying the aggressive response to such threats," according to the neuroscientist. "For instance, a male impala with high testosterone may be more sensitized to challenges to his territory, attacking an interloper when it comes within 100 yards of him, instead of the usual 50…. If society is riddled with aggression, don't blame testosterone; blame us for being too prone to dole out status for aggression."

Read Robert Sapolsky's full New York Times article at this link (subscription required).

Christian leader debunks MAGA claim that America was 'intended to be a theocracy'

Alex Henderson

January 01, 2026

ALTERNET

When Vice President JD Vance spoke at Turning Point USA's recent AmericaFest 2025 convention in Phoenix, he told the MAGA crowd that the United States "always will be a Christian nation." And Vance isn't the only MAGA Republican who is claiming that there is no separation of church and state in the U.S. Constitution.

Many Christian nationalists are claiming that the Constitution was designed to be a religious document even though the First Amendment clearly states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The First Amendment promises freedom of religion, but it also forbids government to give one religion preferential treatment over another.

In an op-ed published by The Philadelphia Inquirer on New Year's Day 2026, a Baptist minister, the Rev. Michel J. Faulkner, debunks the "Christian nation" argument coming from Vance and other Christian nationalists.

"America was shaped by Judeo-Christian principles, but it was never intended to be a theocracy," argues Faulkner, who chairs of the Philadelphia Council of Clergy's board of directors. "America's unity is powerful precisely because we do not have a state religion. Faith compelled by law is no faith at all. Genuine belief cannot be coerced; it must be chosen. The Gospel advances by witness, persuasion, and sacrificial love, not by legislation or force."

The 68-year-old Faulkner has a background in both sports and religion. In the early 1980s, he played American football for the New York Jets. And he has a connection to the Religious Right: After meeting the Moral Majority's Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. in 1985, Faulkner, a registered Republican, worked at Falwell's Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Yet Faulkner rejects the Christian nationalist claim that the U.S. government was meant to be operated as a theocracy.

"I say this as a Christian and a follower of Jesus Christ: The church does not need the power of the state to fulfill its mission," Faulkner continues writes. "History shows that when the church weds itself too closely to political power, it loses its prophetic voice and relinquishes its spiritual authority. America is not the Kingdom of God, and it was never meant to be…. If we confuse America with the Kingdom of God, we will ultimately diminish both — robbing the nation of its moral responsibility and the Gospel of its eternal power."

The Rev. Michel J. Faulkner's full op-ed for The Philadelphia Inquirer is available at this link (subscription required).

Release of Jack Smith interview shows 'why Jim Jordan didn’t want public testimony': experts

Former U.S. Special Counsel Jack Smith walks, on the day of a closed-door deposition as part of a House Judiciary Committee inquiry into his now-dismissed cases against U.S. President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and his retention of classified documents, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 17, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

Sarah K. Burris

January 01, 2026

ALTERNET

The video of a closed-door interview with former special counsel Jack Smith was released at the end of the day, New Year's Eve, but it hasn't stopped legal analysts from walking through some of the most important details.

Elections lawyer Marc Elias couldn't help but laugh that he still "live[s] rent free in the heads of these MAGA idiots." The Smith interview took place before the House Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) did a large part of the questioning

Legal analyst Allison Gill, who co-hosted a podcast named "Jack" about the special counsel, noted that she understands now why Jordan wanted to bury the interview.

"Half way through the Jack Smith transcript and it’s become abundantly clear why Jim Jordan didn’t want public testimony. Jordan spends a lot of time whining about the toll subpoenas, and Jack Smith shuts him down every time," Gill wrote on BlueSky.

In the morning podcast, Gill and co-host Dana Goldberg cited an exchange between Jordan and Smith where the former probed him on specific actions he took.



"The whole time Jim Jordan had the microphone, which was a long time," Gill began, "he winged about the toll record thing where the members of Congress against the 'Speech or Debate Clause' got their phone records subpoenaed by Jack Smith, and it should be against the law. And every time Jack Smith was like, yeah, that's cool, bro, but it's not against the law, and the courts agreed. So, we did it. And if you have a problem, guess what? You make laws."

"You fix the f—— law!" Goldberg added with a chuckle.

Gill also pointed out a key point in the Smith probe about Rudy Giuliani, who Smith's team asked whether he believed his 2020 election lies. Giuliani confessed he didn't "and that neither did Donald Trump."

"The President of the United States is a criminal. Thank you for your service, Jack Smith," echoed Trump foe George Conway on BlueSky.

NBC News' justice reporter Ryan Reilly highlighted Jack Smith saying that he wouldn't be surprised if Trump told the DOJ to indict him.

MeidasTouch legal commentator Katie Phang detailed the questions about Smith's proof that Trump was the instigator of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

"The first is the evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy," Phang explained. "These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack happened at the Capitol, part of this case does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit. So, in terms of why we would pressure a case against him, I entirely disagree with any characterization that our work was in any way meant to hamper him in the Presidential election."

Smith went on to confirm that the evidence they gathered showed Trump prompted the Jan. 6 attack.

"As I said, our evidence is that he in the weeks leading up to January 6th created a level of distrust," Smith said. "He used that level of distrust to get people to believe fraud claims that weren't true. He made false statements to state legislatures, to his supporters in all sorts of contexts and was aware in the days leading up to January 6th that his supporters were angry when he invited them and then he directed them to the Capitol. Now, once they were at the Capitol and once the attacks on the Capitol happened, he refused to stop it. He instead issued a tweet that without question in my mind endangered the life of his own vice president. And when the violence was going on, he had to be pushed repeatedly by his staff members to do anything to quell it. And then, even afterwards, he directed co-conspirators to make calls to Members of Congress, people who had — were his political allies, to further delay the proceedings."

 

KAKISTOCRACY

Trump allies are looting the Kennedy Center: senator

'Can't stand on that stage': More artists are canceling Kennedy Center shows due to Trump

Sarah K. Burris

January 01, 2026

ALTERNET

President Donald Trump appointed his acolytes to oversee the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and immediately began looting, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said in an interview with The Guardian.

“You float stuff and you float stuff and you float stuff until people get inured to what a stupid or outrageous thing it is that has been floated and then you pull the trigger," Whitehouse said.

As part of Trump's "renovations" of the Kennedy Center was ordering new letters to put his name on the building above Kennedy's name. Much like the Department of Defense, the name of the cultural center can only officially be changed by Congress, which established it in law. Still, the administration ordered the sign. Past appointees to the board were ousted. The new Trump board did a quick vote to change the name and within hours workers began installing Trump's name.

After Trump's moves in November, Whitehouse and other lawmakers began a formal investigation into accusations that the board were mismanaging the financials of the center.

Documents Whitehouse found it is being operated as a “slush fund and private club for Trump’s friends and political allies."

“We began to get information about mischief taking place at the Kennedy Center and we got strong enough signals that we mounted an effort to dig into it and see what seemed actually to be going on," said Whitehouse.

“It was out of that effort that the report and letter came, which basically suggested that, when the brigands took the ship, their first instinct was to loot it for their own benefit and hire their friends and put people up in fancy rooms at the Watergate [Hotel] and let favored organizations get free access and it was all part of a MAGA party atmosphere."

So far, under their leadership, the Kennedy Center has suffered from millions of dollars in losses. So, Whitehouse demanded the records from the new board chairman, longtime Trump pal, Ric Grenell.

Grenell responded alleging Whitehouse was making “partisan attacks and false accusations."

Any "financial chaos" has come not from his leadership but the previous president was “quite literally making the building fall apart."

One contract Grenell entered into was with FIFA to have exclusive use of the entire Kennedy Center from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12 for The World Cup events.


"Estimates provided by Whitehouse show this will cost the Center $5,038,444 in losses from direct rental fees, programming rescheduling, labor, food and beverage and other services. Multiple events were cancelled or rescheduled to accommodate FIFA," The Guardian report said.

Grenell claimed FIFA was paying for the expenses in lieu of a rental fee.

Whitehouse questioned the claim, saying nothing in the documents confirms Grenell's promises.

FIFA has been “brown-nosing Trump relentlessly and giving him comical peace trophies to butter him up and at the same time getting free access to the Kennedy Center," Whitehouse said about his concerns.


The PR person for the Kennedy Center claimed FIFA was giving more than the $5 million-plus in rental fees.

But the contract shows rental discounts have already been given to conservative groups.

The report cited a NewsNation deal, where the network scored a $19,820 discount for it's town hall. The American Conservative Union Foundation got a $21,982.60 discount as they hosted a CPAC event titled The Christian Persecution Summit. The Guardian reported that the contract file specifically cites “waived costs from OOP” (the Office of the President).

There's another contract paying $15,000 a month to Grenell’s former colleague. There are no details on the contract. Grenell swears his contract was "covered" by a donation.


In May, the Kennedy Center began paying $10,833.33 to Kari Lake's husband, Jeff Halperin to do "social media capture/editing" services.

There have also been hefty expenses on luxury entertainment and hospitality for "staff and associates." That's when Grenell billed the Kennedy Center for $27,185 for rooms at the luxury Watergate Hotel. Then there are dinners and lunches, champagne service and more for staff who also worked for Grenell's political organizations.

“If they weren’t paying the proper ordinary Kennedy Center rates, they’re being given a benefit and those benefits seem only to be going towards groups that are affiliated with Trump and MAGA. It’s basically a direct way to use this public facility to put money into the pockets of groups that are allied," said Whitehouse.

All of this is happening while the Kennedy Center is over budget amid falling ticket sales and major acts canceling shows. Grenell blamed the previous administration.


Whitehouse fears it's just the tip of the ice berg.

"I don’t think you can underestimate the importance of narrative enhancement to the MAGA movement. They will lie their way through very obvious facts to protect a narrative," he said.

Read the full report here.

Tax the Rich, Say Mamdani, Sanders, and NYC Inauguration Crowd

“For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it,” said the new mayor. “Our City Hall will change that.”


US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) swears in Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor as Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, hold a Quran at City Hall on January 1, 2026.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Jan 01, 2026
COMMON DREAMS


“Tax the rich. Tax the rich. Tax the rich.”

The chants broke out at City Hall in New York on Thursday as US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) addressed the crowd before swearing in Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who campaigned on a platform that prioritized NYC’s working class.

“Demanding that the wealthy and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes is not radical. It is exactly the right thing to do,” declared Sanders—who endorsed Mamdani even before his June primary victory over former Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and “the billionaire-backed status quo.”

The 34-year-old mayor on Thursday described Brooklyn-born Sanders—50 years his senior—as “the man whose leadership I seek most to emulate, who I am so grateful to be sworn in by today.”

During the afternoon inauguration ceremony—which followed an early morning swearing-in at the abandoned subway station beneath City Hall—Mamdani also called for taxing the rich as he reiterated the agenda that secured him over 1.1 million votes in November.

“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” he said. “To those who insist that the era of big government is over, hear me when I say this: No longer will City Hall hesitate to use its power to improve New Yorkers’ lives.”




“Here, where the language of the New Deal was born, we will return the vast resources of this city to the workers who call it home,” Mamdani vowed. “Not only will we make it possible for every New Yorker to afford a life they love once again, we will overcome the isolation that too many feel, and connect the people of this city to one another.”

The mayor said that “the cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family, because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few. Those in rent-stabilized homes will no longer dread the latest rent hike, because we will freeze the rent.”

“Getting on a bus without worrying about a fare hike or whether you’ll be late to your destination will no longer be deemed a small miracle, because we will make buses fast and free,” he continued. “These policies are not simply about the costs we make free, but the lives we fill with freedom. For too long in our city, freedom has belonged only to those who can afford to buy it. Our City Hall will change that.”

The ceremony also featured remarks from another early Mamdani supporter, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), as well as the swearing-in of Jumaane Williams for a third term as New York City’s public advocate and Mark Levine, the new comptroller.

“New York, we have chosen courage over fear,” said Ocasio-Cortez, whose district spans the Bronx and Queens. “We have chosen prosperity for the many over spoils for the few. And when the entrenched ways would rather have us dig in our feet and seek refuge in the past, we have chosen instead to turn towards making a new future for all of us.”




As NYC kicked off the new year with progressive city leadership, 2025 findings from the Bloomberg Billionaire Index sparked fresh wealth tax demands. According to the tracker, the world’s 500 richest people added a record $2.2 trillion to their collective fortunes last year. About a quarter of that went to just eight Big Tech billionaires: Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Jensen Huang, Elon Musk, Larry Page, and Mark Zuckerberg.

In New York, Mamdani has proposed raising the state corporate tax rate from 8.85% to 11.5% and hiking taxes for individuals who make more than $1 million a year. Achieving those goals would require cooperation from state legislators.

Mamdani acknowledged Thursday that for much of history, the response from City Hall to the question of who New York belongs to has been, “It belongs only to the wealthy and well-connected, those who never strain to capture the attention of those in power.”

In the years ahead, he pledged, “City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, and abundance, where government looks and lives like the people it represents, never flinches in the fight against corporate greed, and refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too complicated.”

“Together, we will tell a new story of our city,” the mayor said. “This will not be a tale of one city, governed only by the 1%. Nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor. It will be a tale of 8.5 million cities, each of them a New Yorker with hopes and fears, each a universe, each of them woven together.”

'Obscene greed!' Fury as 8 billionaires pocket 25% of global wealth gains in one year

Billionaire class rakes in $2.2 trillion as Trump era supercharges extreme wealth

Jessica Corbett,

 Common Dreams
January 1, 2026 

FILE PHOTO: Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk arrives to the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Led by Big Tech billionaires including Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Elon Musk, the world’s 500 richest people added a record $2.2 trillion to their collective wealth in 2025, Bloomberg reported as the year ended on Wednesday.

“Obscene greed! While billions of people live in poverty,” human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell responded on X—a social media platform now controlled by Musk, the richest person on Earth. “It’s why we need a global wealth tax.”

Musk—who could become the world’s first trillionaire thanks to his new controversial pay package as CEO of Tesla—is one of just eight ultrawealthy individuals who got around a quarter of all the gains recorded by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The others are Amazon founder Bezos and Oracle chairman Ellison, as well as Michael Dell, Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Jensen Huang of Nvidia, and Meta‘s Mark Zuckerberg. The previous year, Bloomberg noted, “the same eight billionaires made up 43% of the total gains.”

According to Bloomberg, the gains that brought the combined net worth of all 500 people to $11.9 trillion “were turbocharged” by the 2024 election victory of President Donald Trump. The Republican and his relatives were among the “biggest winners” of 2025, gaining at least $282 million, for a net worth of $6.8 billion.


The “winners” also include Musk, who gained $190.3 billion for a net worth of $622.7 billion; Ellison, who gained $57.7 billion for a net worth of $249.8 billion; and Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart, who gained $12.6 billion for a net worth of $37.7 billion.


After Trump’s electoral win, several Big Tech billionaires buddied up to him, with Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all attending his inauguration. Musk then spent several months spearheading the administration’s attack on federal workforce as the de facto leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Sharing the Guardian‘s coverage of the findings on the social media network Bluesky, British climate scientist Bill McGuire warned that “if the monstrous political-economic system that is tearing our planet, the climate, and its people apart isn’t brought to its knees—then humanity will be.”

The Guardian pointed to Oxfam International’s November statement that $2.2 trillion “would have been more than enough to lift 3.8 billion people out of poverty,” which the humanitarian group highlighted ahead of the Group of 20 Summit hosted by South Africa, whose government used its G20 presidency to push for solutions to global inequality.

“Inequality is a deliberate policy choice. Despite record wealth at the top, public wealth is stagnating, even declining, and debt distress is growing,” Oxfam executive director Amitabh Behar said at the time. “Inequality rips away life opportunities and rights from the majority of citizens, sparking poverty, hunger, resentment, distrust, and instability.”

A June 2024 report from French economist and EU Tax Observatory director Gabriel Zucman—prepared for the G20’s Brazilian presidency—estimated that a global 2% minimum tax on the wealth of 3,000 billionaires could generate about $250 billion.

As seven Nobel laureates, including Joseph Stiglitz, noted in a July op-ed published by the French newspaper Le Monde, “By extending this minimum rate to individuals with wealth over $100 million, these sums would increase significantly.”

 Bureau of Land Management

'All of this is at risk': Expert sounds dire new warning over Trump's BLM nomination

Referring to millions of acres of federal lands.

Daniel Hampton
January 1, 2026 
RAW STORY


President Trump's nomination to lead the Bureau of Land Management sent shockwaves through the conservation community, with experts saying the move puts 245 million acres of pristine federal landscape in the crosshairs.

Former Rep. Steve Pearce's (R-NM) track record screams danger, warned Laiken Jordahl, an Arizona-based national public lands advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity. An obsessed Pearce spent years flogging off America's public lands to the highest bidder, Jordahl wrote Thursday for the Arizona Mirror.

"With Pearce at the BLM’s helm, all of this is at risk," he said, referring to millions of acres of federal lands.

In 2012, Pearce declared the nation didn't need most federal lands and pushed legislation to hand them over to states and local governments — a backdoor path to privatization and development.

"If confirmed, Pearce would likely try to weaken protections, accelerate extraction and sell off public lands — just as he tried throughout his career," warned Jordahl.

"This would be a disaster for Arizona’s wildlife. It would also harm our rural communities and economy," he added.

To boot, the smoking gun that should shoot down Pearce's nomination is his staggering conflicts of interest. While serving in Congress, he owned oilfield equipment companies worth tens of millions of dollars and raked in over $2 million from oil and gas donors. His voting record was in lockstep with extractive industries, ramming through drilling permits while gutting environmental safeguards.

"Arizona’s wildlife, economy and natural heritage depend on keeping these landscapes protected and in public hands, now and for generations to come," concluded Jordahl. "Our public lands are not for sale."

Charming Trump: The ‘flattery diplomacy’ displays of 2025

In the first year of his second term, US President Donald Trump was flattered and praised as prominent figures calculated that massaging the ego of the leader of the free world was the easiest way to manage global diplomacy – and possibly serve their own interests.


Issued on: 30/12/2025 
FRANCE24
By: Leela JACINTO

FIFA President Gianni Infantino awards US President Donald Trump with the FIFA Peace Prize at the Kennedy Center in Washington on December 5, 2025. © Chris Carlson, AP (Graphic: FMM graphics studio)



The lesson was learned early in Trump’s second term when visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was publicly berated at a February 28 Oval Office meeting.

READ MORETensions boil over between Trump, Vance and Zelensky at the White House

As Zelensky faced a verbal lashing from his hosts for not “thanking” Trump enough, heads of state, multinational corporations and international institutions across the world took note – and many responded by adopting baroque levels of “flattery diplomacy” to deal with the US president.

Pomp, splendour and courtesy have long greased diplomatic wheels. But with Trump this year, it was taken to personal – often incredible – levels that critics say crossed the line into servility and vassalage.


Here are some of 2025's top moments of Trump praise:

FIFA 'Peace' Prize

The prize never existed before, but after Trump waged a war of words against the Democrat-led US cities chosen to host next year’s World Cup, FIFA President Gianni Infantino decided to act. And how.

Infantino, a Trump ally, tapped into the US president’s disappointment over being skipped for the Nobel Peace Prize and cooked up a new, made-to-order award. On a plinth emblazoned with an all-cap “Donald J. Trump”, a metal globe perched atop five gnarled hands: the FIFA Peace Prize.

“This is your prize – this is your prize, your peace prize,” Infantino gushed as Trump beamed on the John F. Kennedy Center stage.

READ MOREUS President Donald Trump named first winner of FIFA Peace Prize

It didn’t end there. “There is also a beautiful medal for you that you can wear everywhere you want to go,” Infantino continued as Trump plucked the shiny object up and promptly put it on, like a modern-day Napoleon crowning himself.

US President Donald Trump is presented the FIFA Peace Prize by FIFA President Gianni Infantino on December 5, 2025. © Evan Vucci, AP

Qatar gifts a luxury jet for Air Force One

In a year that saw world leaders tripping over themselves to sign deals with the US, Qatar went the furthest, gifting Trump a luxury Boeing valued at $400 million to update Air Force One; his presidential aircraft.

The offer was first reported by US media on the eve of Trump’s Middle East visit in May to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

WATCH MOREPentagon accepts Boeing 747 from Qatar for Trump's use

The gift, the most expensive – and controversial – ever received by a US president in the country’s nearly 250-year history, kicked up a storm, with Democrats warning about ethical implications and legality and security concerns.

Trump however scoffed away the dismay, noting that Qatar's offer was a nice gesture that would be "stupid" to turn down.

Who's Rutte’s ‘Daddy’?

With the Trump administration threatening to disengage from NATO, it was essential to keep the US president on board at the bloc’s 2025 summit in The Hague.

But NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte went overboard.

In a private message to Trump before the summit, Rutte noted, “You are flying into another big success in The Hague ... Europe is going to pay in a BIG way, as they should, and it will be your win.”

Trump promptly posted Rutte’s message on his Truth Social platform, sparking cringes in many quarters.

But there was more. At a June 25 joint press conference during the NATO summit, Trump was asked about the Israel-Iran war, which was then raging.

The US president responded by likening the two countries to "kids in a schoolyard".

Rutte, in obsequious overdrive, couldn’t leave it at that. "Daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get them to stop," said the head of the world’s most powerful military alliance.

US President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at a meeting in The Hague on June 25, 2025. © Piroschka Van De Wouw, AP


As the “Daddy” quote grabbed headlines, Trump was asked if he views NATO allies as children. "No, [Rutte] likes me,” the US president replied. “I think he likes me. If he doesn't, I'll let you know. I'll come back and I'll hit him hard, OK? He did it very affectionately, 'Daddy, you're my Daddy.'"

Netanyahu hands Trump a Nobel nomination letter, and picks him for 'Israel Prize'

Trump’s obsession with winning a Nobel Peace Prize saw a number of world leaders trip over themselves to nominate the US president for the prize his predecessor, former president Barack Obama, won back in 2009.

None did it with as much flourish as Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu. Before a dinner at the White House Blue Room in July, Netanyahu kicked off the proceedings with a monologue as the cameras rolled.

“I want to express the appreciation and admiration not only of all Israelis, but of the Jewish people,” began Netanyahu. As US and Israeli teams beamed, the Israeli prime minister held up a letter. “I want to present to you, Mr. President, the letter I sent to the Nobel prize committee,” said Netanyahu.

“Oh,” said Trump as he took the letter from Netanyahu.

“It’s nominating you for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is well-deserved,” explained Netanyahu. “I think you should get it.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hands US President Donald Trump his Nobel nomination letter at the White House Blue Room on July 7, 2025. © Alex Brandon, AP


The Nobel committee didn’t think so. The 2025 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

READ MOREVenezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado wins Nobel Peace Prize

While the Israeli prime minister had no say in the Nobel decision, he did his best to make up for it by nominating Trump for another trophy. The year ended with Netanyahu revealing that Trump will be the only non-Israeli citizen to win the Israel Prize.

During his visit to the White House on Monday, Netanyahu held up his phone for Israel’s education minister to inform Trump about the award. In a video clip posted on X, Education Minister Yoav Kisch told the US president the award ceremony will be held on April 22, 2026, to mark Israel’s Independence Day, setting the stage for yet another year of Trump flattery.

King's letter for 'King Donald'

Handing letters to the king became a thing this year. In February, “King Donald” – as some critics have dubbed Trump – received one from the real McCoy. In a desperate bid to maintain the US-UK “special relationship”, Britain’s Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer ceremoniously handed Trump a state visit invitation from his sovereign, King Charles III.

At an Oval Office meeting, the cameras rolled with the praises. Reaching into his jacket breast pocket, Starmer extricated an envelope proclaiming, “It is my pleasure to bring from his majesty, the king, a letter.”

“Thank you very much,” said Trump as he took the letter. And held it. As the agonising seconds stretched, the court held its breath. The future of Ukraine, Europe, the transatlantic alliance, world order hung in the balance.

“Am I supposed to read it now?” asked Trump, uncharacteristically deferential when handed an authentic royal object.

“Yes, please do,” Starmer replied.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hands President Donald Trump an invitation from King Charles III during a White House meeting on February 27, 2025. © Carl Court, AP

The seconds stretched again as Trump silently read the letter. It was left to Starmer to explain that it was a “really special” invitation to an “unprecedented” second state visit.

Having admired the British monarch’s “beautiful” signature, Trump accepted the invitation, sparking months of excruciating “Royal Household prepares for state visit” coverage. A nine-minute royal family video even featured the elaborate prep work by livery officers, chefs, gardeners, military musicians and other staff.

They did their jobs. The visit in September took place without a royal hitch.

It was left to the British newspapers to examine if it was all worth the glitz. In its editorial, The Guardian concluded that, “there was an inverse relationship between the pomp and ceremony of this trip and its real import”.

The editorial however acknowledged that, “in the world of President Trump, a diplomatic interaction that avoids the outright disaster of a public dressing down, or doubling of tariffs, is now regarded as a triumph by US allies”.

'Totally MAGA': Bari Weiss pick to anchor CBS News is off to a rough start

Tom Boggioni
January 1, 2026 
RAW STORY


CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil (CBS News screenshot)

A video from CBS News posted to X on New Year's Day, designed to introduce the journalistic path recently promoted CBS News anchor Tony Dokoupil will be taking, was greeted with no small measure of skepticism on social media.

Since the controversial Bari Weiss was picked to run the CBS News division despite a lack of experience in television news, every move has been scrutinized and Dokoupil’s pledge reaffirmed concerns about the dismantling of journalistic standards.

Coming not long after Weiss spiked a “60 Minutes” investigation into the horrific experiences of migrants detained by ICE and transferred to El Salvador's CECOT prison facility, Dokopuil’s comment that “the press has missed the story” too often set off a wave of derision and accusations of dumbing down the news.

“On too many stories, the press has missed the story. Because we've taken into account the perspective of advocates and not the average American. Or we put too much weight in the analysis of academics or elites, and not enough on you,” he asserted.

“That changes now,” the CBS News post boasted.

“The replies are a perfect mix of his target audience not believing him and everyone else being embarrassed for him,“ culture commentator Jay Smooth observed.

“We will be covering the world at a 2nd grade reading-level, and visuals even MAGA will understand,” John Collins added.

Podcaster Buck Johnson contributed, “This is hilarious. ‘I’ve cheated on you for decades. But trust me, I’m the one who feels the pain. I’m here to tell you I’m a new man. Trust me.’”

Pointing out the new leadership at CBS News, another observer noted, “Imagine the News telling people ‘hey we’ve lied and deceived you for decades, but now we’ll be honest’. His bosses the ones who made him and many others lie to us gave this speech the green light. Let that sink in.”

Journalist Michael Salfino wrote, “Totally MAGA to dismiss experts and thus objective reality while giving credence to the superstitions and beliefs of the dim-witted common man.”

“ie, you’re dumbing down the ‘news’ so it resonates with MAGA,” influencer Travis Akers observed.

Former White House correspondent John Harwood added, "I did not expect this from Tony."


Dokoupil will assume his anchor duties next Monday night.