Trump: A Symptom of the End of the World?

The president of the United States is deeply involved in dealing with the two ways we human beings have figured out how to destroy ourselves (and potentially so much else on this planet): nuclear war and climate change.


Tom Engelhardt
Nov 18, 2025

TomDispatch



When I began TomDispatch in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan, believe me, the world did not look good. But I guarantee you one thing: If you had told me then that, almost a quarter of a century later, the president of the United States would be Donald J. Trump (and had explained to me just who he was), I would have thought you an idiot first class or totally mad! Donald J. Trump as president of the United States, not just once, but twice? In what century? On what planet? You must be kidding! (And what a dreadful joke at that!)

Now, of course, I would have to put all of that in the past tense (and probably add yet more exclamation points)!!



‘Utter Moral Failure’: Critics Aghast at New Reporting That Shows US Elites ‘Scared of Crossing Trump’

Once upon a time, you could never have convinced me (or just about anyone else) that we would find ourselves in such a world. Living in it now, however, it’s all too easy to see—yes!—President Donald Trump as a (if not the) crucial actor (making up his lines as he goes along) in a potentially devastating planetary drama still distinctly in development. (And I’m not even thinking about the possibility that, in the not-too-distant future, he might actually order some kind of invasion of, or assault on, Venezuela!) What’s rarer is to imagine him as a genuine symptom of this world’s end (at least as we human beings once knew it).

(And yes, there are indeed a lot of parentheses in this piece so far, perhaps because, at almost 81 and a half, I feel increasingly parenthetical to this eerily strange world of ours.)

He’s clearly right that heaven will indeed be a problem for him, since he’s so intent on sending us all, himself included, to hell in a handbasket.

Okay, I know, I know, all of that couldn’t sound more extreme. And unfortunately, that’s not even the half of it. After all, at this very moment, the president of the United States is deeply involved in dealing—in a fashion that would once have seemed as unimaginable as Donald Trump himself—with the two ways we human beings have figured out how to destroy ourselves (and potentially so much else on this planet): nuclear war and climate change.

Think of “President” Trump, in short, as a twofer when it comes to potential planetary destruction. And once upon a time (twice upon a time?), who would have imagined that possible when it came to a president of the United States? I’ll say it again: the “president” (and given the strange circumstances of this world of ours, that word does seem to me to need quotation marks!) of—nowhere else but—the United States of America! (And yes, we do seem to be on a planet where exclamation points can’t be used too often!! In fact, we may truly need some new symbol for the extremity of this world of ours!!!)

Okay, let me calm down a bit. After all, so many years after he first entered the White House, it’s true that, if you check statistician Nate Silver’s website, the president’s approval figures are indeed dropping significantly. But that may not, in the end (and “end” is anything but an inappropriate word here), truly matter to the man who clearly thinks better of himself than anyone else on this planet and possibly any other planet, even if he does now worry about whether or not, in the next life, he’ll actually make it to heaven. (“I want to try and get to heaven, if possible,” he said recently. “I’m hearing I’m not doing well. I am really at the bottom of the totem pole.”)

Nonetheless, I’d advise Saint Peter, if he’s still holding the keys to that kingdom’s gateway, to watch out. For his own safety, I’d urge him to consider burying those keys and stepping aside. (Oh, and let me use parentheses—and dashes—again here to suggest, sadly enough, that Donald J. Trump couldn’t be less dashingly parenthetical in this all too strange world of ours and, for all we know, the next one, too.) In fact, should he indeed surprise himself and the rest of us by making it to heaven, count on something else—and yes, I’ll need a colon here (lots of punctuation being necessary to deal with You Know Who): Expect him to tear down those ancient pearly gates and begin building a heavenly—or do I mean hellish?—version of Mar-a-Lago up there; in short, a new East Wing of heaven.

Living in a Sci-Fi World

In the 1950s and 1960s, from Brave New World and 1984 to Fahrenheit 451, I grew up on dystopian fiction and sci-fi, but honestly, there wasn’t a shot in hell of a chance that Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, or Ray Bradbury, amazing as each of them was, could ever have imagined Donald Trump. (Think of him, in fact, not as Big Brother but perhaps as Humongous Brother.) If any of them had done so back then, rest assured that they wouldn’t have sold a copy of a book with such a ludicrous, unrealistic character and plot line. It tells you something that former Vice President Dick Cheney, who died recently, the fellow who became “the Darth Vader” of the administration of George W. Bush and helped launch the disastrous post-9/11 American wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, by opposing Trump, now seems almost like a positive figure by comparison.

After all, today, Donald J. Trump has his hands on (all over, in fact) the two distinctly apocalyptic and all too science-fictional ways we humans have discovered to do in ourselves and much of the rest of the planet. Only recently, he demanded that the US military start testing nuclear weapons for the first time since 1992. In fact, on Truth Social, just minutes before he met with China’s President Xi Jinping, he stated that he had ordered “the Department of War” to resume such tests. “I’m saying that we’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do, yes,” he recently told CBS’ Norah O’Donnell. “Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it.”

Hmm, not only don’t they talk about it, but as far as anyone on this planet other than Donald Trump can tell, like the United States, neither of those countries has tested a nuclear weapon since the 1990s. But no matter. If President Trump wants to set off new nuclear explosions on Planet Earth, why shouldn’t he? What harm could he possibly do? (Admittedly, Russian leader Vladimir Putin is talking about responding in kind and is indeed already testing nuclear delivery systems.). And if it led to a future nuclear confrontation with either Russia or China, honestly, how bad could that possibly be? Well, yes, if such testing were indeed to lead to an actual nuclear conflict, there is the possibility of creating what’s come to be known as “nuclear winter” on Planet Earth, but let’s not go there. (Brrr…) And mind you, that’s the less likely of the two possible ways President Trump could bring end-of-the-world possibilities into the everyday lives of us all.

With Donald Trump in the White House, consider us lucky (after a fashion) that we haven’t yet come up with a third or fourth way to do this planet and ourselves in, because count on this: He’d be on it instantly.

The other way—what might be thought of as a future climate-change summer—would be a slow-motion version of atomic hell, thanks to the pouring of endless amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, and so potentially heating this planet to the boiling point. Sadly enough, that possibility seems to fit Donald Trump’s skill set to a T. After all, though few may remember this anymore, he won his presidency the second time around on the stunningly blunt slogan “Drill, Baby, Drill,” which really couldn’t have been a more forthright promise about what he planned to do if reelected. Yes, let me say it one more time—pour greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels into our atmosphere in a distinctly hellish fashion. And give him credit, when it comes to campaign promises made in 2024, he’s proven (at least on this one issue) to be a man of his word.

After all, his record after only one term in office was impressive enough, although, on this strange planet of ours, he was anything but alone. (Good job, Vlad!) Just consider the fact that the last three summers have been the three hottest in recorded history, while 2024 was the warmest year on record (and 2025 is likely to come in second or third). In fact, a recent report found that a person somewhere on Earth is now dying every minute from rising global heat, thanks to the burning of fossil fuels. And none of that is faintly stopping Donald Trump from acting to ensure that the future will be so much worse. After all, barring a total surprise, he’ll have three more years to continue what he’s been doing from the first day of his second term in office: “unleashing” oil, natural gas, and coal in any way he can. (Mind you, to put things in even grimmer perspective, under Joe Biden, a president who claimed to be determined to decarbonize our world, US oil production hit a record high in 2024.)

Only recently, for instance, President Trump opened the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, which is estimated to hold billions of barrels of crude oil, to fossil-fuel drilling. And that’s just one—let me put this as mildly as I can, though I’m already sweating—modest act of his. Meanwhile, he’s been going out of his way to discourage the production of clean energy, especially wind power, in any way he can. As the British Guardian reported recently, a total of nine offshore wind projects set to provide electricity to nearly 5 million American households and create about 9,000 jobs in this country are already under investigation or have been paused by the Trump administration. Meanwhile, approvals of oil and gas drilling permits are—I’m sure you won’t be surprised to learn—distinctly on the rise.

And give him credit for accuracy: He’s clearly right that heaven will indeed be a problem for him, since he’s so intent on sending us all, himself included, to hell in a handbasket. But here’s the thing when it comes to climate change: None of this should faintly be a surprise. All of it was apparent enough in his first term in office and yet Donald (“drill, baby, drill”) Trump was indeed reelected in 2024, despite what everyone should have known about his plans for this planet and the rest of us.

A Slow-Motion Version of a Global Nuclear Catastrophe

With Donald Trump in the White House, consider us lucky (after a fashion) that we haven’t yet come up with a third or fourth way to do this planet and ourselves in, because count on this: He’d be on it instantly. And yet, sadly enough, two ways are undoubtedly going to be plenty. Or even one way, since I must admit that I find it hard to believe that even Donald Trump is going to get us into an actual nuclear war. Unfortunately, with him, I certainly wouldn’t rule anything out, but somehow it doesn’t seem likely.

And yet, if you think about it, in some sense, we’re already in the equivalent of a nuclear war, since climate change just happens to be a slow-motion version of a global nuclear catastrophe. Think of the release of all those greenhouse gases as indeed a long-term version of that nuclear mushroom cloud, blasting this planet in a fashion that’s likely to lead to an all too literal hell on Earth in the decades to come.

And if we’re indeed heading into such a landscape, then consider Donald J. Trump a slow-motion version of Satan (as are Vladimir Putin and all too many other global leaders). Certainly, his policies are making a mockery of global efforts (however modest) to rein in greenhouse gases. In some way, what lends him such a hand is the very fact that, unlike a nuclear war, climate change, being a slow-motion version of global hell, is strangely hard to take in.

Whether Donald Trump makes it to heaven or not, there can be little question that his legacy on earth will be satanic indeed.




© 2023 TomDispatch.com


Tom Engelhardt
Tom Engelhardt, co-founder of the American Empire Project, runs the Type Media Center's TomDispatch.com. His books include: "A Nation Unmade by War" (2018, Dispatch Books), "Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World" (2014, with an introduction by Glenn Greenwald), "Terminator Planet: The First History of Drone Warfare, 2001-2050"(co-authored with Nick Turse), "The United States of Fear" (2011), "The American Way of War: How Bush's Wars Became Obama's" (2010), and "The End of Victory Culture: a History of the Cold War and Beyond" (2007).
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Trump Rebuked by Federal Ruling Against Unlawful Racial Gerrymandering in Texas

“The Trump-Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I’m glad these judges have blocked them,” said Rep. Greg Casar.

Texas Sen. Pete Flores, (R-24) looks at the proposed redistricting map as the Texas Senate prepares to take a vote on the redistricting bill passed by the Texas House of Representatives, Aug. 22, 2025.
(Sara Diggins/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images)

Stephen Prager
Nov 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

In a direct rebuke to President Donald Trump’s hopes that mid-decade redistricting in key states could help Republicans retain control of Congress in next year’s midterm elections, a federal court Tuesday ordered Texas to halt the use of its new congressional maps, redrawn earlier this year as part of a GOP effort to maximize its advantage in the Lone Star State.

The unprecedented mid-decade power grab was expected to net Republicans an extra five seats in the House, which, in tandem with other redistricting efforts in Missouri and North Carolina, may have proven critical in their efforts to blunt a blue wave by Democrats in next year’s midterms.

But those efforts ran into an unexpected obstacle when Tuesday’s 2-1 ruling by a panel of three federal judges in Texas determined the maps were “racially gerrymandered,” disempowering nonwhite voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). With a preliminary injunction, the court ordered the state to instead rely on the boundaries it drew in 2021.

In the majority opinion, District Judge Jeffrey V. Brown, a Trump appointee, wrote that while “politics played a role” in Trump’s request for Texas to redraw its maps, the White House explicitly “reframed its request as a demand to redistrict congressional seats based on their racial makeup.”

Specifically, Brown’s decision cited a claim made in a letter to Texas officials from Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, that the existence of four “coalition districts,” where no racial group had a 50% majority, in the 2021 map, was “unconstitutional.” The DOJ threatened legal action against Texas if it did not immediately move to redraw these districts, which it promptly did at the direction of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.

This is despite the fact that, as Brown points out, “attorneys employed by the Texas Attorney General—who professes to be a political ally of the Trump Administration—describe the DOJ letter as ‘legally unsound,’ ‘baseless,’ ‘erroneous,’ ‘ham-fisted,’ and ‘a mess.’”

“The governor explicitly directed the legislature to draw a new US House map to resolve DOJ’s concerns,” Brown wrote. “In other words, the governor explicitly directed the legislature to redistrict based on race. In press appearances, the governor plainly and expressly disavowed any partisan objective and instead repeatedly stated that his goal was to eliminate coalition districts and create new majority-Hispanic districts.”

“The legislature adopted those racial objectives,” he continued. “The redistricting bill’s sponsors made numerous statements suggesting that they had intentionally manipulated the districts’ lines to create more majority-Hispanic and majority-Black districts. The bill’s sponsors’ statements suggest they adopted those changes because such a map would be an easier sell than a purely partisan one.”

Republicans will almost certainly appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court. But as the Texas Tribune points out, “time is short,” as “candidates only have until December 8 to file for the upcoming election,” which means that the district lines must be determined before then.

Chad Dunn, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said: “It seems they’d have a limited chance of success at the Supreme Court because the evidence is so overwhelming. Everyone involved said they were drawing the lines on the basis of race. I don’t see how the Supreme Court sets that aside.”

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 conservative majority has signaled that it intends to strike down Section 2 of the VRA entirely. But that case is currently scheduled for early next year and could not be brought onto the shadow docket in time to override the ruling blocking the Texas map for 2026.

While it could have major implications for future elections, likely allowing the GOP to net over a dozen additional seats, in the near term, Trump’s gambit for aggressive racial gerrymandering may blow up in his and his party’s face---at least temporarily.

Texas’ maps kicked off a retaliatory gerrymandering push by Democrats to redraw maps to their advantage in blue states. That effort culminated in California voters’ overwhelming passage earlier this month of Proposition 50, which overrode the state’s independent redistricting commission and allowed the state legislature to draw maps that handed Democrats an additional five seats. Similar efforts may soon be underway in New York and Virginia.

With the cushion provided by Texas suddenly yanked away, Democrats now appear to be the clear winners of the gerrymandering war if things stand as they are. Instead of gaining the GOP five extra seats, Trump’s gambit could end up costing it five.

“Today’s ruling is a rebuke of Texas Republicans who caved to Donald Trump and trampled the voting rights of their constituents,” said Adrian Shelley, the Texas director of Public Citizen. “Gov. Abbott and his allies in the Legislature have forgotten their independent streak as Texans. Perhaps they can find the courage that Republicans in a few other states have to tell the president no.”

Meanwhile, Texas Democrats previously at risk of being gerrymandered out of their seats, rejoiced in the wake of Tuesday’s ruling.

This includes Austin Reps. Greg Casar and Lloyd Doggett, who, in anticipation of seeing their districts smushed into one, have spent the past several months engaged in a sort of shadow primary, which resulted in Doggett saying he’d retire if the maps were upheld. If Tuesday’s ruling holds, both of their districts would remain intact.

“The Trump Abbott maps are clearly illegal, and I’m glad these judges have blocked them,” Casar said after Tuesday’s ruling. “If this decision stands, I look forward to running for reelection in my current district.”

While he celebrated the ruling, he said, “no matter what, we must fight to pass a federal ban on gerrymandering once and for all.”

ISLAMOPHOBES R US

'They're outbreeding our women!' 

Pardoned J6er leads anti-Muslim protest for Christian 'white race'

David Edwards
November 18, 2025 

RAW STORY

Jake Lang/X/screen grab


A pardoned Jan. 6 rioter led an anti-Muslim protest in Dearborn, Michigan, that had been planned and then denounced by Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson.

On Tuesday, Hudson told the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) that he had abandoned the anti-Muslim protest after visiting area mosques.

However, Jake Lang showed up in Dearborn on Tuesday afternoon in Hudson's campaign bus, which he said he had legally acquired from one of the candidate's former staffers.

"Sharia law is not going to ever stand in America!" Lang shouted after painting the word "cuck" on the bus. "And this traitor here, who bowed down in the mosque last week, Anthony Hudson, we got no room for cowards! We got no room for traitors!"

"You're worse than the Islamic b------s! White men who turn against their own!" he continued. "Islamification of America ends today! Our country is worth fighting for. Europe is worth fighting for. White Western civilization is worth dying for."

Lang pointed to the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor as proof that Muslims were "taking over every major city."

"They're outbreeding our women, four to one," he complained. "In one generation, the white race completely wiped out. This is a stand for our country, for our posterity."

"The Bible tells us very clearly, what fellowship does light have with darkness? How can a sinner and a righteous person sit at the same table and eat? They cannot!" Lang added. "Look at Australia. Look at London. Look at Rome. These look like third world s—tholes. These are the bastions of white Western civilization that have been taken over in just a half a generation. We will stand strong."

Red state governor rebuked over bid to ban Muslim group members from owning land

Gov. Greg Abbott seeks to ban two Muslim groups and their members from owning land in Texas

Berenice Garcia, Texas Tribune

Joshua Fechter, Texas Tribune

Colleen Deguzman, The Texas Tribune
November 18, 2025 


Texas flag. (Photo credit: Svet foto / Shutterstock)



Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday named two Islamic groups as terrorist and criminal organizations, banning them and those associated with the groups from purchasing or acquiring land in Texas.

Abbott designated the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, as transnational criminal organizations.

In announcing the designation, Abbott accused the two groups of supporting terrorism across the world and of subverting Texas laws through harassment, intimidation and violence.

"The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable," Abbott said in a statement.

Neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor CAIR is listed on the U.S. State Department’s list of terrorist groups.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a multinational organization with no central figure. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested the Trump administration was considering designating the group or branches of the group as terrorist organizations but has not.

CAIR, a Muslim civil rights group, issued a statement saying they have consistently condemned all forms of unjust violence and said their condemnation of terrorism made their national director a target for ISIS.

"Although we are flattered by Greg Abbott's obsession with our civil rights organization, his publicity stunt masquerading as a proclamation has no basis in fact or law," CAIR stated. "By defaming a prominent American Muslim institution with debunked conspiracy theories and made-up quotes, Mr. Abbott has once again shown that his top priority is advancing anti-Muslim bigotry, not serving the people of Texas."

They further stated the organization would be ready to mount a legal challenge if the declaration were to become actual policy.

Abbott's proclamation cites a new law that was approved by the Texas lawmakers earlier this year. The bill gave Abbott more power to ban property ownership by governmental entities, companies, and individuals from a country named in annual threat assessment reports prepared by the director of national security.

A similar law in Florida is making its way through the courts. A three-judge panel on the 11th 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing the state to enforce its ban.

Abbott's proclamation cites a new law that was approved by the Texas lawmakers earlier this year. The bill gave Abbott more power to ban property ownership by governmental entities, companies, and individuals from a country named in the three most recent annual threat assessment reports prepared by the U.S. Director of National Intelligence


A similar law in Florida is making its way through the courts. A three-judge panel on the 11th 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is allowing the state to enforce its ban.

“This is in the sort of Islamophobic toolbox that Abbott is picking up to rehash this old conspiratorial thinking to criminalize Muslims,” said Habiba Noor, a lecturer at Trinity University.

Noor said framing CAIR as part of the Muslim Brotherhood is a conspiracy theory that has existed since it was founded in the 1990s. She speculated the recent flare-up of trying to tie the two together stems from plans to develop an Islamic community near Dallas.


The East Plano Islamic Center proposed a residential development, called EPIC City, that would include more than 1,000 residential units, a mosque, a K-12 faith-based school and retail shops, among other features.

The project drew controversy and became the subject of multiple investigations.

In an effort to stop the development, Abbott signed into law a bill prohibiting residential developments from building “Sharia compounds” and from discriminating against Texans. However, there are no indications that the organizers of EPIC City intend to operate under Sharia law.


Additionally, the corporation managing the development, Community Capital Partners, agreed to abide by the Texas Fair Housing Act and implement fair housing policies.

Tuesday’s proclamation would not apply to EPIC, which is a Texas-based nonprofit organization. CAIR is also not directly affiliated with EPIC, though the Dallas-Fort Worth office condemned Abbott’s investigation into EPIC City.

“The tie to land goes back to this conflict over EPIC City and so it's like yet another sort of move to kind of deny Muslims the right to develop properties together as a community,” Noor said.

State Rep. Cole Hefner, who sponsored the law, cheered Abbott on Tuesday.


“This move gives our state powerful new tools to stop extremist networks, block them from buying land, and hold anyone who aids or finances them accountable,” he said on in a statement on social media. “Texas will not allow groups tied to Hamas and global terrorism to take root here.
https://twitter.com/colehefnertx/status/1990816377108640188?s=46&t=ypDcgsgPNqdE2aWwG2mrtQ

Disappointed, but not surprised


Since he was 10, Shayan Sajid has been attending Maryam Islamic Center in Sugarland, a suburb of Houston, which is estimated to be home to the state’s largest Muslim population. Sajid said that although Abbott’s announcement didn’t surprise him, he was disappointed.

"It's an unfortunate reminder that at times, living in this country and living in Texas, even being in a city as diverse as Houston, we still get so much Islamophobia,” Sajid said, “and not just from random individuals, but from very, you know, powerful individuals."

Sajid said CAIR “is literally something that's just out there to help individuals.”

“There's zero harm in it,” he continued. “I know individuals who do work for CAIR or who have worked for CAIR, like there's literally nothing there to be afraid of, nothing there that's tying them to any dangerous organizations or any dangerous intentions.”
Legal liablity

Abbott’s declaration opens up an array of potential constitutional issues, said Emily Berman, a professor at the University of Houston Law Center. Limiting property purchases based on viewpoints and religious affiliation could prove problematic under the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

“What is the motivation of these designations?” Berman said. “Is it about their religious views? Is it about their viewpoints on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which would be another First Amendment red flag? You can't discriminate on the basis of someone's viewpoint.”

The designation also raises due process concerns, Berman said, given that it’s not clear how groups can formally challenge the designation.

The U.S. Secretary of State holds the power to designate a group a foreign terrorist organization, though they must notify Congress and publish the designation in the Federal Register. An organization can appeal that designation within 30 days of that publication.

It’s not clear whether such a process exists at the state level. In the order, Abbott said he consulted with Freeman Martin, Texas Department of Public Safety director, and the state’s Homeland Security Council to determine whether to make the designation as required under state law. Whether groups can appeal the state-level designations is unclear.

It’s possible CAIR, for example, could challenge the law in court by arguing the state is overstepping its bounds by making laws around national security matters, Berman said.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

MOHAMMED BONE-SAW SALMAN

Trump Threatens ABC’s Broadcast License Again After Reporter Questions Saudi Crown Prince About Khashoggi Murder

Trump also contradicted a US intelligence assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.


President Donald Trump responds to a question where Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during a meeting in the White House on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Brad Reed
Nov 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

President Donald Trump angrily snapped at ABC News reporter Mary Bruce while taking questions alongside Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the White House on Tuesday.

The testy exchange began when Bruce tried to ask the crown prince about a US intelligence assessment concluding that he was responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Trump Calls Saudi Prince ‘Respected Man’ as Serial Human Rights Abuser Ups US Investment to $1 Trillion

“Who are you with?” Trump demanded to know as Bruce attempted to ask her questions.

“I’m with ABC News, sir,” she replied.

“Fake news,” Trump said. “ABC, fake news, one of the worst in the business.”

Shortly after this, Trump described the slain Khashoggi as “somebody that was extremely controversial.”

“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about,” Trump said, referring to Khashoggi. “Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen. But [the crown prince] knew nothing about it. You don’t have to embarrass our guest.”

In fact, a US intelligence report that was declassified in 2021 concluded that the crown prince personally approved of a plan carried out by Saudi forces to murder Khashoggi after he entered a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey in 2018.

Shortly after this, Bruce tried to ask the president a question about FBI files related to the late sex offender and longtime Trump friend Jeffrey Epstein, and he again hit her with personal insults.

“It’s not the question I mind, it’s your attitude,” he said. “You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”

He then threatened to take ABC News completely off the air.

“I think the [broadcast] license should be taken away from ABC because your news is so fake, and it’s so wrong,” he said. “And we have a great commissioner... who should look at that.”

Trump’s mention of the “commissioner” was presumably a reference to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who earlier this year threatened to pull ABC‘s broadcast license unless it fired late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a frequent critic of the president.

Kimmel’s show was suspended shortly after Carr made this statement, although he was reinstated days later amid public outcry about government censorship.

'Stunning moment': Analyst taken aback by Trump's comments on journalist's killing

Robert Davis
November 18, 2025 
RAW STORY


U.S. President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman hold hands during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

One analyst was stunned by President Donald Trump's comments about a slain journalist during a press conference on Monday with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.

MBS was asked about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during the press conference. Trump jumped in to answer the question and said Khashoggi was a "controversial figure" and that "a lot of people didn't like him." Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the Crown Prince, and America's intelligence community concluded that MBS likely ordered Khashoggi's killing in 2018.

New York Times reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs discussed Trump's comments on CNN's "The Arena" with Kaisie Hunt.

"He didn't just distance himself from the question when the question came up about U.S. intelligence finding that the Crown Prince likely directed the killing of Jamal Khashoggi," he said. "Often when there are tough questions in the Oval Office. I've seen a bunch of these meetings now, the president will almost refer to the foreign leader to answer the question and defer it. And this one, he didn't distance himself or defer. He leaned in and almost scoffed at the question."

On the same day that Khashoggi's widow is hoping that the White House could urge the Saudis to return the remains of Jamal Khashoggi, the president answers that question by essentially saying, 'Well, he was a controversial figure, and many people didn't like him,'" Kanno-Youngs continued. "Somebody who was doing his job as a journalist. It was stunning. It's a stunning moment."

'Things happened?' Trump's remarks on dismembered journalist leave Jake Tapper astounded

Robert Davis
November 18, 2025

RAW STORY


CNN screenshot

CNN host Jake Tapper slammed President Donald Trump on Monday for his comments about a slain journalist while hosting a foreign leader whom American intelligence agencies concluded ordered the journalist's killing.

Trump hosted Saudi Arabian Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at the White House on Monday. During a press conference, a reporter asked MBS about the murder of former Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Khashoggi was assassinated and his body was dismembered in October 2018 in Turkey by a Saudi hit squad that American intelligence agencies say conducted the operation with MBS's approval.

Trump jumped in to answer the question about Khashoggi's killing, saying the journalist was a "controversial figure" and that "things happened" to him.

Tapper responded to Trump's claims during Monday's broadcast of "The Lead."

"Things happened?!" Tapper said. "Here's the thing that happened, Mr. President. In October 2018, while you were president, Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was, according to U.S. intelligence, killed and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by men with close ties to the highest levels of the Saudi government."

Tapper also chided MBS's claim during the press conference that Saudi Arabia is "doing everything it can" to prevent a similar event from happening.

"Except something similar has happened," Tapper said. "Again, just five months ago, Saudi Arabia executed Turki al-Jasser, another journalist, this one known for exposing corruption. The Associated Press reports that this time Saudi Arabia publicly leveled charges of various terrorist crimes and accusations of destabilizing the security of society, though authorities did not detail or provide any evidence."

'Showed nothing but debility': WaPo bashes Trump's 'weak' comments about slain journalist

Robert Davis
November 18, 2025 

RAW STORY

Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman laughs as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks while shaking hands during a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

The Washington Post's editorial board slammed President Donald Trump on Tuesday over comments he made about one of the outlet's assassinated journalists during a press conference in the Oval Office.

Trump hosted Saudi Arabian Prime Minister Mohammad bin Salman on Tuesday, and the foreign leader faced tough questions about journalist Jamal Khashoggi during a press conference. Khashoggi was murdered by a hit squad with ties to the highest levels of Saudi Arabia's government, according to an assessment by the U.S. intelligence agencies. The agencies also concluded that it was likely MBS approved of the hit before it was carried out.

After a reporter asked MBS about Khashoggi's death, Trump jumped in to answer the question. He claimed that "things happened" to Khashoggi, who he described as a "controversial figure" and someone that "a lot of people didn't like."

The editorial board discussed Trump's comments in a new editorial on Tuesday.

"President Donald Trump’s performance at the White House Tuesday was something else entirely: weak, crass and of no strategic benefit to America," the editorial reads in part.

"The reality is that while Trump advocates peace through strength, he showed nothing but debility," it continued. "No doubt other dictators took note. Legitimizing and defending Mohammed this way will embolden him and his ilk to mistreat not just journalists but any Americans — knowing that they’ll probably face no real consequences."

Read the entire editorial by clicking here.

'Epic meltdown': Trump ripped for accusing ABC reporter of asking 'insubordinate' question

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 18, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

Sarah K. Burris

November 18, 2025

RAW STORY

President Donald Trump lashed out at ABC News reporter Mary Bruce on Tuesday in the Oval Office when she asked him why he didn't just release the investigation files on accused trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

"It's not the question that I mind," Trump claimed. "It's your attitude. I think you are a terrible reporter. It's the way you ask these questions. You start off with a man who's highly respected, asking him an insubordinate question."

The president's outburst promped a wave of criticism from various journalists and experts across social media.

Being insubordinate is typically a characterization that means someone is "disobedient to orders." It's a definition that inspired former Chicago Sun-Times editor Mark Jacob to comment, "The press doesn't work for you, a--hole. I'll bet you can't guess that ABC reporter was a woman. He hates tough questions from a woman. Because he's a sexist pig."

"I’m not going to say what the question was because I think it’s worth turning up the volume to hear for yourself," encouraged New York Times national correspondent Mike Baker.

Alaska Public Radio correspondent Liz Ruskin pointed out that Trump made the same comment about a reporter who asked the Saudi crown prince about the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, as Trump also called that reporter "insubordinate."

"A lot of people don't like that gentleman that you're talking about," Trump said at the time.

Longtime CNBC and NBC News reporter Carl Quintanilla remarked, "Calling the ABC reporter’s question 'insubordinate' explains everything about how Trump sees press freedom."

"We fought a war to ensure we could ask insubordinate questions of our own leaders, to say nothing of foreign monarchs," said national security lawyer Bradley P. Moss on Bluesky.

Self-described MAGA hunter Ron Smith commented, "Trump has an epic meltdown when pressed by a reporter on Epstein."

University of Virginia Center for Politics director Larry Sabato also pointed out that later in his remarks Trump said "he wants the 'license taken from ABC.'"

"This is what panic looks like," political analyst Brian Allen wrote on X. "A president who can’t answer a basic question about Epstein without lashing out at reporters is a president who’s hiding something."

"Mr President, why wait for 'your' FCC to pull the license? Why not just take a cue from your guest and chop up all the ABC reporters?" asked "Kagro in the Morning" host David Walman.

TRUMPS WAR ON DEPT. OF EDUCATION

‘Students Deserve So Much Better,’ Union Leader Says as Trump Tears Up Education Department

“This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children,” said one opponent of the new partnerships.


Students greet their former teacher on the first day of the new school year at Price Elementary School in Anaheim, California on August 8, 2024.

(Photo by Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Nov 18, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Teachers union leaders, Democratic lawmakers, and other critics of President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle the US Department of Education on Tuesday forcefully denounced what the administration is calling “new agency partnerships to break up federal bureaucracy.”

Although the Education Department cannot be fully shuttered without approval from Congress, Trump has signed an executive order aimed at starting the process “to the maximum extent appropriate and permitted by law” and laid off over 1,300 workers.

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Shortly after journalists began reporting on the new plans Tuesday, citing unnamed sources, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon confirmed the agreements with the departments of Health and Human Services, the Interior, Labor, and State.

One federal official told Politico that the partnerships are a “proof of concept strategy to show Congress how this can be done,” and said that the Education Department will work with lawmakers “on making these agreements permanent.”

Becky Pringle, president of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union representing nearly 3 million employees, noted in a statement that “Donald Trump and his administration chose American Education Week, a time when our nation is celebrating students, public schools, and educators, to announce their illegal plan to further abandon students by dismantling the Department of Education.”

“Not only do they want to starve and steal from our students—they want to rob them of their futures,” Pringle said. “Ensuring a brighter future for our children should be a top priority for any administration, but this administration is taking every chance it can to hack away at the very protections and services our students need.”

“Just last week, they went to the Supreme Court to avoid feeding families. And they’re still pushing to gut healthcare programs,” she continued. “Now, they’re neglecting the basic responsibility to educate our children. It’s cruel. It’s shameful. And our students deserve so much better.”

American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten, whose union represents 1.8 million people, declared that “this move is neither streamlining nor reform—it’s an abdication and abandonment of America’s future.”

“Spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes, and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need.”

“What’s happening now isn’t about slashing red tape. If that were the goal, teachers could help them do it, and we invite Donald Trump and Linda McMahon to sit down with educators and hear from the people who actually do this work every day,” she emphasized. “Teachers know how to make the federal role more effective, efficient, and supportive of real learning—if only the administration would listen.”

“Instead, spreading services across multiple departments will create more confusion, more mistakes, and more barriers for people who are just trying to access the support they need,” she warned.

Aissa Canchola Bañez, policy director for nonprofit Protect Borrowers, similarly said that “shuffling certain functions of the US Department of Education across four different agencies is a political stunt that will only lead to more chaos and confusion for working families who just want their kids to get a quality education, to be able to pay for college, and to pay off their student loans.”

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, also slammed the announcement, saying that “in his ongoing rampage against everything that makes our country what it is, President Trump is now acting on the plan to destroy the Department of Education.”

“Short of toppling the Statue of Liberty, there is perhaps nothing that could capture the agenda of this administration more than what they are in fact doing right now: Making an enemy out of education itself,” she suggested. “This contemptible assault on American education must be condemned by everyone who strives towards a prosperous future for our country and our children.”



Senate Appropriations Committee Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.)—a former preschool teacher and local school board member—also piled on, saying that “Donald Trump and Linda McMahon are lawlessly trying to fulfill Project 2025’s goal to abolish the Department of Education and pull the rug out from students in every part of the country.”

“But instead of seeking congressional approval of their reckless actions to weaken our education system—which McMahon has acknowledged is necessary—Trump and McMahon are now pretending that our laws and the constitutional separation of powers are a mere suggestion,” said Murray, who used to lead and remains a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

“This is an outright illegal effort to continue dismantling the Department of Education,” she argued, “and it is students and families who will suffer the consequences as key programs that help students learn to read or that strengthen ties between schools and families are spun off to agencies with little to no relevant expertise and are gravely weakened—or even completely broken—in the process.”

The senator stressed that she is “always ready and willing to talk about reforms to our education laws to improve educational outcomes for students,” and urged her Republican colleagues to join Democrats in standing up against the administration’s attacks.

The GOP controls both chambers of Congress. According to Murray, “The fact that Trump and McMahon are choosing to break the law to do this on their own—despite having unified Republican control of Washington—tells us they know just how unpopular their plans are and can’t win the approval of members of their own party.”

'Will not stand': Trump under fire as dismantling of massive department advances

Robert Davis
November 18, 2025 
RAW STORY


U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon shakes hands with Annette Albright next to U.S. President Donald Trump during an event to sign executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

Political analysts and observers slammed President Donald Trump's administration on Monday for its latest attempt to dismantle a government agency.

On Monday, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration made significant strides toward dismantling the Department of Education by assigning some of the agency's grant portfolio to other departments. Some of those programs include a $28 billion program that supports K-12 education, and a $3.1 billion grant that helps students complete college, according to the report.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon has been a key ally in Trump's mission to dismantle the Department of Education, which has been a target of conservative politicians for decades. The report indicates that McMahon has "vowed to work to dismantle it from within" and is working to find other agencies to carry out the department's functions.

"This fall, she took a first step and moved career and technical education programs, including adult education and family literacy initiatives, to the Labor Department," the report reads.

Political analysts and observers shared their takes on social media.

"Trump & McMahon are lawlessly trying to abolish the Department of Education & tear down public education in America," Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) posted on X. "They know how unpopular this plan is—that's why despite Republican majorities in Congress, they're choosing to do this ILLEGALLY."

"Dismantling the Department of Education without Congressional action is illegal," Rep. Chris Pappas (D-NH) posted on X. "It hurts our students, including vulnerable kids such as those with IEPs, threatens the support they are provided, and harms the education they deserve. This will not stand."

"This deeply unpopular administration lacks the votes in Congress to shut down ED," Kevin Carey, vice president of education and work at New America, said in a statement. "That’s why Secretary McMahon is creating a bureaucratic Rube Goldberg machine that will waste millions of taxpayer dollars by outsourcing vital programs to other agencies. It’s like paying a contractor double to mow your lawn and then claiming you’ve cut the home maintenance budget. It makes no sense."

"So to distract from his involvement in covering up a massive sex trafficking scandal, the president is going to...further dismantle the Education Department?" The Daily Beast columnist David Rothkopf posted on Bluesky.

Read the entire report by clicking here.

Trump signs off on covert CIA ops in possible bid to 'prepare a battlefield': report

Daniel Hampton
November 18, 2025 

RAW STORY

President Donald Trump has signed off on covert CIA measures inside Venezuela as well as preparations for a possible "broader military campaign," The New York Times reported late Tuesday, citing multiple people briefed on the matter.

The operations may be an attempt to "prepare a battlefield for further action," the report said. Further details on the possible covert operations weren't immediately known, though the Times noted Trump has not authorized combat forces on the ground in the country. Covert operations could include acts of sabotage and cyberattacks, as well as psychological or information operations.

Trump has simultaneously signed off on new back-channel negotiations that reportedly resulted in Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, offering to resign after a couple of years. The White House rebuffed the deal, according to the report.

Since August, the Trump administration has conducted more than 17 unilateral strikes on Venezuelan targets, particularly alleged drug traffickers, killing at least 70 people. He has accused Maduro's government of being a narco-state responsible for a scourge of drug trafficking into the United States, and linked Maduro to criminal gangs.

'Jaw-dropping' Trump court loss astonishes expert: 'Not come up with a bigger flub'

Robert Davis
November 18, 2025 

RAW STORY



A legal expert was stunned by President Donald Trump's latest "jaw-dropping" court loss on Monday.

Adam Klasfeld, editor-in-chief of All Rise News, joined progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen on a podcast episode on Monday to discuss an order from a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia for Trump's DOJ to turn over tapes from the grand jury room to the defense counsel for former FBI Director James Comey. The Trump administration is prosecuting Comey on two counts of obstruction of justice and making false statements to Congress.

In the order, the judge expressed significant concerns that Trump's prosecutors misled grand jury members and may have violated Comey's Fourth Amendment rights.

Klasfeld described the judge's order as "disastrous" for the Trump administration's case.

"The second one is almost even more jaw-dropping," Klasfield said.

Klasfeld read from the order, where the judge admonished interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, who is leading Comey's prosecution, for assuring the grand jury that the government "has more evidence" than what they're presenting.

"It's farcical. It's beyond parody. I doubt my cousin Vinnie would have made such a statement before a grand jury," Klasfield said. "I doubt that legally blonde. I mean, Hollywood has not come up with a bigger flub of the law."

PROTESTANT ANTI-PAPISTS

'Sickens me!' MAGA hosts lose it on pope after perceived 'woke' snub of Mel Gibson

David Edwards
November 17, 2025 
RAW STORY

Real America's Voice/screen grab

Hosts of the pro-MAGA Real America's Voice network accused Pope Leo XIV of a "woke turn" after a meeting with Hollywood stars did not include conservatives like Mel Gibson.

"It's time to stay awake, not woke," host Terrence Bates noted on Monday. "That is where Pope Leo the 14th just hosted a private meeting with Hollywood A-listers, Spike Lee, Kate Blanchett, Judd Apatow, all there. But noticeably not there: Conservatives like Mel Gibson, Clint Eastwood, Jon Voight, and James Woods."

"I grew up in Catholic churches," co-host Gina Loudon explained. "My heart just breaks for the good people I know who are Catholics who have had to endure now two popes in a row, I've lost count, is it three popes in a row? All the popes since Pope John Paul essentially have been just— not what the average Catholic that I know believes, right?"

"What in the heck is this guy doing?" she asked. "What a mockery of God's faithful in the Catholic Church to be worried about getting to rub elbows with Hollywood elite? It sickens me, to be honest."

"A hundred percent, I agree with everything you said," co-host David Brody agreed. "Why, just because he's the pope, I mean, all of a sudden there has to be this reverence because he's the pope?"

According to Brody, the pope was "doing stuff that's just not biblical in many ways."

"We can go down the list if you want to talk about the LGBT aspect of it, or how about blessing a block of ice?" he continued. "I feel bad for the Catholics that are just like, you know, would like to see a pope actually speak out on the traditional biblical values that are not only time-honored and cherished but are actually factual and accurate and biblical."

"Don't put him on a pedestal," Bates added.

'You got two weeks': Republican lawmaker doubles down on stunning threat to US neighbor

Robert Davis
November 17, 2025 

RAW STORY

CNN screenshot


A House Republican issued a stunning threat to the president of Mexico on Monday, telling her that she has "two weeks" to clean up the northern border with the United States or else the Trump administration would consider striking her country.

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he is "open" to striking inside Mexico to stop the flow of drugs coming into the country, The Hill reported. That is the second country Trump has threatened to strike as part of his expanding international drug trade offensive.

Rep. Carloz Giménez (R-FL) discussed the president's comments on a new broadcast of CNN's "The Lead" with Jake Tapper, where he doubled down on the president's threat.

"Her people have finally woken up to the fact that she may be involved in this, too," Gimenez said of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. "Look, the cartels that control the northern part of Mexico not only have been shipping this poison and facilitating the shipment of this poison into the United States, but also help with the mass migration of millions of people into the United States."

"Her government is no friend of the United States," he continued. "And yes, her hands are dirty too when it comes to the killing of American citizens. And so I would call her and say, 'Hey, you got two weeks, ma'am, to clean up your act on the northern border or else, you know, I've got to protect my citizens.' And again, President Trump has to protect the American citizens because that's his number one duty."