Trump Family Scrambles to Cut Ties to Giant Gold ‘Don Colossus’ Statue

Laura Esposito
Tue, February 3, 2026 
DAILY BEAST

The fate of a fifteen-foot-tall statue of Donald Trump made of bronze and finished with gold leaf is hanging in the balance as the first family quietly distances itself from the fawning crypto venture behind it.

Dubbed “Don Colossus,” the $300,000 statue was bankrolled by cryptocurrency investors hoping to generate buzz for a new memecoin—a type of cryptocurrency based on celebrities and trends that serve little use other than to profit from hype—called Patriot, The New York Times reported. The president is known to warmly receive gold and tributes to himself, and backers of the venture hoped to unveil the statue on one of his many golf courses.

For months, investors shared photos charting the statue’s construction, along with images suggesting a pedestal was being installed at Trump National Doral in Miami.

Construction started in July 2024. / Screenshot/X

The investors have teased the installation of the statue at a Trump property for months. / Screenshot/X

“The team at Trump Doral will be busy cladding the pedestal, installing a ton of up/down lighting and landscaping in the coming days,” an early January X post from Patriot read. “What @realDonaldTrump has in store for the $PATRIOT community and his inner circle for this unveiling will surely be spectacular!”

That anticipation, however, came to a screeching halt on Monday, when Eric Trump publicly disavowed the project.

“The Trump Organization has no association of any kind with the Patriot Token or meme coin ($PATRIOT) referenced below,” he wrote on X in reply to a Jan. 9 Patriot post. “We appreciate the support and enthusiasm, but we want to be crystal clear—we are not involved in this coin.”

Eric Trump burst the crypto bubble. / Screenshot / X

The president’s second son’s outright rejection of “Don Colossus” marked a sharp departure from his father’s earlier enthusiasm.

“It LOOKS FANTASTIC,” Trump, 79, wrote to Pastor Mark Burns—one of the initiative’s leading figures—according to The Times.



The family’s sudden retreat may stem from the president’s launch of a competing memecoin, $TRUMP, just two weeks before he was sworn in for his second term. It may also reflect turmoil among the investors themselves after the statue failed to deliver the financial windfall they anticipated, The Times reported.

The $TRUMP meme crypto coin web page. / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Trumps, meanwhile, have pulled in at least $867 million from cryptocurrency ventures—a figure that could be significantly higher. Eric Trump has acknowledged that the family’s crypto earnings likely exceed public estimates, according to an interview with the Financial Times.

The 'Trump Gold Card' is one of Trump's many ventures. / Anadolu / Anadolu via Getty Images

Those gains account for the largest share of the estimated $1.4 billion Trump and his family have raked in since he returned to office a year ago, newly disclosed figures show—raising fresh questions about conflicts of interest and the increasingly blurred line between the presidency and personal profit.

At the same time, not all is well in Trump’s cryptoworld. The president’s memecoin has lost nearly all of its value from its peak a year ago. When the president’s $TRUMP launched last Jan. 20, just ahead of Trump’s return to the White House, it surged $1.20 to a high of $75.35, generating a market value of billions. However, 12 months later, it is now trading at $4.86, a 94 percent drop, according to The Financial Times.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the Trump Organization for comment. Talking to the Times, spokeswoman Kimberly Benza said the company was unaware of the memecoin until contacted by the Times, claiming it had “no knowledge” of it.

In a reply to Eric on X, Dustin Stockton, a right-wing activist involved in the statue project, wrote: “Thank you Eric, Frustrating that fake news forced this to be clarified because the $PATRIOT statue and token were community driven initiatives to show our support and gratitude for your Dad and family.” He added, “Looking forward to unveiling the big beautiful statue.”

‘Don Colossus’ — a 22-foot tall Golden statue of Trump — is set to rise where US will host world leaders for G20

Andrew Feinberg
Tue, February 3, 2026 

THE INDEPENDENT

A group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts have funded a 15-foot bronze statue of President Trump, named "Don Colossus," to promote their memecoin $PATRIOT at Trump National Doral in Miami.


When world leaders arrive at this year’s Group of 20 summit hosted by the United States in Miami later this year, they’ll be greeted by a massive golden statue depicting the owner of the summit venue — a man who also happens to be the President of the United States.

A new statue of Trump has been funded by a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts who have named the project “Don Colossus” and commissioned the likeness of the president as a way of drumming up publicity for their memecoin, $PATRIOT.

According to the New York Times, a steel and concrete pedestal has been built for the statue, which is being sculpted by Alan Cottrill, at Trump National Doral outside Miami.

Cottrill, an Ohio-based artist who has built other statues of former presidents and has at least one piece on display in the U.S. Capitol’s art collection, told the Times the crypto bros who commissioned the 15-foot bronze piece (it will be 22 feet on its pedestal) asked him to make some improvements to the look of the nearly 80-year-old president.

“I had him very lifelike,” Cottrill told the Times. “The crypto guys said I had to get rid of some of the turkey neck. I had to thin him down.”

A new status of Donald Trump is being created and will be placed at his golf club in Miami. A picture of a giant Trump statue made a year ago by artist Alana Cottrill (Instagram/alan cottrill)

Small models of the planned Trump statue are depicted in this photograph from the sculptor’s Instagram page (Instagram/alan cottrill)

Cottrill is currently holding the completed work at his Ohio foundry due to a dispute with the crypto bros who commissioned it. He has complained that they unlawfully used an image of his work to market their memecoin, which has since cratered in value.

According to the Times, he says he is owed $90,000 by his patrons out of a $150,000 lump sum he was to be paid for the rights to the statue.

“That statue will not leave my foundry until everything they owe me is paid,” he said.

One of the people who commissioned the project, Ashley Sansalone, told the Times he would be paid in full before the statue is revealed.

“Under any business agreement, there’s always some funds withheld until the finished product is complete,” he said.

Cottrill has shared his work on social media, including images of a giant Trump statue that was met with a host of praise including “Very cool!” from one user and “The master’s hand, Brilliant work Alan,” from another.

The statue is something similar to see in other nations - such as North Korea (AFP/Getty)

The monument to Trump appears to be loosely based on an image taken of him just after a gunman narrowly missed his head during a July 2024 speech in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The president is depicted with an open-collared dress shirt and suit with his fist raised to the air.

Like most things Trump is fond of, it will be covered in pure gold leaf. But at 22 feet on the pedestal, it will be far smaller than other large monuments to world leaders, such as the 72-foot statue of late North Korean dictators Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il at the Mansudae Grand Monument in Pyongyang.

The White House has maintained that it is not involved in the crypto project or the related statue setup, and the Trump Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But the Trump administration was and is involved in planning for this year’s Group of 20 summit — including the choice of the Trump-owned resort as a venue this past September.


At the time, Trump said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would organize the agenda for the meeting, which he said will focus on "unleashing economic prosperity by limiting, eliminating the burdens of regulations, unlocking affordable energy, and pioneering new technologies."

The White House has said Trump National Doral would host the meeting "at cost, and will receive no profit from either the State Department or a foreign government."

Trump Tries to Spin Full Horror of His Tacky Ballroom

William Vaillancourt
Tue, February 3, 2026 
Daily Beast

Donald Trump has released a new rendering of his beloved White House ballroom - and has tried to spin the size of the monstrosity in the process.

Trump, 79, posted excitedly on Truth Social about the project that White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted last year was the commander-in-chief’s “main priority.”

Trump claimed, without evidence, that presidents going back

The ballroom “replaces the very small, dilapidated, and rebuilt many times, East Wing, with a magnificent New East Wing, consisting of a glorious Ballroom that has been asked for by Presidents for over 150 years,” Trump claimed, without naming any of his predecessors.



“Being an identical height and scale, it is totally in keeping with our historic White House,” he claimed.

But the Executive Residence, according to the White House Historical Association, is 55,000 square feet. Trump’s ballroom is planned to be 90,000 square feet. The West Wing, meanwhile, is less than half the size of the ballroom: about 40,000 square feet.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.

The ballroom

“This is the first rendering shown to the Public,” Trump continued. “If you notice, the North Wall is a replica of the North Facade of the White House, shown at the right hand side of the picture. This space will serve our Country well for, hopefully, Centuries into the future!”

Trump is reportedly planning on naming the ballroom after himself, just as he has been slapping his name on other Washington, D.C. buildings like the Kennedy Center, for which he just announced a “complete rebuilding.”

The ballroom, whose construction is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has an estimated cost of $400 million. That amount, which Trump revealed in December, is double its initial pricetag.

Viewed from the observation level of the Washington Monument, demolition work continues where the East Wing once stood at the White House on January 05, 2026. Trump ordered the 123-year-old East Wing and Jacqueline Kennedy Garden to be leveled to make way for a new 90,000-square-foot ballroom. / Heather Diehl / Getty ImagesMore

Donors to the controversial project, CNN reported in October, included tech giants, defense contractors, cryptocurrency investors, and media conglomerates—individuals and groups who could stand to gain from Trump’s transactional operating habits.

As part of the preservation group’s lawsuit, the National Park Service acknowledged how odd the massive ballroom would look in comparison to the rest of the grounds, which it manages.

The ballroom would “dominate the eastern portion of the site, creating a visual imbalance with the more modestly scaled West Wing and Executive Mansion,” the group said in a December court filing.

Trump’s anticipation of the ballroom hasn’t just resulted in boastful social media posts. Last month, he oddly got up from a meeting with nearly two dozen oil executives to gaze out the window at where his ballroom was set to be built.

“Wow, what a view,” he said of the construction site.

Trump says Washington has waited 200 years for the arch he wants to build. Not quite

WILL WEISSERT
Tue, February 3, 2026


Memorial Circle, the proposed plot of land near Memorial Bridge where the Independence Arch could be built is seen in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Memorial Circle, the proposed plot of land near Memorial Bridge where the Independence Arch could be built is seen in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Nathan Howard)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)


WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says history is on his side.

He wants to build a towering arch near the Lincoln Memorial and argues that the nation’s capital first clamored for such a monument two centuries ago — even going so far as to erect four eagle statues as part of the project before being derailed by the attack on Fort Sumter.

“It was interrupted by a thing called the Civil War, and so it never got built,” Trump said aboard Air Force One as he flew to Florida last weekend. “Then, they almost built something in 1902, but it never happened.”

Trump’s history is off — the eagles he references are actually part of a bridge connecting Virginia and Washington that was built decades after the Civil War. The closest Washington came to an arch was a wood and plaster construction built in 1919 to mark the end of World War I — and even that was always meant to be temporary.

“For 200 years they’ve wanted to build an arc,” Trump said, meaning an arch. “They have 57 cities throughout the world that have them. We’re the only major city – Washington, D.C. – that doesn’t.”

Chandra Manning, a history professor at Georgetown University, said Washington was fledgling in the 19th century, dealing with a housing shortage, a lack of boarding houses for visitors, roads that went nowhere and an incomplete U.S. Capitol.

“Washington coming into the Civil War was still this unfinished city,” Manning said. "There’s no push for decorative memorialization in Antebellum Washington because it's still such a place that doesn’t even have all the functional buildings it needs yet.”

Trump has offered a similar historical rationale for the $400 million ballroom he demolished the White House's East Wing to begin building — arguing that officials for 150 years have wanted a large event space.

That claim, too, is dubious. While space at the White House has indeed long been an issue, there's no record of public outcry for a ballroom. Trump nonetheless is employing a similar argument to justify the arch.

“I think it will be the most beautiful in the world,” he said.

‘Biggest one of all’

The arch would stand near the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which spans the Potomac River.

Trump first unveiled the idea at an October dinner for top donors to his ballroom. Without divulging how much the arch would cost, who would pay for it or whether he'd seek approval from planning officials, the president showed off three different-sized arch models, all featuring a statue of Lady Liberty on top.

The president acknowledged then that the largest one was his favorite, and The Washington Post reported that Trump is mulling building an arch standing 250 feet (76 meters) tall. Asked about that aboard Air Force One, Trump didn't confirm the exact height he desires, but offered: “I’d like it to be the biggest one of all.”

“We’re setting up a committee, and the committee is going to be going over it," Trump said. "It’ll be substantial."

The president says he'd like the new structure to be reminiscent of the Arc de Triomphe, at the end of the Champs-Élysées in Paris, which was built to honor those who fought for France during the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars.

But that monument stands only 50 meters (164 feet) high. A 250-foot Washington arch would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial and White House, and even rival the Capitol, which stands 288 feet (88 meters).

The finished arch would be part of a building boom Trump has personally triggered, anxious to use his background as a onetime New York construction mogul to leave a lasting physical mark on the presidency.

In addition to the ballroom, Trump is closing the Kennedy Center for two years of renovations amid backlash from artists over changes he's made at the nation's premier performing arts venue. He replaced the lawn in the Rose Garden with a patio area reminiscent of his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and redecorated the Lincoln Bathroom and Palm Room in the White House’s interior.

Trump also installed a Walk of Fame featuring portraits of past presidents along the Colonnade, massive flagpoles on the north and south lawns, and golden flourishes, cherubs and other flashy items to the substantially overhauled Oval Office.

The arch would extend the president's influence into Washington, where he has talked of beautifying “tired” grassy areas and broken signage and street medians and also deployed the National Guard to help break up homeless encampments.

Harrison Design, a local firm, is working on the project, though no construction start date has been announced. Trump wants to unveil the new structure as part of celebrations marking America’s 250th birthday.

The bridge actually came after the Civil War

Pressed on what Trump meant by the four eagles, the White House sent a photo showing eagle sculptures at the four corners of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, but no further details.

“President Trump is right. The American people for nearly 200 years have wanted an Arch in our Nation’s capital to showcase our great history," White House spokesperson Davis Ingle said in a statement. "President Trump’s bold vision will be imprinted upon the fabric of America and be felt by generations to come. His successes will continue to give the greatest Nation on earth — America — the glory it deserves.”

The president's timing is off, though.

The Arlington Memorial Bridge was first proposed in 1886, but it wasn't approved by Congress until 1925. According to the National Park Service, the bridge was conceived after the Civil War and meant to memorialize the symbolic reunification of the North and South.

It was originally built to link the site of the Lincoln Memorial with the home of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee — where Arlington National Cemetery now stands. At the time, the direction the eagles would face — right or left, meant to symbolize inward toward the city or outward facing visitors — sparked controversy.

The park service says the bridge was constructed between 1926 and 1931, and an engineer's report lists only slightly different dates — still decades after Trump's timeline.

Washington also once had a Victory Arch built near the White House in 1919, to commemorate the end of World War I. It was wood and plaster, however, and meant to be temporary. That structure was torn down in the summer of 1920.

A 2000 proposal called for a peace arch in Washington, but those plans were abandoned after the Sept. 11 attacks the following year.

Manning, who is also a former National Park Service ranger, said that, Washington aside, “I don't know of a long U.S. tradition of building arches for things."

“That sounds like an import from elsewhere to me,” she said.

Trump’s White House Goes Full Tony Soprano While Defending Statue of ‘Hero’ Christopher Columbus

Sean James
Wed, February 4, 2026 

White House spokesman Davis Ingle quoted Tony Soprano verbatim while defending President Trump's plan to install a Christopher Columbus statue at the White House.

Somebody at the White House is a Sopranos fan.

Spokesman Davis Ingle quoted Tony Soprano verbatim while defending President Donald Trump’s plan to install a statue of Christopher Columbus at the White House on Wednesday.

“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero,” Ingle told The Washington Post on Wednesday. “And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.”


If that line sounds familiar, it’s because that’s what Soprano told his son AJ after he criticized Columbus in a 2002 episode.

“Like it took guts to murder people and put them in chains,” AJ scoffed about Columbus.

“He discovered America is what he did!” a livid Tony replied. “He was a brave Italian explorer, and in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero! End of story.”

That scene has morphed into a long-running meme on the internet — and a whole bunch of X users referenced it while reacting to the quote from Ingle. You can see a few of those below:

You get the idea.

The Washington Post reported the statue will be a revamped version of a statue President Ronald Reagan had installed in Baltimore, Maryland. That statue was later chucked into the harbor during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and riots.

A businessman named Bill Martin who helped recover the statue and fix it up told WaPo it’ll be sent to the White House in a few weeks.


Many liberals have criticized Columbus over the last few decades for being, in their view, a genocidal conqueror. And some have taken to celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day as a counter to Columbus Day each October.

Trump has made it clear he is a big Columbus fan, on the other hand. He signed a proclamation last fall to honor Columbus Day on the second Monday of October each year, declaring “We’re back, Italians! We love the Italians!”

Trump plans to erect controversial statue at White House: report

Travis Gettys
February 4, 2026 

RAW STORY


President Donald Trump intends to erect a statue of Christopher Columbus on White House grounds.

Three sources with knowledge of his plans told the Washington Post that the 79-year-old president plans to install a reconstructed statue of the controversial explorer that was pulled down in summer 2020 and dumped into Baltimore's harbor after a group of Italian American businessmen and politicians obtained the remnants and had it rebuilt.

“In this White House, Christopher Columbus is a hero,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Post in a statement but declined to comment on the plans. “And he will continue to be honored as such by President Trump.”

Businessman Bill Martin helped recover the remnants of the sculpture, which was unveiled by then-President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and taken down by Black Lives Matter protesters, and organized a campaign to rebuild it.

“It’s not about Columbus ‘discovering America,'" said Martin, who said he and his allies spent more than $100,000 on the recovery and restoration. "It’s about the Italian immigrants who came here and looked to Columbus as a hero,” Martin said.

Trump complained frequently during his first term about the destruction of Columbus statues over his involvement in genocide and enslavement of indigenous people he encountered in the Americas, and administration officials asked to obtain the statue after they learned of efforts to restore it.

“It is such an honor for the Italian American community,” said Nino Mangione, a Republican member of the Maryland House of Delegates who was involved in the recovery effort. “This proves that gangs, thugs, and people of that ilk don’t control things by mob rule. … in America the people rule and our voices are heard.”

On rare earth supply, Trump for once seeks allies


By AFP
February 4, 2026


Employees work on an assembly line for electric flying cars, which will require critical minerals, at a factory of Xpeng's subsidiary Aridge in Guangzhou, China - 

Copyright AFP/File Jade GAO

Shaun TANDON

In his year since returning to office, President Donald Trump has shown disdain for longstanding alliances, vowing “America First” even if US friends lose out.

But on Wednesday, his administration will attempt the closest it has come to traditional alliance diplomacy, leading a meeting of more than 50 countries on ensuring a stable supply of critical minerals.

The trigger is simple — China. The Asian power, seen by the United States as its long-term rival, has secured a dominant role over critical minerals, including rare earths vital to modern technologies from smartphones to electric cars to fighter jets.

China, flexing muscle in a trade war launched by Trump, last year tightened its supply chain for rare earths, sending shivers through the global economy.

China — which mines some 60 percent of the world’s rare earths and processes around 90 percent — offered the United States a one-year reprieve in a deal with Trump in October.

The United States has aggressively reached agreements on critical minerals with allies including Japan — which this week said it found potential in the first deep-sea search for rare earths — as well as Australia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Thailand.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said that another 11 countries will join Wednesday and that another 20 are interested in participating in what he called a “global coalition,” a phrase rarely uttered by the Trump administration.

“The concept there is that we would have tariff-free trade and exchanges amongst those countries around these critical and rare-earth minerals,” Burgum said Tuesday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Burgum said that the emerging bloc could go against free-market principles that the United States has historically espoused by regulating a minimum price for certain key minerals.

“If you have someone who’s dominant who can flood a market with a particular material, they have the ability to essentially destroy the economic value of a company or a country’s production,” he said, in a veiled reference to China.

– Go it alone, usually –

Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the one-day ministerial meeting at the State Department.

Among senior officials in attendance will be the top diplomat of India — which is especially concerned about Chinese industrial dominance, and moved recently to patch up with Trump after a rift — as well as the foreign ministers of Italy, a go-to European partner for Trump, and Israel, which is eager for any US-led initiatives that would integrate it further in its region.

Trump since returning to office has vowed to use US might to secure wealth only for itself, even flirting with invading Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark.

Trump will still seek US dominance on minerals.

On Monday he unveiled “Project Vault,” which aims to stockpile critical minerals and effectively anything else needed by US industry.

“We’re not just doing certain minerals and rare earths. We’re doing everything,” Trump said of the project, mentioning also magnets vital to car manufacturing.

The project will be driven by a $10 billion loan from the Export-Import Bank of the United States and $1.7 billion in private capital, a White House official said.

The European Union, which has seen persistent friction with Trump, hopes to seek a formal agreement on rare earths with the United States.

“We have to make sure that we’re not bidding each other up for the same supplies,” an EU official said.

US-led cooperation on critical minerals is not new.

Former president Joe Biden’s administration in 2022 launched the Minerals Security Partnership, which expanded to two dozen countries including key US allies.

The initiative looked at collaborative funding, with the Export-Import Bank under Biden proposing a $500 million loan for a rare-earths mine and processing plant in Australia.

What are ‘rare earths’ for?


By AFP
February 4, 2026


Europe's rare earths are mostly imported from China -

 Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

Corentin DAUTREPPE

President Donald Trump’s administration is set Wednesday to host ministers from the European Union and other countries in a major meeting on “critical minerals”.

This broad category includes dozens of materials such as cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, and lithium — as well as “rare earths,” a set of 17 metallic elements that are essential to many high-tech devices and whose production is dominated by China.

– Neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium, terbium –

Global raw production of rare earths increased from 220,000 tonnes in 2019 to 390,000 tonnes in 2024 — an increase of 77 percent over five years, according to a benchmark commodities report by French research group Cercle CyclOpe.

Four elements account for most of the sector’s economic value: neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium and terbium.

– Magnets for wind turbines –

These four “magnetic” rare earths are mainly used to make permanent magnets, notably neodymium-iron-boron magnets — about 10 times more powerful than conventional ones.

Use of the rare elements maximises magnets’ performance while reducing size and weight, said Damien Ambroise, energy manager at French consultancy Bartle.

A single offshore wind turbine contains up to one tonne of such magnetic rare earths.

– Fighter jets, golf clubs –

Aviation is a major consumer of rare earths, especially for military plane manufacturing.

According to the US specialist newsletter Rare Earth Exchanges, US aerospace firm Lockheed Martin is the biggest American user of samarium, employed to make magnets that can withstand extremely high temperatures.

Each F-35 fighter jet requires more than 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of rare earths, according to a report by the US Congressional Research Service.

Scandium is used to make light, strong aluminium-based alloys prized in aerospace — and also in high-end sports gear such as golf clubs, bicycles and baseball bats.

– Smartphones –

Rare earths are likewise found in every smartphone, enhancing screen performance and enabling the phone to vibrate.

Each handset contains about three grams of them — more than 3,700 tonnes overall for the 1.24 billion devices sold worldwide in 2024.

– Electric and fuel vehicles –

Each hybrid or electric vehicle motor contains between 1.2 and 3.5 kilograms of rare earths, according to an estimate by France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research.

They are also used in the manufacture of miniature motors, such as those that fold away a car’s wing mirrors automatically when it is parked.

Combustion-engine vehicles use rare earths too, notably in catalytic converters. Lanthanum and cerium help cut fine particle emissions.

– Oil, glass, lasers –

In the chemical industry, cerium is widely used in oil refining and glass polishing — as well as in flints for cigarette lighters.

Erbium is used in various medical fields, including dentistry, dermatology and ophthalmology.

Erbium and neodymium are also important in making lasers for industrial engraving and cutting.

Adding different rare earths alters the wavelength of the laser, and thus its use and colour, Ambroise said. “It makes for pretty colours in sound-and-light shows.”

DONROE DOCTRINAIRE

Trump accused of distorting history of Mexican-American War to justify heavy hand in Latin America

MEGAN JANETSKY
Tue, February 3, 2026 

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Historians and observers accused the Trump administration of trying to rewrite American history to justify its own foreign policy decisions toward Latin America by posting a “historically inaccurate” version of the Mexican-American war.

The Monday statement from the White House commemorating the anniversary of the war described the conflict as a “legendary victory that secured the American Southwest, reasserted American sovereignty, and expanded the promise of American independence across our majestic continent.” The statement drew parallels between the period in U.S. history and its own increasingly aggressive policies toward Latin America, which it said would “ensure the Hemisphere remains safe.”

“Guided by our victory on the fields of Mexico 178 years ago, I have spared no effort in defending our southern border against invasion, upholding the rule of law, and protecting our homeland from forces of evil, violence, and destruction,” the statement said, though it was unsigned.

In the post, the White House makes no mention of the key role slavery played in the war and glorifies the wider “Manifest Destiny” period, which resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Native Americans from their land.

Sparking criticism

Alexander Aviña, Latin American history professor at Arizona State University, said the White House statement “underplays the massive amounts of violence that it took to expand” the U.S. to the Pacific shore at a time when the Trump administration has stuck its hand in Latin American affairs in a way not seen in decades, deposing Venezuela's president, meddling in elections and threatening military action in Mexico and other countries.

“U.S. political leaders since then have seen this as an ugly aspect of U.S. history, this is a pretty clear instance of U.S. imperialism against its southern neighbor,” Aviña said. “The Trump administration is actually embracing this as a positive in U.S. history and framing it – inaccurately historically – as some sort of defensive measure to prevent the Mexico from invading them.”

On Tuesday, criticisms of the White House statement quickly rippled across social media.

Asked about the statement in her morning news briefing, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum guffawed, quipping and noting “we have to defend sovereignty.” Sheinbaum, who has walked a tight rope with the Trump administration, has responded to Trump with a balanced tone and occasionally with sarcasm, like when Trump changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

Historical sticking point

The Mexican-American war (1846–1848) was triggered by long-running border disputes between the U.S. and Mexico and the United States' annexation of Texas in 1845. For years leading up to the war, Americans had gradually moved into the then-Mexican territory. Mexico had banned slavery and U.S. abolitionists feared the U.S. land grab was in part an attempt to add slave states.

After fighting broke out and successive U.S. victories, Mexico ceded more than 525,000 square miles of territory — including what now comprises Arizona, California, western Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Utah — to the U.S.

The moment turned Texas into a key chess piece during the U.S. Civil War and led former President Ulysses S. Grant to write later that the conflict with Mexico was “one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."

The Associated Press was formed when five New York City newspapers funded a pony express route through Alabama to bring news of the Mexican War — as it is sometimes known in the U.S. — north faster than the U.S. Post Office could deliver it.

The war continues to be a historical sticking point between the two countries, particularly as Sheinbaum repeatedly reminds Trump that her country is a sovereign nation whenever Trump openly weighs taking military action against Mexican cartels and pressures Mexico to bend to its will.


Rewriting history

The White House statement falls in line with wider actions taken by the Trump administration to mold the federal government's language around its own creed, said Albert Camarillo, history professor at Stanford University, who described the statement as a “distorted, ahistorical, imperialist version" of the war.

Aviña said the statement serves "to assert rhetorically that the U.S. is justified in establishing its so-called ‘America First’ policy throughout the Americas,” regardless of the historical accuracy.

The Trump administration has ordered the rewriting of history on display at the Smithsonian Institution, saying it was “restoring truth and sanity to American history.”

The administration has scrubbed government websites of history, legal records and data it finds disagreeable. Trump also ordered the government to remove any signs that “inappropriately disparage Americans past or living," including those making reference to slavery, destruction of Native American cultures and climate change.

“This statement is consistent with so many others that attempt to whitewash and reframe U.S. history and erase generations of historical scholarship,” Camarillo said.

What to know about claim Pete Hegseth removed Colin Powell's name from Arlington Cemetery website

Jordan Liles
Wed, February 4, 2026 



Getty Images

Rumors circulated claiming U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth removed names of notable military figures, including Colin Powell, from Arlington National Cemetery website, but Powell's name was not permanently deleted.See more

In February 2026, online users shared a rumor claiming U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth removed former Secretary of State Colin Powell's name from a list of noteworthy military figures hosted on the Arlington National Cemetery website.

This rumor, originating in March 2025, referenced the removal of links to pages about Black, Hispanic and female veterans buried at the site, among other Department of Defense removals occurring in the early weeks of President Donald Trump's second term.

The Office of Army Cemeteries, a division of the U.S. Army, operates the prominent military cemetery just outside Washington. The Army and other military branches report to the DOD.

For example, one Threads user reposted (archived) a meme on Feb. 1, 2026, reading, "Pete Hegseth removed Colin Powell's name from a list of notable Americans, buried at Arlington. Hegseth also removed the names of every person of color and every woman on the same list. Only white men were left in place." Social media users shared the rumor about Hegseth, who is white, and Powell, who was Black and died in 2021.


(@joeybraun50/Threads)

In short, as of March 2025 — and continuing through February 2026 — the cemetery website's page titled "prominent military figures" still featured a brief biography describing Powell's military service, in which he achieved the rank of a four-star Army general.

While neither Hegseth nor anyone under the umbrella of the Defense Department entirely deleted Powell's name from the page, sometime between late February and early March 2025, one or more people with access to edit the page removed a partial amount of biographical information pertaining to Powell's race, as well as one mention of his name from the biography of another noteworthy service member. Someone later restored those pieces of information in mid-to-late March.

The remainder of the rumor claiming "Hegseth removed the names of every person of color and every woman," and that "only white men were left in place," was not entirely true. In a March 2025 post from Hegseth's personal X account, he called the entire rumor "fake," responding to a popular X post (archived) promoting the text later featured in the above-pictured meme.

In a March 2025 email to Snopes, Kerry L. Meeker, the chief of public affairs at Arlington National Cemetery, labeled the claim that someone removed Powell's name from the website "inaccurate." "All notable graves are represented on our website – including Colin Powell," she said.

She pointed us to a statement (archived) on the cemetery's website that mentioned "no service members have been permanently removed from the 'notable graves' section of our website." The statement also referenced "compliance with executive orders issued by the president and Department of Defense instructions."

President Donald Trump issued an executive order (archived) on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of his second term, seeking to end "illegal" programs and activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as DEIA, with the "A" standing for accessibility. The order targeted DEIA-related "mandates, policies, programs, preferences and activities in the federal government, under whatever name they appear."

Historical facts about Powell temporarily removed

An archived version of the Arlington National Cemetery website's "prominent military figures" page from late February 2025 displayed Powell's biography beginning with the sentence, "General Colin Powell, a Vietnam veteran, was the first African American to hold three of the U.S. government's highest positions: national security adviser (1987-1989), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989-1993), and secretary of state (2001-2005)."

By early March, another archived version of the page confirmed the removal of the fact that Powell was the first African American to hold the three positions. Sometime between March 17 and 21, one or more people restored the sentence to the page.

Between February and March, one or more people also removed, then later restored, a mention of Powell's name in the biography for Brig. Gen. Roscoe Conklin "Rock" Cartwright. The late-February version featured a sentence entirely removed from the page, reading, "Cartwright founded a social group that provided mentoring and leadership training to African American officers; prominent members included Generals Colin Powell (Section 60) and Roscoe Robinson Jr. (Section 7A)."

Colin Powell receives the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H.W. Bush at the White House on July 3, 1991. (Howard L. Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)
'Anti-Asian stereotypes' and an apparent oversight

Other temporary removals from the "prominent military figures" page included 17 mentions of "African American" and around a dozen for "black." Many of the mentions of "African American" and "black" described milestones, such as Brig. Gen. Hazel W. Johnson-Brown, originally documented on the page as "the first African American woman general in the U.S. Army."

The biography for Maj. Kurt Chew-Een Lee originally began by describing him as "the first Asian American officer in the Marine Corps." As of March 21, that fact, as well as the words "Asian American," no longer appeared on the page. The most recent version of his biography also removed the following sentence featured in previous years: "Kurt Chew-Een Lee's record of service not only honored his country, but also demolished anti-Asian stereotypes: 'I wanted to dispel the notion about the Chinese being meek, bland and obsequious,' he told the Los Angeles Times in 2010." Those facts about Lee, as well as the quote, reappeared on the website at some point between March 24 and March 29, according to versions of the page archived through the Wayback Machine


In an apparent oversight in the removal process of race-related content, as of March 17, the page still displayed Lt. Col. Alexander T. Augusta of the U.S. Army as "the highest-ranking African American officer of the Civil War," as well as "the Army's first black physician, the United States' first black hospital administrator (Freedman's Hospital, Washington, D.C.) and its first black professor of medicine (Howard University)."

Sometime between March 17 and 21, some mentions of "Black" and "African American" reappeared on the website, according to archived page captures.

After we asked Meeker about the removals from Lee's biography about demolishing anti-Asian stereotypes and the fact Augusta's biography still featured four mentions of his race — and before the removals to Lee's biography were restored — Arlington National Cemetery spokeswoman Becky Wardwell provided a link to a video from Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. In the March 20 video, Parnell said, in part, "We want to be very clear, history is not DEI." He also discussed making mistakes and mentioned the usage of artificial intelligence to perform some content edits to comply with the Trump administration's orders.

Three women removed, then restored

Parnell's mention of errors possibly at least partially referenced the removal, and later restoration, of entries for three women on the "prominent military figures" page. Those women were Lt. Cmdr. Barbara Allen Rainey, "the first woman pilot in the Navy," Maj. Marie Therese Rossi, "the first American female combat commander to fly into battle" during the Persian Gulf War, and Lt. Kara Spears Hultgreen, "the first female carrier-based fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, and the first woman to qualify as an F-14 combat pilot."

All three women disappeared entirely from the cemetery website's page in late February or early March, and reappeared sometime between March 17 and 21, according to archived page captures.

Sources:

Burns, Robert, et al. "Colin Powell Dies, Trailblazing General Stained by Iraq." The Associated Press, 19 Oct. 2021, https://apnews.com/article/colin-powell-dead-covid-9c918dc1c137ebf368f2cbb461e4fad4.

Christensen, Laerke. "Arlington National Cemetery Removed Links to Webpages about Black, Hispanic and Female Veterans." Snopes, 14 Mar. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/arlington-national-cemetery-veterans/.

"Colin Powell | Biography & Facts." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Colin-Powell.


"Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing." The White House, 20 Jan. 2025, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/ending-radical-and-wasteful-government-dei-programs-and-preferencing/.

"Learn More about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA)." New York Department of State, https://dos.ny.gov/dei.

"Organization." The United States Army, https://www.army.mil/organization/.

"Our Cemeteries." Office of Army Secretaries, https://armycemeteries.army.mil/About-Us/Our-Cemeteries.

 NO GIRLS, NO GAYS, NO NON CHRISTIANS

Pentagon threatens to pull military support from Boy Scouts unless they restore ‘core values’

Ariana Baio
Tue, February 3, 2026 

Scouting America, formerly known as Boy Scouts, began allowing girls in its programs in 2018 (AFP via Getty Images)

The Department of Defense is warning Scouting America to comply with President Trump's anti-diversity executive order or risk losing funding.See more

The Department of Defense is putting Scouting America, the organization formerly known as the Boy Scouts, on notice and warning them to comply with President Donald Trump’s anti-diversity, equity and inclusion executive order or risk losing funding.

Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell warned the organization Monday in a lengthy X post that the clock was ticking for it to “rapidly” implement “common-sense, core values.” Parnell said financial assistance to programs, such as the National Jamboree celebration, was under review.

“For more than a decade now, Scouting America's leadership has made decisions that run counter to the values of this administration and this Department of War, including an embrace of DEl and other social justice, gender-fluid ideological stances. This is unacceptable,” Parnell wrote.

Scouting America has evolved vastly since its inception as the Boy Scouts. They began allowing girls to join Cub Scouts, its program for younger children, in 2018 and then expanded its Boy Scout program in 2019, allowing girls to become Eagle Scouts.

The organization has become more welcoming toward transgender youth, openly gay members or adult leaders, and accepts members of all religions.

But since reclaiming the White House, Trump has pressured higher education institutions, public organizations and private businesses to conform to traditional beliefs on gender identity, rescind policies on affirmative action, cease certain education programs and more.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has similarly cracked down on DEI and other progressive initiatives in the military. Last year, the administration banned transgender service members, reimplemented certain physical fitness requirements and new grooming standards.

In November, reports emerged that the Defense Department had drafted internal memos to Congress announcing plans to cut funding and support to Scouting America due to its “ attack” on “boy-friendly spaces.”

That could include no longer allowing Scout troops to meet on military bases, offering incentives to top Scouts or providing financial assistance.

Scouting America appeared to be receptive to the administration’s request and has been in discussions with officials, Parnell said.

Hegseth has vowed to return the US military forces to more traditional values and get rid of ‘woke’ policies (Getty)

“Scouting America remains far from perfect, but they have firmly committed to a return to core principles. Back to God and country—immediately!” Parnell added

Parnell said there would be “more to announce soon.” It is unclear what changes could be coming to the organization.

The Independent has asked Scouting America for comment.

In a statement to the Washington Post, Scouting America said it was “Encouraged by tonight’s social media post by the Pentagon and we look forward to providing more details as we move ahead.”

Demented Trump could end the world. Here's how we can save it

Miles Mogulescu,

 Common Dreams
February 3, 2026 



Donald Trump addresses House Republicans. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Most Americans probably don’t know that the U.S. President has the absolute legal power to launch a potentially humanity-ending nuclear first strike against anyone anywhere at any moment without the permission or even advice of anyone at all — not Congress, not military leaders, not his cabinet, not anyone else.

An angry, impulsive or simply demented President could initiate the destruction of human life on earth with no legal constraints. If that doesn’t worry you, it should.

We came close to nuclear war during the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis under President Kennedy. President Reagan’s son Ron believes that the President suffered from dementia during the final year of his term. Many question whether President Biden was fully mentally competent during the last months of his term.

But Donald Trump’s diminished mental state increases the danger he might impulsively order a civilization-ending nuclear strike all by himself. He appears to have moved from just being a narcissistic, power hungry, ignorant bully to having dementia.

Could Trump get so angry at another world leader like the Prime Minister of Norway or Switzerland that he would order not just the annexation of Greenland or high tariffs on Swiss Chocolate but a nuclear strike? I don’t know how likely that is, even for Trump, but it’s no longer unthinkable.

The unilateral power for any President to launch a nuclear first strike must be legally curtailed and the power to remove a mentally disabled President from office must be strengthened. Neither Republicans nor Democrats should want one person alone to have to power to order the destruction of humanity.

Outlaw a nuclear first strike

Congress must pass a bill outlawing the first use of nuclear weapons. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MS) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) have introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act multiple times since 2017, most recently in January 2025 with 26 co-sponsors in the House and seven in the Senate. The bill was referred to committee, where no discussion or hearings have been held.

A “No First Use” statute could be short and sweet:

“(a) It shall be the policy of the United States that nuclear weapons may only be used in direct retaliation for a nuclear attack against the United States or its allies. (b) The President shall not authorize, order, or direct the non-retaliatory use of nuclear weapons. (c) No member of the Armed Forces shall execute, implement, or otherwise carry out an order for such use.”

This is something both parties should support. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, you should not want one person alone to launch a civilization-ending nuclear war.

Make the 25th Amendment practical


For most of American history, there was no constitutional means to remove a mentally or physically disabled President other than the high bar of impeachment. Following President Kennedy’s assassination, the 25th Amendment was enacted to set up a constitutional procedure to transfer presidential powers.

Under Section 4, the President may be removed and replaced by the Vice President if the President cannot perform his duties for any reason including mental incapacity such as cognitive or psychological impairment.

If the Vice President and a majority of the Cabinet send a written declaration to Congress that the President cannot discharge his duties, the Vice President immediately becomes Acting President.

If the President disagrees in writing, the Cabinet and Vice President have 4 days to respond. If within 21 days two-thirds of both the Senate and House approves, the Vice President remains President. If not, the original President is restored to office.

But the 25th Amendment is badly flawed. Among other things, the cabinet members have been appointed by the President and are unlikely to revoke his powers. And if they were to consider it, the President could simply fire them before they voted.

That’s why the drafters of the 25th Amendment included an alternative mechanism: Congress may pass a law designating another body other than the Cabinet to determine the President’s fitness for office

In 2020, to implement the intent of the 25th Amendment, the House passed “The Commission on Presidential Capacity to Discharge the Powers and Duties of Office Act,” authored by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). The bill did not target any specific President. It would have set up a 17-member bipartisan panel of physicians and former executive branch officers to evaluate the President’s fitness for office. To prevent partisanship, half the members would be appointed by Republicans and half by Democrats. While it passed the House, the bill did not pass the Senate.

Under present circumstances, it’s time to modernize and enact the bill. The republic should not have to improvise during a Presidential medical emergency or cognitive decline.

Conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat wrote several years ago that:

“From the perspective of the Republican leadership’s duty to their country, and indeed to the world that our imperium bestrides, leaving a man this witless and unmastered in an office with these powers and responsibilities is an act of gross negligence, which no objective on the near-term political horizon seems remotely significant enough to justify.”

Regardless of your partisan leanings, it’s time to act to limit the President’s unilateral power to launch a nuclear first strike and to use the 25th Amendment to remove a mentally impaired President.

In that event, J.D. Vance would become President, which shouldn’t bother Republicans. And for Democrats, it would still be better than allowing a mentally declining Trump to remain in power, even if Vance’s values are as reactionary as Trump’s.

And even if it doesn’t pass, it would put the issue of the President’s mental health and the danger of a unilateral nuclear first strike front and center.

Outlawing the President’s unilateral first nuclear strike right could even become one of the demands of a contemplated general strike.

Trump 'hasn't even thought' about major Dem demand in ICE showdown

Matthew Chapman
February 3, 2026
RAW STORY


Donald Trump (Reuters)

President Donald Trump was questioned by reporters whether he intends to compromise on the issue of requiring Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to obtain a judicial warrant to make searches and arrests in an Oval Office press pool on Tuesday — and he appeared blindsided by the question, acting as if he had never even considered this issue at all.

"Are you open to negotiating on warrants when it comes to ICE?" asked a reporter. "This is an ask from [Senate Minority Leader Chuck] Schumer."

"Meaning?" asked Trump.

"Requiring search warrants for ICE," the reporter repeated.

"I haven't even thought about it. I'm not, I'm not thinking about search warrants," said Trump. "Yeah, [Senator] Lindsey Graham is going to answer that one."

Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said he is not interested in negotiating on that issue. "If we have to get a search warrant to get 15 million people out, Schumer's telling me he doesn't want them out," he said.

The issue of search warrants, and of putting an end to the so-called "roving gangs" of ICE and Border Patrol agents in large cities who can stop, question, and arrest anyone they wish, even if they show documentation of their citizenship, has become a huge focal point of Democrats' demands to avert a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, as they demand accountability for brutal crackdowns on protesters in Minneapolis that left multiple people dead.

After heavy pressure, Trump and congressional Republicans agreed to split off DHS funding from the package funding the rest of government for a full year, and pass a 2-week stopgap for DHS funding to allow time for bipartisan negotiations.

Trump crony may have found a backdoor to eliminating fundamental US right: expert

Robert Davis
February 3, 2026 
RAW STORY

A legal expert warned on Tuesday that one of President Donald Trump's cronies may have discovered a backdoor to eliminating one of America's most fundamental rights.

Ryan Goodman, editor-in-chief of Just Security, said in a new YouTube video that Trump's second administration is eroding the right of habeas corpus, or the right to challenge an unjust detention by the federal government. He pointed to a recent ruling by Judge Patrick Schiltz in Minnesota, who found that the government has ignored myriad court orders in habeas cases involving people detained by Trump's immigration forces.

Courts have not yet held the administration in contempt for its flagrant violations, but the possibility remains, Goodman noted.

Goodman described Schiltz's ruling as "extraordinary" and "mind-blowing." He said it also revealed how the Trump administration plans to suspend those same rights for other people with whom the administration disagrees.

"Taking a step back and looking at what's going on, the Trump administration seems to be trying to accomplish what appears to be on Steven Miller's wish list," Goodman said. "And when they come after immigrants, they can come after protesters. They can come after observers of protests. They can come after any of us."

Miller is widely considered to be the architect of Trump's deportation regime and has been one of its most ardent defenders. Last year, Miller said the administration was looking at suspending habeas corpus to deal with the "invasion" of immigrants. The administration backed off after considerable pressure, but Goodman noted that the administration's failure to provide those rights to detained immigrants is a "devious, backhanded way" to eliminate the right altogether.