Considering the flurry of activities by the Trump administration, immediately before and after January 20, 2025 and ongoing, this list is by no means comprehensive. Rather, it is a chronological outline, representing many of the outrageous attempts to dismantle the Government of the United States of America, NATO, and normal relations with allied & peaceful nations around the world.

NOTE:
This is an open source document. The author grants you the right to copy any portion or all of this document, or its source code, and to share it in a responsible manner. You have the right to edit, as long as you base your changes on verifiable facts.

Select by month or scroll for full report.

January 2025

January 7-
President-elect Trump refused to say he wouldn't use military force acquire the Panama Canal and Greenland. He also mentioned turning Canada into a U.S. state and changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. A very strange aggression against allied nations.

January 7-
Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram would eliminate fact-checking. When asked, Trump said the change was probably due to threats he made against Zuckerberg.

January 7-
Massive wildfires broke out in the LA region of Southern California. Over 17,000 structures were destroyed. The second such deadly conflagration in 18 months, following the similar Lahaina Wildfire. Both were driven by drought, dry vegetation and strong winds. Amazingly, the United States followed up by withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, two weeks later.

January 9-
Elon Musk courted Germany's far-right political party, Alternative für Deutschland, by meeting with its leader, Alice Weidel. Weidel, a Trump supporter, declared that Hitler was a communist. This is known to be untrue. German communists against Hitler formed the anti-fascist movement, Antifa. Only about 20% of Germans support Alternative für Deutschland.

January 14-
Special Counsel, Jack Smith, released his final report on Trump’s January 6 conspiracy and obstruction case. The 174 page report included the following observations:

In private-in contrast with his public false claims-Mr. Trump made admissions that reflected his understanding that he had lost. In a private moment, Mr. Trump confessed to his family members that "it doesn't matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell." When President-elect Biden appeared on television in November, Mr. Trump said to a staffer, "can you believe I lost to this f'ing guy?" And when his own Vice President declined to join the conspiracy, Mr. Trump berated him for being "too honest."

January 16-
Further eroding the separation of power between the legislative and executive branch, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, fired congressman Mike Turner from the Intelligence Committee, citing "concerns from Mar-a-Lago." As a supporter of NATO and a critic of Vladimir Putin, Turner had sometimes run contrary to Trump's views.

January 19-
As scheduled, TikTok went dark in the USA. Available in 154 countries and 75 languages, it had been deemed a Chinese security threat by the US government. It was reactivated later in the day, by an executive order of President-elect Trump.

January 20-
Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States. Citing cold weather, the procedure was moved to the capitol rotunda, even though Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, JFK and FDR were inaugurated outside in similar weather. Attendees included media and tech billionaires – with a combined wealth of more than a trillion dollars, higher than the GDPs of 90% of the world’s countries. Everyday Trump supporters were left in the cold but didn't seem to mind.

January 20-
On Day One, Trump issued multiple executive orders. Among them, the end birthright citizenship (which is in the 14th Amendment), increase domestic energy production (even though the largest extraction and export of fossil fuel occurred in 2023 & 2024 during the Biden administration), the pardon of roughly 1,500 people who were in the January 6 insurrection (including those who attacked police), the death penalty for crimes committed by undocumented immigrants, the end of leasing to large wind farms, to end diversity training programs, removing the U.S. from the World Health Organization (which was responsible for ridding the US of polio and for eliminating Smallpox from the planet) and to make it official US policy that there are only two genders. Trump said he also planned to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and rename Denali, in Alaska, back to Mount McKinley. Biden's border app, CBP One, was disabled.

January 21-
The Fraternal Order of Police issued a joint statement with the International Association of Chiefs of Police, saying they "were deeply discouraged by the recent pardons and commutations granted by both the Biden and Trump Administrations to individuals convicted of killing or assaulting law enforcement officers." That "those convicted of such crimes should serve their full sentences."

February 2025

February 1-
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is in charge of transportation-related disasters, announced they will stop e-mailing news organizations with updates about the recent plane crashes. That “all NTSB updates about news conferences or other investigative information” will henceforth be posted on X. (Follow the money.)

February 1-
From the military news, Stars and Stripes.
"All official monthly celebrations related to race and identity in the Defense Department are banned effective immediately.... The decision comes at the start of Black History Month."

February 3-
Former Trump speechwriter, Darren Beattie, was appointed as Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Beattie had been fired during Trump's first term after it was revealed that he spoke at a conference attended by White Nationalists. As recently as October 4, 2024 he had posted "Competent white men must be in charge if you want things to work."

February 4-
Following Trump's January 24, 2025 funding freeze, the U.S. State Department ordered the shutdown of the overseas missions of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Trump & Musk moved to dismantle the agency as an independent entity.

USAID is a 63-year-old program providing support to foreign nations, for humanitarian purposes and for national security (to keep nations on the side of the United States). It is the largest foreign assistance program in the world, serving over 100 countries – followed by China's Belt and Road Initiative (AKA New Silk Road). Without USAID, China's 10-year-old B&R program is bound to win the influence of a majority of these countries, thereby trashing 63 years of goodwill effort.

A 2025 study published in The Lancet estimated that USAID programs prevented approximately 91 million deaths in low- and middle-income countries between 2001 and 2021. That's an average of 4,550,000 lives every year.

February 4-
While meeting with Netanyahu at the White House, Trump suggested that the population of Gaza be relocated to Jordan and Egypt and “other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts” while Gaza is rebuilt, even though Jordan and Egypt had already rejected the idea. There was no offer to relocate any of them to Mar-a-Lago. Trump also said the United States would take "long-term" ownership of the Gaza Strip.

February 4-
Trump's tariffs on China went into effect and China retaliated by imposing an additional tariff of 15% on coal and liquefied natural gas and a 10% tariff on crude oil, agricultural machinery, large cars and pickup trucks, beginning February 10.

February 4-
A US military flight deported the first migrants to Guantanamo, where the world cannot see how they are treated. Trump had vowed to ship “the worst criminal aliens threatening America” there. Eight days later, two U.S. officials spoke anonymously, providing government documents, saying migrants deemed “low-risk” were being sent to Guantanamo along with “high-risk” individuals.

The US government defines “low-risk” migrants as those who face deportation because they are in the U.S. illegally but otherwise have not been accused or convicted of violent or serious crimes. Be vigilant for future references such as, "Tried to escape.... drowned at sea." This corrupt administration could easily arrive at new ways to "save money."

February 4-
A DC judge paused Trump’s restrictions on transgender women in women’s prisons and prisons providing transgender-related medical treatment.

February 5-
A Maryland judge blocked Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship.

February 6-
Trump announced at the DC National Prayer Breakfast that he will create a new task force to "eradicate anti-Christian bias." This is after he sent immigrants to Guantanamo and froze funds for feeding, healing, clothing and sheltering people in the United States and around the world. Apparently, he is under the false assumption that Matthew 25 (and the Constitution) contain an exceptions list.

February 6-
The Trump administration disbanded Task Force KleptoCapture, which was created to enforce Russian sanctions and target oligarchs supporting Putin.

February 6-
A DC judge said only two Musk-affiliated staffers can access the Treasury Department’s payment system, after reports that Musk had accessed sensitive records.

February 6-
A Seattle judge extended his pause on Trump’s attack on birthright citizenship writing, “The president cannot change, limit, or qualify this Constitutional right via an executive order.”

February 6-
A DC judge paused Trump's February 6 deadline for over 2 million federal employees to accept the forced buyout offer. The deadline was extended to February 10.

February 7-
The University of California Student Association sued the Department of Education, accusing Musk’s pretend department of illegally accessing “sensitive personal and financial information” of about 42 million federal student loan borrowers.

February 7-
The US Justice Department agreed to not release the name of the FBI agents involved in the Jan. 6 investigation. Most of them had been assigned to the work and had exhibited no political bias.

February 7-
A Trump appointed judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, blocked Trump's plan to put 2,200 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staff on paid leave, following a lawsuit by a federal employees’ union calling Trump’s efforts to dismantle USAID without Congress’ permission “unconstitutional and illegal.”

February 8-
A judge of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled political appointees and “special government employees: like Musk must be denied access to the Treasury’s systems until another New York-based judge can rule on the issue.

February 8-
Marvin Chester Stone patented the drinking straw, in 1888. His patent included a paraffin coating to keep it from decomposing in bourbon. On Truth Social, Trump posted “Crooked Joe’s MANDATE, ‘NO PLASTIC STRAWS, ONLY PAPER,’ IS DEAD!” Plastic is a petrochemical product. Follow the money.

While some modern paper straws are poorly made and many have been found to contain PFAS (chemicals not used in 1888 or 1968) going back to plastic straws will increase the plastic runoff into our rivers and oceans. A situation that no thinking human being can support.

February 9-
In a Sunday morning broadcast, representative Mike Turner of Ohio basically said that America is in a dire financial crisis and the solution is to gut the United States government, and pull out of helping citizens and foreign allies, instead of raising taxes on corporations and the very wealthiest Americans. Follow the money.

February 9-
JD Vance posted on X, "Judges aren't allowed to control the executive's legitimate power." But that's exactly what Judges must do. Vance graduated from Yale Law School in 2013.

February 10-
Did you think inflation would ease on automobiles? Follow the money. Trump raised tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to a flat 25%. The tariffs will apply to millions of tons of steel & aluminum from Canada, Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and other countries that had previously been duty free. Canada said it planned a retaliatory response.

February 11-
In an action that is not normal, the US Justice Department (DOJ) instructed prosecutors to drop the corruption case against New York Mayor Eric Adams, for political reasons instead of issues related to the case. Adams had been seeking Trump's favor for months, including a dinner meeting with him in Florida.

February 11-
Marc Fogel, 63, was freed from prison in Russia and returned home to the United States. He had served nearly 4 years of his 14 year sentence. Fogel had been arrested for carrying medical cannabis. He was traded for Alexander Vinnik, a cryptocurrency kingpin who had pleaded guilty to money laundering.

February11-
Trump gave Musk's team oversight over hiring decisions across every government agency, as he continued to post misleading & false accusations against government agencies on X. This included the fake claim about $50 million for condoms in Gaza.

Musk owns six companies but the two that benefit the most from government contracts are SpaceX and Tesla. A lot of those contracts are with the Defense Department and NASA. The FAA regulates SpaceX activities and they have ongoing fines and investigations against SpaceX. Now, Musk wants to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The watchdog agency that protects American citizens from bank fraud. At the same time, Musk has been trying to add a digital wallet to X. The CFPB is the main federal regulator of digital payment systems.

Trump and Musk were removing all the guardrails, while Musk said he could police himself.

February 11-
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said, "no other federal regulator" other than the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ensures that banks follow rules that protect Americans from deceptive practices. The Trump administration had told the agency's staff to stay home and cease enforcement activities.

February 12-
Speaking to NATO allies, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on that the war between Ukraine and Russia “must end,” that Ukraine joining NATO is unrealistic and that the US will no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security. He went on to say that European troops should secure Ukraine when the war ends and that US troops would play no part. And that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders “is an unrealistic objective.”

The two key provisions that Russia has asked for are that Ukraine not join NATO and that Russia keeps the land it has occupied since 2014. So even before peace negotiations started, the Trump administration had given Putin everything he wanted, Europe had been weakened and China is watching.

Hegseth also reiterated Trump's complaint to NATO allies. That NATO members increase their defense spending to 5% of their GDP. Ignoring, once again, the fact that NATO Article 5 has only been invoked once (in response to the 911 attack on America). 1,151 NATO troops died defending the United States. They deserve our eternal gratitude.

February 12-
The White House barred Associated Press journalists because they refused to rename the Gulf of Mexico, as it has been internationally known for more than 400 years. The New York Times and the Washington Post will also continue to use Gulf of Mexico. FOX "news" Google and Apple had already bent to Trump's fanatic change. One of the AP photographers is Evan Vucci, the person who took this photograph.

February 12-
As of this date, over 50 courts had effected freezes and cited legal violations to Trump's orders, since his January 20 inauguration.

February 12-
"I will immediately bring prices down starting on day one."
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that US Inflation hit a 7-month high of 3% in January. On a monthly basis, costs jumped 0.5% – the most since August 2023. Areas of rising cost included rent, gas, used cars, car insurance and grocery prices.

February 12-
The Senate confirmed Trump's pick, Tulsi Gabbard, to serve as director of national intelligence. Gabbard is known in Russia as "'Putin's Girlfriend." The day after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, she blamed the United States and NATO for provoking the war. In 2017, she met with now deposed dictator Bashar al-Assad, in Syria, and had since promoted his regime.

February 13-
The Senate confirmed Trump's pick, RFK Jr., to serve as head of the Department of Health and Human Services. The longtime vaccine denier leaves the future of Medicaid in question. The only republican to vote against him was Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child and starkly remembers the horror.

February 13-
After purging the Kennedy Center’s board of its Biden appointees, his new appointees installed “an amazing Chairman, DONALD J. TRUMP!”

February 13-
Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia was rumored to have joined Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

February 14-
JD Vance was at the Munich Security Conference to discuss future talks to end the war in Ukraine. Instead of standing for Ukraine, he launched a disturbing assault on European democracies, saying the greatest threat facing them was not from Russia and China, but "from within." The same "enemy within" that Trump had used about the United States.

Many of the attending international members received his words as insults. Vance went on to promote Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, just before that country's elections. AfD is the same party that Musk had recently supported and it's seen by many as the new Nazi party, with only 20% of German support.

Little was said in support of Ukraine. On the same day, Russia launched a drone strike on the closed Chernobyl nuclear reactors, punching a hole in the sarcophagus.

February 14-
The last of 7 prosecutors, Hagan Scotten, resigned in the Eric Adams case. None of them were willing to drop the case, so they had quit instead. After threats from acting Deputy Attorney General, Emil Bove, two prosecutors ultimately did drop charges "without prejudice" meaning the charges could be reinstated in the future, should Adams not tow Trump's line.

Scotten's final remarks were, "But any assistant U.S. attorney would know that our laws and traditions do not allow using the prosecutorial power to influence other citizens, much less elected officials, in this way. If no lawyer within earshot of the President is willing to give him that advice, then I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me."

February 16-
Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, in Jerusalem. Amazingly, Netanyahu cited active support of Trump's idea to resettle Gaza's population to other countries and turn Gaza into a vacation resort. That would amount to ethnic cleansing and is strictly prohibited under international law. Netanyahu said he and Rubio had discussed ways to conduct Trump's plan.

February 17-
Musk's DOGE issued a "Wall of Receipts" claiming the they found government fraud and waste totaling $16.6 billion. On closer evaluation, one of the items identified as being worth $8 billion was in fact $8 million. A math mistake of 1/1000th of the claimed cost. At that time at least 75,000 federal employees had taken buyouts, not including layoffs.

Meanwhile, Trump and DOGE ignored that the government continues to spend $640 billion in tax breaks per year (plus direct subsidies of roughly $20 billion) to the fossil fuel industry. And republican representatives were considering slashing Medicaid and cutting taxes for corporations and the wealthy. Follow the money.

February 18-
A federal judge, Tanya Chutkan, declined to immediately block billionaire Elon Musk and his DOGE from accessing government data systems and laying off workers, because there was insufficient evidence of grave legal harm. But the judge left the issue open for further information.

February 18-
Representatives from Russia and the US met in Saudi Arabia to discuss an end to the Ukraine war in Europe. Guess who wasn't invited. The European Union, NATO and.... Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said any peacekeeping forces in Ukraine would be "completely unacceptable." Whereas US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, claimed that nobody was "sidelined" from the meeting. As if saying so would change reality.

February 19-
One day after the United States and Russia met over the War in Ukraine, without inviting Ukraine or any other European representative, Trump has spent the day attacking Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a "dictator." Trump went on to say, "You [Zelensky] should have never started [the war]. You could have made a deal." Ignoring the stark fact that it was Russia that invaded Ukraine. Once again, it's obvious that the Trump administration is about to suck up to Putin and throw Ukraine under the bus.

Like the UK during WWII, Ukraine is under martial law during the course of the war. On June 22, 2023, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine's 2023 parliamentary and 2024 presidential elections would occur only if martial law had ended by that time. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits holding elections during periods of martial law.

February 20-
The US Senate on voted to approve Kash Patel as FBI director. Patel had previously stated that he would dismantle the FBI. The vote was 51 republican vs. 47 democratic (plus republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski).

February 20-
As of this date, 17 Inspectors General had been fired. In 2024, the Office of Inspectors General had issued reports identifying $23 billion in potential savings to the government.

February 20-
The layoffs of more than 7,000 IRS workers with one year or less of service began. (Actually, some workers with two years of experience were laid off.) Biden's Inflation Reduction Act had provided the funds for extra IRS workers to go after high-wealth tax dodgers. Follow the money.

February 21-
As part of defense secretary Hegseth's campaign to expel diversity and equity from the military, Trump fired Air Force General. CQ Brown Jr., as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Brown was only the second Black general to serve as chairman. Hegseth fired two other prominent figures. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral, Lisa Franchetti, and Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force General, Jim Slife.

February 21-
Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth fired the top legal officers (JAG) responsible for ensuring the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Hegseth said he didn't want them to pose any "roadblocks to orders that are given by a commander in chief." Previously, Trump had considered using the military in potentially illegal ways. In cities run by Democratic mayors. And former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that Trump had wanted to shoot protestors in the legs, following the May, 2020 murder of George Floyd.

Stacking the military in their favor. Something that would be very useful in a future coup.

February 22-
DOGE issued a government-wide email asking employees "What did you do last week?" and Musk said that failure to reply would be taken as a resignation.

February 23-
Russia launched a record of 267 drones on Ukraine. Most were shot down or missed their targets.

February 23-
Far-right parties gained ground in Germany's national elections. Early counts gave the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) the most votes. CDU leader, Friedrich Merz, was on course to be the next chancellor. Merz said Europe must seek to “achieve independence” from the United States. Another blow to solidarity.

February 23-
Trump appointed right-wing MAGA podcaster, Dan Bongino, as the FBI's new deputy director, a post that requires no congressional approval. Bongino ran for elected office on three occasions. Unable to win a congressional seat, he started his podcast and radio show, which specializes in conspiracy theories and other misinformation. Neither Bongino nor his boss, Kash Patel, have previous FBI experience.

February 24-
On the anniversary of Russia's attack on Ukraine, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning the invasion. 93 countries voted in favor. Some of the countries voting against the resolution were Russia, Israel, Haiti, Hungary, the Central African Republic, Belarus, North Korea, Syria.... and the United States.

February 24-
The BBC reported that the freezing of US humanitarian assistance had forced the closure of almost 80% of the emergency food kitchens set up to help people left destitute by Sudan's civil war. That Trump's executive order halting contributions from the US government's development organization (USAID) for 90 days meant more than 1,100 communal kitchens had shut.

February 25-
A group of 21 civil servants involved in Elon Musk's DOGE resigned, writing that they refused to use their skills to put Americans' data at risk and "dismantle critical public services."

February 25-
The White House announced that the administration, not independent journalists, would determine which outlets have access to the president. The White House Correspondents’ Association had been acting as a government watchdog for 111 years. Since the 1950s they had determined who would be on site for special presidential activities, such as Oval Office coverage. Now, the Trump administration is trying to control access. This is how Putin dismantled the press in Russia.

February 25-
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew to Guantanamo, to observe U.S. migrant detention operations. But he didn't take the press. Instead, he took only his former Fox News colleague, Laura Ingraham. When immigrant children were thrown into prison, during Trump's first term, Ingraham had stated, "...more kids are being separated from their parents and being temporarily housed in what are essentially summer camps." Similar to German concentration camp propaganda.

February 25-
Consumer confidence fell, in February, as Americans remained concerned about inflation and the threat of more tariffs. It was the sharpest one-month drop in confidence since August 2021. House prices rose 4.5% over the previous year. With coffee at a 50-year high. Beef prices rose too.

February 26-
The measles outbreak in west Texas expanded to more than 120 and the first child died. The patient was an unvaccinated school-aged child. Measles is an incredibly contagious virus. Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., attempted to claimed that the majority of the hospitalized cases were for quarantine purposes. But Dr. Lara Johnson, the chief medical officer of Covenant Children's Hospital in Lubbock said, "We don't hospitalize patients for quarantine purposes.... We admit patients who need acute, supportive treatment in our hospital." A child died. RFK lied.

February 26-
In a memo disclosed by a federal lawsuit, the Trump administration said it was cutting more than 90% of USAID's foreign aid contracts and $60 billion in U.S. assistance around the world.

February 27-
About 10% of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were fired. The layoffs included meteorologists who performed local forecasting and hazard warning.

February 28-
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Trump and Vance in the Oval Office and was treated like a child. It was possibly the most embarrassing abuse of American diplomacy in United States history.

March 2025

March 3-
The Trump administration suspended all US military aid to Ukraine. Over $1 billion worth of arms that were already approved were blocked, along with hundreds of millions in aid that Ukraine could have used to buy military equipment directly from US defense manufacturers.

March 4-
At midnight, the United States imposed 25% tariffs on nearly all goods imported from Mexico and Canada. The U.S. also placed a 10% tariff on imports from China raising the total to 20%. In response, Canada imposed 25% tariffs on $150 billion of US goods and China announced 10%-15% tariffs on US agriculture imports and leaned on US corporations in China. The DJIA, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all took steep losses when the tariffs were announced.

March 4-
Trump addressed congress. In his opening remarks, he compared himself to George Washington, putting Washington in second place. He said, “Tariffs are about making America rich again" whereas most economists expected them to increase inflation and cost regular American households over $1,000 annually.

He claimed that Social Security databases contained millions of people over 100 years of age and that "money was being paid to many of them." In fact, the databases he referred to were computer programs that placed people with missing or incomplete birthdates into a category that would not receive money.

He said the previous Biden economy was an economic catastrophe. In fact, inflation was down to 3% after a post-pandemic high (supply & demand), unemployment was down, wages were up and the economy had grown by nearly 3% in 2024.

Trump stated, “We ended the last administration’s insane electric vehicle mandate." There was no mandate. He touted that Army recruitment numbers were the highest in 15 years. He was right. Recruitment numbers had been going up, year-by-year and had peaked in 2024, during Biden's presidency.

He said the automotive CEO's had all approved of his tariffs. In fact, Ford CEO, Jim Farley, had previously stated that tariffs on Canada and Mexico would "blow a hole" in the US auto industry. And earlier that same day, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation (General Motors, Ford, Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Stellantis) warned that 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico would lead to drastic price hikes. Earlier that same day Trump had a call with leaders from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, urging him to waive 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada. The precise opposite of what he was telling congress.

March 5-
Based on their previous requests, Trump gave North American automakers a one-month tariff exemption.

March 5-
The US had shared intelligence with Ukraine since Russia's invasion in 2022, but no more. Trump appointed National Security Adviser, Mike Waltz, confirmed that the United States had stopped sharing intelligence with Ukraine. It was yet another way to narrow Zelenskyy's options and to make him bow to demands by Trump and Putin.

French President, Emmanuel Macron, said that France must be prepared to move forward without US help. "I want to believe the US will stay at our side, but we must be ready if that is not the case." Macron also called on Europe to increase its defense spending. And that France, Ukraine and other nations had prepared their own peace plan.

March 6-
Trump waffled again, postponing new tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico that fall under the USMCA trade agreement (aka NAFTA 2.0) that he touted and signed during his first term. About one third of Canadian imports are USMCA, about half of Mexican imports. Trump also agreed to postpone tariffs on potash from Canada, which is used for fertilizer. The tariffs were placed on hold until April 2, along with the previously postponed automotive tariffs.

March 6-
Trump said he wouldn't comply with NATO Article 5 unless all members meet their spending targets. Article 5 says that all members see an armed attack against one member state as an attack against all members. He stated, "If the United States was in trouble.... We got a problem.... Do you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure.”

In fact, the only time Article 5 has been invoked was in response to the 911 attack on America. NATO came to the defense of America and 1,151 NATO troops died. You would think that the President of the United States would know that. And that blood would mean more to him than money.

March 7-
The United States stopped sending satellite imagery to the Ukraine military.

March 8-
Trump threatened to place a 250% tariff on Canadian dairy and lumber, saying they have a 250% tariff on dairy products from the United States. He didn't mention that those tariffs only apply if the US exceeds the maximum quota on US dairy exports agreed to under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). That has never happened. Instead, the USMCA deal provides limited duty-free quotas for U.S. dairy products. This protects Canadian farmers.

Trump failed to mention that the US has charged a 14.5% duty on Canadian softwood lumber imports, for years. Trump's proposed/postponed 25% tariff would raise that to almost 40%, not including his 250% threat.

March 10-
The removal of the “Black Lives Matter” plaza began, in Washington DC, one block from the White House. The large yellow Black Lives Matter painted on the street was placed there to protest police brutality and systemic racial inequality, following the murder of George Floyd during Trump's first term. DC is removing it due to pressure from congressional republicans to cut the city's transportation funding.

March 10-
US stock markets continued to tank due to Trump's policies. Over the weekend during an interview with FOX, he was asked if he expected a recession in 2025 and he didn't provide a yes or no response. The S&P 500 lost 2.7%, the DJIA went down 2.1% and the Nasdaq composite fell 4% – its worst day since Sept. 13, 2022.

Ontario’s premier announced it was charging 25% more for electricity to 1.5 million American homes and businesses, due to Trump’s trade war. Premier Doug Ford said, “I will not hesitate to increase this charge. If the United States escalates, I will not hesitate to shut the electricity off completely.” While American produced power would still be available, costs would rise and it could affect the stability of the Canadian-American power grid.

March 10-
Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, said the six-week purge of USAID programs was completed, that 83% of the programs had been cut and that the remaining aid programs would be controlled by the State Department. Rubio said lifesaving projects had been saved but few or none of them had actually been funded. Meanwhile children are dying. International literacy, hunger and medical projects were cancelled.

USAID helped to win the Cold War and now China's Silk Road initiative will overtake American interests around the world. Those of you who are unclear, as to the purpose of USAID, may want to read John F. Kennedy's original speech to congress.

March 26-
“Nobody was texting war plans. And that’s all I have to say about that.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth- March 24

"There was no classified information, as I understand it, they used an app if you want to call it an app. That's an app that a lot of people use."
Donald Trump- March 25

“Senator, I’ll reiterate that there was no classified material that was shared.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard- March 25

Jeffrey Goldberg released new messages from the Signal chat group. The messages clearly revealed that classified information was shared over the app. Signal is a publicly available app that provides encrypted communications, but it can be hacked. It is not approved for carrying classified information. But that's only part of the problem. They included a journalist in the chain who did not have a high level security clearance and did not have a right to know. This should have been communicated in a secure room, a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility).

March 26-
The temporary restraining order from District Court Judge, James Boasberg, was upheld. By a vote of 2 to 1, judges of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the White House from restarting deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.

Circuit Judge, Patricia Millett, said "The government's removal scheme denies Plaintiffs even a gossamer thread of due process ....No notice, no hearing, no opportunity, zero process to show that they are not members of the gang, to contest their eligibility for removal under the law, or to invoke legal protections against being sent to a place where it appears likely they will be tortured and their lives endangered."

March 27-
Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested that the Signal chat incident would likely not be investigated, falling back on the lie that the exact launch times of aircraft and times that bombs would be released was not classified.

March 27-
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it will lay off 10,000 workers, in addition to the 10,000 who had already accepted a paid buyout. Addiction services would be deeply cut (so much for Trump's war on fentanyl). The FDA and CDC had the deepest cuts.

Health Secretary RFK Jr. blamed the workers for a decline in American health, disregarding the fact that cancer death rates had dropped, saving 4.5 million American lives since 2005.

March 27-
As with the previous detention of Columbia University graduate student, Mahmoud Khalil and others, yet another student was imprisoned for free speech. Tufts University Ph.D. scholar, Rumeysa Ozturk was detained by the Department of Homeland Security and was accused of supporting Hamas. Her F-1 visa was terminated. Her crime? She had written an article in the school paper, with two other students, saying the university should divest from companies directly tied to Israel. FOX host, Brian Kilmeade, commented, "I love the message it's sending to other students causing unrest."

Yeah, Brian, that kind of free speech has to be crushed. Because you don't like it. As of mid-April, Ozturk remained in a detention center in Basile, Louisiana.

March 27-
Trump signed an executive order, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" demanding that federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, remove “improper, divisive or anti-American ideology."

As an example, the order cites that "the Smithsonian American Art Museum today features.... an exhibit representing that “[s]ocieties including the United States have used race to establish and maintain systems of power, privilege, and disenfranchisement.” As if that wasn't true.

Multiple historians and scholars commented on this totalitarian move to whitewash the truth. One biographer saying, "It does remind you of a fascist state."

The executive order went on to say that the Secretary of the Interior will look into seeing if some of the removed Confederate monuments should be put back in place.

March 28-
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were bound to visit Greenland on a pro-US tour. But the scouting team sent out before them couldn't find a Greenlander who wanted to meet with them. They scaled back their trip to a single appearance at the US-run Pituffik Space Base.

In January, Danish newspaper Berlingske and Greenlandic paper Sermitsiaq, polled that 85 percent of respondents opposed becoming part of the United States. Their distaste for Americanization was followed by protests, in mid-March, in Greenland's capital, Nuuk.

March 31-
MYANMAR
China- First wave of relief supplies. $13.8 million.
China- Rescue team of 82 people.
United Kingdom- $13 million in aid.
Hong Kong- $3.8 million emergency relief.
European Union- $2.7 million emergency relief.

United States- The richest country in the world pledged a total of $9 million but relief from non-profits was greatly hindered by the $2 billion in aid terminated by the administration. A 3 member USAID team would arrive later, to "assess" conditions (as USAID was being abolished).

Four days later, the 3 member team who had arrived in Myanmar were fired, as USAID cuts continued.

March 31-
Trump again brought up his idea of running for a third term, despite the 22nd Amendment. One attempt to break the amendment would be for him to run for vice president in 2028, then have the winning president resign and give Trump the title. Another attempt would be to retry the same ploy he tried on January 6, 2020. In any case, Trump will likely be infirm or dead by 2028.

April 2025

April 1-
The Trump administration admitted that they sent a man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, with protected legal status to the hellish prison in El Salvador, on March 15. US ICE officials said in a court filing that they had deported him due to an “administrative error.” But Trump's administration refused to return him home to his American wife and children. Without producing any evidence, they alleged that Abrego Garcia had gang ties.

Furthermore, the administrations said it can’t do anything to get him back, arguing that he's no longer in US custody and the US court has no jurisdiction to order his release. In conclusion, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia has protected legal status, he has a family and a job, there is no proof he has committed any crime or is a gang member, he was deported by accident, and the Trump administration, which pays El Salvador to take prisoners, is not lifting a finger to bring him home. In fact, they are arguing that he should stay in prison.

There is an April 14 update on Garcia's imprisonment, below.

April 2-
Instead of fining American companies that outsource their production or giving incentives to those who bring manufacturing home, Trump laid the pain on regular Americans, allied nations and the world. He called his assault on the global economy "Liberation Day."

34% tax on goods from China
20% tax on goods from the European Union
10% minimum tax on goods from all other countries
With previously enacted tariffs on steel & aluminum and a 25% tax on auto imports.

The Free Market used to enable the buyer to purchase the best products at the best price. Not anymore. Not in America.

April 3-
The day after "Liberation Day" shareholders around the globe were liberated of their money. The major indexes had all plummeted. The American exchanges were hardest hit.
Dow Jones -3.98% down $1,679 per share
S&P 500 -4.84% down $274.45 per share
NASDAQ -5.97% down $1,050.44 per share
STOXX Europe 50 -2.84% down $129.74 per share
FTSE 250 -2.23% down $439.12 per share
Nikkei 225 -2.77% down $989.94 per share

April 3-
Trump fired the director of the National Security Agency, Air Force General Tim Haugh. The 4-star general Haugh also directed the Pentagon’s Cyber Command. He had a 33-year career in intelligence and cyber technology. Trump's associate, Laura Loomer, took credit for the firing, saying she raised concerns about Haugh’s ties to Gen. Mark Milley and Biden. Loomer has often been rebuked for her 911 conspiracies and racist posts. There you have it. A 4-star general with decades of expertise in national and cyber security was ousted on the word of a fanatic.

April 4-
In response to the Trump tariffs, China placed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements to the United States. Other countries were cut off too. They must be purchased by license. The rare earth elements are critical for US defense. Fighter jets, submarines, missiles, radars and other defense systems depend on them. Thousands of tons in total. Cars, phones and chips use them too.

April 6-
A second unvaccinated child died from the measles outbreak. Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. traveled to West Texas, to "console the families" of the two children who had passed away. During his visit, the longtime vaccine skeptic said, "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine." But the father of one of the victims, Pete Hildebrand, said that Kennedy “never said anything” about the vaccine to his family while there for his daughter's funeral.

After the funeral, RFK Jr. then promoted two anti-vax "healers." Saying without evidence the two physicians had healed “some 300 measles-stricken Mennonite children.” Be it measles (vaccine vs. no vaccine) or tariffs (permanent vs. for negotiation) one thing in this administration remains consistent. They play both sides of the coin but never call heads or tails. The credo apparently being "Keep the fools confused while we do what we want."

April 7-
Immigration officers attempted to enter two Los Angeles elementary schools, claiming they wanted to do student wellness checks and that they had authorization from their parents and caretakers. They did not. The homeland security department said, “DHS is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited, abused, and sex trafficked." They lied.

The Los Angeles unified school district superintendent, Alberto Carvalho, said the district learned that students’ parents and caretakers had not been contacted. "We have confirmed that that is a falsehood," Carvalho said. "We've spoken with the caretakers of these children… and they deny any interactions with these entities."

Access to the schools was denied.

April 8-
For years, the IRS had assured undocumented taxpayers that their information would be confidential, and that it was safe to file tax returns. But a few days before the tax filing deadline, the Internal Revenue Service made an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share tax information about some immigrants without legal status. The acting head of the IRS, Melanie Krause, resigned. She was not okay with the final version of the agreement. The sudden breach of good faith is expected to cost the United States hundreds of billions in revenue.

April 8-
The Supreme Court denied a judge’s decision to block sending men to the El Salvador prison but the court said detainees must receive due process.

April 9-
Amid fears of a global financial crisis, recession, with plummeting poll ratings and a faltering Bond market Trump postponed his high tariffs for 90 days, with the exception of China (145% including previous tariff) and the existing steel and aluminum tariffs on his North American "friends." The other countries would receive a blanket tariff rate of 10% over their previous rate. For example, the previous tariff on Vietnam was 20%, so now they would pay 30%. (Vietnam's tariff on US goods was 1%, not 95% as Trump had said in public.) The markets rose but not near pre-inauguration levels. His “liberation day” had sucked trillions of dollars from the US markets.

April 9-
Trump revoked the security clearances of Chris Krebs and ex-DHS official Miles Taylor and then ordered investigations into their work. Both had served Trump during his first term. But Krebs was fired after he said the 2020 election was fair and Taylor wrote about the chaos in the first administration.

They are both private citizens.

April 10-
Hundreds of foreign college students have had their visas revoked. Some for minor, non-political reasons, including traffic violations. As The Hill reported on April 10, the State Department has declined requests to share numbers, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in March that more than 300 student visas had been revoked under the Trump administration.

April 11-
During the course of the Israel-Gaza War, Israel's military changed the original 300 meter buffer zone along the north and east perimeter of Gaza to 1000 meters. Almost every structure was removed, including cemeteries. Now, Trump has sent a memorandum to militarize federal land along the US-Mexico border, to "to enable military activities."

April 12-
The Trump White House changed tariffs again. Phones, laptops, display screens, semiconductors and related tech equipment were excluded from the earlier 145% tariffs on China. The new rate for those devices being 54%. The same type of electronic devices were removed from Trump's 10% global tariff on all countries (but with pre-existing tariffs remaining in place).

Still, the latest 54% is bound to cause pain for citizens and tech giants, if it remains in place. Of course, there is no way of knowing when, how or why the rates will change next.

April 14-
An update on Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, who was abducted by the United States government on March 15. Garcia had protected legal status, he had a family and a job, there was and still is no proof he has committed any crime or is a gang member, who was deported by accident, and the Trump administration, which pays El Salvador to take prisoners, was not lifting a finger to bring him home and were arguing that he should stay in prison.

Still, the Trump administration has refused to seek his release. On April 10, the Supreme Court upheld a lower court order that the Trump administration must facilitate his return to the United States, ruling that:

"The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal" and that the District Court "properly requires the Government to 'facilitate' Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador."

As of April 14, the ghoulish thugs in the Trump administration had done everything in their capacity to keep the innocent man in prison. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele (who has dismantled democratic institutions, curtailed political and civil liberties, and attacked independent media) visited the White House saying that he would not return Abrego Garcia to the United States.

The Supreme Court may take another opportunity to clarify that Trump must bring Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia home. Meanwhile, a constitutional crisis hangs on a razor's edge and an innocent human being remains one month now, in a hell hole.

April 14-
Palestinian and U.S. permanent resident, Mohsen Mahdawi, was taken into custody by US immigration officials. As a student, he was a leader in protests against the Israel-Gaza war at Columbia University. Mahdawi was on 60 Minutes in 2023. Here's a portion of that interview. You may notice that he was resolutely against harmful words to any Jewish students.

May 2025

May 2-
No matter where you live in the world, you have probably heard of televised public education for children. Sesame Street, Big Bird and Elmo come to mind. But public broadcasting also has fantastic educational shows for adults too. Nature and the Sciences.

For decades, republicans in the American congress have hated that. An educated public means educated choices, including educated votes. Federal funding for public media only costs Americans $1.60 per year. Congress has never been able to cut the funds because two thirds of Americans support continued federal funding for public media.

But now that congress is paralyzed, Trump signed an executive order that eliminates funding for Public Broadcasting television and National Public radio. Currently, the United States is between 15th and 31st in education (depending on the way data is collected). This can only make it worse.

May 2-
The Trump administration released its 2026 budget proposal for NASA, which calls for terminating the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft programs after Artemis III, the first crewed Moon landing mission. In favor of "more cost-effective commercial systems." In other words, Elon Musk's SpaceX. Congress will have the final say.

May 4-
“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods.”
Trump- August 9, 2024

“Starting the day I take the oath of office, I will rapidly drive prices down and we will make America affordable again."
Trump- August 17, 2024

“Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again."
Trump- October 1, 2024

On Sunday, May 4, in an interview with Meet the Press, Trump acknowledged his tariff war with China could lead to a toy shortage and costlier products. “They don’t need to have 30 dolls, they can have three.” “They don’t need to have 250 pencils, they can have five.”

The interview took place at Mar-a-Lago.

May 11-
Trump began defending his pending receipt the luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet. A gift from the ruling family of Qatar.

The United States Constitution- Article I, Section 9, Clause 8
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

May 12-
Data sent to Congress by the Defense Department said the Pentagon spent $21 million on deportation flights to Guantanamo Bay. There were then 69 migrants being imprisoned there. Forty-three were considered low risk. That's $304,348 tax dollars for a one-way ticket. Meanwhile, Congress was planning a new tax break for the rich and a cut in Medicaid.

May 12-
The first white South Africans arrived in the US after Trump granted them refugee status. On the same day, Trump’s government also ended legal protections for Afghans from deportation, citing an improved security situation in the country. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, said “Afghanistan has had an improved security situation, and its stabilizing economy no longer prevent them from returning to their home country.”

This is what the Military Times reported on the same day:
"However, U.S. service members and Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan and whose family members still live in the country told Military Times in February that the region was patently unsafe.... They said they constantly feared for their loved ones’ lives and said the Taliban were actively hunting anyone affiliated with the United States government."

Whites get rights and Afghan heroes get zero.
(See May 21, below)

May 14-
The US Environmental Protection Agency announced that it is delaying the timeline for water utilities to comply with reducing some PFAS "forever chemicals" in drinking water and possibly planning for allowable levels of other PFAS. They're called "forever chemicals" because they remain intact for decades in the environment and in living things, including humans. The EPA estimates that 6-10% of water systems serve water with excess PFAS levels, affecting about 100 million people in the USA. They can cause cancer, heart attacks, strokes and birth complications.

May 15-
Anti-woke woke. Following Utah, Florida became the second state to officially ban fluoride in public water. Governor DeSantis said the fluoridation of water violates “informed consent.” Calgary, Canada took fluoride out of its water supply in 2011 but they're reversing their decision. Calgary's rate of dental caries had increased significantly more than it had before fluoride was removed.

Fun fact, fluoride is a mineral and it occurs naturally in many water supplies. Elephants, giraffes, herons and almost every other animal, including humans, have been drinking fluoridated water for millions of years.

May 15-
Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon said that some prices would go up due to Trump's tariffs. "We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins."

Two days later Trump wrote on Truth Social. "Between Wal-Mart and China they should, as is said, "EAT THE TARIFFS," and not charge valued customers ANYTHING."

Eat the tariffs? Yes, Trump gave away the fact that his tariffs are a tax on Americans. Not foreign countries. He knew it all along.

May 16-
The United States Supreme Court stopped the Trump administration’s request to remove a temporary block on deportations of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The court mentioned Kilmar Abrego Garcia in its opinion. The administration wrongly deported him to the El Salvador hell hole prison due to an “administrative error” but said he would never be allowed back in the US, despite the court's order to facilitate his return.

May 19- Blatant Tyranny
Similar to recent lawsuits against news organizations, the Trump administration has now attacked a member of Congress. Trump's Justice Department filed charges against a Democratic member of Congress, LaMonica McIver, alleging that she assaulted law enforcement officers at the ICE detention center in Newark, where the Newark Mayor, Ras Baraka, was arrested (see May 9, above). The mayor was released but McIver was charged with two counts of assaulting, resisting, and impeding law enforcement officials.

McIver said the arrest was political intimidation. “Earlier this month, I joined my colleagues to inspect the treatment of ICE detainees at Delaney Hall in my district. We were fulfilling our lawful oversight responsibilities, as members of Congress have done many times before, and our visit should have been peaceful and short. Instead, ICE agents created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation when they chose to arrest Mayor Baraka.”

The claim is that she “used each of her forearms to forcibly strike." This photo is their "evidence."

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X that “assaults on federal law enforcement will not be tolerated.” Apparently Blanche was napping on January 6, 2001.

May 21-
Another oval office ambush. South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, was visiting for trade agreements. But the main event became how Trump had okayed immigration for white South Africans while denying entry to people of color from around the world; including Afghanis who had worked with the US military in Afghanistan.

Trump wanted to discuss false allegations that South African white farmers were being attacked and murdered. He showed a video that supposedly showed South African blacks ranting about the death and destruction of whites. (None of them were in Ramaphosa's government or his political party.) “I’d like to know where that is,” the South African President said. “Because this I’ve never seen.”

All in all, a transparent attempt to make Trump's racial bias for whites seem acceptable. Meanwhile, roughly 10,000 Afghan citizens who supported US troops will be sent back to face the wrath of the Taliban.

May 21-
On the same day that Trump attempted to defend his "whites only" refugee program, his Department of Justice said it will dismiss federal oversight of the police in Louisville (Breonna Taylor) and Minneapolis (George Floyd). The administration will also discard investigations into constitutional violations by police in six other cities.

The cities and their police departments were quick to respond that they would continue implementing the reforms from the Biden era. Roughly 70% of Department of Justice lawyers had quit since Trump's inauguration.

The announcement came four days before the May 25 anniversary of George Floyd's murder.

May 22-
In the ongoing battle with Harvard University, the Trump administration revoked the university's Student and Exchange Visitor Program. 27% of Harvard Students are foreigners. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wrote on X, "Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country."

On the same day, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White temporarily barred the action. But all foreign students remained in limbo, not knowing their eventual status. Many choosing to submit applications to universities in Europe and China instead. 55% of America's billion-dollar startups have at least one immigrant founder. The brain-drain is now well underway.

May 26-
Russia committed a massive drone attack on Ukrainian cities. Trump responded by saying he was "not happy" with Putin. When asked if he would consider more sanctions on Russia, Trump said "absolutely." Trump then tweeted that Putin "has gone absolutely CRAZY!"

But on February 6, the Trump administration disbanded Task Force KleptoCapture, which was created to enforce Russian sanctions. And on March 7, Trump threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia. On April 26, he threatened again. And by this date, Trump has imposed zero tariffs on Russia, despite imposing tariffs on over 180 different countries and territories.

May 26-
Trump threatened to redirect $3 billion in grant money from Harvard to trade schools. Yes, that would be a great deal for trade schools. Especially ones that study cures for cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses affecting millions of Americans. Saving even the lives of trade school graduates.

May 27-
Widely recognized vaccine skeptic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced the removal of the COVID-19 vaccine from the CDC's schedule for "healthy children and pregnant women." This affected insurance coverage. Pregnant women have reduced immunity in order to keep their body from seeing the fetus as a foreign organism and rejecting it. This reduces immunity to COVID too. Kennedy said, "We're now one step closer to realizing President Trump's promise to Make America Healthy Again."

May 29-
Historically, presidential pardons were not issued for political reasons. As of this date, Trump had pardoned Paul Walczak, a man who had pleaded guilty to tax crimes, one month after his mother attended a million dollar fundraiser for Trump. He had also pardoned a Trump supporter, one Sheriff Jenkins who had been convicted on federal conspiracy, fraud, and bribery charges. Some of Jenkin's crimes were caught on video. And Trump pardoned fellow reality TV stars, Todd and Julie Chrisley. They were convicted of fraud and tax evasion but their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, was a vocal advocate for Trump during the 2024 elections.

Ed Martin, who had represented January 6 defendants and was an organizer for Trump's "Stop the Steal" rallies, is now Trump's head of the Department of Justice's Office of the Pardon Attorney. Martin commented "No MAGA left behind."

May 29-
Many of Trump's tariffs flipped off and then on again, throwing American and global businesses into additional confusion. One representative from the CATO Institute equated it with a child flipping his bedroom lights off and on.

May 30-
Another flip. Trump announced he would set tariffs on steel imported into the United States at 50%, double the previous rate.

May 30-
Propublica reported that more than half of the so-called "terrorists" sent to the hell hole prison in El Salvador had no criminal record in the U.S.

Not Terrorists – Not even Criminals

Return to Top

June 2025

June 1-
In the early morning hours on Truth Social, Trump retweeted a deranged conspiracy theory that Joe Biden was executed in 2020 and replaced by a clone:

“There is no #JoeBiden – executed in 2020. #Biden clones doubles & robotic engineered soulless mindless entities are what you see. #Democrats don’t know the difference.”

June 5-
Trump likened the Russia-Ukraine conflict to two children fighting in a park, suggesting to the two nations “fight for a while” before peace efforts resume. Ninety days prior, Trump had threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia. By this time, the threat had become a joke.

June 6-
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who was accidently deported to El Salvador. (You know, the one who Trump said couldn't be returned.) Was returned to the United States and then imprisoned in Tennessee, under human smuggling charges. Because the Trump establishment is incapable of just admitting they were wrong.

June 6-
This day was the deadline for transgender service members on active duty to voluntarily leave the military, before the Trump controlled military began throwing them out.

June 6-
The Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) is a division of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). CP3 is charged with coordinating with federal, state, and other stakeholders to facilitate the prevention of terrorism. Trump cut CP3's staff by roughly three-quarters early in his second presidency.

Director William Braniff resigned in protest of the cuts. Trump then appointed Thomas Fugate, a 22-year-old recent college graduate with a background in gardening and grocery store work. Fugate was a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the Heritage Foundation, the authors of Project 2025.

Fugate was one year out of college, with no apparent national security expertise.

June 9-
Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., fired the 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control's independent vaccine advisory committee. He would later replace them with handpicked people. Some of them vaccine skeptics.

June 10-
More handpicked bias. Soldiers appearing near Trump at a speech at re-renamed Fort Bragg were reportedly screened for their partisan politics and physical appearance, as reported by Military.com, who cited internal 82nd Airborne Division communications. Service members were asked to alert superiors of political issues with Trump, beforehand. Apparently, the communications wanted the military crowd to look great too. Insisting on, “No fat soldiers.”

June 10-
By this date, Trump had called in 4,000 national guard troops and 700 marines, to keep order in a few city blocks that mostly adjoined the Metropolitan Detention Center. All in response to protests against deportation operations in Los Angeles. Both LA's mayor and California governor Gavin Newsom said no one had requested the soldiers. Newsom added that the move was fulfilling "the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial president."

Trump said he sent them to protect government buildings and for crowd control. But national guard troops were later seen helping ICE agents capture immigrants.

US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said he expected the military would remain in the city for 60 days at a cost of at least $134,000,000. The red spot (between the "n" and "g" in 'Los Angeles') marks the area that somehow requires the presence of 4,700 troops and millions of taxpayer dollars.

June 12-
It isn't just immigrants. Now it's a senator.

June 14-
As military tanks, soldiers and a robot dog paraded through the streets of Washington to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States Army and "by coincidence" Trump's birthday, several million people around the country demonstrated against his presidency. The "No Kings" protests took place in over 2,000 cities and towns.

June 14-
On the same day as Trump's US Army / his birthday military parade in Washington DC, and massive "No Kings" nationwide counter protest, a Minnesota democratic state representative and her husband were shot dead in their home and a state senator and his wife were shot but survived. A man dressed as a police officer shot all four. A list with nearly 70 names, including politicians and abortion providers, was found in the suspect's car.

June 15-
Just hours after the fatal shootings of Minnesota House State Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, and the shooting of State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman, US Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) posted this tweet with a picture of the shooter on X. It's hard to understand how a psychopath was elected by the good people of Utah.

June 16-
After the 'No Kings' protests and a rather tepid Army Anniversary / Trump Birthday parade, Trump declared an expanded crackdown on immigrants. He based it on lies about illegal immigrants voting in democratic strongholds. He had recently backed off of raids on farm and hotel workers, based on pressure from the industries but he flip-flopped again.

June 17-
Federal ICE agents arrested New York City Democratic candidate for mayor, Brad Lander, outside of an immigration court. Lander had attempted to accompany a person out of a courtroom. He was released several hours later. No charges were filed.

June 22-
The war between Israel and Iran broadened when Trump announced that US bombers had “obliterated” three of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The bombers struck sites at Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan – Fordo being the facility embedded in a mountain, requiring the “bunker buster” bombs that only the US has. Netanyahu had been prodding the United States military for years to make a decisive strike, because Iran was always “within weeks of producing a nuclear weapon.” Trump is the president who finally agreed to do it.

June 24-
Israel and Iran entered an uneasy ceasefire. But an early report by the US Department of Defense's Defense Intelligence Agency indicated that Iran’s nuclear program had been set back only a few months after the US strikes. Not “completely and fully obliterated” as Trump had said. It was thought that most of the 900 pounds (400kg) of highly enriched uranium were still in Iran's possession and that many of their centrifuges were unharmed.

So, it could be that Netanyahu hit a hornet's nest with a stick, then convinced Trump to hit it with a hammer. And that the hornets could possibly be angry enough to do what they had not previously done. Build atomic weapons.

It may be helpful to remember that, in 2015, Iran agreed to the 15-year Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which disallowed Iran to possess any weapons grade uranium. But the Trump administration withdrew from that agreement in 2018.

June 26-
Trump announced that the US and China had signed a trade deal over the import of rare earth metals used in batteries and electronics. Details of the agreement were not clarified. The broader trade war remained unresolved.

June 26-
Secretary of Health and Human Services RFK's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to stop vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal. Kenndey is a long time believer that thimerosal causes autism, despite numerous studies that it doesn't.

Although thimerosal is no longer widely used, it serves to prevent bacterial contamination in vaccines. The decision may affect vaccine availability and cost, especially in rural areas, for no science-based reason whatsoever.

Kennedy also announced that the US will pull funding from Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, a global organization that has paid for more than a billion children to get vaccinated. Prior to Trump's second term, the USA had been one of its biggest supporters.

June 27-
In 2021, during the first year of the Biden administration, the S&P 500 reached a record high 66 times (an average of 5.5 times per month). This was the second-highest number of record highs in a single year since 1929, according to Forbes. On June 27, the S&P 500 reached a record high for the second time since Trump's inauguration (an average of 0.4 times per month). Nearly 1/14th that of Biden's.

June 29-
Supporting an early assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi said that Iran could restart enriching uranium “in a matter of months.” That US strikes on Iran fell short of causing total damage to its nuclear program.

Return to Top

July 2025

July 1-
Governor DeSantis and other Florida personalities welcomed Trump and Kristi Noem to the opening of the immigration detention facility known as Alligator Alcatraz. Trump, of course, was delighted to say, "We're going to teach them how to run away from an alligator.... Your chances go up about 1%." Among other schoolboy comments. Then there was the merchandise on the Florida GOP website.

As of July 1, the official ICE detention stats said the highest threat immigrants detained in 2025 (the "Worst of the Worst") numbered 3,371 and that there were 39,726 immigrants detained (nearly 12 times as many) with no criminal record at all.

July 2-
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the US had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine in order to "put America's interests first" following a defence department review.

July 4-
Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 was signed into law. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that it would add $2.8 trillion to the national debt of the United States by 2034, mainly due to tax breaks. Its cut to Medicaid was the largest in the program's history and put rural hospitals at risk of closure. The Clean energy roll-back derailed renewable energy production and research in the United States.

The Center for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates that the bill will accelerate the estimated insolvency of Social Security and Medicare by one year.

Funds for anti immigration go into effect immediately. The money cut from Medicaid doesn't go into effect until 27-28. (A blatant attempt to get republicans reelected in the 2026 midterms.) It's good to know they are worried about free elections in 2026. Not so certain for the 2028 presidential election!

July 7-
Trump signed an executive order delaying steep tariffs on dozens of countries until August 1. They were set to take effect on July 9. In April, he had said that he would make roughly 90 trade deals in 90 days. As of July 7, trade agreements had been reached with only the United Kingdom and Vietnam, with some partial accords with China.

When he had first announced his "Liberation Day" tariffs, major stock indexes lost about $3.1 trillion in value, so he imposed his original 90-day suspension. After little had been accomplished he kicked the date ahead into August.

July 9-
Trump threatened Brazil with a 50% tariff, unless the country's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, stopped the "Witch Hunt that should end IMMEDIATELY!" He was referring to the charges against its right-wing former president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has bragged about his friendship with Trump and was facing trial for attempting a coup against Lula.

The US hasn't run a trade deficit with Brazil since 2007, so this had nothing to do with unfair trade. It was an obvious attempted bribe for political reasons.

July 9-
The Trump administration resumed sending some weapons to Ukraine. The White House claimed that the pause on shipments was a surprise. Trump had become angry with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

July 12-
The State Department began laying off more than 1,300 workers. Part of the Trump administration's plan to "reorganize" the department.

July 15-
Did you think your IRS records were secure? Not anymore. ProPublica revealed the Trump administration’s plan to turn over IRS records to Homeland Security, in order to speed up the agency’s mass deportation efforts. It would "create an 'on demand' process allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to obtain the home addresses of people it’s seeking to deport."

July 16-
Trump's feud with Putin deepened. He posed a 50-day deadline for Moscow to arrange new peace talks with Ukraine. But seven weeks is a long time, enabling Russia to plan ahead and to continue heightened attacks across Ukraine.

July 17-
Steve Colbert announced that the CBS Late Show had been canceled. The final episode to be in the spring of 2026. Paramount Global and CBS stated that it was “purely a financial” decision and “not related in any way to... other matters happening at Paramount.” But the cancellation came a few days after CBS’ $16 million settlement with the White House. And soon after the cancellation, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission approved an $8 billion deal, which merged Paramount Global with Skydance Media. The deal places government conditions on the network’s news division. CBS and the White house would lead us to believe that it's all a coincidence.

August 2025

August 1- As the Worm Turns
Ten days after meeting with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, convicted child sex trafficker and pedophile, Ghislaine Maxwell, was relocated from a Florida prison to a new minimum-security facility in Texas. A few days prior, the White House had said "no leniency is being given or discussed." No longer behind bars, Maxwell is "doing time" in a dormitory-style, all women setting.

Prison consultant Justin Paperny told Daily Mail he had never seen anyone convicted of a sex offense serve time in a minimum security prison. Paperny, who advises future inmates on what to expect inside, said, "You can literally walk off and nobody will stop you. It’s a cushy country club and looks like a corporate office park or a junior college."

As reported by the BBC, the family of the late Virginia Giuffre - one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims - expressed their "horror and disgust" at what they described as the "preferential treatment" given to Ghislaine Maxwell, adding "This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes... The American public should be outraged by the special treatment afforded to a pedophile and a criminally charged child sex offender."

August 1-
In his latest bout with reality, Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner, Erika McEntarfer, after the latest monthly jobs report was far below expectations. Also, Trump had been threatening to fire Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, for months. He will likely blame Powell after Trump's tariffs cause disaster.

August 5-
Following the 2014-15 Ebola epidemic, the Obama administration created a White House pandemic response team. In 2018, the Trump administration disbanded the response team. Trump then raised doubts about the efficacy of the mRNA COVID vaccines, leading to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

September 2025

September 3- As the Worm Turns

"Good Christian" seeks to "protect the innocent" even as the victims speak in full daylight on Capitol Hill.

As Trump called it a “a Democrat hoax that never ends” and House Speaker Mike Johnson continued to claim he wanted to protect innocent individuals, approximately 100 of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims spoke at a Capitol Hill press conference. The survivors called for the release of all Epstein files and said they were compiling a list of his known associates.

In July, Johnson had adjourned the House early, thereby blocking a vote on forcing the release of Epstein files. His latest tactic is to try to get republican representatives to vote against the release of the files and instead back the Oversight Committee’s probe, which would put control in the hands of the Justice Department. The same department that had originally blocked release to the public.

September 5-
The jobs report found that jobs increased by just 22,000 for the month of August. Less than a third of what was expected. The unemployment rate rose to 4.3%, higher than it had been in over a year (some say four years).

September 6- As the Worm Turns
More distraction and pandering to his base.

September 10-
The U.S. annual inflation rate for August was 2.9% year-over-year, up from 2.7% in July 2025. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose 3.1% year-over-year in August.

September 10-
Christian nationalist, Charlie Kirk (b. October 14, 1993) was assassinated. A so-called conservative, Kirk co-founded Turning Point USA. The 7 Metal advocate occupied 8 Soil by the month and 1 Water by the year.*

During an April 5, 2023, faith event that took place on the Salt Lake City campus of Awaken Church, Kirk said, "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights."

However, if history is a lesson, then empire is toppled not with guns but with unity, as Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. have shown. Every person is a universe unto Them Self and no one has the wisdom or the judgment to choose to end a life. Including the life of Charlie Kirk. He was 31 and he had two children.

Disregarding recent attacks and murders of democratic politicians, Trump blamed the rise in violence on the radical left being "directly responsible for the terrorism that we’re seeing in our country today."

September 11-
On September 10, nineteen Russian drones crossed into Polish territory. It required hours to shoot all of them down. One drone went as far as 160 miles (257 km) into Polish airspace. The next day, Trump stated that the incursions into Polish airspace "could have been a mistake." His statement came more than 3 weeks after he had said "We're going to find out about President Putin in the next couple of weeks.... It's possible that he doesn't want to make a deal." As of September 11, it had now been 188 days since Trump first threatened to pose sanctions on Russia.

September 13-
Trump sidestepped imposing new sanctions on Russia by setting unrealistic conditions on NATO allies. He said he was ready to impose "major" sanctions on Russia, but only if all NATO nations agree to do the same and cease purchasing Russian oil.

To someone who hasn't considered world trade and commerce, Trump's demands may seem reasonable. But the more totalitarian NATO members, Hungary and Turkey, remain top importers of Russian oil. With the colder months approaching, one cannot simply cut off their own heat. Trump's timing guaranteed that he could avoid posing sanctions on Russia.

September 17-
ABC pulled Jimmy Kimmel’s, Jimmy Kimmel Live, television show from the air indefinitely after he made comments about the death of Charlie Kirk. Apparently, the line that got him into trouble was when he insinuated that the killer was pro-Trump. Similar to Trump blaming "the radical left" for all politically motivated violence, or when Fox "news" infamously blamed Antifa for the January 6 insurrection (before changing their 'truth' to it being a tour of the Capitol).

But Trump is the president of the United States and Fox claims to be "news and opinion." Jimmy Kimmel is simply a late night talk show host. Trump appointed Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, pushed for Kimmel's removal. Then Nexstar Media Group (the largest television station owner in the United States, with corporate headquarters in Irving, Texas) said they would stop airing his show. ABC then folded under pressure.

This follows the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, in July. As was true with CBS, Nexstar was actively seeking a merger which required the approval of Brendan Carr's FCC. Kimmel returned to the air six days later.

September 18-
In another blow against the First Amendment, the Pentagon stated, “DoW [Department of War] information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified.” This new demand on the press requires that journalists get an okay before reporting anything.

September 22-
Standing between RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz, Trump made a bizarre announcement where he couldn't pronounce the word 'acetaminophen', that the use of Tylenol (a brand name of acetaminophen) by pregnant women causes autism. There was, of course, no science to back it up. In fact, this may persuade some pregnant women to use Advil (ibuprofen) instead, which has truly been linked to significant risks to the fetus, including miscarriage.

The Food and Drug Administration pledged to change the indication on a cancer medication called leucovorin (folinic acid) as a treatment for autism, although there is little evidence of its effectiveness. This prompted the American Psychiatric Association to respond that it "will require many more years of research before we know if leucovorin is an appropriate treatment."

This had RFK Junior's fingerprints all over it, with Oz standing there in quiet support.

September 25-
In an investigation that was fast-tracked under pressure from Trump, who publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to pursue charges against political opponents, former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of making false statements and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. The charges could bring up to five years in prison.

The next act of political retribution was on Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, on October 9, followed by the indictment of Trump's former national security adviser, John Bolton, on October 16. Comey and James were indicted by Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist and former real estate attorney. Bolton was indicted by Kelly Hayes, who was initially appointed as interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland by Pam Bondi, on charges related to the mishandling of classified information. Although it is safe to say that Bolton was not storing any of the said information in his bathroom.

September 25-
Trump announced new tariffs. A 100% tariff on brand name or patented pharmaceuticals, a 25% tariff on heavy-duty trucks, 50% on kitchen and bathroom cabinets and 30% on upholstered furniture. Due to prior negotiated agreements, the higher pharmaceutical tariffs would not be applied to good from the EU or Japan. Neither would it be applied to countries opening new production facilities in the United States. This new tax on American companies and citizens was due to begin on October 1, 2025.

Think about it. Even if the tariffs lead to new jobs in some future year, it's 99% factory labor for regular people and a goldmine for the factory owners. Another "Big Beautiful" deal for the 1%.

September 27-
Trump announced the deployment of U.S. troops to Portland, Oregon, claiming the city is "war ravaged" and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities are "under siege" from Antifa and other "domestic terrorists."

This followed a shooting at an ICE facility in Dallas, which is over 2,000 miles away by road. There had been largely peaceful protests in Portland. Trump directed Pete Hegseth to “provide all necessary Troops” and authorizing the use of “Full Force, if necessary.”

Antifa is a shortened form of "anti fascist" and is not a unified organization. It is an idea. Protests are condoned in the US Constitution but Trump continues to call it domestic terrorism.

September 27-
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that twenty men who were awarded the Medal of Honor for their participation in the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre would keep their medals. Lakota people had been rounded up and Union troops were confiscating their rifles. One of the Lakota, Black Coyote, was deaf and didn't understand their orders. In a skirmish to disarm him, his gun went off and the troops began firing indiscriminately into the people. Nearly 300 Lakota people were killed, including women and children.

Hegseth stated, “Under my direction, we’re making it clear without hesitation that the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890 will keep their medals, and we’re making it clear that they deserve those medals.”

September 29-
Democrat Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, and democrat House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, met with Trump, republican Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, and republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, to avoid a government shutdown. The democrats demanded the reversal of Medicaid cuts included in the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" and an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that were in Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.

A majority of Americans, including 55% of Republicans, were against the half-trillion in Medicaid cuts, and the loss of healthcare assistance would result in an estimated average premium increase of about 75% for most of the 24 million people enrolled in the Affordable Care marketplace. Amazingly, Majority Leader Thune had accused Democrats of holding the country "hostage."

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October 2025

October 1-
The US government shut down on the first minute of October. The White House moved to pause or cancel billions of dollars meant for democratic leaning states. $18 billion in infrastructure projects in New York and $8 billion in climate resilience projects in 16 states that voted democrat in the 2024 election. About 750,000 government workers were in peril of being furloughed.

Trump marked the critical moment by posting a fake video of democrat House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, wearing a Mexican sombrero. The White House followed up later in the day by stating that AI videos and memes depicting Democrat leaders in sombreros "will continue." It's good to know that America is in rational hands.

November 2025

November 3-
After the Trump administration had been court-ordered to provide food aid to struggling Americans, it relinquished and said that it would provide half of the normal benefits for November. The funds would come from the program’s contingency fund amid the government shutdown. Delays were expected. This drew wide criticism. On October 31, Trump had thrown a lavish Great Gatsby themed Halloween party titled "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody."

About one in eight Americans rely on the food stamp program, which had already been cut back $186 million by Trump, the previous July. Two thirds of the aid recipients are children and elderly. Of the remaining third, half are working.

November 5-
The U.S. government shutdown became the longest in history, surpassing the previous 35-day record set during Trump’s first term. Approximately 900,000 federal workers had been furloughed and about 2 million were working without pay. Food assistance programs had been interrupted, affecting around 42 million Americans and the Trump administration warned that resuming benefits could take weeks or months. Air travel had been disrupted and over 3.2 million passengers were affected by delays or cancellations. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the shutdown could cost the economy $11 billion if it continued for another week.

November 7-
A Rhode Island judge had ordered the Trump administration to provide full federal food benefits, by using a $23.35 billion child nutrition fund, which he said had sufficient reserves for at least six months. (This could potentially cause shortfalls in the nutrition fund.) The administration argued against it and the US Supreme Court then placed an emergency stay on the judge's order and halted the funding.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to 42 million recipients were blocked, once again. Meanwhile, the Trump administration had announced a $40 billion financial assistance package for Argentina, and construction continued on Trump's lavish ballroom.

November 9-
On X, Trump's pardon attorney announced a series of late-night pardons of allies involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Among those 77 pardoned were Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Mark Meadows, Kenneth Chesebro, Jenna Ellis, Boris Epshteyn and GOP activists tied to a fake elector scheme. Like those for most of the 1,500 to 1,600 January 6 rioters, the pardons were "full, complete and unconditional." But presidential pardon power does not apply to state or local charges, so most prosecutions can proceed unaffected.

November 9-
The U.S. Senate approved a bipartisan spending deal with a 60-to-40 vote to end the longest government shutdown in US history. It provided for back pay and reversal of layoffs for furloughed federal workers and a commitment to a Senate vote in December on extending Obamacare tax credits. The deal would have to pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Trump.

Senate Republicans added an amendment to the bill that allowed them to sue the Department of Justice over the seizure of their phone records by the FBI during their investigation of the January 6th attack on the Capitol. The amendment amounted to a $500,000 taxpayer handout per senator. The senators involved are Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.).

November 12-
The US House of Representatives passed a bill ending the longest government shutdown in US history. The bill funded the government through January 30, 2026. House Speaker, Mike Johnson, said that nothing was gained by the shutdown, suggesting that the democrats had wasted time and money. But the deal included provisions to reinstate over 4,000 federal workers, who were laid off during the shutdown, and prevented the Trump administration from conducting further mass layoffs. It ensured continued funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) through January 30.

And it gained a Republican promise to hold a Senate vote in December, on extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) tax credits, which were set to expire at the end of the year. Thereby holding their feet to the fire, prior to the 2026 midterm elections.

November 12- As the Worm Turns
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released new emails from Jeffrey Epstein that mentioned Trump. One message suggested a way to hang [bribe] Trump if he denied he had been to Epstein's house or on his plane. Another message said Trump spent "hours at my house" with one of the alleged sex trafficking victims.

As this was playing out, House Speaker Mike Johnson swore in Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who then added the final signature to the petition to force a vote on the release of the Epstein files. And top administration officials met with Rep. Lauren Boebert, in the White House Situation Room, in an effort to get Boebert to remove her name from the petition.

Later in the week, Trump formally withdrew his endorsement of and launched personal insults against republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, another woman who had signed the petition.

November 18-
Trump rolled out the welcome wagon for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In the Oval Office, he defended bin Salman, even though the CIA found that the prince approved the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi; who was murdered and dismembered by Saudi operatives in 2018.

"You're mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial," Trump said of Khashoggi. "A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he [bin Salman] knew nothing about it. And would you leave it at that? You don't have to embarrass our guest by asking a question."

During his first term, Trump said he trusted Vladimir Putin, despite the consensus of U.S. intelligence agencies confirming Russian election interference. The Trump Organization has entered into multiple real estate licensing agreements with Saudi developers. As reported by Forbes, Donald Trump has had business dealings with the Saudis for decades. The big money arrived after he became president.

November 19- As the Worm Turns
The Epstein Files Transparency Act was passed by the 119th United States Congress. It required the U.S. attorney general to "make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format" all files pertaining to the prosecution of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days of passage.

November 19-
The Trump administration drafted an executive order that would be an obstacle to any state's capacity to regulate artificial intelligence. The order would direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to create a task force based on the concept that AI regulations imposed by states would challenge the federal government's power to regulate commerce between states, for example. The United States doesn't have a comprehensive federal law regulating artificial intelligence.

November 20-
Six Democratic veterans in Congress released a video titled “Don’t give up the ship,” reminding service members of their right to refuse unlawful commands under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

December 2025

December 1-
Trump granted a pardon to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández. Hernández had been sentenced to life in prison in 2022, for eighteen years of the drug-trafficking of over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States (4.5 billion individual doses). Meanwhile, Trump had been killing the crews of Venezuelan boats in the Caribbean for "drug trafficking."

December 2-
A United States Inspector General report found that Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, violated Department of Defense (DoD) policy by using the messaging app Signal on his personal cell phone to share sensitive, nonpublic operational information about the planned military strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen on March 15. A violation of DoD Instruction 8170.01.

Hegseth's spokesman, Sean Parnell, then released a statement, saying: "This Inspector General review is a TOTAL exoneration of Secretary Hegseth and proves what we knew all along - no classified information was shared. This matter is resolved and the case is closed." This, of course, was the exact opposite of what the report actually said. Hegseth then posted Parnell's statement on X.

December 2-
Costco (and many others) had filed a lawsuit seeking a full refund if the Supreme Court were to strike down Trump’s tariffs. Costco said it needed to file because it was “not guaranteed a refund for those unlawfully collected tariffs in the absence of their own judgment and judicial relief.”

December 4-
The Supreme Court allowed Texas to use a new mid-decade congressional map, at Trump's request, after a lower court ruled that the map unconstitutionally created partitions based on race. Here's the Houston area. Decide for yourself.

January 2026

January 3-
The United States military attacked Venezuela, without congressional approval, capturing and renditioning president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores. Maduro and Flores were then indicted in the Southern District of New York on charges related to "narcoterrorism." On December 1, Trump had pardoned Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been sentenced to life in prison for drug-trafficking.

Why?
Honduras has no crude oil reserves. Venezuela holds the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves, estimated at approximately 303 billion barrels. At $60.54 per barrel as of January 3rd, that's more than $18,300 billion. ($18.3 trillion)

Since World War II, the United States has not formally declared war, but Congress has authorized the use of military force in several conflicts. Vietnam, Persian Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq. And George H.W. Bush notified congressional leaders several hours before the invasion of Panama began. It was later concluded that the Panama invasion exceeded presidential authority under the U.S. Constitution. And the invasion also violated the War Powers Resolution by failing to consult Congress prior to military action.

January 4-
In an Orwellian moment, U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, stated that the United States was not at war with Venezuela, clarifying that the recent military operation was a law enforcement action. Imagine that a foreign interest bombed Washington DC, forced into the White House and kidnapped an American president.... and that it was not deemed an act of war.

February 2026

February 1-
Trump said the Kennedy Center would close for two years, starting in July, for construction. His announcement came after multiple cancellations by leading performers, musicians and groups, since he had replaced the center's leadership and added his name to the building.

February 5-
After 50 years, the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) between the United States and Russia expired. Leaving no agreed limits on strategic nuclear warheads or delivery systems. Trump wanted to negotiate a broader agreement including China. Begging the question, why couldn't negotiations with China be made while a treaty between the US and Russia continued? Putin later said that Russia would hold by the principles of the treaty, regardless. That remains to be seen.

February 6-
Just before midnight, Trump posted a blatantly racist animation on his social media account. The video, depicting Michelle and Barack Obama as apes, was later taken down. White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, initially defended the video. An unknown White House official later said that a staffer had erroneously posted the video.

At best, it can be concluded that Trump cannot even control his own social media account, much less the nation. At worst, he was pandering to what he perceived to be his very racist base.

February 9-
A billionaire bridge owner, Matthew Moroun, owns the Ambassador toll Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Canada. He met with United States Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick. A few hours later, Trump threatened to block the opening of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a new Canadian built Detroit-Windsor span.

Trump claimed that the U.S. should own at least half of the bridge and that Canada used "virtually no U.S. content" when building it. In fact, Canada used both Canadian and American steel and labor, and ownership is shared between the Government of Canada and the State of Michigan. International bridges and international swindles are difficult to hide.

February 12-
The Trump administration scrapped the EPA's “endangerment finding.” The White House called the reversal the "largest deregulation in American history" saying it would make cars cheaper by $2,400us per vehicle. Ignoring the fact that 10 miles per gallon higher gas mileage can save over $8,000us in 4 to 5 years.

In 2009, the EPA issued the “endangerment finding,” which identified six greenhouse gases as a threat to “public health and welfare of current and future generations.” This regulation meant the EPA could not legally ignore climate change.

202 years ago, French scientist Joseph Fourier calculated that Earth’s atmosphere acts like a heat-retaining insulator. Carbon dioxide was proven to be a greenhouse gas 170 years ago by American scientist Eunice Newton Foote.

February 12-
In Minnesota, White House border czar Tom Homan said "A significant drawdown [of federal agents] has already been underway this week and will continue through the next week." Protests continued over the weekend. Despite the announced drawdown, community monitors reported that ICE arrests continued in Minneapolis and its suburbs.

February 19-
Bayer recently proposed a $7.25 billion settlement to address litigation alleging that Bayer failed to warn consumers that long-term exposure to the herbicide Roundup, which contains glyphosate, could cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of cancer. 28 countries have banned or significantly restricted the use of glyphosate.

On the 19th, Trump created an executive order to boost domestic production of glyphosate, citing national and economic security. And to grant legal immunity to producers of glyphosate. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended the decision as necessary for food and defense security.

February 20-
The Supreme Court ruled that most of Trump's tariffs were illegal. That he had exceeded his authority by using a law reserved for a national emergency. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Later in the day, Trump issued new 10% tariffs on every nation. The following day, he raised the tariffs to 15%.

The new tariffs were implemented under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to impose tariffs up to 15% for up to 150 days without congressional approval. This authority had never been used before.

February 23-
Trump appointed U.S. District Judge, Aileen Cannon, granted requests to issue an order prohibiting the release of the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump's alleged mishandling of sensitive government documents. Trump and his personal legal team had asked Cannon to issue an order that would block "current, former and future" Justice Department officials from ever releasing the report.

February 24-
State of the Union Fact Check- “In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars.”

Twelve Day War between Israel and Iran
Pressure, particularly from Trump, was instrumental in holding the truce. But a substantial American naval armada was presently advancing on Iran.

Armenia and Azerbaijan
Trump played a key role in brokering a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite this momentum, the deal remains unsigned

Gaza
Phase Two focuses on demilitarization of Hamas, reconstruction, and establishing a technocratic Palestinian transitional government. Hamas has not disarmed. The National Committee for the Administration of Gaza has been formed but operates from Egypt and has not yet entered Gaza. The International Stabilization Force (ISF), meant to secure Gaza and oversee disarmament, has not been deployed due to lack of troop commitments and disagreements over its mandate. Over 500 have been killed in Gaza since the "ceasefire."

Cambodia and Thailand
A ceasefire was announced on July 28 in Putrajaya, Malaysia, following talks mediated by Malaysia and encouraged by the United States and China. The agreement proved short-lived, however, as heavy fighting resumed in early December. A second ceasefire agreement was reached on December 27 following mounting pressure from the international community, though its durability remained uncertain.

Congo and Rwanda
A U.S.-brokered peace agreement was signed in June 2025 by DRC President Félix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, with Donald Trump hosting the ceremony in Washington. The deal required Rwanda to withdraw its troops within 90 days and both countries to end support for armed groups like the M23 and FDLR. However, as of February 2026, Rwandan forces had not withdrawn, and fighting continued.

India and Pakistan
The India and Pakistan conflict has been going on since 1947 and still exists.

Ethiopia-Egypt
The Ethiopia-Egypt Nile dam dispute remains unresolved. No agreement has been reached.

Ukraine-Russia
The war rages on.

February 24- As the Worm Turns
An investigation by NPR revealed that the Department of Justice withheld multiple documents, including allegations against Trump. The DOJ's actions ran counter to the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which required full public disclosure. One woman accused a forced sexual encounter with Trump, when she was 13.

February 25-
The AI company, Anthropic, uses a set of ethical guidelines embedded in the AI that the Pentagon criticized as giving the model a "soul" that conflicts with military needs. The Pentagon demanded that Anthropic give the U.S. military unrestricted use of its technology or face a government-wide ban.

Anthropic had previously asked the Pentagon to agree to certain provisions, including no mass surveillance of Americans and no final targeting decisions, by AI alone, in military operations. The military had then used its technology during the operation to capture Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro. Anthropic disputed their involvement in the raid and the Pentagon designated Anthropic a supply chain risk on February 27. As of mid-March 2026, Anthropic was still in legal proceedings with the Pentagon.

February 28-
Four days after Trump's Epstein records were found and eight weeks since the United States attacked Venezuela, the United States joined Israel in bombing Iran. Iran had already agreed to have inspectors on site and to temporarily lowering uranium enrichment* to 3.67% in exchange for access to frozen financial assets and the ability to export oil.

They said they would permanently halt high-level uranium enrichment and renew full inspections by the IAEA allowing for surprise inspections, contingent on the U.S. lifting sanctions and preventing European allies from triggering UN sanctions. Under negotiation, was a freeze on regional proxy activities, including a pledge to disarm and halt operations by groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and Hashd al-Shaabi.

But many believed that Trump had planned the attack for weeks, due to his playing down their proposed concessions and a massive naval buildup not seen since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Trump called for the Iranian people to rise up. Something that remained to be seen due to his promise made to them, in early January, saying Washington would "come to their rescue" and the US was "locked and loaded and ready to go" but that thousands had died with no US support.

* One excuse for the war was that Iran was making 11 nuclear bombs, suggesting that the bombs were under construction. But U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff reported that Iranian officials boasted during negotiations of having enough enriched uranium to produce 11 nuclear weapons. That was true. The 60% pure uranium had been produced before the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in June 2025. Trump said those production sites had been "obliterated."

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed Iran had a significant stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium, as early as March 2, 2026, but that there was no evidence of a structured nuclear weapons program. Instead, Iran had been negotiating for their right to enrich uranium only enough for civilian purposes, such as power plants (3–5%). Regardless, the attack took place during mid-negotiations and a final settlement was never reached.

February 28-
On the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran, the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan province Iran, was destroyed while school was in session. According to Iranian media, the attack killed 168–180 people, most of whom were schoolchildren. The school was located nearby Iran's Sayyid al-Shuhada military complex.

Trump said that Iran had made the attack. On March 1, both US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said the attack was being investigated. Ten days later, a video had been uncovered with footage showing an American Tomahawk missile descending very near the school's location. The investigative groups Bellingcat and 'BBC Verify' geolocated the footage.

A US official speaking anonymously who was familiar with the matter told the Associated Press that the strike was likely American. Tomahawks were used by the US during the first minutes of the war. At the time, the US was focusing on southern Iran, were the school was located. No other military involved had Tomahawks. This information, plus the fact that Tomahawk missiles are extremely accurate and their destination can be geolocated by the US military within seconds, suggests a cover-up.

March 2026

March 1-
First mentioned November 29, 2025, the September 2025 footage of the two individuals who had survived the first attack on their boat, until a second strike left them dead, had still not been released to the public.

March 6-
With millions of barrels of oil blocked in the Strait of Hormuz, the US government temporarily eased sanctions to allow India to buy Russian oil that was currently stranded at sea. Last August, Trump had alleged India's purchase of Russian oil was helping fund Russia's war in Ukraine and posed stiff tariffs.

March 6-
CNN reported that Russia was providing Iran with intelligence about the locations and movements of American troops, ships and aircraft.

March 7-
Trump attended a dignified transfer ceremony at Dover Air Force Base to honor the remains of six U.S. service members killed during the US - Israel war with Iran. He was wearing a white baseball cap. In case this has to be explained, it is customary for attendees, especially the president, to remove their hats during the solemn ceremony.

Fox "News" covered the ceremony but chose to show an old video of a hatless President Trump. They later apologized saying it was an honest mistake. One would have to jump through archival hoops to include that kind of "mistake" into a current event.

The fallen soldiers were Capt. Cody A. Khork, 35, of Winter Haven, Florida; Sgt. 1st Class Nicole M. Amor, 39, of White Bear Lake, Minnesota; Sgt. 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens, 42, of Bellevue, Nebraska; Sgt. Declan J. Coady, 20, of West Des Moines, Iowa; Maj. Jeffrey R. O’Brien, 45, of Indianola, Iowa; and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, 54, of Sacramento, California.

On March 9, the seventh casualty arrived at Dover. U.S. Army Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington, 26, of Glendale, Kentucky. Trump was not in attendance.

March 9-
The government watchdog, Open The Books, analyzed the Pentagon's budget. There are federal "use-it-or-lose-it" budget rules, where government agencies are pressured to spend their full allocation by the end of the fiscal year. Instead of routing funds to other departments, the Pentagon's September 2025 spending was $93.4 billion. The highest month in 19 years (a time when the US was fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq).

$6.9 million was spent on lobster tails (a $14.3 million total for 2025). $2 million on Alaskan king crab, $15.1 million on ribeye steak, $1million on salmon, $26,000 for sushi preparation tables, $3,160 worth of stickers of children's television characters like Paw Patrol and Dora the Explorer, and $98,329 was spent on a Steinway grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff's home.

Why not? It's only a republican-elected majority and taxpayers' money.

March 12-
The US temporarily removed sanctions on Russian oil currently stranded at sea. Not just the oil bound for India. The exemptions were to remain in place until April 11.

The night before, Russian drone and missile attacks targeted multiple regions of Ukraine with 94 strike drones. Most of the drones were Iranian. Additionally, Russian forces conducted 103 airstrikes, dropping 322 guided aerial bombs, and launched 9,216 kamikaze drones into the frontline, plus heavy shelling.

March 15-
Was the Pentagon prepared for Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz? Were they aware of this long-expected maneuver, should Iran be attacked?

On March 15, TWZ reported that two of the three US Navy minesweeping ships had been spotted in Malaysia. They had been deployed in the Middle East, to take the place of a group of now-decommissioned Avenger class mine hunters. But now they were thousands of miles away.

As published by TWZ, ".... Regardless, at least two-thirds of the warships intended to be available for tasking for mine countermeasures missions in the Middle East are presently in a completely different part of the world."

March 15-
In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump warned that NATO faced a “very bad” future if its members failed to fill his request for military support in the Strait of Hormuz.

There are a few problems with his warning. 1) Trump had recently threatened to invade Greenland, a NATO member. 2) Prior to the attack on Iran, the Pentagon made no effort to form a coalition of nations. 3) NATO is founded on the principle that if one member is attacked, the others will come to its defense. Not if one member attacks.

As mentioned before, NATO Article 5 has been invoked only once. After September 11, 2001. 1,151 NATO allies perished while defending the United States of America.

March 20-
A federal judge ruled that the Pentagon’s press policy was unconstitutional, blocking Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's October 2025 rule that gave the Pentagon the capcity to revoke press credentials. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman said, "Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation's security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech.... That principle has preserved the nation's security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now."

March 24-
Longtime critic of mail-in ballots, Trump was championing the SAVE America Act which cites that universal mail-in voting should not be allowed. But he voted by mail in the Florida primaries. He votes in Palm Beach County and he was in residence there when the polls were open.

March 25-
Due to the war with Iran, the US Environmental Protection Agency allowed for the nationwide sale of E15, a higher-ethanol gasoline blend, in an attempt to lower gasoline prices. E15 is typically banned during warmer months because higher ethanol gas could worsen smog. This change was for May 1 through May 20 but the EPA was prepared to extend it, should the war continue.

March 26-
Trump extended his deadline for Iran to open the strait of Hormuz by 10 days. The new deadline was April 6. He had previously said he would destroy Iran's civil energy production facilities if they didn't open the strait.

The original deadline was March 27. Iran had denied it was "begging to make a deal" as it continued retaliatory strikes. The United States had provided a 15-point peace plan which demanded that Iran abandon its nuclear program, halt ballistic missile development, and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. (Two previous negotiations had been broken by the United States.)

The U.S. stock market plunged, driven by rising oil prices and escalating Middle East tensions. On the same day, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast inflation in the U.S. to be at 4.2% for 2026. Meanwhile, Ukraine had been repeatedly hammered by Russian air attacks and peace talk negotiations had stalled.

March 31-
The "Worst of the Worst?"

ProPublica reported that, under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Department of Justice dropped 23,000 criminal investigations to focus on immigration cases, in the first six months of Trump’s second term. The cases included investigations into terrorism, white-collar crime and drugs.

Federal prosecutor, Joseph Gerbasi, who had spent years in the department’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section said, "All of the building blocks of what would become successful prosecutions were pulled out."

While DOGE said they were rooting out federal waste, fraud and abuse, the Department of Justice declined over 900 cases of federal program or procurement fraud.

March 31-
The United States' national debt exceeded the size of the entire American economy for the first time since the end of World War II. To reduce the WWII debt, the federal tax on the wealthiest Americans was raised to over 90% and it was kept there until the Johnson administration in 1964. The current maximum tax rate in 2026 is 37%.

April 2026

April 1-
During his address to the nation, Trump said that he terminated Obama's "disaster" Iran nuclear deal but that Iran "laughed at our president and went on with their mission to have a nuclear bomb." In fact, Iran didn't resume nuclear operations until after Trump cancelled the JCPOA and re-imposed sanctions.

He also said, "Perhaps most importantly I killed General Qasem Soleimani." When actually, that was when Iran announced it would no longer place limits on its uranium enrichment.

May 2026

May 1-
Trump ordered the Pentagon to withdraw about 5,000 U.S. service members from Germany. In a statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the official order had come from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The withdrawal came after German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, suggested that the US had been "humiliated" by Iranian negotiators.

Trump was upset that Germany and other NATO allies were not stepping up enough during America’s war with Iran. Ignoring the fact that NATO wasn't formed to help a member nation to attack. NATO was created to support a member nation that has been attacked as was the case when 1,151 NATO troops died defending the United States after the 911 attack. The only time in history that NATO came together to support a member country.

The Trump administration has conveniently ignored this crucial fact throughout both his first and second term.

Despite his previous moves to that caused Iran's return to weapons grade enrichment (pulling out of the JCPOA agreement and the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani) the administration's primary excuse had now evolved into Iran's potential nuclear threat. Akin to a dog chasing its own tail.

May 1-
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorize the use of force within 60 days (as of May 1) but republicans in congress made no attempt to enforce the law. The White House sent a letter to congress saying that hostilities with Iran had "terminated" even though a blockade continued and soon-to-be hostilities ensued.

Trump said, "Every other president considered it totally unconstitutional, and we agree with that." But this ignored the fact that other presidents had sought congressional authorization for major military conflicts beforehand, in compliance with constitutional requirements and the War Powers Resolution.

Lyndon B. Johnson- 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Vietnam (1964)
George H. W. Bush- 1991 Persian Gulf War, Iraq
George W. Bush- 2001 War on Terror
George W. Bush- 2002 Iraq War

May 5- America First?
Ten days after the shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, senate republicans proposed $1 billion in taxpayer funding for Trump’s planned White House ballroom. They said the money would be used for "security adjustments and upgrades." Since before ballroom construction had begun, Trump claimed that all funding for the ballroom would come from private donations.

On the same day, the average price of a gallon of gas in America was $4.48. The U.S. war in Iran had cost taxpayers approximately $25 billion.

May 5-
After less than 48 hours, "Project Freedom" the U.S. military operation to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz, was paused after successfully escorting 3 ships. Trump cited the reason for the pause was due to progress in negotiations. But this immediately followed a confirmation by the UK Maritime Trade Operations that a cargo ship in the strait was struck by an unknown projectile. And, earlier in the day, two other cargo ships were hit off the coast of Iran.

May 18- America First?
Trump dropped his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS (see January 19, 2026) in exchange for the Justice Department creating a $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund." The fund intended to compensate individuals who claimed they were politically targeted under the Biden administration. The president most known for political retribution had now created a fund for beneficiaries likely to include January 6 insurrectionists, Trump's family and his allies.

The fund would be controlled by a five-member commission appointed by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, with only one member selected in consultation with congressional leadership. Trump retained the authority to remove any commissioner. Meanwhile, The U.S. inflation rate was 3.8%. The highest level in three years (the post-pandemic period).

A separate addendum to the original settlement stated that the United States is "forever barred and precluded" from examining or prosecuting Trump, his sons and the Trump organization's tax examinations. In June, Trump dropped the fund, amid congressional pushback, but the clause barring tax prosecutions remained.

May 20- Hypocrisy
The Trump administration indicted former Cuban President Raúl Castro on murder charges related to the 1996 shootdown of two civilian aircraft operated by the Miami-based exile group Brothers to the Rescue, which killed four people, including three American citizens.

First mentioned November 29, 2025, the September 2025 footage of the two individuals who were clinging to their capsized boat until a second American strike left them dead, had still not been released to the public.

May 23-
Trump claimed that a memorandum to end the Iran war had been “largely negotiated” and was waiting to be finalized. And that it would include the opening of the strait of Hormuz. (He had suggested nearly-done-deals in the past.) Many in congress, including republicans, were skeptical about the details.

June 2026

June 1-
The Trump administration began removing a $370 million ocean-floor observatory network installed a decade ago to monitor the effects of climate change on marine environments. Pulling monitoring hardware from waters around Oregon, Washington State, Alaska, North Carolina, and the Irminger Sea between Greenland and Iceland.

The Ocean Observatories Initiative had already gathered data concerning how the ocean absorbs atmospheric greenhouse gases, how marine heat waves threaten commercial fisheries, and how sea levels trigger coastal flooding along the East Coast. Ongoing, it had been expected to render the details of increasingly warmer El Niño oscillations in the Pacific and changes in the North Atlantic Gyre, which is showing significant signs of destabilization and may be approaching a tipping point that could be catastrophic.

June 14-
The U.S. and Iran agreed to a peace deal.
The Strait of Hormuz would reopen.
The U.S. would waive oil sanctions, for a time, and release $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets.
The U.S. said that Iran committed to never producing or acquiring nuclear weapons with 60 days of negotiations to determine the fate of its enriched uranium stockpile.
There would be a 60-day ceasefire until the final agreement.
The U.S. and regional allies would prepare a reconstruction plan for Iran.

Possible issues.
The deal faced potential risks from ongoing Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon, though the agreement explicitly called for an end to hostilities there.
Iranian officials described the nuclear details as subjects for future negotiation rather than immediate action.
As agreed, the deal is potentially more expensive and not as solid, concerning nuclear weapons, compared to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), that was finalized on July 14, 2015, between Iran and the U.S., UK, France, Russia, China, Germany and the European Union.

June 15- Another Attack on a Political Rival?
Gavin Newsom announced that Donald Trump had directed the US Department of Justice to investigate him and his wife. He said that federal agents had knocked on the doors of family friends and former employees in an effort to find a crime.

Newsom said, “Donald Trump isn’t just coming after me because of my mean tweets, he’s coming after me because I am considering running for president. Because he hates that I have consistently called him out over and over again for his lies and deceit.” He demanded that the Trump administration release the records of the investigation, and he had filed a Freedom of Information Act request. However, some of the investigations may have originated through the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento, rather than being launched by officials in Washington, D.C.

June 19- Don't Touch the Water
In April, Trump announced a plan to renovate the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. He said he had a "guy who’s unbelievable at doing swimming pools." Originally estimating the cost at $1.8 million which later ballooned to $13.1 million. The work being done by Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings. By June, the dark "American Flag Blue" paint he had chosen was absorbing heat, causing an algae bloom in the pool. Then the blue lining began to peel.

Trump then blamed the fiasco on vandals. On Friday, June 19, a former US Olympian was arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Reflecting Pool. David "Davey" Hearn, 67, told BBC News that he had removed his cycling glove to simply touch a long strip of rubbery material which appeared to have "delaminated" from the bottom of the pool, when he was stopped by US Park Police and National Guard troops.

As of June 21, five people had been arrested for allegedly vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, while five others had received federal citations.

June 23-
In a largely symbolic vote, the US Senate voted 50-48 to approve a war powers resolution directing Trump to remove armed forces from hostilities against Iran. It was the first time the measure passed both the US Senate and the House of Representatives.

July 2026

July 8-
Trump declared the three-week-old ceasefire "over" following Iranian attacks on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

July 9-
Trump fired all three remaining members of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), leaving the bipartisan federal agency without any commissioners just months before the 2026 midterm elections. The terminations followed a recent Supreme Court ruling that expanded presidential authority to remove leaders of independent agencies. The fourth seat had already become vacant earlier in the year when Republican Donald Palmer resigned.

From the EAC web site: "The U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is an independent, bipartisan commission whose mission is to help election officials improve the administration of elections and help Americans participate in the voting process.... As the only federal agency solely focused on election administration."