Trump goes full dictator with ridiculous announcement

Man suspected in Brown University shooting and MIT professor’s killing is found dead, officials say

Top Stories for December 19:

VIDEO OF THE DAY: Trump goes full dictator with ridiculous new announcement
In a move that would make Kim Jong Un blush, Donald Trump’s hand-picked board of sycophantic directors at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts — whose members include his own chief of staff, Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Fox News personalities Maria Bartiromo and Laura Ingraham, Lee frickin’ Greenwood, and LITERALLY DONALD J. TRUMP HIMSELF, among others — unanimously voted to rename the national cultural center of the United States “The Trump Kennedy Center.” When asked by a reporter to comment, America’s wannabe dictator preposterously claimed he was both “honored” and “surprised” by the decision he telegraphed was forthcoming weeks ago. Stay tuned for next year’s unveiling of the newly christened Trump Washington Monument on the Trump National Mall! Also, nope, definitely not a cult.

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Today’s the day: Epstein files set to be released after months of delays by Trump regime
Time is officially up for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who — by law — must release the so-called Epstein files by midnight tonight. Trump’s servile AG can, of course, redact to her chest cavity’s content, so it remains to be seen just how explosive the files will actually be. But if yesterday’s damning report by The New York Times detailing the extent of Donald and Jeffrey’s bromance is any indication of what’s to come, today’s document dump will likely make for one very unpleasant weekend at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Take Action: Tell retiring House Republicans: Step down now!

Falsely arrested civil rights leader takes her fight for justice to Congress
Shonique Williams knows firsthand how much injustice faces people in America’s criminal justice system — she was falsely convicted and forced to spend two years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. She became a civil rights leader and a community organizer and is now taking her fight to Congress to push back against Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s extremism. Thanks to Governor Gavin Newsom’s new maps, she has the perfect opportunity to add a blue seat and take back Congress from the GOP. Will you chip in to help jump-start her campaign?

Rioter pardoned by Trump says president is “fading” and his “swagger” is gone: “Can’t lie through the reality anymore”
Jan. 6 rioter and former “InfoWars” garbage-spewer Owen Shroyer, who Trump pardoned on his first day back in office this year, caught the MAGA cult leader’s nationally televised diatribe two nights ago and was decidedly unimpressed. He tweeted, “This is Trump’s worst speech yet. He has to start by bashing Biden because he needs a fall guy. He then talks about stopping political corruption, 0 arrests. He says he beat special interests but they bought him. He then speaks like its [sic] 2024 & we didn’t just win an election.” Shroyer continued, “He’s stuttering. Confidence fading. Can’t lie through the reality anymore. Never heard Trump like this. Not as comfortable or charismatic as he was last night. Very telling. His base has turned. He knows it. Ego damaged. Swagger lost.” Folks, when the diehard crazies start ditching you, you know you’ve really lost the plot.

Take Action: Demand Congress pass a permitless gun carry ban!

Trump’s billionaire pals get their hands on TikTok
The wannabe dictator’s effort to wrestle at least partial control of TikTok away from Chinese-based ByteDance looks to be on track, and, wouldn’t you know it, some of Trump’s closest billionaire cronies are positioned to reap the rewards. The Chinese-owned social media giant has reportedly signed a deal to sell its US unit to a joint venture controlled by tech titan Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX. Oracle is, of course, owned by co-founder and Trump super-pal Larry Ellison, while Silver Lake co-CEO and managing partner Egon Durban has ties to Jared Kushner. And then there’s MGX, which curiously backed the Trump family’s fledgling crypto empire. The joint venture will reportedly be in charge of US data protection, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurance. Surely nothing nefarious to worry about there. It’s not like Donald and his allies would ever think of gaming one of the world’s most popular social media platform for personal or political gain, right?

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Turning Point USA conference turns into war between Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson
The annual airing of far-right, great white grievances somehow got even whiter yesterday, as sanctimonious blowhards Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson took turns bloviating over just how the late Charlie Kirk’s incredibly problematic torch should be borne. Shapiro took issue with Carlson’s “mainstreaming” of irredeemably awful characters like Nick Fuentes, Andrew Tate, and “pseudo-Nazi apologist Darryl Cooper” and accused the former Fox News personality of “cowardice” and “moral imbecility.” Tucker claimed Shapiro was committing one of the cardinal sins Kirk himself spent his short life fighting against: cancel culture on the right. Carlson declared, “I mean this kind of was the whole point of Charlie Kirk’s public life and I think that he died for it. I really believe that.” Guys, settle down. Hoods are of course optional, but there is plenty of room for all your hateful rhetoric and incorrigible ideas under the Turning Point tent.

“Pure cowardice”: Political world erupts after Democrats kill autopsy of 2024 defeat
What’s the big deal? Why do a granular deep dive on what exactly went horribly, catastrophically awry for Democrats in 2024, paving Donald Trump’s way back into the Oval Office for a once-unthinkable second act? It’s not like there are any painful, invaluable lessons to be learned so we never put ourselves — or the country — in such a perilous predicament again, right?

Trump plans huge handout for Big Oil and puts our coastline in serious danger
Protect Our Coast Coalition: At a time when our climate change studies are desperately begging us to stop fossil fuel pollution before it’s too late, Donald Trump just unveiled a huge new handout to Big Oil, proposing a new National Offshore Drilling Plan that would open up huge swathes of ocean in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and California to industrial defilement. American taxpayers spent $1 TRILLION last year cleaning up from climate-related natural disasters, but Trump is happy to pass those costs on to us while his cronies get rich — and he’s putting our coastal communities and their livelihoods under threat from destructive oil spills. Click here to make your voice heard and tell the Trump team we want NO more offshore oil drilling!

Trump suspends green card lottery program that allowed Brown shooting suspect into the US in 2017
Right on cue, Donald Trump is suspending the green card lottery program which allowed the now-deceased suspect in the Brown University and MIT shootings to come to the United States in 2017, during the MAGA cult leader’s first term in office. Gestapo Barbie Kristi Noem made the announcement on nüTwitter yesterday, curiously claiming her boss fought to end the Diversity Immigrant Visa Program throughout his first term. If a unilateral declaration on social media is all it took to “pause” the program yesterday, we aren’t exactly sure what took Trump so long, but in any case, ending an initiative that lets upwards of 55,000 immigrants from countries with low US immigration rates legally come to the United States to live and work is, of course, a drastic and opportunistic overreaction. The program, created by Congress in 1990, saw more than 20 million applicants in 2025 alone, with 131,000 ultimately selected (spouses are legally allowed to accompany the winners). Trump’s legal authority to unilaterally suspend the program is, of course, dubious, and will inevitably be challenged in court, but faux dictators gonna faux dictate, and so here we are.