Tag Archives: President Donald Trump

RNS: 550 US rabbis sign letter condemning Trump’s antisemitism policy

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More than 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter objecting to President Trump’s crackdown on universities for what the administration calls tolerance of antisemitism, calling Trump’s executive orders and detentions of students who criticized Israel “cynical attacks on higher education.”

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Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair, New Jersey, who helped edit the statement and is co-chair for the rabbinic cabinet for J Street, said the 550 rabbis and cantors who signed were the “tip of the iceberg.”

“I’m quite sure that the vast majority of American Jews support the sentiment behind this,” Tepperman said on Monday.

The letter begins by saying that the signatories are committed to fighting the rising tide of antisemitism. But it quickly adds: “… we cannot allow the fight against antisemitism to be twisted into a wedge issue, used to justify policies that target immigrants and other minorities, suppress free speech, or erode democratic norms.”

The Trump administration has launched a war against higher education for what it insists is a dangerous culture of antisemitism, cutting off federal funding for scientific and other research to Harvard, Columbia and Cornell Universities, among others, and threatening to investigate dozens more colleges and universities.

It has also sought to cancel visas and begin deportation proceedings against a number of students who had participated in demonstrations against Israel during the wave of campus protests last year over the war in Gaza.

“We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter says.

A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism. The poll, conducted by the Mellman Group in mid-April among 800 registered Jewish voters, found that 56% do not approve, while 31% do approve of how Trump is handling antisemitism.

550 US rabbis sign letter condemning Trump’s antisemitism policy
(RNS) — The letter comes after a poll found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/550-us-rabbis-sign-letter-condemning-trump-s-antisemitism-policy/ar-AA1DNhfZ

The Week US: A ‘meltdown’ at Hegseth’s Pentagon

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was fighting to hold on to his Cabinet position this week after reports that he used a second Signal chat—which included his wife, brother, and personal lawyer— last month to discuss detailed plans for a U.S. military strike on rebel camps in Yemen. The New York Times reported that Hegseth, a former Fox News host, had created chaos “unmatched in the recent history” of the Pentagon, and that after he fired three top aides last week and accused them of leaking to the press, his circle of advisers “is in shambles.” A fourth recently departed aide, former Pentagon spokesman John Ullyot, said in a Politico column that the Defense Department is “in a full-blown meltdown” under Hegseth’s leadership and that “it’s hard to see” him retaining his post. NPR reported that the Trump administration has begun a search for Hegseth’s replacement.

A ‘meltdown’ at Hegseth’s Pentagon
The Defense Secretary is fighting to keep his job amid leaked Signal chats and staff turmoil

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/a-meltdown-at-hegseth-s-pentagon/ar-AA1DNG9m

USA Today: ‘I run the country and the world,’ Donald Trump says in Atlantic interview

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President Donald Trump declared that he runs the world as he reflected on what’s different during his second White House go around in an interview with The Atlantic magazine.

“The first time, I had two things to do ‒ run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys,” Trump said in the interview, published April 28. “And the second time, I run the country and the world.”

Sorry, Trumpsy dearest. God runs the world. You’re here only to scrub the toilets.

‘I run the country and the world,’ Donald Trump says in Atlantic interview
President Trump said he’s having more fun the second time around and again teased an unconstitutional third term in an interview with The Atlantic.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/i-run-the-country-and-the-world-donald-trump-says-in-atlantic-interview/ar-AA1DMR56

The Atlantic: DOGE Was Bad. Schedule F Will Be Worse.

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In the waning days of the first Trump administration, the White House announced a plan to convert an estimated 50,000 government employees to a status similar to political appointees—meaning that they would become “at will” hires who serve purely at the president’s pleasure. Schedule F, as this plan was known, was never implemented then and was revoked immediately under Joe Biden’s presidency. But now the policy is back, formally resurrected by executive order on April 18. If this new-look Schedule F survives the inevitable court challenges, it will mark a major step forward in a MAGA quest laid out by J. D. Vance in 2021 to “fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state,” and “replace them with our people.”

DOGE Was Bad. Schedule F Will Be Worse.
An executive order will convert 50,000 government employees into de facto political appointees who serve only at the president’s pleasure.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/doge-was-bad-schedule-f-will-be-worse/ar-AA1DLhQ7

Newsweek: Employees Have a New Fear: Immigration Raids

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“Every person in this country should be terrified, because when the government stops caring about due process, nobody’s citizenship papers are enough to keep them safe.”

Employees Have a New Fear: Immigration Raids
In a new Brightmine survey, three in five workers said they were worried about workplace immigration raids.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/employees-have-a-new-fear-immigration-raids/ar-AA1DMwil

Raw Story: Trump’s latest order will demand truck drivers in US speak English

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President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order at 5 p.m. Monday requiring commercial truck drivers in the United States to speak English, “America’s official language,” according to his spokeswoman

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted a link to a Breitbart article on Monday morning.

A document reviewed by Breitbart said, “President Trump believes that English is a non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers, as they should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety officers, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station personnel, and provide and receive feedback and directions in English.”

Just another unconstitutional overreach by our delusional King Donald — this violates the First and (to the extent that interstate commerce is not involved) Tenth Amendments.

Trump’s latest order will demand truck drivers in US speak English
President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order at 5 p.m. Monday requiring commercial truck drivers in the United States to speak English, “America’s official language,” according to his spokeswoman White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted a link to a Breitbart article on Monday morning. A document reviewed by Breitbart sa…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-latest-order-will-demand-truck-drivers-in-us-speak-english/ar-AA1DMdYc

Newsweek: Fired Pentagon Official Says He’s ‘Not Sure’ if Pete Hegseth Is OK

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Colin Carroll, a former top Pentagon official, said in an interview over the weekend that he’s “not sure” if Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is OK.

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Carroll described Hegseth’s leadership as “a tale of two Petes.” He praised the defense secretary’s ability to convince the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus to increase defense spending but criticized Hegseth’s fixation with “weird details” and tendency to get “very agitated” during meetings.

“He was very focused on the leaks and I think it kind of consumed the team a little bit,” Carroll told Kelly. “If you look at a pie chart of the secretary’s day, at this point, 50 percent of it is probably a leak investigation.”

Carroll was also asked about Hegseth’s contention in a recent interview when he said “disgruntled former employees are peddling things to try to save their a**.” Carroll told Kelly he thought Hegseth was unprepared for the questions but added that it doesn’t matter because the defense secretary has “an audience of one,” likely referring to President Donald Trump.

Fired Pentagon Official Says He’s ‘Not Sure’ if Pete Hegseth Is OK
Former Pentagon official Colin Carroll described Hegseth as fixated on “weird details and very agitated.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fired-pentagon-official-says-he-s-not-sure-if-pete-hegseth-is-ok/ar-AA1DNeQY

The New Republic: Karoline Leavitt [Bimbo #1] Refuses to Rule Out Arrest of Supreme Court Judges

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The White House press secretary is quietly warning the Supreme Court.

The Trump administration is open to arresting Supreme Court judges, as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt [Bimbo #1] told it on Monday morning.

“You guys arrested a Milwaukee County Circuit judge for allegedly helping illegal immigrants get away,” Fox News’s Peter Doocy asked Leavitt [Bimbo #1]. “As you guys look at other judges, would you ever arrest somebody higher up on the judicial food chain, like a federal judge or even a Supreme Court justice?”

…

The Trump administration is showing open and direct hostility toward the judicial branch, identifying any judge who dares to defy them as an “activist judge.” The arrest of Judge Dugan, the numerous court orders ignored by the administration, the eight immigration judges who have now been fired or put on leave, and now, Leavitt’s alarming answer are all clear indications that Trump has no plans to reel back his abuse of executive power.

Karoline Leavitt Refuses to Rule Out Arrest of Supreme Court Judges
The White House press secretary is quietly warning the Supreme Court.

https://newrepublic.com/post/194481/karoline-leavitt-arrest-supreme-court-judges

Closer to the Edge: An Open Letter to Tom Homan

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Dear Tom,

You probably won’t read this.

Men like you rarely look back at the wreckage they cause — unless it’s to count the bodies and brag about it on Fox News.

But just in case you stumble across it — maybe while Googling yourself between appearances at gun shows and MAGA fundraisers — let’s make a few things perfectly clear.

We know exactly who you are.

We know exactly what you did.

And we’re not letting you slither aroumd now that you’re back in power without dragging the full weight of your cruelty into the sunlight.

Over the next few weeks, Closer to the Edge will be publishing a trilogy of articles about you:

1. “Tom Homan: The Border Butcher Who Mistook Cruelty for a Career Path”

A surgical dissection of your rise from small-town cop to federal sadist.

Spoiler: We found nothing noble at the core — only ambition, obedience, and the hollow echo of a man who mistook breaking families for defending borders.

2. “The Cage Architect: Tom Homan Built an American Horror Story — And Then Bragged About It”

A full accounting of how you turned family separation into a bureaucratic meat grinder, leaving thousands of children traumatized, families destroyed, and the moral spine of this country bruised and bleeding.

You didn’t enforce the law, Tom. You vandalized it.

3. “Breaking the Cruelty Chain: How to End Tom Homan’s America Before It Ends Us”

An action guide for everyone who refuses to let you and your co-conspirators in cruelty — Miller, Noem, Trump — finish the job you started.

Because your legacy isn’t an inevitability.

It’s a warning label.

We are not neutral.

We are not polite.

We are not interested in “both sides” journalism when it comes to men who build cages and call them policy.

We are here to name you, expose you, and bury the myth of your “service” under the avalanche of truth you spent your career trying to outrun.

You will never again hide behind a badge.

You will never again camouflage your cruelty with a flag.

You are seen.

You are remembered.

And you are not getting away with it.

Not this time.

Sincerely,
The Editors and Writers and Staff at Closer to the Edge

P.S.
You built cages for children.
We’re building cages for your lies.
Let’s see who gets out first.

AN OPEN LETTER TO TOM HOMAN
From the Editors and Writers and Staff at Closer to the Edge

https://closertotheedge.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-tom-homan

Telegraph: Trump’s attempt to upend the global order has already been defeated

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America has emerged from the trade war as an international laughing stock

Characterised by screeching handbrake turns, made-up policy on the hoof and mixed-messaging on steroids, it’s been another week of chaos in Washington.

If anyone knows what on Earth it is that the US is trying to achieve on trade, and much else besides, then I’d like to hear from them, because having come to the US capital in the hope of garnering some insights, I’m none the wiser.

What’s now increasingly obvious, however, is that Trump is in ragged retreat; he’s compromising all over the shop, such that if the plan was to upend the established global order, one can almost definitely say that, beyond the rhetoric, it is already over.

Rank lack of professionalism and organisation has defined the endeavour all along, and now it’s coming apart at the seams. Sensing an administration on the run, no one is any longer hurrying to do a trade deal with the US. From Britain to Canada and beyond, getting the right deal rather than a quick one has become the new mantra.

Trump has in the meantime made himself – and the US – into an international laughing stock, never mind the damage that policy uncertainty is inflicting on the global economy. You’d be forgiven for thinking that chaos is itself the policy goal.

Repeatedly forced to row back on its demands and aspirations, the White House has been left looking back-footed and ridiculous.

Trump’s attempt to upend the global order has already been defeated
America has emerged from the trade war as an international laughing stock

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/04/26/trumps-attempt-to-upend-the-global-order-defeated