Category: Authoritarian

Trump Claims US Taking Billions Barrels Oil Venezuela

President Donald Trump declared on Wednesday that the U.S. has extracted "billions and billions of barrels of oil from Venezuela," describing the seizure as payment for a 48-minute military operation that captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in January. Trump justified the resource extraction by invoking the phrase "to the victor belong the spoils," framing the takeover of Venezuela's sovereign oil reserves as a standard practice of war, despite international law explicitly prohibiting such seizures.

Trump's statement follows the January abduction of Maduro by U.S. special forces and his current detention in a New York jail on drug trafficking charges. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez assumed the presidency and has complied with American demands, while Secretary of State Marco Rubio functions as de facto viceroy over the nation, controlling Venezuela's finances, natural resources, and government appointments from Washington. Trump stated the volume of oil extracted has paid for the war "many, many, many times over."

The president applied the same reasoning to Iran, stating "we're doing the same thing, by the way, in the lovely Islamic Republic of Iran. We're knocking the hell out of them." His comments arrive as Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping channel controlling roughly 20% of global oil flow, following the commencement of a U.S.-Israeli air campaign against the country in February.

Trump has previously criticized the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq, specifically objecting to Bush's failure to seize Iraqi oil reserves to offset military expenses. The current president's boasts about extracting Venezuelan resources and applying identical tactics to Iran demonstrate his explicit endorsement of resource confiscation as wartime policy, contradicting international conventions that classify such seizures as war crimes and violations of the laws of occupation.

Under modern international law, seizing another nation's natural resources as "spoils of war" is strictly illegal and constitutes a war crime known as pillage. Frameworks like the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 explicitly prohibit the plunder of public or private property during an armed conflict. Furthermore, if a country militarily occupies another, it is legally considered merely a temporary administrator of those resources; it can only use them to support the local population or manage the immediate occupation, not to enrich its own domestic economy or pay for the war. Consequently, forcibly extracting sovereign resources like oil for the victor's profit directly violates the laws of occupation, contradicts the United Nations Charter, and is prosecutable as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/trump-brags-hes-taking-billions-of-barrels-of-oil-from-venezuela-because-to-the-victor-belong-the-spoils/)

Trump Attacks Pirro After Pool Charges Dismissed

President Trump publicly attacked U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro on Monday after she dismissed criminal charges against Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who had been accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump told reporters Pirro had “choked” and “folded like an umbrella” in dropping the charges, marking his strongest public comments yet on whether her job remains secure.

Pirro appeared at the White House Monday afternoon with a banker’s box of evidence to defend her prosecutorial decision to Trump directly. During the contentious meeting, Pirro lashed out at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and accused him of misleading the president and covering up mistakes regarding the pool’s damage. National Park Service engineers had privately blamed a private contractor hired through a no-bid Department of Interior contract for the flawed installation, evidence Pirro said emerged after charges were already filed.

Pirro’s 20-page filing stated the damage resulted from “flawed installation by the contractor” rather than vandalism, contradicting Trump’s longstanding public position on the matter. She dismissed not only Hearn’s felony indictment but also misdemeanor cases against three others related to destruction at the pool. Internal National Park Service communications from June 11 raised concerns about the peeling pool liner more than a week before Hearn’s arrest, according to court documents.

Trump did not inform Pirro he intended to fire her during the meeting, nor did she offer to resign, according to sources familiar with the private discussion. However, Trump reiterated late Tuesday that Pirro is “totally wrong” about the pool and said he was “not happy” with his hand-picked U.S. attorney, leaving her employment status unresolved. A White House official confirmed the president was not aware in advance that Pirro would file court papers dismissing the charges.



(Source: https://abcnews.com/Politics/inside-trumps-contentious-oval-office-meeting-jeanine-pirro/story?id=135393382)

Trump Installs Barton as Smithsonian Advisor to Erase Slavery History

President Trump released an executive order last Friday directing officials to install signs at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History warning visitors that exhibits present history inaccurately. This order continues a systematic campaign by the Trump administration to discredit and control the Smithsonian Institution, which includes 21 museums and the National Zoo, citing a 162-page White House report released on July 4 that accuses the institution of “extreme political activism” and “anti-White activism.”

The Trump administration’s assault on the Smithsonian intensified after Trump’s second term began, with an earlier executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” promising to “restore” the institution to “American greatness.” Trump officials have threatened to withhold federal funding, ordered reviews of eight museums, and compiled lists of objectionable exhibits. When questioned by Congress, Anthea Hartig, director of the National Museum of American History, testified that “examining the harder chapters of our history is not the same as hostility toward America” and that “telling our history fully is not anti-American.”

David Barton, a Christian nationalist advocate with no degree in history who founded the advocacy group WallBuilders, and his son Tim have shaped the White House report through their influence on Trump officials. Despite having his work repeatedly rejected by actual historians and having a 2012 book about Thomas Jefferson pulled from shelves for containing distortions and false information, Barton has attended multiple White House meetings during Trump’s second term to discuss what he views as “crazy stuff” in Smithsonian museums. The Bartons champion a “lost cause” framing of American history, arguing that slavery demonstrates “American exceptionalism” and that the founding fathers’ Christian values are underemphasized by historians, claims that directly mirror the White House report’s criticisms.

The Bartons have repeatedly acknowledged their involvement in identifying problematic Smithsonian exhibits for the Trump administration. In a January 2026 podcast episode, Tim Barton stated that the White House had specifically asked him and his father to help identify problematic exhibits, which David Barton confirmed he had delivered to White House officials. Tim Barton later revealed that members of the House Committee on Administration, including Rep. Barry Loudermilk, called the Bartons for advice on questions to pose during congressional hearings about the Smithsonian report.

Since the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents controls museum leadership, Trump and Congressional Republicans are working to stack the board with conservative allies. Vice President JD Vance, a board member, has delayed action on nominations to allow Trump to substitute candidates he favors. Rep. Loudermilk acknowledged on a podcast that he is working with the White House to engineer these leadership changes, even joking that David Barton and “these others” could “run our national museums.”



(Source: https://popular.info/p/the-fake-historian-advising-trumps?fbclid=IwVERFWATXip9wZG9mBWZkaWQWULjODYeBTLKGHK_2VZEeo7ij5xRvV2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR6FOZuJjNKPzwGJUTd9uVuwwRf7m8llDZEcnsU0g_-1aKO59Ilyq-7LGFcXxw_aem_nHGM1UoYu793NYVA92UHcQ)

Trump Posts AI Image Claiming Four-Star General Rank Never Earned

President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image depicting himself in a military uniform adorned with medals he never earned, standing alongside artificially rendered versions of Generals George S. Patton and Douglas MacArthur. In the fabricated image, Trump appears as a four-star general while both Patton and MacArthur are depicted with two-star ranks, contradicting historical fact: Patton held four stars and MacArthur was one of only nine officers to achieve five-star rank.

Trump has never served in the armed forces despite attending a private military academy as a teenager. During the Vietnam War, he obtained five deferments from the draft: four for college enrollment and one citing bone spurs in his heels. Trump later told radio host Howard Stern that avoiding sexually transmitted diseases constituted his “personal Vietnam.”

This image represents an escalation in Trump’s pattern of posting AI-fabricated military fantasies. Earlier this week, he shared another AI image depicting himself as a Revolutionary War military leader. Trump has repeatedly mused about awarding himself the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military decoration, despite his complete absence from military service.

Critics characterized the image as stolen valor, accusing Trump of falsely claiming military honors and rank he neither earned nor deserves. The deliberate misrepresentation of actual military heroes with inferior ranks to his own fabricated rank particularly amplified the backlash, as Trump positioned himself above legitimate military legends in an entirely fictional context.

This post continues Trump’s documented pattern of normalizing false narratives through AI-generated imagery to craft an authoritarian persona disconnected from reality, including his use of executive power to reward loyalists and his unsubstantiated claims of fraud.



(Source: https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/stolen-valor-trump-ripped-over-082259489.html)

Trump Claims Entitlement to Millions in Public Gifts

President Donald Trump claimed during a Monday signing of an executive order establishing the President’s Military Spouse Commission that he “should be entitled” to “millions of dollars” in public gifts sent to him. Trump stated that members of the public send gifts worth millions to the presidency, which are typically returned or donated to charity, and he questioned why he could not keep the funds himself. Executive Director Desiree Thompson Sayle, standing behind Trump during the remarks, visibly shook her head in disapproval as he made the statement.

Trump framed his comments as a joke, saying “no” himself and noting that those present, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his wife Jennifer Rauchet (who chairs the new advisory commission), laughed at his remarks. Sayle repeatedly signaled disagreement, shaking her head and mouthing “no” when Trump suggested he deserved access to the public gifts. Trump then pivoted to asking how his level of public response compared to other presidents, with Sayle affirming his support was exceptionally high.

The commission, newly established through Monday’s executive order, will serve as an advisory panel focused on improving support for military spouses and families. Sayle, an aide during Trump’s first administration, was named executive director of the panel, which is chaired by Rauchet, wife of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.



(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/i-should-be-entitled-to-it-trump-jokes-he-should-get-millions-of-dollars-in-public-gifts/)

Trump Posts 2028 Memes Normalizing Unconstitutional Third Term

Donald Trump has escalated his persistent efforts to normalize a third presidential term by posting a series of AI-generated memes on Truth Social depicting himself with “Trump 2028” campaign imagery, including images of him wearing branded hats and smoking cigars. These posts represent Trump’s continued public messaging around a 2028 run despite the 22nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution explicitly prohibiting any person from being elected president more than twice.

Trump has repeatedly made statements suggesting he intends to run again, recently telling press that he would like to be “the next president,” and previously hinting at potential candidacies in 2026 or 2032. He has distributed “Trump 2028” campaign merchandise for months, embedding this messaging into his political brand while technically circumventing constitutional restrictions through ambiguous language about future office-holding.

The meme spree drew immediate criticism on social media, with journalist Harry Sisson characterizing Trump’s posting activity as “a mental health episode,” while the Trump Lie Tracker account described his behavior as that of an “immature bully.” Critics highlighted the disconnect between Trump’s actions and constitutional norms, with one commenter invoking historical comparison to underscore the severity of the messaging.

Trump’s normalization strategy extends beyond social media antics into judicial appointments, where a Trump-nominated judge recently refused to answer basic questions about presidential eligibility, signaling potential willingness within his administration to undermine constitutional term limits through the judiciary. This pattern connects to Trump’s broader history of making unsubstantiated claims about election integrity and testing constitutional boundaries.

The accumulation of these actions represents a systematic effort to desensitize the public to the prospect of unconstitutional continuity in office, leveraging memes and casual statements to erode the finality of constitutional term limits while maintaining plausible deniability about explicit intent to subvert the Constitution.



(Source: https://www.indy100.com/politics/trump/trump-memes-2028-presidency)

Trump Attacks Pirro Over Reflecting Pool Dismissal

President Trump attacked U.S. Attorney Jeannine Pirro on Saturday after she dismissed criminal charges against Olympic canoeist David Hearn, who had been accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Trump posted on Truth Social that he disagreed “100%” with Pirro’s decision, insisting the damage constituted “pure case of VANDALISM” and sharing videos claiming to show deliberate destruction with knives and box cutters.

Pirro’s office dropped the case Friday, filing court documents stating that damage to the Reflecting Pool resulted from “flawed installation” by contractor Atlantic Industrial Coatings rather than intentional destruction. The dismissal revealed that new information emerged after Hearn was indicted on a felony count of destruction of government property, indicating the contractor rushed completion ahead of America 250 Independence Day events in 2026.

The Washington Post had previously reported that experts determined the pool lining peeled away due to incorrect installation, not vandalism. Pirro acknowledged in court filings that the government’s original theory of the case was undermined by documentation the Department of Interior provided only after the indictment was returned, contradicting Trump’s characterization of the incident.

CNN legal analyst Elie Honig characterized the dismissal as “a true embarrassment” for Pirro, stating that prosecutors bear responsibility for obtaining relevant information before charging rather than “charge first and then figure it out.” Trump’s public attack on his own appointed U.S. Attorney demonstrates his willingness to undermine prosecutors when outcomes displease him, consistent with his pattern of defying judicial authority and pressuring officials to align with his preferences.



(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-lashes-out-at-jeannine-pirro-over-reflecting-pool-case-disagree-100/)

Trump Admin Subpoenas NY Times Reporter Over North Korea Story

The Trump administration subpoenaed freelance New York Times reporter Matthew Cole over his reporting on a failed classified military operation in North Korea, according to the Times. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents delivered the subpoena to Cole’s New York home on behalf of prosecutors in Virginia, demanding two years of his contacts and sources. Cole’s attorney, David A. O’Neil, stated the reporter will defend press freedom and the First Amendment against what he characterized as the administration’s direct attacks on journalists.

This subpoena follows the administration’s earlier assault on Times journalists covering Air Force One security vulnerabilities. Prosecutors initially subpoenaed four Times reporters, including Julian E. Barnes, Eric Lipton, and Eric Schmitt, and sought phone records for the journalists and their relatives. U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian questioned whether prosecutors followed legal standards for journalist subpoenas, and the Department of Justice ultimately withdrew those subpoenas under judicial pressure.

Trump claimed the subpoenas targeted “leakers” rather than journalists, stating he did not know “what’s appropriate and what’s not” regarding such legal actions. He framed the pursuit as necessary for national security, saying the administration must compel journalists to identify their sources to find people he described as “cowards,” “unpatriotic,” and “treasonous.” This language demonstrates the administration’s weaponization of the justice system to suppress press freedom and intimidate sources willing to expose government misconduct.



(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-administration-reportedly-subpoenas-new-york-times-freelancer-over-north-korea-story/)

Trump Posts AI Images Attacking Kimmel, Colbert, Iran

President Trump posted a barrage of AI-generated images on Sunday attacking political opponents and media figures, including CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, late-night hosts Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert, Chris Christie, and Rosie O’Donnell. The posts recycled a crude transgender mockery of Collins from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner two days prior and depicted the comedians as homeless panhandlers with signs reading “talentless, not funny, ex comedians need money.” Trump also posted images mocking Christie alongside Rep. Jerry Nadler in a fictional “Cheesecake Championship” boxing match.

Trump escalated from personal attacks to military aggression with subsequent posts depicting strikes on Iranian targets. The images showed potential U.S. military action against Iran’s Kharg Island, Iranian ships under attack, and Trump personally seizing an oil tanker as Iranian leaders fled, with captions like “It’s our tanker now!” These posts follow Trump’s recent military strikes against Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz and his threats to occupy Iran entirely if the strait is not reopened.

Trump’s use of AI-generated imagery to harass and demean political figures and media personalities demonstrates his reliance on synthetic media to attack opponents without factual constraint. The juxtaposition of crude personal mockery with militaristic imagery suggests an intentional blurring of domestic political rivalry with foreign military action, normalizing visual threats of territorial conquest and violence.

(Source: https://www.mediaite.com/politics/trump-goes-on-ai-posting-spree-targeting-enemies-from-iran-to-ex-comedians-jimmy-kimmel-and-stephen-colbert/)

Trump Jokes About Fourth Presidential Run, Third Term at Press Dinner

President Donald Trump attended the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington on Friday, July 25, 2026, where he joked about seeking a fourth presidential run to achieve a third term in office. Trump announced his intention to run for president again while wearing a “Trump 2028” red cap, framing the comment as a “scoop” for the assembled press corps. The constitutional amendment limiting presidents to two terms makes a third term legally impossible, yet Trump has repeatedly made comments hinting at extending his tenure beyond constitutional limits.

Trump delivered an hour-long speech at the event, striking a lighter tone than his typical media criticism while still attacking what he calls the “fake news media” and taking swipes at journalists and political rivals in attendance. He made crude jokes about health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., quipping that Kennedy had run over a cow with his car to provide beef for the dinner and suggested Kennedy wanted to serve roadkill as an appetizer. Trump also joked with journalists about bulletproof vests, saying they worried the protective gear made them look heavier.

The dinner, which celebrates press freedom, was relocated to the Waldorf Astoria hotel under heightened security after being suspended in April following an alleged attempted assassination on Trump. Weijia Jiang, the outgoing president of the White House Correspondants’ Association, stated the event’s return sent a message: “We are back. We will not be intimidated.” Trump later echoed this sentiment, declaring “We do not yield to political violence… No deranged loser with a gun will ever change that.”

This marked the first time Trump, who has frequently clashed with the press, attended the correspondents’ dinner. Trump’s appearance included attacks on journalists and media outlets while he made jokes that largely fell flat. His repeated references to a potential third term continue a pattern of comments normalizing the idea of extending presidential power beyond the constitutional two-term limit.



(Source: https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-jokes-hell-run-for-president-again-at-white-house-correspondents-dinner-13566802)

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