Republican efforts to exclude people in the U.S. illegally from numbers used to divvy up congressional seats among states have begun anew, with four Republican state attorneys general suing to alter the once-a-decade head count even before President Do…
Staff members tasked with overseeing diversity, equity and inclusion efforts were to be placed on paid administrative leave by 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Donald Trump pulled out of another mainstream interview Thursday–this time nixing a sit-down with NBC News.
The interview, CNN reported, would be in Philadelphia with NBC News’ senior business correspondent, Christine Romans. CNN’s Brian Stelter said one source suggested that it had only been “postponed.”
It was the second time in a week that he had canceled a scheduled appearance outside the conservative news sphere, CNN’s Reliable Sources reported Thursday. He had canceled an in-studio appearance on the CNBC flagship show, Squawk Box, which was due on Friday.
The former Ohio senator took the oath of office with his wife Usha at his side.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the presidential oath of office to Donald J. Trump.
President-elect Donald Trump’s sons and daughters entered the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday.
Alamy Live News via AP
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) ripped Elon Musk after the billionaire made a gesture that sparked a Führer furor on Monday.
Speaking at an inauguration rally for President Donald Trump, Musk thanked the crowd while twice appearing to make a Roman salute similar to one used in Nazi Germany. Conservatives and the Anti-Defamation League defended Musk and insisted the salute was not fascistic.
Ocasio-Cortez, however, rejected their explanation. Speaking on an Instagram Live stream on Tuesday night, the congresswoman did not hold back:
This is the United States of America. And I don’t care what Elon Musk is doing behind a presidential seal. In this country, we hate Nazis. Kind of like a foundational, defining thing.
Two of probably the most foundational, defining things about American history is that we beat the Confederates and we beat the Nazis. And I don’t know what side people may be on today, but I still am not rocking with anyone sympathetic to Nazis. And I will do that until I am six feet in the ground. Like, kind of foundational to me as a human being. And so if you’re cool and want to defend the Sieg Heils and the Nazi salutes, all the, you know, whatever you want to do, that’s on you. I’m on the opposite side of that. I’m not with the Nazis. How about that?
Musk has dabbled in anti-Semitic tropes before. In 2023, Musk agreed with a tweet claiming that Jews “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them.”
Musk replied, “You have said the actual truth.”
He subsequently attempted to backpedal .
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The billionaire spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars helping get Trump elected. Trump has named Musk the head of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” an advisory commission ostensibly meant to eliminate government waste.
The post AOC Hammers Elon Musk Over Salute: ‘In This Country, We Hate Nazis’ first appeared on Mediaite .
POLITICO (“Ramaswamy’s future at DOGE is in doubt as he prepares to announce bid for Ohio governor“):
Vivek Ramaswamy could withdraw from working with the Department of Government Efficiency ahead of his bid for Ohio governor, which he intends to formally announce by the last week in January, according to a person close to the matter.
Ramaswamy’s potential exit could upend DOGE, which aims to reduce government spending by up to $2 trillion by July 4, 2026 — by which time his Ohio gubernatorial campaign will need to be well underway. Following the election, Ramaswamy informed members of the transition that he planned to run for governor, said a person familiar with the transition.
Ramaswamy’s decision accelerated when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine passed over Ramaswamy to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance in the Senate on Friday, picking instead his own Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
Multiple people who discussed Ramaswamy and the inner workings of DOGE were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly and to freely discuss sensitive issues.
On Saturday, Ramaswamy showed up at an all-hands DOGE meeting at the SpaceX headquarters in Washington, according to two people familiar with the department’s inner workings. Musk was not present.
The breakdown of labor between Musk and Ramaswamy, according to one person familiar, was that Musk focused on the big picture while Ramaswamy focused on deregulation; the rest of the staff will focus on implementation. Steve Davis, Musk’s right hand man at SpaceX, functions as his DOGE lieutenant, while Brad Smith, a healthcare entrepreneur and Rhodes Scholar, is Ramaswamy’s main point of contact.
Privately, some in Trump’s world see Ramaswamy’s nascent gubernatorial campaign as a way to clear a path for Musk to do his own work at the agency without him.
“Elon basically runs the show,” said an informal adviser to Trump. This person added, “Time is their biggest enemy. We’ll see.”
A CBS News report (“Vivek Ramaswamy expected to depart DOGE“) adds a twist:
People close to Musk have privately undercut Ramaswamy for weeks, frustrated with his lack of participation in the heavy lifting, according to sources familiar with the internal dynamics. There has been friction between the incoming rank and file DOGE staff and Ramaswamy, the sources said, and Ramaswamy has been subtly encouraged to exit.
“Vivek has worn out his welcome,” one person close to Trump said.
Ramaswamy recently met with the Ohio’s sitting governor, Mike DeWine, about the state’s Senate seat left vacant by Vice President-elect JD Vance. But on Friday, DeWine announced he is appointing his lieutenant governor to the post.
Ramaswamy, who sought the GOP nomination in 2024, was at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s West Palm Beach, Florida, estate during the transition. Sources said he was spotted at the bar with Musk one day, scratching out plans for DOGE on a napkin. But the pair haven’t worked closely for a while, sources said.
I didn’t know Ramaswamy existed until his bizarre run for the Republican Presidential nomination last cycle. He made a ton of money speculating in the biotech and social media spaces and apparently doesn’t think he needs to know anything about governing before doing it. It’s not at all shocking that he’s an ideas guy rather than someone who’s going to do the hard work of actually combing through budgets and setting priorities.
President Trump on Tuesday issued an executive order directing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to “return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring” and eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
“I hereby order the Secretary of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administrator to immediately return to non-discriminatory, merit-based hiring, as required by law,” the directive read.
“All so-called DEI initiatives, including all dangerous preferencing policies or practices, shall immediately be rescinded in favor of hiring, promoting, and otherwise treating employees on the basis of individual capability, competence, achievement, and dedication.”
The directive follows Trump’s Monday executive order to end DEI efforts across all federal workplaces.
The Republican party leader said DEI hiring policies, which aim to consider individuals who have historically faced professional barriers due to racial or gender discrimination, may impede on passengers’ “confidence” in an individual’s abilities.
“Illegal and discriminatory diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hiring, including on the basis of race, sex, disability, or any other criteria other than the safety of airline passengers and overall job excellence, competency, and qualification, harms all Americans, who deserve to fly with confidence,” the order reads.
The president wants to begin renegotiating a U.S. trade deal with Canada and Mexico earlier than a scheduled 2026 review, people familiar with his thinking said.