AFP USA

Posting for provocation’s sake has long been the province of internet antagonists and the alt-right, but these days, even the official White House X account is embracing the communications strategy that often celebrates others’ suffering.Recently, the account posted about the arrest of a weeping, handcuffed alleged felon before her deportation by depicting her likeness in the AI-generated Ghibli style that has flooded the internet, giving the image of her sobbing an animated aesthetic.Not long prior, the account posted a video of shackled deportees set to the tune of “Closing Time,” the 90’s-era Semisonic hit.”I think it sums up our immigration policy pretty well: ‘You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here,'” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, quoting the lyrics with a smile as she defended the message, which Semisonic immediately denounced.And then there was the Valentine’s Day post: “Roses are Red / Violets are Blue / Come Here Illegally / And We’ll Deport You” read a card featuring the floating heads of President Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan.For Marcus Maloney, a sociology professor at Coventry University, it is a social media strategy that speaks to “the 4Chanification of American politics.”An image-based online forum that has become a hub of disinformation, 4Chan was an early home of “shitposting,” a brand of internet communication intended to shock, offend or muddle discourse with absurdity.And if Trump 1.0 embraced the 2016-era alt-right “shitposters” who bolstered his candidacy, Trump 2.0 is incorporating their methods into official communication channels.It is a new tactic on an account that not long ago, even in the Republican president’s first term, featured a stream of press releases and relatively innocuous statements.Responding to online outrage over the Ghibli portrayal of a deportation arrest, White House communications official Kaelan Dorr re-posted the image, vowing that “the arrests will continue. The memes will continue.””They’re leaning pretty heavily into meme culture and to chronically online individuals,” said Jacob Neiheisel, a political science professor at the University of Buffalo.”That’s where a lot of the energy in the MAGA movement is.”- Offensive ‘outsider’ -Trump presented himself as the iconoclastic opposite of the more polished Democrats when he won his first term. By the time he won his second, “the gloves were really off in terms of his communication style — and people really responded to that,” Maloney said, adding that the offensiveness can actually come off as more “authentic.””That offensiveness signals a kind of outsider status,” he continued, “even though we’re talking about a guy who’s a billionaire.”The trolling now adopted by the White House is meant to simultaneously shock and be brushed off as a joke, the genre of “locker room talk” that has been a through-line of Trump’s non-consecutive presidencies.The former reality TV star has brought that genre’s energy to governing, firing off frenetic statements that often denigrate his opponents and apply crass labels to them.This style appeals to people already fluent in trolling, particularly younger males, Neiheisel said: “It’s funny for them. It’s entertainment.”- Demeaning and trivializing -Another of the White House’s infamous posts likened images and sounds of shackled people boarding a deportation plane to ASMR, the auditory-sensory phenomenon that sees people find relaxation or pleasure in certain sounds.The flippant language “hurts, ultimately, the gravitas of the presidency — the world’s most powerful office — and it hurts the perception of it not only domestically but internationally,” said Mark Hass, a digital marketing expert and strategic communication professor at Arizona State University.”It trivializes” important issues like immigration and demeans people, Hass said.And it can represent an insidious reflection of the Trump administration’s political aims, Maloney said. That callousness can open the door to policies that dehumanize or render vulnerable minority groups, he added.”It’s a nihilism in respect specifically to how things are communicated,” he said. “In terms of what they’re actually doing,” he said, it’s “a mainstreaming of far-right dream policies.”

A Democratic US lawmaker shattered a record for the longest speech in Senate history, staying on his feet for more than 25 hours to deliver a fiery protest against President Donald Trump’s “unconstitutional” actions.Senator Cory Booker’s display of endurance — to hold the floor he had to remain standing and could not even go to the bathroom — recalled the famous scene in Frank Capra’s 1939 film classic “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”The longest Senate speech on record before Tuesday was delivered by South Carolina’s Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.Booker, only the fourth Black senator to be popularly elected to the body, blew past that deadline Tuesday, his voice still strong but emotional as he topped out at 25 hours and five minutes.”This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right. It’s right or wrong,” he said as he wrapped up before finally pronouncing “Madam President, I yield the floor.”The 55-year-old New Jersey native had found a moment for some humor as he passed the record, joking: “I want to go a little bit past this and then I’m going to deal with some of the biological urgencies I’m feeling.”- ‘Foundations of democracy’ -Although Booker’s talk-a-thon was not actually blocking the majority Republican Party from holding votes in the Senate, as would be the case in a true filibuster, his defiance quickly became a rallying point for beleaguered Democrats.Booker, a former presidential candidate, seized command in the chamber at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) Monday and finished at 8:05 pm Tuesday.He lashed out at Trump’s radical cost-cutting policies that have seen his top advisor Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, slash entire government programs without consent from Congress.The senator said Trump’s aggressive seizing of ever-more executive power had put US democracy at risk.”Unnecessary hardships are being borne by Americans of all backgrounds. And institutions which are special in America, which are precious and which are unique in our country, are being recklessly — and I would say even unconstitutionally — affected, attacked, even shattered,” Booker said.”In just 71 days the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans’ safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy,” he said.But he had words of encouragement for Trump opponents, saying as he concluded that “the power of the people is greater than the people in power.”- Cramps and sore throat -Booker later went into detail about how he withstood the physical demands of the speech.”My strategy was to stop eating. I think I stopped eating Friday and then to stop drinking the night before I started on Monday,” he told reporters in the Capitol.The approach “had its benefits and had its really downsides… different muscle groups start to really cramp up” with dehydration, he added.In a statement sent by his office, Booker added that he was “tired and a little hoarse.”Democratic lawmakers, in the minority in both the Senate and House of Representatives, have struggled over how to blunt Trump’s efforts to downsize government, ramp up deportations and shred much of the country’s political norms.”I just want to thank you for holding vigil for this country all night,” Senator Raphael Warnock told Booker on the floor.Booker dedicated much of his speech to criticizing Trump’s policies, but to pass the time he also recited poetry, discussed sports and entertained questions from colleagues.”If you love your neighbor, if you love this country, show your love. Stop them from doing what they’re trying to (do),” he said.

Donald Trump’s aggressive new US presidency secured fresh backing from Republican stronghold Florida Tuesday with two Congressional victories in a first electoral test, while anticipation remained high for a vote to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.Trump went all out to boost his party’s chances in the contests and sent his controversial, hugely powerful advisor Elon Musk — the world’s richest man — to sway the vote in Wisconsin.Now, after two months in which the Trump-Musk tandem has appeared nearly unstoppable, Americans were giving a verdict of sorts.”Both Florida House seats have been won, big, by the Republican candidate,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network after US media called both races for his side.Trump had earlier pushed for the conservative judge running for the spot on Wisconsin’s top court, saying on social media that Brad Schimel was a “Patriot” while his liberal opponent Susan Crawford is a “Radical Left Liberal.”Echoing his usual extreme rhetoric, Trump claimed Crawford has a “History of letting child molesters and rapists off” and that a win by her would be a “DISASTER.”- ‘Fate of civilization’ -Musk, who has spearheaded Trump’s radical attempts to gut much of the US government in a right-wing cost-cutting drive, went himself to Wisconsin to drum up support for Schimel.”It’s like one of those strange situations where a seemingly small election would determine the fate of Western civilization here,” Musk said in a discussion on his social media platform X on Tuesday.The highlight of his weekend visit to the upper Midwestern state reprised a tactic seen during his efforts to help Trump defeat Democrat Kamala Harris in November — handing out money to anyone who signed a petition against so-called “activist judges.”Senator Bernie Sanders, a major force on the left of the Democratic Party, told supporters on X they had “the power to REJECT Musk and the oligarchy buying our elections.”Beyond testing the public mood, the Wisconsin result will decide whether the state’s Supreme Court — which rules on things like voting district boundaries — tilts majority left or right.In Florida, two seats to the US House of Representatives were up for grabs to fill vacancies in Republican strongholds, left by Trump’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and failed nominee for attorney general, Matt Gaetz.On Tuesday evening, media called the race for Florida’s sixth district in favor of Republican Randy Fine, with Trump tweeting: “Congratulations Randy, a great WIN against a massive CASH AVALANCHE.”Shortly after, media outlets also called the special election in Florida’s first district for Trump-backed Republican Jimmy Patronis.Trump took credit for his party’s victory in both deep red districts, posting on social media that “the Trump endorsement, as always, proved far greater than the Democrats forces of evil.”Democrats have been adrift since losing the presidency to Trump and both chambers of Congress in November, and had hoped that a decent showing in Florida and a win in Wisconsin could be the spark.In Florida, they were defeated by double-digit perecentage margins in both special elections.- Big stakes, bigger money -Illustrating the stakes of the contest in Wisconsin, the race has set a spending record — much of that in advertising and attempts, particularly by Musk, to drive turnout.Musk, who spent roughly $277 million on Trump’s 2024 election campaign, presented checks of $1 million to two voters and $100 each to other voters who signed his petition.According to the Brennan Center for Justice, more than $53.3 million has been spent by Schimel and his backers, including $12.2 million from Musk’s America PAC.Crawford’s campaign and those backing her have spent an estimated $45.1 million.The spending has made the Wisconsin race the most expensive in US judicial history, the center said.Billionaire Musk’s Green Bay rally on the weekend had an enthusiastic crowd, but the South African-born oligarch’s role in Wisconsin elections has provoked as much resistance as support.At a pro-Crawford rally, 65-year-old retired electrical engineer Rob Patterson held up a sign showing Musk giving a straight-armed salute.”Our Supreme Court is not for sale,” the sign read.

US National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who has faced calls to resign over his role in the recent Yemen chat group scandal, saw renewed scrutiny Tuesday after the Washington Post reported on his usage of Gmail for official work.The newspaper also said that one of Waltz’s senior aides used Gmail to discuss military positions and weapons systems, reigniting questions over the handling of sensitive communications inside President Donald Trump’s administration.Waltz had his schedule and other work documents sent to his account on the Google email service, the Washington Post reported.The White House later confirmed that Waltz had “received emails and calendar invites from legacy contacts on his personal email,” but that he had “cc’d government accounts” since the start of the Trump administration to satisfy record retention laws.Waltz “has never sent classified material over his personal email account or any unsecured platform,” said National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes, who blasted the story as “the latest attempt to distract the American people from President Trump’s successful national security agenda.”Hughes said he could not respond to the Washington Post report about Waltz’s aide, claiming the newspaper had not shared the sensitive information with the White House.”Any correspondence containing classified material must only be sent through secure channels and all NSC staff are informed of this,” he said.Waltz last month provoked an embarrassing saga for the Trump administration after he inadvertently added The Atlantic magazine’s editor-in-chief to a group chat on Signal, a commercially available messaging app, in which air strikes against Yemen’s Huthi rebels were discussed.Officials including Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used the chat to talk about details of the air strike timings and intelligence, unaware that the highly sensitive information was being simultaneously read by a member of the media.Waltz told Fox News host Laura Ingraham last week that he took “full responsibility” for the breach, saying: “I built the group; my job is to make sure everything’s coordinated.”Trump has rejected calls to sack Waltz or Hegseth and branded the scandal a “witch hunt.”White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt meanwhile told journalists on Tuesday that “the case is closed, and the president continues to have confidence in his national security advisor.”But the Gmail revelations could add to pressure for Waltz’s removal from office.

The head of US aerospace giant Boeing will on Wednesday tell senators that the company has made “serious missteps in recent years” and commit to restoring consumer and investor confidence, according to an advance copy of his remarks.On the eve of the hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Kelly Ortberg sent a message to the company’s 160,000 employees saying his testimony would be key “to restore trust” in the crisis-plagued manufacturer.”Boeing has made serious missteps in recent years — and it is unacceptable,” Ortberg will say, according to the prepared remarks, which the company made public Tuesday.Boeing has suffered for several years from production quality problems, with the latest major incident in January last year involving an Alaska Airlines 737 seeing a door plug fly off mid-flight.In January, it reported a loss of $3.9 billion as the company continued to experience a hit from a more than seven-week labor strike that shuttered two major assembly plants.Ortberg took over in August, and will testify on Boeing’s restructuring efforts.”We have made sweeping changes to the people, processes, and overall structure of our company,” he will say. “While there is still work ahead of us, these profound changes are underpinned by the deep commitment from all of us to the safety of our products and services.”In his message to employees, he said “we are starting to turn the corner in our recovery,” although he added that turning the company around would take “time and action.”Ortberg will acknowledge two 737 MAX 8 crashes in October 2018 and March 2019, which killed a total of 346 people — some of whose relatives are expected at the committee hearing on Wednesday.He will offer a “pledge to make the necessary changes so this never happens again.”Boeing has acknowledged that the design of its MCAS stall protection software contributed to the accidents, which occurred on new aircraft shortly after takeoff. Ortberg will testify that the aircraft manufacturer is implementing a new Safety Management System (SMS) that is “a framework built on proven aviation industry best practices, to proactively identify and manage safety risks that may impact our commercial and defense products.” 

A third major US law firm, Willkie Farr & Gallagher, which employs former vice president Kamala Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, reached a deal with President Donald Trump on Tuesday to avoid potential sanctions.Since taking office, the Republican president has moved to settle scores with the law firms that had represented his political foes in the past or helped bring him to court on civil or criminal charges.Trump has signed executive orders targeting five so-called “Big Law” firms so far while three firms have now entered into agreements with the president.Trump said Willkie Farr had agreed to provide $100 million in pro bono legal services to causes such as assisting veterans, fighting anti-Semitism and others that represent “Conservative ideals.””Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP proactively reached out to President Trump and his Administration, offering their decisive commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession,” the White House said.Two other firms — Paul Weiss and Skadden Arps — have also agreed in recent days to provide legal services to support Trump administration initiatives — $40 million in Paul Weiss’s case and $100 million for Skadden Arps.Three firms targeted by Trump — Perkins Coie, Jenner & Block and WilmerHale — have sued his administration after the White House stripped security clearances from their attorneys and blocked them from doing business with the government.In all three cases, federal judges have issued temporary restraining orders blocking Trump’s executive orders from taking effect pending further review.Willkie Farr, besides employing the former Second Gentleman, is also the home of former investigators for the congressional committee that probed the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.WilmerHale is the former law firm of Robert Mueller, the special counsel who investigated whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election.Jenner & Block once employed a prosecutor who was a key member of Mueller’s investigative team.In its lawsuit, Jenner & Block called Trump’s executive order targeting the firm “an unconstitutional abuse of power against lawyers, their clients and the legal system.”It is intended to hamper the ability of individuals and businesses to have the lawyers of their choice zealously represent them,” it said.”And it is intended to coerce law firms and lawyers into renouncing the Administration’s critics and ceasing certain representations adverse to the government.”

Mass layoffs began at the major US health agencies on Tuesday as the Trump administration embarks on a sweeping and scientifically contested restructuring that will cut 10,000 jobs.US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the layoffs were part of a major reform of his department, aiming to refocus efforts on chronic disease prevention.Calling it a “difficult moment for all of us,” Kennedy said “our hearts go out to those who have lost their jobs.” “But the reality is clear: what we’ve been doing isn’t working,” he added, complaining that “Americans are getting sicker every year” despite increasing spending at the federal agencies guiding US health policy.According to photos and testimonials posted on social media, employees learned of their dismissal early on Tuesday morning by email or by having their access badges not working when they showed up to work in the morning.The layoffs affect the Department of Health and Human Services and the federal agencies it oversees, such as those in charge of approving new drugs (FDA), responding to epidemics (CDC) or medical research (NIH).According to US media reports, several senior officials from these agencies, including Jeanne Marrazzo, who had replaced Anthony Fauci as head of one of the NIH’s branches, have been offered reassignment to isolated locations in Alaska or Oklahoma.”The FDA as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed,” said Robert Califf, a former FDA commissioner during the Obama and Biden administrations.The move comes despite the country facing its worst measles outbreak in years and mounting fears that bird flu could spark the next human pandemic.Kennedy has alarmed health experts with his rhetoric downplaying the importance of vaccines and even suggesting that avian influenza should be allowed to spread freely among America’s poultry.Including early retirements and so-called “deferred resignations,” the total downsizing will reduce the department’s workforce from 82,000 to 62,000 employees, according to an official statement last week, saving an estimated $1.8 billion annually — a tiny fraction of the HHS annual budget of $1.8 trillion.The restructuring plan would consolidate the current 28 divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services into 15, including a new entity called the Administration for a Healthy America, or AHA.While addressing issues such as America’s obesity epidemic and industry-favored food regulations aligns with concerns shared by many in the scientific and medical communities, Kennedy’s long history of promoting misinformation about vaccines and questioning basic scientific principles has caused deep concern.The current measles outbreak has affected hundreds of people — the overwhelming majority of them unvaccinated — and resulted in two deaths.

New films must be exclusive to movie theaters for at least 45 days before they become available on streaming, the head of the industry’s US trade organization said Tuesday.Cinema owners say box office profits have been undercut by shorter theatrical-only “windows” brought in during the pandemic, in part as audiences now assume — sometimes correctly — that they can watch new movies at home within weeks.”There must be a baseline,” said Cinema United president Michael O’Leary, calling for “a clear, consistent period of exclusivity” of at least 45 days.The action is vital to restoring the health of the entire film industry, he said in a keynote speech during the group’s annual CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.The industry has never recovered to pre-pandemic levels of moviegoers. Annual North American box office grosses regularly topped $11 billion in the 2010s, but have yet to get over $9 billion in the 2020s.Before the rise of streaming, and the temporary shuttering of cinemas due to Covid-19, 90-day theatrical windows were standard in US theaters.While accepting that those days will never return, O’Leary pointed out that countries that have maintained longer windows, like France, have seen better box office recoveries since the pandemic.In North America, despite high hopes, 2025 has endured a disappointing start, plagued by box office flops like “Disney’s Snow White” and “Mickey 17.”O’Leary also called for more “aggressive” marketing of films as “only in theaters,” and asked studios to stop marketing “see-at-home” options while a movie is still in theaters.”Windows that are too short, or inconsistent, only lead to confusion among consumers,” warned O’Leary.”The perception, or more importantly, the reality at times, that everything will be available on other platforms in a matter of weeks, undercuts the sustainability of the entire industry by negatively impacting the frequency of movie fans going to the theatre,” he said.Cinema United was formerly known as the National Association of Theatre Owners — or “NATO” — before officially rebranding last month.”Having the same name as a multinational political military alliance… is not always seamless, particularly in today’s world,” said Cinema United chair Bob Bagby.”Sometimes we’ve even gotten their mail, phone calls, confused visitors,” he joked.

Two Iranian businessmen have been indicted for allegedly conspiring to procure US parts to build military attack drones, the Justice Department said Tuesday.Hossein Akbari, 63, and Reza Amidi, 62, are charged with money laundering and providing material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.According to court documents, Akbari is chief executive of a company called Rah Roshd while Amidi is the commercial manager.The Justice Department said Akbari and Amidi, who previously worked at Qods Aviation Industries (QAI), an Iranian state-owned aerospace company, are both at large.”The defendants conspired to obtain US-origin parts needed to manufacture drones for military use in Iran and send those parts to Iran in violation of export control laws,” US Attorney John Durham said in a statement.”The IRGC and QAI have been core players in the Iranian military regime’s production of drones, which threaten the lives of civilians, US personnel and our country’s allies.”According to the Justice Department, Akbari and Amidi have evaded US sanctions since 2020 to procure US parts for use in Iranian-made drones, including the Mohajer-6.A Mohajer-6 drone used by the Russian military was shot down by the Ukranian Air Force in September 2022 and found to have parts manufactured by several US-based companies, it said.

Shares of the conservative cable news channel Newsmax have skyrocketed more than 2,000 percent in the two days since it began trading in New York, pushing the firm’s market value above $26 billion.The right-wing media company has long been a cheerleader for US President Donald Trump, and is now among the most-watched cable news channels in the United States.At its initial public offering last week, the company raised $75 million at $10 per share, valuing the company at little more than $1 billion.  By 3:00 pm in Washington (1900 GMT) Tuesday, a day after its shares listed in New York, the share price was worth $206.89, giving it a market capitalization of $26.5 billion.  Newsmax has consistently been the fourth most-viewed cable news channel in America, behind Fox, MSNBC and CNN, according to the ratings company Nielsen. But its roughly 300,000 prime time viewers still pale in comparison to the prominent conservative news channel Fox News, which averaged more than three million.That could soon change, Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy told CNBC in an interview before markets opened on Monday. “I think we’re becoming very competitive with (Fox),” he said.