Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting the Smithsonian Institution by threatening to withdrawal federal funding from its programs that contain what he calls “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”
The president said there has been a “concerted and widespread” effort over the past decade to rewrite American history by replacing “objective facts” with a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.”
His order instructs Vice President JD Vance to “remove improper ideology” from the Smithsonian’s museums, education and research centers and the National Zoo.
The VP and Second Lady Usha Vance will meanwhile visit Greenland today, where they risk being shunned by the locals.
Elsewhere, Trump pulled Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be his UN ambassador over fears that a special election in her upstate New York district might endanger the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives – crucial to enacting the president’s agenda.
Stefanik appeared on Fox News shortly afterwards to insist she was “proud to be a team player.”
Elon Musk and members of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team were also on Fox to talk about their efforts to cut back government spending and staff numbers, with Musk dismissing his critics as “fraudsters.”
Trump’s ban on trans people in the military struck down by another judge: ‘Plainly discriminates’
A second judge has blocked the president’s ban on transgender service members in the U.S. military, a “plainly” discriminatory directive with “no evidence” to support the administration’s claims, according to the ruling.
“The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question on this record,” George W Bush-appointed District Judge Benjamin Settle wrote in a 65-page opinion Thursday.
Trump’s executive order, one of several that explicitly removes federal recognition of trans people, claims that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.”
Responding, Settle wrote: “The government has… provided no evidence supporting the conclusion that military readiness, unit cohesion, lethality, or any of the other touchstone phrases long used to exclude various groups from service have in fact been adversely impacted by open transgender service.
“The court can only find that there is none.”
Alex Woodward reports.
Trump warned automakers not to raise prices after his tariffs and be happy how ‘great’ they are
The president reportedly warned America’s top automakers not to raise their prices in response to his 25 percent tariffs on imports that were announced this week.
Trump hosted a call with CEOs Mary Barra of General Motors, John Elkann of Stellantis, and Ford’s Jim Farley in early March and touted the tariffs, assuring the executives they would be “great,” The Wall Street Journal reports.
Auto industry experts, however, have warned that the tariffs risk American consumers having to pay “thousands” of dollars more for vehicles.
“Trump said they should be grateful for his elimination of what he called former President Joe Biden’s electric-vehicle mandate,” the Journal said of the call.
The president is also reported to have “made a lengthy pitch” on how automakers would benefit from the levies, insisting he was “bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. and was better for their industry than previous presidents.”
Rhian Lubin has more.
Trump reports positive call with Canadian PM Carney
The big man says he just got off the phone with Ottawa and appears to have had a friendly chat with Mark Carney (whom he does not jokingly refer to as “governor”) and found that they “agree on many things.”
Even tariffs?
Less importantly, “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” is a bizarre sign-off.
Trump threatens to get tough on crime in D.C.
In the last hour, the president has been insisting on Truth Social that Washington needs to be made “CLEAN and SAFE again!” and has urged the House to pass a Senate bill granting funding to that end.
“I will work with the Mayor on this and, if it does not happen, will have no choice but to do it myself,” he warns.
Breaking: Trump calls on Supreme Court to let him deport Venezuelans under Alien Enemies Act
The president is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to allow his administration to resume removing immigrants from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act, a centuries-old wartime law invoked for the fourth time in American history to target Venezuelans.
“This case presents fundamental questions about who decides how to conduct sensitive national-security-related operations in this country,” according to the administration’s filing with the nation’s highest court on Friday.
“The Constitution supplies a clear answer: the President. The republic cannot afford a different choice,” the petition states.
The request follows a federal appeals court’s rejection of the president’s attempt to throw out a lower-court ruling that is temporarily blocking the administration from deporting immigrants under the law.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act earlier this month as three planes with dozens of Venezuelans were sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, where they do not have access to legal counsel and face the prospect of indefinite detention.
Alex Woodward has the very latest.
‘This shouldn’t happen in a democracy’: Trump tries to arrest academic suing administration over antisemitism executive order
A Cornell student asked a federal court for protection from deportation while he challenged a Trump administration policy on foreign student protest.
Two days later, he got an email saying Immigration and Customs Enforcement wanted to arrest him.
Josh Marcus reports.
Why is Elon Musk so desperate to flip Wisconsin’s Supreme Court?
The tech boss and Trump adviser has been plowing campaign donations into the race to succeed retiring liberal justice, backing conservative candidate Brad Schimel and repeatedly stressing the importance of the outcome next Tuesday.
Here’s why he’s getting so animated about it.
Previous administrations were wary of Signal. Trumpworld embraced it
Amid the furore over the use of a commercial messaging app to discuss a military strike, the Trump administration has insisted that using Signal is routine and authorized.
Attorney General Pam Bondi was the latest to make that argument with Fox’s Laura Ingraham last night, denying the administration had any plans to drop it:
But former and current security officials disagree on how safe Signal really is.
Andrew Feinberg reports
Source: independent.co.uk