Trump announced plans to build a Triumphal Arch in Washington, his fourth effort to remake the city into a shrine to himself.
His name now adorns the Kennedy Center and US Institute of Peace, and construction continues on his 90,000 square foot ballroom to be paid for with $400 million in private donations after he demolished the East Wing and paved over the Rose Garden. He even terminated the leases on the city’s three public golf courses.
This is only a symptom of how he views his unchecked power. The US military attacked multiple boats again today, meting out death sentences to non-US citizens in international waters without offering proof. The Coast Guard is chasing an oil tanker in the Atlantic, and that ship just painted a Russian flag on its hull. In Minnesota, his terror campaign against Somalis resulted in threats and a break-in at one of the daycare centers he and his allies targeted.
January 1, 2026 opens on a very different America than the one we lived in one year ago, one that has seen troops deployed against American citizens and nearly 70,000 people imprisoned without ever seeing a judge.
When are you prepared to act?
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Trump shares MAGA posts mocking Kennedy family on Truth Social hours after JFK's granddaughter Tatiana Schlossberg died at 35 from leukemia.
Today’s GovBrief News
Somali-owned Minneapolis daycare reports break-in and threats after month of Trump attacks on Minnesota's Somali community, administration amplification of influencer fraud video, and federal child care funding freeze.
Source: The Hill
December 31, 2025
Oil tanker fleeing U.S. Coast Guard for nearly two weeks painted a Russian flag on its hull in apparent attempt to claim Russian protection and complicate seizure.
Source: CNN
December 31, 2025
Energy Secretary orders third coal plant in one week to remain on standby, this time a Colorado facility that broke on December 19 and would cost $20-85 million to restart, despite state finding it "is not required for reliability."
Source: Ars Technica
December 31, 2025
NASA closes its largest research library Friday, with 100,000 volumes including irreplaceable Soviet-era space documents to be warehoused or thrown out as Goddard campus shrinks from 10,000 to 6,600 employees.
Source: The New York Times [gift link]
December 31, 2025
Trump signs last-minute proclamation delaying his own tariff increases on furniture and kitchen cabinets for one year, hours before rates were set to rise to 50% and 30%.
Source: CNN
December 31, 2025
Trump pulls National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland one week after Supreme Court rejected his request to maintain troop deployment in Illinois.
Source: Newsweek
December 31, 2025
U.S. military kills 8 more people in strikes on 5 alleged drug boats, bringing total to at least 115 dead since September across 35 attacks.
Source: The Associated Press
December 31, 2025
Federal appeals court allows Medicaid funding cuts to Planned Parenthood to continue while 21-state lawsuit proceeds, one week after Maine Family Planning shut down and dropped its case.
Source: The Associated Press
December 31, 2025
Montana Supreme Court dismisses 41-count ethics case against Attorney General Austin Knudsen, ruling that years of public litigation were sufficient sanction for his nearly year-long defiance of a court order.
Source: Montana Free Press
December 31, 2025
Ninth Circuit orders California National Guard returned to Governor Newsom's control after DOJ withdrew its motion for a stay, ending seven months of federalization that began with LA immigration raids.
Source: KCRA Sacramento
December 31, 2025
ICE launches $100 million "wartime recruitment" campaign with ads asking "Want to deport illegals with your absolute boys?" and $8 million in influencer deals targeting Gen Z and Millennials.
Source: The Guardian
December 31, 2025
Jack Smith testified that Trump's 2020 election scheme has "no historical analog," that Trump caused and exploited Jan. 6 violence, and that one tweet endangered Mike Pence's life.
Source: ABC News
December 31, 2025
Trump issues first vetoes of second term, rejecting bipartisan tribal land bill because the Miccosukee Tribe sued over his Everglades detention facility and a Colorado water pipeline bill a senator called part of a "revenge tour."
Source: Spectrum News
December 31, 2025
Kennedy Center revised bylaws in May to strip congressional trustees of voting rights, months before Trump appointees "unanimously" voted to add his name to the building.
Source: The Washington Post
December 31, 2025
Trump says construction of his "Triumphal Arch" will begin within two months on federally protected land near the Lincoln Memorial, bypassing all legal requirements that took the Women's Suffrage Monument years to complete.
Source: Politico
December 31, 2025
Federal judge vacates Noem's termination of temporary protected status for 60,000 immigrants from Nicaragua, Honduras and Nepal, ruling the decision was "preordained" and motivated by racial animus.
Source: Courthouse News Service
December 31, 2025