Trump Loses It for Some Reason After FBI Shutters DEI Office

It isn’t enough for the FBI’s DEI office to be shut down—Donald Trump wants it gutted, and with receipts.

“We demand that the FBI preserve and retain all records, documents, and information on the now closing DEI Office—Never should have been opened and, if it was, should have closed long ago,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social. “Why is it that they’re closing one day before the Inauguration of a new Administration? The reason is, CORRUPTION!”

The FBI began phasing out the office, officially titled the “Office of Diversity and Inclusion,” or ODI, in December, the agency first confirmed to Fox News on Thursday.

The FBI came under fire recently as many on the right openly blamed the deadly truck attack on New Year’s Day in New Orleans on the agency’s DEI policies.

“The priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs,” New York Republican Representative Dan Meuser told Fox News at the time. “You talk to anyone who’s willing to speak within these agencies, that’s what their focus has been.… President Trump’s a serious guy, he’s bringing in serious people. It’s not about DEI; it’s about the safety and security of the American people.”

“An FBI Agent with a nose ring who can barely speak coherent English sentences told the media that a terrorist driving a truck with an ISIS flag killing 10 Americans is NOT a terrorist attack!?!” conservative YouTuber and serial plagiarist Benny Johnson wrote on X, referring to a video of FBI Special Agent Alethea Duncan, who is Black, speaking perfect English at a press conference. “Seriously. Listen to this. We need Kash Patel NOW!”

The ODI office isn’t closing because of corruption, like Trump is claiming in all caps on Truth Social. It’s likely closing for the same reason Walmart, Meta, McDonald’s, and others are reneging on DEI policy: Trump is back. Either they’re caving to Trump in advance, or they’re excited to go mask-off again with their everyday bigotry.

“I feel liberated,” one top banker told the Financial Times on Tuesday. “We can say ‘retard’ and ‘pussy’ without the fear of getting cancelled.… It’s a new dawn.”

It’s also why the historically lauded Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department is in jeopardy too.

Republicans’ prized immigration bill, the Laken Riley Act, is apparently too expensive to implement, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A new memo from ICE has been circulating in Senate offices that spells out the staggering cost of carrying out the bill if it were signed into law: $86 billion over three years, far exceeding House Republicans’ estimate last week of $3 billion per year. The memo gives a line-by-line assessment of the agency’s capacity to implement the act, saying that “full implementation would be impossible for ICE to execute within existing resources.”

If passed, the bill would allow the detention of undocumented immigrants merely suspected of committing a nonviolent crime, with no protections for children or DACA recipients, also known as Dreamers. The House has already voted to approve the bill, with 48 Democrats joining every Republican to send the bill to the Senate, where it is currently being debated after a Thursday vote was postponed.

More than 70 amendments to the bill have been filed, delaying its passage further. The bill enjoys support from Senate Democrats as well, and even has two Democratic co-sponsors in Ruben Gallego and John Fetterman. Among some of the most egregious (and expensive) parts of the bill is the power it grants to state and local governments to help carry out immigrant detention, and some of the amendments concern that provision.

In Republican-led states, such as Florida, Republican leaders are offering their resources to assist in detaining immigrants in accordance with this bill, as well as Donald Trump’s plans for mass deportation. But as this memo from ICE shows, the Laken Riley Act will result in chaos and massive costs for the U.S. immigration system, no matter how many states are on board. Ultimately, conservatives’ immigration dreams are just expensive fantasies.

Trump is appointing a group of aged action movie actors to serve as “ambassadors” to Hollywood.

“It is my honor to announce Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone, to be Special Ambassadors to a great but very troubled place, Hollywood, California,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social Thursday. “They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE! These three very talented people will be my eyes and ears, and I will get done what they suggest. It will again be, like The United States of America itself, The Golden Age of Hollywood!”

Stallone, Voight, and Gibson have each come out in support of Trump in recent years. Stallone even called him the “second George Washington,” while Voight proclaimed him to be the “greatest president since Lincoln.” And Gibson, who happens to have a long history of antisemitism and racism, said Kamala Harris had the “IQ of a fence post.”

The announcement had mixed reactions. Trump supporters appeared to be giddy.

“Trump made Rocky and Braveheart ambassadors to Hollywood. We’re living in the best timeline,” said a large pro-Trump X account.

“A week ago, an action movie written by Sylvester Stallone dropped their trailer. It’s about human trafficking, run by corrupt government officials and the mob. It looks like Trump is expanding his influence to Hollywood, and I expect the Left to vehemently oppose this movie, just like they did with ‘Sound of Freedom,’” wrote another, making a blatant argument for state-sponsored conservative media propaganda.

Others noted the fitting selection of the three MAGA stars.

“Sylvester Stallone was a nightmare on set for decades, Mel Gibson is a racist antisemite, Jon Voight is estranged from his family and isn’t allowed to see his grandchildren. Perfect fit!” the Reverend John Donnelly wrote.

What Stallone, Gibson, and Voight will actually do as “special ambassadors” and how much influence they’ll actually have over the industry remains to be seen.

Donald Trump and JD Vance debuted new presidential and vice presidential portraits Thursday and, boy, are they weirdly sinister.

Daniel Torok, the president-elect’s chief photographer, revealed the portraits on X Wednesday evening. “We are entering the GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA,” Torok wrote.

“They go hard,” wrote Trump’s transition team in a press release hyping the official portraits.

Clearly, the purpose of these photographs was to evoke some kind of masculine energy that would delight the manosphere. In Trump’s portrait, the president-elect went for a glowering stare reminiscent of his unsettlingly viral 2023 mugshot taken in Fulton County jail, which has appeared on everything from a commemorative $2 bill to NFT trading cards sold by the president-elect and his buddies.

This marks a significant departure from the toothy grin he sported in his portrait from 2017, signaling a new strongman Trump who wants everyone to think he’s really tough. To be sure, he does look kind of scary scary—but mostly because his partially cocked eyebrow manages to make his other eye appear somewhat collapsed.

There is also the shock of bright white light that makes the 78-year-old’s eyes appear the same color as his hair.

Meanwhile, Vance’s portrait showed off his startlingly blue eyes. Almost too blue, some felt.

Like Trump, Vance’s face also reflected a supernatural glow and a ghoulish gleam that painted his face in an entirely different color than his hands—something he could have in common with Trump, whose face is typically darkened to a burnt orange.

Despite their technical similarities, some online noted that the two portraits had extremely different vibes.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held his final press conference on Thursday, during which he kicked out a journalist for asking questions about Gaza. 

Reporter Sam Husseini tried to ask questions about U.S. policy regarding Israel’s war in Gaza early during the press conference, only to be told to wait until the end. When he persisted, he was physically removed from the room by three security guards.

Husseini posted on X after the incident, saying he was fine but had planned to ask several different questions, including about the Geneva Convention’s application to Gaza and Israel’s Hannibal directive, among other topics. But he never got the opportunity, and the whole  incident unfortunately encapsulates the Biden administration’s approach towards Israel and Gaza, especially in responding to questions from the press. 

For more than a year, following the October 7, 2023, attacks, the White House and State Department repeatedly masked Israel’s brutal actions in Gaza, ignoring and covering up possible war crimes while even lying to Congress. Alternative courses of action were dismissed, and deadlines made to the public were ignored. Even given the opportunity, Vice President Kamala Harris refused to break with White House policy while running for president, which may have cost her the 2024 election. 

Ultimately, Israel’s war, fueled by American weapons and protected by American diplomacy, officially killed more than 46,000 Palestinian civilians, likely a massive undercount according to analysts and human rights groups. Thursday’s press conference was a reminder that under Joe Biden, the United States has refused to acknowledge its role in the conflict or stand up to any scrutiny. And when Donald Trump is sworn into the White House on Monday, that’s not likely to change.