MAGA Spins Out Over First Arabic-Language Police Patch in America

This week, the police department in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, unveiled an optional patch displaying the name of the department in both English and Arabic. A meltdown ensued among right-wingers on social media.

Amid the backlash, Dearborn Heights Mayor Bilal “Bill” Bazzi—a MAGA acolyte nominated by the president to serve as ambassador to Tunisia—on Friday said the patch, which would be the first in the United States to contain Arabic script, is merely an idea that “should NOT have been presented as an official prototype.”

In a since-deleted Facebook post published days earlier, the patch design had been celebrated by the Dearborn Heights Police Department, which serves a community with a significant Arab American population.

“By incorporating Arabic script alongside English, this patch represents unity, respect, and our shared commitment to service,” the post said. “Our officers proudly serve all members of our community, and this new design is another way we continue to celebrate the rich cultures that make our city unique.”

Many on the right hysterically took the design—which notably contains no religious content—as a harbinger of sharia law taking root in America.

“They said their goal was to bring sharia law to America. You should’ve believed them. Pray for Michigan,” wrote Republican Representative Randy Fine of Florida.

“Muslims have invaded America and now they are taking over,” wrote MAGA personality Laura Loomer on X. “The civilization takeover has begun,” posted conservative activist Brigitte Gabriel. “When you get conquered, you get a new language,” added Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

Going further, Auron MacIntyre of the right-wing media company Blaze Media tweeted, “Muslim immigration to the US must be halted immediately and mass deportations must be conducted. Stop it now while you still can.”

With the Trump-adoring mayor’s Friday statement, it appears the bigot brigade may get their way.

President Donald Trump never told Congress about a disastrous 2019 intelligence mission targeting North Korea that turned deadly, The New York Times reported Friday. 

The Times spoke with two dozen people with knowledge of the incident, which had never been publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government. 

In 2018, SEAL Team 6 was charged with planting an electronic device that could intercept communications from the reclusive North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, amid high-level talks between the United States and North Korea. In early 2019, the SEALs set out toward North Korea in a nuclear submarine, and Trump gave the final go-ahead to proceed with the mission. 

After breaking off in mini-submarines and swimming to shore, the SEALs spotted a North Korean vessel close to the mini-subs. Unsure whether they’d been spotted, the SEALs opened fire, killing everyone on board. 

Upon inspection the SEALs found no weapons or uniforms on the boat, and determined that the two or three North Korean crew members had been civilians diving for shellfish, according to officials briefed on the mission. The bodies were pulled into the water, the mission was aborted, and the SEALs escaped unharmed.

A classified military review found that the killing of civilians was justified under the rules of engagement, but the Trump administration never told congressional committees overseeing military and intelligence about the operation, or the military review. 

Matthew Waxman, a law professor at Columbia University who served in senior positions at the State Department, the Department of Defense, and the National Security Council under President George W. Bush, told the Times that Trump’s failure to report to Congress may have violated federal law, which places a burden on the executive to notify Congress of consequential missions.  

A former government official told the Times that key members of Congress had eventually been briefed on the mission by former President Joe Biden in 2021. The review remains classified.

The incident raises concerns about the efficacy of SEAL Team 6, which has been criticized for its uneven track record and for staging overly complicated missions. It seems that despite rehearsing for months, the SEALs had no contingency plan for spotting groups of civilians fishing, besides cold-blooded murder. They were then shielded from all accountability for the incident, and many involved in the mission were later promoted, the Times reported.  

This latest Times report follows another murky military action rubber-stamped by Trump earlier this week, when the Pentagon carried out a deadly strike on a boat officials claimed was carrying drugs. Not only has the Trump administration struggled to keep its story straight, but it has failed to provide any legal authority for the strike, let alone any evidence to back up its claim that the crew members were so-called “narco terrorists.”

Democratic New York City mayoral nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani is tired of going back and forth with Andrew Cuomo, when he could just debate the man he views as pulling Cuomo’s strings: President Donald Trump.

As the New York City mayoral race heats up, Trump is reportedly working behind the scenes to keep Mamdani from winning, saying Thursday, “I don’t like to see a communist become mayor, I will tell you that.” (Mamdani is a Democratic Socialist.)

Trump has said he believes the race—which currently has four candidates; Mamdani is in the lead—should be one-on-one, and has reportedly been trying to use potential White House jobs to entice current Mayor Eric Adams and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa to drop out.

So when Cuomo challenged Mamdani to five debates, one in each borough, Mamdani fired back—not at Cuomo but at his perceived benefactor.

“Let’s cut out the middleman,” Mamdani told CBS. “Why should I debate Donald Trump’s puppet when I could debate Donald Trump himself?”

Mamdani continued, saying, “If Donald Trump is serious about this, he should come to New York City; we can have as many debates as he wants about why he’s cutting SNAP benefits for hungry New Yorkers just to fund tax cuts for his billionaire donors.”

Mamdani rocketed to national prominence when he won the June Democratic Primary on a grassroots campaign of affordability. This time last year, the race had been preemptively called for Cuomo before the former governor had even declared his candidacy—but Mamdani’s canvassing efforts, social media mastery, and resonant goals of free buses, city-funded grocery stores, and a rent freeze for rent-stabilized apartments won the day.

So it’s no surprise that he’d take issue with how Trump’s budget bill impacts New Yorkers, 300,000 of whom could lose food stamp benefits after the cuts.

Meanwhile, Cuomo has said that he doesn’t want Trump “involved in anything to do with [his] race,” though the two “Queens boys” have known each other for decades.

President Trump went on a Friday morning Truth Social rant about Jeffrey Epstein, as he clearly attempts to change the narrative as bipartisan calls to release the Epstein files grow louder.

In a post that parroted some of his favorite talking points, Trump wrote:

The confused and badly failing Democrat Party did nothing about Jeffrey Epstein while he was alive except befriend him, socialize with him, travel to his Island, and take his money! They knew everything there was to know about Epstein, but now, years after his death, they, out of nowhere, are seeming to show such love and heartfelt concern for his victims. Does anybody really believe that? Where were they during his very public trials, and for all of those years before his death? The answer is, “nowhere to be found.” The now dying (after the DOJ gave thousands of pages of documents in full compliance with a very comprehensive and exacting Subpoena from Congress!) Epstein case was only brought back to life by the Radical Left Democrats because they are doing so poorly, with the lowest poll numbers in the history of the Party (16%), while the Republicans are doing so well, among the highest approval numbers the Party has ever had!

There’s a lot going on here. For one, Trump knows as well as anyone what it’s like to “befriend,” and “socialize” with Epstein, as their countless letters and interactions are well documented. To accuse Democrats of doing that—especially when Epstein’s sweetheart plea deal in 2008 was delivered by a Republican who later joined Trump’s administration—is a massive projection.

Trump is conveniently forgetting that his administration got us to this point. He’s ignoring the fact that his Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Directors Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, Vice President JD Vance, and his own son Donald Jr. have all advocated for the release of the Epstein “list” or “files,” completely independent of the Democratic Party. Trump is also ignoring the fact that he was president for nearly three years before Epstein killed himself, ample time for him to pursue this case. He was nowhere to be found then, either.

“The Dems don’t care about the victims, as proven by the fact that they never did before,” Trump continued in his Friday morning post. “This is merely another Democrat HOAX, just like Russia, Russia, Russia, and all of the others, in order to deflect and distract from the great success of a Republican President, and the record setting failure of the previous Administration, and the Democrat Party. The Department of Justice has done its job, they have given everything requested of them. It’s time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax, and give the Republicans credit for the great, even legendary, job that they are doing. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Multiple victims, some of whom even voted for Trump, have made it extremely clear that this is not a Democrat-versus-Republican thing, and it is certainly not a hoax.

“Mr. President Donald J. Trump, I am a registered Republican, not that that matters because this is not political. However, I cordially invite you to the Capitol to meet me in person so you can understand this is not a hoax,” Epstein survivor Haley Robson said on Wednesday. “We are real human beings. This is real trauma.… We’re here in person. To say that it’s a hoax is just not … please humanize us. I would like Donald J. Trump and every person in America and around the world to humanize us, and to hear us for what we have to say.”

“I’m a Republican. I voted for him. I voted for Trump,” Jena-Lisa Jones, who was abused by Epstein in 2003 when she was just 14 years old, also said on Wednesday evening. “For him to say what he’s saying is beyond me. Because I put my hope in him, and he’s supposed to protect us. And for him to say that this is a joke, and that it’s sides? This is not sides. We will say it time and time again: None of us are up there accusing him of anything. There is no one that is accusing him of any wrongdoing, so for the fact that he is saying those things and saying it’s a hoax, who are you hiding for then? Because if it’s not you, then who is it?”

Additionally, Trump’s verbose post came after perhaps his worst jobs report numbers to date, as the economy added a mere 22,000 jobs in August where 75,000 were expected. This is a hit dog hollering.

“Trump with a final knife in the back for conspiracy theorists who believed he would reveal the truth about Epstein and bring down the international pedo elite rings,” journalist Mike Rothschild wrote on X. “He got your votes, now he’s done with you.”

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics had a since-deleted social media account where he made lewd comments about Kamala Harris, bashed women and gay people, and spread far-right conspiracy theories. Gee, no wonder the president picked him!

E.J. Antoni, the MAGA rioter Trump tapped to replace Erika McEntarfer, ran an X account under different usernames and display names to air his right-wing grievances, CNN’s KFile reported Friday.

When the account was first created in 2015, the username was simply his full name: “ErwinJohnAntoni.” He later changed his display name to “Dr. Erwin J. Antoni III” around the time he received his Ph.D., in 2020.

After that, the user frequently identified himself as an economist, and other accounts also identified him as one too. The account posted the specific phrase “You called down the thunder, now reap the whirlwind” 20 times, which also appeared on Antoni’s professional account “RealEJAntoni.” The account had previously been linked to Antoni by Wired.

Using the account, Antoni reportedly published a number of gross attacks against female politicians and political figures. While the posts are grotesque, they generally aligned with positions the president has expressed.

In October 2018, Antoni referred to Christine Blasey Ford, who’d accused Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, as “Miss Piggy,” just one day after Trump mocked her testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Antoni posted at least five times suggesting that former presidential candidate Kamala Harris had used sexual favors to advance her career. “You can’t run a race on your knees,” he wrote in December 2019, responding to a picture of a Harris campaign poster that had been defaced. Trump later shared similar comments about Harris during the 2024 presidential race.

Antoni accused former President Joe Biden, former FBI Director James Comey, and economist Paul Krugman of being pedophiles. He also took aim at members of the Squad, a group of female Democratic lawmakers, whom Trump has also repeatedly criticized, but the president’s barbs have tended to lean more racist than sexist.

Sexism was a common theme for Antoni, who wrote and shared a number of posts explaining just how much he hates women. “Feminism is that belief by which women are liberated from false slavery to men in order to become true slaves to corporations,” he wrote in February 2020. He’s dabbled in gay bashing, writing in March 2020, “There is only one sexual orientation—everything else is a disorientation,” and he wrote several posts targeting CNN anchor Anderson Cooper and former CNN anchor Don Lemon.

Wired previously reported that Antoni’s account had published far-right positions, like conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, Covid-19, and Jeffrey Epstein. KFile reported that he also shared conspiracy theories about the 2016 presidential election, criticized abortion, and engaged with QAnon and far-right accounts.