Ben there, done that: Trump’s latest unqualified hire is a familiar face

Although he didn’t take an official role in President Donald Trump’s administration this time around, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson is proving to be quite the jack-of-all-trades.

When the onetime neurosurgeon isn’t showing up at the Religious Liberty Commission to basically agree that the Declaration of Independence and the Bible are the same thing, really,  he’s now going to be a sort of roving expert on nutrition, health, and … rural housing? 

Urban and rural housing! Talk about range!

On Wednesday, Carson was sworn in as the national nutrition adviser at the Department of Agriculture. Besides his nutrition/health/housing portfolio, he’s also supporting Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins’ work on the Make America Healthy Again Commission. Makes sense, really. Can’t let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have all the fun issuing incoherent reports

Related | RFK Jr.'s plan to 'Make Our Children Healthy Again' is another miss

Oh wait, sorry. Carson is also going to be the “Department’s chief voice” on rural health care quality. Got it. 

Carson is just as qualified for all of this as he was to be HUD secretary during Trump’s first term—which is to say, not at all. His tenure in that position will largely be remembered for referring to enslaved people brought here in chains as “immigrants” and spending $31,000 on a conference room table. 

Even in Carson’s glowing bio, you see no mention of nutrition, housing, or health care, save for him reminding people that he was the HUD secretary. Otherwise, it’s a litany of his neurosurgery accomplishments in the 1980s and 1990s, which has a vague “30-year-old still bragging about his high school football years” vibe to it. 

Carson is emblematic of the administration’s approach to everything: piling multiple jobs on people with no qualifications. There’s Lindsey Halligan, who was chosen to wreck the Smithsonian based on her past role as one of Trump’s personal lawyers, and is now also going to be the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

Or how about a different former Trump personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, who is both deputy attorney general and the acting librarian of Congress, because why not?

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has an ever-shifting number of jobs, but the one he is definitely least qualified for is being head of the National Archives.

Ric Grenell, when not wrecking the Kennedy Center, apparently also travels overseas to secure the release of U.S. citizens and also oversees the federal response to wildfires, because those are definitely all things that go together. 

And last and certainly least, there’s former “Real World” star Sean Duffy. Not content to be wildly unqualified for his primary job as transportation secretary, he’s also now running NASA.

Related | Sean Duffy finds a new mode of transportation to be scared of

This multiple-job nonsense is partly borne out of a lack of regard for government service. Trump doesn’t care who runs the Smithsonian or the Library of Congress, as long as they are ideologically aligned with Trump. 

But the reality is that Trump, having fired agency heads with actual experience, has no desire to replace them with career employees from said agencies, and also doesn’t want to have new nominees go through the Senate confirmation process. So, he can take someone already confirmed by the Senate for one position and just double them up elsewhere. 

Meanwhile, Ben Carson will decide what food your kids eat, which hospitals serve your rural community, and what rural housing you can access, and … come on.

Why are we pretending he’ll do any of those things? Carson will just be another weird MAHA mouthpiece ranting about food additives or whatever. But hey, at least he’s getting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to honor all his accomplishments—whatever those are. 

The Recap: Kirk memorial widens the political divide, and Newsom’s winning plan

A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know.

Trump is losing ground on one of his signature issues

If you lose on your defining topic, what’s left?

Trump builds strong impeachment case against himself

To say Trump had himself a busy weekend is an understatement.

'You are envy, you are hatred': Kirk memorial turns into unhinged rally

Trump and the Republican Party continue to cynically weaponize Kirk’s death.

Cartoon: Lowering the temperature

As if that’s possible right now.

Most California voters are lining up behind Newsom to fight Trump

Newsom’s gamble might just pay off.

Hakeem Jeffries issues biting warning to businesses bending to Trump

Trump may think he’s king, but his reign won’t last forever.

Press secretary falls on her face defending Trump’s abuse of power

This is a special kind of gaslighting.

Trump uses Kirk's death to silence critics—and voters aren't pleased

After all, voters will have the last word.

Click here to see more cartoons.

Trump’s top deportation thug reportedly probed by FBI over bribe

Tom Homan, the “border czar” who has been the architect of some of the Trump administration’s most harmful and callous immigration actions, was reportedly under FBI investigation for accepting a bribe—but the case was dropped after Donald Trump was sworn in as president in January.

MSNBC reported on Monday that Homan allegedly took $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents posing as contractors. According to government documents, Homan was recorded on camera taking the payment at a location in Texas in September 2024.

Homan reportedly took the cash in exchange for the promise of securing government contracts when the Trump administration took over in January of this year. MSNBC reported that FBI and Department of Justice officials believed they had a case against Homan for conspiracy to commit bribery.

Related | Sleazy 'border czar' seems to have one heck of a conflict of interest

In response to the outlet’s reporting, FBI Director Kash Patel argued that the investigation was a partisan operation that began under the Biden administration. Patel didn’t explain why Biden’s team failed to bring charges if partisanship was the motivation.

Even as the Trump team was burying the Homan case, the administration began orchestrating criminal investigations of Trump’s political adversaries. Those machinations recently came to a head after the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia was fired because he wouldn’t charge New York state Attorney General Letitia James with trumped-up crimes.

This isn’t the first time that Homan’s name has come up in connection to corruption.

In May, it was reported that Homan worked as a consultant for the Geo Group, which operates immigration detention centers. Homan was paid a minimum of $5,000, although disclosing the exact amount he made isn’t mandatory—and then pushed mass deportation efforts as border czar, generating new business and lots of federal payments for his former employer.

Homan has been the public and extremely pugilistic face of the administration’s harsh immigration policies. He has made frequent media appearances, including a near-ubiquitous presence on Fox News. The MAGA mouthpiece news network has buried the latest report on his actions, naturally.

The former border patrol agent has a history of racist affiliations and as border czar has embraced racial profiling and using scare tactics against largely Latino migrant communities. He has admitted that ICE has arrested people without cause, and has threatened cities with Democratic leaders who have said they will protect immigrant communities.

Homan has even said he would use the Department of Justice to go after Democratic officials like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for speaking out against deportation actions. Now we know that this same department is apparently uninterested in pursuing justice if the crime may have been committed by Homan himself.

Press secretary falls on her face defending Trump’s abuse of power

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tied herself up into knots yet again, this time in an attempt to spin President Donald Trump’s weekend descent into authoritarianism

When asked by a reporter Monday whether Trump was going back on his inaugural promise to not allow the state to be weaponized to persecute political opponents, Leavitt was blindingly obstinate.

"No. In fact, the president is fulfilling his promise to restore a Department of Justice that demands accountability. And it is not weaponizing the Department of Justice to demand accountability for those who weaponized the Department of Justice,” she said.

Leavitt continued to engage in what can only be described as “1984”-level doublespeak.

“We are not going to tolerate gaslighting from anyone in the media or from anyone on the other side who is trying to say that it's the president who is weaponizing the DOJ,” she added.

Meanwhile, Trump continues targeting political opponents, like New York Attorney General Letitia James—who successfully proved Trump’s involvement in real estate fraud—and comedians Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel—for nothing more than mocking him.

The Trump administration is covering up very serious allegations of corruption among its own rank and file, including reports that his “border czar” Tom Homan isn’t simply a sadistic racist but also suspected of taking a bribe—an inquiry that was allegedly shut down by Trump.

Leavitt’s demand for “accountability” is just another attempt to distract from the Trump administration’s own weaponization of power.

Trump builds strong impeachment case against himself

The United States' descent into authoritarianism accelerated over the weekend, as President Donald Trump used the power of the presidency to punish his enemies and reward his allies—just like a dictator would do.

On Saturday, Trump admitted that he fired the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia because he would not charge his perceived enemies with crimes—a blatant example of the kind of lawfare he wrongly says he’s been subjected to.

Trump then demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi appoint someone who will charge California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and New York state Attorney General Tish James with federal crimes, even though there is no evidence to warrant such charges.

Trump made the comment on Saturday in a Truth Social message, which sounded a lot like he was trying to direct-message Bondi rather than make a public post.

Trump wrote:

Pam: I have reviewed over 30 statements and posts saying that, essentially, “same old story as last time, all talk, no action. Nothing is being done. What about Comey, Adam “Shifty” Schiff, Leticia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.” Then we almost put in a Democrat supported U.S. Attorney, in Virginia, with a really bad Republican past. A Woke RINO, who was never going to do his job. That’s why two of the worst Dem Senators PUSHED him so hard. He even lied to the media and said he quit, and that we had no case. No, I fired him, and there is a GREAT CASE, and many lawyers, and legal pundits, say so. Lindsey Halligan is a really good lawyer, and likes you, a lot. We can’t delay any longer, it’s killing our reputation and credibility. They impeached me twice, and indicted me (5 times!), OVER NOTHING. JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!! President DJT

Later Saturday night, Trump officially announced he was appointing Halligan to replace ousted U.S. Attorney Erik Siebert. 

Halligan, who served as one of Trump’s personal attorneys, is currently working on the Trump administration’s effort to whitewash American history by purging the Smithsonian museums of content Trump and Republicans think promotes “improper ideology.”

Meanwhile, also on Saturday, MSNBC and The New York Times both reported that Trump's racist border czar, Tom Homan, was caught in an FBI sting in September 2024, in which he allegedly accepted a $50,000 cash bribe from two undercover agents posing as businessmen, in exchange for getting those agents federal contracts in a potential Trump administration. 

But when Trump took office, the investigation was closed after FBI Director Kash Patel got involved.

That means Trump is seeking to prosecute his enemies who did not break the law, while letting his allies off after committing apparent violations of the law.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks during a news conference at the White House on Aug. 11.

“White House knew Homan had accepted $50K to influence contracts. They appointed him anyways. Then they disbanded the DOJ's Public Integrity unit and quashed the Homan investigation. There's no end to the corruption in Trump's White House,” Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon wrote in a post on X.

If that lawfare wasn't terrifying enough, the Department of Defense told media outlets that they are no longer permitted to report on unauthorized information.

“Information must be approved for public release by an appropriate authorizing official before it is released, even if it is unclassified,” reads a memo sent to reporters and obtained by the Associated Press.

If reporters do not agree to become stenographers for the Pentagon, they risk losing their press credentials—a move that experts say is a blatant violation of the First Amendment.

“This policy operates as a prior restraint on publication, which is considered the most serious of First Amendment violations,” Seth Stern, director of advocacy at the Freedom of the Press Foundation, told CNN.

That is just the latest First Amendment violation for the Trump administration. Last week, Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr demanded that ABC remove late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel from the air or else face consequences. The network folded.

Ultimately, Trump’s actions during this weekend alone should get him impeached and removed from office. But given that Congress is filled with Republican yes-men who excuse Dear Leader’s actions both because they are scared to anger the MAGA base and because they are okay with lawlessness if it benefits them.

Fox News promotes racist Trump shill who pushed boatloads of BS

Fox News announced Wednesday that former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany will be hosting her own weekend show, “Saturday In America.” The decision comes after years of McEnany prominently lying about a dizzying array of issues, further cementing Fox’s key role as a source of disinformation and falsehoods.

McEnany has worked at the network since 2021, following her stint in the Trump administration and at the Republican National Committee. Currently, McEnany serves as an on-air pundit for Fox and one of the co-hosts of the panel discussion program “Outnumbered.”

An example of McEnany’s blatant lies is her 2012 tweet saying, “How I Met Your Brother — Never mind, forgot he’s still in that hut in Kenya. #ObamaTVShows”

The comment came at the same time that President Donald Trump was pushing the discredited, racist “birther” conspiracy falsely alleging that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya and not the United States.

Kayleigh McEnany speaks with reporters during her stint as President Donald Trump’s press secretary in 2020. 

And during a 2019 appearance on CNN, McEnany previewed her time in the spotlight by saying of Trump, “I don’t believe the president has lied.” 

At that point in his presidency, Trump already made 16,241 false or misleading claims, as catalogued by the Washington Post. 

“He doesn’t lie. The press lies,” she said in 2020. “We will not see diseases like the coronavirus come here, we will not see terrorism come here, and isn’t it refreshing when contrasting it with the awful presidency of President Obama.”  

Of course, the first COVID-19 cases had already been confirmed a month earlier.

After promising journalists at her first press briefing that she wouldn’t lie, McEnany spent almost her entire time in Trump’s administration spreading misinformation.

McEnany asserted in September 2020 that Trump “never downplayed the virus,” despite his repeated false assertions that COVID-19 had been contained, even bragging to Fox that his administration had “shut it down.” Tens of thousands of deaths followed.

Her claim was so removed from reality that the fact checking site PolitiFact rated her defense of Trump as “pants on fire.” In fact, in 10 fact checks rating her statements, the service only rated three as “mostly true” or “half true.” The remainder were categorized as “mostly false,” “false,” and “pants on fire.”

Another fact checking site, FactCheck.org, noted in May 2020 that McEnany had repeated a Russian talking point when discussing the Mueller investigation, which she claimed was a “complete and total exoneration of President Trump.” 

The report, which specifically said that the investigation “does not exonerate him,” later formed the basis for many of the charges in Trump’s first impeachment.

During the 2020 election season, McEnany carried water for Trump by regurgitating his false attacks on mail-in voting, but it was later revealed that McEnany—like Trump—had voted by mail multiple times since 2010.

As results came in showing that Trump was losing the election to President Joe Biden, McEnany pushed false narratives, prematurely claiming that Trump won Pennsylvania, which he ultimately lost. She also falsely argued that there were “very real claims” of voter fraud being pursued by the Trump campaign and even promoted a bogus analysis alleging that it was improbable that Biden won four of the swing states that he did in fact win.

And McEnany continued her deception at Fox, where she claimed that nobody in Trump’s orbit brought up Vice President Kamala Harris’ race—something that Trump himself did. She also said that Trump didn’t put in place a Muslim ban during his presidency—which he infamously did. She even claimed that “you didn’t see crisis after crisis” during Trump’s presidency.

In May, as part of her pro-Trump advocacy McEnany said that CBS reporter Scott Pelley should have been arrested after criticizing Trump’s authoritarian stances during a commencement speech.

Fox has long positioned itself as a primary source of lies and dishonesty within the conservative movement. With the elevation of a serial liar like McEnany, the network continues to cement its reputation of spreading falsehoods.

Oh goody, Trump’s least favorite son is writing a book

In a world already bogged down with memoirs from people who probably didn’t need to write them, Eric Trump is now throwing his hat in the ring, too.

The son of President Donald Trump announced this week that “Under Siege”—which will be released in October—will reveal the juicy details of a purported calculated attack from the media, courts, and Democrats against the Trump family. 

“From raids on his childhood home, Mar-a-Lago, to near assassination attempts, from Russiagate to cold and corrupt court rooms, the fake news media, censorship, and character smears—this wasn’t just an attack on a president, or even his family,” the memoir press release said. “America itself was under siege.”

President Donald Trump signs copies of his book, “Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.”

On one hand, it might be a book worth renting from the local library—assuming it has the federal funding to carry it—just to see how one of the president’s children tries to justify an impeachment and a mugshot. 

But if it’s anything like his father’s works, it might not even be worth reading for free. 

After Donald published his book “Save America” in September 2024, the Washington Post unabashedly called the pages a collection of “occasional unhinged ramblings.”

“There probably aren’t more than a few hundred words total in this shiny work of propaganda, but if ‘Save America’ could be said to have a plot, it’s the epic struggle between Trump’s desire to exalt himself and his instinct to denigrate his enemies,” wrote book critic Ron Charles. 

And for those who recall, Donald’s 1987 book, “Art of the Deal,” was written with journalist Tony Schwartz, who regretted his contributions later on. 

"I knew this was a bad guy when I did the book," Schwartz admitted on CBS’ “Takeout” podcast in 2019. He said that he ultimately did it for the cash, which he called “blood money.”

It’s unclear if Eric has employed the help of a ghost writer to pen his diatribe or if the world will be lucky enough to get a taste of his writing chops. But it’s certainly not unlike the Trump family to delve into areas they’re not quite well versed in. 

Even Eric’s wife, Lara Trump, has dabbled in her own patriotic athleisure brand as she pursues a career in singing Christian ballads and cover songs. 

But if we’ve learned anything about the Trump family from their many, many memoirs, it’s from Ivanka Trump’s “The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life.”

“Did I have an edge getting started in business? No question,” she wrote. “But get over it.”

Wack job Rudy Giuliani is getting a medal for his service to Trump

Election conspiracy theorist and disgraced former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is set to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Donald Trump. 

The award, which is the highest civilian honor bestowed by the U.S. government, rewards Giuliani for his years of loyal service to Trump, marked by the promotion of crackpot theories, the failed legal fight to overturn the 2020 election, and dangerous quack science.

“I am pleased to announce that Rudy Giuliani, the greatest Mayor in the history of New York City, and an equally great American Patriot, will receive THE PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM, our Country’s highest civilian honor,” Trump wrote on his social media account on Monday.

Trump’s announcement comes a day after Giuliani announced that he had been hospitalized following a car crash in New Hampshire. 

Giuliani served as mayor of New York from 1994 to 2001, most notably on Sept. 11, 2001. In 2008, Giuliani mounted a disastrous campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and became a part of Trump’s inner circle. For years, Giuliani has lurched from one embarrassing incident to the next in a public spiral with few parallels in American history.

Following Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election, Giuliani was part of Trump’s legal team and pushed ridiculous and easily debunked conspiracy theories, trying to spin Trump’s loss to Joe Biden as a win. 

In the days after that election, Giuliani held an ill-fated media availability at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Pennsylvania to discuss challenges to the state’s ballot counting process. As Giuliani spread falsehoods, it became clear that the Trump campaign had booked the location thinking it was a Four Seasons hotel, and not a landscaping business. 

Trump and Giuliani pose for photographs at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse after the 2016 election.

Giuliani’s conspiracy promotion caught up with him after he was sued by former Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea Moss, whom he falsely implicated in a scheme to steal votes from Trump. Ultimately, Giuliani was ordered to pay the women nearly $150 million for defaming them. 

He was also disbarred in New York and Washington, D.C., for his disgraceful promotion of election lies.

Giuliani was also part of a pro-Trump operation after the 2016 election, attempting to push Ukraine-related conspiracy theories. The idea was to cast aspersions on the investigation into Russia’s decision to aid Trump in that election against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

That conspiracy theory formed the foundation of Trump’s first impeachment after he used the office of the presidency to pressure Ukraine and enhance his political power.

Giuliani also promoted conspiracies about the COVID-19 virus at the height of the pandemic, including the promotion of phony medical remedies for the virus on his podcast.

As recently as last Christmas, Giuliani was using his infamy to promote his own personal brand of coffee in a series of cringeworthy internet videos.

Giuliani has demonstrated that, like Trump, he is a die-hard conspiracy theorist. He has invoked those conspiracies to defend Trump, throwing away whatever last vestiges he had of credibility following his time as mayor and a significantly influential figure within the Republican Party.

In receiving the Medal of Freedom, Giuliani joins racist misogynist Rush Limbaugh, who died in 2021, as another Trump sycophant who received an award for their service providing pro-Trump propaganda.

Giuliani has gone from “America’s Mayor” to a disgraced Trump-era punchline, and now he’s getting a prize for it all.

Whoops! Tulsi Gabbard blows a CIA agent’s cover

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard blindsided the Central Intelligence Agency last week by naming an undercover officer on a list of 37 officials stripped of security clearances.

She posted the memo on Aug. 19 at the direction of President Donald Trump, sharing it on X with her more than 762,000 followers. The list targeted people who supported Trump’s first impeachment or worked on issues like Russian interference and foreign election meddling.

President Donald Trump stands with Tulsi Gabbard and her husband after she was sworn in as Director of National Intelligence on Feb. 12.

Among those listed was a senior CIA officer still working undercover—a detail Gabbard either didn’t know or didn’t care to confirm. According to The Wall Street Journal, Gabbard didn’t “meaningfully consult” the agency before going public, giving the CIA little warning and no chance to weigh in

Instead, her office sent the list to the agency the night before the release, practically making damage inevitable. According to people familiar with the matter, the CIA had no advance notice that Gabbard would post the names online, including that of a covert officer.

The blunder threatens to deepen tensions between the two top intelligence shops. Larry Pfeiffer, a former CIA chief of staff, told the Journal that any “smart” DNI would have cleared the move with the agency first. 

“It could potentially put CIA cover procedures at risk. It could put relations with foreign governments at risk,” he said.

Others were even less diplomatic. Brian Fiarchil, a retired CIA operations officer, blasted Gabbard on X as a “Trump lapdog” who knows nothing about intelligence and “will do anything to stay” in the president’s good graces.

Notably, this dust-up was not the first between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. In July, Gabbard declassified a report on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election that the CIA wanted more heavily redacted, arguing that it exposed sensitive sources and methods. But Gabbard ignored those concerns and did it anyway.

And now with a covert officer’s cover blown, the CIA is scrambling to contain the fallout while avoiding open war with Trump’s handpicked DNI. 

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard sits next to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

“Director Ratcliffe and the President’s entire elite national security team are committed to eradicating the politicization of intelligence and are focused on executing President Trump’s national security priorities, and keeping the American people safe,” CIA spokesperson Liz Lyons said.

Gabbard has come a long way from her days as a Democratic representative from Hawaii, but her recent actions continue to land her in trouble. It’s part of a broader pattern for Gabbard: She’ll do whatever it takes to stay in Trump’s good graces—even if she hurts herself. 

Trump was openly annoyed with her when they clashed over Iran’s nuclear program. Then, seemingly to win back his favor, she accused President Barack Obama of treason during the 2016 election, a move critics saw as an attempt to distract from the fallout over the administration’s refusal to release the Epstein files. The clearance memo seemed like more of the same—an exaggerated show of loyalty that instantly backfired.

In her Aug. 19 post, Gabbard claimed to be following Trump’s orders to revoke the clearances, framing it as a crackdown on officials who had politicized or leaked intelligence. Her spokesperson repeated that line to the Journal but, once again, offered no evidence that the affected officials had mishandled classified material.

“Gabbard directed the revocations to ensure individuals who have violated the trust placed in them by weaponizing, politicizing, manipulating, or leaking classified intelligence are no longer allowed to do so,” the spokesperson said.

Related | Tulsi Gabbard creates new task force to pursue Trump’s favorite vendettas

The problem is that one of those officials was a seasoned CIA officer with more than 20 years of experience in intelligence, including a stint on the National Intelligence Council as an expert on Russia and Eurasia.

And there’s another wrinkle in Gabbard’s move: Revealing the identity of a covert officer is a felony. Though whether that law applies to a government official is somewhat murky.

Attorney Mark Zaid, who represents intelligence officers and lost his own clearance under Trump, suggested that Gabbard might have broken the law.

“Can you say ‘Privacy Act violation’? I certainly can. Further proof of weaponization and politicization,” he wrote on X. “The vast majority of these individuals are not household names & are dedicated public servants who have worked across multiple presidential administrations.” 

Gabbard’s memo was meant to show loyalty to Trump. But instead, all she did was expose a covert officer and make herself look even more reckless.

Art is only free speech if Trump says so

In Donald Trump’s world, nothing says freedom like targeting art and museums.

In the wake of recent attacks on the Smithsonian’s choice to feature more than just straight, white artists, the White House has created a detailed list of artists it deems too woke. 

“This is ‘art’ from the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery commemorating the act of illegally crossing the ‘exclusionary’ border,” a White House X account wrote alongside a painting by Rigoberto A. Gonzalez. 

“This is what President Trump means when he says the Smithsonian is ‘OUT OF CONTROL.’”

The painting in question features a realistic depiction of a family of four at the southern border wall as a mother, holding a baby in her arms, scales a ladder.  

But the White House didn’t stop there. 

In this June 25, 2018 photo, visitors sit near a print by Mexican-American, Los Angeles-based artist Ken Gonzales-Day, who was exhibiting his 2006 series "Erased Lynchings" at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, which shows a series of photographs of lynchings in which the victim has been digitally removed from the image.

In their attempt to drive home the right-wing talking point of how crazy and woke the Smithsonian truly is, officials created an entire webpage listing out each piece of art featured at the museum at one time or another that crossed some imaginary line. 

The list, it appears, only includes artists who depict people of color or queer individuals. And predictably, the administration made it a point to bash artists who featured immigrants as well. 

“A exhibit [sic] at the American History Museum depicts migrants watching Independence Day fireworks ‘through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border wall’ and says America’s founders ‘feared non-White immigration,’” the White House wrote. 

It seems as if the administration takes issue with the statement that the founders painted non-white immigrants in a negative light. Then again, the Trump regime labeled Venezuelan immigrants with no criminal record as dangerous gang members before throwing them into a foreign prison that’s notorious for torturing inmates.

The artwork’s description also points out how Latin American immigrants are often labeled as “invaders.” And with an administration and president insistent on calling them “illegal aliens” while making sweeping generalizations that immigrants coming from the southern border are murderers and rapists, the shoe sure does seem to fit.

Related | How is the White House erasing history this week?

But it’s not just messaging on immigrants and the LGBTQ+ community that MAGA is fuming over. 

Trump’s minions also pushed to make sure that the Smithsonian wiped any mention of the president’s two impeachments from an exhibit. Public outcry and critical media coverage resulted in the exhibit being restored—but with new, softer language describing Trump’s transgressions.

If that’s not outrageous enough, Trump has also instructed the museum to downplay slavery’s role in American history

But turn back the clock just a few years to Trump’s first term as president, and remember how his administration was pointing fingers at the left for participating in censorship and “cancel” culture.

As always, the projection is strong with Trump and company.