WASHINGTON — President Trump was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday despite jockeying from his fellow Republicans, various world leaders and — most vocally — himself.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was honoring Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.”
Machado, however, said she wanted to dedicate the win to Trump, along with the people of her country, as she praised the president for support of her cause.
The White House responded bitterly to the news of the award Friday, with communications director Steven Cheung saying members of “the Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace” because they didn’t recognize Trump, especially after the Gaza ceasefire deal his administration helped strike this week.
“He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will,” Cheung wrote on social media.
The White House did not comment on Machado’s recognition, but Trump on social media shared Machado’s post praising him.
Her opposition to President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela aligns with the Trump administration’s own stance on Venezuela, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously praised her as “the personification of resilience, tenacity, and patriotism.”
Trump, who has long coveted the prestigious prize, has been outspoken about his desire for the honor during both of his presidential terms, particularly lately as he takes credit for ending conflicts around the world. The Republican president had expressed doubts that the Nobel committee would ever grant him the award.
“They’ll have to do what they do. Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that. I did it because I saved a lot of lives,” Trump said Thursday.
Although Trump received nominations for the prize, many of them occurred after the Feb. 1 deadline for the 2025 award, which fell just a week and a half into his second term. His name was, however, put forward in December by Republican Rep. Claudia Tenney of New York, her office said in a statement, for his brokering of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab states in 2020.
A long history of lobbying for the prize
Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the committee has seen various campaigns in its long history of awarding the peace prize.
“We receive thousands and thousands of letters every year of people wanting to say what for them leads to peace,” he said. “This committee sits in a room filled with the portraits of all laureates, and that room is filled with both courage and integrity. So we base only our decision on the work and the will of Alfred Nobel.”
The peace prize, first awarded in 1901, was created partly to encourage ongoing peace efforts. Alfred Nobel stipulated in his will that the prize should go to someone “who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”
Three sitting U.S. presidents have won the Nobel Peace Prize: Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, Woodrow Wilson in 1919 and Barack Obama in 2009. Jimmy Carter won the prize in 2002, a full two decades after leaving office. Former Vice President Al Gore received the prize in 2007.
Obama, a Democrat who was a focus of Trump’s attacks well before the Republican was elected, won the prize early in his tenure as president.
“They gave it to Obama for doing absolutely nothing but destroying our country,” Trump said Thursday.
Wars in Gaza and elsewhere
As one of his reasons for deserving the award, Trump often says he has ended seven wars, though some of the conflicts the president claims to have resolved were merely tensions and his role in easing them is disputed.
But while there is hope for the end to Israel and Hamas’ war, with Israel saying a ceasefire agreement with Hamas came into effect Friday, much remains uncertain about the aspects of the broader plan, including whether and how Hamas will disarm and who will govern Gaza. And little progress seems to have been made in the Russia-Ukraine war, a conflict Trump claimed during the 2024 campaign that he could end in one day.
As Trump pushes for peaceful resolutions to conflicts abroad, the country he governs remains deeply divided and politically fraught. Trump has kicked off what he hopes to be the largest deportation program in American history to remove immigrants living in the U.S. illegally. He is using the levers of government, including the Justice Department, to go after his perceived political enemies. He has sent the military into U.S. cities over local opposition to stop crime and crack down on immigration enforcement.
He withdrew the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming. He touched off global trade wars with his on-again, off-again tariffs, which he wields as a threat to bend other countries and companies to his will. He asserted presidential war powers by declaring cartels to be unlawful combatants and launching lethal strikes on boats in the Caribbean that he alleged were carrying drugs.
The full list of people nominated is secret, but anyone who submits a nomination is free to talk about it. Trump’s detractors say supporters, foreign leaders and others are submitting Trump’s name for nomination for the prize — and announcing it publicly — not because he deserves it but because they see it as a way to manipulate him and stay in his good graces.
The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who this summer said he was nominating Trump for the prize, on Friday reposted Cheung’s response with the comment: “The Nobel Committee talks about peace. President @realDonaldTrump makes it happen.”
“The facts speak for themselves,” Netanyahu’s office said on X. “President #Trump deserves it.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who sent troops to Ukraine in 2022 and has sought to show alignment with Trump, told reporters in Taijikistan on Friday that it’s not up to him to judge whether Trump should have received the prize, but he praised the ceasefire deal for Gaza.
He also criticized the Nobel Committee’s prior decisions, saying it has in the past awarded the prize to those who have done little to advance global peace.
Putin’s remarks nearly echoed the comments Trump made about Obama, and the U.S. leader responded to his Russian counterpart’s praise by posting on social media: “Thank you to President Putin!”
Others who formally submitted a nomination for Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize — but after this year’s deadline — include Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Pakistan’s government, all citing his work in helping end conflicts in their regions.
Pesoli and Price write for the Associated Press. AP writers Chris Megerian in Washington, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
Visitors to Japan are leaving behind their suitcases behind at hotels and airports, causing significant cost, hassle and even security concerns, Audrey Kohout, Co-CEO of Luggage Forward, told the Mirror
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Suitcases are being dumped at the airport (file photo)(Image: Adam Gerrard / Daily Mirror)
Holidaymakers in the Asian country are leaving behind their suitcases. It’s not an isolated phenomenon. Hundreds of bags are being dumped, cluttering up airports and hotels.
At the root of the problem are souvenirs. The recent weakness of the yen in comparison to the dollar and pound means tourists can load up on cute gifts in Japanese gift shops in a way they have never done before.
Weighed down with a hotel room full of Pikachu dolls, unusual flavours of KitKats and yukata, tourists are buying large bags to take everything home with them. They then dump the bag they brought rather than paying to take two home.
A survey by the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau found that more than 80 percent of the hotels surveyed complain about abandoned suitcases. This can prove tricky for hotels, which end up storing the bags while they attempt to make contact with the departed guest.
The Best Western Hotel Fino Osaka Shinsaibashi reports about three or four suitcases left in rooms on some days. Disposal cost the hotel more than £1,400 last year.
While the issue is one of inconvenience and financial cost in hotels, it is a security matter in airports. Narita International Airport near Tokyo reported more than 1,000 abandoned suitcases last year alone, some of them prompting police responses to ensure that they aren’t a security threat.
Audrey Kohout, Co-CEO of Luggage Forward, told the Mirror: “A few things in Japan have led to this trend there as opposed to other surging places. Japan is a wonderful place for souvenir shopping. People are purchasing a huge amount and are upgrading to a bigger suitcase, as they didn’t plan ahead.
“You combine that with checking a bag on an airline, and it leaves people a bit squeezed and not wanting multiple bags. The dollar is strong there. You merge that with Japan having a lot of high-quality, affordable options and fun knick-knacks. It lends it to be a strong souvenir destination.
“Also, it is not an easy place to throw something away. It is built for residents. I remember walking around with a coffee cup for miles. You’re supposed to bring things home and dispose of them at home. Abandoning it can be easier than throwing it away.
“There is also often a language barrier. Japan is a pretty easy place to get around, but not a lot of people speak English. Just getting support on something that’s not wildly obvious is not the easiest thing to do there.”
Japan has quickly become one of the most popular destinations in the world for a holiday, and it’s having a bumper year. The weak state of the yen is encouraging visitors to book holidays in record numbers.
From the UK alone, just shy of 70,000 Brits travelled there in April, a 43% increase compared to the same month in 2024. Overall, Japan set a new visitor record with 21.5 million tourists in the first half of 2025, a 21% increase from last year.
A TikTok has named the top five countries that Brits are moving to – and you’d be surprised to find out that it’s not Australia in the top choice
Italy just made it into the top five with 6231 choosing to move there in 2023(Image: Getty Images)
Spain has been revealed as the top choice for Brits looking to relocate abroad, according to a TikTok video. The reason is quite typical, but it makes a lot of sense.
The laid-back lifestyle, warmer temperatures and stunning beaches are among the main reasons why Brits are choosing Spain over other countries.
While Australia might seem like an obvious choice for many, the long distance from the UK often deters people from making the move. Spain, on the other hand, offers similar benefits to Australia but without the lengthy journey, making it easier for Brits to return home when needed.
In 2023, approximately 93,000 Brits decided to move abroad, the TikTok video revealed. The top five destinations for Brits included Italy, France, Australia, America and of course, Spain.
Italy just made it into the top five, welcoming 6,231 Brits in 2023. The country’s beautiful coastlines, stunning scenery and delicious cuisine are among the top reasons why it’s a favourite relocation destination.
France, which is one of the closest European countries to the UK, ranked fourth, with 9,393 Brits moving there. Despite its proximity, France offers a variety of landscapes that are notably different from those in the UK, including countryside and beaches.
In third place, Australia has attracted 10,416 Brits to its shores. It’s no surprise that this far-flung destination is a favourite among Brits, with its unique culture and stunning landscapes making it a dream relocation spot.
The United States takes the second spot, with 12,648 Brits choosing to call it home. The vast landscapes and endless opportunities of this English-speaking nation are a major draw for many. The rumours of British hating Americans, and vice versa, might be a myth after all.
And bagging the top spot is Spain, with 13,113 Brits swapping their UK homes for the sunny European country. According to the latest available data, there are around 293,000 to 300,000 registered British expats in Spain. Popular cities include Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Tenerife and Benidorm.
With its enviable lifestyle and proximity to the UK, it’s no wonder Spain is the number one choice for Brits looking to relocate – and it’s totally understandable!
The EU’s Entry/Exit System will come into force on Sunday. It will require British passport holders to provide personal information when entering the 25 EU countries, plus Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland
Brits may be asked how much money they’ve got in their bank accounts when travelling from the end of this week.
Since the UK left the EU, passport holders have been treated as third-country citizens by the bloc. This means that we must adhere to certain rules set by the EU and individual countries within it.
One of the EU rules relates to money. It states: “Sufficient means of subsistence, both for the duration of the intended stay and for the return to their country of origin or transit to a third country into which they are certain to be admitted, or are in a position to acquire such means lawfully.”
While this stipulation has been in place for several years, most travellers will not have been asked how much money they’ve got in the bank when entering an EU country. However, that may soon change.
The EU’s Entry/Exit System will come into force on Sunday. It will require British passport holders to provide personal information when entering the 25 EU countries, plus Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland.
Instead of using stamps, countries in the zone will log travellers’ faces, fingerprints, and entry and exit dates.
As the Mirror discovered last month during a tour of EES facilities at St Pancras Station in London, the machines installed to process travellers (at St Pancras at least) ask whether you have enough funds for the duration of your stay.
The same questions may be asked when Brits arrive in EU countries from Sunday. It is currently not completely clear what the consequences are if passengers answer ‘no’ to that question, or if they lie in their answer.
A government spokesperson told the Mirror: “From 12 October, passengers who register for EES at a kiosk may need to answer a series of questions. If a traveller answers ‘no’ to any of these questions, they will be directed to speak with a border guard for further discussion. This is a normal part of border procedures, which is designed to ensure smooth and secure travel.”
Given all of this, it’s helpful to know how much each relevant country wants travellers to have in savings for each day of their stay, as reported by the Independent.
€50 with a minimum of €500: Bulgaria
€95: Belgium
€64: Czech Republic
€50: Denmark
€70: Estonia, Slovenia and Croatia
€50: Finland
€65: France
€45: Germany
€50 with a minimum of €300: Greece
€25: Hungary
€56 with a minimum of €280: Iceland
€54 with a minimum of €270: Italy
€14: Latvia
€50: Lithuania and Romania
€89: Luxembourg
€48: Malta
€55: Netherlands
€43: Norway
€18: Poland
€40 (with a €70 entry fee): Portugal
€56: Slovakia
€113.40 with a minimum of €1,020.60: Spain
€39: Sweden
€107: Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Non-specific: Austria: Austria’s rules do not set out how much travellers must have. Instead it says: “Aliens shall be refused entry at the border if they have no place of residence in Austria and do not have sufficient means of subsistence to meet the costs of their stay and return. However, there are no reference amounts for the above. Decisions are made on a case-by-case basis depending on the purpose, type and duration of the stay.”
Few things can beat sitting down to a hearty pub lunch after a blustery autumnal walk. And if there’s a welcoming bar with an open fire, so much the better. We’d love to hear about your favourite cosy, country pub, where great food and a warm welcome are always on the menu.
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A federal judge has temporarily blocked a new Trump administration policy to keep migrant children in detention after they turn 18, moving quickly to stop transfers to adult facilities that advocates said were scheduled for this weekend.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras on Saturday issued a temporary restraining order to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to detain any child who came to the country alone and without permission in ICE adult detention facilities after they become an adult.
The Washington, D.C., judge found that such automatic detention violates a court order he issued in 2021 barring such practices.
ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond Saturday to emails seeking comment.
The push to detain new adults is yet another battle over one of the most sensitive issues in President Trump’s hard-line immigration agenda — how to treat children who cross the border unaccompanied by adults.
The Associated Press reported Friday that officials are offering migrant children age 14 and older $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries. Last month a separate federal judge blocked attempts to immediately deport Guatemalan migrant children who came to the U.S. alone back to their home country. Some children had been put on board planes in that late-night operation before a judge blocked it.
“All of these are pieces of the same general policy to coerce immigrant youth into giving up their right to seek protection in the United States,” said Michelle Lapointe, a lawyer for the American Immigration Council, one of the groups that asked Contreras to intervene in a filing made early Saturday, just after midnight.
Unaccompanied children are held in shelters run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which isn’t part of ICE. Contreras’ 2021 order instructed federal officials to release minors who turn 18 from those shelters to “the least restrictive setting available.” He ruled that that is what’s required by federal law as long as the minor isn’t a danger to themselves or others and isn’t a flight risk. Minors are often released to the custody of a relative, or maybe into foster care.
But lawyers who represent unaccompanied minors said they began getting word in the last few days that ICE was telling shelters that children who were about to turn 18 — even those who had already-approved release plans — could no longer be released and would instead be taken to detention facilities, possibly as early as Saturday. One email from ICE asserted that the new adults could only be released by ICE under its case-by-case parole authority for “urgent humanitarian reasons” or “significant public benefit.” From March through September, ICE has paroled fewer than 500 people overall.
The plaintiffs argued that “release on parole is all but a dead letter” and that children aging out of shelters would experience lasting harm from unnecessary and inappropriate adult detention” in jails that might be overcrowded or in remote locations. The plaintiffs said that was especially true because some of the clients they cited had been victims of trafficking or had been abused, neglected or abandoned by their parents.
U.S. border authorities have arrested children crossing the border without parents more than 400,000 times since October 2021. A 2008 law requires them to appear before an immigration judge before being returned to their countries.
Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters since the Trump administration put them under closer scrutiny before releasing them to family in the United States to pursue their immigration cases.
The additional scrutiny includes fingerprinting, DNA testing and home visits by immigration officers. Over the summer, immigration officers started showing up and arresting parents.
The average length of stay at government-run shelters for those released in the U.S. was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took office.
The Foreign Office (FCDO) said there could be problems for two reasons
Rome in particular could be hit(Image: Alexander Spatari via Getty Images)
Anyone jetting off to Italy this weekend has been warned of potential disruption. The Foreign Office (FCDO) has announced that a 24-hour national strike on Friday is set to cause issues.
The strike was scheduled to impact trains from 9pm on Thursday, October 2, and all transport from midnight and then throughout Friday, October 3.
Travellers have been advised to check schedules with transport providers.
Additionally, the FCDO has flagged up potential issues in Rome on Saturday, October 4.
It said: “Demonstrations are planned in Rome for Saturday, October 4. This is likely to attract a large number of protestors and cause disruption to roads and transport in the city centre. Plan your day and avoid any demonstrations.”
The FCDO has directed travellers to its safety and security page for more information about industrial action and demonstrations.
Jubilee 2025 – Holy Year
The FCDO also reminded travellers that The Jubilee, also known as the Holy Year, will be taking place in Rome from December 24, 2024, to January 6, 2026.
It added: “The city is expected to be very busy, if you are planning to travel to Rome during this time, see our Jubilee 2025 – Holy Year information in safety and security.”
During a recent interview on the New York Times’ ”Popcast” to discuss her latest solo album, the Paramore lead singer was asked whether she would like to “name names” to reveal who she means when she sings about being “the biggest star / At this racist country singer’s bar” in the title track.
“It could be a couple but I’m always talking about Morgan Wallen,” Williams said. “I don’t give a s—. Find me at Whole Foods, b—, I don’t care.”
In 2021, Wallen was caught on video drunkenly using a racist slur. The Grammy-nominated country star’s This Bar and Tennessee Kitchen, named after one of his songs and paying homage to his upbringing, opened in Nashville last year.
(Video of Wallen’s 2024 arrest for reckless endangerment is making headlines again this week too. In police bodycam video obtained by the Associated Press, Wallen denies throwing a chair off a Nashville bar’s roof but apologizes for “caus[ing] problems.” He took a plea deal after being charged in the case and was sentenced to seven days’ incarceration at a DUI Education Center, two years’ probation, a $350 fine and payment of court fees.)
Williams, who was born in Mississippi, met her future Paramore bandmates after moving to Tennessee as a child. She has been open about her political beliefs and having to navigate her own upbringing as a white southern Christian. Some of her latest music addresses religious hypocrisy and the racial tensions and racist legacy of the South.
“I’m never not ready to scream at the top of my lungs about racial issues,” Williams said in her interview. “I don’t know why that became the thing that gets me the most angry. I think it’s because it’s so intersectional that it overlaps with everything from climate change to LGBTQIA+ issues.”
In addition to her years with Paramore and the inspiration behind her latest solo work, Williams spoke about how proud she is of the diversity of Paramore’s fan base and audience at shows.
“I’m very passionate in that we have a long way to go in making people feel like that they belong in the world,” she said. “The repercussions of people not feeling like they’re a part or they belong, we see it all the time in the news. I think music is not only the easiest but the beautiful way to tap into people’s hearts and their subconscious and change their minds.”
Longtime FilmLA executive Denise Gutches has been named the nonprofit’s new chief executive.
Gutches, who has served as FilmLA’s chief financial and operating officer since 2011, will assume her new role on Jan. 1. FilmLA President Paul Audley will retire at the end of December after a 17-year tenure with the organization, which announced the change Wednesday morning.
“We have a lot to do in this creative economy,” Gutches said in an interview. “I am definitely up for this challenge.”
The leadership transition comes as Hollywood tries to lure back film and television production that has relocated to other states and countries in search of lower costs and more generous tax incentives. Earlier this year, California increased the annual amount allocated to its own film and TV tax credit program and expanded the eligibility criteria in hopes of jump-starting production in the Golden State.
In the most recent application period, 22 TV series were awarded tax credits amid heightened interest in the program. Eighteen of those series will film largely in the Los Angeles area.
Gutches said she is hopeful the sweetened incentives will provide a boost to the Greater L.A. area, which has seen a sharp decline in production since the pandemic, dual writers’ and actors strikes and a pullback in spending from the studios.
FilmLA — which handles film permits for the city of Los Angeles and unincorporated areas of the county — is also working with government partners to smooth the process of filming in L.A., she said.
“We think that that’s highly critical to ensure that we can make the Los Angeles region more attractive with the new film and television tax credit,” she said. “Our mission is to keep filming here and streamlining it, and that’s really what we’re going to focus on.”
The transition to Gutches’ leadership began months ago when Audley asked the nonprofit’s board not to renew his contract.
His decision came after the group’s staff was cut to 74 employees from 117, reflecting industry changes and a slowdown in local production activity.
“It’s really about right-sizing the executive level staff of an organization of this size,” Audley said. “It just makes good business sense.”
TEHRAN, Iran — The United States will deport hundreds of Iranians back to Iran in the coming weeks, with the first 120 deportees being prepared for a flight in the next day or two, Iran said Tuesday.
The deportation of Iranians, not yet publicly acknowledged by the U.S. government, comes as tensions remain high between the two countries following the American bombings of Iranian nuclear sites in June.
Meanwhile, the United Nations reimposed sanctions on Iran this past week over its nuclear program, putting new pressure on the Islamic Republic’s ailing economy.
The deportations also represent a collision of a top priority of President Trump — targeting illegal immigration — against a decadeslong practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
As many as 400 Iranians would be returning to Iran as part of the deal with the U.S., Iranian state television said, citing Hossein Noushabadi, director-general for parliamentary affairs at Iran’s Foreign Ministry. He said the majority of those people had crossed into the U.S. from Mexico illegally, while some faced other immigration issues.
Noushabadi said the first planeload of Iranians would arrive in a day or two, after stopping over in Qatar on the way. Authorities in Qatar have not confirmed that.
The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which did not immediately respond. The New York Times first reported the deportations.
In the lead up to and after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, a large number of Iranians fled to the U.S. In the decades since, the U.S. had been sensitive in allowing those fleeing from Iran over religious, sexual or political persecution to seek residency.
In the 2024 fiscal year, for instance, the U.S. deported only 20 Iranians, according to statistics from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Iran has criticized Washington for hosting dissidents and others in the past. U.S. federal prosecutors have accused Iran of hiring hitmen to target dissidents as well in America.
It’s unclear exactly what has changed now in American policy. However, since returning to the White House, Trump has cracked down on those living in the U.S. illegally.
Noushabadi said that American authorities unilaterally made the decision without consultations with Iran.
But The New York Times said Tuesday, citing anonymous Iranian officials, that the deportations were “the culmination of months of discussions between the two countries.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, as well as President Masoud Pezeshkian, both attended the U.N. General Assembly in New York last week as a last-ditch effort to stop the reimposed sanctions. However, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei boxed in their efforts by describing diplomacy with the U.S. as a “sheer dead end.”
Speaking to state TV in footage aired Tuesday, Araghchi acknowledged that direct communication from Iran went to the U.S. government during the U.N. visit — something he had been careful not to highlight during five rounds of nuclear negotiations with the Americans earlier this year.
“With Americans, both directly and indirectly, messages were exchanged, and eventually, we are relieved that we did whatever it was necessary,” Araghchi said. “It was clear and evident to us after the interpretation the Supreme Leader made that negotiations with Americans is an obvious dead-end.”
WASHINGTON — Washington is barreling toward a government shutdown Tuesday night, with few signs of an off-ramp as Democrats and Republicans dig in for a fight over government spending.
Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill is insisting on an extension of Affordable Care Act tax credits as part of a package to fund the government. At least seven Democratic votes are needed in the Senate to pass a seven-week stopgap bill that cleared the House last week.
But Republican lawmakers and the White House have dismissed the proposal, with senior officials in the Trump administration threatening to use unique legal authorities granted during a government shutdown to conduct yet more mass firings of federal workers.
Bipartisan congressional leadership met with President Trump at the White House on Monday afternoon in a last-minute effort to avert the crisis. But neither side exited the meeting with expectations of a breakthrough. On the contrary, Republican leaders in the House told the GOP caucus to plan to return to work next week and said they would hold a news conference on Wednesday anticipating the government’s closure.
“We are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of everyday Americans, period, full stop,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Monday.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer talk to reporters outside the White House.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
Vice President JD Vance said he thought the country was “headed to a shutdown,” labeling Democratic calls for healthcare tax credits an “absurd” demand that amounts to an “excuse for shutting down the people’s government.”
“You don’t use your policy disagreements as leverage to not pay our troops,” Vance said. “That’s exactly what they’re proposing out there.”
When the government shuts down, the law requires all nonessential government services to cease, requiring most federal workers to go on furlough or work without pay. Essential services — such as national security functions and air traffic control — are not affected.
Ahead of the meeting, Trump told reporters he hoped Democrats would agree to “keeping our country open,” before proceeding to criticize their proposals.
“They’re going to have to do some things, because their ideas are not very good ones,” Trump said. “They’re very bad for our country. So we’ll see how that works out.”
But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he thought his message was beginning to resonate with the president after their meeting Monday afternoon.
“We have very large differences, on healthcare, and on their ability to undo whatever budget we agree to, through rescissions and through impoundment,” Schumer said. “I think for the first time, the president heard our objections and heard why we needed a bipartisan bill. Their bill has not one iota of Democratic input. That is never how we’ve done this before.”
“We’ve made to the president some proposals,” Schumer added. “Ultimately, he’s a decision-maker.”
Schumer faced widespread ridicule from within his party in March after reversing course during the last showdown, choosing then to support the Trump administration’s continuing resolution to fund the government at the height of an aggressive purge of the federal workforce.
At that point, Schumer feared a shutdown could accelerate the firings. But Schumer is now defiant, despite the renewed threat of layoffs, after the White House Office of Management and Budget circulated a memo last week directing federal agencies to relieve workers on discretionary projects that lose funding after Oct. 1.
“This is an attempt at intimidation,” Schumer said in response to the memo. “Donald Trump has been firing federal workers since day one — not to govern, but to scare. This is nothing new and has nothing to do with funding the government.”
Vice President JD Vance talks to reporters as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune listen.
(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)
Still, Schumer began gauging his caucus Monday afternoon on the prospects of a continuing resolution that would in effect delay a shutdown by a week, briefly extending government funding in order to continue negotiations.
Betting markets had chances of a shutdown soaring above 70% by the end of the day on Monday.
Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said the president’s position was “the reasonable and commonsense thing to do,” calling on Democrats to continue funding to the military and its veterans.
“All we are asking for is a commonsense, clean funding resolution — a continuing resolution — to keep the government open,” Leavitt said. “This is a bill that keeps the government funded at the exact same levels as today, just adjusted for inflation.”
“So there is zero good reason for the Democrats to vote against this,” she added. “The president is giving Democrat leadership one last chance to be reasonable.”
But Jeffries dismissed Leavitt as “divorced from reality” in a podcast interview.
“In what world will any rational American conclude, after we’ve been lectured throughout the year about this so-called mandate that the Republican Party has in this country, and their complete control of government in Washington, that because Democrats are unwilling to gut the healthcare of the American people as part of the Republican healthcare crisis, that it’s us shutting the government down?” Jeffries said.
“Nobody’s buying that,” he continued, “outside of the parts of the MAGA base who basically, seemingly, will buy anything that Donald Trump has to peddle.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said he would call a vote on funding the government Tuesday afternoon.
“This is purely and simply hostage-taking,” Thune said Monday. Whether it passes or fails, he said, is “up to the Democrats.”
In 2007, eight years after becoming Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez revoked the license of the country’s oldest private television station. Eight months into his second term, President Trump suggested revoking the licenses of U.S. television stations he believes are overly critical of him.
Since he returned to office in January, Trump’s remaking of the federal government into an instrument of his personal will has drawn comparisons to elected strongmen in other countries who used the levers of government to consolidate power, punish their enemies and stifle dissent.
But those familiar with other countries where that has happened, including Hungary and Turkey, say there is one striking difference: Trump appears to be moving more rapidly, and more overtly, than others did.
“The only difference is the speed with which it is happening,” said David Smilde, who lived in Venezuela during Chavez’s rise and is now a professor at Tulane University.
Political enemies of the president become targets
The U.S. is a long way from Venezuela or other authoritarian governments. It still has robust opposition to Trump, judges who often check his initiatives and a system that diffuses power across 50 states, including elections, making it hard for a president to dominate the country. Some of Trump’s most controversial pledges, such as revoking television licenses, remain just threats.
Trump has both scoffed and winked at the allegation that he’s an authoritarian.
During last year’s campaign, he said he wouldn’t be a “dictator” — except, he added, “on day one” over the border. Last month, Trump told reporters: ”A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator.’ I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator.”
Even so, he has moved quickly to consolidate authority under the presidency, steer federal law enforcement to prioritize a campaign of retribution and purge the government of those not considered sufficiently loyal.
In a recent social media post, Trump complained to his attorney general, Pam Bondi, about a lack of prosecution of his foes, saying “JUSTICE MUST BE SERVED, NOW!!!” Days later, the Department of Justice secured a felony indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump has blamed for the Russian collusion investigation that dogged his first term.
The same day, Trump ordered a sweeping crackdown targeting groups he alleges fund political violence. The examples he gave of victims were exclusively Republicans and his possible targets were those who have funded Democratic candidates and liberal causes. The week before, Trump’s Federal Communications Commission chairman, Brendan Carr, threatened ABC after a comment about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk by late night host Jimmy Kimmel angered Republicans.
ABC suspended Kimmel for five days, but Trump threatened consequences for the network after it returned his show to the airwaves: “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do,” the president said on his social media site.
Trump has said he is repaying Democrats for what he says is political persecution of him and his supporters. The White House said its mission was accountability.
“The Trump administration will continue to deliver the truth to the American people, restore integrity to our justice system, and take action to stop radical left-wing violence that is plaguing American communities.” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said Saturday in response to a question about comparisons between Trump and authoritarian leaders.
U.S. unprepared for attacks on democracy from within
Trump opened his second term pardoning more than 1,500 people convicted of crimes during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, an attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss. He has threatened judges who ruled against him, targeted law firms and universities he believes opposed him, and is attempting to reshape the nation’s cultural institutions.
On Saturday, the president said he was going to send troops to Portland, Oregon, “authorizing Full Force” if necessary. It would be his latest deployment of troops to cities run by Democrats.
Steven Levitsky, a Harvard political scientist and co-author of the book “How Democracies Die,” said he is constantly asked by foreign journalists how the U.S. can let Trump take such actions.
“If you talk to Brazilians, South Koreans, Germans, they have better antennae for authoritarians,” he said. “They experienced, or were taught by their parents, or the schools, the danger of losing a democracy.”
Of the United States, he said: “This is not a society that is prepared for authoritarianism.”
‘America has become little Turkey’
Alper Coskun presumed the U.S. wouldn’t go the way of his native Turkey, where he served in the government, including as the country’s director general of international security affairs. He left as that country’s president, Recep Erdogan, consolidated power.
Coskun now laughs bitterly at the quip his countrymen make: Turkey wanted to become little America, but now America has become little Turkey.
“It’s a very similar playbook,” said Coskun, now at the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace. The difference, he said, is that Erdogan, first elected in 2002, had to move slowly to avoid running afoul of Turkey’s then-independent military and business community.
Trump, in contrast, has more “brazenly” broken democratic norms, Coskun said.
Erdogan, who met with Trump this past week, has had 23 years in office to increase his authority and has now jailed writers, journalists and a potential political rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
“Trump is emulating Erdogan much faster than I expected,” said Henri Barkey, a Turkish professor and expert at the Council on Foreign Relations who lives in the U.S. and has been accused by Erdogan of complicity in an attempted 2016 coup, an allegation Barkey denies.
He said Trump is following in Erdogan’s path in prosecuting enemies, but said he has yet to use the Justice Department to neutralize opponents running for office.
“We have to see if Trump is going to go to that next step,” Barkey said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has often been cited as a model for Trump. Orbán has become an icon to some U.S. conservatives for cracking down on immigration and LGBTQ rights. Like Trump, he lost an election and spent his years out of office planning his return.
When voters returned Orbán to power in 2010, he moved as quickly as Trump, said Kim Scheppele, who was an adviser to Hungary’s constitutional court and now is a sociologist at Princeton. But there was one difference.
To avoid resistance, Scheppele said, “Orbán had a ‘don’t scare the horses’ philosophy.” She said he spent much of his first year back working on legal reforms and changes to Hungary’s constitution that set him up to consolidate power.
In Venezuela, Chavez faced resistance from the moment he was elected, including an unsuccessful coup in 2002. His supporters complained the country’s largest broadcast network did not cover it in real time, and he eventually pulled its license.
Chavez later deployed the military as an internal police force and accelerated a crackdown on critics before he died in office in 2013.
In the U.S., Smilde said, people trust the country’s institutions to maintain democracy. And they did in 2020 and 2021, when the courts, staff in the administration, and elected officials in state and federal government blocked Trump’s effort to overturn his election loss.
“But now, here we are with a more pointed attack,” Smilde said. “Here, nobody has really seen this in a president before.”
DES MOINES — Officials put the leader of Iowa’s largest school district on administrative leave Saturday, a day after federal immigration agents arrested him because they said he was in the country illegally.
The Des Moines school board voted unanimously to place Supt. Ian Roberts on paid leave. The board said during a three-minute meeting that Roberts was not available to carry out his duties for the 30,000-student district and that officials would reassess his status after getting more information.
After the meeting, school board President Jackie Norris read a statement saying that word of Roberts’ arrest Friday made for a “jarring day,” but noting that board members still didn’t have all the facts.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said agents detained Roberts because he was in the country illegally, didn’t have authorization to work and was subject to a final removal order issued in 2024. ICE agents stopped Roberts while he was driving a school-issued vehicle, and the agency said he then fled into a wooded area before being apprehended with help from Iowa State Patrol officers.
He was held in the Woodbury County Jail in Sioux City, in northwest Iowa, about 150 miles from Des Moines.
“I want to be clear, no one here was aware of any citizenship or immigration issues that Dr. Roberts may have been facing,” Norris said. “The accusations ICE had made against Dr. Roberts are very serious, and we are taking them very seriously.”
Norris said Roberts has retained a Des Moines law firm to represent him. Lawyer Alfredo Parrish confirmed his firm was representing Roberts, but declined to comment on his case.
Norris also repeated that the district had done a background check on Roberts before he was hired that didn’t indicate any problems and that he signed a form affirming he was a U.S. citizen. A company that aided in the search for a superintendent in 2023 also hired another firm to conduct “comprehensive criminal, credit and background checks” on Roberts that didn’t indicate any citizenship problems, Norris said.
Also Saturday, the Iowa Department of Education released a statement saying Roberts stated he was a U.S. citizen when he applied for an administrator license. The department said the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners conducted a criminal history check with state and federal authorities before issuing a license.
The department said it is reviewing the Des Moines district’s hiring procedures for ensuring people are authorized to work in the U.S.
Roberts had previously said he was born to immigrant parents from Guyana and spent much of his childhood in Brooklyn, N.Y. He competed in the 2000 Olympics in track and field for Guyana.
ICE said he entered the U.S. on a student visa in 1999.
A former senior Guyanese police official on Saturday remembered Roberts as a middle-distance runner who could have risen through the ranks of the South American country’s police force had he not emigrated to the U.S. decades ago. Retired Assistant Guyana Police Force Commissioner Paul Slowe said Roberts entered the police force after graduating from the country’s standard military officers’ course.
“He served for a few years and then left. He was not dismissed or dishonorably discharged at all; he just moved on,” Slowe told the Associated Press. “He was a good, promising and disciplined man.”
McFetridge writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Bert Wilkinson in Georgetown, Guyana, contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Saturday he will send troops to Portland, “authorizing Full Force, if necessary,” to handle “domestic terrorists” in Oregon’s biggest city as he expands his deployments to more American metropolises.
He made the announcement on social media, writing that he was directing the Department of Defense to “provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland.”
Trump said the decision was necessary to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, which he described as “under siege from attack by Antifa, and other domestic terrorists.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for details on Trump’s announcement, such as a timeline for the deployment or what troops would be involved. He previously threatened to send the National Guard into Chicago but has yet to follow through. A deployment in Memphis, Tenn., is expected to include about 150 troops, far fewer than were sent to the District of Columbia for Trump’s crackdown or in Los Angeles in response to immigration protests.
Pentagon officials did not immediately respond to requests for information.
Since the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the Republican president has escalated his efforts to confront what he calls the “radical left,” which he blames for the country’s problems with political violence.
He deployed the National Guard and active-duty Marines to Los Angeles in June as part of his law enforcement takeover in Democratic-run cities.
The ICE facility in Portland has been the target of frequent demonstrations, sometimes leading to violent clashes. Some federal agents have been injured and several protesters have been charged with assault. When protesters erected a guillotine this month, the Department of Homeland Security described it as “unhinged behavior.”
Trump, in comments Thursday in the Oval Office, suggested that some kind of operation was in the works.
“We’re going to get out there and we’re going to do a pretty big number on those people in Portland,” he said, describing them as “professional agitators and anarchists.”
Earlier in September, Trump had described the environment in Portland as “like living in hell” and said he was considering sending in federal troops, as he has recently threatened to do to combat crime in other cities, including Chicago and Baltimore.
“Like other mayors across the country, I have not asked for — and do not need — federal intervention,” Portland’s mayor, Keith Wilson, said in a statement after Trump’s threat. Wilson said his city had protected freedom of expression while “addressing occasional violence and property destruction.”
In Tennessee, Memphis has been bracing for an influx of National Guard troops, and on Friday, Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who helped coordinate the operation, said they will be part of a surge of resources to fight crime in the city. Memphis is led by a Democratic mayor.
As a young lad growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Pittsburg, my school uniform consisted of corduroys the color of Ash Wednesday, a white dress shirt and a maroon V-neck sweater. I walked west from my family’s apartment on 10th Street, turned left on Montezuma, and arrived about 15 minutes later at the campus of St. Peter Martyr.
My teachers were nuns, the parish priests were Dominicans, and Sunday mass was a celebration of faith, humility and grace.
I am not without sin. I’m an imperfect man and the church is an imperfect institution.
But I’ve been wondering lately what my favorite St. Peter Martyr teachers — Sisters Roberta, Eileen and Estelle — would make of today’s political discourse, in which claims of piety and Christian faith are not always backed by words and deeds, particularly from a certain world leader.
I think if they were teaching today, the nuns would tell everyone in class to get out their pencils and notebooks and write a letter to the president.
So here goes.
Dear President Trump:
Ever hear of St. Peter Martyr School?
Probably not, but I’m an alum. The school was named after St. Peter of Verona, who campaigned against heresy and paid the price when one of the Cathars sunk an ax into his skull (what a way to go). So I guess politics haven’t really changed much over the centuries.
By the way, nice job recently on your presentation at the National Bible Museum, where you launched the “America Prays” initiative to celebrate spirituality and restore “our identity as one nation under God.” And congratulations on your missionary work. I see that you raked in $1.3 million on your “God Bless the USA Bible.”
Well put, Mr. President, and unsurprising, given that you once called the Bible your favorite book. But I know that in my own life, I need to flip back through the pages on occasion to ground myself in the teachings.
So here’s an idea:
I’ll share a Bible verse, and then I’ll follow it with a recent quote from you. Not that I’m judging, or anything. But we might all benefit spiritually by asking whether, in our own lives, God would approve of how we conduct ourselves.
Are you ready?
Corinthians 12: “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.”
Trump: “You know, Biden was always a mean guy, but he was never a smart guy. … You go back 30 years ago, 40 years ago, he was a stupid guy, but he was always a mean son of a bitch.”
Essay Topic: An obsessive need to demean and diminish others is explained by some behavioral therapists as a sign of insecurity, weakness, or an unhappy childhood. Write 500 words, in cursive, on how any of this might apply to you.
Genesis 2:15: “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
Trump: “This climate change, it’s the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world in my opinion … all of these predictions made by the United Nations and many others, often for bad reasons, were wrong, they were made by stupid people. … If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country’s going to fail.”
Essay Topic: Despite the growing horror of melting icecaps, deadly storms, disappearing coasts and widespread famine, if the Garden of Eden were a national forest, would you lay off Adam or Eve, or both of them, and would anything prevent you from opening the property to drilling?
John 3:17: “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?”
Trump: “It’s time to end the failed experiment of open borders. You have to end it now. It’s — I can tell you. I’m really good at this stuff. Your countries are going to hell.”
Essay Topic: Given that we probably shouldn’t, as mere mortals, assume divine powers, is condemning someone to hell — or entire countries, in this case — an act of blasphemy?
Leviticus 19: “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
Trump: “They’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
Essay Topic: You once said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” and yet your late mother and two of your three wives were immigrants. Were you ever tempted to have any, or all three of them deported, and if so, in which order?
Psalm 103: “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
Trump: “Happy Memorial Day to all, including the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country.”
Essay Topic: Given that Jesus would not likely have called half the population of the United States scum, and that he probably would have protested ICE raids at Home Depots, would you say the son of God was a member of the extreme radical left?
Matthew 5: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
Trump: “I hate my opponent and I don’t want what’s best for them. … I can’t stand my opponent.”
Essay Topic: Which saying do you find the most offensive and probably created by the radical left — turn the other cheek, or treat others as you would have them treat you?
Bonus points: At what age did you begin pulling the wings off of butterflies, and which, if any, of the 10 Commandments have you not broken?
Matthew 23: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”
Hallellujah and amen to that. And yes, it is possible.
But first you must write and recite, 1,000 times, the Act of Contrition. (It’s the prayer that ends with: “I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.”)
Sisters Roberta, Eileen and Estelle will be waiting for you at the Pearly Gates. And trust me — they will know if you’ve done your homework.
Sonny Curtis, a vintage rock ‘n’ roller who wrote the raw classic “I Fought the Law” and posed the enduring question “Who can turn the world on with her smile?” as the writer-crooner of the theme song to “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” has died at 88.
Curtis, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Crickets in 2012, died Friday, his wife of more than a half-century, Louise Curtis, confirmed to The Associated Press. His daughter, Sarah Curtis, wrote on his Facebook page that he had been suddenly ill.
Curtis wrote or co-wrote hundreds of songs, from Keith Whitley’s country smash “I’m No Stranger to the Rain” to the Everly Brothers’ “Walk Right Back,” a personal favorite Curtis completed while in Army basic training. Bing Crosby, Glen Campbell, Bruce Springsteen and the Grateful Dead were among other artists who covered his work.
Born during the Great Depression to cotton farmers outside of Meadow, Texas, Curtis was a childhood friend of Buddy Holly’s and an active musician in the formative years of rock, whether jamming on guitar with Holly in the mid-1950s or opening for Elvis Presley when Elvis was still a regional act. Curtis’ songwriting touch also soon emerged: Before he turned 20, he had written the hit “Someday” for Webb Pierce and “Rock Around With Ollie Vee” for Holly.
Curtis had left Holly’s group, the Crickets, before Holly became a major star. But he returned after Holly died in a plane crash in 1959 and he was featured the following year on the album “In Style with the Crickets,” which included “I Fought the Law” (dashed off in a single afternoon, according to Curtis, who would say he had no direct inspiration for the song) and the Jerry Allison collaboration “More Than I Can Say,” a hit for Bobby Vee, and later for Leo Sayer.
Meanwhile, it took until 1966 for “I Fought the Law” and its now-immortal refrain “I fought the law — and the law won” to catch on: The Texas-based Bobby Fuller Four made it a Top 10 song. Over the following decades, it was covered by dozens of artists, from punk (the Clash) to country (Johnny Cash, Nanci Griffith) to Springsteen, Tom Petty and other mainstream rock stars.
“It’s my most important copyright,” Curtis told The Tennessean in 2014.
Curtis’ other signature song was as uplifting as “I Fought the Law” was resigned. In 1970, he was writing commercial jingles when he came up with the theme for a new CBS sitcom starring Moore as a single woman hired as a TV producer in Minneapolis. He called the song “Love is All Around,” and used a smooth melody to eventually serve up lyrics as indelible as any in television history:
“Who can turn the world on with her smile? / Who can take a nothing day, and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile? / Well it’s you girl, and you should know it / With each glance and every little movement you show it.”
The song’s endurance was sealed by the images it was heard over, especially Moore’s triumphant toss of her hat as Curtis proclaims, “You’re going to make it after all.” In tribute, other artists began recording it, including Sammy Davis Jr., Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and Minnesota’s Hüsker Dü. A commercial release featuring Curtis came out in 1980 and was a modest success, peaking at No. 29 on Billboard’s country chart.
Curtis would recall being commissioned by his friend Doug Gilmore, a music industry road manager who had heard the sitcom’s developers were looking for an opening song.
“Naturally I said yes, and later that morning, he dropped off a four-page format — you know ‘Girl from the Midwest, moves to Minneapolis, gets a job in a newsroom, can’t afford her apartment etc.,’ which gave me the flavor of what it was all about,” said Curtis, who soon met with show co-creator (and later Oscar-winning filmmaker) James L. Brooks.
“[He] came into this huge empty room, no furniture apart from a phone lying on the floor, and at first, I thought he was rather cold and sort of distant, and he said ‘We’re not at the stage of picking a song yet, but I’ll listen anyway,’” Curtis recalled. “So I played the song, just me and my guitar, and next thing, he started phoning people, and the room filled up, and then he sent out for a tape recorder.”
Curtis would eventually write two versions: the first used in Season 1, the second and better known for the remaining six seasons. The original words were more tentative, opening with “How will you make it on your own?” and ending with “You might just make it after all.” By Season 2, the show was a hit and the lyrics were reworked. The producers had wanted Andy Williams to sing the theme song, but he turned it down and Curtis’ easygoing baritone was heard instead.
Curtis made a handful of solo albums, including “Sonny Curtis” and “Spectrum,” and hit the country Top 20 with the 1981 single “Good Ol’ Girls.” In later years, he continued to play with Allison and other members of the Crickets. The band released several albums, among them “The Crickets and Their Buddies,” featuring appearances by Eric Clapton, Graham Nash and Phil Everly. One of Curtis’ more notable songs was “The Real Buddy Holly Story,” a rebuke to the 1978 biopic “The Buddy Holly Story,” which starred Gary Busey.
Curtis settled in Nashville in the mid-1970s and lived there with his wife, Louise. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1991 and, as part of the Crickets, into Nashville’s Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. Five years later, he and the Crickets were inducted into the Rock Hall, praised as “the blueprint for rock and roll bands (that) inspired thousands of kids to start up garage bands around the world.”
Italie writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press journalist Mallika Sen contributed reporting.
San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert doesn’t generally agree with political parties redrawing congressional maps to gain power.
But after President Trump persuaded Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw his state’s maps in order to improve Republican chances of retaining control of Congress in 2026, Von Wilpert said she decided California’s only option was to fight back with new maps of its own, favoring Democrats.
There’s too much at stake for LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized Californians to do otherwise, said Von Wilpert — who is bisexual and running to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Darrell Issa, a Trump ally whose district in San Diego and Riverside counties will be redrawn if voters approve the plan.
“We can’t sit on the sidelines anymore and just hope that the far right will play fair or play by the rule book,” said Von Wilpert, 42. “If we don’t fight back now, I don’t know what democracy is going to be left for us to fight for in the future.”
San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert is challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Darrell Issa, whose Southern California district would be redrawn if voters approve the redistricting plan of California Democrats.
They are running to counter those efforts, but also to resist other administration policies that they believe threaten democracy and equality more broadly, and to advocate around local issues that are important to them and their neighbors, said Elliot Imse, executive director of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.
The institute, which has trained queer people on running for and holding political office since 1991, has already provided 450 people with in-person training so far this year, compared with 290 people all of last year, Imse said. It recently had to cap a training in Los Angeles at 54 people — its largest cohort in more than a decade — and a first-of-its-kind training for transgender candidates at 12 people, despite more than 50 applying.
“LGBTQ+ people have been extremely motivated to run for office across the country because of the attacks on their equality,” Imse said. “They know the risk, they know the potential for harassment, but those fears are really overcome by the desire to make a difference in this moment.”
“This isn’t about screaming we are trans, this is about screaming we are human — and showing that we are here, that we are competent leaders,” said Josie Caballero, voting and elections director at Advocates for Trans Equality, which helped run the training.
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) at the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington on March 26, 2025. The summit brings together policymakers and influencers to discuss important issues facing the crypto industry.
(Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Across the country
Queer candidates still face stiff resistance in some parts of the country. But they are winning elections elsewhere like never before — Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware became the first out transgender member of Congress last year — and increasingly deciding to run.
Some are Republicans who support Trump and credit him with kicking open the political door for people like them by installing gay leaders in his administration, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Ed Williams, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ+ organization, said his group has seen “a surge in interest” under Trump, with “new members and chapters springing up across the country.” He said that “LGBT conservatives stand with President Trump’s fight for commonsense policies that support our schools and parents, put America first, and create opportunities for all Americans.”
Ryan Sheridan, 35, a gay psychiatric nurse practitioner challenging fellow Republican incumbent Rep. Ann Wagner for her House seat in Missouri, said Trump has made the Republican Party a “more welcoming environment” for gay people. He said he agrees with Trump that medical interventions for transgender youth should be stopped, but also believes others in the LGBTQ+ community misunderstand the president’s perspective.
“I do not believe that he is anti-trans. I do not believe he is anti-gay,” Sheridan said. “I understand the fear might be real, but I would encourage anybody that is deeply fearful to explore some alternative points of view.”
Many more LGBTQ+ candidates, however, are Democrats or progressives — and say they were driven to run in part by their disdain for Trump and his policies.
LGBTQ+ candidates and prospective candidates listen to speakers at an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute training in downtown Los Angeles in September.
(David Butow / For The Times)
JoAnna Mendoza, a bisexual retired U.S. Marine, said she is running to unseat Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) because she took an oath to defend the U.S. and its values, and she believes those values are under threat from an administration with no respect for LGBTQ+ service members, immigrants or other vulnerable groups.
Mike Simmons, the first out LGBTQ+ state senator in Illinois, is running for the House seat of retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and leaning into his outsider persona as a gay Black man and the son of an Ethiopian asylum seeker. “I symbolize everything Donald Trump is trying to erase.”
Texas state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who is a lesbian, said she is running for the House seat of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), in a historically Black district being redrawn in Houston, because she believes “we need more gay people — but specifically Black gay people — to run and be in a position to challenge Trump.”
Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone, who is running for Colorado treasurer, said it is critical for LGBTQ+ people — especially transgender people like her — to run, including locally. Trump is looking for ways to attack blue state economies, she said, and queer people need to help ensure resistance strategies don’t include abandoning LGBTQ+ rights.
“We’re going to be extorted, and our economy is going to suffer for that, and we’re going to have to withstand that,” she said.
Rep. Brianna Titone speaks during the general assembly at the Colorado State Capitol on April 23, 2025.
(AAron Ontiveroz / Denver Post via Getty Images)
Jordan Wood, who is gay, served as chief of staff to former Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County before co-founding the Constitution-backing organization democracyFIRST. He’s now back in his native Maine challenging centrist Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.
Collins, who declined to comment, has supported LGBTQ+ rights in the past, including in military service and marriage, and has at times broken with her party to stand in Trump’s way. However, Wood said Collins has acquiesced to Trump’s autocratic policies, including in recent budget battles.
“This is a moment with our country in crisis where we need our political leaders to pick sides and to stand up to this administration and its lawlessness,” Wood said.
Candidates said they’ve had hateful and threatening comments directed toward them because of their identities, and tough conversations with their families about what it will mean to be a queer elected official in the current political moment. The Victory Institute training included information on how best to handle harassment on the campaign trail.
However, candidates said they also have had young people and others thank them for having the nerve to defend the LGBTQ+ community.
Kevin Morrison, a gay county commissioner in the Chicago suburbs who is running for the House seat of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who is running for Senate, recently had that experience after defending a transgender high school athlete at a local school board meeting.
Morrison said the response he got from the community, including many of the school’s alumni, was “incredibly positive” — and showed how ready people are for new LGBTQ+ advocates in positions of power who “lead from a place of empathy and compassion.”
Maebe Pudlo, 39, is an operations manager for the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition and an elected member of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council. She is also transgender, and running for the Central and East L.A. state Senate seat of María Elena Durazo, who is running for county supervisor.
Pudlo, who also works as a drag queen, said that simply existing each day is a “political and social statement” for her. But she decided to run for office after seeing policy decisions affecting transgender people made without any transgender voices at the table.
“Unfortunately, our lives have been politicized and trans people have become political pawns, and it’s really disgusting to me,” Pudlo said.
Like every other queer candidate who spoke to The Times, Pudlo, who has previously run for Congress, said her platform is about more than LGBTQ+ issues. It’s also about housing and healthcare and defending democracy more broadly, she said, noting her campaign slogan is “Keep Fascism Out of California.”
Still, Pudlo said she is keenly aware of the current political threats to transgender people, and feels a deep responsibility to defend their rights — for everyone’s sake.
“This whole idea of rolling back civil rights for trans people specifically — that should be concerning for anybody who cares about democracy,” Pudlo said. “Because if they’ll do it to my community, your community is next.”
Former Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton speaks at a training event for LGBTQ+ candidates and prospective candidates in L.A. in September. Also in the photo are, from left, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President Evan Low, West Hollywood City Councilmember Danny Hang, Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish and Virginia state Sen. Danica Roem.
(David Butow / For The Times)
Juan Camacho, a 44-year-old Echo Park resident also running for Durazo’s seat, said he feels a similar responsibility as a gay Mexican immigrant — particularly as Trump rolls out the “Project 2025 playbook” of attacking immigrants, Latinos and LGBTQ+ people, he said.
Brought to the U.S. by his parents as a toddler before becoming documented under President Reagan’s amnesty program, Camacho said he understands the fear that undocumented and mixed-status families feel, and he wants to use his privilege as a citizen now to push back.
Veteran California legislative leader Toni Atkins, who has long been out and is now running for governor, said the recent attacks on LGBTQ+ and especially transgender people have been “pretty disheartening,” but have also strengthened her resolve — after 50 years of LGBTQ+ people gaining rights in this country — to keep fighting.
“It’s what it’s always been: We want housing and healthcare and we want equal opportunity and we want to be seen as contributing members of society,” she said. “We have a responsibility to be visible and, as Harvey Milk said, to ‘give them hope.’”
The top two returners from last year battled for three miles before Lily Alder of Timpview (Utah) passed La Jolla’s Chiara Dailey in the final yards to win the Bob Day Girls Sweepstakes race on Saturday night in the 44th Woodbridge Cross Country Classic at Great Park in Irvine.
Alder won by 1.6 seconds in 15:40 flat after placing third in 2024 in 15:28.9 — seven-tenths of a second behind runner-up Dailey. Jaelyn Williams of Chula Vista Eastlake was third in 15:52 and taking fourth individually in 15:54.1 was Irvine’s Summer Wilson.
“My coach told me I could go 15:39 and I know I’m a lot better than I performed today,” said Wilson, a senior committed to Duke. “I found myself leading in the first two miles but my strength is my kick, so in retrospect it would’ve been smarter to stay back.”
Wilson’s former school JSerra (she transferred before her junior year) won the team title with 196 points.
Corona Santiago’s Rylee Blade, now a freshman at Florida State, set the meet record of 15:20.3 last fall. Her former Sharks teammate, Arkansas-bound senior Braelyn Combe, who won the state 1,600-meter title in the spring was seventh Saturday in 16:11.1.
Herriman (Utah) senior Jackson Spencer won the Doug Speck Boys Sweepstakes in 13:42.1, well off the meet record of 13:30.3 set a year ago on the same course by Owen Powell of Mercer Island (Wash.). Spencer, who was sixth in last year’s sweepstakes race, led the Mustangs to their fourth straight team championship.
Oak Park (203) won the Gold Varsity A boys race. Canyon Country Canyon senior Owen Souther was second individually in 14:41.8. Norwalk senior Leo Diaz won the Gold Varsity B race in 14:50.3 and El Toro was second in the team standings with 228 points.
Joaquim Sandoval, a junior from Warren, was first in the Blue Varsity B boys race in 14:28.6. “I’m feeling pretty good,” he said afterward.
Oaks Christian senior Delaney Napierala ran a personal-best 17:01.6 to outlast Jenna Murray of Moorpark (17:03.8) and win the Gold Varsity A girls race. In the Gold Varsity B race, Westlake freshman Sabina Cruz edged Autumn Banks of Tahoe-Truckee by one second in 16:50.7 while pacing the Warriors to the team title.
These are dark times, the average cynic might argue.
But do not despair.
If you focus on the positive, rather than the negative, you’ll have to agree that the United States of America is on top and still climbing.
Yes, protesters gathered Thursday outside “Jimmy Kimmel Live” in Hollywood to denounce ABC’s suspension of the host and President Trump’s threat to revoke licenses from networks that criticize him, despite repeated vows by Trump and top deputies to defend free speech.
You can call it hypocrisy.
I call it moxie.
And by the way, demonstrators were not arrested or deported, and the National Guard was not summoned (as far as I know).
Do you see what I mean? Just tilt your head back a bit, and you can see sunshine breaking through the clouds.
Let’s take the president’s complaint that he read “someplace” that the networks “were 97% against me.” Some might see weakness in that, or thin skin. Others might wonder where the “someplace” was that the president discovered his TV news favorability rating stands at 3%, given that he could get caught drowning puppies and cheating at golf and still get fawning coverage from at least one major network.
But Trump had good reason to be grumpy. He was returning from a news conference in London, where he confused Albania and Armenia and fumbled the pronunciation of Azerbaijan, which sounded a bit more like Abracadabra.
It’s not his fault all those countries all start with an A. And isn’t there a geography lesson in it for all of us, if not a history lesson?
We move on now to American healthcare, and the many promising developments under way in the nation’s capital, thanks to Trump’s inspired choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as chief of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Those who see the glass half empty would argue that Kennedy has turned the department into a morgue, attempting to kill COVID-19 vaccine research, espousing backwater views about measles, firing public health experts, demoralizing the remaining staff and rejecting decades worth of biomedical advances despite having no medical training or expertise.
But on the plus side, Kennedy is going after food dyes.
It’s about time, and thank you very much.
I’m not sure what else will be left in a box of Trix or Lucky Charms when food coloring is removed, but I am opposed to fake food coloring, unless it’s in a cocktail, and I’d like to think most Americans are with me on this.
Also on the bright side: Kennedy is encouraging Americans to do chin-ups and pushups for better health.
Are you going to sit on the radical left side of your sofa and gripe about what’s happened to your country, or get with the program and try to do a few pushups?
OK, so Trump’s efforts to shut down the war on cancer is a little scary. As the New York Times reported, on the chopping block is development of a new technique for colorectal cancer prevention, research into immunotherapy cancer prevention, a study on improving childhood cancer survival rates, and better analysis of pre-malignant breast tissue in high-risk women.
But that could all be fake news, or 97% of it, at least. And if it’s not?
All that research and all those doctors and scientists can apply for jobs in other countries, just like all the climate scientists whose work is no longer a national priority. The more who leave, the better, because the brain drain is going to free up a lot of real estate and help solve the housing crisis.
Thank you, President Trump.
Is it any wonder that Trump has been seen recently wearing a MAGA-red hat that says “TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!”
Well, mostly everything.
Climate change appears to be real.
The war in Ukraine didn’t end as promised.
The war in the Middle East is still raging.
Grocery prices did not go down on day one, and some goods cost more because of tariffs.
As for the promise of a new age of American prosperity, there’s no rainbow in sight yet, although there is a pot of gold in the White House, with estimates of billions in profits for Trump family businesses since he took office,
But for all of that, along with an approval rating that has dropped since he took office in January, Trump exudes confidence. So much so that he proudly wears that bright red hat, which he was giving out in the Oval office, and which retails for $25.
It’s another ingenious economic stimulation plan.
And there’s an important lesson here for all of us.
Never admit defeat, and when things don’t go your way, stand tall, adjust your hat, and find someone to blame.
We should all have our own hats made.
Doctors could wear hats saying they’ve never gotten a diagnosis wrong.
Dentists could wear hats saying they’ve never pulled the wrong tooth.
TV meteorologists could wear hats saying — well, maybe not — that they’ve gotten every forecast right.
I’m having hats made as you read this.
LOPEZ IS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!
Please don’t have me fired, Mr. President, if you disagree.
As for Jimmy Kimmel, I’m offering this idea free of charge:
If you ever get your job back, you, your sidekick Guillermo, and the entire studio audience should be wearing hats.
A documentary about Sarah McLachlan’s ’90s all-woman music festival and a docuseries about individual cases from across the heavy metal spectrum arrive back to back on Hulu.
