social medium

VERONA, Italy — In fair Verona, L.A., unofficially, takes the torch.

While the Olympic flag passed from Italy to France at Sunday’s closing ceremony, handing off the Winter Games from Milan-Cortina to the French Alps, the flame will burn next in L.A.

In just over two years, the United States will host the country’s first Summer Games since 1996, welcoming an Olympic movement that is surging in popularity but unsteady in a changing world, as the Games return to Los Angeles for the third time.

The Milan-Cortina Olympics are expected to rake in record TV numbers for NBC. They already produced the most-watched women’s hockey game on record when an average of 5.3 million viewers took in the United States’ thrilling overtime win over Canada. The rivalry game contributed to the largest weekday audience for a Winter Games since 2014 with an average of 26.7 million viewers who also watched U.S. star Alysa Liu win the country’s first Olympic gold medal for women’s singles figure skating in 24 years.

The smiling 20-year-old with horizontal stripes in her hair became a sensation in Milan just as 41-year-old mother of two Elana Meyers Taylor did in Cortina d’Ampezzo after the five-time Olympian won her first gold medal in bobsled, jumping into the arms of her nanny and, through tears, signing to her deaf children, “Mommy won.”

No matter protests, politics or planning hurdles, the Olympics sought to remain a stage for those athletes to shine.

“You showed us what excellence, respect and friendship look like in a world that sometimes forgets these values,” International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry said to the Olympians in her speech while standing on a platform in the stands placed in front of the Italian delegation. “You showed us that the Olympic Games are a place for everyone. A place where sport brings us together.”

After record numbers from the 2024 Paris Summer Games, the Milan-Cortina Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which, accounting for 80% of the expected tickets, was “beyond our expectations,” Milano Cortina 2026 chief executive officer Andrea Varnier said at a news conference. Of the 63% of international fans who attended the Games, the United States, at 14%, bought the second-most tickets.

Fans filled arenas that were finished just in time in Milan. They withstood snowstorms in Livigno, cheered the debut of ski mountaineering in Bormio and held their breath while multiple skiers got airlifted off the downhill course in Cortina.

The most widespread Games in history created distinct pockets of Olympic spirit separated by hours on trains and miles of winding mountain roads. The Olympics that preached harmony finally united in a single city known for love, beauty and grudges. The Milan-Cortina Games represented seemingly every Shakespearean theme.

Athletes got engaged. Sponsors organized hair and makeup sessions in the Olympic villages, which went through an average of 365 kilograms of pasta and 10,000 eggs a day. A cheating scandal rocked curling.

The closing ceremony set at the Roman amphitheater at the heart of the city that inspired “Romeo and Juliet” celebrated the Games as “beauty in action.” But beneath the glittering gold medals, there was pain.

Alpine skier Lindsey Vonn suffered a horrific crash and has already undergone four surgeries on her broken leg. Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified when he refused to compete without his helmet honoring Ukrainian athletes who’ve been killed in the war with Russia.

Artists perform during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Verona, Italy.

(Bernat Armangue / Associated Press)

Already holding the weight of their personal dreams, U.S. athletes faced additional pressure answering questions about the country’s political landscape. After freestyle skier Hunter Hess he said he had “mixed emotions” representing the United States at the Olympics, President Trump called the 27-year-old “a real loser” on social media.

Two weeks later, Hess held his thumb and forefinger in the shape of an “L” to his forehead after his first qualifying run.

Athletes pleaded for assistance navigating an onslaught of social media threats as the Olympic spotlight grows with every Games. Coventry said at a news conference last week that the IOC has a safeguarding unit that monitors the organization’s social media platforms for hateful messages. More than 10,000 such comments were taken down during the Paris Games, IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said. The number for the Milan-Cortina Games hadn’t been finalized.

With the largest delegation of any country at the Games, the United States won the second-most medals with 33, including 12 golds, the most Olympic titles for the country at any single Winter Games. The total gold medals surpassed the 10 won in Salt Lake City in 2002, the last time the United States hosted an Olympic Games.

After more than two decades away, the Games will return to the United States twice in the next eight years. L.A. will host the 2028 Games and Utah will have the 2034 Winter Games.

Approaching the final stretch of an 11-year planning period, the L.A. Games confronted another challenge this month when a growing number of local politicians called for LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman’s resignation after racy emails he exchanged with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in the Epstein files. After initial hesitation, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and other leaders joined the chorus calling for Wasserman’s dismissal.

But LA28 doubled down on his role. The executive committee of the LA28 board stood by Wasserman after a review from an outside legal firm found that the Hollywood mogul’s relationship with Maxwell “did not go beyond what has already been publicly documented.”

As with his 2026 organizing committee counterpart Giovanni Malago, Wasserman would be expected to deliver speeches in 2028.

Jennifer Hudson raised more then a few eyebrows in 2022 when she was close to realizing her dream — becoming a daytime talk show host.

At the time, she had just become the youngest member of the small elite group of artists who are EGOT — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award — winners. She was also aware that the highly competitive daytime talk show arena had been a notorious minefield for several top stars, leading to quick failure.

But she was unfazed. Just days before the premiere of the “Jennifer Hudson Show,” she called it the perfect birthday present.

“This is going to be such a gift,” she said near the set of the show at Warner Bros., which produces the series. “If I were not working on my birthday, that is what I would be wishing for — performing on a stage or a platform … I love a challenge … It is a difficult arena. You will always see me try.”

The entertainer expressed even more excitement Thursday after her syndicated show was renewed for a fifth season, bringing some welcome sunlight to the afternoon landscape which has been shaken in the last several weeks by the upcoming departures of popular hosts Kelly Clarkson and Sherri Shepherd.

Hudson and Drew Barrymore, who has hosted her own eponymous show since 2020, are now the sole survivors in the celebrity-oriented afternoon talk genre. (The talk show hosted by Tamron Hall is more focused on topical issues and trends.)

Insiders say the continuing economic difficulties in Hollywood and the explosion of video podcasts hosted by stars such as Amy Poehler, Conan O’Brien, Dax Shepard and the “Smartless” trio consisting of actors Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes has substantially crippled the traditional daytime talk format.

Shock waves have resonated through the daytime TV industry since early February when Clarkson said she would be ending her Emmy-winning talk show at the conclusion of its current seventh season for personal reasons. Just hours later, producers of “Sherri” announced they were pulling the plug on that series, attributing the cancellation to “the evolving daytime television landscape.” Shepherd in recent days has said she was fighting to save the show.

Rumors about the future of Hudson’s show have been circulating since those announcements. Although some insiders considered Hudson an unlikely entrant in daytime, she has established herself as an engaging and warm host, connecting with her enthusiastic studio audience and highlighting the show with musical performances and duets with her guests.

The show has also aggressively employed social media to promote its “Spirit Tunnel,” where staff members lining a corridor greet celebrities with chants on their way to the stage. Producers say the ritual has surpassed 6 billion views.

“The Jennifer Hudson Show” replaced Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show, which ended in 2022, had run for nearly 20 years and was produced by Warner Bros.

Experts say the current landscape is indicative of the cyclical nature of daytime talk, recalling the era of “trash talk” during the 1990s when afternoon talk shows such as “Sally,” “Jerry Springer” and others emphasized fierce confrontations and provocative, often sexually oriented topics.

“Daytime has always gone through these cycles, so this is nothing new,” said Rachel Schwartz, head of the Daytime Emmys and Children & Family Emmy. And video podcasts appear to be part of this latest cycle.

“Now audiences are proving that they are really hungry for podcasts, which is impacting the landscape of daytime TV,” she said. “The podcast can be narrowly focused on one celebrity. It’s like the listener is sitting down with a friend. And the guest can be more comfortable.”

Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Research Center, which explores the psychology of human interaction with media and technology, said that while daytime talk shows offer familiarity with the same host, tone and daily presence, podcasts give celebrities more control, intimacy and influence without the constraints and pressures of broadcast TV.

“Podcast hosts tend to be partners in conversation, not ‘hosts’ or moderators,” she said. “Talk shows are in the middle of the voyeurism spectrum — too curated by time, pacing and commercial interruptions to feel really intimate and too restrained to be thrilling.”

Rutledge added that maintaining TV studios, crews and accommodating large audiences is becoming increasingly costly for producers, who are looking more to other types of digital and social platforms that are more attractive to advertisers.

ATLANTA — He is weighing military action against Iran, leading an aggressive immigration crackdown, and teasing a federal takeover of state elections.

But on Thursday, President Trump’s team insists he will focus on the economy when he visits battleground Georgia in a trip designed to help boost Republicans’ political standing heading into the high-stakes midterm elections.

“Georgia is obviously a very important state to the president and to the Republican Party,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on the eve of his visit. Trump’s remarks in Georgia, she said, will highlight “his efforts to make life affordable for working people.”

Trump’s destination in Georgia suggests he has something else on his mind too. He’s heading to a congressional district previously represented by Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former supporter who resigned in January after feuding with Trump. There’s a special election to replace her on March 10.

The White House has long said Trump would focus more on the economy, and he frequently complains that he doesn’t get enough credit for it. But recent months have been dominated by other issues, including deadly clashes during deportation efforts in Minneapolis.

As a reminder of his divided attention, Trump is scheduled to begin Thursday with one of his passion projects. He’s gathering representatives from some of the more than two dozen countries that have joined his Board of Peace, a diplomatic initiative to supplant the United Nations.

False claims of voter fraud

The Georgia visit comes less than a month after federal agents seized voting records and ballots from Fulton County, home to the state’s largest collection of Democrats.

Trump has long seen Georgia as central to his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats and President Biden, a fabrication that he reiterated Wednesday during a White House reception on Black History Month.

“We won by millions of votes but they cheated,” Trump said.

Audits, state officials, courts and Trump’s own former attorney general have all rejected the idea of widespread problems that could have altered the election.

Some Republicans are now pushing for Georgia’s State Election Board, which has a Trump-aligned majority, to take control of elections in Fulton County, a step enabled by a controversial state law passed in 2021. But it’s unclear if or when the board will act.

Leavitt, in the White House, said Wednesday that Trump was “exploring his options” when it comes to a potential executive order he teased on social media over the weekend designed to address voter fraud.

Trump described Democrats as “horrible, disingenuous CHEATERS” in the post, which is pinned to the top of his social media account. He also said that Republicans should feature such claims “at the top of every speech.”

Leavitt, meanwhile, insisted Trump would be focusing on affordability and the economy.

Greene has not gone quiet

Trump may be distracted by fresh attacks from Greene, once among the president’s most vocal allies in Congress and now one of his loudest conservative critics.

In a social media post ahead of Trump’s visit, Greene noted that the White House and Republican leaders met earlier in the week to develop an effective midterm message. She suggested they were “on the struggle bus” and blamed them for health insurance costs that ballooned this year.

“Approximately 75,000 households in my former district had their health insurance double or more on January 1st of this year because the ACA tax credits expired and Republicans have absolutely failed to fix our health insurance system that was destroyed by Obamacare,” she said. “And you can call me all the petty names you want, I don’t worship a man. I’m not in a cult.”

Early voting has already begun in the special election to replace Greene, and the leading Republican candidates have fully embraced Trump.

Trump recently endorsed Clay Fuller, a district attorney who prosecutes crimes in four counties. Fuller described Trump’s endorsement as “rocket fuel” for his candidacy in a weekend interview and vowed to maintain an America First agenda even if he remains in Congress after Trump is no longer president.

Other candidates include Republican former state Sen. Colton Moore, who made a name for himself with a vociferous attack on Trump’s prosecution in Georgia. Moore, the favorite of many far-right activists, said he’s been in communication with Trump even after Trump endorsed Fuller, calling the choice “unfortunate.”

“I think he’s the greatest president of our lifetimes,” Moore said.

The top Democrat in the race is Shawn Harris, who unsuccessfully ran against Greene in 2024. Democrats voice hope for an upset, but the district is rated as the most Republican district in Georgia by the Cook Political Report.

Amy and Peoples write for the Associated Press.

MILAN — After a one-hour on-ice training session and on the way to yet another interview, Isabeau Levito has one big problem on her mind.

One of the plants in the U.S. figure skater’s room has started growing mold. She needs to figure out how to wrangle it.

“That’s our task of the day,” Levito said Monday.

Nevermind that the biggest competition of her life was starting in about 24 hours.

Isabeau Levito competes during the free skating competition at the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 9 in St. Louis.

(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

Levito and the United States’ “Blade Angels” are trying to stay calm under pressure at the Olympics, where chaos has reigned at Milano Ice Skating Arena.

The United States was expected to dominate figure skating in Milan, but has yet to win a gold medal in an individual event entering Tuesday’s women’s short program. A supposed sure-fire gold medal disappeared in stunning fashion with Ilia Malinin’s eighth-place collapse. Three-time reigning world ice dance champions Madison Chock and Evan Bates settled for a “bittersweet” silver that was marred by judging controversies.

But the talent and depth on what is likely the best U.S. women’s Olympic team in decades could help end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women’s singles skating. The last U.S. woman to stand on an Olympic podium for an individual event was Sasha Cohen in 2006. Sarah Hughes’ 2002 gold medal was the last for the United States in women’s singles.

Alysa Liu has already ended one skid. The reigning world champion was the first U.S. woman to win the world title since 2006. With blonde horizontal stripes dyed into her black hair and a piercing in her upper lip, the 20-year-old Liu is putting an alternative spin on figure skating.

Three-time national champion Amber Glenn combines power in her triple axel with emotion on the ice.

Levito, the 2024 world silver medalist, is the classic balletic skater who packs a humorous punch behind her teenage smile.

In a sport that once pitted young women against each other to fit a singular “ice princess” mold, the “Blade Angels” find their strength in their diversity.

“I really like that we’re all so different,” Levito said. “We have our own strengths and our own personalities and our own ways we want to look and appear. … We all have the same passion for the sport and have very aligned goals of wanting to do our best, and once we do that, we’re all happy, regardless of who beat who.”

NBC announcing team Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir dubbed the trio of medal contenders “the big three,” but the skaters workshopped their own nickname after nationals. They nixed “Babes of Glory” and “Powerpuff Girls” for copyright concerns. Their final choice was a mashup of “Blades of Glory” and “Charlie’s Angels.” If you like it, credit Liu.

“If people don’t like it,” Liu said, “don’t say I made it.”

Liu and Glenn have already won a gold medal in Milan, helping the United States win the team event in dramatic fashion. But with the two events spaced more than one week apart, “being in a high-pressure atmosphere for so long takes its toll,” Glenn said.

The 26-year-old has faced additional challenges on social media at the Games. She had to resolve potential copyright issues concerning her free skate music and received threats for comments she made during a news conference when asked about President Trump’s policies regarding the LGBTQ+ community. Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, encouraged people in the queer community to “stay strong during these hard times,” refusing to avoid political conversations because “politics affect us all.”

American Amber Glenn competes during the team skate at the Winter Olympics in Milan on Feb. 8.

(Natacha Pisarenko / Associated Press)

While she said Monday she doesn’t regret the comments, she has also had to take a break from social media to focus on her remaining competitions at the Olympics.

“I’m happy to do what I do and stand for what I stand for,” Glenn said. “But it has been —”

She paused.

“Complicated.”

Not only are the Olympic Games the largest stage for many sports and a dream that begins from childhood, but the spotlight has only increased with social media in recent years, Glenn said. Amid the pressure, she tries to lean on her teammates and embody the advice of U.S. figure skating alumni who tell her simply “enjoy it.”

“Four years ago, I could never have imagined even making it here,” Glenn said. “To just be here is a privilege that I don’t take lightly, and I need to remind myself of that and to just really soak in the experience, not just the results.”

Isabeau Levito skates during the U.S. figure skating championships on Jan. 11 in St. Louis.

(Jeff Roberson / Associated Press)

To reset after the team competition, the “Angels” went with the pairs skaters — whose competition started one week after the team event wrapped — to train at a U.S. facility in Bergamo, about a 50-minute drive outside of Milan. The training sessions are longer than what’s available at the competition venue, said Levito, who only took two training sessions in Milan before Tuesday’s short program.

The last U.S. figure skater to take Olympic ice, Levito has passed her time at the Games in the Olympic village. After making the Olympic team, the New Jersey native was most excited about the village. To her, it was going to be like “a magic kingdom,” she said before the Games.

It’s lived up to every expectation. She walks by the Olympic rings every morning. She and her teammates lounged in front of the TV watching the pairs competition Sunday and Glenn ordered ramen. Levito and U.S. ice dancer Christina Carreira named the adopted plants in their shared room Christabeau and Isatina. Levito is loving the experience so much that she won’t even harp on the fact that she briefly battled food poisoning.

She felt “horrible” off the ice, but it didn’t affect her training.

“When I was skating,” Levito said, “I flipped a switch in my head.”

She’ll need to switch it again Tuesday.

Super Bowl LX was mainly a defensive struggle.

Until the fourth quarter, the only points scored were four field goals by Seattle Seahawks kicker Jason Myers.

Many people have expressed the opinion that Seattle’s 29-13 victory over the New England Patriots was pretty much a snoozefest.

Those people, however, probably did not see one of the most exciting parts of the game because NBC did not show it on the TV broadcast.

Early in the fourth quarter, two men attempted to run onto the field, and one of them was successful.

According to the Santa Clara Police Department, Alex Gonzalez, 25, and Sebastian Rivera Jimenez, 24, were arrested at the stadium during the game for allegedly trespassing and field incursion.

Videos posted on social media by fans show that one of the alleged trespassers entered the playing area at around midfield. He ran between a pair of officials, one of whom dived after him and missed, then took off toward the end zone.

He made it near the 10-yard line, with Patriots rookie receiver Kyle Williams in pursuit at one point, before sliding to a stop. Although he’s being referred to by many as a “streaker,” the man was dressed from the waist down.

Numerous messages were painted on the man’s torso, including “@fxalexg,” which is the social media handle of public investor Alex Gonzalez. On Monday, Gonzalez posted a video to TikTok of someone, presumably himself, at the Super Bowl wearing dark glasses and a long, extremely fake-looking beard.

“This was Fxalexg disguise to streak the Super Bowl,” the caption reads.

Gonzalez added in the comments, “They never saw it coming.”

While NBC did not show the incident, announcer Mike Tirico said, in explaining the brief stoppage of play, “We have some rocket scientist running around the field.”

Gonzalez allegedly pulled off a similar stunt two years ago during Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, according to multiple media outlets.

A man named Sebastian Rivera Jimenez, who identifies himself as a filmmaker in his Instagram bio, posted a few videos on his Instagram Story that appear tied to one of the incidents. One video appears to show him wearing a fake, blue mustache while enjoying Bad Bunny’s halftime show from a front row in the stands. Other videos appear to show him being held to the ground and then taken away by security before he could make it onto the field.

“Most viral moment,” one of the captions reads. “Ill send you an invoice @nfl.”

The body of Lil Jon’s son Nathan Smith, who performed as DJ Young Slade and went missing Tuesday night, was recovered Friday from a pond near his home in Milton, Ga., according to local police. The rapper’s son was 27.

“I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother [Nicole Smith] and I are devastated,” Lil Jon and his ex-wife wrote Friday on social media.

“Nathan was the kindest human being you would ever meet. He was immensely caring, thoughtful, polite, passionate, and warmhearted — he loved his family and the friends in his life to the fullest.”

They said their son was “amazingly talented” as a music producer, artist and engineer. Nathan Smith was a graduate of New York University, his parents said.

Nathan Smith, a.k.a. DJ Young Slade, performs with his father, Lil Jon, at the Hollywood Palladium in March 2014.

(Kevin Winter / Getty Images )

“We loved Nathan with all of our hearts and are incredibly proud of him. He was loved and appreciated, and in our last times together we’re comforted in knowing that we expressed that very sentiment to him,” the parents concluded before thanking the many local authorities and rescuers who helped search for their son.

The Milton Police Department said Tuesday on social media that Nathan Smith hadn’t been seen since he “ran out of his house” at 6 a.m. that day.

“Subject left on foot and does not possess a phone. He may be disoriented and in need of assistance,” the statement said. “Family and friends are concerned for his safety.”

On Friday, Milton police said in a statement that teams had expanded the search to include the pond in a nearby park after failing to find Smith elsewhere. Divers with the Cherokee County Fire Department recovered a body from the water shortly before noon local time Friday, the statement said.

“The individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office,” police wrote, adding there was no indication of foul play. However, the official cause and manner of death were still to be determined.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the Smith family during this difficult time. The department respectfully asks the community and members of the media to honor the family’s request for privacy as they grieve and navigate this tragedy,” the statement concluded.

Lil Jon and Nicole Smith expressed gratitude in their post confirming their son’s death. The two married in 2004 after welcoming Nathan in 1998 but split up amicably in 2022.

“Thank you for all of the prayers and support in trying to locate him over the last several days,” they wrote Friday.

WASHINGTON — President Trump shared a short video clip on social media late Thursday depicting former President Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, drawing immediate public backlash that the White House characterized as “fake outrage.”

The image, which Trump posted on his official Truth Social account around midnight, was included toward the end of a one-minute video clip that promoted a conspiracy theory about voting irregularities in the 2020 presidential election. In it, the Obamas are portrayed as apes as “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays in the background.

The White House said the clip was taken from “an internet meme video,” in which Trump is depicted as a lion and several high-profile Democrats — including former President Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and California Gov. Gavin Newsom — are rendered as giraffes, turtles, antelopes and other animals. The clip, which was shared by a social media account in October, is captioned: “President Trump: King of the Jungle.”

Only the image of the Obamas is included in the clip shared by Trump.

“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said in a statement Friday.

The post, however, quickly drew fierce criticism from Democrats, some Republicans and civil rights organizations. The imagery was condemned for echoing long-standing racist tropes that have historically been used to demean Black Americans.

“Trump posting this video — especially during Black History Month — is a stark reminder of how Trump and his followers truly view people,” the NAACP wrote on X. “And we’ll remember that in November.”

Newsom, a Democrat, said it was “disgusting behavior by the president” to amplify such an image.

“Every single Republican must denounce this. Now,” Newsom wrote on X.

Sen. Tim Scott, a Black South Carolina Republican who is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said the image was “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House.”

“The President should remove it,” Scott wrote on X.

Though we’re solidly into 2026, a trend has emerged on social media: Reminiscing on the year 2016.

Through throwback posts, people have been traveling back to the year when dog and flower crown Snapchat filters, Instagram eyebrows, the mannequin challenge and the Chainsmokers were everywhere.

But why, you may ask? On social media, 2016 is remembered as the last carefree era, a time when people posted whatever they wanted without overthinking it, when folks actually danced at parties instead of pointing their phones at the DJ booth to “capture content.”

2016 also brought many cultural milestones to L.A., from Kobe’s final game to the rise of selfie culture to all things Issa Rae. In the spirit of nostalgia, we’ve rounded up 16 moments that bring us back to that time. So let’s crank up Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” album and take a ride down memory lane, shall we?

WASHINGTON — President Trump moved quickly this week to negotiate with Democrats to avert a lengthy government shutdown over Department of Homeland Security funding, a sharp departure from last year’s record standoff, when he refused to budge for weeks.

Some Republicans are frustrated with the deal, raising the possibility of a prolonged shutdown fight when the House returns Monday to vote on the funding package. But Trump’s sway over the GOP remains considerable, and he has made his position clear at a moment of mounting political strain.

“The only thing that can slow our country down is another long and damaging government shutdown,” Trump wrote on social media late Thursday.

The urgency marked a clear shift from Trump’s posture during the 43-day shutdown late last year, when he publicly antagonized Democratic leaders and his team mocked them on social media. This time, with anger rising over shootings in Minneapolis and the GOP’s midterm messaging on tax cuts drowned out by controversy, Trump acted quickly to make a deal with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

“Trump and the Republicans know that this is an issue where they’re on the wrong side of the American people and it really matters,” Schumer told reporters Friday after Senate passage of the government funding deal.

Crisis after Minneapolis killings

Senators returned to work this week dealing with the fallout from the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal immigration officers, as well as the killing of Renee Good in the city weeks earlier.

Republicans were far from unified in their response. A few called for the firing of top administration officials such as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, the White House chief of staff for policy. Most GOP senators tried to strike a balance, calling for a thorough investigation into Pretti’s killing while backing the hard-line immigration approach that is central to Trump’s presidency.

But many agreed that the shootings threatened public support for Trump’s immigration agenda.

“I’ve never seen a political party take its best issue and turn it into its worst issue in the period of time that it has happened in the last few weeks,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said. “Some things have to change.”

Democrats quickly coalesced around their key demands.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) said there “was unanimity” around core principles of enforcing a code of conduct for immigration officers and agents, ending “roving patrols” for immigration enforcement actions and coordinating with local law enforcement on immigration arrests.

It helped that Trump himself was looking for ways to de-escalate in Minneapolis.

“The world has seen the videos of those horrible abuses by DHS and rogue operations catching up innocent people, and there’s a revulsion about it,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said.

“The White House is asking for a ladder off the ledge,” he added.

The painful politics of shutdown

Republicans are also trying to promote their accomplishments in office as they ready for the November midterms and the difficult task of retaining control of both chambers of Congress.

But the prospect of a prolonged shutdown shifted attention away from their $4.5-trillion tax and spending cuts law, the centerpiece of their agenda. Republicans had hoped the beginning of this year’s tax season on Monday would provide a political boost as voters begin to see larger tax refunds.

Republicans are also mindful of the political damage from last year’s shutdown, when they took a slightly larger portion of the blame from Americans than Democrats, according to polling from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“The shutdown was a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” Trump told Republican senators at the White House in November.

On a practical level, this funding standoff threatened to destroy months of bipartisan work, including long hours over the holiday break, to craft the 12 spending bills that fund the government and many priorities back home.

“We saw what happened in the last government shutdown in regards to how it hurt real, hardworking Americans,” said Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. “I don’t want that to happen again.”

A two-week funding battle begins

The agreement reached this week, if passed by the House, would avoid a prolonged shutdown and fund nearly every federal department through the end of the budget year in September. But it would not resolve one of the most difficult issues for Congress and the White House: Homeland Security funding.

Instead of a full-year deal, funding for the department was extended for just two weeks, giving lawmakers little time to bridge the deep divides over immigration enforcement.

Democrats are pressing for changes they say are necessary to prevent future abuses, including requiring immigration agents to wear body cameras, carry clear identification, end roving patrols in cities and coordinate more closely with local law enforcement when making arrests. Many Democrats also want tighter rules around warrants and accountability mechanisms for officers in the field.

Those demands have met stiff resistance from Republicans. Some are opposed to negotiating with Democrats at all.

“Republicans control the White House, Senate and House. Why are we giving an inch to Democrats?” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) wrote on social media.

Republican senators said they would take the fight to Democrats by introducing their own bills, including restrictions on “sanctuary cities,” to show their support for Trump’s policies. That term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

“We’ve let the issue get away. We’re not leading. We’re trying to avoid losing rather than winning,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who held up the spending bills until Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) agreed to give him a vote on his sanctuary cities bill at a later date.

Thune acknowledged the difficulty of the next two weeks, saying that there are “some pretty significant views and feelings.”

“We’ll stay hopeful,” Thune told reporters about the upcoming fight. “But there are some pretty significant differences of opinion.”

Cappelletti and Groves write for the Associated Press. AP writers Lisa Mascaro and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

Actor John Leguizamo, a longtime vocal critic of President Trump and his administration, says he’s showing a section of his social media following the door amid the federal government’s relentless crackdown on immigration.

The “Romeo + Juliet” and “Moulin Rouge!” acting veteran, who is Latino, on Wednesday issued a brief and blunt Instagram video message to followers who also support the immigration agency. “If you follow ICE, unfollow me,” he said in his post.

“Don’t come to my shows, don’t watch my movies,” he added. Leguizamo, an Emmy winner, captioned his post: “Abolish ice!”

The actor-comedian, also known for the “Ice Age” films and cult classic “To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar,” is among the Hollywood stars vehemently speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents amid recent killings. An ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good earlier this month in Minneapolis, where Border Patrol agents on Jan. 24 shot and killed Alex Pretti. An off-duty federal immigration agent fatally shot Keith Porter Jr. in Northridge on Dec. 31. They are among the 20-plus people who have died in a wave of aggressive immigration operations launched by the Trump administration last year.

Fellow actors also using social media to speak out against ICE and other federal immigration agents are Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo and Ayo Edebiri. Musicians including Olivia Rodrigo, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Billie Eilishand Tyler, the Creator have also condemned federal officers.

White House border policy advisor Tom Homan said Thursday during a press conference that street operations in Minneapolis would wind down if agents were allowed into local jails instead and asserted the federal government was not backing down on its aggressive immigration agenda.

“We are not surrendering our mission at all,” he said. “We are not surrendering the president’s mission of immigration enforcement: Let’s make that clear.”

Staff writers Malia Mendez and Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.

President Trump has an army of bootlickers that seems to stretch to the sunset. Many of them creep around on social media and almost certainly legions of them come from bot accounts on X.

Then there’s Bill Essayli. When it comes to saying anything to please a president with autocratic dreams, the former Assembly member is a bootlicking All-Star.

Att. Gen. Pam Bondi appointed him as the top prosecutor for the Central District of California in April with the explicit mandate to do Donald J. Trump’s will. His record so far has been unsurprisingly embarrassing and outlandish.

An exodus of prosecutors who didn’t care for his staff screaming sessions and boorish press conferences. A felony conviction against a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy for excessive force that he reduced to a misdemeanor and then unsuccessfully tried to have dismissed. Seeking charges against people who dared protest Trump’s deportation deluge that his office eventually reduced, dropped or lost in court due to lack of evidence despite Essayli publicly boasting they were slam-dunk cases.

The guy can’t even call himself acting U.S. attorney anymore after a judge ruled in October he was “not lawfully serving” in the position since he was never formally appointed in the first place. So you’d think Essayli would hear the music and go back to being an inconsequential California legislator, but no! If there’s one thing Trumpworld has shown, it’s that once you’ve knelt to offer the Dear Leader a lick-and-shine, you better keep it up until your tongue’s as dry as Death Valley.

Which leads us to this weekend. And Essayli’s bootlicking-gone-wrong.

On Saturday morning, Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti after they gang-tackled him. He had tried to help a woman shoved to the ground by a federal immigration officer; an officer maced him and he soon collapsed — and shortly after, was dead. A Department of Homeland Security social media post justified what happened by saying Pretti seemed intent on “want[ing] to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” because he was in possession of a legally registered handgun. He never brandished it though. In fact, multiple videos showed Pretti clearly holding what looked like a phone as agents swarmed him.

Even though the incident was thousands of miles away from Los Angeles, Essayli had to flick his tongue — it’s the bootlicker way, after all.

“If you approach law enforcement with a gun, there is a high likelihood they will be legally justified in shooting you,” he snickered on social media hours after Pretti died. “Don’t do it!” He also reshared the posts of right-wing social media influencers Jack Posobiec and Andy Ngo who claimed Pretti, an intensive care unit nurse at a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, was following “antifa” tactics.

Essayli was soon getting smacked around on social media by gun rights groups, including the NRA, which has endorsed Trump in all his presidential races.

A sign is raised in support of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at a candlelight vigil during a peaceful protest at the federal building in Los Angeles on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It blasted his rant as “dangerous and wrong” on social media, adding that “responsible public voices should be awaiting a full investigation, not making generalizations and demonizing law-abiding citizens.”

The Gun Owners of America, a group that’s even more conservative than the NRA, called Essayli’s comments “untoward,” leading to the first assistant U.S. attorney — because bootlickers love their titles — to whine about the nonprofit “adding words to mischaracterize my statement” even though they directly quoted him.

When history looks back at all the cowards, sycophants, apologists, enablers, henchmen and other miscreants that made Trump possible, the bootlickers will have a starring role. The “I voted for this” tribe — even when this is cruelty and actions that are more those of a Macbeth than an American president.

The bootlicker is a universally reviled archetype. Their bread-and-butter is comforting the most comfortable by afflicting the most afflicted. They try to top fellow bootlickers with even more obsequious acts of flattery, hellbent on making the most damning line of Orwell’s “1984” come to life: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

The bootlicker’s moral compass is malleable. Wherever the Big Boss has moved the goal posts, that’s where he or she will kick the ball. If all goes to hell and America devolves into a rank dictatorship, beware the bootlicker.

The Trump regime currently has a lineup of them that’s like the bootlicking version of the 1927 Yankees.

In addition to Essayli, you have Stephen Miller, who kept calling Pretti an “assassin” and “domestic terrorist” on social media as if repeating the slurs would make them true. Vice President JD Vance, who described Renee Good, a woman shot and killed on Jan. 7 by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minneapolis after she tried to drive away from him, as a “deranged leftist.”

Repeating what the big bootlickers say is a character trait. Call it the bootlicking trickle-down-effect.

There’s Border Patrol chief at large Gregory Bovino, a migra man a federal judge accused of “outright lying” during depositions over the actions of his team in Chicago this fall. During a news conference about the death of Pretti, Bovino claimed that the victim looked like he “wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement” — the exact same language used in the original Department of Homeland Security social media post on the killing. Hours later, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also impersonated a macaw, parroting Miller by accusing Pretti of “domestic terrorism.”

On Fox News on Sunday, FBI Director Kash Patel — the agency that in ye olden days would be leading an impartial investigation into what happened to Good, Pretti and other victims of la migra — told host Maria Bartiromo that “No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm. That led a skeptical-looking Bartiromo, who’s about as liberal as the Spanish Inquisition, to ask, “And how was he using that handgun in terms of threatening Border Patrol?”

A wide-eyed Patel could only say he trusted Noem’s version of the events.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a news conference on Saturday to address an incident where federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti during operations in Minneapolis.

(Al Drago / Getty Images)

These are just some of the most prominent, powerful bootlickers stumbling right now on their own deceit and desperation.

Space prohibits me from quoting all the Republicans who last week were stalwart 2nd Amendment fans now saying Pretti had no right to carry his legally registered firearm to a protest even though they cheered on Kyle Rittenhouse when the Wisconsin teen showed up at one very openly carrying an AR-15, which he ended up using to fatally shoot two people who tried to assault him. There’s no evidence Pretti ever handled his firearm during the protest, let alone threatened federal agents with it.

Then there’s the bootlickers who cheered on the Jan. 6 rioters for rising up against what they saw as government tyranny, who insist the dozens of law enforcement officers injured that day were just deep-state agents. Today, those bootlickers are telling folks pushing back against Trump’s police state to respect it.

Obey or die.

The Roman philosopher Plutarch described flatterers in his immortal essay on the subject as “the plague in kings’ chambers, and the ruin of their kingdoms” that “prey upon a noble quarry.” So to Essayli, Patel, Noem and all the other bootlickers in Trump’s orbit, and to the relatively anonymous legions beyond, I’ll leave you with the warning that I saw in a meme that I’m sure Plutarch would endorse:

No matter how hard you lick it, the boot will never love you.