The prevailing image of the Trump presidency is of a driver asleep at the wheel.Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
As Americans tire of Donald Trump, a Democratic midterm ‘tsunami’ could sweep the GOP out of powerSat 27 Dec 2025 06.00 GMTShare
It was a wake-up call for America. In January, Donald Trump took the oath of office, declared himself “saved by God to make America great again” and issued a barrage of executive orders. In the ensuing months the US president and his allies moved at breakneck speed and seemed indomitable.
But as 2025 draws to a close with Trump struggling to stay awake at meetings, the prevailing image is of a driver asleep at the wheel. Opinion polls suggest that Americans are turning against him. Republicans are heading for the exit ahead of congressional contests next November that look bleak for the president’s party.
“He came into office and, like a blitzkrieg, was violating laws and the constitution,” said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. “The American political process is slow-moving and so he was able to do things that were extraordinary.
“But this is a guy whose legacy may well be the political collapse of Republicans in this era. Put another way, rather than asking who is going to be the inheritor of the Trump mantle and the so-called Maga movement, we may be talking in a year or so about which candidates can escape the odious distinction of having been connected with Trump.”
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.Power-mad orange gasbag Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)
Trump’s latest threat came shortly after he once against lashed out at late-night host Stephen Colbert.
President Donald Trump sent out a cheery Christmas greeting early Wednesday morning just three minutes after threatening to shut down US broadcasters if their programs did not provide him with more positive coverage.
In a Truth Social post sent out at 12:36 am, Trump renewed his threat to once again strip broadcast licenses from networks that cover or portray him and his administration in a negative light.
“If Network NEWSCASTS, and their Late Night Shows, are almost 100% Negative to President Donald J. Trump, MAGA, and the Republican Party, shouldn’t their very valuable Broadcast Licenses be terminated?” Trump wrote. “I say, YES!”
Just three minutes afterward, at 12:39 am, Trump posted an all-caps message that read, “MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!”
It is unclear what sparked Trump’s latest threat, although shortly before it was posted he lashed out at comedian Stephen Colbert, whose time hosting CBS’ “The Late Show” is set to end in May 2026.
“Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success,” he wrote. “Now, after being terminated by CBS, but left out to dry, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes. A dead man walking! CBS should, ‘put him to sleep,’ NOW, it is the humanitarian thing to do!”
While Trump frequently delivered angry rants about media coverage throughout his first term, his words appear to be carrying significantly more weight during his second term.
For example, the announcement of Colbert’s cancellation raised eyebrows earlier this year because it came shortly before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) signed off on an $8 billion deal for CBS parent company Paramount to be bought by Skydance Media, the company founded by David Ellison, son of Trump ally Larry Ellison.
Weeks after this, Trump-appointed FCC Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to rescind broadcast licenses for Disney-owned ABC unless it took late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a frequent Trump critic, off the air. Hours after Carr’s threat, Kimmel’s show was suspended before being put back on the air days later amid a public outcry.
Over the weekend, CBS News boss Bari Weiss spiked a segment on the network’s flagship news program “60 Minutes” that cast a critical eye on the Trump administration for sending hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious El Salvadoran prison where they were allegedly subjected to abuse and torture.
Weiss’ decision to at least temporarily quash the story came as Larry Ellison is making a hostile bid to buy Warner Brothers Discovery that will once again need FCC approval in the future in order to succeed.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
A US military helicopter flies over the oil tanker Centuries in the southern Caribbean Sea on December 20, 2025. (Photo by US Department of Homeland Security)
The Venezuelan government condemned the seizure as “a serious act of international piracy;” meanwhile, a US official said the Coast Guard was pursuing a third tanker in the Caribbean.
The Trump administration’s “total and complete blockade” of “all sanctioned oil tankers” off the Venezuelan coast was already denounced by critics as “an act of war”—and the United States further escalated its aggression on Saturday by seizing a tanker that is not on a list vessels under US sanctions.
US Coast Guard troops led Saturday’s seizure of the Centuries, a Panamanian-flagged, Chinese-owned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea, after it left Venezuela.
“The United States will continue to pursue the illicit movement of sanctioned oil that is used to fund narco-terrorism in the region,” US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on X. “We will find you, and we will stop you.”
On Sunday, an unnamed US official toldReuters that the Coast Guard “is in active pursuit” of a third tanker near Venezuela, “a sanctioned dark fleet vessel” that “is flying a false flag and under a judicial seizure order.”
The Venezuelan government condemned Saturday’s seizure as “a serious act of international piracy.”
Venezuela “denounces and rejects the theft and hijacking of a new private vessel transporting oil, as well as the forced disappearance of its crew, committed by military personnel of the United States of America in international waters,” Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in a statement.
“These acts will not go unpunished,” she vowed, adding that Venezuela will pursue “all corresponding actions, including filing a complaint before the United Nations Security Council, other multilateral organizations, and the governments of the world.”
Earlier this week, President Donald Trumpdeclared a blockade of all oil tankers under US sanctions that are traveling to or from Venezuela.
Saturday’s action followed the US seizure of the Panamanian-flagged Skipper—which is under sanctions—off the Venezuelan coast on December 10.
The Centuries seizure also comes amid the Trump administration’s bombing of at least 28 boats allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, attacks that have killed more than 100 people and have been condemned as acts of extrajudicial murder.
In addition to the blockade and boat strikes, Trump has deployed an armada of warships and thousands of troops to the southern Caribbean, authorized covert CIA action against the socialist government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and has threatened to invade the South American nation. This latest wave of aggression continues more than a century of US meddling in Venezuela’s affairs and sovereignty.
Numerous world leaders have denounced the US aggression toward Venezuela. On Saturday, leftist Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva said during a summit of the South American Mercosur bloc in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil that an “armed intervention in Venezuela would be a humanitarian catastrophe.”
In the United States, multiple efforts by members of Congress—mostly Democrats, but also a handful of anti-war Republicans—to pass a war powers resolution blocking the Trump administration from bombing boats or attacking Venezuela have failed.
Echoing assertions by Venezuelan officials and others, one of those Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, said earlier this week that Trump’s aggressive escalation “is all about oil and regime change.”
Some critics have called Trump’s actions a renewal of the “gunboat diplomacy” practiced by the US in the 19th and 20th centuries. The US has conducted scores of military interventions in Latin America, including dozens of regime change operations.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
There are many facets or aspects to Fascism: racist ideology; disregard and disdain for justice, human rights and the rule of law; what ‘Il Duce’ Benito Mussolini termed corporatism, “Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power.”
Xenophobe President Donald Trump often demonstrates racism and a disdain for due process, democracy, human rights and the law .
Deporting Venezuelans to San Salvador’s CECOT prison.
Deploying National Guard and ICE in US cities. “Everyday is Halloween.”
Murdering fishermen
Project 2025 pursues a huge corparist agenda, hugely extending deregulation for the benefit of unaccountable corporations. Trump pursued huge corporate support for his reelection particularly from the fossil fuel industry. Now he’s intending to invade Venezuela for “all that oil.”
Demented assole Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn, Flood, Baby, Flood.
When discussing Trump it is worth considering whether his obvious prejudices and limited abilities are further affected by senility. I suggest that senior officers of the wider US administration have due regard for other demands and obligations on them.
Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
A [man] with a bloody face and sunglasses askew suggests a violent arrest by masked US Customs and Border Patrol agents in New Orleans on December 3, 2025. (Photo by Adam Gray/AFP via Getty Images)
“Our city is not a stage for political theater,” said the Democratic congressman representing New Orleans. “Our people are not props.”
The Trump administration on Wednesday launched a major operation against what it said are “criminal illegal aliens” in New Orleans but that critics contend is political theater targeting what the Louisiana city’s mayor-elect called people “just trying to survive and do the right thing.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement that it launched Operation Catahoula Crunch—which some Trump administration officials are also calling “Swamp Sweep”—because New Orleans is a sanctuary city that refuses to cooperate with the anti-immigrant crackdown ordered by President Donald Trump.
The blitz—which began on the same day as a similar operation in Minneapolis and follows federal invasions of cities including Charlotte; Chicago; Los Angeles; Memphis; Portland, Oregon; and Washington, DC—is expected to involve at least hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops and reportedly aims for 5,000 arrests in Louisiana and Mississippi.
“Sanctuary policies endanger American communities by releasing illegal criminal aliens and forcing DHS law enforcement to risk their lives to remove criminal illegal aliens that should have never been put back on the streets,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Wednesday.
While McClaughlin claimed the targets of the operation will be “monsters” that “include violent criminals who were released after arrest for home invasion, armed robbery, grand theft auto, and rape,” examination of detention statistics of similar operations in other communities has shown that a large percentage of those swept up have no criminal record.
Academic studies and analyses by both left– and right-wing groups and have repeatedly affirmed that undocumented immigrants commit crime at a dramatically lower rate than native-born US citizens. The libertarian Cato Institute last week published data showing that nearly three-quarters of the 44,882 people booked into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody since October had no criminal conviction and just 5% had been convicted of violent crimes.
Detention data published last month by the Department of Justicerevealed that just 16 out of 614 people arrested in the Chicago area during DHS’s Operation Midway Blitz had criminal histories that present a “high public safety risk.”
Elected officials representing New Orleans called the DHS operation an unnecessary and unwelcome stunt.
“It’s one thing if you would have a real strategic approach on going after people… who have criminal felonies or are being accused of some very serious and violent crimes. But that’s not what the public is seeing,” Democratic New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Morena told the Washington Post on Wednesday.
“They’re seeing people who are just trying to survive and do the right thing—and many of them now have American children who are not causing problems in our community—treated like they are violent, violent criminals,” she added.
Moreno’s website published a “know your rights” resource page with tips from the National Immigrant Justice Center—a move that could possibly run afoul of a state law cited by Republican Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill to threaten felony prosecution of people who nonviolently resist Trump’s crackdown. On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit arguing that the law is a violation of the right to free speech.
Congressman Troy Carter (D-La.) said in a statement Tuesday that “if the administration truly wants to support public safety in New Orleans, they can help us recruit and retain well-trained local officers, invest in modern policing tools, and build transparent partnerships with city and parish leaders.”
New Orleans welcomes partnership. We do not welcome occupation.What we are seeing unfold in our community is not public safety; it is a political stunt wrapped in badges, armored vehicles, and military uniforms.
“Dropping armed federal agents and National Guard troops into our communities without coordination is not cooperation—it is chaos,” Carter continued. “As Congressman for New Orleans, I want to be clear: We will always stand for the rule of law. We will always stand for safe communities. And we will always stand against tactics that terrorize families and undermine public trust.”
“Our city is not a stage for political theater,” he added. “Our people are not props. If the administration wants to be a partner, then act like one; share the plan, respect local law, and work with us, not around us.”
Hundreds of New Orleans residents took to the streets Monday night despite cold, heavy rain to protest the impending DHS operation. Demonstrators shared umbrellas and held signs showing support for immigrants. They chanted messages, including “No ICE! No fear! Immigrants are welcome here!” and “Chinga la Migra”—roughly translated as “Fuck the Border Patrol.”
“We have to fight for the rights of everyone. I’m out here to support the immigrant community because it’s an integral part of New Orleans. New Orleans was built by immigrants,” protester Jamie Segura toldGambit.
Addressing the crowd at Monday’s rally, resident Mitch Gonzalez said: “This is my home. My trans sister was kidnapped and taken from me. Now she has to fight from Mexico, not even her home country, because they’re snatching people.”
Last night, hundreds marched through the streets of New Orleans, in the pouring rain, chanting “No ICE.”
If people are willing to storm the streets after dark in a downpour, it tells you everything about how fed up this country is with state-sanctioned cruelty. pic.twitter.com/kF5KjpU2SX
As New Orleans residents anticipated the impending operation, mutual aid groups kicked into action in defense of immigrant communities, citing effective rapid response efforts in Chicago.
“What we’ve learned is that even a street witness who is not recording makes these interactions less traumatic and less violent,” Beth Davis, press liaison officer at Indivisible NOLA, told the Washington Post on Wednesday. “So we need to get eyes on these people.”
The New Orleans branch of Democratic Socialists of America—which is hosting training sessions—said ahead of the federal blitz: “We call upon all of New Orleans to get organized and resist this fascist occupation. Protect your neighbors and make these troops and federal agents feel unwelcome in every part of our city.”
Other Orleanians prepared by closing or displaying signs telling the federal invaders that they are not welcome.
“We’re going to make sure that any hotel that they stay at, any neighborhood that they try to terrorize, we’re going to bring as many people there to stop them in their tracks, whether it’s in New Orleans, Los Angeles, Chicago—anywhere in this country,” Antonia Mar of Freedom Road Socialist Organization toldVerite News during Monday’s protest.
Suggesting that the crackdown could backfire, Mar added that “if there’s one thing Trump does well, he gets people organized against him.”
