Tag: donald trump

Power Without Principle: The Rise of the Bully Presidency

“When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything… Grab ‘em by the pussy. You can do anything.”— Donald J. Trump on seizing women, Access Hollywood (2005)

“I think I can do anything I want with it. Whether I free it, take it, I think I can do anything I want with it.”—Donald Trump on seizing Cuba (2026)

It’s been 20 years since Donald Trump bragged that, as a star, he could do anything—even assault women—and get away with it.

Two decades later, what once sounded like crude bravado has become a governing philosophy: might makes right, power excuses everything, and accountability is for other people—not this president.

Despite the Access Hollywood recording—and everything it revealed about his character—Trump was elected to the White House twice. And ever since, he has governed exactly as he promised: as a man who believes he is unaccountable, entitled, and free to act without limits.

The same mindset that once bragged about being able to “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters” has now been scaled up and weaponized through the presidency.

With a core MAGA following that seems unwilling to hold him accountable for any wrongdoing, Trump has justifiably earned his nickname as “Teflon Don.”

He can be accused of sexually assaulting young girls, and he won’t lose any voters. He can, as commander-in-chief, sanction the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran—killing young girls, their mothers and teachers—and he won’t lose any voters. He can torpedo a thriving economy, sending inflation and gas prices soaring, and he won’t lose any voters. He can dismantle a government structure that has been in place for over 200 years, and he won’t lose any voters. He can be a walking—talking—living contradiction of everything Christians claim to stand for, and he won’t lose any voters. He can send Americans servicemen and women to die in wars that the U.S. had no business starting, and he won’t lose any voters.

This is the mindset now shaping American policy.

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Senate Again Rejects Effort to Restrict Trump’s Iran War Powers

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday once again rejected a motion to discharge S.J. Res. 118, a joint resolution to withdraw American armed forces from military actions in Iran sans Congressional approval. The motion was shot down in a 47–53 vote.

The measure, introduced by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), is an attempt to invoke the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to require explicit congressional approval for ongoing U.S. military involvement in the region.

The motion was rejected mostly along party lines, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) providing the lone Republican supporter and Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voting with Republicans.

“If there’s anything that is plain in that Constitution, it is that a president does not have the power to unilaterally bring a nation and its treasure, to bring a nation and its men and women into conflict without a say of Congress,” Booker said on the Senate floor.

“This is not a partisan issue. This is not a left or right issue. It is a right or wrong, do you stand with the Constitution of the United States of America?”

The U.S.-led military campaign against Iran entered its third week on Wednesday as Iran engages in retaliatory strikes across the region, disrupting global energy flows and driving up oil prices. Iran launched missiles and drones late Wednesday night a toward Israel and several Persian Gulf countries, continuing a trend of targeting its neighbors.

The Israel Defense Forces, as well as defense measures in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, have responded to Iran’s attacks. Israel conducted strikes in Tehran Tuesday, killing Ali Larijani, a top Iranian security official, as well as Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Basij force.

Meanwhile, Brent crude prices have skyrocketed above $100 per barrel as Middle East oil exports have been halted. Strikes against Iranian gas fields have contributed to the increase in oil prices. Two Canadian cargo ships are stranded in the Persian Gulf, unable to pass through the waterway.

U.S. intelligence says Iran’s regime remains in power, but it’s deteriorated.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Responds to Claims that His Nation Dragged President Trump into War with Iran 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has broken his silence regarding unfounded allegations that the Jewish State strong-armed President Trump into going to war with Iran.

As TGP readers know, the ongoing war with Iran has divided big-name conservative influencers (though ordinary GOPers remain solidly behind Trump). Some have claimed that Netanyahu is controlling Trump and actually calling the shots when it comes to American foreign policy.

Disgraced former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who quit on Wednesday, piled on as well.

He stated in his resignation letter that Iran posed no imminent threat to America and asserted we started the war because of “pressure from Israel” and its “powerful American lobby.”

Netanyahu decided to respond to these allegations during a press conference on Thursday. He called any claim that Israel forced America to go to war with Iran just another piece of fake news.

The Israeli Prime Minister then posed a question that almost everyone would say no to: Does anyone think Trump takes orders from other human beings?

Netanyahu closed by praising Trump for always putting America first.

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Trump Threatens to “Finish Off” Iran and Let Asia and NATO “Be Responsible” for the Strait of Hormuz

President Trump seemingly threatened to escalate the war in Iran and leave the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery where up to 25% of the world’s oil travels through, to other countries that use it for their oil.

He said this might cause “our non-responsive ‘Allies’” to get “in gear, and fast!!!”

This comes after Iran closed off the Strait of Hormuz and began targeting shipping and oil tankers in response to US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

Trump said over the weekend, “Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.” He specifically called out “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint,” saying securing the Strait “should have always been a team effort, and now it will be.”

However, the countries quickly rebuffed his demand and instead called for and instead urged the United States to end the war.

Iran has also said the Strait is open to all except “those who are attacking us and their allies.”

Trump has threatened to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure and completely destroy the country’s ability to exist, but suggested he is saving those targets “for later.”

It appears that Trump’s latest threat would be a final end to the war and the complete destruction of Iran.

I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Strait?’” Trump said.

“That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!”

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Trump Announces Israel “Violently Lashed Out” and Hit Gas Fields in Iran, Claims US “KNEW NOTHING” of Attack and “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL”

President Trump on Wednesday announced on Truth Social that Israel hit a “major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran,” prompting Iran to launch retaliatory attacks on Qatar’s liquid natural gas facility at Ras Laffan Industrial City.

Qatari officials said Iran’s attacks caused “extensive damage” to the area of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas export facility, describing the move as “dangerous escalation, flagrant violation of state sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security and regional stability.”

Trump’s statement confirms reports that Israel launched the initial attacks on the South Pars gas field.

Per the New York Times:

Iran and Qatar on Wednesday accused Israel of attacking a giant offshore natural gas field that the two countries share, sending the prices of oil and natural gas soaring on what would be a sharp escalation of strikes on energy infrastructure in the war against Iran.

Iran uses most of its natural gas domestically, meaning that the strikes will most likely have a limited effect on the global supply of gas, which is used in power plants, home furnaces and heavy industry. But the attacks signal that the Persian Gulf’s extensive energy facilities may be at growing risk.

Iran’s oil ministry said on social media that airstrikes had damaged a number of its facilities connected to the South Pars gas field. It appeared to be one of the most significant energy sites to be hit since the U.S.-Israeli air war against Iran began nearly three weeks ago.

Iranian state media reported that oil and petrochemical facilities in the southern city of Asaluyeh, a key hub for the country’s energy industry, were also hit by an airstrike.

This sent oil prices surging over $110.

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US Government Registers Domain Name ‘Aliens.gov’, Sparking Expectations That Trump May Be About To Release Classified Documents on UFOs

Space is the final frontier, and Aliens are the biggest mystery.

We have been reporting here on TGP about Donald J. Trump’s directive to his administration to release the classified UFO files to the public.

But now, in a development that has gone viral, the domain name ‘Aliens.gov’ has been included in the government’s official website registry.

The discreet development ignited speculation that Trump could be about to disclose US intelligence information on whether or not we’re alone in the universe.

The New York Post reported:

“The domain name discovery comes almost exactly a month after President Trump announced he was ordering administration officials to release government files related to UFOs and extraterrestrials.

Though the website is not yet live, the government has reserved the domain name for an as-yet-unknown purpose, registry records show.”

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REPORT: Trump Considering Deployment of THOUSANDS of Ground Troops Along Strait of Hormuz and Kharg Island as RINO Warpig Lindsey Graham Demands He “Take Kharg Island”

President Trump is reportedly weighing the deployment of ground troops to Iran along the coast of the Strait of Hormuz or Kharg Island, as the war in Iran approaches the end of its third week. 

This comes as Lindsey Graham demands that President Trump escalate the war further on Kharg Island.

During a Fox News appearance on Tuesday, Graham cried, “90% of their income comes from oil and gas revenue. 100% of that revenue-generating capability is on a single island. Mr. President, take Kharg Island; this war is over.”

Trump has publicly suggested an escalation and expansion of operations against Iran.

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump threatened to “finish off” Iran on Wednesday in response to allies’ refusal to assist with the Strait of Hormuz.

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Trump Says US Doesn’t need NATO, Japan, South Korea, and Australia in Strait of Hormuz After They Snub Request for Help – “WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE!”

President Trump expressed displeasure with other countries for turning down his request to send their militaries to the Strait of Hormuz to protect oil tankers as Israel and the US wage war against Iran, saying that the US will remember the refusal. 

As The Gateway Pundit reported, Trump on Saturday claimed, “Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe.”

He specifically called out “China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint,” saying securing the Strait “should have always been a team effort, and now it will be.”

However, the countries quickly rebuffed his demand and instead called for and instead urged the United States to end the war.

Trump responded to their declination of his proposition on Tuesday during a bilateral meeting with Taoiseach of Ireland Micheál Martin, saying, “We don’t need help.”

Trump further said he was “surprised” that NATO allies, while supportive of the war, “don’t want to help.”

“This was a great test because we don’t need them, but they should have been there,” he said, noting that “we as the United States have to remember that, because we think it’s pretty shocking.”

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Trump suggests treason charges for journalists as Iran war spins out of control

You know a war probably isn’t going well when the President starts threatening media outlets with treason charges.

This weekend, President Trump unleashed one of his infamous Truth Social rants. This one targeted the Wall Street Journal, for reporting an Iranian strike that hit five U.S. Air Force refueling planes at an air base in Saudi Arabia.

“The five U.S. Refueling Planes that were supposedly struck down and badly damaged, according to The Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) false reporting, and others, are all in service, with the exception of one, which will soon be flying the skies,” he wrote.

This assertion doesn’t refute any part of the reporting, as the WSJ story says the planes weren’t destroyed.

Trump’s post equates the WSJ report with AI-generated videos of U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln burning, which began spreading after the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Navy falsely claimed it had attacked the aircraft carrier. Outlets like the New York Times have debunked the authenticity of those videos, but Trump imagines that they have been shared by U.S. media in collusion with Iran’s government. He then suggested that these news organizations be charged with treason, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

“The story was knowingly FAKE and, in a certain way, you can say that those Media Outlets that generated it should be brought up on Charges for TREASON for the dissemination of false information!,” wrote Trump. “The fact is, Iran is being decimated, and the only battles they ‘win’ are those that they create through AI, and are distributed by Corrupt Media Outlets.”

The President embraced the same narrative while talking to reporters aboard Air Force One. “Iran is known for a lot of fake news,” he declared. “I actually think it’s pretty criminal because our media companies, who have no credibility whatsoever, are putting out information that they know is false.”

Trump’s latest maniacal fantasy comes just days after Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr threatened to take away the broadcasting licenses of networks that failed to “operate in the public interest” while covering the war on Iran.

“The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves,” tweeted Carr. “It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news.”

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The Explosion Inside Trump’s War Machine: Joe Kent Resigns

Joe Kent’s resignation is not an anomaly but an alarm: elite dissent is surfacing early because this war is built on deception.

Joe Kent’s resignation is shocking, but not for the obvious reason.

It is not shocking simply because it comes from within the Trump administration. Any administration of that size, stretching across thousands of officials, operatives and career personnel, will contain people who, despite the surrounding culture, still draw moral lines of their own.

Even an administration defined by blunt militarism, racialized rhetoric and an unapologetic embrace of force is not morally monolithic. There is always room, however narrow, for someone to say: enough.

What makes Kent’s resignation important is something else entirely: the language, the timing, and the political location from which it emerged.

When other officials resigned over Gaza, they established a standard of ethical clarity that still matters. Former UN human rights official Craig Mokhiber resigned on October 28, 2023, warning that “we are seeing a genocide unfolding before our eyes” and describing Gaza as “a textbook case of genocide.”

Former State Department official Stacy Gilbert, who resigned in May 2024 over a government report on Israeli obstruction of aid, put it just as bluntly: “There is so clearly a right and wrong, and what is in that report is wrong.”

These were not carefully lawyered exits. They were moral positions.

Kent belongs in a different political universe than Mokhiber or Gilbert. That is precisely why his resignation carries such force.

He was not some liberal holdout inside a hawkish administration. He was the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, confirmed in July 2025, a former Green Beret, a former CIA paramilitary officer, and by every normal measure a deeply embedded figure within the national security state.

He was also a Trump-aligned Republican whose confirmation battle was shaped by ties to far-right figures and conspiracy politics, according to AP. In other words, this was not an outsider recoiling from empire. This was a man from within that machinery saying he could no longer justify this war.

And he did not mince words.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran,” Kent wrote. “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

That sentence alone is politically explosive. It does not merely criticize tactics. It indicts the rationale of the war itself.

Then Kent went further.

“Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran,” he wrote.

And then the bluntest line of all:

“This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war.”

This is not bureaucratic dissent. This is a direct accusation of manipulation, deception, and foreign-policy capture.

That is what makes this resignation different.

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