Crossroads with Joshua Philipp

The Department of Education, as we knew it, has come to an end. President Trump has signed an executive order essentially dismantling the department and returning education back to the states to decide on. In other news, a new campaign to get heavy metals out of baby formula, and to make sure that formula is reliable and nutritious, has been launched by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He’s referring to this campaign as “Operation Stork Speed.” 

The campaign against Tesla as a form of protest against President Donald Trump is growing. Boycotts, incidents of arson, and vandalism are being reported in various parts of the United States and Europe, with some public figures also speaking out against the company. The attacks against the electric vehicle company are seen as an attempt to harm the interests of the company’s owner, Elon Musk, in retaliation for his role in the Trump administration. On the other side of the issue, Attorney General Pamela Bondi is now also saying the attacks could qualify as domestic terrorism.

The United States’ manufacturing has been declining, and there’s now a push to bring it back. Vice President JD Vance recently spoke at the American Dynamism Summit about the unseen impacts of losing manufacturing, how this happened, and the emerging policies to restore it. 

President Donald Trump has declared that the presidential pardons issued under the Biden administration are now null and no longer in effect. He alleged that the documents had been signed with an autopen and that the former president was likely unaware of them. The move could clear the way for new criminal investigations.Meanwhile, new polls on approval ratings are showing new records. Trump has matched his record high, while Democrats are showing record-low ratings. The polls suggest that a change in approach may be necessary for Democrats to win back voters in the midterm elections.

Over 200 gang members from Tren de Aragua and MS-13 have been deported from the United States, and have now arrived at a prison in El Salvador. Videos were posted online showing the gang members being taken from the planes and sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center. The deportation follows a recent action from President Donald Trump to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, where he declared an invasion of the United States by Tren de Aragua, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. Now, a legal battle is beginning as well, after a federal judge blocked Trump’s invocation of the act and also ordered the deportation of gang members to stop.

The push for mass deportations could soon get the backing of a major order. President Donald Trump is reportedly expected to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. He discussed using this order when he was on the campaign trail, and it would give the president broad authority to deport noncitizens.

The coordinated attacks being launched on Tesla are now being called acts of terrorism. This began with organized protests at Tesla dealerships. It then expanded to dozens of locations across the United States—and then began escalating into threats of violence, arson, and other actions targeting Tesla as a form of retaliation for Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration. Musk went public and alleged that the attacks were being coordinated by a group of far-left organizations and major left-wing figures. And now, the Trump administration is saying the attacks represent a form of domestic terrorism, which could result in criminal charges.

A trade war is kicking off between the United States and Canada. The new Canadian prime minister is promising to win the financial battle. President Donald Trump, meanwhile, is working on his own response, which he says will include actions that will go down in history.

A policy that could have brought an end to America’s suburbs has now been discarded. The zoning policy under the Obama administration, and later the Biden administration, created a type of equity program that localities had to follow. And the program has now been eliminated by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner.In other news, the Department of Homeland Security has repurposed the CBP One app that could formerly be used to schedule illegal entry into the United States. It has been relaunched for self-deportation.

Cryptocurrencies could soon be part of the U.S. national strategic reserve. During a recent event, President Donald Trump announced his administration is exploring ways to do this through bitcoin.The move follows another Trump order where he banned central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), or government-backed digital currencies. Both actions could represent a break of the United States from a global trend of mass surveillance in digital payments.

President Donald Trump is expected to abolish the Department of Education. A draft of the executive order was detailed by several news outlets ahead of the expected announcement, and this also aligns with what Trump had promised early in his campaign. The plan is to have the school systems handled by the states, and not by the federal government.

An anti-Trump resistance has formed within government agencies. A secret network of federal workers has organized to fight back against the Trump administration. The group is now working to form strategies and share information on encrypted apps. Alongside this, new U.S. intelligence shows that the Chinese regime is attempting to recruit disgruntled U.S. federal employees.In other news, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Trump’s freeze on some USAID payments will have to go through. The denial of Trump’s attempts to block a lower court order could signal how other legal challenges over money heading to international programs may go.

The Department of Justice has recovered files on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein that were allegedly withheld from release. The announcement was made by Attorney General Pam Bondi, who announced plans to make the Epstein files public. In other news, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced he’s now ready to sign a rare earths deal with the United States and be a part of peace talks with Russia. This takes place just days after Zelenskyy argued with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in the Oval Office and was asked to leave the White House without signing the agreement.

With the midterm elections coming up, there’s a legal battle starting over election laws and who controls them. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to bring the Federal Election Commission (FEC) under White House scrutiny. Democrats say that this could undermine the independence of the FEC, which is in charge of enforcing campaign finance laws, and a new lawsuit could soon determine the legalities of Trump’s order. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has reportedly paused aid to Ukraine.

Plans for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine broke down on live TV. In a discussion at the White House, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy argued with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance about the potential agreement. The deal is now on pause, and Trump has said Zelenskyy can come back when he’s ready for peace. In the meantime, Ukraine is turning to Europe for help, and this is sparking new debates on whether Europe could defend itself without the help of the United States.

The first batch of files on sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein has now been released by the Department of Justice. The files were first given to a handful of conservative influencers where photos at the White House showed them holding binders with the label “The Epstein Files, Phase 1: By order of Attorney General Pamela Bondi & FBI Director Kash Patel.” And now the DOJ has publicly released these "Phase 1" Epstein files. Also, you might have noticed that egg prices have skyrocketed. President Trump's administration has a billion dollar plan to combat this egg shortage.

The White House is ending the practice of letting an outside association decide who gets access to the president and who doesn’t. An organization known as the White House Correspondents’ Association used to control a good amount of press access to the White House, and now the Trump administration is replacing it with a new White House Press Pool while promising more access to new outlets.In other news, illegal immigrants in the United States will now need to register with the federal government within the next 30 days. As part of this, they will be fingerprinted, and those who fail to register will face civil penalties. The decision was announced by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who said this is an act to enforce the Alien Registration Act.

A new movement is underway to fix some of the causes of childhood chronic disease. This is being led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition to his role with HHS, he’s also the head of the President’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, which has influence over other departments and agencies. In other news, Kash Patel has now been sworn in as director of the FBI. And we’re seeing some of his first moves for the agency.

President Donald Trump has a new plan for the District of Columbia, and is suggesting the federal government should take over the nation’s capital. His plan is a counter to those who believe it should, instead, be granted statehood. And in other news, Kash Patel has now been confirmed as the new director of the FBI.

There is now a new push for the United States to decouple from China, including a campaign for large-scale divestment. These measures could also serve as part of a broader undercurrent to President Donald Trump’s policies on tariffs and, ultimately, could signal the beginning of a new global trade war. At the same time, the Chinese Communist Party shows increasing signs of its preparations for war. And in other news, President Trump has ordered the Department of Justice to fire all the remaining Biden-appointed attorneys generals. 

Despite the legal pushbacks it’s now facing, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is moving forward with audits and reviews of government agencies. And now, just in time for tax season, DOGE staff have arrived at the headquarters of the IRS. The federal tax collection agency is now facing an investigation into any potential waste, and also a review of its practices.

An alleged drone attack hit the Chernobyl nuclear reactor site in Ukraine and was able to pierce the shield of the facility that experienced a nuclear disaster during the Cold War. The attack took place as President Donald Trump is trying to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, as well as efforts in Europe that could keep the war going.

It’s possible that Americans could someday get a license to hunt drug cartel members. A U.S. senator has suggested that “letters of marque and reprisal” going back to the early 1800s could again be activated. The program under one of the U.S. Founding Fathers, President James Madison, allowed people to receive government licenses to become privateers to fight pirates, and it allowed them to attack and capture certain enemy vessels. If this is brought back, it could create a type of bounty hunter system, allowing Americans to fight gangs and cartels. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has announced a plan to launch reciprocal tariffs on other countries.

A battle is taking place in Washington over the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Elon Musk. Democrats are declaring that the United States is now in a constitutional crisis, as the Department of Government Efficiency moves to halt funding, audit agencies, and fire government employees. In response to this, President Donald Trump has issued another executive action to further establish the legalities of DOGE. In other news, the FBI says it has found an additional 2,400 records on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. And now, a congressional task force is launching a new investigation into the assassination.

Many policies of the Trump administration are now being openly challenged by judges. This includes moves to block several of the administration's key policies—including the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—as well as freezes on spending cuts, holds on buyouts of federal employees, and many other measures. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is arguing that the court orders undermine presidential authority.

It turns out President Donald Trump wasn’t joking when he suggested Canada could become the 51st U.S. state. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was caught on a hot mic stating that Trump isn’t joking about the suggestion, and Trump also confirmed the intent during a recent press conference. In other news, it appears that Trump was likewise serious about diverting IRS agents to work on border security. The Department of Homeland Security is now seeking to deputize IRS officers to assist in the deportation of illegal immigrants.

The Department of Government Efficiency is facing legal challenges as it attempts to investigate the U.S. Treasury. The case is raising questions over the legalities of the department, which has been uncovering alleged overspending and other issues in the federal government. Yet the program actually isn’t new. It goes back to the Obama administration, which established not only its legality, but also its deep reach into the networks of government agencies.And on this, Musk is alleging that DOGE has already uncovered large-scale abuse of the social security system.

The United States could soon have a very different tax system. The Trump administration has now unveiled its list of tax priorities. This includes campaign promises like no tax on tips, as well as other reforms. While it doesn’t go as far as the near elimination of federal income tax that some have floated, it does appear to be aimed at reducing the amount of taxes for the average American. In other news, a spotlight has been shone on the U.S. Agency for International Development, and now the Trump administration is looking to dramatically slash staff numbers.

The Department of Government Efficiency’s investigations into the U.S. Agency for International Development have now revealed that several news outlets were receiving millions in government funds. This includes government funding that was going to many corporate news outlets like Politico. Not only that, the White House has also released a list showing wasteful spending by the USAID, including for things like $70,000 for the production of a "DEI musical" in Ireland. In other news, President Donald Trump may soon face his first round of impeachment hearings for his second term in office. Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) announced he will bring articles of impeachment against Trump for what he calls “ethnic cleansing in Gaza.” 

The Trump administration has now obtained a list of FBI employees who were involved in cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach. Despite early attempts to block the list from being handed over, the FBI has now given the Justice Department a list of all employees who were involved in investigations and criminal cases related to the incident. This allegedly includes the names of 5,000 FBI employees, and it is raising questions over whether they could be fired. In response, a group of FBI agents has brought a class-action lawsuit against the Justice Department, alleging this amounts to an “unlawful and retaliatory” directive from President Donald Trump. And in other news, while speaking to press at the White House whilst he was signing even more executive orders yesterday, Trump also detailed preparations he has in place, were Iran to assassinate him.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under Elon Musk has gained access to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). And the investigations of what the USAID has been funding are now sparking a national debate. The agency is now being moved under the State Department and could serve a different mission going forward.

Non-governmental organizations tied to the process of mass migration into the United States have now been defunded. The announcement came from the Department of Homeland Security, and it has brought attention to government grants and funding that were going to NGOs accused of helping facilitate the border crisis.In other news, the United States has placed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and additional tariffs on China. And now these countries are pushing back in what’s becoming a new tariff war.

It’s now being determined whether the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda will become a reality. On Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sat before the Senate for the first day of his confirmation hearing. If he gets confirmed, he’ll become the new head of Health and Human Services, and with that, bring his stated plans to get harmful chemicals out of American food products, and to begin reforms within the pharmaceutical industry. Also, Trump signed a memorandum to prepare Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba to house illegal immigrants, according to the White House.

Federal income tax could be coming to an end in the United States. President Donald Trump first floated the idea when he was on the campaign trail, and it now seems he was serious. At a recent event, Trump discussed how the United States could replace income tax by using tariffs instead.

The 2024 elections were telling. Not only did President Donald Trump win the popular vote, and win every swing state, but he also came close to winning many states that are otherwise thought of as solid Democrat. It’s possible we could even see states like New Jersey become swing states in the next election. And now, it’s possible that even some solid blue states, like California and New York, could shift on the political spectrum due to issues of people leaving the states. As this happens, California could see a secession vote on the ballot in 2028.

The U.S. program to send money to countries around the world as foreign aid has been placed on hold and will be reviewed. This is part of a broader trend to end U.S. trade deficits, make NATO allies pay more, cut United Nations programs not in American interests, and many others. On Friday, the Trump administration froze nearly all foreign aid. The only exceptions to this are military assistance to Israel and Egypt and emergency food aid.

In just the first week of President Donald Trump’s second term in office, legal challenges are now emerging against his incoming policies. Among the 200 executive actions he came prepared with was an order to restrict birthright citizenship. That order was met with lawsuits from 22 states, and now a federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump’s order.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to end affirmative action for federal contractors. He also directed all federal staff working on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs to be put on leave. And it doesn’t end there. Trump also put an end to the orders and policies of the Biden administration that focused on race politics. This is all a part of Trump's sweeping moves to purge DEI from the federal government.

President Donald Trump is now the 47th president of the United States. He has given some previews of his ambitious plans for office, including his 200 Day 1 executive actions. Yet this plan could soon meet with resistance. While the lead-up to the inauguration had been comparably smoother than the 2016 elections, when the nation saw large-scale anti-Trump protests, there’s now talk of how new challenges to Trump’s policies could begin.

Overnight, the United States has changed. Immediately following his inauguration and speech, President Donald Trump signed a series of executive actions in front of a live audience at the Capital One Arena.With cheers from the crowd, he ended a long list of policies from the former administration and issued new orders, before heading to the White House where he continued issuing executive actions while speaking with the press.

President Donald Trump is being sworn in as the 47th president of the United States today. With this, the political landscape could change globally, and we already have a general idea of what’s going to happen, given that Trump has detailed what he has in store for his first days in office. He reportedly has 100 executive actions ready to go starting on day one of his new administration. 

Hollywood hasn’t been doing so well. Many of the major planned blockbusters have fallen flat, and some have blamed this on things like social justice and other issues that have steered Hollywood more toward policies than toward creating good movies. President-elect Donald Trump is now saying he hopes to create a new “Golden Age of Hollywood,” and to do this, he announced the appointment of actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone to become special ambassadors to Hollywood.

TikTok may soon be banned in the United States due to its China ties, but some users are now migrating to a platform even more strongly linked to China’s communist regime. The case with TikTok is now in the hands of the Supreme Court, which is weighing the constitutionality of banning the video app unless its China-based owner, ByteDance, sells it off. It appears the ban is likely to be upheld, and some TikTok users have been jumping to another platform that’s even more Chinese—RedNote. Technically, the name is Xiaohongshu, which is Mandarin for “Little Red Book”—as in the teachings of former CCP leader Mao Zedong.In other news, TikTok may be just the first of many such companies that could be forced to either sell or get banned in the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense recently listed Tencent as a Chinese military company, and this could also have broad implications for tech and entertainment. Tencent owns the messaging app WeChat and has also been buying up large swaths of companies in the video game market—including many of the most popular games currently available. With the new designation, and with the passage of some recent U.S. laws, Tencent could soon go the way of TikTok.

President-elect Donald Trump has announced his plan to create a new agency called the External Revenue Service. This is an inversion of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and, as the new agency’s name suggests, its focus will be on collecting money from outside the United States—including through the use of tariffs.In other news, special counsel Jack Smith has officially left his position. The federal investigation and charges against Trump have now come to an end. But before leaving, part of Smith’s report on one case has been released to the public. In it, Smith alleges that had Trump not won the 2024 election, there would have been enough evidence for a criminal conviction. Trump, meanwhile, has strongly criticized the report and Smith, arguing it was part of a politicized campaign to target him.

With the presidential inauguration now less than a week away, the Senate is holding hearings on the appointments of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees. The hearings could display the level of support, or lack of enthusiasm, that Republicans will show for the incoming administration. And there are also questions about how this will go for Cabinet selections who’ve been the focus of media attacks. Among these is Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, and already veterans are rallying on the streets of Washington D.C. in his support.

Censorship programs were forced onto Facebook and Instagram through outside pressure, said Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who provided the details during an interview with Joe Rogan. Zuckerberg explained how programs for content moderation transformed into large-scale censorship systems after the COVID-19 outbreak. This ties in with his recent announcement that Meta will be ending these censorship practices, and working with the incoming Trump administration to push for freedom of expression globally.

A persecution of between 70 million and 100 million people has largely been hidden from the world, and western news outlets have played a role in concealing it from the public. The Chinese Communist Party launched a campaign of torture, killing, and live organ harvesting against the Falun Gong religious group in 1999. And while many news outlets even won awards in the early years for exposing the truth of the Chinese regime’s brutal actions, many mysteriously stopped covering it around 2003, and some have even flipped to parroting the communist party’s propaganda. To learn more about this, and what has actually been taking place, we speak with Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center, a human rights organization that has been researching and exposing the persecution.

The fires in Los Angeles are not just a natural disaster. They’re also turning into a political disaster, as blame falls on California’s policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and environmental regulation. Many are now raising concerns over regulations that allegedly led to water shortages, policies on forestry management, and money for the Fire Department being diverted to programs for DEI.

Individuals who risk prosecution under the incoming Trump administration could receive preemptive pardons. President Joe Biden said he was considering issuing pardons like this in order to shield key figures from prosecution. Biden demonstrated a novel use of pardons like this when he granted his son, Hunter Biden, a pardon for any potential crimes committed between January 2014 and December 2024. The president has been pressed to give similar pardons to others, although he has not fully committed to doing so.

Meta is ending its third-party fact-checking system on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, and looking to adopt a community notes system following in the footsteps of X. This push for more freedom of expression was announced in a video from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, where he noted the problems that were caused by an increase in censorship in recent years, and he also explained how he plans to work with the incoming Trump administration to push back against censorship pressure coming to the United States from Europe.