The consequences of the government shutdown rear their ugly heads, a congressional hearing to examine the origins of political violence, and Trump continues his Asia tour as the Left melts down over his East Wing renovations.
It’s Tuesday, October 28, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mrn-251028">the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire</a>:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Government Shutdown Repercussions</h2>
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Topline: The government shutdown is dragging on, and pressure is mounting on Democrats to end it.
About 13,000 air traffic controllers are set to miss their first paycheck on Tuesday, which is bound to make a bad situation significantly worse. Some reports say air traffic controllers are taking second jobs as DoorDash drivers to supplement their income.
Roughly 18,700 flights were delayed on Sunday. On Monday, more than 3,000 flights were delayed, and more than 100 were canceled. Airports have become a flash point of the shutdown. Air traffic controllers and TSA agents were some of the first employees to see their pay disrupted, and Americans are generally united in hating flight delays.
Uh-oh, Democrats: A couple of major airline pilot unions last week called for an end to the shutdown, and that turned out to be only a precursor of what was to come. Now, the largest union representing 800,000 federal workers, the American Federation of Government Employees, has issued a statement calling for the Senate to pass a continuing resolution to end the shutdown.
Union President Everett Kelley said it&#8217;s time for leaders to focus on solving problems for the American people rather than on who is going to get the blame for the shutdown. He is calling for back pay for every single employee who has been forced to stay home.
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AFGE is a Democratic stalwart. It pushed to stop the Trump administration from making federal workers return to the office, it endorsed Joe Biden for president, and just last week, it blamed Trump and congressional Republicans for keeping the government closed. But while this statement doesn’t lay the blame on one party in particular, the union calls for a clean CR, which Republicans have put forward over a dozen times and Democrats keep rejecting.
Oh SNAP: In addition to flight delays and organized labor turning against them, Democrats also have to contend with the fact that food stamps benefits will lapse starting on Friday.
The expiration of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits will impact 40 million people. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said on Monday that not only is this affecting airports, but that some states, such as his own, will now have to be forced to cut off SNAP benefits—an example of SNAP becoming one of the big talking points this week.
Food stamps are not an explicitly partisan issue, and lawmakers from both parties will have to explain this disruption in benefits to their constituents. Democrats are working to shift the blame to Republicans. The California Department of Social Services is texting residents, blaming the imminent SNAP disruption on Trump and the GOP.
Republicans dismissed the attack, as California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is using taxpayer money to spread political propaganda. But each new disruption is likely going to hit Democrats harder than Republicans, increasing the likelihood that some members of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s caucus break ranks in the coming days.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Hearing On Politically Violent Attacks</h2>
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Topline: The assassination of Charlie Kirk has prompted a congressional hearing for Tuesday, organized by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), on &#8220;Politically Violent Attacks.” The hearing seeks to examine the origins of political violence and extremism, which have come mainly from the Left in recent years. 
Morning Wire spoke with Sen. Schmitt and Michael Knowles, host of “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-michael-knowles-show">The Michael Knowles Show</a>” on The Daily Wire, about the nature of political violence in the United States today. (The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: Senator, you’ve organized this hearing, and this issue is obviously a high priority. What are the goals of the proceedings today?
Schmitt: The assassination of Charlie Kirk brought left-wing political violence really front and center, and I think it needs to be exposed. This isn’t a one-off thing. This is sort of an ideology that’s taken hold now. When you have 25% of those who describe themselves as “very liberal” believe political violence is justified, over 55% of those on the left believe it&#8217;s at least somewhat justifiable to assassinate President Trump, there’s a problem. And I think if we’re ever going to get on the other side of this and get to healing – where we can say, free speech, yes, political violence, no – we have to expose the truth, which is that this is overwhelmingly coming from one side.
Morning Wire: Senator thanks for joining us. Among those testifying at the hearing today is Daily Wire host Michael Knowles. Michael, good to have you back on. You obviously were invited to this hearing for specific reasons – tell us about that, and what you plan to address.
Knowles: I was invited largely because I was the target of leftist violence on a few occasions, but of organized leftist violence, specifically two years ago. This was at the University of Pittsburgh. I was doing a debate on the topic of transgenderism, and there was a large demonstration. They burnt me in effigy, lit the street on fire, and then two Antifa operatives showed up and threw smoke bombs at the attendees and the police. And then threw a large explosive firework at the police and seriously injured one female police officer, gave her life-altering injuries that took her out of work for at least a year – and also injured other police officers as well. … Happily, there was one intrepid FBI agent in the crowd, and he had noticed the uptick in left-wing violence at these conservative speaker events. … It was only because he really pushed this up through the DOJ that any charges were brought at all. … So these are two people who are members of an anarchist cell, part of the Torch Antifa Network. The guy had set off TSA scanners with explosive material multiple times. It’s an illustrative example of violence because if you look up left-wing ideologically motivated violence in any of the databases that concern it or at the federal government level, you won&#8217;t find it. It won&#8217;t turn up. That just doesn&#8217;t exist, and this is true for a lot of examples of left-wing violence, perhaps most notably the BLM riots, which are just simply not classified as left-wing violence. … So we’re going to call attention to that fact, as well as to the fact that now even the honest liberals can not hold up the lie that the violence is coming from the right.
Morning Wire: What do you think the federal government’s role should be in addressing politically motivated violence — is there a line which they should not cross?
Knowles: I don’t think we’re at fear of over-policing left-wing terrorists, okay? I think we’re barely policing them at all. And so then the question becomes, well, what tools are at the federal government&#8217;s disposal? And there are plenty. You know, President Trump has said that he will classify Antifa as a domestic terror organization. Now, the government is more limited in its resources to go after domestic terrorists as opposed to foreign terrorists. However, we&#8217;ve done it before. The federal government has successfully dismantled the Ku Klux Klan, has successfully dismantled organized crime using all sorts of statutes; going after them for RICO, for conspiracy, for all manner of things all the way up to tax evasion, I suppose. President Trump putting this renewed focus on it is very important because the Left has dismissed this as a concern by lying and saying that the political violence is a right-wing phenomenon, and it has allowed this problem to fester so much so that we saw its tragic apotheosis in the murder of Charlie Kirk – and we cannot allow that to continue anymore.
<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Hunts For A Deal</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-992087" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/More-Deals-Inbound-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/More-Deals-Inbound-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/More-Deals-Inbound-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/More-Deals-Inbound-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/More-Deals-Inbound-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/More-Deals-Inbound.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Trump continues his swing through Asia as Democrat and media backlash builds following his White House renovation.
Japan: After signing a big peace deal Sunday between Thailand and Cambodia and rolling out new trade deals elsewhere, Trump headed to Japan, where he received royal treatment. Famous landmarks across Tokyo were lit up with red, white, and blue displays.
The Trump administration and Japan reached a deal on rare earth minerals on Tuesday and unveiled a list of projects included in a $550 billion investment proposal stemming from a July trade agreement.
The rare earth deal, which President Donald Trump signed alongside Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, establishes a mutual stockpiling arrangement and stipulates that the United States and Japan will cooperate with international partners to protect the supply chain, Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-takaichi-agree-rare-earth-critical-minerals-supply-2025-10-28/">reported</a>. Trump has been pushing to better secure the rare-earth supply chain and cut into China&#8217;s stranglehold over rare-earth minerals.
Along with the rare-earth deal, the United States and Japan released a list of proposed projects to boost Japanese investment in the U.S. economy. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1983119054983287061">said</a> at a press conference alongside Trump on Tuesday that the proposals &#8220;are driven by the Japanese strategic investment initiative, which was created by [Trump&#8217;s] tariff policy and by [Trump&#8217;s] historic trade agreement with Japan.&#8221;
The White House credited the threat of tariffs with pushing our trading partners to make deals favorable to the United States. Deals were announced with Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam on Sunday, and now Japan has been added to the list on Monday. But the world is still waiting to see what will come of this meeting with China on Thursday. 
China: Officials from both sides have continued to meet to hammer out the framework of a deal. The White House says it&#8217;s confident both sides will agree to dramatically lower tariffs and possibly strike a permanent solution to the battle over TikTok ownership.
Trump put it more bluntly: “I think we&#8217;re going to come away with a deal.”
While Trump’s optimism has not always preceded deals, investors seem to think this is good news. Gold, cryptocurrency, and oil prices all spiked on Monday as global markets rallied to all-time highs across Asia.
On Wall Street, the DOW, NASDAQ, and S&amp;P 500 all hit record highs on Monday. Leading the way were tech companies like Nvidia, which have been hobbled this year by massive tariffs on semiconductors. Stateside, shares of domestic mining companies fell, a sign that investors believe China is about to reopen the flow of rare earth minerals as part of a looming deal.
White House remodel: The East Wing of the White House has now been demolished to make way for a 90,000 square foot ballroom. The administration says it’s a matter of practicality and safety, noting that in the past, if a president wanted to hold a large event honoring foreign dignitaries, they were often forced to erect makeshift tents on the White House lawn.
Former presidents such as Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, FDR, Harry S. Truman, Richard Nixon, and Barack Obama added items to the White House, made renovations, or removed items. Though that has not stopped criticism from being leveled at Trump over his plans for a ballroom.
There are already some on the Left attempting to mount a legal challenge to block the project. A Virginia couple filed a motion in a D.C. federal court last week seeking a temporary restraining order against the demolition, arguing it violates the National Historic Preservation Act. The administration says it’s well within its authority to make renovations, the same way so many presidents have done before.

MRN_251028_V1

Morning Brief: Shutdown Fallout Mounts & Congress Probes Political Violence

Morning Brief: Shutdown Consequences Coming, Leftist Political Violence, And Trump's China Deal

Charlie Kirk

China

Democratic Party

Donald Trump

Eric Schmitt

Government Shutdown

Japan

Michael Knowles

Morning Wire

Washington D.C.

White House

U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro announced on Monday charges against two teens allegedly involved in the attack against a Department of Government Efficiency staffer over the summer.
Federal prosecutors have charged Lawrence Cotton-Powell, 19, along with Anthony Taylor, 18, with robbery, assault, and carjacking in connection with the attack on a DOGE staffer, Edward Coristine, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-staffer-big-balls-hailed-as-hero-after-musk-says-he-saved-woman-from-gang-in-d-c">known</a> as “Big Balls,” and another person in early August. Not long before Coristine was beaten while defending a woman, Cotton-Powell and Taylor were involved in the mugging of a victim named Ethan Levine, Pirro <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/news-conference/us-attorney-pirro-news-conference-on-assault-of-doge-staffer/667476">said</a>.
In addition to the mugging prior to Coristine, Pirro said that both suspects are repeat offenders who should have been in jail for other offenses and never had the opportunity to attack the two men in August.
“Lawrence Cotton-Powell is 19 years of age. He is now charged with robbery, first-degree robbery for which he faces 15 years in prison. He also faces a charge of assault with intent to commit robbery, another 15 years, and robbery for Edward Coristine, 15 years, assault with intent to commit robbery, another 15 years, and attempted carjacking, five years,” Pirro said.
The U.S. attorney then went on to detail how judges ignored her office’s requests for jail time for Cotton-Powell, instead letting the teen loose on probation. A short time after he was released in each case, he allegedly committed other crimes that landed him back in the crosshairs of prosecutors.
“The codefendant in this case is an individual by the name of Anthony Taylor. He – charged also with the same arrest – he is fraught with the same crimes,” Pirro said.
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The attack on Coristine, which left the federal staffer bloodied, appeared to trigger President Donald Trump’s crackdown on crime in major American cities. The president has deployed National Guardsmen to areas such as Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, to deter crime. He has attempted to deploy troops to other locations, such as Seattle, but has been blocked by the courts.
The charges against Cotton-Powell and Taylor come after two teens involved in the attack received probation, a punishment criticized by Pirro and Trump.
The president called the sentences of probation, handed down to a 15-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy, “terrible.” The president and Pirro have called for stricter penalties against youth in D.C. to deter crime that has exploded among the capital’s teens.
“I think the judge should be ashamed of himself,” <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/president-trump-critical-punishment-two-teens-attacked-doge-worker-probation-jeanine-pirro-attorney-judge/65-f5b45029-3fee-4703-bbb1-f9738f279739">said</a> Trump.

Jeanine Pirro

Jeanine Pirro Announces Charges Against Two More DC Teens Over ‘Big Balls’ Attack

Crime

Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

U.S.

What do you call seven million old white people gathering all over the country?
Not a Barry Manilow reunion tour.
It is, of course, the “No Kings” rallies, which happened over the course of Saturday with seven million protesters, nearly all of them members of the AARP, gathering around the nation in order to protest kings.
You may have noticed we don&#8217;t have kings here in the United States. We have a constitutional republic.
No matter what you think of Donald Trump, Donald Trump has been subject to the dictates of Congress. He has been subject to the dictates of courts. There are actual laws and regulations on the books that prevent the president of the United States from instituting tyrannical power over the rest of the country.
One of the most amusing things about these “No Kings” rallies is the supposition by the Left that they stand in opposition to grand expansions of executive power.
That is absolute bull. It is nonsense. I&#8217;m old enough to remember Barack Obama. I&#8217;m old enough to remember Joe Biden, who tried to use the Occupational Safety and Health Organization in order to cram down vaccine mandates on 80 million Americans, and our company had to sue to stop him.
I remember President Biden telling the Supreme Court that while they were attempting to stop him from getting rid of student loans, he would circumvent them and find another way to do it.
The idea that these people who are opposed to Donald Trump do so to oppose expanded executive power is ridiculous. It is the Democratic Party in the United States which has, writ large, expanded the power of the executive branch wholesale over the course of the last century. Since Woodrow Wilson, the expansion of the executive branch of government has been nonstop. It has sometimes been paused under some Republicans, but it is rarely reversed.
When it comes to the modern Democratic Party, the idea that they want to delegate power back to the states or delegate power back to Congress is a lie. As soon as a Democrat is in power, they simply want to run roughshod over the Constitution of the United States.
Thus the very premise of these “No Kings” rallies is false.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2299-old-white-people-rally-against-kings"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957 aligncenter" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Left-wing Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/10/18/no-kings-protests-october-18-turnout">reported</a>:  “According to a statement from the ‘No Kings’ protest organizers, Saturday&#8217;s turnout was ‘one of the largest single-day demonstrations in U.S. history’ with over two million more people taking part than participated in similar protests in June of this year.”
Of course, you remember how much of a difference it made when they protested in June.
You don&#8217;t? You forgot already?
You forgot already because it didn&#8217;t matter at all. It is now Monday and everyone already forgot.
“More than 2,700 events were planned as part of the protests across 50 states as of Saturday, as well as several internationally, including in London, Paris, Rome and Lisbon, Portugal.”
I get a kick out of places that actually have kings saying that they&#8217;re going to have “No Kings” rallies.
These rallies are ridiculous. If you look at the pictures of people who are dressed up as lobsters in Massachusetts or Superman in New York City or inflatable chickens, you think to yourself, “I don&#8217;t think these are the folks who are going to change America in any real way.”
<div id="attachment_988687" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-988687" class="size-large wp-image-988687" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2241486145-864x576.jpg" alt="People participate in a &quot;No Kings&quot; national day of protest in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 18, 2025. From New York to San Francisco, millions of Americans are expected to hit the streets to voice their anger over President Donald Trump's policies at nationwide &quot;No Kings&quot; protests. (Photo by Joseph Prezioso / AFP) (Photo by JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2241486145-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2241486145-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2241486145-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/GettyImages-2241486145.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images</div>
And that&#8217;s putting aside the people who arrived at these rallies in order to promote violence against the president of the United States, or against people on the right-wing. Those people were in plentiful supply. Politicians showed up. They spoke alongside radical agitators and organizers.
We&#8217;re all supposed to pretend that that never happened, speaking alongside terrorist supporters, people who despise the country. If you&#8217;re a politician, like Bernie Sanders or Chris Murphy from Connecticut, and you speak alongside Qatari mouthpiece Mehdi Hasan, or you speak alongside people who have openly promoted terrorism, that&#8217;s kind of a big deal.
My favorite moment of media coverage came when MSNBC <a href="https://www.mediaite.com/media/tv/msnbc-interviews-a-unicorn-and-bear-at-no-kings-rally-looking-as-ridiculous-as-we-can-to-protest-ridiculous-trump/">interviewed</a> a person dressed up as a unicorn.
(A rally is truly serious when people dress up as inflatable unicorns.)
<blockquote>Reporter: Angel, I&#8217;ve never interviewed a unicorn live on MSNBC.
Unicorn: Always a first time for everything.
Reporter: Angel. Talk as loud as you can. Because you got kind of a big snout here. … I&#8217;ll say that again. I said it&#8217;s hard to hear you, but tell me what brings you out and to be inside this high unicorn costume today?
Unicorn: Well, we&#8217;re here to represent the loving, hardworking community of Los Angeles. We&#8217;re here peacefully protesting, looking as ridiculous as we can, just so maybe we appeal to the president because he is a ridiculous leader that is normalizing abuse of power, and we cannot stand and act like nothing is happening.
Reporter: I&#8217;ve never heard a more serious message come out of a pink unicorn.</blockquote>
I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s true because I think that half of the MSNBC staff are pink unicorns.
It was an impressive showing, with great intellects. People like actor John Cusack, who was last relevant when he was standing outside a bedroom window holding a boombox in a movie from 1989.
But if you thought that Cusack was the only old actor who showed up to pay tribute to the “No Kings” rally, I present to you: (drum roll) Robert De Niro, who seems to have chosen poorly when he drank from his choice of Holy Grails. He is now aging extraordinarily rapidly and also apparently turning into a hobbit.
He praised Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, for saying F.U. to Trump, (which she may be saying from jail soon, depending on how her mortgage falsification case goes).
“I like what Letitia James is doing,” he declared “She&#8217;s fighting back. She&#8217;s saying F*** you. &#8230; I will not be taken down by this person. I am not afraid of him.” He also had comments about Stephen Miller, calling Miller, who happens to be Jewish, a Nazi.
Bernie Sanders yelled, “We&#8217;re here because we&#8217;re going to do everything we can to honor the sacrifices of millions of men and women who, over the last 250 years, fought and sometimes died.”
I can&#8217;t take him seriously. Nothing you do can make me take him seriously, because he&#8217;s not a serious person. The fact that the Democratic Party has elevated him as an ideological thought leader after spending his entire life being a useless pustule on the ass of American society is indeed a reflection of what their party stands for.
Sanders spoke of how much these people loved America.
Yet there were a shocking number of non-American flags over the Washington, DC rally. There was a giant Palestinian flag in solidarity with Hamas, of course. In Los Angeles there were tons of Mexican flags, so many that the CNN reporter noted it.
Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts decided that he was going to give a speech while donning a trans flag. J.B. Pritzker, the would-be presidential candidate from Illinois (who typically has to be lowered into these things by crane) stood in front of a bunch of signs, including a F*** ICE sign.
For the sake of his bodily health, I hope it was a very short march.
A Barry Manilow reunion tour would have been a heck of a lot less screechy.

People Protest in Washington, DC as Part of the No Kings Rallies

Old White People Rally Against ‘Kings’

Ben Shapiro

Bernie Sanders

Chicago

Democrats

Leftists

Liberals

Massachusetts

Opinion

Protests

Robert de Niro

WASHINGTON—The Daily Wire team joined throngs of marchers who took to the streets of the nation&#8217;s capital Saturday for the 2025 &#8220;No Kings&#8221; protest.
The Washington, D.C., rally was the focal point of similar events nationwide, meant to counter the &#8220;authoritarian threats&#8221; posed by President Donald Trump and his administration.
Protesters came prepared with posters and costumes. Many of them had gone through media training and learned chants, songs, and dances to perform. But for all that preparation, many of the protesters The Daily Wire encountered couldn&#8217;t answer what we thought was a simple question: “If Trump was elected, how is he a king?”
Responses ranged from blank stares to Kamala Harris-style word salads and vague references to “checks and balances.” Deep in a hole, a self-identified “he/she” claimed that Trump was taking away women’s right to vote. When pressed for information, he/she said “Trump has said that in interviews everywhere.”
[Editor&#8217;s note: he hasn&#8217;t].
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&#8220;No Kings&#8221; is part of the Indivisible Project, itself part of George Soros&#8217;s Open Society Action Fund. The project was created to “support the grantee’s social welfare activities.” <a href="https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past?filter_keyword=indivisible&amp;grant_id=OR2023-89662" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Indivisible Project</a> was awarded multiple grants, most recently they received $3 million from the Open Society Foundations.
High-profile Democratic leaders including Harris and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer encouraged participating on social media and in official statements.
Some protests took unsettling turns. A disturbing video from Chicago shows a middle-aged woman making a gun gesture with her hand and pointing to her neck. Towards the end of the D.C. protest, a chant broke out that “Turning Point has got to go.” Many signs featured rhetoric claiming “Trump was a Nazi” and “ICE = Gestapo.” A small fragment of the protest made the event a family affair with children holding signs such as “Stop Kidnapping People.”

No Kings March DC

We Asked ‘No Kings’ Protesters What Made Trump A King. They Couldn’t Say.

The Daily Wire

The teenagers who brutally assaulted DOGE employee Edward “Big Balls” Coristine have walked away with nothing more than probation—no jail, no meaningful punishment, no accountability.
Coristine, a 19-year-old staffer with the Department of Government Efficiency project and a rising star in the effort to clean up Washington, D.C.’s bloated federal bureaucracy, was savagely attacked by a mob of teenagers during an attempted carjacking in early August. The crime occurred in the nation’s capital, just blocks from the seat of American power.
Only two of the estimated dozen assailants were arrested: a 15-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl. This week, in a D.C. courtroom, they pleaded guilty—not to attempted carjacking, not to robbery—but to simple assault, and were sentenced to the judicial equivalent of a participation trophy.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
This was a racist verdict by a racist judge. 
The simple test to apply is if the races has been reversed, the White kids would be in prison.
Equal justice for all! <a href="https://t.co/F8gZ8D3dg0">https://t.co/F8gZ8D3dg0</a>
&mdash; Elon Musk (@elonmusk) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1978506015281717272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The boy received a one-year sentence of house arrest. The girl? A mere nine months&#8217; probation and transfer to a local youth shelter. The court emphasized rehabilitation over punishment, and the judge reportedly scolded the girl for drawing on her hand in the courtroom—as if doodling in court were the actual offense.
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The attack was a violent ambush that left Coristine bloodied and concussed. Coristine<a href="https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/big-balls-muggers-evade-prison-sentence-get-probation-for-beating-up-doge-employee/"> told</a> Jesse Watters of Fox News:
<blockquote>
As we get to the car and she begins to fumble for the keys, they begin to shout at us, and really quickly I knew something was really off about this situation. So she unlocks the car, I rush her into the driving seat. I close the door behind her and she’s able to lock the doors. Right as I turn around, they’re right up on me — just a few feet away. They slammed me against the car and started throwing a bunch of punches. I keep my hands up. I’m getting a lot of punches here and I’m just trying to protect my head the best way that I can.
</blockquote>
Footage of Coristine’s bruised face and torn clothes went viral. So egregious was the crime that President Donald Trump personally intervened, deploying the National Guard to D.C. and threatening to revoke the city’s home rule. “Crime is totally out of control,” he <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114977985620971126">wrote</a> on Truth Social. “Time to federalize D.C.” Elon Musk, former DOGE head, praised Coristine’s courage and called for urgent reform, saying, “It’s time to federalize D.C.”
But instead of consequences for the attackers, D.C.’s soft-on-crime system delivered a clear message: attack a federal employee in broad daylight and you’ll get a curfew and counseling.
The D.C. Attorney General and prosecutor objected to the light sentences—but their opposition was ignored. Instead, the court took pains to <a href="https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/legal/teens-accused-of-attacking-doge-employee-sentenced-to-probation/65-66070bc1-a384-4c0c-a961-7bcc619706a3">explain</a> that juvenile justice is about rehabilitation, not punishment.
Even more galling: both teens are free to roam D.C.—so long as they claim it’s for school or “family obligations.”
Coristine, ever gracious, told one attacker via video, “I hope you can figure things out and be ready for the consequences.”
There were no consequences. Not for the criminals. Only for the city.

White House US President Donald Trump

Outrage In D.C.: Teens Who Savagely Beat ‘Big Balls’ Walk Free With Slap On The Wrist

Assault

Courts

The Kennedy Center is bringing a patriotic new change to concerts at the Washington, D.C., performing arts center ahead of America’s 250th birthday, The Daily Wire has learned.
Every performance of the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center throughout the 2025-2026 season will begin with the National Anthem. The move coincides with plans from the Trump administration to celebrate the 250 anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence next summer.
“The National Symphony should be playing the National Anthem,” Kennedy Center President Ric Grenell said.
The National Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1931 and performs around 150 concerts annually.
The move is the latest change at the Kennedy Center since President Donald Trump promised to end wokeness at the performing arts center. As part of this move, Trump became chair of the center and tapped Grenell to serve as its president.
“At my direction, we are going to make the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., GREAT AGAIN,” Trump wrote in February. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP.”
The changes the new board made led to full-scale meltdowns on the Left, including protests expressed through interpretive dancing.
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According to a previous report published by The Daily Wire, the Kennedy Center is $40 million in debt and will be making major cuts to staff.
“The former leadership built a broken budget with an operating deficit of 100 million dollars and a bottom-line deficit of 26 million dollars,” CFO Donna Arduin said. “The former leadership led Board members to believe there was a balanced budget when there was $26 Million in false funds. Fiscal Year 25 budget was previously passed with $26M of fictitious funds. We have now truly balanced the budget.”
To get the Center out of the red, Grenell “has hired new Department leaders with lower salaries than those they replaced, including his salary which is dramatically lower than the previous President’s.”
The CFO also said that the Kennedy Center “will adopt business practices with performance goals to bring accountability to our patrons and philanthropists.”

US-CULTURE-KENNEDY

Patriotic Change Coming To The Kennedy Center Ahead Of America’s 250th

Kennedy Center

Music

Patriotism

Ric Grenell

Wokeness

WASHINGTON—The man who was apprehended with <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-with-200-explosives-and-leftist-manifesto-arrested-outside-supreme-court-event-at-church-police" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than 100 explosive devices</a> outside a Washington, D.C., church holding a service historically attended by Supreme Court justices had previously written statements that specifically referenced the service.
The “Red Mass” is an annual event held each year by the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, wherein the parish prays for the High Court at the beginning of a new term.
Louis Geri appeared in D.C. Superior Court for a preliminary hearing Thursday after he was arrested Sunday outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during the &#8220;Red Mass”, an annual service herein the parish prays for the High Court at the beginning of a new term. Last year&#8217;s Red Mass was attended by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, along with 1,000 others.
Geri allegedly handed police a nine-page manifesto detailing grievances against <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/man-with-200-explosives-and-leftist-manifesto-arrested-outside-supreme-court-event-at-church-police" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Supreme Court, ICE, Catholics, and Jews</a>.
A woman who appeared to have some sort of relationship with Geri watched the proceedings from the gallery. Geri nodded his head in her direction upon entering the courtroom and, upon his exit, she spoke with his attorney about returning for subsequent proceedings later this month.
When weighing the evidence presented today, Judge Heide Herrmann considered footage showing Geri setting up a green tent on the steps of the church the night before the Mass.
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In response to defense counsel&#8217;s argument that Geri’s actions were limited to simple possession of explosives, Judge Herrmann referenced the previous night’s footage, stating, “This shows a plan, beyond mere possession.”
Judge Herrmann also noted Geri’s written statements referenced wanting to take down targets such as the White House and Washington Monument.
The FBI’s preliminary testing has confirmed Geri’s weapons fit their definition of destructive devices.
Geri described his explosives to officers “as rockets capable of taking out helicopters” and consisting of “nitromethane among other explosive chemicals.” He further described them as “a proprietary formula.”
Geri allegedly gathered materials for his explosives in Arkansas before driving up to D.C.
“It appears that was part of the idea — to endanger that number of people at a high-visibility event,&#8221; Judge Herrmann said. Referring to Geri’s continued confinement, she added, “There are no conditions which I could set that would reasonably guarantee the safety of the community.”
Due to security concerns, the sitting Supreme Court justices did not attend this year’s “Red Mass.”
Sunday’s threat is the latest example of the disturbing upward trend in political violence.
In 2022, Nicholas Roske attempted to assassinate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Just last Friday, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-man-who-planned-to-assassinate-brett-kavanaugh-gets-off-easy-will-serve-just-8-years" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Roske was sentenced</a> to eight years in prison. Federal guidelines call for a 30-year minimum. Judge Deborah Boardman, appointed by Joe Biden to the Maryland federal court, noticed the “whopping 22-year difference.”
Luke Rosiak contributed to this report.

Louis Geri

Man Arraigned in DC Court After Allegedly Targeting Supreme Court Mass With Explosives

Catholic Church

Political Violence

Supreme Court

President Donald Trump assembles his Cabinet as the government shutdown continues and a peace deal in Gaza takes shape, candidates in the New Jersey governor’s race clash, and wait times for emergency rooms have exploded nationwide.
It’s Friday, October 10, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day.
Morning Wire is available on video! You can watch today’s episode here:
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">Trump Assembles Cabinet </h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-984045" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Cabinet-Convenes-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Cabinet-Convenes-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Cabinet-Convenes-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Cabinet-Convenes-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Cabinet-Convenes-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Trumps-Cabinet-Convenes.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: President Trump assembled his Cabinet on Thursday as the government shutdown entered its ninth day, and as his Middle East peace proposal passed a major hurdle.
Columbus Day returns: At the top of Thursday’s meeting, Trump <a href="https://x.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1976319459523690719">signed</a> an executive order to bring back Columbus Day on October 13. “Columbus Day, we’re back. We’re back, Italians,” the president said.
Middle East peace: According to the president, the rest of the hostages still alive in Gaza, 20 in all, should be returned to Israel on either Monday or Tuesday.
The hostage crisis has been a major focus of the administration, and of Israel, which has been plastered with posters of the hostages emblazoned with the call to “Bring Them Home Now” since the war began. Yellow ribbons to represent the hostages, dead and alive, are more common in Israel than kippahs.
That shows why Trump has been invited to speak in front of the Knesset. It’s a rare privilege. The last U.S. president to receive the honor was George Bush in 2008.
Shutdown: President Trump seems intent on hammering Democrats over the shutdown, not just rhetorically but with cuts to what the president calls “Democrat programs.”
“We&#8217;ll be making cuts that will be permanent, and we&#8217;re only gonna cut Democrat programs,” the president <a href="https://x.com/Breaking911/status/1976340087588913227">said</a> at Thursday’s meeting. “They wanted to do this, so they’ll get a little taste of their own medicine.”
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&nbsp;
<h2 style="text-align: center;">NJ Governor’s Race A Toss-Up</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-984047" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Gov-Candidate-Clash-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Gov-Candidate-Clash-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Gov-Candidate-Clash-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Gov-Candidate-Clash-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Gov-Candidate-Clash-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/Gov-Candidate-Clash.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: Less than four weeks from Election Day, the New Jersey gubernatorial election is a toss-up, with Republican Jack Ciattarelli surging in the polls. Ciattarelli spoke to Morning Wire about his efforts to turn deep-blue New Jersey red this November. (The transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.)
Morning Wire: A lot of folks who maybe don&#8217;t follow state politics as closely hear that there is an exceedingly close race in New Jersey. And they might be surprised by that, thinking of the history of New Jersey as a more blue state. Four months ago, polls were showing you trailing by more than 20 points. This week, you are essentially tied in every poll that is coming out. What changed over the course of this election?
Ciattarelli: People want change across the state. They&#8217;re very frustrated with Phil Murphy&#8217;s failed policies – and they have failed us. The taxes, they&#8217;ve increased every single year he&#8217;s been in office. The exorbitant spending in our state government, I mean, our state budget&#8217;s gone from $36 billion to almost $60 billion, a 64% increase. Housing, we&#8217;ve got an overdevelopment crisis in our suburban communities, but yet an acute housing shortage in our urban areas. Public safety has gone, you know, we don&#8217;t have public safety in Jersey. Nonviolent crime has spiked because we don&#8217;t let our local police do their job. The break-ins, the car thefts, the flash mobs, public education – people aren&#8217;t happy with what&#8217;s going on there, and we&#8217;ve slipped from two to 12 on an actual report card. Your electricity bill is going through the roof. These are all things that people are really pissed off about, and when they&#8217;re pissed, they want change. 
Morning Wire: A lot of Republicans who have success at the state level in blue states take a more moderate approach. I’m thinking of the, you know, Charlie Bakers or Larry Hogans of the world, considered more moderate, keeping their distance from Donald Trump. You have not shied away from the president, it seems. He&#8217;s endorsed you. He said that you&#8217;re “all in on the MAGA movement.” And that is unique in a blue state. Walk us through that relationship with the president.
Ciattarelli: All my opponent wants to talk about is Trump because of her disdain for Trump. I mean, her whole campaign is based on a stack of lies about me, disdain for Trump, and she can fly a helicopter. Is that going to fix New Jersey? And by the way, what does Donald Trump have to do with our property taxes? What does he have to do with public safety in this state, public education, your monthly electric bill, overdevelopment in our suburban communities? He&#8217;s got nothing to do with that. The party that&#8217;s controlled Trenton for the last 25 years has everything to do with that. So listen, I think that you can be friends with the president and support his policies while making it clear that you&#8217;re all about fixing New Jersey. 
Morning Wire: If elected, what sort of approach would you take when it comes to working with federal agencies like ICE, DEA, ATF operating within your state? We&#8217;ve seen a number of attempts to handicap them. How would you approach those agencies?
Ciattarelli: Number one, there will be no sanctuary cities in New Jersey. When I&#8217;m governor, we will not be a sanctuary state. I&#8217;m reversing that policy on day one. I can do that by executive order. And I&#8217;m never going to tell a local mayor or police chief they can&#8217;t work in partnership with a federal agency to keep their community safe. If that&#8217;s what they want to do, that’s a local decision. And I would support it 100% whatever it is that the mayor and police chief decide to do to keep their community safe. But the other thing I have to do is get rid of cashless bail. Cashless bail in New Jersey has created a professional criminal who’s learned how to game the system. And you talk to your local cops, arrest, release, repeat is real. And it’s demoralizing to our local cops to have to arrest the same person over and over again. 
<h2 style="text-align: center;">ER Wait Times Explode</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-984049" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ER-Delays-Spike-300x169.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="169" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ER-Delays-Spike-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ER-Delays-Spike-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ER-Delays-Spike-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ER-Delays-Spike-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ER-Delays-Spike.jpg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Topline: For the last decade, emergency room wait times have continued to rise, threatening Americans’ overall health. ER wait times started to increase around 2012, spiked during the pandemic, and are now higher than ever.
A <a href="https://ihpi.umich.edu/news-events/news/wait-times-emergency-hospitalization-keep-getting-higher?utm_source=chatgpt.com">new study</a> published in the journal Health Affairs looked at data from 46 million emergency visits across all 50 states since 2017. It found a national increase in wait times, with the average being over four hours, and 5% of patients waiting more than 24 hours to get assistance. Notably, this doesn&#8217;t even factor in people leaving the ER before they get care, commonly referred to as the “abandonment” rate.
Why? The nursing shortage is certainly a factor. But according to <a href="https://paragoninstitute.org/author/niklas_kleinworth/?mab_v3=9924">Niklas Kleinworth from the Paragon Health Institute</a>, one of the major factors is that, since expansion under Obamacare, there is no financial incentive for many people to wait to see their physician when they can go to the ER and receive same-day care: 
“We&#8217;ve seen that a lot of the financial incentives for people to take care of themselves and go see their regular physician haven&#8217;t come to fruition,&#8221;  Kleinworth told Morning Wire. &#8220;And so now, people are going to the emergency room to get routine care instead.”
Another issue is the increased rate of rural hospital closings. Kleinworth said programs coming out of Washington actually “encourage consolidation” – and we’re seeing large urban hospitals buy up small rural hospitals to eat up incentives meant for rural areas.
The White House has also blamed long ER wait times on illegal aliens. 
&nbsp;

MRN_251010_V2

Morning Brief: Trump Summons Cabinet, NJ Governor’s Race Heats Up, & ER Wait Times Soar

Morning Brief: Trump Summons Cabinet, NJ Governor's Race Heats Up, & ER Wait Times Soar

Hospitals

Israel

New Jersey

Nearly two-thirds of Americans want COVID-era federal programs to come to an end, as Democrats demand that any government funding bill include an extension of health care subsidies that were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/929542118/Polling-on-ACA-Enhanced-Subsidies-Top-Line-docx?secret_password=sN1T3iUcGZSAHeyfI3eD">poll</a>.
Sixty-one percent of Americans said that the federal government should allow COVID-era subsidies to end, according to a poll conducted last week by the Republican-aligned firm OnMessage Public Strategies, Inc., that was shared with The Daily Wire.
Those surveyed were asked whether “the federal government should allow programs that were designed deliberately to address the problems created by the COVID-19 pandemic to sunset, and put those funds to more pressing issues facing Americans.&#8221; Thirty-nine percent of those surveyed strongly agreed with the statement, and 22% somewhat agreed, while only 15% strongly disagreed, and another 15% somewhat disagreed, also wanting to keep the COVID-19 Affordable Care Act subsidies alive.
The poll surveyed 1,000 Americans. Thirty-eight percent of those polled identified as Republicans, and 33% of the participants identified as Democrats. Another 26% of those surveyed identified as independent.
Affordable Care Act subsidies have been a major part of the ongoing government shutdown negotiations on Capitol Hill. Under former President Joe Biden&#8217;s Inflation Reduction Act, those health care subsidies, that were meant to address issues during COVID, were extended through the end of this year. However, Democrats want the subsidies made permanent, arguing that insurance premiums would skyrocket and low-income Americans would be forced to drop their coverage. The Congressional Budget Office <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-pulse/2025/10/02/breaking-down-the-aca-subsidy-fight-00590901">estimated</a> that by 2034, four million people who would have had insurance will be uninsured if the subsidies are not extended.
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The OnMessage poll found drastically different results than a similar poll conducted by the health policy organization KFF last week. A KFF survey published on October 3 found that 78% of Americans want Congress to extend the Obamacare subsidies, including 59% of Republicans. The KFF <a href="https://www.kff.org/public-opinion/despite-budget-concerns-three-quarters-of-public-say-congress-should-extend-the-enhanced-aca-tax-credits-set-to-expire-next-year-including-most-republicans-and-maga-supporters/">poll</a> also found that ending the subsidies could be problematic for Republicans in next year&#8217;s midterm elections.
Republican leaders, who have opposed Obamacare for years, argue that the subsidies debate should be held closer to the end of the year, after the government has been funded. Republicans, led by President Donald Trump, are also seeking additional ways to reduce government spending. An analysis from the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation released last month estimated that a permanent extension of the Obamacare COVID subsidies would increase the federal deficit by $349.8 billion over the next decade, The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5540430-mike-johnson-shutdown-obamacare-subsidies/">reported</a>.
Both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5538167-congress-aca-tax-credit-increase/">said</a> that discussions over Obamacare subsidies cannot happen while the government remains shut down, urging their Democratic colleagues to focus on agreeing to a temporary funding bill before larger funding debates can be held.
“We have effectively three months to negotiate. In the White House and in the halls of Congress, that’s like an eternity,” Johnson <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5540430-mike-johnson-shutdown-obamacare-subsidies/">said</a> on Monday.
Trump said on Monday that he&#8217;s open to negotiating with Democrats on the health care subsidies, but added that they must reopen the government before those negotiations take place.
&#8220;I am happy to work with the Democrats on their Failed Healthcare Policies, or anything else, but first they must allow our Government to re-open. In fact, they should open our Government tonight!&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115329671584864920">wrote</a> on Truth Social on Monday evening.
The Senate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-countdown-to-government-shutdown?contentProgram=LIVE%20UPDATES%3A%20Another%20Failed%20Vote%3A%20Shutdown%20Continues&amp;contentType=Post&amp;elementPosition=2&amp;location=Home%20Tab&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Home%20Featured%20Carousel">failed</a> to pass a funding bill again on Monday night, with the vast majority of Democrats rejecting the Republicans&#8217; continuing resolution.

Chuck Schumer

Most Americans Don’t Want COVID Programs To Continue As Dems Push For Extension In Shutdown Fight

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COVID-19

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The Secretary of War and the President of the United States spoke before hundreds of top U.S. military leaders on Tuesday.
This event had been touted for a few days in advance. The idea was to have all the top U.S. military brass gather at the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Virginia. 
There was a lot of speculation about the meeting. Was it going to be an announcement about Ukraine? Or China? Or was it going to be about Venezuela?
It turns out, it was going to be a speech from Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of War, and a speech from the President of the United States, about recalibrating our military approach, particularly internally.
Pete Hegseth has spoken about this a lot over the past few years. I recorded an episode of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhVMY0AxZd0">Sunday Special</a> with Pete Hegseth about a year ago. He had a new book out, “The War on Warriors,” in which he wrote about wokeness in the military, lowered standards in the military, and the fact that more militaries around the world were not fearing us as much because we had implemented all of these left-wing ideologies within the military. This has legitimately been a big bugaboo of Hegseth’s for years.
Well, now he has the opportunity to change all of that because, of course, he sits atop the Department of War.
The event, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/09/30/hegseth-military-meeting-trump-generals/">The Washington Post</a>, was organized by Hegseth&#8217;s team at the Pentagon. He summoned generals and admirals from command posts throughout the world to Virginia.
General Dan Caine, Trump&#8217;s hand-selected Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told attendees in his opening comments that the event was an unprecedented opportunity, and an honor for assembled senior officers and their top enlisted advisers to hear directly from the military civilian leadership. 
Hegseth was going after wokeness in the military again, and he railed against what he called “Fat dudes and men in dresses.”
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2290-warfighters-hegseth-trump-launch-assault-on-woke-military"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-974957 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
So, optically, yes, I understand the Left being very, very upset about it. But it happens to be something that the American people agree with, along with the people who enlist in our military. Journalists around the nation are very, very upset about what Pete Hegseth did yesterday because they believe the military should be a place for social engineering, as opposed to a place for warfighters.
Well, Secretary Hegseth was a grunt. He&#8217;s a person who served in the trenches, and on the front lines. And that means he is significantly more in touch with the feelings of people who actually serve in the military, than certainly the people in the world of journalism — and truthfully, more than many of these sorts of political generals who have spent the last 40 years rising in the ranks.
Which means that recalibrating along those lines is actually not a bad thing at all.
As Secretary Hegseth <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/defense-secretary-hegseth-addresses-senior-military-leaders/666410">said yesterday</a>:
<blockquote>Frankly, it&#8217;s tiring to look out at combat formations, or really any formation, and see fat troops. Likewise, it&#8217;s completely unacceptable to see fat generals and admirals in the halls of the Pentagon and leading commands around the country and the world. It&#8217;s a bad look. It is bad. And it&#8217;s not who we are. So, whether you&#8217;re an Airborne Ranger or a “Chairborne Ranger,” a brand new private, or a four star general, you need to meet the height and weight standards and pass the PT test.</blockquote>
This, apparently, was very upsetting to folks. 
He also went after what he called “Dudes in dresses,” which was a specific reference to the fact that under the Biden administration, there were legitimate videos of troops doing drag as an attempt to drive people into the military. I can&#8217;t think of anything that would drive the types of young men who want to join the military away from the military more than men in drag.
Honestly, that does not seem like a recruiting pitch for the U.S. military. And you can see it in the numbers. The Biden administration was having a very, very difficult time fulfilling its recruiting quotas. From literally the minute Pete Hegseth was announced as Secretary of Defense, those numbers began to rise.
Hegseth then <a href="https://www.c-span.org/program/public-affairs-event/defense-secretary-hegseth-addresses-senior-military-leaders/666410">said</a>: 
<blockquote>This administration has done a great deal from day one to remove the social justice, politically correct, and toxic ideological garbage that had infected our department, to rip out the politics. No more identity months, DEI offices, dudes in dresses, no more climate change worship. No more division, distraction, or gender delusions. No more debris. As I&#8217;ve said before and will say again, we are done with that sh**.</blockquote>
People are apparently angry about this. And there&#8217;s also a fair bit of gaslighting going on here. 
So the way that this works is that when the Left takes over an institution, they skew that institution. And then, when somebody who is not on the Left takes over the institution and says, “We&#8217;re going to unskew it,” the Left then says, “How dare you do this? How dare you politicize?”
They do this with so many institutions in American life. For example, take higher education, a domain once designed to actually create better American citizens, people who are supposed to be in touch with their civilization. They took an institution that was supposed to be at least titularly nonpartisan and made it highly partisan in favor of the Left.
And then people get into power who are not on the Left. And they say, &#8220;Let&#8217;s shift it back. Let&#8217;s shift it back toward the center.&#8221; And the Left says, “How dare you touch our hallowed institutions? How dare you attempt to change the underlying politics of that institution?”
The same thing in the military. There is an attempt by the Left to hijack the military and use it for a wide variety of social engineering causes, ranging from climate change to DEI to gender identity.
And now, when the Right takes over and says, “Hey, we&#8217;re not going to do any of that stuff, we&#8217;re actually going to go back to the status quo where the military was about winning wars,” the Left responds, “How dare you? How dare you politicize? How dare you intervene? How dare you get involved in politics?” This is an exercise in gaslighting.
The Left is perfectly willing to gut these institutions and wear their faces around like a mask from “The Silence of the Lambs.” But the minute the Right says, “Let&#8217;s restore those institutions to what they were before,” the Left then claims politicization.
It’s nonsense.

President Trump And Pete Hegseth Address U.S. Senior Military Leaders At Quantico

Hegseth To Top Military Brass: No More Dudes In Dresses

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Department of War

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Woke Culture

WASHINGTON—In the parking lot of the Smithsonian&#8217;s smallest museum, 18 of 29 spots were full. But inside, there were no couples on first dates or hordes of tourists milling about the exhibits.
In fact, there were no visitors there at all. Just 18 employees waiting for something to do.
On a sunny, late-summer day, this reporter stood outside the museum — located in a Washington, D.C., slum, far from any tourists — from noon to 3:00 p.m., ready to count visitors. But there was no one to count. At 12:28 p.m., one woman entered while screaming into her cell phone, &#8220;You ain&#8217;t sh*t.&#8221; She stayed for just long enough to use the bathroom, and left lecturing whoever was on the other end of her call about his or her &#8220;motherf***ing ghetto ass.&#8221;
Welcome to the Anacostia Community Museum, a six-room exhibit hall that receives $3 million each year in federal funding. The museum opened in 1967 to focus on &#8220;African American history, community issues, local history, and the arts.&#8221; Since then, the Smithsonian has added two separate, much larger museums focused on African art and African American history, making it largely redundant. Yet it remains, as if someone simply forgot to close it down.
Now, the government is finally weighing whether to do just that. Ten years after the massive African American History and Culture Museum supplanted it, there&#8217;s little reason for the Anacostia Community Museum to spend millions to welcome a handful of visitors a day.  The Trump administration&#8217;s 2026 budget proposes zeroing out funding for the Anacostia Museum, saying its exhibits should be moved to the larger one. Congress is yet to act on that proposal.
But it may soon. Smithsonian museums have <a href="https://x.com/smithsonian/status/1973136401920065572">enough funding</a> to remain open through October 6. But as the government shutdown continues — and the Trump administration leverages the funding freeze to slash nonessential programs and personnel — this little museum could soon find its taxpayer-funded endowment on the chopping block.
<h3>A Day At The Museum</h3>
At 1:39 p.m., a van pulled up with the only other attendees that showed up during this reporter&#8217;s three-hour stakeout. The visitors were there only partly of their own volition: four elderly residents from a nursing home in the wealthy section of D.C. were carted in by three nursing home staff. They ended their field trip at 2:30 p.m.
When this reporter finally entered, 10 employees were standing in the lobby, staring at the front door. They greeted me enthusiastically and offered me a Starbucks coffee from a fancy kiosk — an amenity that primarily serves employees, since coffee isn&#8217;t allowed in the main section. In a break room adorned with a big-screen TV and mahogany furniture, four black female employees and one white, green-haired employee of uncertain gender relaxed.
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Even with the paltry amount of space to fill, the slogan out front, &#8220;Powered by the People,&#8221; isn&#8217;t just a nod to communism; it&#8217;s an acknowledgment that a large portion of the content is simply coloring book pages scribbled on by visitors that have been affixed to the walls. It&#8217;s as much of a museum gallery as the grocery store community bulletin board.
In one of these &#8220;Visitor Galleries,&#8221; guests take a printed-out piece of paper containing the silhouette of a head with an Afro, color in the hair using provided crayons, and pin it to a large bulletin board. Some added messages on them, such as &#8220;Gay Rights Matter.&#8221; Another wall is dedicated to pages that visitors colored in using stencils of musical instruments.
<div id="attachment_977089" style="width: 442px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-977089" class="size-large wp-image-977089" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-432x576.jpeg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3022-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" />With no visitors to attend to, a Smithsonian employee peruses the art.</div>
Nearly half of the museum, including a section named &#8220;A Century of Black Arts Education in Washington, DC,&#8221; is dedicated to knick-knacks pertaining to local high schools, memorabilia that might be better suited in the schools themselves rather than a national museum. According to a plaque: &#8220;It would be difficult to name a high school, the graduates or former pupils of which have achieved success in such numbers and of such brilliancy as have those trained in [Dunbar] High School.&#8221;
(According to D.C.&#8217;s most recent <a href="https://app.box.com/s/sqqkkz8jrwrqqqxxsij3p65t3xco47u2" target="_blank" rel="noopener">standardized test scores</a>, only 1% of Dunbar students are proficient in math.)
One section is dedicated to children&#8217;s posters promoting government spending and political activism. There are posters celebrating teachers&#8217; unions, demanding increased pay for teachers that state, &#8220;No funds, no arts, no future.&#8221; One poster implores D.C.&#8217;s high school students to skip school — something Dunbar&#8217;s students might not need much persuading to do — for a &#8220;walkout&#8221; to &#8220;show the D.C. city council&#8221; that &#8220;funding matters!!!&#8221;
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-977091" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-432x576.jpeg" alt="" width="432" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-432x576.jpeg 432w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-225x300.jpeg 225w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_2997-scaled.jpeg 1920w" sizes=" (max-width: 432px) 100vw, 432px" /></div>
A section dedicated to jazz consists of TVs playing videos, one of which <a href="https://drumcenternh.com/blogs/news/history-of-drums-a-brief-history-lesson-for-drummers">inaccurately claims</a> that the drum was invented in Africa. An exhibit invites visitors to &#8220;Give Music a Try&#8221; using a DJ machine that allows them to make wicka-wicka record-scratch noises. It wasn&#8217;t plugged in.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-977093" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3038-768x576.jpeg" alt="" width="768" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3038-768x576.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3038-300x225.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3038-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3038-2048x1536.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px" /></div>
The museum contains only a few pieces of artwork, all of which look like they were made by small children, or were an accident involving spilled paint that the 18 staffers had not gotten around to cleaning up.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-977095" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-369x576.jpeg" alt="" width="369" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-369x576.jpeg 369w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-192x300.jpeg 192w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-768x1198.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-985x1536.jpeg 985w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-1313x2048.jpeg 1313w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3036-scaled.jpeg 1641w" sizes=" (max-width: 369px) 100vw, 369px" /></div>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-large wp-image-977101" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3011-781x576.jpeg" alt="" width="781" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3011-781x576.jpeg 781w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3011-300x221.jpeg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3011-768x566.jpeg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3011-1536x1133.jpeg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/IMG_3011-2048x1510.jpeg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 781px) 100vw, 781px" /></div>
One room is dedicated to photography, which seems like a dump of someone&#8217;s iPhone gallery. A photo features a D.C. high school marching band from 2018, while another simply depicts people in the museum itself, looking at one of its exhibits. It&#8217;s as if someone wanted to create content for the museum without having to leave it, or wanted proof that, at one time, someone actually visited.
Information board exhibits outside continue the struggle to fill space, like a student padding out an essay to meet the teacher&#8217;s three-page requirement. One explains how the purpose of the museum is to &#8220;answer critical questions, such as: Where do we come from? Who are we as a people?&#8221; It seems to run out of ideas before answering, shifting to a picture of an oak leaf and noting that more than 500 species of caterpillars live in oak trees.
Another sign tells residents that there is a river nearby, and says the museum highlights the Anacostia watershed &#8220;through the lenses of faith [and] race.&#8221;
<h3>&#8216;Collective work to build a more equitable future&#8217;</h3>
Most facilities whose budget is difficult to justify based on purely practical considerations might avoid personally antagonizing their funders. But the Anacostia Community Museum is nakedly partisan, thumbing its nose at the administration that will determine whether it has a future.
The museum&#8217;s <a href="https://anacostia.si.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>, for example, invites visitors &#8220;to join us in our collective work to build a more equitable future for all.&#8221; It calls for &#8220;reckoning with our racial past,&#8221; and &#8220;environmental justice.&#8221; An exhibit touts &#8220;the rise of Black Power.&#8221;
That&#8217;s despite the fact that in March, President Donald Trump signed an <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/03/restoring-truth-and-sanity-to-american-history/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">executive order</a> calling to remove &#8220;improper ideology&#8221; from the Smithsonian. Vice President JD Vance is on the Smithsonian&#8217;s Board of Regents, which is helmed by Chief Justice John Roberts. The order barred exhibits that &#8220;divide Americans based on race&#8221; or that cast the United States as &#8220;inherently racist, sexist, oppressive.&#8221;
Some Smithsonian officials have resisted, saying it is an independent institution, even though 70% of its funding comes from the federal government. This month, the institution was <a href="https://www.cnn.com/politics/smithsonian-white-house-independence-race" target="_blank" rel="noopener">required</a> to turn over information about its content to the White House.
One of the Anacostia museum&#8217;s exhibits, called &#8220;We Shall Not Be Moved,&#8221; illustrates the fatalism that the Trump executive order seeks to remove from the museums, which serve as the front door of America for visitors, foreign and domestic.
The exhibit is about a crime-ridden subsidized housing complex in Southeast D.C. that was torn down in 2019. The government replaced the rundown housing projects with a development that is home to people of all incomes and races, yet the museum says this is &#8220;just one example of a historical African American community&#8221; engaging in &#8220;struggle across the U.S.&#8221; It shows visitors a map of majority-black areas across the country and asks a leading question to which only one answer is acceptable: &#8220;Why do you think they were targeted?&#8221;
The museum complains that the housing project was a place of &#8220;oppression and depression,&#8221; yet somehow simultaneously laments that it was later &#8220;destroyed.&#8221; That sort of clinically depressed, all-roads-lead-to-racism cynicism and shortsightedness mirrors how the museum may finally meet its own end.
<h3>&#8216;A ghetto operation as it were.&#8217;</h3>
The Smithsonian exists to run museums of national importance, not neighborhood bulletin boards. The Anacostia outpost was justified as a marker of black culture, a half-measure towards advocates&#8217; ultimate goal of a larger African American museum on the National Mall. In 1989, the Anacostia museum&#8217;s then-director, John Kinard, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/07/19/lion-of-the-anacostia-museum/09f0e494-e925-46b2-8b51-dcf8f175741d/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> just that, casting doubt that we&#8217;d ever see the larger museum.
&#8220;It was convenient to start something off in a ghetto,&#8221; Kinard said. &#8220;A ghetto operation, as it were. But a ghetto operation for 20 long years?&#8221; He called then-Smithsonian Secretary Robert Adams a &#8220;closet racist&#8221; who &#8220;would never agree to an African American museum on the Mall.&#8221;
But in 2016, Kinard got his way. The massive African American History and Culture Museum opened on the National Mall. Now, the people who complained about the lack of that museum also complain about the predictable result of its opening: the smaller museum&#8217;s likely shuttering.
<div id="attachment_979297" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-979297" class="size-full wp-image-979297" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/https___www.si_.edu_sites_default_files_images_nmaahc-1000x675.jpg.jpg" alt="" width="800" height="540" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/https___www.si_.edu_sites_default_files_images_nmaahc-1000x675.jpg.jpg 800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/https___www.si_.edu_sites_default_files_images_nmaahc-1000x675.jpg-300x203.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/https___www.si_.edu_sites_default_files_images_nmaahc-1000x675.jpg-768x518.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" />African American History and Culture Museum / Smithsonian</div>
Congress&#8217;s Committee on House Administration, which oversees the Smithsonian, didn&#8217;t return a request for comment.
According to the Smithsonian&#8217;s <a href="https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/about/stats" target="_blank" rel="noopener">official statistics</a>, in 2019, after the larger museum was in full swing, the Anacostia museum saw only 8,034 visitors, or five per day. In 2021, the figure was still five per day (COVID affected the attendance of all museums that year, but the Smithsonian&#8217;s American Art Museum nonetheless saw 420,000 visitors).
For 2024, the official statistics claimed 14,076, or about 38 a day. But, its website includes the caveat, &#8220;the counts sometimes include staff.&#8221; Its federal <a href="https://www.si.edu/sites/default/files/about/fy2025-budgetrequestcongress.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">budget provides</a> 17 full-time employees (the 18th employee we identified was a Metropolitan Police officer). The Daily Wire&#8217;s experience suggests that the official numbers are either inflated or count all employees. Even counting the bathroom user and the nursing home aides, the number I saw over three hours would work out to 18 over the seven hours the museum is open.
In the end, the museum seems to exist as a multi-million dollar jobs program and not much else — and its oversized staff may have actually obscured the fact that there is little demand for its offerings. But visitors may learn at least one thing, thanks to the fact that it has persisted for nearly a decade even after it was replaced by a larger museum: There is no such thing as a temporary government program.

Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum

A Day At The Multi-Million Dollar Government Museum With No Visitors

DOGE

Smithsonian Museum

The Trump administration is backing four Republican proposals that would bring law and order to Washington, D.C., according to an official White House document obtained by The Daily Wire. 
The proposals for law enforcement in the nation’s capital range from tightening up sentencing guidelines for youth offenders to freeing up police from bureaucratic restrictions, according to an official <a href="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/SAP-DC-Bills-9.16.25.pdf">statement of policy</a> released Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget. In recent weeks, crime has dropped in D.C. after President Donald Trump surged federal law enforcement to the district to crack down on the rampant crime that has long plagued the Democrat-controlled city. 
The statement from the Office of Management and Budget says that the bills would “advance the President’s law and order agenda in Washington, D.C. Citizens, tourists, and visitors are no longer afraid to dine and enjoy the scenery of America’s Federal city. By enacting these bills, criminals will be held accountable and police officers will be empowered with the resources necessary to ensure safety.”
The first bill referenced in the document is the DC CRIMES Act. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), would decrease the maximum age that a criminal could be sentenced as a youth offender from 24 to 18. It would also mandate that the attorney general of D.C. establish a publicly accessible portal tracking juvenile crime, and it would block the D.C. council from enacting changes to criminal liability sentencing guidelines. 
The second bill, the District of Columbia Juvenile Sentencing Reform Act, was introduced by Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) and would allow those 14 and older to be charged as adults for violent crimes like armed robbery and murder. 
“This bill would be a critical step to bring more accountability in a city where more than fifty percent of carjackings are committed by minors,” the Office of Management and Budget said. 
The third bill, introduced by Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA), called the District of Columbia Policing Protection Act, would allow police officers in the district to chase after criminals who flee by car. Current policies in D.C. ban police from chasing after most criminals suspected of non-violent offenses. 
“These unnecessary restrictions ensure that many criminals get away without punishment and police officers are unable to perform their duties to protect the public. This bill would change that policy and allow officers to pursue any suspect by motor vehicle if they deem it necessary and the most effective means to capture the suspect,” the Trump administration wrote. 
The fourth bill would give Trump the ability to nominate judges for the district at his own discretion rather than from a list provided by “radical left-wing commissioners.” Named the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act, the bill was introduced by Reps. Higgins and Pete Sessions (R-TX). 
“After the President’s successful efforts to quell crime and enforce law and order in the Federal capital, it is time to enhance these efforts by enacting these bills into law,” the Trump administration said.

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Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

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