Army scrubs vid of parade tank with 'Hang Fauci & Bill Gates' graffiti
The death threat to Fauci and Gates - two people who have drawn the ire of President Donald Trump's MAGA base - was painted on a train car marked DODX, property of the Defense Department.
Steve Warren, an Army spokesperson, said the Army has no plans to investigate.
"We removed the post once notified of graffiti on the train that didn't align with Army values," he said. "We are excited to celebrate 250 years of service to the nation next week."
Dr. Anthony Fauci, who led the government's response to COVID during Trump's first term, and Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft founder, are frequent targets of criticism from Republicans and Trump's supporters.
Fauci has said he received a deluge of death threats and harassment since he became a magnet for right-wing outrage as the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases during the Pandemic, making him the public face of many pandemic social distancing policies and the COVID vaccine. Republicans have accused him of funding the Chinese government to create the virus and conservative firebrand Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said he "belongs in prison."
"I still think deep down that there's a possibility that somebody's going to kill me," Fauci told USA TODAY in a 2024 interview.
Former President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Fauci before he left office, anticipating that Trump would seek revenge against the doctor. Days into his second term, Trump pulled federal funding for Fauci's security detail.
Gates, a Democratic Party donor who contributed millions to Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, also frequently pops up in some conspiracy theories. He has funded vaccination campaigns in poor countries, fueling online speculation that his vaccines contain microchips to track people.
Dozens of tanks to roll through Washington streets
The tank in the video was one of 28 tanks and more than two dozen armored vehicles making the weeks-long, cross-country journey to appear in the Army's 250th anniversary parade in the nation's capital on June 14. The tanks and vehicles will be unloaded from the train cars on June 9 in Jessup, Maryland, and transported to downtown Washington by truck.
More: Trump's getting his military parade. Here's what they look like from France to Russia
The Army is also laying down steel plates on spots in the parade route where the tanks will turn to protect the roads and has said it will pay for any damage they sustain. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said on May 29 she is still "concerned" about road damage.
The parade has faced scrutiny for conspicuously falling on President Donald Trump's birthday - also June 14. Trump pushed for a military parade during this first term but canceled his plans after pushback from Democrats and local politicians over the cost and logistics.
This time around, the parade is estimated to cost as much as $40 million.
Around 7,000 soldiers will also arrive in Washington for the occasion, which will also feature historic warplanes, helicopters, parachutists, and a bevy of events and entertainment.
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The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Home discomforts send Trump rushing to project image of global patriarch
'Daddy's home.' So said a social media post from the White House, accompanied by a video featuring the song Hey Daddy (Daddy's Home) by Usher and images of Donald Trump at the Nato summit in The Hague. The US president's fundraising allies were quick to market $35 T-shirts with his image and the word after Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, referred to Trump's criticism of Israel and Iran over violations of a ceasefire by quipping: 'And then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get [them to] stop.' Yet even as Trump seeks to project an image of global patriarch, there are signs of trouble on the home front. His polling numbers are down. His party is struggling to pass his signature legislation. Millions of people have marched in the streets to protest against him. Critics say the president who claims to put America First is in fact putting America Last. Trump is not the first president to find the foreign policy domain, where as commander-in-chief he recently ordered strikes on nuclear sites in Iran, less restrictive than the domestic sphere, where a rambunctious Congress, robust judiciary and sceptical media are constant irritants. But rarely has the gap between symbolic posturing abroad and messy politicking at home been so pronounced. 'There's two presidencies,' said Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota. 'The one on the domestic front is gruesome and involves long-drawn-out and disappointing negotiations with Congress and that's exactly what Donald Trump is engaged in now. What emerges from Congress is not going to be as 'big' or 'beautiful' as he promised. 'Meanwhile you've got staggering photographs of bombs falling from the sky, Donald Trump's flamboyant description of what he's achieved in Iran and Europe. That's the kind of Hollywood performance that Donald Trump wants.' The president stunned the world last Saturday by announcing, on his Truth Social platform, that he had ordered more than 125 aircraft and 75 weapons – including 14 bunker-busting bombs – to hit three targets in Iran to prevent the country obtaining a nuclear weapon. He followed up with a White House speech, choreographed to project an image of power, in which he declared: 'Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.' That narrative has since been cast into doubt by a leaked intelligence report suggesting that the operation set back Iran's nuclear programme by only a few months. Still, Trump pivoted to the role of peacemaker, again using Truth Social to announce a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, prompting Republicans to gush that he should win the Nobel peace prize. Trump's barrage of speeches, interactions with reporters and social media posts about the Middle East were likened by some to a daily soap opera, dominating Americans' attention and distracting them from his one big beautiful bill, a budget plan that threatens to slash the social safety net that many of his own supporters depend on. Jacobs observed: 'This is a classic deception. He's like the carnival barker who's waving his hands to keep the attention of the audience even as he's hiding the part for the next trick. 'What's coming out of Congress is going to absolutely harm many of his voters. Politicians like to cover their tracks; there's no covering the tracks here. There will be known cuts to widely used popular programmes like the healthcare for Medicaid and there will be no doubt as to who's responsible. These are traceable, highly visible consequences of Donald Trump.' Now in the sixth month of his second presidency, Trump's domestic honeymoon is over. A poll of 1,006 likely voters nationwide by John Zogby Strategies on 24 and 25 June found the president's approval rating down three points to 45%. About 49% of voters approve of his handling of immigration while 47% disapprove but on the economy 43% approve and 54% disapprove. Asked if they expect Trump's presidency will make them financially better off or worse off, 40% said better and 50% said worse. Zogby commented: 'There is a lot of anxiety domestically, first and foremost on the economy. People are confused and insecure. The numbers are plunging.' Consumer confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in June, a sign of economic uncertainty because of Trump's sweeping tariffs. The anxiety reported by the Conference Board was across the political spectrum, with the steepest decline among Republicans. And the share of consumers viewing jobs as plentiful was the smallest since March 2021. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic senator, argued in a floor speech this week that Trump had broken him promise to lower costs 'on day one'. She said: 'American families don't need another war – they need good jobs and lower prices, and that is what we should be focused on.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Warren listed 10 ways in which the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would raise costs for families, from rent to groceries to prescription drug prices, and warned that it will take healthcare away from more than 16 million people. Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate continue to haggle over the contents of the bill as a 4 July deadline looms. Neera Tanden, president and chief executive of the Center for American Progress and a former domestic policy adviser to President Joe Biden, told an audience on Thursday: 'This legislation is the greatest Robin Hood-in-reverse legislation that I have ever seen in my lifetime. It is cutting healthcare for working-class people and using those dollars to fund tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.' Meanwhile discontent is simmering over Trump's signature issue of immigration, even among some of his own voters. Videos of people being snatched off the streets or beaten by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents have provoked widespread revulsion. There have also been cases such as that of Ming Li Hui, a popular member of staff at a restaurant in rural Missouri who was arrested and jailed to await deportation. Her friend Vanessa Cowart told the New York Times: 'I voted for Donald Trump, and so did practically everyone here. But no one voted to deport moms. We were all under the impression we were just getting rid of the gangs, the people who came here in droves.' Meanwhile aggressive workplace raids are hurting hotels, restaurants, farms, construction firms and meatpacking companies, including in conservative states. The alarm recently got through to Trump, who admitted that some undocumented immigrants were actually 'very good, longtime workers' and ordered a temporary pause, only to then yield back to hardliners in his administration. Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, said: 'In a restaurant, if you lose your cooks, you can't serve people and you lose money. If you are in a factory where people have been swooped up by Ice, you have to do more work. 'It puts more of the burden on the same people who might have voted for Donald Trump – lower-income or middle-income factory workers or meat-processing people. They're feeling the effects of this immigration sweep in ways that the administration did not anticipate.' Trump's second term has been further marred by the tech billionaire Elon Musk leading a 'department of government efficiency', or Doge, that fired thousands of federal workers but fell far short of its cost-saving target before Musk left amid acrimony. The president's authoritarian attacks on cultural institutions, law firms, media organisations and universities fuelled 'No Kings' protests involving more than 5 million people in more than 2,100 cities and towns across the country on 14 June. In that context, it is perhaps not surprising that Trump should relish the global stage, where any world leader is just a phone call away and where he is now being feted as statesman and father figure. It has proven easier to drop bombs on Iran or pressure Nato to agree to a big increase in military spending than to tame Thomas Massie, a rebellious Kentucky Republican defying him over both Iran and the spending bill. Schiller added: 'It is true for every president, Republican or Democrat, that when things are going south domestically they turn to foreign affairs. Trump feels in some ways more powerful on the global stage than he does trying to get Congress to do what he wants. The House Republicans are giving him a hard time. The Senate Republicans are giving him a hard time. He's annoyed by this so then he goes, well, we're a global military power.'
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
What's in the latest version of Trump's big bill now before the Senate
At some 940-pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations. Now it's up to Congress to decide whether President Donald Trump 's signature's domestic policy package will become law. Trump told Republicans, who hold majority power in the House and Senate, to skip their holiday vacations and deliver the bill by the Fourth of July. Senators were working through the weekend to pass the bill and send it back to the House for a final vote. Democrats are united against it. Here's the latest on what's in the bill. There could be changes as lawmakers negotiate. Republicans say the bill is crucial because there would be a massive tax increase after December when tax breaks from Trump's first term expire. The legislation contains roughly $3.8 trillion in tax cuts. The existing tax rates and brackets would become permanent under the bill. It temporarily would add new tax breaks that Trump campaigned on: no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for older adults who earn no more than $75,000 a year. It would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal. Families at lower income levels would not see the full amount. A cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, would quadruple to $40,000 for five years. It's a provision important to New York and other high tax states, though the House wanted it to last for 10 years. There are scores of business-related tax cuts. The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase from the legislation, which would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office analysis of the House's version. Middle-income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, the CBO said. Money for deportations, a border wall and the Golden Dome The bill would provide some $350 billion for Trump's border and national security agenda, including $46 billion for the U.S.-Mexico border wall and $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention facility beds, as he aims to fulfill his promise of the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history. Money would go for hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses and a surge of Border Patrol officers, as well. The goal is to deport some 1 million people per year. The homeland security secretary would have a new $10 billion fund for grants for states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The attorney general would have $3.5 billion for a similar fund, known as Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or BIDEN, referring to former Democratic President Joe Biden. To help pay for it all, immigrants would face various new fees, including when seeking asylum protections. For the Pentagon, the bill would provide billions for ship building, munitions systems, and quality of life measures for servicemen and women, as well as $25 billion for the development of the Golden Dome missile defense system. The Defense Department would have $1 billion for border security. How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid and other programs To help partly offset the lost tax revenue and new spending, Republicans aim to cut back some long-running government programs: Medicaid, food stamps, green energy incentives and others. It's essentially unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents, Biden and Barack Obama. Republicans argue they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse. The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children 14 and older would have to meet the program's work requirements. There's also a proposed new $35 co-payment that can be charged to patients using Medicaid services. Some 80 million people rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama's Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program. Most already work, according to analysts. All told, the CBO estimates that under the House-passed bill, at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps. The Senate proposes a $25 billion Rural Hospital Transformation Fund to help offset reduced Medicaid dollars. It's a new addition, intended to win over holdout GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warning that the proposed Medicaid provider tax cuts would hurt rural hospitals. Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles. They also would phase out or terminate the various production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects. In total, cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs would be expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings. Trump savings accounts and so, so much more A number of extra provisions reflect other GOP priorities. The House and Senate both have a new children's savings program, called Trump Accounts, with a potential $1,000 deposit from the Treasury. The Senate provided $40 million to establish Trump's long-sought 'National Garden of American Heroes.' There's a new excise tax on university endowments, restrictions on the development of artificial intelligence and blocks on transgender surgeries. A $200 tax on gun silencers and short-barreled rifles and shotguns was eliminated. One provision bars money to family planning providers, namely Planned Parenthood, while $88 million is earmarked for a pandemic response accountability committee. Billions would go for the Artemis moon mission and for exploration to Mars. The bill would deter states from regulating artificial intelligence by linking certain federal AI infrastructure money to maintaining a freeze. Seventeen Republican governors asked GOP leaders to drop the provision. Also, the interior secretary would be directed to sell certain Bureau of Land Management acreage to provide for housing. The sale of public lands would cover at least 600,000 acres and up to 1.2 million acres, according to a projection from the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation group. What's the final cost? Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, the CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. An analysis of the Senate draft is pending. The CBO estimates the House-passed package would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over the decade. Or not, depending on how one does the math. Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost because those breaks are already 'current policy.' Senators say the Senate Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for the preferred approach. Under the Senate GOP view, the tax provisions cost $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. Democrats and others say this is 'magic math' that obscures the true costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Sir David Murray vows to save Dalzell steel mill as he reveals masterplan
SIR David Murray vowed to be a 'big customer' of Dalzell steel mill if his masterplan to save it becomes reality. The ex-Rangers owner and metal magnate, 73, says he is ready to play a major role in providing Scottish steel for North Sea wind turbines to power the nation's future energy. 4 Sir David Murray vowed to be a 'big customer' of Dalzell steel mill Credit: Andrew Barr 4 The plant in Motherwell is currently mothballed due to cheap Chinese steel imports and a drought in orders Credit: Getty 4 Some 140 workers were furloughed or placed on maintenance duties in April this year Credit: Reuters 4 New Liberty owner Sanjeev Gupta with Nicola Sturgeon Credit: Alan Ewing The plant in Motherwell is currently mothballed due to cheap Chinese steel imports and a drought in orders, with some 140 workers furloughed or placed on maintenance duties in April this year. Sir David has been in talks with Holyrood ministers for a decade over halting the industry's decline. He has now revealed he has held hush-hush negotiations with the UK Government to rescue the mill. His latest intervention comes after PM Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Secretary Ian Murray blasted SNP ministers in May for allowing the nation's last remaining steel plants — Dalzell and Clydebridge in Cambuslang — to cease production. The Scottish Government orchestrated a takeover of the sites in 2016, putting taxpayers' cash on the line. And Sir Keir insisted last month it was important to 'get those plants up and running again'. Now Sir David has told The Scottish Sun on Sunday: 'There is a lot of political stuff going on over Dalzell. I've been heavily involved in trying to save the plate mill. 'I have spoken to the British Government in the last week and there's a meeting in a few weeks' time. 'The workforce has stayed at home for months and got 80 per cent of their wages. But it could be sorted in a week. We need people in management to work with me. 'I'd be the chairman, I'd help the management, I'd help the business, we'd be a big customer. Former Rangers owner Sir David Murray vows to save Dalzell steel mill with masterplan 'At the time it closed, I was one of its biggest customers. 'At our peak we'd be selling 550,000 tonnes of steel a year. 'That's five Forth rail bridges in weight. Today it's just over one because the fabrication business is diminishing — it's ridiculous that Britain does not have the capacity to roll a steel plate.' Sir David told how there is one mill in the north-east of England which is Ukrainian-owned. He went on: 'The wind turbines being made for the North Sea are much bigger now. 'It's a heavier plate, ideal for Dalzell. There are 50,000 tonnes of steel coming to Teesside this week from Korea to be made into turbines. 'The Scottish Government don't own one wind turbine. Look at the cost of energy. We are buying power from other people who put in these turbines. We need to create growth, jobs and prosperity in this country.' We told last July of fears the Dalzell operation would be mothballed amid a slowdown in work. A report in March by the Community Union, which represents workers at the two plants, said low-cost steel from China and high UK energy prices were hitting British steel production. The union said Dalzell needed investment to become a 'world-leading producer' of a key turbines component. Sir David has long called for an inquiry into the Scottish Government's involvement in the 2016 sale of the Lanarkshire plants to tycoon Sanjeev Gupta and Liberty Steel. The sale was backed by a £7million loan from Scottish Enterprise. MURRAY'S HEART SCARE OP EXCLUSIVE by Rodger Hannah SIR David Murray has lifted the lid on a secret heart op after he was diagnosed with a potentially-fatal medical condition. The businessman fell ill shortly before selling Rangers to Craig Whyte in 2011 — to be told he had an aortic aneurysm. He revealed: 'I was driving home over the Forth Road Bridge and I thought I was having a heart attack. I went into Dunfermline Hospital. I had a scan. It's basically your main blood vessel and the aneurysm makes it expand. 'If it bursts, you've got about half an hour.' Sir David believes the pressure of Rangers' financial issues and the global recession could have contributed to his health scare. He added: 'They told me I needed an operation, which I had in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. 'I shared the information with Craig Brown a few years ago. 'He had an identical thing. His burst but they managed to get him in on time.' Former Scotland manager Brown needed life-saving surgery in 2020. He told the Scottish Sun at the time: 'They say only about three out of ten survive it.' Brown died in 2023 aged 82. But Sir David claims ministers rejected his rival bid because it was potentially incompatible with state aid rules, and has criticised Mr Gupta's management since. He said: 'Ten years ago, I met the Scottish Government and the First Minister [Nicola Sturgeon]. I put a proposal to them and I was told they couldn't do it because they couldn't give state aid. 'Then they lent somebody else £7million who hasn't paid it back.' Mr Gupta, executive chairman of GFG Alliance which owns Liberty Steel, is being prosecuted by Companies House for failing to file accounts for more than 70 companies listed in Britain. He denies any wrongdoing. Ayr-born Sir David spoke exclusively ahead of this Thursday's July publication of his autobiography 'Mettle: Tragedy, Courage and Titles. He remains chair of his family firm, Murray Capital Group, albeit his son, also David, runs day-to-day operations as managing director. He reveals in his new book that some of his teenage grandkids have already attended board meetings. He added: 'There is an opportunity for young people but you better come to the table with a skill. 'You're not coming, as my great friend Sean Connery said, as a member of The Lucky Sperm Club.' The UK Government confirmed Sir David had met with MP Ian Murray. A source said: 'David Murray has met Ian Murray to discuss his concerns about the Dalzell works being mothballed because the SNP cut a bad deal. We encourage the SNP Government to take advantage of the trade deals the UK Labour Government has cut and the industrial strategy which present a huge opportunity for Scottish steel.' Liberty Steel declined to comment. The Scottish Government said its 2016 intervention 'sustained over 100 jobs at Dalzell and retained steelmaking capacity in Scotland.' Scottish Enterprise confirmed: 'We remain in discussion with Liberty Steel regarding repayment of the loan funding.'
