Occupy Banksters & Crony Capitalism & GREED

Trump is marching toward war with Iran. He hasn't bothered to make clear why
TheGuardian | Mohamad Bazzi | 02/27/26

The US spent months promoting a false case for the invasion of Iraq. This time, we’re in the dark about Washington’s goals.

In October 2002, George W Bush laid out his case for taking the US to war against Iraq in a half-hour speech televised around the world. Bush warned that Saddam Hussein's regime could attack the US "on any given day" with chemical or biological weapons, including anthrax, mustard gas or the nerve agent sarin. He argued Iraq was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and could develop a bomb in less than a year. And if those warnings weren't enough to terrify the US public, Bush invoked the ultimate fear of an unprovoked nuclear attack: "Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof - the smoking gun - that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."

The world soon learned that Bush's rationale for invading Iraq was based on manipulated intelligence and outright lies; the Iraqi regime no longer had any weapons of mass destruction and was not developing them. But the administration's relentless campaign to convince Americans that Saddam was a threat had paid off by generating significant support. As the invasion got under way in March 2003, many polls showed public approval of the war at more than 70%. Bush’s own approval rating hovered around a similar high, underscoring that war can boost the popularity of America's commander-in-chief as few other things can.

Today, Donald Trump is marching the US toward war with Iran, but without making a case for why Washington should attack and whether Iran poses a threat to Americans that would justify the risks of military action. Trump has ordered the largest US military build-up in the Middle East since the Iraq invasion in 2003. To be sure, Trump has broadly described concerns over a supposed nuclear threat. But unlike in the lead-up to that war, when the Bush administration secured approval from Congress for an attack and spent months promoting its false argument that Iraq was developing WMDs, Trump and his top aides aren't bothering to make clear why they might bomb Iran or what, exactly, the US hopes to achieve. ... Read more

America's slipping sympathy for Israel
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Axios | Avery Lotz | 02/27/26

For the first time in 25 years of Gallup polling, more Americans say they sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis — a striking shift in U.S. public opinion.

Why it matters: The reversal reflects a dramatic shift in attitudes toward Israel - a key U.S. ally - after its war with Hamas triggered a humanitarian crisis and reshaped the Middle East.

Context: The difference - 41% who sympathize more with the Palestinians versus 36% for the Israelis - is not statistically significant, Gallup notes.

But the trend over the last year shows how suddenly U.S. public opinion has soured on Israel — slipping 10 percentage points in 12 months. ... Read more

Pentagon takes first step toward blacklisting Anthropic
Axios | Dave Lawler | 02/26/26

The Pentagon asked two major defense contractors on Wednesday to provide an assessment of their reliance on Anthropic's AI model, Claude - a first step toward a potential designation of Anthropic as a "supply chain risk," Axios has learned.

Why it matters: That penalty is usually reserved for companies from adversarial countries, such as Chinese tech giant Huawei.

Using it to punish a leading American tech firm, particularly one on which the military itself is currently reliant, would be unprecedented. ... ... ... Read more

Wiles "in shock" over FBI phone-record subpoena
Axios | Marc Caputo, Mike Allen | 02/26/26

FBI Director Kash Patel says the FBI under President Biden subpoenaed his phone records and those of Susie Wiles, who ran President Trump's campaign and is now White House chief of staff, when they were private citizens.

The big picture: Trump officials familiar with the investigation tell Axios the revelations might be "the tip of the iceberg," and that the FBI may have probed more Trumpworld figures.

Wiles told associates: "I am in shock."

What they're saying: Patel said in a statement to Axios, "It is outrageous and deeply alarming that the previous FBI leadership secretly subpoenaed my own phone records - along with those of now-White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles - using flimsy pretexts and burying the entire process in prohibited case files designed to evade all oversight." ... Read more

Epstein files contain explicit but unsubstantiated claim that Trump abused minor
TheGuardian | Jacqueline Sweet & Joseph Gedeon | 02/26/26

Three memos that describe four interviews conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2019 contain explicit but unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump sexually abused a woman when she was a minor in the early 1980s with the assistance of Jeffrey Epstein, according to a Guardian review of those documents.

The Department of Justice did not release those records when it uploaded millions of pages of files related to Epstein beginning in December. The existence of the missing documents was first reported by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and subsequently confirmed by NPR, causing outrage in Washington and sparking an investigation from congressional Democrats.

The Guardian obtained the missing FBI form 302 reports, which memorialize 25 pages of agents’ notes from the four interviews conducted in the summer and fall of 2019. The notes describe how the woman came forward to tell agents she recognized Epstein from a photo sent by a childhood friend. Only the first session, in which she did not name Trump, made it into the public release. The Guardian has chosen not to publish the woman's name. ... Read more

Trump's night of heroes: Takeaways from the 2026 State of the Union
Axios | Zachary Basu | 02/25/26

President Trump staged a rose-colored spectacle at Tuesday night's State of the Union — the longest-ever address to Congress, from a president facing his lowest-ever approval ratings.

Why it matters: A defiant Trump bragged, weaved, smiled and sparred his way through 108 minutes of prime-time television, projecting his vision of a "Golden Age" for a country that - according to recent polls - mostly isn't buying it.

Fact checking President Trump's State of the Union address | KCCI| 02/24/26 | 3:14

Trump says he prefers diplomacy, but lays the case for war with Iran
Axios | Barak Ravid | 02/25/26

Why it matters: Trump's remarks about Iran were relatively short and were not the center part of his speech, but it was the first time he detailed the reasons that led him to consider launching a military campaign.

Trump's speech may mark the launch of an effort to prepare U.S. public opinion for going to war against Iran and to justify such a move if he concludes that the negotiations with Iran have reached a dead end.

At Trump's orders, the American military has assembled over the past several weeks the biggest military build-up in the Middle East since the U.S. invaded Iraq.

His speech increased the likelihood that the meeting between his envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi planned to take place in Geneva on Thursday could be the last chance to reach a diplomatic breakthrough and prevent war. ... Read more

Behind the Curtain: AI's biggest threats
Axios | Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen | 02/24/26

If AI were a politician, it'd be headed for a landslide defeat.

Defeated by Democrats ... Republicans ... and independents.

Why it matters: In the Trump administration, Silicon Valley, and select AI-obsessed homes or businesses, people are euphoric about the fast rise of generative AI tools. These groups see a coming utopia.

Almost everywhere else, the vast majority are indifferent, pessimistic - even downright dystopian.

The politics are shifting so fast against AI that Democratic governors who championed it are in fast retreat. ... ... ... Read more

Updated Epstein File List - Shocking! | Pancake Data | 02/23/26 | 10:51

The AI doom-and-gloom scenario captivating Wall Street
Axios | Neil Irwin | 02/24/26

The AI revolution may be upon us. But nobody knows for sure what it will mean for measures of overall economic well-being like GDP, unemployment, incomes and asset prices.

The big picture: Will super-intelligent computing unleash stunning growth in output - or will it be more like some previous big advances that created "ghost GDP" that didn't show up much in the economic statistics?

Will it push millions of workers - especially white-collar professionals with high incomes - onto the unemployment rolls? Or enable them to be far more productive and thus earn more?

Will it push more of the national income toward owners of capital and away from human laborers? If so, what does that mean for the broader perpetual motion machine that is the economy, where one person's spending becomes another person's income? ... Read more

Blizzard warnings, travel bans in effect as brutal storm pounds Northeast
Axios | Avery Lotz | 02/23/26

Blizzard warnings blanket the Northeast Monday as a beastly winter storm is snarling travel and pounding millions with heavy snow.

Threat level: In hard-hit areas, travel will be "extremely treacherous," forecasters say, and some leaders are restricting it. Meanwhile, more than half a million customers in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island are without power.

The latest: The National Weather Service predicted Monday morning that heavy snowfall rates and gusty winds will keep battering the Northeast and spread into New England. ... Read more

Twitter: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver | John Oliver | 02/22/26 | 30:32

AI's "centaur phase" consumes Silicon Valley
Axios | Zachary Basu, Madison Mills | 02/23/26

A manic new phase of the AI boom is sweeping through Silicon Valley, powered by autonomous "agents" capable of liquefying weeks of manual labor into minutes.

Why it matters: For now, the frenzy is largely confined to software engineering. But inside that bubble, the shift feels seismic - deepening the gulf between AI builders and bystanders.

"I've followed tech for 25 years and I've never felt a larger gap between the ~1 million people using Codex/Claude and the rest of humanity," tweeted James Wang, director of product marketing at Cerebras.

The big picture: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently described the current state of software engineering as the "centaur phase" - a reference to the half-human, half-horse creature of Greek mythology. ... Read more

US succeeds in erasing climate from global energy body's priorities
Politico | Elena Giordano | 02/19/26

PARIS - The United States has succeeded in removing climate change from the main priorities of the International Energy Agency, following a tense ministerial meeting in Paris that reflected a dramatic shift in political mood around the clean energy transition.

In the chair's summary released at the end of the two-day meeting, addressing climate change is not listed among the agency's priorities. Instead, the document focuses on energy security, resilience, critical minerals and electricity systems.

The development, which comes after the U.S. threatened to leave the agency if it continued to focus on climate change, is a remarkable turnaround from the last ministerial two years ago, when addressing the climate crisis and phasing out fossil fuels was named as the IEA's top priority. ... Read more

6 reasons the U.S. and Iran are on the brink of war
Axios | Herb Scribner | 02/18/26

A war between the United States and Iran is looming - and there are several factors suggesting President Trump might push the button soon.

The big picture: Trump has been trying to strike a nuclear deal with Iran since he retook the White House last year. But after abandoning a previous round of talks and ordering strikes last June, Trump may be about to repeat that pattern on a larger scale.

Any potential war would resemble a full-scale campaign and look less like the pinpoint operation in Venezuela, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.

Trump moves closer to a major war with Iran
Axios | Barak Ravid | 02/18/26

The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.

The sources noted it would likely be a joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that's much broader in scope - and more existential for the regime - than the Israeli-led 12-day war last June, which the U.S. eventually joined to take out Iran's underground nuclear facilities.

Such a war would have a dramatic influence on the entire region and major implications for the remaining three years of the Trump presidency.

With the attention of Congress and the public otherwise occupied, there is little public debate about what could be the most consequential U.S. military intervention in the Middle East in at least a decade. ... Read more

Zelensky says Ukrainian public won't let him hand Russia territory
Axios | Barak Ravid, Dave Lawler | 02/17/26

The Ukrainian people would reject a peace deal that involves Ukraine unilaterally withdrawing from the eastern Donbas region and turning it over to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios in an interview Tuesday.

Why it matters: As Zelensky was speaking to Axios, Ukrainian and Russian negotiators were meeting for a third round of direct talks in Geneva. The main sticking point is control of the Donbas, around 10% of which is still in Ukrainian hands.

Zelensky said U.S. mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have told him Russia genuinely wants to end the war, and that he should coordinate with his own negotiating team on that basis ahead of the talks.

But Zelensky made clear he's much more pessimistic. He also advised Witkoff and Kushner that they shouldn't try to force him to sell a vision of peace his own people would see as an "unsuccessful story." ... Read more

Trump Admin to Spend $40B to Turn Warehouses Into Massive Immigration Jails
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CommonDreams | Julia Conley | 02/14/26

US immigration and Customs Enforcement documents that were provided to Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire - one of the states where ICE aims to acquire a building and retrofit it to house at least 1,000 people at a time - show that the administration plans to spend $38.3 billion on its mass detention plan.

It would buy 16 buildings across the country to use as "regional processing centers" that could hold 1,000-1,500 people. Another eight detention centers would hold as many as 10,000 people at a time, with the detainees awaiting deportation. ... Read more

Euro uses Trump-shaped world order to encroach on U.S. financial power
Axios | Courtenay Brown, Neil Irwin | 02/17/26

European leaders are trying to carve out a bigger global role for their currency in a Trump-shaped world order. If they are successful, it could chip away at America's biggest economic advantage: the outsize demand for dollars and U.S. debt.

Other dollar alternatives look less likely, since the world generally distrusts China.

Squeezed by Russia, China, and an increasingly belligerent United States, Europe is reacting by bolstering its common efforts in both national security and monetary affairs.

Even if the euro's shift doesn't dethrone the dollar as the global reserve currency, its broader influence could narrow America's margin of financial power. ... Read more

AI concentration is everywhere
Axios | Madison Mills | 02/17/26

Tech companies are projected to issue over $1 trillion in debt to fund their AI goals this year. Yet there's little evidence the technology can be monetized at a scale that justifies the bet.

State of play: Hyperscalers - the AI data-center giants - could spend up to $700 billion from their balance sheets on AI this year, while issuing eye-popping debt to access even more capital, according to UBS.

The eight largest companies, all tech firms with AI ambitions, make up nearly half of the S&P 500.

More than half of invested venture-capital dollars went to AI firms in 2025, per PitchBook.

Private credit could supply half of the $1.5 trillion needed for data-center buildouts, according to Morgan Stanley. That will further concentrate AI into the alternatives market. ... Read more

Behind the Curtain: Resistance rising
Axios | Jim VandeHei, Mike Allen | 02/13/26

Little by little, week after week, a subtle but significant shift is unfolding in American politics: Institutions and even a small but growing number of Republicans are standing up to President Trump.

This is hardly COVID, where everyone seemed to resist everything - or even a return to Normal Times, when CEOs and Republicans said something when they saw something alarming.

AI insiders are sounding the alarm
Axios | Madison Mills | 02/12/26

Top AI experts at OpenAI, Anthropic and other companies warn of rising dangers of their technology, with some quitting in protest or going public with grave concerns.

Why it matters: Leading AI models, including Anthropic's Claude and OpenAI's ChatGPT, are getting a lot better, a lot faster, and even building new products themselves.

Emissions will keep falling despite Trump's climate rollback
Axios | Amy Harder | 02/12/26

President Trump is trying to pull the rug out from under federal climate regulation. But the U.S. economy may no longer be standing on it.

Why it matters: The energy transition is well underway and is unlikely to be reversed by Thursday's historic move.

The big picture: America's emissions are projected to decline substantially even if major climate regulations are repealed, driven by falling renewable energy prices and cleaner natural gas outcompeting dirtier coal. ... Read more

Trump sends second aircraft carrier to Gulf amid Iran threats
Axios | Barak Ravid, Colin Demarest | 02/13/26

President Trump ordered the Pentagon to send the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group to the Middle East to boost U.S. forces in the region amid tensions with Iran, two U.S. officials confirmed.

Why it matters: The move will increase the pressure on Tehran during the nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration, making the U.S. military threat even more menacing.

The Ford, which is now in the Caribbean, will need three or four weeks to arrive in the region. That's in line with the timeline Trump mentioned on Thursday, when he claimed he wanted to finalize a deal next month and would change course if no agreement could be reached.

The Ford, America's largest warship, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group, which includes fighter jets, Tomahawk missiles and several ships. The U.S. had two carriers in the region during much of the war in Gaza. ... Read more

The Witness Statement Trump Doesn't Want You To See | Raw News And Politics | 02/07/26 | 14:35

The AI boom belongs to capital, not workers
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Axios | author | 02/11/26

The United States is experiencing an investment boom from AI and the infrastructure that makes it possible - but much of those economic gains aren't reaching workers.

Why it matters: Job openings have become scarce and workers' wages are no longer rising that rapidly.

The big picture: That disconnect between strong growth and comparatively anemic results for workers may sound like a unique challenge of 2026, but in fact, it is part of a longer-run phenomenon.

Since the 1980s, the share of national income accruing to labor has fallen markedly, and the share going to capital has risen. ... Read more

Why Did $8 Trillion Get PRINTED - And You Got Nothing? (When GDP Is Up) | Healthy Aging Talk: Deep Dive | 01/21/26 | 34:36

Jeffrey Epstein and the Secret Program That Built Modern AI | Off Air with Attorney Ron Chapman | 02/09/26 | 29:26

Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA
NYTimes | Leer en espanol | 07/31/19

Jeffrey E. Epstein, the wealthy financier who is accused of sex trafficking, had an unusual dream: He hoped to seed the human race with his DNA by impregnating women at his vast New Mexico ranch.

Mr. Epstein over the years confided to scientists and others about his scheme, according to four people familiar with his thinking, although there is no evidence that it ever came to fruition.

Mr. Epstein's vision reflected his longstanding fascination with what has become known as transhumanism: the science of improving the human population through technologies like genetic engineering and artificial intelligence. Critics have likened transhumanism to a modern-day version of eugenics, the discredited field of improving the human race through controlled breeding. ... Read more

Washington Week with The Atlantic full episode, Feb. 6, 2026 | Washington Week PBS | 02/06/26 | 26:46

Crypto revolt exposes fragility of Trump's coalition
Axios | Zachary Basu | 02/09/26

Trillions of dollars in value have been vaporized from global crypto markets since October, plunging an ascendant industry championed by President Trump into a new bout of turmoil.

Why it matters: Crypto joins a growing list of MAGA coalition partners - from Epstein-focused populists to farmers to Latino men - now questioning whether Trump's return to power has delivered what they were promised.

Zoom in: The hyper-online, male-dominated crypto space embraced Trump's vision for a crypto "Golden Age," tying its fortunes to his presidency as prices surged and confidence soared through much of his first year in office.

Many crypto leaders swallowed their discomfort last year after Trump-branded meme coins generated massive profits for insiders - and left retail traders holding tokens that plummeted in value. ... ... ... Read more

Ghislaine Maxwell pleads Fifth Amendment at congressional deposition
Axios | Kate Santaliz | 02/09/26

Ghislaine Maxwell declined to answer questions during a closed-door, virtual deposition Monday with the House Oversight Committee as part of the panel's probe into Jeffrey Epstein.

Why it matters: The committee has been working for months to schedule a virtual deposition with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence at a Texas facility. Yet little new information was brought to light.

"Unfortunately, she had an opportunity today to answer questions that every American has, questions that would be very important in this investigation, and she chose to invoke her Fifth Amendment," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told reporters following the deposition. ... Read more

The powerful people who have been fired, ousted because of ties to Epstein
Axios | Jason Lalljee | 02/-5/26

The massive final drop of Epstein files last week has triggered another wave of uproar over freshly illuminated ties between the convicted sex offender and some of the world's most influential people.

The big picture: Power players like Bill Gates and Elon Musk continue to weather heightened scrutiny over their relationships with Jeffrey Epstein, but have so far avoided professional repercussions.

Other corporate titans, however, as well as some U.S. and European politicians, have joined the list of those announcing resignations. ... Read more

IT'S OVER: Bitcoin is Dead at $63k. (What Nobody Tells You) | Engineered Markets | 02/05/26 | 27:08

Trump admin crackdown on journalists' sources "chilling," press groups say
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 02/06/26

Press freedom groups denounced Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's declaration this week that a journalist was "down another source" after her department "caught another prolific leaker," whom she'll refer for criminal prosecution.

Why it matters: The Trump administration's escalating efforts to find and prosecute government sources who leak to reporters reflects a broader effort to assert control over information flow, which Committee to Protect Journalists' Katherine Jacobsen on Thursday called "terrifying."

The pattern suggests these actions are less about national security and more about punishing scrutiny, threatening independent reporting, press freedom experts say.

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press president Bruce Brown said in an emailed statement Wednesday night: "Government sources bring to light issues that deserve public scrutiny. Targeting them has a chilling effect and makes it difficult for others to come forward, which is undoubtedly the administration's goal." ... Read more

Exclusive: 300+ ex-DOJ lawyers demand transparent Minnesota shooting probes
Axios | Avery Lotz | 02/05/26

More than 300 former federal prosecutors and civil rights attorneys are urging the Justice Department to allow state and local investigations into the killings of two Minnesota residents by federal officers, according to a new letter obtained exclusively by Axios.

Why it matters: Minnesota officials have accused feds of obstructing their ability to investigate the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti amid President Trump's federal immigration blitz in the Twin Cities.

Driving the news: "Blocking a state law enforcement agency from investigating potential violations of state law in its own jurisdiction would mark a severe departure from established DOJ norms and pose a serious threat to the rule of law," states the letter led by the Prosecutors Alliance in coordination with The Vera Institute of Justice. ... Read more

Trump to launch TrumpRx drug discount site
Axios | Marc Caputo | 02/05/26

President Trump will announce the launch of the TrumpRx website Thursday night, a Trump adviser told Axios, moving ahead with a plan to offer discounted drug prices through special agreements with drug companies.

Why it matters: The launch will allow people to buy medications directly through the new government portal with discounts the White House has negotiated with the drug manufacturers.

"This is about affordability, although the president doesn't like to use that specific word," the Trump adviser said.

The announcement is scheduled for 7pm ET.

Context: The site will offer discounts on drugs from major drug companies including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, EMD Serono, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. ... Read more

Trump is just the beginning | John Gray on the future of American politics | The Institute of Art and Ideas | 12/04/25 | 12:32

Death of New START heralds "a world with more nuclear risk"
Axios | Colin Demarest | 02/04/26

Tomorrow, the world lurches toward an age of international uncertainty and increased nuclear-weapons spending. New START is expiring.

Why it matters: The treaty capped and encouraged inspections of the deployed nuclear arsenals of the U.S. and Russia - Cold War rivals with shared animosity and some 85% of the world's warheads.

"Feb. 5 is going to mark the end of an era," Kingston Reif, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for threat reduction and arms control, told Axios.

"The treaty was a huge net benefit for U.S. national security."

Driving the news: One expert told Axios arms control was slipping into a coma. Another said it was on life support. They all warned of long-term consequences should another deal - even by handshake, as Russian leader Vladimir Putin suggested - not be consummated. ... Read more

"We're Screwed" - US Dollar Collapse Scenario Explained with Former World Bank Director | Shawn Ryan Clips | 01/29/26 | 17:18

FULL DISCUSSION: BlackRock, Citadel & Lagarde Clash Over $38 Trillion U.S. Debt, AI & Market | AQ1B | DRM News | 01/21/26 | 45:50

FINAL WARNING: BlackRock Just Moved $14 Trillion Out of US Banks | Finance Mind | 02/03/26 | 31:51

Gabbard says Trump asked her to attend FBI raid at Georgia elections hub
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 02/03/26

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Monday President Trump requested her presence during an FBI search of an election center in Georgia last week.

Why it matters: Her presence in Fulton County alarmed some Democratic lawmakers, but Gabbard in a letter Monday to the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees said she acted "well within my statutory authorities."

Zoom in: Gabbard said in the letter to Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) she was only present for a brief period of time.

"My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate, integrate, and analyze intelligence related to election security, including counter-intelligence, foreign and other malign influence and cybersecurity," Gabbard wrote. ... Read more

Washington Week with The Atlantic full episode, Jan. 30, 2026 | Washington Week PBS | 02/01/26 | 26:45

Trump Destroyed USAID. What Happens Now? | ProPublica | 02/01/26 | 7:03

Aftermath of 9/11: Follow The Money | FORGOTTEN HISTORY | 01/xx/25 | 14:48

Bill and Hillary Clinton now agree to testify before Congress
Politico | Hailey Fuchs and Calen Razor | 02/02/26

Bill and Hillary Clinton have agreed to testify before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel's investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

It's a remarkable reversal for the former president and secretary of state, who had defied committee-issued subpoenas and risked imprisonment by the Trump Justice Department as the House prepared to vote Wednesday to hold them in contempt of Congress. ... Read more

Trump to close "broken" Kennedy Center for 2 years
Axios | Rebecca Falconer | 02/02/26

The Kennedy Center will close for renovations on July 4 for about two years, President Trump announced Sunday.

The big picture: The president's announcement comes after a wave of event cancellations at the D.C. venue after its name was changed in December to include Trump's name.

A board that Trump handpicked in 2025 voted unanimously to rename the performing arts venue, sparking criticism from President John F. Kennedy's family and other Democrats.

Driving the news: Trump said Sunday there had been a yearlong review into whether the center should be fully closed and reopened or partially closed during its reconstruction. ... Read more