Trump's Latest Meme Gives Civil War Vibes

This week in The Fifth: Trump’s DC takeover ends and Chicago may be next. Plus: another grim jobs report, “new” but not new Epstein documents, Israel’s Gaza ethnic cleansing plan, and why even Republicans are turning on HHS Secretary RFK Jr.

Before we get to our top stories, here some of the week's highlights:

• Trump signed an executive order allowing the Pentagon to also be called the Department of War, with Pete Hegseth as “Secretary of War.” Congress must approve any permanent change. The Department of War was created in 1789 by President George Washington. After World War II, the agency was reorganized and President Harry Truman renamed it the Department of Defense. More in today’s Top Story.
• The US economy is slowing under Trump’s tariffs, deportations, and cuts. The latest BLS report shows the first job losses in nearly four years, with unemployment rising to 4.3%, a post-2020 high. Preliminary August numbers show just 22,000 jobs added—far below economists’ expectations. Trump fired BLS commissioner Erika McEntarfer in July, accusing her of “rigging” weak numbers. to make him look bad. Clearly, he needed no help.
• The House Oversight Committee released thousands of documents on the Jeffrey Epstein case, though most are already public. Files are posted on a Google drive. Survivors met with lawmakers Wednesday; Marina Lacerda said, “This is not a hoax. It’s not going to go away.” Trump dismissed it as “a Democrat hoax that never ends.”
• US and Israeli officials are pushing the Gaza Reconstruction and Economic Acceleration and Transformation (GREAT) initiative—an ethnic cleansing plan offering Palestinians $5,000, rent, and a year of food to leave their homeland. Netanyahu says Israel is talking to Libya, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Indonesia, and Somaliland—all but Indonesia already face conflict and deprivation.
• Trump’s six-day silence fueled speculation he was gravely ill or dead—unusual for a president who loves the spotlight. He was spotted golfing over the weekend and reappeared publicly Tuesday. The White House has long been tight-lipped on his health; Trump has claimed, without evidence, he’s the “healthiest person” ever to serve. (He’s also the oldest.)

• Death toll. At least 63,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Ministry of Health.
• City leveled. As part of its takeover of Gaza City, the Israeli military is demolishing remaining infrastructure, including high-rise buildings—while people are inside. (Al Jazeera)
• Genocide declared. The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), a nonpartisan group of about 500 experts, declared Israel’s actions in Gaza genocide. Israel dismissed the statement as “disgraceful” and based on lies. (Washington Post)
• Ceasefire rejected. Hamas announced—for the second time in two weeks—that it had accepted a ceasefire proposal. Netanyahu called it “spin” and said the war would not end until Israel secured all of its demands, including disarming Hamas and setting up an “alternative civilian administration”—a process likely to take weeks or months. (Times of Israel | Drop Site News)
• US senators visit. Democratic Sens. Jeff Merkley (OR) and Chris Van Hollen (MD) visited the occupied West Bank, Israel, and Egypt’s Gaza border after being denied entry to Gaza by Israeli officials. “We could see absolute rubble, like there was no semblance of a town remaining… No, everything was rubble,” Merkley said. (Oregon Capital Chronicle)
• Propaganda blitz. Israel is spending $45 million on ad campaigns to sway global opinion as genocide accusations mount and famine spreads. “'There is food in Gaza. Any other claim is a lie,' declared a foreign ministry video posted to YouTube in August, viewed more than 6 million times. The contract—coordinated with Google’s Display & Video 360 platform—"explicitly characterizes the ad campaign as hasbara, a Hebrew word whose meaning is somewhere between public relations and propaganda.” (Drop Site News)
• Visas revoked. Secretary of State Marco Rubio canceled visas for Palestinian officials planning to attend the UN General Assembly this month, nonsensically claiming the denials hold them “accountable… for undermining the prospects for peace.” France plans to call for formal recognition of a Palestinian state at the meeting. You can connect the dots. (New York Times)
  • Coming up: Rubio is expected to make his second trip to Israel on September 14, just before the UN meeting. “His visit comes in the wake of comments by US President Donald Trump, who said the war in Gaza needs to end quickly because Israel is losing the public relations battle.” (Jerusalem Post)
• Nuclear expansion. New satellite images suggest Israel may be expanding its long-suspected nuclear weapons program—even as it accused Iran of the same and launched an attack on them earlier this year. Israel has never denied possessing nuclear weapons, but it bars inspections and is not party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. (AP)
• No Happy Ending. A movie about 6-year-old Hind Rajab who was killed by Israeli military in Gaza while she awaited rescue received a record-breaking 23 minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival. The movie's executive producers include actors Brad Pitt and Joaquin Phoenix. (BBC)

This meme would be funny (laughing at, not with) if it weren’t so dangerous. The sitting president of the United States is threatening to use federal resources and military force against a US city run by a rival political party—to carry out a racist, unconstitutional, un-American agenda that involves arresting, detaining, deporting, or disappearing anyone he suspects of being in the country illegally, without due process or humanity.

So why is Trump threatening Chicago?

Trump’s 30-day takeover of Washington, DC, under the Home Rule Act expires Wednesday unless Congress extends it—which they are unlikely to do. While the National Guard may linger, Trump will lose control of the Metropolitan Police Department. He needs a new target–and toy.

Enter Chicago. Home to a sizeable Mexican population, run by a Democratic mayor. Perfect combo to flex his authoritarian muscles, enact his immigration agenda and make Democrats look useless.

For weeks, Trump has been threatening to “take over” Chicago, blaming Democrats for “skyrocketing” crime. But FBI data shows the opposite: Chicago’s crime rate fell 4.5% from 2023 to 2024, and in 2025, Illinois Gov. JD Pritzker (D) says violent crime is down significantly.

Trump isn’t entirely wrong—Chicago does have high murder rates. FactCheck.org notes: “Chicago had the highest murder rate among the nine cities with a population over 1 million in 2024. But it ranked 10th among 37 cities with populations over 500,000 and 15th among 87 cities over 250,000.”

To “take over” a city, Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807, which lets the president deploy the military and federalize the National Guard to suppress a “rebellion.” The law is vague and open to interpretation, and courts have historically given presidents wide latitude. Trump could claim “skyrocketing crime” is an emergency only the federal government can solve.

But the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits using the military as a federal police force. Just this week, a federal judge ruled Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California to suppress protests against his immigration crackdown violated the law, accusing Trump of “creating a national police force with the president as its chief.” An appeals court quickly lifted the ruling while the case is under review. (Cal Matters | The Hill)

Republican-led cities with similar or worse crime rates remain untouched. Democrats argue that Trump is targeting blue cities to score political points—and Trump himself seemed to confirm it when he suggested sending troops to New Orleans, noting Louisiana’s Republican governor would cooperate. (NBC News)

Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson are pushing back, stressing that while crime is a problem, it is not an emergency. They’ve also highlighted that the Trump administration cut hundreds of millions in public safety grants—including anti-violence programs in Chicago—even as it demands more aggressive policing. Johnson has also blasted red states for lax gun laws that fuel violence in his city.

Yes, there are TWO top stories!

During a contentious Senate hearing this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was grilled over his role in the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez — a Trump appointee who lasted just 29 days. Kennedy had pressured Trump to dismiss Monarez after she refused to rubber-stamp new vaccine guidelines drafted by Kennedy’s hand-picked panel, which included individuals with well-documented anti-vaccine views.

Kennedy denied asking Monarez to approve the changes — a claim Monarez flatly disputes.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed after her dismissal, Monarez accused the administration of “sabotage” rather than “reform,” warning that preventable diseases would return under Trump’s health agenda.

The firing triggered a broader crisis: four senior CDC officials resigned in protest. Kennedy then tapped Jim O’Neill — who has no public health background — as acting head of the CDC.

Kennedy’s shaky grasp of basic health data was also on display. He claimed not to know how many Americans had died from Covid-19 (the CDC figure is 1.2 million) and insisted he had been briefed by “senior vaccine safety scientists.” A former official disputed this, noting the person Kennedy named doesn’t even work on vaccines.

The Fallout

• In a New York Times op-ed, nine former CDC directors spanning both parties warned Kennedy is endangering Americans’ health. “This is unacceptable, and it should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings.” Citing Monarez’s firing as the last straw, they pointed to Kennedy's record of:
  • downplaying vaccines while promoting unproven treatments during the 2024 measles outbreak in Texas,
  • canceling major medical research funding, undermining US competitiveness and preparedness,
  • replacing the nation’s top vaccine advisory committee with “unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views,”
  • supporting Medicaid cuts that would reduce health coverage for rural communities, disabled individuals, and low-income families.
• Some Republican senators who had supported Kennedy’s nomination are now voicing concern, particularly over his restrictions on Covid-19 vaccines. Their shifting stance may be influenced by political considerations as much as policy ones. A survey taken by Trump's longtime pollster Fabrizio Ward shows Trump voters support vaccines with the exception of COVID shots, where support is lower. "Only 22% of Trump voters said it was important for people to get the Covid shots, according to the poll. The memo said, however, that 'Republicans should not mistake skepticism over the COVID vaccine as evidence that Republican voters are against all vaccinations.'" (NBC News)
• Related: Florida's Surgeon General announced it plans to end all vaccine mandates for school children calling it an "intrusion." "Vaccines have saved at least 154 million lives globally over the past 50 years, the World Health Organization reported in 2024. The majority of those were infants and children." (AP)

Health Headlines

• Suppressed report. The Trump administration is burying research linking alcohol use to seven cancers — including colorectal, breast, and liver — with the study finding women face higher risk per drink than men, and alcohol-attributable deaths cut life expectancy by an average of 15 years. (VOX)
• State pushback. California, Oregon, and Washington launched a “West Coast Health Alliance” to counter the CDC with "unified, evidence-based" vaccine recommendations. Hawaii later joined. “Trump’s mass firing of CDC doctors and scientists — and his blatant politicization of the agency — is a direct assault on the health and safety of the American people,” the governors said. (California Medical Association)
• Autism claims. The HHS is set to release a report suggesting Tylenol use in pregnancy and low folate levels may be linked to autism. While some scientists raised concerns in 2021, major medical groups — including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — have said the evidence is weak. A 2024 Swedish study of 2.4 million children found no association between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and autism or ADHD. (WSJ)

• Profiting from the Presidency. Trump and his family made $5 billion on paper with the launch of their cryptocurrency this week. While their personal tokens are currently “locked” (meaning they can’t be sold yet), the venture “stands to earn the Trumps around $500 million since they keep up to three-quarters of the revenues from the sale of the tokens,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump launched the company last year “while campaigning, saying it would help make ‘America Great Again, this time with crypto.’”
• Immigration Inexperience. The Pentagon is scrambling to find 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges. Critics warn that most lack experience with immigration law and may receive inadequate training to oversee life-altering deportation hearings.
• Troubled Waters. A US strike on a speedboat in the Caribbean killed 11 people the White House claimed were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. But a senior Pentagon official said the strike “paved the way” for targeting civilians after Trump fired the top Army and Air Force lawyers earlier this year. “Drug traffickers may be criminals but they aren’t combatants,” the official said. “When Trump fired the military’s top lawyers the rest saw the writing on the wall… instead of being a critical firebreak they are now a rubber stamp complicit in this crime.” (The Intercept)
• Conflicts of Congress. A bipartisan group introduced the Restore Trust in Congress Act, which would ban lawmakers and their families from trading stocks. If passed, current members must sell holdings within 180 days, and new members must divest before being sworn in or face fines. “Lawmakers from both parties have faced questions about personal trading activity that may have been informed by access to nonpublic information… Watchdogs have long raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest for members who decide to buy or sell stocks after learning that Congress is about to vote on legislation that could impact a company’s bottom line.” (NPR)
• Alien Enemies Act. A federal appeals court ruled 2–1 that Trump cannot use the wartime Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans accused of gang ties, finding no evidence of an “invasion or predatory incursion” on US soil. The White House argues courts cannot override a president’s assessment. “A country’s encouraging its residents and citizens to enter this country illegally is not the modern-day equivalent of sending an armed, organized force,” the judges wrote. The administration can appeal to SCOTUS. (AP)
• Harvard Funding. A federal judge blocked the administration from cutting Harvard’s funding over its handling of Gaza-related antisemitism protests. “Harvard was wrong to tolerate hateful behavior for as long as it did,” the judge wrote. “The record here, however, does not reflect that fighting antisemitism was Defendants’ true aim… and combatting antisemitism cannot be accomplished on the back of the First Amendment.” (The Hill)
• Foreign Aid Fight. A federal judge ruled Trump cannot block $5 billion in Congressionally approved foreign aid, saying it violated the Constitution’s separation of powers. The package included $3.2 billion in development assistance, $520 million for the UN, $838 million for peacekeeping, and $322 million for democracy programs. “Whatever the reason, defendants have given no justification to displace the bedrock expectation that Congress’s appropriations must be followed,” the judge said. (AP | NYT)
• Climate Report Rejected. Eighty-five climate scientists trashed an Energy Department report on greenhouse gas emissions, saying it misquoted research and was “fundamentally incorrect.” They accused DOE Secretary Chris Wright — a former fossil fuel executive — of using tactics akin to the tobacco industry to sow doubt. “No one should doubt that human-caused climate change is real… The DOE report’s approach to undermining scientific evidence mirrors tactics previously employed by the tobacco industry.” (NPR)
• Authoritarian Parade. Putin, Kim Jong Un, and other leaders joined Xi Jinping in Beijing for a military parade marking 80 years since Japan’s WWII defeat. The display featured hypersonic weapons, nuclear-capable missiles, fighter jets, and underwater drones — a “visceral display not only of China’s growing military might… but of its growing clout as a geopolitical power, with deepening ties to some of the United States’ most potent adversaries.” (CBS News)

• Farewell to Armani. Italian fashion designer and legend Giorgio Armani died this week at age 91, his family announced.
• Alligator Alcatraz. A federal appeals court ruled Trump’s Alligator Alcatraz can stay open.
• Paper checks ending. Social Security will stop sending paper checks at the end of September under new Trump rules aimed at saving money.
• Afghanistan quake. An earthquake in Afghanistan killed more than 2,200 people on Monday.
• Deportation Bingo. ICE will send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Eswatini – in Africa – though officials there say they’ve received no communication on the matter.
• First millennial saint. Pope Leo XIV will canonize 15-year-old Carlo Acutis — credited with two miracles — in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday.
• Kraft Heinz split. Kraft Heinz is breaking up into two separate companies to “accelerate growth and unlock shareholder value.”

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