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WASHINGTON — U.S. Senate Republicans plan to vote on their budget resolution this week as planned, despite President Donald Trump throwing his support behind the House’s budget on Wednesday morning.

“I think he’s made it clear for a long time that he would prefer one big, beautiful bill,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said. “And we’re fine with that too. If the House can produce one big, beautiful bill, we’re prepared to work with them to get that across the finish line.”

President Donald Trump’s startling declaration of himself as a “king” on Wednesday grew even more concerning after his loyal band of MAGA followers quickly fell in line, according to the New Republic's Edith Olmsted.

That includes officials at the White House, who “happily” went along with the president “dropping the pretense of democracy,” Olmsted wrote. The stunning announcement came earlier in the day when Trump blared in a Truth Social post, “Long live the king,” as he announced his administration’s decision to pull approval of New York City’s congestion pricing system.

Pete Hegseth, the nation's new Defense Secretary, plans to slash his own agency's defense budget by 8 percent over the next five years and has ordered senior leaders at the Pentagon and throughout the military to develop plans to carry out the cuts.

That's according to The Washington Post, which reported the plan Wednesday, citing a memo and officials familiar with what it called a "striking proposal."

Trump has now golfed for five consecutive days in South Florida, The Daily Beast reported on Wednesday — at the same time his administration has purged federal employees and threatened terminations over their new policy forcing remote employees back into the office.

"While his DOGE henchmen have been busy firing all those lazy federal workers, the president dialed it in for a fifth straight day from one of his golf clubs in South Florida," reported Mary Ann Akers. "He golfed on Wednesday at his Doral golf club in Miami after spending four days at his private Mar-a-Lago resort and home over an extended President’s Day holiday that allowed him to up his game before his scheduled return to the White House Wednesday night. His MAGA supporters cheered him on."

On Monday, a determined protester invaded the famous fountains at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas as part of the "Not My President Day" demonstrations nationwide.

According to KLAS News, several hundred protesters were on the Las Vegas Strip on Monday. Around 5 p.m., however, police spotted a man in a kayak in the fountain holding up a protest sign promoting a cryptocurrency.

An 11-year-old Texas girl died by suicide after being bullied by her middle school classmates who repeatedly threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities to have her family deported from the United States, according to multiple reports.

Jocelynn Rojo Carranza spent five days in a Dallas hospital before succumbing to her injuries on Feb. 8, according to the Independent. Her death came after she was taunted with deportation threats by her sixth-grade classmates at Gainesville Intermediate School, the girl’s grieving parents told the Spanish language station Univision.

President Donald Trump's sharp turn away from the United States' defense of Ukraine toward a "peace" plan that one-sidedly gives concessions to Russia, while ranting on social media about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy being a "dictator," is an embarrassment to the U.S. on the world stage, Michael Bociurkiw, former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said on CNN Wednesday.

"I'm curious what this tells you about how the White House sees negotiations to end the war," asked anchor Boris Sanchez.

To defeat the Trump administration's dismantling of the civil service, wrote Mary Harris for Slate, there's a break-glass solution that is difficult and legally risky — but could turn up the heat on the president: a massive strike by federal workers, suspending the public sector.

"Like a lot of people, I see the president’s self-coup and think: Is now the time folks hit the streets?" wrote Harris, whose husband was a recent casualty of Trump's move to dismantle the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols chastised President Donald Trump's administration, saying that what has happened at USAID has created a "mess."

Politico legal reporter Kyle Cheney wrote Wednesday that it became clear in court that the administration had no idea what is happening with USAID employees who were abandoned abroad after it conducted mass firings.

The White House's official social media account on the X platform posted an image of President Donald Trump wearing a crown and referred to him as "king."

The Wednesday social media post came after Trump shared a message on Truth Social, in which he also called himself king.

A Russian nationalist whose ideology influenced Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine gloated as he saw his dream nearing fruition.

High-ranking U.S. and Russian officials cut out Ukrainian representatives as they discussed plans to carve up the war-torn nation and wind down the invasion. Russian intellectual Aleksandr Dugin – who has been described as Putin's brain – celebrated as both President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance publicly threatened Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky to accept the terms without complaint.