All posts tagged "white house"

'Do not disrespect Bad Bunny': White House's mass deportation celebration slammed

The White House used a Bad Bunny song to promote its deportations and harsh immigration agenda — and Tik Tok was not happy about it, TMZ reported on Friday.

A TikTok posted Thursday shows ICE agents handcuffing and hauling off detainees to Bad Bunny's "LA MuDANZA," according to TMZ.

In the video, the White House took the original lyrics "un aplauso pa mami y papi porque en verdad rompieron," meaning "a round of applause for mom and dad, because they really crushed it" — and changed them.

The video instead had: "A round of applause for Donald J. Trump because he really crushed it." The post was captioned "We're making America great again."

Bad Bunny hasn't commented on the White House move yet, according to TMZ.

The Puerto Rican rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio has been a critic of the Trump administration and its policies. The international star performed at the Super Bowl halftime show in February, sending a message of pride to the Latino and immigrant community.

Tik Tok commenters were outraged. Nearly 3,000 people responded to the video, the top comments were mostly condemnations.

"Do not disrespect Bad Bunny like that," wrote one. Said another, "This is just disgusting."

@whitehouse We’re making America great again
♬ original sound - The White House

Trump White House rages at singer Noah Kahan for refusing to let it use his music

The Trump White House lost its cool with a popular musician after he called out Trump for using his song without permission.

The White House used the song "American Cars" in its social media posts earlier this week, pairing it with images and video of President Donald Trump's Monday visit to a General Motors facility in Michigan. The song's artist, folk-pop star Noah Kahan, called out Trump for using it without his permission.

"Would never approve of my music being used in support of you or this administration," Kahan wrote in the comments of the White House Instagram post using the song. People reported that songwriter Gabe Simon, who co-wrote "American Cars," criticized the song's use as well. The track was removed from the White House's Instagram post but stayed on the White House TikTok account.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration took to X to call out Kahan. Deputy Assistant to the President Kaelan Dorr wrote, "Symptoms of TDS apparently include having a northern attitude." TDS refers to "Trump derangement syndrome," a label that Trump uses for his critics. Dorr's post was also referencing Kahan's 2022 hit "Northern Attitude."

The White House defended itself by arguing that the track was in Instagram's public library and that anyone could use it, according to HuffPost.

Trump has repeatedly been shut down and slammed after using popular artists' work without their permission. Over the weekend, pop star Katy Perry took to X to say she was "appalled" to see that the Trump administration had "weaponized" her song "Firework" for a video of military violence. Her response led to a MAGA meltdown and upset some Trump officials.

Celine Dion, Kesha, and Tom Petty's estate have also joined the long list of artists who have called out Trump for using their music without permission.

Katy Perry 'appalled' Trump 'weaponized' her song in military video: 'Complete violation'

A pop star is furious her song appeared in a White House video about military strikes in Iran.

Katy Perry took to X Saturday to condemn the Trump administration for using her 2010 hit "Firework" in a White House video posted on TikTok earlier this week.

"I am deeply appalled and angry to see 'Firework' used on the @WhiteHouse TikTok account as a backing track for video footage of military strikes," Perry wrote. "I did not approve this, I was not asked, and I absolutely do not condone it."

The TikTok video — in which we see explosives erupt in Iran as Perry sings "boom, boom, boom" — was still present on the White House account as of Saturday afternoon.

It isn't the first time that entertainment stars have denounced Trump's use or planned use of their material. The late Leonard Cohen's estate even refused to let Trump use "Hallelujah" for the Great American State Fair.

Perry, who is dating former Canadian leader Justin Trudeau, said she was upset to see her music set to military violence.

"My music is for bringing people together, not celebrating warfare" she wrote.

"I wrote this song to be an anthem of hope, healing, and inner strength for people going through their darkest personal moments," Perry continued.

"To see a message of self-worth and upliftment weaponized to soundtrack destruction and violence is a complete violation of everything my song stands for."

Onlookers ridiculed the Trump administration for getting caught red-handed by the pop star.

Former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger wrote, "The White House has no cool people supporting them."

Red flags fly as record-pace exodus from Trump admin eclipses past presidents

Senate-confirmed officials are ditching their roles in the Trump administration at a record pace, according to a new analysis.

The number of Senate-confirmed officials who have left their roles in the Trump administration is now more than double what it was at this point in time in President Donald Trump's first term, according to reporting by The Hill and an analysis by the Partnership for Public Service.

The turnover in Trump's second administration has so far eclipsed the total number of departures in the first 18 months of the terms of former presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the analysis noted.

During the first 18 months, 27 Senate-confirmed officials have left their Trump administration jobs, per the analysis. On average, about 4.3 such officials departed during the first 18 months of the Bush, Obama and Biden administrations, which means that the Trump administration's second-term exodus is more than six times that average, the analysis noted.

During Trump's first term, 11 Senate-confirmed officials left in the first 18 months. The analysis noted that one in nine such officials in Trump's second term has left their role, or about 11.4 percent.

The average tenure of departed officials in Trump's second term was eight months. For 30 percent of departed officials, the wait for Senate confirmation was longer than their actual time in the job, per the analysis.

Trump's 578 nominations are the lowest since Ronald Reagan's administration. This year, Trump has only nominated 126 people to fill roles in his administration, according to the analysis.

Trump's 'wild jealousy' fueled bizarre smear campaign against legendary actor: biographer

A White House smear against a legendary actor stemmed from a decades-old grudge and wild jealousy, a Trump biographer said.

During an episode of Inside Trump's Head, host Joanna Coles and Trump biographer Michael Wolff tried to explain the White House's smear campaign against actor Richard Gere.

The smear started when White House Communications Director Steven Cheung responded to Gere's criticism of cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), according to reporting by The Daily Beast. In a post on X, Cheung brought up a rumor from the 1990s about Gere involving a gerbil.

Gere "long since has gotten past that," Wolff said. However, Wolff had been "puzzled" about what would motivate Cheung to "resurrect such a ridiculous thing" and noted that he "is probably even too young to know this," he said, concluding it was Trump who told Cheung to bring it up.

"The president is mad at Richard Gere," Wolff said. "So, Steven Cheung was assigned this job, his daily assassination here."

Coles suggested, "It was just some sort of wild jealousy that is still lodged somewhere in a file in Donald Trump's brain."

Wolff agreed, saying, "That's the way things happen in the White House. It's Donald Trump who was incensed about Richard Gere, something he saw, something someone said, something he has some association with, with Richard Gere."

He continued, explaining, "Richard Gere is handsomer than he is" and "is ultimately in that Hollywood contest, much more successful than Donald Trump ever was."

Gere was also married to supermodel Cindy Crawford, Wolff noted, "as opposed to Donald Trump marrying Melania, who he pretended was a supermodel, but we know, in fact, wasn't really a model of any great note."

'Alarm bells' ring in White House as lawyers try to track prediction market bets: report

The Trump White House is scrambling to ensure hundreds of aides aren't using inside information to get rich on prediction market bets, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

White House lawyers have been frantically grilling insiders ever since five anonymous Polymarket accounts made big bets that President Donald Trump and Iran would reach an initial ceasefire by the end of April, the Journal reported.

"Alarm bells went off inside the White House Counsel’s Office earlier this year," the Journal stated. "Senior officials privately raised concerns that the users may have leveraged inside information to secure an easy payday on the prediction market."

Three anonymous Polymarket accounts made over $600,000 correctly betting on the April ceasefire announcement, according to blockchain research firm Bubblemaps.

In response, White House lawyers asked staff who could be making the bets but ran into an immediate problem, the Journal reported.

"It would be nearly impossible to determine whether administration officials were behind the bets because Polymarket allows users to open accounts anonymously," the lawyers realized, according to the report.

"The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency charged with regulating the prediction markets, has requested information from both Kalshi and Polymarket regarding wagers related to political and military events."

The CFTC is also looking into allegations that Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) and right-wing influencer Rogan O'Handley traded insider information on Trump's pick for vice president during the 2024 presidential election, sources told the Wall Street Journal.

O'Handley denied the allegations or knowledge of an investigation and Luna responded in a statement, "I am honored the WSJ thinks I am telepathic but unfortunately I am not."

Humiliated Trump 'fuming' over reporting on Qatari jet's security foibles: journalist

Sources close to President Donald Trump say that he's "fuming" because journalists are reporting on his Qatari jet's security problems. CNN reported.

According to CNN, Trump was "embarrassed and angry" in recent days after reporters revealed that he had to switch planes because his Qatar-donated Boeing 747 lacked critical security features.

"Trump has been fuming at the reports of security concerns surrounding the $400 million gift from Qatar," CNN's Kaitlan Collins reported, adding that he "was embarrassed and angry in recent days when it became public that the plane was not equipped enough to be flown directly from the NATO summit in Turkey back home."

Collins' report comes after the New York Times shared that four of its journalists were issued subpoenas on Friday after they reported that Trump had to switch planes because the Qatari jet was not as well equipped with security features as the old Air Force One.

The Qatar jet lacked capabilities that the old Air Force One had, like antimissile capabilities, the Times reported.

CNN described the subpoenas as "highly unusual" and "a direct threat to the news media's ability to gather information in the public's interest," and noted that the Times plans to fight the court order.

"The subpoenas suggest that the Trump administration is trying to find out who leaked to the Times before the news organization," Collins wrote.

Sources told CNN that the New York Times subpoenas came after FBI Director Kash Patel met with White House officials on Friday to talk about an investigation into leaks about the jet's security concerns.

Patel also spoke with Trump over the phone on Friday about that investigation, one source told CNN.

Trump marvels at DC beautification with extreme close-up of blurry concrete

President Donald Trump sang his own praises Friday, sharing photos of his latest design changes at the White House.

In a series of extreme close-ups posted on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the project involving the columns at the historic site. He has reportedly aimed for them to look more like the architecture at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida.

"The Base of the Magnificent White House Face, around the Column area, at its front door — It hasn’t been fixed in decades, but you can see how beautiful it will soon be," Trump wrote. "This is representative of what we are doing in Washington, D.C. — Beautification — and NO CRIME! People are saying that the City hasn’t been, or felt, like this in 100 years!"

Scaffolding at the White House's North Portico entrance was covered in tarps this week as construction crews continued a makeover of the 200-year-old structure.

Trump's design change was underway as his appointee to chair the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, Rodney Mims Cook Jr., proposed swapping the North Portico's Ionic columns for the more ornate Corinthian style — the same style Trump uses at Mar-a-Lago and has handpicked for his $400 million White House ballroom, first reported by The Washington Post.

Bruce Redman Becker, an architect and former Commission of Fine Arts member removed by Trump, called the proposal "a completely inappropriate idea and at odds with universally held historic preservation standards," The Post reported.

White House insiders say Rubio 'sees the writing on the wall' as Vance ponders bid: report

JD Vance is expected to launch his White House run soon, while Marco Rubio bows out, The Daily Mail reported.

According to White House insiders who spoke with The Daily Mail, Vice President JD Vance will announce whether he's running for president after the midterms, but Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was expected to be his main GOP primary opponent, isn't expected to stand in his way.

"The Secretary of State may indeed have simply seen the writing on the White House wall," The Daily Mail wrote, citing a poll by JL Partners that found Vance's chances of winning the 2028 primary ballot have "soared just as Rubio's have slumped."

Vance's chances of winning the 2028 GOP presidential nomination are at 51 percent among Republican primary voters, which is up four percent from the previous month, according to the poll numbers reported by The Daily Mail. Rubio is down three points in the same time period to 15 percent but sits in second place, The Mail added.

Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has a nine percent chance of winning the GOP primary in 2028, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is at six percent.

The Daily Mail also quoted an anonymous source close to Vance who says that Rubio not throwing his hat in the ring sours Trump's plans. The source described Trump as afraid of becoming irrelevant, losing his power as GOP kingmaker, and turning into a lame duck.

"Trump would like Rubio to run because Trump wants there to be some kind of a close contest where it's like an exciting episode of The Apprentice," the insider told The Daily Mail.

White House axed RFK Jr. ad campaign after spending big on Kristi Noem flop: report

The White House killed an ad campaign by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after a costly Kristi Noem project, according to a new report.

According to an article by NOTUS, immigration-related ads that Noem filmed while she led the Department of Homeland Security made the White House "skittish" about greenlighting RFK Jr.'s health-focused ad campaign.

Two anonymous sources told NOTUS that RFK Jr. had plans for a "Take Back Your Health" ad campaign and was taking bids for "bold, edgy" pitches for TV and digital ads. NOTUS reported that the campaign would have cost as much as $20 million.

The ad campaign was meant to warn people about the dangers of processed foods, and RFK Jr. wanted to star in the ads with a device used by diabetics to track blood sugar, according to NOTUS. However, it was canceled a few weeks ago because the White House worried it would attract negative attention about overspending amid government cuts, NOTUS reported.

The White House's concerns stem from a recent series of ads featuring Noem that cost tens of millions of dollars in contracts and told undocumented immigrants to self-deport, including one that showed her on a horse, according to NOTUS.

Noem's ads aired last year, but she was fired earlier this year. Her replacement, Markwayne Mullin, is now demanding that U.S. Customs and Border Protection pull any lingering PSA-style videos of Noem that are still running at airport security checkpoints, according to HuffPost.

RFK Jr.'s Health and Human Services had been planning its ad campaign last year and reviewed more than two dozen different bids before zeroing in on three bidders, sources told NOTUS. HHS was looking at contracting with one bidder who pitched a Super Bowl ad and another who wanted to feature TikTok influencer Alix Earle, according to text messages viewed by NOTUS.