Donald Trump has a fan, well, sort of.................

 

Woody Allen praises President Trump as actor, wants to direct 'Celebrity' star again

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2025/09/01/woody-allen-praises-trump-bill-maher-podcast/85930554007/

 

 President Donald Trump might be a polarizing leader with a day job, but Woody Allen would love to direct "the very good actor" in a movie again.

When just a famous New York City real-estate developer, Trump appeared in Allen's 1998 film "Celebrity," starring Charlize Theron and Leonardo DiCaprio.

"He was a pleasure to work with, and a very good actor, and very polite," Allen said, speaking on Bill Maher's Club Random podcast, in a new episode out Sept. 1. "He did everything correctly and had a real flair for show business. If he would let me direct him now that he's president, I think I could do wonders."

Allen, 89, stressed he was not praising Trump politically.

"I’m a Democrat. I voted for Kamala Harris. I take issue with (Trump) on 95% of the things, maybe 99%," he said. "But as an actor, he was very good. He was convincing and had a charismatic quality."

I think the jokes will write themselves, wouldn't you agree? 

America’s Direct Role in Gaza: The Case for U.S. Complicity in Genocide, Starvation, and Land Theft

It is tempting—perhaps even understandable—to disengage from Gaza, imagining that such a distant crisis is not relevant to domestic U.S. politics, or believing the Israel-Gaza conflict is simply too heavy to bear. Yet withdrawal, under the belief this is not a problem for the U.S. government and its citizens, is factually erroneous and unrealistic. The evidence of deep American complicity is now irrefutable—down to active plans for orchestrating a neo-colonial land grab of Gaza, as revealed in a devastating recent exposé by The Washington Post (DeYoung & Brown).

This is not a distant moral dilemma but a pressing domestic crisis implicating every taxpayer, voter, and community:

• Americans' tax dollars fund devastation—from bombs and blockade to postwar “reconstruction” projects that explicitly exclude Palestinian input or return (DeYoung & Brown).  

• Congress and the White House are advancing policies that silence dissent, restrict protest, and normalize welcoming an ICC-wanted leader (Netanyahu) with bipartisan honors--including a 1 hour speech to both chambers of congress-- while genocide is ongoing . (ABC; AP )

  Top U.S. officials openly discuss annexation and land theft: House Speaker Mike Johnson and Ambassador Huckabee have advocated renaming the West Bank “Samaria and Judea,” opening the door to U.S. recognition of forced expulsion—all while U.S.-connected investors plan to profit from the transformation of Gaza into a tourist and industrial zone after removal of its population (WaPo: De Young & Brown; Jerusalem Post).

  The so-called “voluntary relocation” of Palestinians—in reality, forcible dispossession—is promoted as a bipartisan, investor-driven scheme to permanently extract value from a depopulated Gaza, offering a “future” without justice or return (DeYoung & Brown; Israel Hayom)

• 
  

Saying one opposes authoritarian drift at home but feels too overwhelmed to pay attention to Gaza may be emotionally understandable, but it is not logically or ethically coherent (Schabas/ECPS; Zosima). As legal scholars and genocide experts such as William Schabas and Noura Erakat warn, the erasure of justice and accountability in Gaza will resonate and rebound in American civic life: the technologies and strategies of surveillance, impunity, and repression seeded abroad have already returned home, threatening dissent, assembly, and basic rights for all (Schabas/ECPS).

This is not simply a distant tragedy for Palestinians. It is a litmus test of American values and civic responsibility. Silence or indifference functions as tacit approval, a quiet complicity that distorts the future not only in Gaza but here at home.

“Voluntary” Expulsion: The GREAT Trust Plan

A recently revealed proposal—the Gaza Reconstitution, Economic Acceleration and Transformation Trust, or GREAT Trust—calls for the U.S. to administer Gaza for at least a decade after the ongoing destruction is “complete.” Central to the plan:

• Temporary or permanent relocation of Gaza’s entire population (over 2 million people), encouraged via cash payments of $5,000, multi-year subsidies, and digital “land tokens” redeemable for future rights in new, AI-run cities (DeYoung & Brown; Reuters; Israel Hayom).

  >>Investor-driven profit from “reconstruction” and the creation of heavily surveilled new economic zones for outside capital (DeYoung & Brown; The Independent).

This is not simply complicity. It is orchestrating, funding, and reaping the dividends of dispossession in neo-colonial fashion—what international law labels as forcible population transfer, collective punishment, and, in this context, genocide (Schabas/ECPS; Zosima; Al Jazeera).

The Legal Record: Genocide—And Complicity

Professor William Schabas, widely considered a leading genocide scholar, and himself the son of Holocaust survivors who also sits on the advisory board of Israel's  prestigious  Israel Law Review, calls the ICJ case against Israel “arguably the strongest genocide case ever brought” and affirms that under Article III of the Genocide Convention, states unequivocally that, 

"To the extent that they are providing material support of a significant nature—and there’s no doubt this applies to the United States, Germany, and others—they can be held responsible as accomplices to genocide.”
—William Schabas (ECPS interview, August 30, 2025)

Schabas and a rare consensus of Holocaust and genocide scholars—including Omer Bartov, Amos Goldberg, Raz Segal, Daniel Blatman, Barry Trachtenberg, Susan Akram, and others—have issued a rare consensus: the evidence from Gaza (mass killing, enforced starvation, destruction of civil infrastructure, explicit targeting and dehumanizing rhetoric) meets the threshold for genocide. The International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS)  has likewise announced its judgment that Israel's actions in Gaza meet the legal definition of Genocide.  U.S. diplomatic and military support, direct weapons transfers, and new plans for expulsion and land transfer also meet the test for complicity (Zosima; Schabas/ECPS).

U.S. Congressional Activism: From Rhetoric to Policy

This partnership is not hidden: Congressional leaders, particularly House Speaker Mike Johnson, have traveled to illegal Israeli settlements, championed the language of “Judea and Samaria,” and insisted the territory “belongs to Israel”—contradicting U.S. and international law (Stein, Jerusalem Post; Times of Israel; Worthy News). Johnson’s campaign, together with the Antisemitism Awareness Act, aims to criminalize protest and legal advocacy for Palestine—and shield the Israeli government during an active genocide (Stein; Congress.gov).

Netanyahu, indicted for war crimes by the ICC and named a genocidal actor by leading legal authorities, has been honored in both chambers of Congress with standing ovations as Gaza is laid waste—and as U.S. arms and money keep the assault going (Schabas/ECPS).

The U.S. Assault on International Law

When the International Criminal Court (ICC) began investigating, the U.S. imposed sanctions on its top prosecutor, Karim Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur  of the Occupied Territories, Francesca Albanese, and the institution itself—threatening to defund and cripple the very legal mechanisms designed to guarantee  that “Never Again” will genocide descend on any nation-state. (Schabas/ECPS).

The Consequences: Destroying the Equality of Nations

By exempting itself and Israel from the rules it enforces on others, the U.S. is not just partaking in international crimes. It is helping dismantle the possibility of global justice: undermining the bedrock notion that all states have the same obligations and none can wage genocide or steal land with impunity (Schabas/ECPS; Zosima).

The Moral and Civic Imperative

Why can’t American citizens look away? Because this is not “just foreign policy.” U.S. taxpayer dollars pay for the bombs, the blockade, the population transfers, and the postwar “reconstruction” that locks out Palestinians forever. The U.S. system is staking its identity, legitimacy, and future on impunity for genocide and war crimes in real time. It is also instituting a regime of authoritarian censorship and repression criminalizing civil liberties such as the right to free speech, expression and assembly-- effectively outlawing our own students and citizens broadly from joining activist groups aimed at peace and an end to the genocide. Activists of all ages and religious backgrounds now find themselves on "Hamas Support Network" terror watchlists, subject to surveillance. We are seeing the destruction of academic freedom and liberty of conscience for faculty and students alike all across the country in our university system, now under attack in order to protect Israel from reproach and insulate it from dissenting popular opinion. (DeYoung & Brown).

To be silent is not neutrality. It is, as genocide scholars warn, “complicity.” Americans have a duty to confront their representatives and insist:
Not in our name. Not with our taxes. Not with our democracy.
If we do not act while the machinery of state enables genocide and land theft, we not only forfeit any claim to moral high ground—we help destroy the international order built, bitterly, after the horrors of the Second World War.

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Endnotes

1. DeYoung, Karen & Brown, Cate. “Gaza postwar plan envisions ‘voluntary’ relocation of entire population.” The Washington Post, August 31, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/08/31/gaza-postwar-plan-voluntary-relocation

2. Stein, Amichai. “Israeli officials claim Trump administration not opposed to West Bank annexation – exclusive.” The Jerusalem Post, August 31, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-865884

3. “Post-war plan sees US administering Gaza for at least a decade: reports.” Reuters, August 31, 2025. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/post-war-gaza-plan-sees-140936385.html

4. “Post-war plan sees US administering Gaza for at least a decade: reports.” Associated Press via Yahoo News, August 31, 2025. https://ca.news.yahoo.com/post-war-gaza-plan-sees-140936385.html

5. “US foundation eyes takeover of Gaza aid.” Al Jazeera, May 9, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/9/us-foundation-eyes-takeover-of-gaza-aid

6. “Advocates hail 'historic' progress after US Senate vote on arms to Israel.” Al Jazeera, July 31, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/31/advocates-hail-historic-progress-after-us-senate-vote-on-arms-to-israel

7. “This Week in the World: Historic Senate Vote on US Arms to Israel.” Friends Committee on National Legislation, August 20, 2025. https://www.fcnl.org/updates/2025-08/week-world-historic-senate-vote-us-arms-israel

8. “Trump mulling 'AI-powered smart cities' to replace Gaza – report.” The Independent, September 1, 2025. https://www.independent.co.uk/bulletin/news/trump-gaza-riviera-redevelopment-palestine-b2817751.html

9. “Will Donald Trump endorse Israeli West Bank annexation in Congress address?” The Jerusalem Post, March 3, 2025. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-844729

10. “Do Trump's appointees signal shift toward West Bank annexation?” The Jerusalem Post, November 14, 2024. https://www.jpost.com/international/article-829176

11. “Speaker Mike Johnson Vows to Eliminate ‘West Bank’ Terminology.” Worthy News, June 30, 2025. https://newheritagecommunity.com/worthy-news/?story=speaker-mike-johnson-vows-to-eliminate-west-bank-terminology-declares-support-for-israeli-sovereignty-in-judea-and-samaria

12. “US Speaker Johnson makes landmark visit to West Bank settlement.” Times of Israel, August 4, 2025. https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-speaker-johnson-makes-landmark-visit-to-west-bank-settlement-of-ariel/

13. “S.Res.224 - A resolution calling for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza.” Congress.gov, May 13, 2025. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-resolution/224/text

14. “UK parliamentary committee seeks answers over US firm BCG's role in Gaza.” Al Jazeera, July 10, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/10/uk-parliamentary-committee-seeks-answers-over-us-firm-bcgs-role-in-gaza

15. “Secret Gaza makeover plan offers Palestinians $5000 to leave.” Israel Hayom, August 30, 2025. https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/08/31/secret-gaza-makeover-plan-offers-palestinians-5000-to-leave/

16. “Ex-State Dept. Official Blasts Trump's Plans for Postwar Gaza.” Democracy Now!, August 28, 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJnxRRBHVTE

    " What is Project Esther, the playbook against pro-Palestine movement in US?" Al Jazeera, May 31, 2025

    Zosima,"Gaza and the Scholars of Genocide,"   , August 31, 2025

    "Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza, World's Top Scholars on the Crime Say," The Guardian, Sept. 1, 2025

    
    

     

     

Trump's newest attack on the 2026 mid-term elections

Various sources (Reuters, NYT) are reporting that djt plans to sign a new EO that requires voter identification for all US elections. The power he seeks to exercise is clearly unconstitutional. A president simply does not have that power under the US Constitution. 

The main questions are (1) will he actually sign and issue the EO, and (2) will the USSC reject or ignore the constitutional limit, holding that djt has the power the EO demands. The USSC could easily uphold the EO using the shadow docket with a short 1-2 paragraph non-decision that explains nothing. That would allow MAGA to subvert the 2026 elections, keeping MAGA authoritarians in power in both chambers of congress. 

As discussed here recently, the constitution does not grant the president explicit authority over federal election law. That power is specified to be with state legislatures and congress. Under Article I, Section 4 (the Elections Clause), states have primary responsibility for regulating elections, including determining times, places, and manner of elections, while Congress has the power to "make or alter" such regulations. A 2023 Supreme Court held that state legislatures must follow their own state laws when regulating federal elections, which accords with the text of the constitution.

How likely is it the USSC will allow djt to pull off this authoritarian trick? There's no way to know with confidence. The USSC could let djt impose his ID requirement using the shadow docket, while delaying the case until after the elections. Maybe that temporary but maybe highly effective approval is the most likely outcome. 

MAGA updates: Racists gutting the VRA

The fine state of Louisiana is asking the USSC to finish the decades-long job of finally getting rid of what's left of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The law was enacted to protect minority rights from extreme gerrymandering and other anti-voting measures in the south and elsewhere that limited the impact of black voters. Nowadays MAGA elites hate it and attack it as discriminatory against beleaguered white voters. Chief justice John Roberts and MAGA Republican judges on the USSC have been hostile to voting rights and the VRA for decades. 

Louisiana asks the court to gut the main provision of the VRA. The state wants to ban any and all consideration of race in redistricting. That was what the law was intended to do. Louisiana filed its brief after the USSC asked the parties whether compliance with Section 2 of the VRA violates the Constitution’s 14th or 15th Amendments. By framing that question as race-based, the court is probably signaling its intention to finish eviscerating the VRA.

Louisiana's legal challenge argues that the Equal Protection Clause requires government to be completely race-neutral. In their Supreme Court brief filed August 27, 2025, Louisiana argued that "[o]ur Constitution sees neither black voters nor white voters; it sees only American voters" and that "equal justice under law will never be equal as long as States must treat their citizens differently based on skin color".

The state argues that race-based redistricting rests on an invidious stereotype: that all minorities, by virtue of their membership in their racial class, think alike and have the same interests and voting preferences. 

The point of this is clear lawsuit is that white people in LA want to get rid of its black Representatives in the House. Federal courts have told LA to redraw is voting districts so that there is a black House member. The state refused to do so, then reluctantly complied. By framing this case as a matter of violation of equal protection , the USSC is signaling that it intends to get rid of what is left of the VRA. 

This is another example of MAGA elites wanting laws that allow white people to discriminate against groups the elites hate and want freedom to discriminate against and oppress, e.g., the LGBQT community, racial minorities and women. This looks, walks and quacks like racism. But is this racist, or at least bigoted? The state would vehemently argue it is not racist, but merely high-minded and color blind.  

That's not very convincing in view of LA's racial history. The state has a documented century-long pattern of systematically disenfranchising black voters through increasingly sophisticated legal mechanisms. The current lawsuit is just a part of an established historical pattern of discrimination, not than an isolated constitutional dispute. 

The state's 1898 Constitution was explicitly designed to "purify the electorate" by eliminating Black voters. The framers "explicitly expressed their goal" to create a white-only electorate through poll taxes and property requirements, literacy tests with complete registrar discretion, and a "Grandfather Clause" that exempted whites whose ancestors voted before 1867 (when blacks were slaves). From 1921-1965, Louisiana's "interpretation test" exemplified systematic racial discrimination. Registrars had complete discretion to decide whether a registrant's interpretation was satisfactory. They used their discretion to reject 64% of black registrants, but just 2% of whites. In 21 parishes, only 8.6% of voting-age African Americans were registered in 1962.

That is what the VRA was passed to deal with.

After the VRA was passed, LA began a new phase of its campaign to minimize the black vote. Legislators passing state laws that enabled parish councils and school boards to switch to at-large elections. That tactic smothered newly-registered black voters in white majorities.