“The Intern in Charge”: Meet the 22-Year-Old Trump’s Team Picked to Lead Terrorism Prevention
One year out of college and with no apparent national security expertise, Thomas Fugate is the Department of Homeland Security official tasked with overseeing the government’s main hub for combating violent extremism.
When Thomas Fugate graduated from college last year with a degree in politics, he celebrated in a social media post about the exciting opportunities that lay beyond campus life in Texas. “Onward and upward!” he wrote, with an emoji of a rocket shooting into space.
His career blastoff came quickly. A year after graduation, the 22-year-old with no apparent national security expertise is now a Department of Homeland Security official overseeing the government’s main hub for terrorism prevention, including an $18 million grant program intended to help communities combat violent extremism.
The White House appointed Fugate, a former Trump campaign worker who interned at the hard-right Heritage Foundation, to a Homeland Security role that was expanded to include the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships. Known as CP3, the office has led nationwide efforts to prevent hate-fueled attacks, school shootings and other forms of targeted violence.
Fugate’s appointment is the latest shock for an office that has been decimated since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and began remaking national security to give it a laser focus on immigration.
News of the appointment has trickled out in recent weeks, raising alarm among counterterrorism researchers and nonprofit groups funded by CP3. Several said they turned to LinkedIn for intel on Fugate — an unknown in their field — and were stunned to see a photo of “a college kid” with a flag pin on his lapel posing with a sharply arched eyebrow. No threat prevention experience is listed in his employment history.
Typically, people familiar with CP3 say, a candidate that green wouldn’t have gotten an interview for a junior position, much less be hired to run operations. According to LinkedIn, the bulk of Fugate’s leadership experience comes from having served as secretary general of a Model United Nations club.
“Maybe he’s a wunderkind. Maybe he’s Doogie Howser and has everything at 21 years old, or whatever he is, to lead the office. But that’s not likely the case,” said one counterterrorism researcher who has worked with CP3 officials for years. “It sounds like putting the intern in charge.”
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Only the best.
Life in Post Democracy Era: The Trump 2/Elon Dictatatorship
Trump urges Senate to postpone vote on Russia sanctions bill, Senator says
U.S. President Donald Trump has asked the Senate to delay voting on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, Republican Senator Roger Wicker said on June 4.
"I know that he (Trump) asked the leader (Senate Majority Leader John Thune) not to bring the bill to a vote this week," Wicker said during a meeting of the Defense Writers Group in Washington.
The bill, introduced on April 1 by Senators Lindsey Graham (R) and Richard Blumenthal (D), seeks to impose a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian oil and raw materials.
Its aim is to tighten economic pressure on Russia and discourage third-party nations from enabling the Kremlin’s energy exports.
The legislation currently has broad bipartisan support, with 82 out of 100 U.S. senators backing it. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson also voiced his support for the bill.
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U.S. President Donald Trump has asked the Senate to delay voting on a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill, Republican Senator Roger Wicker said on June 4.
"I know that he (Trump) asked the leader (Senate Majority Leader John Thune) not to bring the bill to a vote this week," Wicker said during a meeting of the Defense Writers Group in Washington.
The bill, introduced on April 1 by Senators Lindsey Graham (R) and Richard Blumenthal (D), seeks to impose a 500% tariff on imports from countries that continue purchasing Russian oil and raw materials.
Its aim is to tighten economic pressure on Russia and discourage third-party nations from enabling the Kremlin’s energy exports.
The legislation currently has broad bipartisan support, with 82 out of 100 U.S. senators backing it. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson also voiced his support for the bill.
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Apparently Trump is ignoring court orders again...China wrote: Thu May 29, 2025 11:44 amJudge Blocks Trump Effort to Stop Harvard From Enrolling Foreign Students
A federal judge in Boston said on Thursday morning that she would issue an order blocking the Trump administration’s efforts to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students.
The ruling was a win, at least temporarily, for the university in its ongoing confrontation with the White House, which has waged an all-out battle to undermine Harvard’s finances and global influence.
Graduates in Harvard Yard lined up to receive their diplomas on Thursday, even as the university’s future was under attack. The Trump administration stepped up its effort to restrict foreign students across higher education late Wednesday with an announcement by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, that officials would begin to “aggressively revoke” the visas of some Chinese students.
Many undergraduates wore white flowers to the graduation ceremonies to signal solidarity with foreign students, who make up about a quarter of the student body. And unlike last year, when administrators faced boos over their sanctions for pro-Palestinian protesters, President Alan Garber was greeted with a standing ovation after emerging as an unlikely leader of resistance against the White House.
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A murmur went through the crowd at Harvard’s commencement ceremony, followed by some sporadic cheers, as students and families began to learn of a federal judge’s decision to block the Trump administration’s effort to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students.
Trump suspends entry of international students studying at Harvard
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday suspended for an initial six months the entry into the United States of foreign nationals seeking to study or participate in exchange programs at Harvard University, amid an escalating dispute with the Ivy League school.
Trump’s proclamation cited national security concerns as a justification for barring international students from entering the United States to pursue studies at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based university.
Harvard, in a statement, called Trump’s proclamation “yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard’s First Amendment rights.”
“Harvard will continue to protect its international students,” it added.
The suspension can be extended beyond six months. Trump’s proclamation also directs the U.S. State Department to consider revoking academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students who meet his proclamation’s criteria.
The directive on Wednesday came a week after a federal judge in Boston announced she would issue a broad injunction blocking the administration from revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll international students, who make up about a quarter of its student body.
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The only way this continual BS of ignoring court orders is going to stop is if judges stop pussyfooting around and jail members of the adminstration for contempt.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/04/us/trump-news?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20250605&instance_id=155912&nl=breaking-news®i_id=138869612&segment_id=199310&user_id=e1383c280f8037c7c25a587f4c9eb3b4
President Trump on Wednesday signed a travel ban on 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, reviving an effort from his first term to prevent large numbers of immigrants and visitors from entering the United States.
The ban, which goes into effect on Monday, bars travel to the United States by citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Mr. Trump also imposed restrictions, but stopped short of a full ban, on travel from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. People from those countries cannot come to the United States permanently or get tourist or student visas.
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President Trump on Wednesday signed a travel ban on 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, reviving an effort from his first term to prevent large numbers of immigrants and visitors from entering the United States.
The ban, which goes into effect on Monday, bars travel to the United States by citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Mr. Trump also imposed restrictions, but stopped short of a full ban, on travel from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. People from those countries cannot come to the United States permanently or get tourist or student visas.
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Trump’s tariffs would cut US deficits by $2.8T over 10 years and shrink the economy, CBO says
President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office.
The numbers were revealed in a letter sent to Democratic congressional leadership outlining how the Trump administration’s plan to impose wide-ranging tariffs on countries around the world will affect American households.
Baked into the CBO analysis is a prediction that households would ultimately buy less from the countries hit with added tariffs. The budget office estimates that the tariffs would increase the average annual rate of inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2025 and 2026.
The budget office’s model also assumes that the tariffs, announced through executive action between January and May, will be in place permanently.
Since the analysis was conducted, a federal court struck down sweeping tariffs that Trump invoked under an emergency-powers law. An appeals court allowed the Trump administration to continue collecting the tariffs while the case goes through appeals.
Largely confirming what other economic models have predicted, the CBO’s estimations show that the tradeoff for a $2.8 trillion deficit reduction over 10 years would be an overall reduction in household wealth. In addition, the tariffs would shrink the economy, or reduce the rate of the gross domestic product by 0.06 percentage points per year.
The Penn-Wharton Budget Model’s April report predicted that the Republican president’s tariffs would reduce long-run GDP by about 6% and wages by 5%.
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President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall, according to an analysis released Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office.
The numbers were revealed in a letter sent to Democratic congressional leadership outlining how the Trump administration’s plan to impose wide-ranging tariffs on countries around the world will affect American households.
Baked into the CBO analysis is a prediction that households would ultimately buy less from the countries hit with added tariffs. The budget office estimates that the tariffs would increase the average annual rate of inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2025 and 2026.
The budget office’s model also assumes that the tariffs, announced through executive action between January and May, will be in place permanently.
Since the analysis was conducted, a federal court struck down sweeping tariffs that Trump invoked under an emergency-powers law. An appeals court allowed the Trump administration to continue collecting the tariffs while the case goes through appeals.
Largely confirming what other economic models have predicted, the CBO’s estimations show that the tradeoff for a $2.8 trillion deficit reduction over 10 years would be an overall reduction in household wealth. In addition, the tariffs would shrink the economy, or reduce the rate of the gross domestic product by 0.06 percentage points per year.
The Penn-Wharton Budget Model’s April report predicted that the Republican president’s tariffs would reduce long-run GDP by about 6% and wages by 5%.
Click on the link for the full article
Yep, we're officially in "soap opera mode" in the Trump regime. We all knew the rift would happen, but I honestly thought it would be more of a quiet departing and not the current crop dusting Musk is pulling off.
I wonder if Musk is trying to save his reputation or is actually pissed off because of Trump forcing him out. I wonder if Trump will find a new way to cave!? Stay tuned!