Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump's Bubble
A few weeks after winning the election, President-elect Donald J. Trump found himself face-to-face with Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland, a rising star in the Democratic Party, as the two men made their way through the bowels of Northwest Stadium in Landover, Md., to watch the annual Army-Navy game.
The governor greeted him effusively.
'Mr. President, welcome back to Maryland, sir, welcome back to Maryland!' Mr. Moore said. 'Great to see you, great to see you, great to have you back here.'
'You're a good-looking guy,' Mr. Trump observed.
'We are very, very anxious to be able to work closely with you,' the governor added. Then he mentioned the ongoing efforts to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge outside Baltimore, which had collapsed that March.
This chummy encounter was captured on camera for a documentary series called 'Art of the Surge,' now streaming on Fox Nation, which provides a rare behind-the-scenes look at the adulatory environment in which Mr. Trump has moved since regaining power. The series gives a sense of how much he is enveloped by people eager to stroke his ego and get in his good graces — including some unexpected figures, according to advance episodes viewed by The New York Times.
At one point, inside the V.I.P. box at the football game, Brian Grazer, a top Hollywood producer, gets his photo taken with the president-elect and confides to those in the room that he cast his ballot for the Republican.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
WrestleMania 42 will be at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18-19, WWE announces
WWE will hold its WrestleMania event in Las Vegas for the second consecutive year. (Photo by Rich Wade/WWE via Getty Images) WrestleMania 42 will be held at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, WWE announced on Saturday. The promotion's showcase event will return to Las Vegas for the second consecutive year, chief content officer Paul Levesque confirmed during the "Money in the Bank" broadcast. This will be the second time that WWE will present WrestleMania at the same venue for two straight years. WrestleMania IV and WrestleMania V were both held at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in New Jersey in 1988 and 1989. Advertisement WrestleMania 42 will be on April 18-19, 2026 with several WWE events also scheduled for that weekend in Las Vegas, including "SmackDown," the Hall of Fame ceremony, "NXT Stand and Deliver" and "Raw After WrestleMania" at nearby T-Mobile Arena. WWE's signature event was originally scheduled to be held in New Orleans on April 11-12, 2026. WrestleMania 42 will reportedly be moved back a week due to a scheduling conflict with a concert event at Allegiant Stadium. The reason for taking the event out of New Orleans was not reported, though there have been rumblings that WWE management believes more money is to be made in Las Vegas after drawing 117,380 fans across both nights of WrestleMania 41 this year. Additionally, WWE received $4.24 million in tax breaks from the city, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Advertisement New Orleans has reportedly been promised a future WrestleMania by WWE, in addition to a "Money in the Bank" next year. The city has hosted a WrestleMania previously in 2018 and drew 78,240 fans to the Caesars Superdome. Before Las Vegas was confirmed, other cities that were rumored for possible new locations were London and Saudi Arabia.
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Thomas Warren Hoover Thomas Warren Hoover, known to most as
Jun. 7—Thomas Warren Hoover Thomas Warren Hoover, known to most as Tom, age 92, passed away on April 5, 2025. He was born in Washington, Iowa, on June 25, 1932, to Leo and Rhea Hoover. A devoted husband, father, and public servant, Tom will be deeply missed by family and friends. Tom earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and spent 31 years at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. At Central United Methodist Church, he met Bettye Garrard; they were married in 1960 and remained lifelong members of the congregation. In 1964, Tom was elected to the New Mexico House of Representatives, serving for ten years and rising to the position of Minority Leader. When Albuquerque transitioned to a city council form of government in 1974, he brought his legislative experience to the City Council, serving for 13 years, including two terms as president. Among his proudest achievements was sponsoring the quarter-cent quality-of-life tax, which supported institutions such as the Albuquerque BioPark, the Balloon Museum, and public art programs. Tom and Bettye raised two sons, Kurt and Craig. He designed their family home, landscaped the yard, and built a game room and workshop. The couple instilled strong values and a deep commitment to service in their children. Tom later worked in public finance as Deputy Secretary of Finance for the State of New Mexico and as Director of Finance for the City of Albuquerque before retiring. Even in retirement, Tom remained active. He served on the board of Saranam, delivered Meals on Wheels until the age of 90, sang in the church choir, performed with the NewMexiChords Barbershop Chorus for 25 years, and traveled extensively with Bettye-often alongside lifelong church friends. Tom was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Bettye, in 2020. He is survived by his sons, Kurt and Craig; daughter-in-law, Susie; and grandchildren, Joshua, Bettyjane, and Matea. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on June 21, 2025 at Central United Methodist Church in Albuquerque. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Meals on Wheels or Saranam. Please visit our online guestbook for Tom at
Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
The legal issues raised by Trump sending the National Guard to L.A.
The Trump administration announced Saturday that National Guard troops were being sent to Los Angeles — an action Gov. Gavin Newsom said he opposed. President Trump is activating the Guard by using powers that have been invoked only rarely. Trump said in a memo to the Defense and Homeland Security departments that he was calling the National Guard into federal service under a provision called Title 10 to 'temporarily protect ICE and other United States Government personnel who are performing Federal functions.' Title 10 provides for activating National Guard troops for federal service. Such Title 10 orders can be used for deploying National Guard members in the United States or abroad. Erwin Chemerinsky, one of the nation's leading constitutional law scholars, said 'for the federal government to take over the California National Guard, without the request of the governor, to put down protests is truly chilling.' 'It is using the military domestically to stop dissent,' said Chemerinsky, dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. 'It certainly sends a message as to how this administration is going to respond to protests. It is very frightening to see this done.' Tom Homan, the Trump administration's 'border czar,' announced the plan to send the National Guard in an interview on Fox News on Saturday as protesters continued confronting immigration agents during raids. 'This is about enforcing the law,' Homan said. 'We're not going to apologize for doing it. We're stepping up.' 'We're already ahead of the game. We were already mobilizing,' he added. 'We're gonna bring the National Guard in tonight. We're gonna continue doing our job. We're gonna push back on these people.' Newsom criticized the federal action, saying that local law enforcement was already mobilized and that sending in troops was a move that was 'purposefully inflammatory' and would 'only escalate tensions.' The governor called the president and they spoke for about 40 minutes, according to the governor's office. Critics have raised concerns that Trump also might try to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to activate troops as part of his campaign to deport large numbers of undocumented immigrants. The president has the authority under the Insurrection Act to federalize the National Guard units of states to suppress 'any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy' that 'so hinders the execution of the laws' that any portion of the state's inhabitants are deprived of a constitutional right and state authorities are unable or unwilling to protect that right. The American Civil Liberties Union has warned that Trump's use of the military domestically would be misguided and dangerous. According to the ACLU, Title 10 activation of National Guard troops has historically been rare and Congress has prohibited troops deployed under the law from providing 'direct assistance' to civilian law enforcement — under both a separate provision of Title 10 as well as the Posse Comitatus Act. The Insurrection Act, however, is viewed as an exception to the prohibitions under the Posse Comitatus Act. In 1958, President Eisenhower invoked the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Arkansas to enforce the Supreme Court's decision ending racial segregation in schools, and to defend Black students against a violent mob. Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, wrote in a recent article that if Trump were to invoke the Insurrection Act 'to activate federalized troops for mass deportation — whether at the border or somewhere else in the country — it would be unprecedented, unnecessary, and wrong.' Chemerinsky said invoking the Insurrection Act and nationalizing a state's National Guard has been reserved for extreme circumstances where there are no other alternatives to maintain the peace. Chemerinsky said he feared that in this case the Trump administration was seeking 'to send a message to protesters of the willingness of the federal government to use federal troops to quell protests.' In 1992, California Gov. Pete Wilson requested that President George H.W. Bush use the National Guard to quell the unrest in Los Angeles after police officers were acquitted in the beating of Rodney King. That was under a different provision of federal law that allows the president to use military force in the United States. That provision applies if a state governor or legislature requests it. California politics editor Phil Willon contributed to this report.
