Latest news with #LibsOfTikTok
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Vivek Ramaswamy to host Cincinnati town hall in wake of viral fight videos
Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy plans to hold a town hall about crime in Cincinnati after videos of a fight in downtown Cincinnati went viral. Videos of a fight near the intersection of Fourth and Elm streets in the early hours of July 26 went viral over the weekend, spurred by commentary from Cincinnati Republican mayoral candidate Cory Bowman, Elon Musk and prominent social media accounts like Libs of TikTok. Ramaswamy posted on X on July 30 that he plans to host a town hall on Monday, August 4, with former Cincinnati Vice Mayor Chris Smitherman. "We plan to invite city officials, community leaders, and any of the victims from Friday's assault who wish to participate. When people feel afraid to speak their minds, that's when frustration festers & we can't let that happen," Ramaswamy said in the post. Town hall time, place not set yet The Enquirer reached out to Ramaswamy to ask about his conversations with "local leaders" but did not immediately receive a response. In the post, Ramaswamy referenced a similar town hall he held in Springfield, Ohio, when the city of 60,000 found itself in the national spotlight after President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance claimed without evidence that Haitian immigrants were eating pets. Ramaswamy has not yet announced a time or location for the town hall. Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@ @ee_glynn on X or @eringlynn on Bluesky. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Vivek Ramaswamy to host Cincinnati town hall after viral fight video Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
What we know about who's paying for new White House golden ballroom
In late July and early August 2025, a claim (archived) circulated online that U.S. President Donald Trump would build a $200 million golden ballroom at the White House paid for by himself and private donors. The X account Libs of TikTok shared this claim along with an illustration of the alleged room, captioned "BREAKING: Trump is building a 90,000 square foot White House ballroom and it's being funded mainly by Trump himself!" The news — widely reported in national and international media — also circulated on Facebook (archived), Instagram (archived), Threads (archived), Reddit (archived) and Bluesky (archived), where some posters claimed the Trump administration would actually use taxpayer money to fund the construction of the ballroom. Snopes readers also wrote in about the topic. However, we found no credible evidence that the Trump administration's proposed $200 million ballroom would be paid for using taxpayers' money. Rather, both Trump and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and private donors would pay for the project. The Rapid Response 47 X account, an official account of the Trump administration, wrote (archived) in a July 31 post that the project would be "fully funded by President Trump and other private donors — not taxpayers." It was unclear at the time of this writing whether the $200 million amount included costs for "enhancements and modifications" that the White House statement said the U.S. Secret Service, a taxpayer -unded government agency, would provide. We reached out to the White House for clarification on this point and await a reply. Karoline Leavitt and the White House announced the project, called the White House State Ballroom, on July 31, 2025. According to the White House statement, the room would sit near the current East Wing and seat 650 people — more than three times as many as the current East Room, which seats 200 people. The White House statement described the new ballroom as an "exquisite addition of approximately 90,000 total square feet of ornately designed and carefully crafted space." On funding, the White House statement said, "President Trump, and other patriot donors, have generously committed to donating the funds necessary to build this approximately $200 million dollar structure. The United States Secret Service will provide the necessary security enhancements and modifications." Trump himself also spoke about the ballroom while signing an executive order on July 31 (time code 21:46, our emphasis): Reporter: Mr. President, can you talk about your plans for the new ballroom that was announced today? The $200 million, that's going to be paid for by yourself — Trump: By me, yeah. Reporter: — private donations? Trump: It's a private thing, yeah, I'll do it and we'll probably have some donors or whatever, but it's about $200 million. We've been planning it for a long time, they've wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years but there's never been a president that was good at ballrooms. (unintelligible) really good. In fact, I looked at one we just built in Turnberry in Scotland and it's incredible. We're good at building, I'm good at building things and we'll get it built quickly and on time, it'll be beautiful, top of the line. Nearly two months earlier, on June 6, 2025, Trump posted on his social media network Truth Social, "Just inspected the site of the new Ballroom that will be built, compliments of a man known as Donald J. Trump, at the White House." Days before the White House announcement, Trump teased the idea while meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, at his Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland (which, he said, had recently had its own ballroom fitted). Trump said (video time code 1:43), "We're building a great ballroom at the White House. The White House has wanted a ballroom for 150 years, but they never had a real estate person, you know, nobody, no president knew how to build a ballroom." Trump did not mention the financing of the project while speaking at Turnberry. Trump has floated ideas for a ballroom at the White House since at least 2010, according to former U.S. President Barack Obama's senior adviser David Axelrod. According to Axelrod, Trump offered to build "a ballroom you can assemble and take apart" in 2010. Trump recounted the encounter to ABC News in 2011, according to a New York Post article. At that time, Trump reportedly priced the project at $100 million, half the 2025 ballroom estimate. The idea surfaced again in 2016, when Obama's press secretary Josh Earnest laughed off (video time code 36:53) another Trump offer of a ballroom as "not something that was at all seriously considered." "I'm not sure that it would be appropriate to have a shiny gold Trump sign on any part of the White House," Earnest said. The White House's July 2025 announcement included illustrations of the proposed exterior and interior of the White House State Ballroom by McCrery Architects. The illustrations showed plans for a gold-accented dining room, though they did not include any gold Trump signs. Campanile, Carl. Trump's W. House Ballroom. 20 Apr. 2011, Janssen, Kim. "Will Trump Now Build His $100 Million White House Ballroom?" Chicago Tribune, 24 May 2019, The Obama White House. "2/1/16: White House Press Briefing." YouTube, 1 Feb. 2016, The White House. "President Trump Meets with the President of the European Commission." YouTube, 27 Jul. 2025, ---. "President Trump Signs an Executive Order, July 31, 2025." YouTube, 31 Jul. 2025, ---. "Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt Briefs Members of the Media, July 31, 2025." YouTube, 31 Jul. 2025, "The White House Announces White House Ballroom Construction to Begin." The White House, 31 Jul. 2025,
Yahoo
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Elon Musk responds to videos of fight in downtown Cincinnati
This story has been updated with new information. A fight in the streets of Cincinnati that went viral this weekend has caught the attention of the world's richest man, Elon Musk, who took to his own platform, X, to comment on the brutality of the attack. The brawl involving multiple people took place seemingly late Friday night near the corner of Fourth and Elm streets. Downtown was teeming with people attending the Cincinnati Music Festival at Paycor Stadium. Multiple fights broke out after two men had what police called a "verbal altercation." A woman could be seen in videos of the incident knocked to the ground, possibly unconscious. More: Cincinnati city, law enforcement leaders react to video of Downtown fight The incident was seized upon by those who argue the current city administration, including the police chief, are not doing enough to combat crime in the city's urban core. Musk retweeted an End Wokeness post about the fight and commented on a Libs of TikTok post. The Libs of TikTok post emphasized the race of those of those involved, which sparked a racially charged discourse in the replies. "That guy almost killed this woman. Aggravated assault," Musk replied to the post. The End Wokeness post commented on the lack of national media coverage. Musk retweeted that post, saying, "Why zero stories?" Both Libs of TikTok and End Wokeness have a large following with 4.3 million and 3.8 million followers, respectively. Cincinnati Police Chief Teresa Theetge called the behavior "cruel and absolutely unacceptable." She said her investigators are working diligently to identify and arrest those responsible. In a retweet of Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno's X post, Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, said: "Our federal hate crimes laws apply to ALL Americans" and that the division will monitor how local authorities handle this incident. "Nobody in our great nation should be the victim of such a crime, and where race is a motivation, federal law may apply," she added. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Elon Musk reacts to videos of fight in downtown Cincinnati on X Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Laura Loomer wants you to snitch on your immigrant neighbors
Late last month, Laura Loomer — a prominent MAGA influencer who in 2017 called herself 'pro-white nationalism' — invited Jacob Engels, a Proud Boys associate and writer for the conspiracy theory-pushing blog Gateway Pundit, to her podcast to discuss a new app that would help people they see as true patriots deport their neighbors — and get paid for it. 'It's called Engels said, explaining how users could snap photos of 'illegal aliens.' The app apparently then sends the photos, including the metadata identifying where and when they were taken, to law enforcement. 'This is really really interesting because it's taking so much off the backs of law enforcement … and we're doing it as citizens, and you have the opportunity to earn crypto for reporting and deporting illegals.' Loomer — one of President Donald Trump's close confidants — was thrilled. 'If you're sick and tired of the illegal alien construction workers making a bunch of noise at the house next door to yours, you can actually call it in!' she said. 'Get that cryptocurrency for reporting these individuals. It's almost like a bounty.' It's unclear how functional — created by a relatively unknown cryptocurrency entrepreneur named Jason Meyers — really is, or to what degree it's actually coordinating with law enforcement. (Meyers and representatives from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to requests for comment.) What is clear is that the app's launch earned coverage across far-right media — including former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz's OANN show — and spoke to a growing hunger among the MAGA faithful, cultivated by the Republican Party, to become vigilantes, informants and snitches to target immigrants. Chaya Raichik, the influential LibsOfTikTok creator — whose viral propaganda has falsely labeled queer people 'groomers' and 'pedophiles' and has been linked to a wave of anti-LGBTQ harassment and threats — recently turned her sights on immigrants. Earlier this month, she joined Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in an armored vehicle for a 'ride-along' with ICE officers as they conducted a raid in Phoenix, at one point posting a clip of Noem, wearing a tactical vest and carrying an assault rifle, taunting a detainee. 'We're gonna prosecute you,' Noem said. 'You don't commit crimes in our country.' The stunt was representative, as Melissa Gira Grant observed in The New Republic, of how the Trump administration is 'branding traumatic arrests and detentions as some depraved cross-over event between law enforcement and internet vigilantes.' It is also representative of the long history in America of white vigilantes partnering with law enforcement to terrorize marginalized groups. William Horne, a history professor at the University of Maryland, told me 'the most worrisome parallel, the closest thing to what we're seeing now historically, is the assaults on the Reconstruction state governments' after the Civil War, when the Ku Klux Klan, along other white vigilante groups and lynch mobs partnered with law enforcement to target black Southerners — and white southerners who supported their freedom — with horrifying violence and murder. This guerilla war helped end Reconstruction, the federal government abandoning its nascent experiment in multiracial democracy and ushering in decades of Jim Crow. 'Historically, failing to take aggressive action against white vigilantism all but guarantees escalating white vigilantism and the creation of some form of apartheid regime,' Horne wrote in 2022. Trump's ability to escape prosecution for his attempted insurrection, combined with his almost immediate pardon of more than 1,000 Jan. 6 rioters, signals to MAGA vigilantes that they can now act with impunity. Trump's FBI has also reportedly shifted its focus away from investigating far-right extremism to Black Lives Matter activists and antifa. Meanwhile, armed border militias, according to reporter Tess Owen, are ready and eager to help Trump fulfill his campaign promise to mass deport millions of human beings. Politico has reported that Erik Prince, the billionaire founder of the mercenary group Blackwater, is among a group of military contractors who have pitched the White House on a plan to deputize '10,000 private citizens' to assist in rounding up undocumented people. (Prince declined to comment to Politico.) There has also been an alarming rise in people impersonating ICE officers to harass, threaten and detain immigrants. In South Carolina, an armed man detained two Latino men on a highway, telling them to stop speaking 'that shitty Spanish' and to 'go back to Mexico.' According to a police report in North Carolina, another man 'displayed a business card with a badge on it' before threatening to deport a woman if 'she did not have sex with him.' (He was charged with sexual assault.) We are only a few months into the second Trump administration. Things can, and very likely will, get even worse. The administration's dehumanizing campaign of mass deportation seems poised to include vigilantes acting as the militant arm of Trump's MAGA movement, scaring immigrants to make them retreat and hide, or even 'self-deport,' the preferred right-wing nomenclature for fleeing America before they're made to leave. When Loomer and Engels were discussing the IceRaid app, Loomer took a moment to recount an extremely exciting encounter she had recently. 'I actually ended up catching up with Tom Homan, our border czar, in the airport here in Palm Beach, Florida and I congratulated him on his deportation orders and his success thus far as the border czar,' Loomer said, queuing up a video of the interaction. 'Can we expect to see some more jihadist students rounded up soon and deported?' the video shows Loomer asking Homan, referring to the terrifying incidents of masked ICE agents disappearing college students off the streets for their support of pro-Palestinian causes — including, in the case of Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, for the apparent transgression of writing an op-ed in the school newspaper that was critical of Israel. The video shows Homan smiling at the question before looking into the camera. 'Just sit back and watch,' he said. This article was originally published on
