Anti-America’s Top Ten Countdown: January 26, 2025 Edition
It’s that time of the week again. It’s time for Anti-America’s Top Ten Countdown, in which I break down the top ten most important news stories that every progressive needs to hear about. These are the opinions you won’t hear from the mainstream media now that it’s been captured by corporations and the right wing. Let’s get into it.
Donald Trump falsifying the path of a 2019 hurricane, creating the controversy later known as “Sharpiegate.” Image taken from Science Magazine.
10: DON PETTY
This is hardly the most important story on this list, hence why it’s only number ten. However, in one of his first acts as President of the United States this time, Donald Trump signed an executive order to rename Denali to Mount McKinley. This is something he threatened to do in his first term, but eventually backed down from under pressure from Alaska’s U.S. Senators. This name change might be disrespectful to indigenous people, but the other one is worse. The Gulf of Mexico is officially the Gulf of America, which serves as an immense monument to how much of a sore winner Trump is. Even beyond that, with reports that Trump is ordering 10,000 American troops to be sent to the Mexican border, I firmly believe that an invasion is imminent. Given that this story is only listed as number ten, you know it’s been a very fast news week. Countdown number nine.
An El Al plane. Image taken from the airline’s website.
9: THE PLANE IS REAL
Well, with the ceasefire agreement now in effect between Israel and Hamas, and the first hostages being returned home, it seems tensions in the Middle East are coming down. At least, for now. I don’t know if this agreement is going to hold in the long term, but the airlines probably know more than I do. Delta Air Lines, one of the three legacy carriers in the United States, has announced that it will resume service from New York-JFK to Tel Aviv starting on April 1. The nearest airport to me, Boston Logan, used to have Delta flights to Tel Aviv as well, though who knows when that’s going to resume. I personally don’t know if I would feel comfortable visiting Israel in the near future. They did elect Benjamin Netanyahu multiple times, but then again, given that America has now made Donald Trump President twice, do I really have any moral superiority? Regardless, it’s good to see a ceasefire in effect, even if I wish it had happened prior to the November 5 U.S. election. Countdown number eight.
Mark Zuckerberg making a bizarre face at Trump’s inauguration. Image taken from the New York Times.
8: META’S QUEST
Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow social media billionaires are acting like Donald Trump received 90 percent of the vote rather than 50. Their actions in bowing down to the GOP have been well-documented, and I’m not going to belabor the point here. However, according to this BBC News report , the Meta platform known as Instagram has been hiding search results for “Democrats.” The company claimed it was “urgently trying to fix the problem”, but I don’t think they care. That’s because I don’t think it was a glitch. I think Meta’s platforms are functioning exactly as Zuckerberg wants them to, which is to suck Trump’s you-know-what at every possible opportunity. In my mind, anyone who’s concerned about social media’s increasing slant toward the right has two options: They can either move to BlueSky, which is like Twitter before it was taken over by Elon Musk, or they can disconnect completely. The latter option might not be a bad idea. Countdown number seven.
Pete Hegseth at his Senate confirmation hearing. Image taken from NPR.
7: PETER, PETER, DRUNKEN BEATER
Well, they did it. Despite numerous allegations of alcoholism and impropriety, and despite the fact that he was totally unqualified for the position by any objective standard, Pete Hegseth has been confirmed. America’s new Secretary of Defense is a former Fox News host, and in the words of Hayley Williams from Paramore: “How did we get here?” Well, we got here because so many people idiotically believed Trump was the antiwar candidate. This could not be further from the truth. However, possibly the most chilling part of Hegseth’s confirmation hearings was when he was asked if he’d follow orders to have soldiers massacre peaceful protestors. Hegseth refused to answer, which is code for “Yes, but I don’t want to look bad in front of the Senate.” This Slate article by a Marine illustrates just how dangerous Hegseth is. The streets will soon run red with the blood of Trump’s enemies, and you can’t say I didn’t warn you. Countdown number six.
Emergency services respond to the shooting at Antioch High School in Nashville, Tennessee. Image taken from Charisma News.
6: AMERICAN BAD DREAM
America’s favorite pastime has made its return to Nashville, Tennessee, and this time the victim of this fear roulette is Antioch High School. A teenager shot and killed a fellow student, then himself in the school’s cafeteria. Now, one thing that’s been getting a lot of attention is the perpetrator’s manifesto. I’m not going to paraphrase, let alone quote, said manifesto, because I don’t think we should be giving this deranged psycho what he wanted. This is Nashville’s second school shooting in as many years, giving us a reminder that it can happen anywhere in the country. I’m reminded of the young woman who attended an elementary school near Sandy Hook in 2012, and was later a student at Michigan State University in 2023. Some people and communities have lived through two shootings, which is just unacceptable. It’s also worth noting that an AI security system failed to detect the weapon illustrating that artificial intelligence is worse than useless. Nothing will ever be done about gun violence in our schools - it’s been happening since 1764, after all. Countdown number five.
Elon Musk doing an X jump.
5: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT ELON
I’ve already covered this story here , so I’m not going to spend too much time on it. Elon Musk, who is basically the shadow President of the United States at this point, made a Nazi salute on stage at Trump’s inauguration. If you’re not terrified, you’re not paying attention. I’m not going to say for sure that Trump will commit a genocide of his political opponents here - we’re not at step 10 yet. What I am going to say, however, is that we’re maybe at step 7. It started with mass deportations, and it’s going to end with camps if we let it. It can happen here, and it is happening here. Countdown number four.
CDC headquarters in Atlanta. Image taken from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
4: THEY’RE BLINDING US WITHOUT SCIENCE
At a time when we may be on the brink of a global human bird flu pandemic, it would be nice to have a serious leader at the helm. One who will listen to scientific experts and acknowledge when not a scientific expert themselves. Donald Trump, of course, is not that leader, and it speaks to the depravity of the American electorate that we gave him a second chance. He has directed the CDC to pause all public communications until at least February 1 - but let’s be honest, we should assume that these communications will not resume until Trump’s term ends. To illustrate how big a problem is, information about outbreaks related to contaminated food products cannot be published now. Weekly CDC updates on seasonal vaccination statistics have also been disrupted. And if bird flu truly does become a pandemic of COVID proportions (or worse, given its 50% case-fatality rate), we won’t even know it’s happening until people are literally dying in the streets. Countdown number three.
Donald Trump after signing numerous executive orders. Image taken from NPR.
3: JUDGE, JURY, AND EXECUTIVE
During his first few days in office, Donald Trump signed a flurry of executive orders. These included the aforementioned renamings of Denali and the Gulf of Mexico, as well as dozens of others. One executive order will withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accords, which will mean America alone once again. In my mind, this is part of his “shock and awe” strategy. Trump wants to make his opponents feel powerless when he signs dozens of executive orders a day, so he keeps shocking people until they grow numb to everything. Honestly, it’s working, even on me, and that’s the scary part. Even if you follow politics and insist on reading every last thing Trump does, there’s a point where you won’t be alarmed anymore. And that’s to say nothing of those who choose to obey in advance, like the mainstream media. Countdown number two.
Donald Trump shaking hands with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Image taken from the Financial Times.
2: I SEE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE
During the transition period, Trump said that he wanted to make Canada the 51st state. For the record, he’s still talking about that, claiming that Canadians would have “much better health coverage” if they were part of the United States. Even as someone who’s never lived in Canada, I beg to differ. Trump is speaking just like Vladimir Putin here. As alarming as his words toward Canada are, he seems even more serious about Greenland. During a phone conversation with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Trump angrily demanded the island. Try as she might to insist that Greenland wasn’t for sale, Frederiksen couldn’t placate Trump. And she won’t be able to, because the felon is deadly serious about it. As scared as I am for my own country, I’m even more terrified for the rest of the world. Just 49.9% of the American electorate may have been enough to start World War III over the island of Greenland - Greenland, with basically no agriculture and that belongs to a NATO ally - and that’s beyond infuriating. Countdown number one.
Kyle Rittenhouse at a Wisconsin bar in the early days of 2021 wearing a provocative T-shirt and drinking beers with the Proud Boys.
1: GASLIGHT, OBSTRUCT, PROJECT
He did it. We all warned you he was going to do it, but many of you didn’t listen. Donald Trump has pardoned approximately 1,500 people who were present at the United States Capitol during the coup attempt on January 6, 2021. The rule of law is officially dead in America, and what’s worse is that many of the newly-pardoned January Sixers are reportedly now purchasing firearms. At least one man has now been rearrested on a gun charge. Whether or not this person is pardoned once more, the fact remains that there are going to be a lot more guns floating around, just like there are after every high-profile mass shooting. Even if Pete Hegseth doesn’t order the military to fire on protestors, he doesn’t really need to, because the pardoned January Sixers are going to do it for him. In the words of Kyle Rittenhouse, they are “free as fuck.” The streets will run red, and time will crawl until Canada annexes us.
