Democracy Watch: The Trump tariffs have not been paused, the tale of a President who is a conspiracist, Kash Patel fired and more news

Socialite Life is a lively celebrity and pop culture website that offers a daily dose of divas, drag queens, hot male celebrities, models, and all the latest celebrity news. Given that our democracy is currently in turmoil, we feel compelled to keep everyone informed about the chaotic situation the Trump administration is creating in this country.

In Democracy Watch, we’ll share a roundup of the most alarming and mostly illegal activities that the Trump administration engages in a few times a week, along with some ridiculous things that Donald Trump and co-president Elon Musk are attempting to do.

We’ll also offer some useful resources to keep you informed about current events and guide you on how you can help prevent the United States from becoming the next Russia. In the meantime, make sure to follow Socialite Life on Bluesky: @socialitelife.bsky.social.

The regime of utter bullshit. President Donald Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk have fanned the flames of a baseless rumor about America’s gold reserves at least a dozen times since mid-February. The conspiracy theory, alleging without evidence that someone might have stolen the gold reserves from Fort Knox, Kentucky, has circulated for decades, but it seems to have first appeared on the Trump administration’s radar after far-right financial blog Zero Hedge tagged Musk in a post about the idea on X. Since then, Musk and Trump have shared the idea and teased plans for a personal inspection of the fortress that holds the government’s gold bars. [NBC News]

The regime of pettiness. [The New York Times – Gifted]

The Supreme Court is becoming problematic. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Trump regime can move forward with the termination of 16,000 probationary federal workers across six agencies and departments, rescinding a lower court order that they be reinstated as litigation challenging the layoffs continues. In a brief, unsigned order, the court said the nine labor unions and nonprofit groups that had challenged the firings lacked standing in the matter. The groups’ “allegations [of harm] are presently insufficient to support the organizations’ standing,” the order read. Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson indicated that they would have denied Trump’s request. [ABC News]

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is auditing Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The probe, which has been ongoing since March, covers DOGE’s handling of data at several cabinet-level agencies, including the Departments of Labor, Education, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, the Treasury, and the Social Security Administration, as well as the US DOGE Service (USDS) itself, according to sources and records reviewed by WIRED. Records show that the GAO—an independent auditing, research, and investigative agency for Congress—appears to be requesting comprehensive information from the agencies in question, including incident reports on “potential or actual misuse of agency systems or data” and documentation of policies and procedures relating to systems DOGE operatives have accessed, as well as documentation of policies for the agency’s risk assessments, audit logs, insider threat programs, and more. [WIRED]

Don’t breathe. [The Atlantic – Gifted]

Elon Musk on Tuesday blasted President Donald Trump’s top trade adviser, Peter Navarro, as a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks” in a spat that underscores the discord among the president’s top allies over his sweeping tariffs set to go into effect this week. [NBC News]

Buy your electronic gadgets now! [WIRED]

Donald Trump is schizophrenic when it comes to tariffs. President Trump on Wednesday said on social media that he would pause tariffs on most countries for 90 days but would immediately hike tariffs on China to 125%. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that tariffs would be brought down to a “universal 10%” level during the 90-day pause, aside from China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters, “It took great courage — great courage — for him [Trump] to stay the course until this moment.” LOL! [NPR]

FBI Director Kash Patel was removed as the Acting Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and replaced by U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll, seven people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday. Driscoll will continue to serve as Army Secretary while he also oversees the ATF, an arm of the U.S. Justice Department, said three of the sources, who were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters that were not yet public. [Reuters]

Migrants who were temporarily allowed to live in the United States by using a Biden-era online appointment app have been told to leave the country “immediately,” officials said Monday. It was unclear how many beneficiaries would be affected. More than 900,000 people were allowed in the country using the CBP One app since January 2023. They were generally allowed to remain in the United States for two years with authorization to work under a presidential authority called parole. “Canceling these paroles is a promise kept to the American people to secure our borders and protect national security,” the Department of Homeland Security media affairs unit said in response to questions. [AP]

Now is NOT the time to get into cryptocurrency. [ABC News]

The Trump regime really seems to hate women. U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only woman on NATO’s military committee, was fired over the weekend by the Trump administration, U.S. officials said Monday. Although no reason was given, officials said it was apparently tied to comments she has made that supported diversity in the force. According to the officials, Chatfield got a call from Adm. Christopher Grady, the acting chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and was told the administration wanted to go in a different direction with the job. Chatfield is the third top female officer to be fired since Trump took office. Hegseth announced in February that he was firing the chief of naval operations, Adm. Lisa Franchetti. And Trump fired Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan just a day after he was sworn in. [ABC News]

President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pledged a first-ever $1 trillion defense budget proposal on Monday, a record sum for the military. Trump, during a press event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said the upcoming budget would be “in the vicinity” of $1 trillion.Hegseth went further in an X post on Monday evening, saying Trump “is rebuilding our military — and FAST.” [Politico]

Donald Trump still wants his military parade. [AP]

In the least surprising news. Shortly after Donald Trump picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead his health department, a group of pharmaceutical executives traveled to Mar-a-Lago to personally express their reservations about the man who the president promised would “go wild” on health care. But Trump, confronted with their concerns about his history of anti-vaccine work and lack of government experience, waved the executives off, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Don’t worry about Bobby, he assured them. I’ll keep Kennedy under control. Five months later, federal health officials, industry executives, and the public health community say they’re more worried than ever. [Politico]

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