The Gov Hub Newsletter: November 4, 2025

Far-right conspiracy theorist and internet troll, Laura Loomer, who is known to have Trump’s ear, has now been credentialed to cover the Pentagon. Loomer joins the rest of the new far-right press corps that have signed onto the Pentagon’s anti-free press policy, including none other than Pillowguys’s LindellTV and Frontlines by Turning Point USA.

Far-right Congressman Thomas Massie [R-KY] has remarried just a year and change after his first wife passed away to a former congressional staffer, Carolyn Grace Moffa of Senator Rand Paul. Both are enthusiastic about MAHA and served raw milk at their wedding, which includes Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jim Jordan as guests.

The White House in the midst of a government shutdown, has launched a spoof, “Myspace-style” page website called “MySafeSpace.” The creepy troll page features a fake profile for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, along with taking attempted swings at Senator Chuck Schumer and other Dem-space figures.

In White House extreme makeover tacky as hell edition, Trump plastered the internet with pictures of his bathroom reno – lots of marble, lots of gold, lots of cringe. His press secretary Karoline Leavitt had commented that she was appalled at the toilet that was formerly installed. 

In Maryland, a fight amongst Dems has broken out over possible redistricting, with some wanting to redistrict to gain a Congressional seat and some sitting with their panties in a twist. Those in the let’s actually win category include the state’s Gov. Wes Moore, who announced today the creation of a commission that will be tasked with proposing new district lines ahead of the midterms. 

After Trump demanded nuclear weapons tests happen, the U.S. military has scheduled an unarmed nuclear missile test this evening [November 4, 2025] across the Pacific Ocean. Cool.

Following a federal judge ruling that the Trump Admin had no legal basis for withholding contingency funds for SNAP, requiring them to release those funds, Trump has announced that he will buck the legal order – refusing to payout funds until the government shutdown, led by his own party, ends. This update comes after news from the Admin yesterday said that it would release $4.65 billion in funds [not enough to cover the $9 billion needed], but would need time to recalculate the reduced per unit distribution. TBD on what happens now.

Leonardo Garcia Venegas, a U.S. citizen who has been detained by ICE twice while at work, sued in September with the goal of getting the court to stop construction site raids. Now, Garcia Venegas, who is represented by Libertarian civil rights firm, the Institute for Justice, is asking a federal judge to make the case a class action lawsuit. 

“Sandwich guy” who rose to internet and DC fame for throwing a sandwich at a federal agent, and was then threatened with a felony assault count that a grand jury wouldn’t indict him on, is now facing a trial on a misdemeanor charge instead. The trial is expected to be short n’ sweet, with opening statements happening today [Nov. 4, 2025], and the first witness being called, the agent that was struck by the sandwich.

A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the Trump Admin’s can’t block/freeze transportation funding to states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. The Trump Admin had frozen billions of dollars in transportation funding, holding them hostage the states and projects they were allocated for.

In California, the Appeals Court ruled that a local ballot measure passed last year in conservative Huntington Beach, that would add voter ID requirements and monitoring of ballot drop boxes, violates state election law. 

The head of the FBI, Kash Patel, took a taxpayer funded trip on a government PJ to visit his girlfriend who was singing the national anthem at a wrestling match. And then Patel got big mad at the press coverage of this venture and fired a 27-year veteran of the FBI, Steven Palmer, who oversaw the agency’s fleets. Mind you, the flight schedules are public and fully trackable online.

Trump’s DOJ is trying to re-write history by stripping references to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection from court filings at a sentencing last week for a man that was arrested with weapons near Obama’s home. The DOJ literally replaced the documents with new versions that removed the references, along with a mention of Trump having posted on social media, an address he claimed to be Obama’s. The two federal prosecutors for the case were also punished for using facts, being put on leave and locked out of their devices.  

ICE was caught on cam crashing into a U.S. citizen’s car, then pulling and dragging her from her car, arresting her, and then later releasing her without any charges. 

ICE was captured on cam driving around in creepy AF halloween and horror masks, seemingly stepping into their true identities.

In Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, he shared that he doesn’t think that ICE agents have gone “far enough” and blamed judges for holding them back. He also said that he’s good with ICE using violent tactics.

Trump took to Truth Social to rage post at late night talk show host Seth Meyers because of jokes that Seth made about Trump’s Japan trip. And aside from not being able to take the joke(s), Trump went on to make the false claim that being anti-trump is “probably illegal.” 

A Senate investigation and report led by Senator Jon Ossoff [D-GA] has shed light on 80+ credible cases of medical neglect in federal detention centers. The report shares incidents where detainees were denied their insulin, forced to compete for clean water to drink, denied use of their inhalers, delayed or denied medical care, and more appalling human rights abuses.

A Tennessee man [Larry Bushart] was released from jail after spending over a month there, with his bail set at $2M, for posting memes in a Facebook group in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assasination. He was arrested for refusing to delete the memes that the local sheriff claimed were threatening. The charges have now been dropped, and free speech advocates have pointed to the violation of the man’s right to free speech and claimed that the sheriff was targeting Bushart because he disagreed with his political views.

North Carolina Rep. Vernetta Alston and legislative assistant Laura Burns brought the Parks & Rec energy to this Halloween-themed fundraiser with this TikTok showing off their joint costume that required walking in unison, one step at a time.

Sometimes a graphic just does numbers – and this one from The Democrats, shows the number(s) of days that House Republicans have worked in the last three months. Hint: it’s 12 days, and 12 days that they were paid $43,500 for.

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s pup Bailey “dressed up” as Stephen Colbert for Halloween, pulling out all the bells and whistles, glasses included.

This storytime vid from WV Delegate Kayla Young shares what her GOP colleagues, like Delegate Henry Dillon said at a recent Board of Edu meeting – a preview: “Do we still have home economics to encourage girls to have babies?” and “What impression of motherhood do girls get in the school system?”

In an unfortunately real Tweet from the Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, we have this, which is neither trick or treat.

Congressman Adam Smith [D-WA] shared the real real on the government shutdown, saying that "Mike Johnson has effectively dissolved the United States House of Representatives because the president of the United States asked him to.” 

The head of the FDA, Dr. George Tidmarsh is out after resigning due to a scandal coming to a boil. Tidmarsh was still new to the job, only starting this past July, but was in long enough to become the focus of a lawsuit from one of his former biz associates. The lawsuit brought by Aurinia Pharmaceuticals not only alleges that Tidmarsh made “false and defamatory statements” while at the FDA, but accuses him of having a personal vendetta against Aurinia’s board of director’s chair, Kevin Tang.

A Listeria outbreak has continued and caused the death of six people. The products associated with the outbreak include these pre-cooked pasta meals, like the popular Trader Joe’s cajun style blackened chicken breast fettuccine alfredo.

Florida’s anti-vaxx Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo has some interesting bedfellows that influence his POV, including his wife Briana. According to reporting from MotherJones, Briana isn’t your regular spouse, she is into levitating, communicating with spirits, and believes she has been #blessed with supernatural grifts gifts. Amongst her self-proclaimed talents are the ability to speak to angels and historical figures. 

Tylenol is back in the news after RFK Jr. quasi-walked back his unfounded claims about the fever reducer causing autism. This time it’s because Kimberly-Clark is buying the company behind Tylenol, Kenvue, setting the stage for a mega M&A moment.

Continuing the Trump Admin’s beef with wind farms and sustainable energy methods, RFK Jr. has directed staff at the CDC to investigate the potential “harms” of offshore wind farms.

Trump’s USDA sent out a notice to grocery stores telling them that they’re not allowed to give special discounts or offers to customers impacted by the SNAP funding lapse, citing the program’s “Equal Treatment Rule.”

The Trump Admin is looking into re-writing the rules around Social Security Disability Insurance benefits, which 8 million disabled Americans currently rely on. Under consideration is either removing age as an eligibility factor or raising the threshold to 60, a move that could cut who qualifies by up to 20%. For ref, 80% of disabled workers are 50+ and live in the South and Appalachia, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 

Major corporate layoffs have continued at a breakneck pace since the rollout of the Trump economy at the start of the year, with companies like UPS having fired 48,000 employees, Ford firing 11,000, and Target now gearing up to fire 1,800 employees. Thus far, major companies have made huge cuts to their workforces, a move that they continue to “AI-wash.”

The warpath that the Trump Admin has been on in trying to bring back the coal industry by nixing regulations and opening up mining on federal lands, has hit a wall – that wall being Trump’s own tariffs, which have resulted in decreased coal exports.

The Washington Post: Loyalty programs track you so they can charge you more

WSJ: Why Tech Bros Are Getting Face-Lifts Now

Vanity Fair: Cheryl Hines’s MAGA Makeover Has Her Hollywood Colleagues Scratching Their Heads

Yahoo! News: Don’t want ICE To Scan Your Face? Too Bad, You Might Not Have A Choice.