Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America.
The Trump Organization is selling $12,000 gold coins with the president’s face to commemorate a UFC fight at the White House. The Virginia firm that staged the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally is getting another $1.2 million in taxpayer money to promote “Trump Accounts.” DHS is moving to strip work permits from nearly a million legal immigrants and cap renewals. And while RFK Jr. calls male fertility decline an “existential crisis,” Trump’s EPA is rolling back the very pollution rules that protect sperm.
Corporate media is running cover. The FCC chair is making sure they know what happens if they don’t. And independent outlets are being bought out one by one. This is the news they don’t want you reading. AlterNet America is the people-powered response to the MAGA billionaire takeover of American media. We are reader-funded, editorially independent, and not for sale. We exist because of you. If you’re not yet a paid subscriber, please upgrade today.
Now, let’s get into it.
The Trump Family Is Selling $12,000 Coins For a White House Cage Fight
Nothing says “land of the free” quite like paying five figures for a guy’s face on a shiny disc.
As Trump prepares to watch a UFC brawl on the White House grounds on his birthday Sunday, his sons are partnering with the mixed martial arts company to sell a line of “Freedom 250”-themed silver and gold coins branded with the president’s face.
The coins range from nearly $250 to $12,000 apiece. They drop Tuesday. The case features a label with Trump’s signature, and a portrait of UFC boss Dana White for good measure.
The website Trump Coins suggests the president himself “designed” the medallions. The Trump Organization says it doesn’t manufacture or sell them. How much money the family actually makes from this “partnership” is, conveniently, less clear.
The fight will air on a streaming platform run by a Trump-aligned CEO. A watchdog group has sued to block the event entirely. That suit is awaiting further judicial review.
All of this lands as gas prices leap and economic optimism sours amid an unpopular Iran war. Happy 250th, America. Cake was not included with purchase.
Jan. 6 Rally Organizer Is Getting Another $1.2 Million From Taxpayers
First they organized the riot. Then they sent the bill.
A Virginia firm called Event Strategies Inc., which produced Trump’s January 6, 2021, “Stop the Steal” rally, is set to receive an additional $1.2 million in taxpayer funds to promote “Trump Accounts,” according to previously unreported federal procurement data reviewed by The Independent.
On permitting paperwork for the January 6 rally, the company’s CEO was listed as project manager, its cofounder as stage manager, and its now-chief of staff as operations manager for scheduling. The company says its role that day was purely logistical.
Since Trump retook office in January 2025, the firm has enjoyed at least $22 million in federal contracts, many awarded without competitive bidding, according to The New York Times. That report called it the government’s highest-paid event planner.
Trump Accounts are a type of individual account for children, similar to an IRA, that provides $1,000 to babies born between January 1, 2025 and December 31, 2028. Parents can put up to $5,000 per year into an account, which becomes accessible to the child when they turn 18.
In January, Trump granted the firm a separate $740,000 contract, complete with a launch party starring Nicki Minaj, who called herself the president’s “No. 1 fan.” Your tax dollars at work.
This story didn’t come from a White House briefing or a government press release. It came from a reporter who went looking where nobody told them to. The mainstream press is busy covering the fight on the White House lawn. We’re checking who got the contract. If that’s worth something to you, please consider upgrading your subscription today.
DHS Moves to Strip Work Permits From Nearly a Million Legal Immigrants
The Trump administration has decided the best way to encourage “self-sufficiency” is to make it illegal for people to support themselves.
A new DHS proposal would sharply restrict who can work legally in the United States and for how long. In 2024, USCIS processed 978,308 applications in the affected categories: 792,130 parole applications, 153,154 deferred action applications, and 33,024 from people with removal orders.
The rule would cap many work permits at one year and tie renewals to employers enrolled in E-Verify. Applicants for “discretionary” authorization would have to prove economic need and pass enhanced background checks.
The most significant shift hits immigrants with final removal orders who are currently allowed to stay under supervision. The rule eliminates their work authorization in nearly all cases, except where DHS determines no country will take them. By DHS’s own count, that is about 322 people per year.
The agency estimates the proposal could cost between $9.1 billion and $27.9 billion over a decade. One former DHS official warned that restricting work authorization “does not make people disappear” but pushes them toward informal labor markets.
The stated goals include protecting U.S. workers and wages. The mechanism is taking jobs away from people who are working legally and paying taxes.
Trump’s EPA Is Gutting the Rules That Protect Male Fertility
RFK Jr. calls declining male fertility an “existential crisis,” which is a bold position for an administration busy putting the crisis back into the groundwater.
The HHS secretary is loose with the facts. His claim that teenage boys today have less testosterone than a 68-year-old man is, as The New Republic notes, simply made up. But the big picture holds: sperm counts and concentration declined worldwide by more than half between 1973 and 2018, and one in 20 men face reduced fertility.
Researchers have identified the culprits: heavy metals, pesticides, dioxins, phthalates, and PFAS all disrupt the endocrine system and harm sperm. Biden imposed new limits on coal plants dumping arsenic, selenium, and mercury into groundwater.
Trump’s EPA is proposing to roll that rule back.
Biden also established the first nationwide limits on PFAS in drinking water. The Trump EPA wants to roll that back too. Researchers found sperm count and quality declined during every major wildfire year from 2018 to 2022. Trump’s EPA has specifically rejected climate as a legitimate reason to regulate air pollution, and DOGE cuts gutted the Forest Service. The administration announced it would regulate phthalates in workplaces, then declined to regulate them in household consumer goods.
The manosphere is told to put their testicles in ice water and stop ejaculating like it’s Victorian times. The pesticides stay in the water.
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POSITIVE STORIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
Trump Booed at Madison Square Garden During NBA Finals. The president became the first sitting U.S. president to attend an NBA Finals on Monday night, and Knicks fans greeted him with thunderous boos the moment he appeared on the Jumbotron during the national anthem. His motorcade up the FDR Drive passed signs reading “Nobody wants you here” and “Impeach. Convict. Remove.” Trump, seated with Jared Kushner, Lee Zeldin, and his former co-defendant Walt Nauta, later insisted the reception was “mostly cheers” and “amazing.” The Knick then lost 115-111, snapping a 13-game playoff winning streak. The Trump curse strikes again.
Democrats Map Out an Aggressive Redistricting Plan for as Many as 13 States. An internal Democratic strategy memo obtained by TIME lays out a plan to redraw congressional lines across up to 13 states before 2028, potentially securing dozens of new House seats. The whole effort hinges on flipping fewer than two dozen state legislative seats this fall, as just 19 targeted races would deliver Democratic trifectas in Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The plan could make life difficult for as many as 51 Republican House members. After years of losing the map wars, the Democrats have decided to start drawing.
Trump’s Name Is Removed From the Kennedy Center Website. A federal judge ordered Trump’s name stripped from the Kennedy Center’s branding, and the website logo no longer reads “Trump Kennedy Center.” The institution’s general counsel told staff to immediately update email signatures and letterhead, with signage and the “Donald J. Trump” lettering on the building facade to come down by June 12. Trump’s loyalist board had voted to add his name in December; he reacted to the ruling by threatening to hand the center to Congress before walking it back. The performing arts center will keep performing. It just won’t keep his name.
Ken Paxton’s Own Impeachment Lawyer Endorses Democrat James Talarico. Dan Cogdell, the Houston defense attorney who helped lead Paxton’s defense during his 2023 impeachment trial, is now backing Democrat James Talarico in Texas’s Senate race. Cogdell, who gave Paxton $6,500 last year before donating $1,000 to Talarico in March, said his former client “has lost sight of his core mission.” He has previously called Trump the “greatest threat to Democracy our country’s ever seen.” Cornyn allies warned during the primary that Paxton’s criminal history could force the party to spend over $100 million to hold the seat.
