Catégorie oBox : OBOXMA

X a récemment introduit une fonctionnalité qui révèle le pays ou la région où un compte est basé, et elle est rapidement devenue virale après que les utilisateurs ont repéré que de nombreux grands comptes de médias sociaux pro-Trump semblent opérer depuis l’extérieur des États-Unis.

X launched a feature over the weekend that displays users’ locations, renewing scrutiny of the provenance of many accounts, including those that post frequently about U.S. politics.

— The New York Times (@nytimes.com) 2025-11-24T13:40:04.438898Z

X présente la mise à jour comme un moyen d’aider les utilisateurs à juger ce qui est réel et ce qui ne l’est pas sur la plateforme. Comme l’a déclaré M. Bier:

« Il s’agit d’une première étape importante pour garantir l’intégrité de la place publique mondiale », ajoutant que la plateforme travaillait sur d’autres moyens permettant aux utilisateurs de vérifier l’authenticité du contenu sur la plateforme.

Pas basé aux États-Unis

Selon plusieurs médias, dont le New York Times et The Guardian, de nombreux comptes MAGA de premier plan ne sont pas basés aux États-Unis, mais opèrent depuis des pays comme l’Europe de l’Est, le Nigeria, l’Asie du Sud, la Thaïlande et la Russie. Les utilisateurs de X accusent désormais la plateforme d’avoir permis des années d’ingérence continue dans la politique américaine par des adversaires étrangers.

La colère des utilisateurs de X s’est accrue lorsque la plateforme a soudainement retiré l’outil quelques heures seulement après sa mise en œuvre: les utilisateurs ont signalé que la fonction de localisation avait été retirée, et bien que certains aient supposé que c’était parce qu’elle exposait les origines étrangères des comptes d’extrême droite, la plateforme l’a depuis rétablie avec des ajustements, y compris des avertissements indiquant que les localisations peuvent être inexactes ou affectées par l’utilisation d’un VPN.

Des réseaux d’influence étrangers soupçonnés depuis longtemps

Le commentateur libéral Harry Sisson, qui a récemment été la cible d’une vidéo de Trump générée par l’IA et représentant le président en train de lui déverser des excréments depuis un avion « King Trump », a capturé l’ambiance sur X, en déclarant:

« C’est facilement l’un des meilleurs jours sur cette plateforme. Voir tous ces comptes MAGA démasqués comme des acteurs étrangers essayant de détruire les États-Unis donne raison aux démocrates, comme moi et beaucoup d’autres ici, qui ont mis en garde contre ce phénomène », une réaction qui fait écho aux inquiétudes croissantes concernant les réseaux d’influence étrangers soupçonnés depuis longtemps d’opérer dans le discours politique américain.

Parmi les comptes basés à l’étranger signalés par le nouvel outil X figurent des pages pro-Trump qui se présentent comme entièrement américaines mais semblent opérer depuis l’étranger, notamment « Trump Is My President », répertorié comme étant basé en Macédoine, et « ULTRAMAGA 🇺🇸 TRUMP🇺🇸2028 », qui revendique Washington, D.C., mais est présenté comme étant situé en Afrique.

🚨 BREAKING: The House Oversight Committee has ruled that all documents signed using Biden’s autopen are INVALID.

That means corrupt figures like Adam Schiff, Mark Milley, Liz Cheney, and Jack Smith are finally going to face justice.

This is exactly what I voted for… pic.twitter.com/BEc4w3TDHE

— MAGA NATION 🇺🇸 (@MAGANationX) October 30, 2025

D’autres exemples très médiatisés documentés par les médias incluent MAGA NATION, qui compte près de 400 000 adeptes et opère depuis l’Europe de l’Est, Dark Maga depuis la Thaïlande, MAGA Beacon depuis l’Asie du Sud et MAGA Scope depuis le Nigéria, soulignant ainsi qu’une grande partie de l’écosystème MAGA en ligne est gérée bien au-delà des frontières américaines. « IvankaNews », un compte de fans d’Ivanka Trump qui compte environ un million d’adeptes, est répertorié par la nouvelle fonctionnalité de X comme étant basé au Nigéria.

A new feature on Elon Musk’s X has given surprising new insight into the online “America First” movement.

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-23T08:15:11.077694Z

The long-running controversy over Melania Trump’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for Christmas gained a new chapter on November 24, when she was seen leaving the traditional arrival ceremony for the White House Christmas tree after less than three minutes.

The First Lady lasted all of two minutes and 50 seconds welcoming the White House Christmas Tree before running back inside the presidential residence.trib.al/9xyZpgG

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-25T19:33:02.933673Z

Tasked with personally welcoming the tree selected for Christmas 2025 at the North Portico – and doing so without her husband, the president, at her side – the first lady briefly greeted the carriage and admired the fir before quickly retreating back inside, reigniting debate over her holiday role.

A leaked phone call

Melania Trump’s troubled relationship with Christmas in the public eye really dates back to a secretly recorded phone call from the summer of 2018, in which she vented to her then-advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff about having to plan the White House holiday décor while the administration was under fire for separating migrant families at the southern border.

In the audio, later released in October 2020 and aired by CNN, Melania can be heard saying that she was «working my ass off on the Christmas stuff» and asking «who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?» before complaining that critics only raised concerns about separated children when she tried to highlight her holiday work.

Those comments landed on top of already polarizing reactions to her décor choices, like the stark white, branch-lined colonnade in 2017 and the blood-red conical trees of 2018, which drew mockery and horror-movie memes. Publicly, she defended her work, insisting the decorations were being unfairly judged. Speaking about the red trees, she said: «We are in 21st century, and everybody has different taste. I think they look fantastic. I hope everybody will come over and visit it.»

Over time, the contrast between her on-camera defense of Christmas décor and the leaked «who gives a f*** about Christmas stuff» tape helped cement her image as a kind of Christmas Grinch in U.S. political culture, with the quote resurfacing in coverage and on social media almost every holiday season.

«Who gives a f*** about the Christmas stuff and decorations?»

Melania Trump

A quick photo-op

Melania Trump’s welcome of the 2025 White House Christmas tree lasted less than three minutes and looked more like a quick photo-op than a ceremony.

She walked out alone to the North Portico, briefly greeted the carriage drivers with polite small talk, posed a few seconds beside the tree for photographers, then turned around and went straight back inside without any real remarks or interaction beyond the bare minimum for the cameras.

Melania’s holiday business

Adding to the irony, Melania Trump now markets her own line of Christmas ornaments and holiday decorations, selling limited-edition pieces like the «American Star» for about 90 dollars as part of her patriotic 250 Collection through the USA Memorabilia site, where other designs in the set typically range from roughly 75 to 90 dollars each.

Melania Trump Launches American-Themed Christmas Ornament Line

— NEWSMAX (@newsmax.com) 2025-09-25T17:38:14Z

A leaked recording published by Bloomberg reveals that Steve Witkoff, who has served as the United States special envoy to the Middle East and special envoy for peace missions, advised senior Kremlin official Yuri Ushakov on how to present to Trump a peace proposal favorable to Russia in the Ukraine war.

Steve Witkoff is teaching a master class to Russian officials on how to get what they want from Donald Trump.

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast.bsky.social) 2025-11-26T00:07:38.030362Z

During the call, Witkoff reportedly suggested using flattering language such as «man of peace» to increase the likelihood that Trump would endorse a controversial 28-point pro-Kremlin peace plan for Ukraine.

«I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen.»

How to win Trump’s backing

On 14 October, at a tense moment in the Russia-Ukraine war, Steve Witkoff held a call with senior Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov in which, according to the Bloomberg transcript reported by other outlets, he coached the Russian side on how to win Trump’s backing for a Russian-favored peace proposal, widely seen as running against the interests of Ukraine and Europe.

Witkoff advised that Putin should call Trump to congratulate him for the recent Gaza ceasefire, say that Russia had supported that deal, and present Trump as a man of peace before pivoting to Ukraine and to Moscow’s own peace terms. In the transcript, Witkoff reassures Ushakov that this flattering approach will help, telling him: «I would make the call and just reiterate that you congratulate the president on this achievement, that you supported it, you supported it, that you respect that he is a man of peace and you’re just, you’re really glad to have seen it happen.» adding «From that, it’s going to be a really good call».

«We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you.»

A similar 20-point plan to peace

Witkoff then proposes explicitly borrowing the Gaza playbook and a similar structure, saying: «Here’s what I think would be amazing» before suggesting that Putin tell Trump: «Maybe he says to President Trump: you know, Steve and Yuri discussed a very similar 20-point plan to peace and that could be something that we think might move the needle a little bit, we’re open to those sorts of things».

In a separate passage quoted by The Guardian, Witkoff underscores the idea of transplanting Trump’s Gaza framework to Ukraine: «We put a 20-point Trump plan together that was 20 points for peace and I’m thinking maybe we do the same thing with you».

Witkoff also reportedly offered guidance on how Putin himself should speak to Trump, urging the Kremlin to schedule a Trump–Putin phone call just before an important meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the White House last month.

US lawmakers from both parties have blasted Steve Witkoff for what they describe as openly favoring Russia in the Ukraine talks, with some going so far as to brand him a traitor and demand his removal. After the leaked Kremlin call was published, Democratic Representative Ted Lieu posted that Witkoff was an «actual traitor» and urged that he be fired, while Republican Representative Don Bacon similarly called for Witkoff to be dismissed over a peace plan he said was tilted toward Moscow’s interests.

«I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy.»

-Steve Witkoff

Other Republicans have voiced alarm in background comments, telling reporters they were «so alarmed by Witkoff’s apparent pro-Russian stance» that they raised concerns directly with senior Trump officials, adding to a growing bipartisan chorus that questions whether the president’s special envoy is defending US, Ukrainian and European interests or advancing those of the Kremlin.

In a March interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff signaled his favorability toward Russia by telling Carlson «I don’t regard Putin as a bad guy», calling the idea that Moscow wants to march across Europe «preposterous» and insisting «100% not» when asked whether Russia has such intentions.

Read a transcript of an Oct. 29 phone call between Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s most senior foreign-policy adviser, and Kirill Dmitriev, an economic adviser to the Russian president

— Bloomberg News (@bloomberg.com) 2025-11-25T21:30:36Z