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Don't Mess with Librarians!

Don't Mess with Librarians!

What Trump is really up to with the Library of Congress

Amy Siskind's avatar
Amy Siskind
May 13, 2025
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The Weekly List
The Weekly List
Don't Mess with Librarians!
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We’ve had some awesome forms of pushback against the second regime. Recall, it was We the People that showed up at Tesla showrooms around the country, that led to a 71% plunge in the company’s net income, and shortly thereafter Elon Musk needing to leave Washington D.C. in disgrace! But the librarians at the Library of Congress have carried out one of the most delish pieces of resistance yet!

Background

This past Thursday, Trump unceremoniously, in a two sentence email without explanation, fired Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden. Dr. Hayden was the first African American and the first woman to lead the Library of Congress. She was appointed in 2016 by former president Barack Obama, as just the 14th person to take the post, which rarely gets a new leader. Her predecessor had served since 1987.

New Acting Librarian

Yesterday, Trump named Todd Blanche as the acting Librarian of Congress, a post for which he has zero qualifications, but as we have covered in this series, with Trump’s shrinking bench, increasingly his loyalists are taking on multiple roles for which they are completely unsuited. You’ll recall who Blanche is - he led the legal team in the Manhattan hush money trial, which Trump lost. But as a loyalist he has also been given the No. 2 spot at the Justice Department.

What Happened?

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